1. Wilco (June 25, 2009 at the Wiltern)
2. U2 (April 1, 2005 at the Arrowhead Pond)
3. The Hold Steady (July 30, 2008 at the Avalon)
4. Wilco (February 15, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
5. Elvis Costello & the Sugarcanes (August 18, 2009 at the Greek Theatre)
6. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band (August 24, 2002 at the Forum)
7. Sonic Youth (July 20, 2007 at the Greek Theatre)
8. The Hives (September 30, 2007 at the Metro)
9. Radiohead (August 24, 2008 at the Hollywood Bowl)
10. Metallica (January 27, 2009 at Allstate Arena)
11. The Police (May 10, 2008 at Allstate Arena)
12. Bob Dylan (September 6, 2008 at Qualcomm)
13. Bob Dylan (September 3, 2008 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium)
14. Neil Young and Crazy Horse (July 23, 2003 at the Greek Theatre)
15. Belle and Sebastian with the L.A. Philharmonic (July 6, 2006 at the Hollywood Bowl)
16. Morrissey (April 4, 2009 at the Aragon Ballroom)
17. Paul Westerberg (February 26, 2005 at the House of Blues in Anaheim)
18. Elvis Costello & the Imposters* (May 10, 2008 at Allstate Arena)
19. Bob Dylan (October 19, 2001 at the Staples Center)
20. Death Cab for Cutie (June 23, 2008 at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live)
21. Gang of Four (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
22. The Decemberists (May 30, 2009 at Northwestern University)
23. Broken Social Scene (May 31, 2008 at Northwestern University)
24. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (May 31, 2008 at Northwestern University)
25. The Jesus and Mary Chain (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
26. Andrew Bird (April 9, 2009 at the Civil Opera House)
27. Andrew Bird* (July 7, 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl)
28. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists* (October 17, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
29. The Shins (January 26, 2007 at Amoeba Music in Hollywood)
30. Cold War Kids (March 27, 2009 at the Orpheum Theatre)
31. John Mayer (July 27, 2008 at the Verizon Amphitheater)
32. Blitzen Trapper (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
33. Okkervil River* (June 26, 2009 at the Wiltern)
34. Train* (July 18, 2008 at the Pacific Amphitheatre)
35. Death Cab for Cutie (October 11, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
36. Common# (May 31, 2008 at Northwestern University)
37. Modest Mouse (December 2, 2007 at the Congress Theatre)
38. The Shins*# (July 6, 2006 at the Hollywood Bowl)
39. Man Man* (December 2, 2007 at the Congress Theatre)
40. Keane (May 11, 2007 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
41. The Decemberists with the L.A. Philharmonic (July 7, 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl)
42. Lucinda Williams* (July 23, 2003 at the Greek Theatre)
43. Haley Bonar* (April 9, 2009 at the Civil Opera House)
44. Britney Spears (April 28, 2009 at Allstate Arena
45. Broken Social Scene (November 3, 2007 at the Metro)
46. Against Me! (October 17, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
47. Redd Kross* (July 20, 2007 at the Greek Theatre)
48. Rogue Wave* (June 23, 2008 at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live)
49. The Courteeners* (April 4, 2009 at the Aragon Ballroom)
50. Mute Math (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
51. The Loved Ones* (July 30, 3008 at the Avalon)
52. M83# (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
53. Colbie Caillat*# (July 27, 2008 at the Verizon Amphitheater)
54. The Pussycat Dolls* (April 28, 2009 at Allstate Arena)
55. The Wallflowers (July 18, 2008 at the Pacific Amphitheatre)
56. Liars* (August 24, 2008 at the Hollywood Bowl)
57. Crystal Antlers* (March 27, 2009 at the Orpheum Theatre)
58. Kings of Leon* (April 1, 2005 at the Arrowhead Pond)
59. De Novo Dahl# (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
60. Band of Horses* (July 7, 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl)
61. Arthur & Yu* (November 4, 2007 at the Metro)
62. So Many Dynamos* (October 11, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
63. Third Eye Blind (May 31, 2008 at Northwestern University)
64. Brand New# (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
65. Machine Head* (January 27, 2009 at Allstate Arena)
66. Future of the Left* (October 17, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
67. Rocco DeLuca and the Burden* (May 11, 2007 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)

* = Opening Act
# = Missed Part of Set

For a while, I was successfully resisting the urge to post my obligatory end-of-decade lists before the end of the year, but Pitchfork’s Top 500 Tracks list has given me the excuse to post at least one of my lists early.  Here are my 100 favorite songs from 2000 to 2009, limited to one song per album.

This list was interesting to put together for me because, for the most part, I listen to either 1960s songwriters or 1980s American Alternative.  However, this is the music that was released during my years in middle school, high school and college, giving the songs a more personal significance.  I have a distinct memory of hearing “Icky Thump” by the White Stripes when it first came out and thinking it was the greatest single of the decade.  Its stature in my mind has dropped considerably since, but then again, I guess #27 isn’t that bad.

Yes, there are some dinosaurs like U2, Springsteen and Dylan, but there is also some indie music, depending on your definition of “indie.”  (Wilco? Pedro the Lion?) A list like this would also be incomplete without pop treasures like “Umbrella” and “Toxic.”  Those two songs along with the best songs of Beyonce are far more interesting than the majority of Coldplay or Kings of Leon’s output.

Perhaps the most significant artist missing from the list is TV on the Radio, and that is not because I dislike their music.  There is simply no single track that happens to stand out in my mind.  I’m sure there are other obvious exclusions, but that is likely out of ignorance of most contemporary music more than anything else.  For example, I haven’t had the chance to really listen to the Roots or Animal Collective.  However, the lack of Arctic Monkeys and the Killers is completely intentional. Simply put, they aren’t very good.

And now, the list that goes to show the uncomfortable inconsistency of my taste in contemporary music.

1. The Hold Steady- Constructive Summer
2. Radiohead- There There
3. OutKast- B.O.B.
4. Arcade Fire- Rebellion (Lies)
5. U2- Beautiful Day
6. Jay-Z featuring Eminem- Renegade
7. Wilco- I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
8. Death Cab for Cutie- Title and Registration
9. Ben Folds- Fred Jones Part 2
10. Ryan Adams- Oh My Sweet Carolina
11. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Rich
12. Broken Social Scene- 7/4 (Shoreline)
13. The Hold Steady- Your Little Hoodrat Friends
14. Kanye West featuring Jay-Z- Diamonds from Sierra Leone (Remix)
15. U2- City of Blinding Lights
16. The Trash Can Sinatras- Leave Me Alone
17. OutKast- Morris Brown
18. The Hold Steady- You Can Make Him Like You
19. Sufjan Stevens- Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
20. Immortal Technique- Dance With the Devil
21. Annie- Heartbeat
22. Radiohead- Idioteque
23. Paul Westerberg- Only Lie Worth Telling
24. Bruce Springsteen- American Skin (41 Shots)
25. Beck- Lost Cause
26. Lil’ Wayne featuring T-Pain- Got Money
27. The White Stripes- Icky Thump
28. Morrissey- Something Is Squeezing My Skull
29. Josh Ritter- The Temptation of Adam
30. R. Kelly- Ignition (Remix)
31. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Get Ready for Love
32. Nas featuring 2Pac- Thugz Mansion (N.Y.)
33. Dinosaur Jr.- We’re Not Alone
34. Kanye West- Stronger
35. Death Cab for Cutie- Bixby Canyon Bridge
36. Sonic Youth- Incinerate
37. Queens of the Stone Age- No One Knows
38. Eminem- Lose Yourself
39. Electric Six- Danger! High Voltage
40. Ghostface Killah featuring Ne-Yo- Back Like That
41. Belle and Sebastian- I’m a Cuckoo
42. Fountains of Wayne- Mexican Wine
43. Ryan Adams- Firecracker
44. Lily Allen- Everything’s Just Wonderful
45. Radiohead- Knives Out
46. System of a Down- Prison Song
47. Bob Dylan- Mississippi
48. Nelly Furtado- I’m Like a Bird
49. The Flaming Lips- Fight Test
50. Eminem- Kill You
51. Interpol- Obstacle 1
52. Rihanna featuring Jay-Z- Umbrella
53. Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros- Streetcore
54. R.E.M.- Imitation of Life
55. Weezer- Photograph
56. Art Brut- Emily Kane
57. Wilco- Impossible Germany
58. The White Stripes- The Hardest Button to Button
59. Jay-Z- Dirt Off Your Shoulder
60. Franz Ferdinand- Do You Want to
61. Morrissey- Irish Blood, English Heart
62. Wilco- At Least That’s What You Said
63. The White Stripes- Blue Orchid
64. Spoon- You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
65. Neil Young- Let’s Impeach the President
66. Weezer- Pardon Me
67. Tom Waits- Metropolitan Glide
68. Neil Young & Crazy Horse- Bandit
69. Basement Jaxx- Good Luck
70. Bright Eyes- Bowl of Oranges
71. Tom Waits- Coney Island Baby
72. The Mars Volta- Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)
73. Green Day- Jesus of Suburbia
74. Damien Rice- The Blower’s Daughter
75. Franz Ferdinand- Take Me Out
76. Kanye West- Through the Wire
77. OutKast- Hey Ya!
78. The Strokes- Hard to Explain
79. The Hives- Main Offender
80. Basement Jaxx- Where’s Your Head At
81. Bob Dylan- Things Have Changed
82. Weezer- Keep Fishin’
83. The Walkmen- We’ve Been Had
84. Broken Social Scene- KC Accidental
85. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists- Biomusicology
86. Pedro the Lion- Options
87. Bruce Springsteen- My City of Ruins
88. Joseph Arthur- You’re So True
89. The Streets- Stay Positive
90. Johnny Cash- Hurt
91. Beyonce- Irreplaceable
92. Junior Senior- Move Your Feet
93. Rufus Wainwright- One Man Guy
94. Britney Spears- Toxic
95. Modest Mouse- Dashboard
96. Leona Lewis- Bleeding Love
97. Against Me!- Thrash Unreal
98. Jens Lekman- Night Falls Over Kortedala
99. Justin Timberlake- My Love
100. The Vines- Homesick

Few directors are capable of matching the brilliance, artistic restraint, and the genuine style of Jim Jarmusch.  Independent film has become so dominated by pretention and cuteness, so many films admittedly entertaining but ultimately empty.  But Jarmusch can do it all — his films often resonate with the quiet beauty of an Ozu film, yet they also understand the rawness of rock and roll: Elvis, Tom Waits, Neil Young.  His characters often experience profound moments of searching, lost in confusion and boredom, but Jarmusch can also make us laugh harder than the best comedians.  All this is effortless because he is one of the few living geniuses in film today. Admittedly, some might say his films too slow or his characters and plot turns too bizarre.  Well, to those who deny his genius, as Stranger Than Paradise’s Eva would say, “He’s a wild man, so bug off.”

The cliché goes “if (name of director) had only made (name of movie), he/she would still be worthy of being considered one of the greats.” Sometimes a cliché is the best way to express the truth.  If Jarmusch had only made Stranger Than Paradise, he would deserve a spot in film history.  It forever changed the landscape of independent film, revealing the capability of low-budget filmmaking.  It is hilariously, about two guys and a girl and not much else.  The characters chat about TV dinners, they go watch kung fu movies, and they bet on dog races.  Each shot fades to black, and every single scene is given attention and care in this minimalist masterpiece.  It seems comedic independent filmmakers are so concerned about being quirky these days, but they work against the nature of their medium by focusing so strongly on the written word.  Jarmusch has a unique sense of humor, but he is first and foremost concerned with his imagery.

The characters of Stranger Than Paradise sway to the chugging beat of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell On You.” Jarmusch’s brilliant sense of music is perhaps most apparent in Dead Man, his violent post-modern Western with an even more violent score by Neil Young.  I’ve always said that if there was the sound for a bleeding soul, it would be Neil Young’s electric guitar.  This is never more apparent than on the haunting score for what is probably the last great Western.  Jarmusch explores myths of the West with Johnny Depp in one of his very few great performances as an accountant-turned-killer.  Jarmusch melds music and images so well, the two inseparable.  Young’s contribution to the film is incalculable, but the film’s greatness is ultimately the result of Jarmusch’s impeccable taste for aesthetic, both musical and cinematic.

Jarmusch also explored ghosts and myths in his film Mystery Train, though in a much more playful way.  Instead of focusing on the ghosts of the West, he was interested in the ghost of Elvis.  He uses three stories to show the impact of Elvis Presley on a particular night in Memphis.  A Japanese couple makes a pilgrimage to the city of Elvis (and Carl Perkins), a woman is stuck in Memphis before going home to Italy with her husband’s coffin, and Johnny, played by Joe Strummer, gets brother-in-law Steve Buscemi in a nasty spot with his drunken behavior.   With either direct or indirect presence of the in each story, Mystery Train is evidence that Jarmusch understands the music icon’s place in our society.  Elvis is truly presented here as an enigma that lingers long after the physical death of Elvis Aaron Presley.

Then there’s Down by Law, which I watched for the first time today.  John Lurie, Tom Waits, and Roberto Benigni are stuck in a prison cell together.  Need I say more?  The premise in and of itself is deserving of an award.  Lurie and Waits are characters straight out of a gritty noir, both flawed but innocent of the crimes they were sentenced for.  At first, Lurie and Waits despise each other, absurd in how seriously they take themselves.  However, everything is shaken up when Benigni arrives.  He’s the only man who’s truly guilty, but he’s also the only one who seems like a decent person, an Italian who writes down clever English sayings in his little notepad.  The film explores the relationships of the three men in a way that allows Jarmusch to defy conventions of film noir, prison break films and dark comedy.  Set in New Orleans, the film always has a great sense of its setting:  the dirty streets of Louisiana, a cramped prison cell or seemingly endless swamp. Jarmusch has a way with his actors, and this film shows how naturally the characters interact in his films, even if under the most absurd circumstances.

I honestly cannot do the man justice with what I have to say.  His films are a joy to watch, and they are great artistic statements that say so much about society, film, music and legend. I hear his latest film was an atrocity.  If he’s lost it, we might be in trouble.  Wes Anderson’s charm is wearing off, Quentin Tarantino has nothing original to offer, the Coen Brothers are too unpredictable and David Lynch’s movies are often too confusing for most of us.  I doubt we’ll find any artists with the same integrity and passion as Jim Jarmusch.

I started this list project a while back, but I thought it was too tedious.  I finally decided to go back and finish what I started. I tried to limit myself to one song per album, though I had to violate that rule on a few occasions.  Take 1998 for example.  You know you’re in trouble when the Eagles are the third best artist in the bunch. (What mediocrity…) Also, tried to spread the love by including as many of a year’s inductees as possible.  With 1988, my entire top 10 would realistically be made up of only Beatles songs, but I couldn’t leave Diana Ross and the Supremes out in the cold.  I do not have a problem, however, excluding undeserving garbage like Bob Seger and Aerosmith, overpraised imitations of the Stones and Zeppelin. Some years are dominated by one or two artists, including 2009 in which I felt Metallica was the strongest act, Run-DMC a close second.  The inclusion of multiple songs speaks only to their greatness relative to their inductee class (or my ignorance of the music of the other artists in some cases) and not necessarily their overall place in the rock cannon.

1986
1.    Sam Cooke- A Change is Gonna Come
2.    Ray Charles- You Don’t Know Me
3.    Elvis Presley- Suspicious Minds
4.    Chuck Berry- Maybellene
5.    Sam Cooke- Frankie and Johnny
6.    Ray Charles- Georgia On My Mind
7.    James Brown- Try Me
8.    The Everly Brothers- Brand New Heartache
9.    Fats Domino- Walking to New Orleans
10.    Buddy Holly- It’s So Easy

1987
1.    Aretha Franklin- A Change is Gonna Come
2.    Marvin Gaye- Let’s Get it On
3.    Roy Orbison- Crying
4.    Aretha Franklin- Oh Me Oh My (I’m a Fool For You Baby)
5.    Bo Diddley- Hey Bo Diddley
6.    Smokey Robinson and the Miracles- The Tears of a Clown
7.    Roy Orbison- In Dreams
8.    Marvin Gaye- What’s Going On
9.    Muddy Waters- I Can’t Be Satisfied
10.    B.B. King- How Blue Can You Get? (Live in Cook County Jail)

1988
1.    The Beatles- Tomorrow Never Knows
2.    The Beatles- She Loves You
3.    The Beatles- A Day in the Life
4.    The Beatles- This Boy
5.    Bob Dylan- Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You (Live 1975)
6.    Bob Dylan- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
7.    Bob Dylan- You’re a Big Girl Now
8.    The Beach Boys- You Still Believe In Me
9.    Bob Dylan- Queen Jane Approximately
10.    The Supremes- Where Did Our Love Go

1989
1.    The Rolling Stones- Tumbling Dice
2.    The Rolling Stones- Sympathy for the Devil
3.    Stevie Wonder- Living for the City
4.    The Temptations- I Wish It Would It Rain
5.    The Rolling Stones- Paint It Black
6.    Stevie Wonder- I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)
7.    Otis Redding- Try a Little Tenderness
8.    The Temptations- My Girl
9.    Otis Redding- The Glory of Love
10.    Dion- Runaround Sue

1990
1.    The Who- Baba O’Riley
2.    The Four Tops- Without the One You Love (Life’s Not Worthwhile)
3.    Simon and Garfunkel- So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright
4.    The Kinks- Waterloo Sunset
5.    The Platters- Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
6.    The Who- Heaven and Hell (Live at Leeds)
7.    The Four Seasons- Let’s Hang On
8.    Simon and Garfunkel- America
9.    The Who- I Can’t Explain
10.    The Kinks- Celluloid Heroes

1991
1.    The Byrds- You’re Still On My Mind
2.    The Byrds- I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better
3.    Wilson Pickett- Hey Jude
4.    The Impressions- People Get Ready
5.    The Byrds- Ballad of Easy Rider
6.    The Byrds- Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)
7.    Wilson Pickett- Land of 1000 Dances
8.    The Impressions- It’s All Right
9.    The Byrds- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
10.    Ike and Tina Turner- Save the Last Dance For Me

1992
1.    The Jimi Hendrix Experience- Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
2.    The Jimi Hendrix Experience- Little Wing
3.    Johnny Cash- A Boy Named Sue
4.    Johnny Cash- Folsom Prison Blues
5.    The Jimi Hendrix Experience- Jimi Hendrix- Purple Haze
6.    Johnny Cash- Flushed From the Bathroom of Your Heart (At Folsom Prison)
7.    The Isley Brothers- It’s Your Thing
8.    Johnny Cash- Hurt
9.    Booker T. and the M.G.’s- Green Onions
10.    The Yardbirds- Shapes of Things

1993
1.    Etta James- Trust In Me
2.    Cream- White Room
3.    Sly and the Family Stone- If You Want Me to Stay
4.    Creedence Clearwater Revival- Who’ll Stop The Rain
5.    Van Morrison- Caravan
6.    Ruth Brown- Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean
7.    Sly and the Family Stone- Family Affair
8.    Cream- Strange Brew
9.    The Doors- Touch Me
10.    Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers- Who Do Fools Fall in Love

1994
1.    Rod Stewart- Every Picture Tells a Story
2.    Elton John- Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
3.    Rod Stewart- Mama You Been On My Mind
4.    The Band- Stage Fright
5.    The Animals- Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
6.    John Lennon- Oh Yoko!
7.    Bob Marley- Natural Mystic
8.    The Band- Up On Cripple Creek
9.    Grateful Dead- Box of Rain
10.    Elton John- Someone Saved My Life Tonight

1995
1.    Neil Young- Like a Hurricane
2.    Neil Young- Tell Me Why
3.    Led Zeppelin- Stairway to Heaven
4.    Frank Zappa- Hungry Freaks, Daddy
5.    Al Green- Call Me (Come Back Home)
6.    Led Zeppelin- Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
7.    Neil Young- Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
8.    Janis Joplin- Mercedes Benz
9.    Al Green- Let’s Stay Together
10.    Martha Reeves and the Vandellas- Dancing in the Street

1996
1.    The Velvet Underground- Sister Ray
2.    David Bowie- Young Americans
3.    The Velvet Underground- Venus in Furs
4.    Pink Floyd- Shine On You Crazy Diamond
5.    Pink Floyd- Comfortably Numb
6.    Pink Floyd- Time
7.    Gladys Knight & the Pips- Might Train to Georgia
8.    The Shirelles- Will You Love Me Tomorrow
9.    Jefferson Airplane- Somebody to Love
10.    David Bowie- Sound and Vision

1997
1.    Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young- Our House
2.    Bee Gees- How Deep Is Your Love
3.    Funkadelic- Maggot Brain
4.    Joni Mitchell- A Case of You
5.    Crosby, Stills & Nash- Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
6.    Buffalo Springfield- On the Way Home
7.    Parliament- Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)
8.    Funkadelic- One Nation Under a Groove
9.    The Jackson 5- I Want You Back
10.    Joni Mitchell- Big Yellow Taxi

1998
1.    Fleetwood Mac- Dreams
2.    Fleetwood Mac- You Make Loving Fun
3.    Santana- Soul Sacrifice
4.    Fleetwood Mac- Landslide
5.    Santana- Black Magic Woman
6.    The Eagles- Desperado
7.    The Eagles- Hotel California
8.    The Mama’s and the Papa’s- California Dreamin’
9.    The Eagles- Lyin’ Eyes
10.    Gene Vincent- Be-Bop-A-Lula

1999
1.    Bruce Springsteen- Thunder Road
2.    Bruce Springsteen- Bobby Jean
3.    Bruce Springsteen- No Surrender (Live 1984)
4.    Bruce Springsteen- The River
5.    Curtis Mayfield- So In Love
6.    Bruce Springsteen- Highway Patrolman
7.    Dusty Springfield- I Only Want To Be With You
8.    Del Shannon- Runaway
9.    Paul McCartney & Wings- Band On the Run
10.    Billy Joel- Just the Way You Are

2000
1.    Eric Clapton- Bell Bottom Blues (Derek and The Dominos)
2.    The Lovin’ Spoonful- Daydream
3.    Bonnie Raitt- Nick of Time
4.    The Lovin’ Spoonful- Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?
5.    James Taylor- Fire and Rain
6.    The Lovin’ Spoonful- You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice
7.    The Moonglows- Sincerely
8.    Eric Clapton- Tears in Heaven
9.    James Taylor- You’ve Got a Friend
10.    Earth, Wind & Fire- Shining Star

2001
1.    Michael Jackson- Beat It
2.    Michael Jackson- Rock With You
3.    Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody
4.    The Flamingos- I Only Have Eyes For You
5.    Michael Jackson- Black Or White
6.    Paul Simon- Slip Slidin’ Away
7.    Steely Dan- Do It Again
8.    Paul Simon- Kodachrome
9.    Michael Jackson- Man in the Mirror
10.    Ritchie Valens- La Bamba

2002
1.    Talking Heads- Once in a Lifetime
2.    Talking Heads- Burning Down the House
3.    Talking Heads- The Big Country
4.    Ramones- Beat on the Brat
5.    Ramones- Sheena is a Punk Rocker
6.    Talking Heads- Psycho Killer
7.    Ramones- Baby I Love You
8.    Isaac Hayes- Walk On By
9.    Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers- American Girl
10.    Gene Pitney- Every Breath I Take

2003
1.    Elvis Costello- I Want You
2.    Elvis Costello- Alison
3.    The Police- Born in the 50’s
4.    Elvis Costello- No Action
5.    The Clash- Train in Vain (Stand by Me)
6.    AC/DC- Hells Bells
7.    The Righteous Brothers- You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
8.    The Clash- Tommy Gun
9.    Elvis Costello- Man Out Of Time
10.    The Police- Wrapped Around Your Finger

2004
1.    Jackson Browne- Late for the Sky
2.    Jackson Browne- These Days
3.    George Harrison- Wah-Wah
4.    Prince- Sign ‘O’ the Times
5.    Jackson Browne- The Pretender
6.    Prince- When You Were Mine
7.    Prince- Let’s Go Crazy
8.    The Dells- Oh What a Night
9.    Jackson Browne- Doctor My Eyes
10.    Prince- Little Red Corvette

2005
1.    U2- Wake Up Dead Man
2.    U2- Where the Streets Have No Name
3.    U2- City of Blinding Lights
4.    U2- Beautiful Day
5.    U2- Acrobat
6.    U2- Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
7.    The Pretenders- Kid
8.    Percy Sledge- When a Man Loves a Woman
9.    The O’Jays- Love Train
10.    The Pretenders- Don’t Get Me Wrong

2006
1.    Sex Pistols- Anarchy in the U.K.
2.    Miles Davis- So What
3.    Miles Davis- Moon Dreams
4.    Black Sabbath- War Pigs
5.    Miles Davis- Generique
6.    Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath
7.    Blondie- Dreaming
8.    Blondie- X Offender
9.    Black Sabbath- Children of the Grave
10.    Lynyrd Skynyrd- Free Bird

2007
1.    R.E.M.- At My Most Beautiful
2.    R.E.M.- (Don’t Go Back To Rockville)
3.    Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five- The Message
4.    R.E.M.- Radio Free Europe
5.    The Ronettes- Be My Baby
6.    Patti Smith- Free Money
7.    R.E.M.- It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
8.    R.E.M.- Nightswimming
9.    Van Halen- Eruption
10.    R.E.M.- Losing My Religion

2008
1.    Leonard Cohen- Who By Fire
2.    Leonard Cohen- Hallelujah
3.    Leonard Cohen- The Stranger Song
4.    Leonard Cohen- Bird on a Wire
5.    The Dave Clark Five- Glad All Over
6.    Leonard Cohen- Don’t Go Home With Your Hard-On
7.    Leonard Cohen- There Is a War
8.    Leonard Cohen- Suzanne
9.    Madonna- Like a Prayer
10.    Madonna- Like a Virgin

2009
1.    Metallica- One
2.    Run-DMC- It’s Tricky
3.    Metallica- Fade to Black
4.    Metallica- Seek & Destroy
5.    Metallica- Master of Puppets
6.    Jeff Beck- Spanish Boots
7.    Run-DMC- Hard Times
8.    Jeff Beck- Shapes of Things
9.    Run-DMC- King of Rock
10.    Metallica- Sad But True

A man and his wife live together in 1950s suburban America with their young boy.  Man has unfortunate disease.  Man takes medication to feel better.  Man becomes addicted to medication and has psychotic reactions.  Man tries to kill his loving family.

For some reason, the audience at the LACMA last week somehow found a film in which events take place to be funny.  Perhaps they thought the acting or the writing were campy or dated.  It seems they found director Nicholas Ray’s ingenious portrait of a schoolteacher gone mad to be a hilarious romp instead of a highly disturbing look under the surface of suburban order.  Actor and producer James Mason plays the central character in one of the most complex screen performances of all time.  The movie was considered to be ahead of its time when it was released, and maybe the reaction of the audience indicates that it still is ahead of its time.  People today still cannot handle the reality of psychosis as depicted so hauntingly in this film, manifesting itself in immature laughter.

With the 1986 film Blue Velvet, director David Lynch gave us a portrait of suburban America with the story of Jeffrey Beaumont, a young man who finds himself face-to-face with the maniacal villain Frank Booth.  The eerie subtext of the film is well-summarized by Frank’s simple proclamation to Jeffrey: “You’re like me.”  James Mason in Bigger Than Life embodies this suburban contradiction, the coexistence of good and evil.  He exudes such warmth as a schoolteacher at the beginning of the film, excusing a student and wishing him happy holidays after the poor boy struggled to name just one Great Lake. Then he becomes a monster, convinced “childhood is a congenital disease, and the purpose of education is to cure it.” This twisted philosophy of his comes through in the way he preaches to the parents of his students and the way he starves his own son until he is able to solve a math problem.

I can say without a doubt that Bigger Than Life has among the greatest lighting and photography I have ever seen in a film.  With the shattered reflections and darkened stairwells, the household is not a place of suburban comfort but a suffocating prison for the wife and son, played with such beautiful innocence by Barbara Rush and Christopher Olsen.  At times, the beautiful color photography reminds us this is set against the artificially plastic suburban spaces we have come to know from the television programs from the time, yet in one scene in particular, the living room becomes a cell where young Olsen is dwarfed by the gigantic shadow of his over-medicated father.

Nicholas Ray also demonstrates once again that he was far ahead of his time when it came to examining the role of women in relation to the men they love.  In another Ray masterpiece In a Lonely Place, Humphrey Bogart plays a Hollywood screenwriter with a short temper.  Gloria Grahame is the woman who looks past his violent ways, refusing to listen to the accusations that Bogart is a murderer.  She submits to his love, even when her life may or may not be in danger.  Similarly, Rush in Bigger Than Life submits to a man, but here in the context of a traditional American family.  Even though she and her son are suffering as a result of Mason’s medically-induced temper and unbearable arrogance, Rush goes on convinced she must blindly do whatever her husband says.  The men in Ray’s films are mad and controlling while the women are victims of the prescribed roles of the times, struggling to break free to safety.  Ray is daring in confronting the social order, handling these issues with such complexity.

The laughter of the audience in the theatre last week did not necessarily mean everyone missed the complexity of the film.  I am definitely not saying there is absolutely no dark humor to be found in the outrageous statements made by Mason throughout the film, and perhaps there was something I simply missed.  However, the laughter makes me worry whether or not they realize how mental illness and medical side effects can hurt individuals and those around them.  If they are blind to the themes of this impeccably-crafted film, then I weep for our society.

Note: I have not read the book upon which this film is based, so I am incapable of comparing the source material and the film adaptation with specifics.

I would like to say first of all that I don’t hate this movie.  In fact, I walked out of the theater satisfied for the most part.  However, little of it has stayed with me, even half an hour after I got in the car to go home.  It is a bit difficult for me to put my finger on what exactly it is that troubles me so much about this film and so many of the other Harry Potter movies.  There is so much to enjoy, yet there is such emptiness.  I figured Order of the Phoenix was a step in a different direction, a tight production that was as concerned with making a good movie as presenting the source material.  However, it was a deviating film in a series that is, for the most part, lacking in true inspiration and passion.  The Half-Blood Prince appears to me a product of corporate greed, and most of its flaws stem from the consequent obligations.

There are unforgettable images in this film.  After all, there are few scenes more haunting than the candles in the Hogwarts hall being snuffed out at the climax, Bellatrix joyfully strolling down the tables and kicking the plates and silverware.  (The horror of any sequence involving the Death Eaters makes me scratch my head as to why the MPAA rated this film PG.)  The Harry Potter films are no doubt full of visually impressive set pieces.  However, the different scenes do not always come together in the end as a cohesive whole.  It feels as if the special effects are empty, perhaps because too many details of the source material were left out.

The romantic subplots surprisingly did not water down the most recent film as they did in the often horrifically beautiful Goblet of Fire.  The different relationships give a sense of context to the characters and remind us they are essentially high school students.  They are not merely chess pieces on a board, moving to the beat of the drum determined by them years ago by J.K. Rowling.  It is in these sequences that we see the characters experience things like jealousy, heartache and pain.  It is also apparent what a long ways these actors have come, understanding their characteristics yet offering a sense of depth.

What really brings the film down is the sense of obligation that holds it back, or rather what got it made in the first place.  Let’s face the truth: the sense of wonder has worn off a bit.  There is less of a sense of warmth in these characters.  Yes, Hermione is excited upon hearing about Harry Potter’s arrival, yet her reaction seems forced and obligatory.  Their friendship means less to us then it has in any of the other films, and although I understand this film is about Harry and Dumbledore more than anything else, the relationships amongst these young characters are so crucial.  We are so wrapped up in the plot points that we forgot the characters and the magical world they live in are what stole our hearts in the first place.  As someone who has not read the book, it seems they have reenacted the story but not necessarily brought it to life.

This is the only film in the series that felt like its running time, yet I felt like there more that needed to be done with the movie.  Is that an absurd paradox? Not really.  It all comes back to the corporate greed. Out of an obligation to finish the series and with the knowledge that these films will make money regardless of whether or not they are as great as Order of the Phoenix, the producers don’t ever have to worry that perhaps Rowling’s sprawling cannot be adapted without more serious care if at all.  The memories with Tom Riddle, the climax and even the performances are proof that they had the time and energy to make something truly great.  But as long as the general public (myself included) sucks on the corporate teat, those with the resources don’t have to think harder about what they are producing.

It is very easy for a movie directed by a European about India to be pathetically condescending in its nature, coming in with the intention of unveiling some sort of truth about a foreign land to Western audiences.  I feel Danny Boyle approached India in this manner in his film Slumdog Millionaire.  Outside of the fact that it was a painfully-contrived film that had little to no merit as art, it was a self-congratulatory project made to educate the masses.

So it is a mystery to me how a French director in 1951 could shoot an English film in India that avoids this problem, considering the possibility of a colonialist perspective.  Then I remember this is Jean Renoir we are talking about here, an absolute master of his craft and above all, a filmmaker who understands individuals.  Often, a great filmmaker is one who has a curiosity and love for his or her subjects: Renoir, Ozu, Herzog, etc.  Jean Renoir, as an outsider filming in a country he is not familiar with, approached India with a sense of curiosity rather than a sort of arrogance, intending to show Western audiences question by question different aspects of the country.  There is a great sense of humility in how Renoir approaches his setting and his characters in this movie, the same love and care he puts into all of his films.

More than anything, this is a film about growing up and struggling with identity in the context of a globalizing world.  The movie is seen through the eyes of Harriet, a young British girl who describes herself as an ugly duckling.  Like her best friend Valerie and the rest of the girls in her family, she finds herself naively in love with Captain John, a former soldier who lost his leg in World War II and is staying with the family next door to Harriet.  Captain John, played by amateur actor Thomas E. Breen who actually had a prosthetic leg, moved to India in search of a place he could call home.  He had become an outsider after the war, and no matter where he goes, he struggles to feel welcome.  He stays in the same house as Harriet’s young friend Melanie and her father.  Half Indian and half British, Melanie went to a Westernized school and was mostly raised by her British father, yet at the same time she does not want her mother’s culture to be forgotten.  She and Harriet both face important issues that come with growing up, discovering the world around them, love and also death, in one of the most devastating moments ever put to film.

India looks beautiful in the film with the lives of the characters taking place on the Bengal River in gorgeous Technicolor.  And although this film couldn’t have taken place anywhere else and been the same, it deals with themes that are so universal: questions of identity and maturity, living in a post-war society and even the power of memory, how we remember the days of our youth.  With some footage of India that feels straight out of a documentary, The River is genuine in all aspects: its story, characters, emotions, and even the process of making the film itself.  True, the actors in the film were young and/or amateur, and it sometimes shows in the delivery of the lines.  However, there is, as is always the case, a sense that Renoir cares about each and every character, and the appreciation of the actors and the setting is what makes this movie so special.

The AFI’s 1998 top 100 movies list played a formative role in my love for movies.  Early on, I made it my obsessive mission to watch all of the movies on the list and reorder them according to my preferences. Unfortunately, right after watching Platoon and finishing the task, the AFI went and published a 10th anniversary list in 2007. Finally, I have seen all the films on the updated list, and below I have ranked all the movies on the list.  The 10th anniversary list was definitely an improvement over the 1998 original with additions like Do the Right Thing, The General and Blade Runner.  However, it excluded masterpieces like Red River, Rosemary’s Baby, Days of Heaven, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and the BEST MOVIE EVER, Blue Velvet.

1. The General (Buster Keaton, 1927)
2. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
3. City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)
4. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
5. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
6. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
7. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
8. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
9. Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
10. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
11. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
12. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
13. The Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin, 1925)
14. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
15. Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
16. A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
17. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
18. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
19. GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
20. Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952)
21. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
22. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
23. Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
24. The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
25. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
26. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
27. North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
28. The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
29. Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
30. Swing Time (George Stevens, 1936)
31. Intolerance (D.W. Griffith, 1916)
32. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
33. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
34. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
35. On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
36. It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
37. Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
38. Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927)
39. Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
40. Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)
41. All the President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976)
42. The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971)
43. The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
44. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957)
45. All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
46. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
47. The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
48. MASH (Robert Altman, 1970)
49. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966)
50. High Noon (Fred Zinnemann, 1952)
51. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
52. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)
53. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)
54. A Night at the Opera (Sam Wood, 1935)
55. Sullivan’s Travels (Preston Strurges, 1941)
56. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
57. A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951)
58. It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934)
59. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
60. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)
61. The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978)
62. To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962)
63. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman, 1975)
64. Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, 1969)
65. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)
66. Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
67. The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean, 1957)
68. Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
69. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001)
70. The French Connection (William Friedkin, 1971)
71. Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
72. Sophie’s Choice (Alan J. Pakula, 1982)
73. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
74. The African Queen (John Huston, 1951)
75. The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
76. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939)
77. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
78. Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)
79. Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
80. Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976)
81. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969)
82. American Graffiti (George Lucas, 1973)
83. West Side Story (Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, 1961)
84. Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995)
85. The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)
86. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
87. Shane (George Stevens, 1953)
88. Tootsie (Sydney Pollack, 1982)
89. Platoon (Oliver Stone, 1986)
90. The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965)
91. Yankee Doodle Dandy (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
92. Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959)
93. Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998)
94. The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)
95. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, 1937)
96. King Kong (Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)
97. Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
98. In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison, 1967)
99. Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969)
100. Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)

For a list of more films that should have been included, click here.

Here we go—another misanthropic independent movie, contrived and molded to be quirky without being any good.  John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph play a young unmarried couple about to have a child.  In search of a different city in which to raise their coming child, they go from city to city with each location conveniently represented by a different couple.   Director Sam Mendes has always taken on projects with despicable characters.  Consider American Beauty with its annoyingly exaggerated caricatures that fail to resemble anything remotely human.  Similarly with Mendes’ latest, the actors are wasted because, even though the central characters are decent and lovable, we are usually focused on the screwed-up couples they interact with on their travels.  The movie is a passive freak show, stringing together different sequences which showcase bizarre characters.

I have yet to understand why independent filmmakers insist so strongly on making the central couples in their films the only remotely likable characters.  Zach Braff might have been worse than Mendes with his disaster Garden State because one of the only characters we’re supposed to like is played by himself, but Away We Go is similarly angry with its hostile depictions of all characters except its protagonists for no good reason.  As a result, some great actors and actresses are made out to be fools on the screen.  Catherine O’Hara and Jeff Daniels play the parents who are more interested in profiting from renting out their home than allowing their son to stay before getting established.  Allison Janney has no problem telling her daughter she looks like a “dyke” or attempting to make a pass at Krasinski with his pregnant girlfriend a few steps ahead.  Maggie Gyllenhaal is the crazed hippie mother who breastfeeds her nearly-grown child and refuses to use a stroller because it pushes the child away.  Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with using only ludicrous characters for the purpose of satire, but such harshness has to serve some sort of purpose or, better yet, be funny.  Away We Go is rarely funny and certainly has no purpose.

What drew me to this film in the first place was that fact that is was co-written by Dave Eggers.  However, what makes this movie so sour and unenjoyable is the writing. The movie relies so heavily on the quirks of those who come into contact with Krasinski and Rudolph and the ridiculous things they do and say, but it ultimately does not develop any of the characters.  The movie is rushed because none of the characters in the different cities are worth spending time with.  The characters are a hollow means to unsuccessfully squeeze out cheap laughs from the audience.  Consider a scene in which Gyllenhaal comments on the oppression of Rudolph’s people throughout history.  It is offensive and out of place in the context of the movie, only used to establish how the character is so full of pseudo-intellectual crap.  Away We Go never comes together as a cohesive movie, and its parts are never good enough to make this worth the money.

Disclaimer: Includes descriptions of vulgar happenings in this movie.  Although I reveal some of what happens in the film, I guarantee the movie will not be any less shocking if you ever decide to watch it.

Coming home from my second viewing of Up, I was on a movie high, exhilarated by the emotional power of its images and sound.  I needed to watch something else that night to satisfy my cinematic thirst, but I wanted to watch something different.  After having wanted to do so for quite some time, I finally sat down and watched John Waters’ Pink Flamingos.  Never have I experienced such a jarring shift in my movie-watching life.

I never really took all the critics and film buffs seriously when they said this is the filthiest movie ever made.  Never have I been an offended and disgusted by a movie yet so strangely entertained.  Waters lives up to his reputation as a maverick, the king of bad taste.  The premise of the film is simple.  The large female impersonator Divine plays Babs Johnson, renowned by everyone as the filthiest person alive, but this does not sit well with Connie and Raymond Marble.  The filthy couple makes a living taking women off the street, holding them in a basement, either raping or artificially inseminating them and then selling the babies to lesbian couples.  Connie and Raymond want to disrupt the peace of Babs’s family, which includes a retarded mother who lives in a crib and loves her eggs.  Ultimately, total war breaks out between the two families as they seek out who is truly the filthiest family alive.

A plot synopsis does not make this movie sound so bad, but I cannot stress enough that the film is not for those who are easily offended.  This work of art truly defies all convention, apparently having no purpose but to shock the audience.  There is a sex scene involving the death of a chicken, a singing butthole and, perhaps more disgusting than anything else in the movie, the actual consumption of dog feces.  With the animal cruelty and obscenity laws of today, Pink Flamingos probably could not have been made.  Waters truly made a work that was ahead of its time.  While Up had played with my emotions a few hours earlier as a reminder of human goodness, Pink Flamingos defecated on all notions of decency I have ever been taught to the point of almost making me physically sick at times.  It is a rough trip, shot in an amateur fashion, made by great entertainers and not by great filmmakers.  Does that make this movie that makes Borat look like The Sound of Music any less brilliant? Of course not. This movie is an unforgettable experience even if I cannot recommend it to anyone without a clear conscience.