http://nleakey.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/mulholland-drive-a-photo-essay/

First, I think that the Best Picture winners have traditionally been films that as a a prerequisite have to have some box office success– although I think that changed a little bit with No Country for Old Men. So I don’t think I would choose them as a proxy for best film of the decade.

What’s the best film of the decade? It’s kind of hard to choose just one film as you both say. I tend to think Mulholland Drive is an interesting film, but how influential will it be down the road? Maybe more than I’d like to think– but I think that coherent storytelling is better to strive for more than “It’s all open to interpretation” collage dream-like filmmaking. I lot of what we like is very personal too.

I agree that (so far) the Matrix and Pulp Fiction have inspired more films than Mulholland Drive (at least mainstream movies).

I looked at Time Out New York’s full list and was surprised to see that Lynch’s “Inland Empire” was also ranked very high. I haven’t seen this one yet. Many of the films on the list I haven’t even heard of.

Some they mentioned that I liked and thought were excellent were Zodiac, the New World, American Psycho, Children of Men, I Heart Huckabees, and Cache. Of these, I’d probably say Children of Men or Cache was my favorite pick for film of the decade.

(I don’t know why the reviewer recommends Blue Velvet? It’s nowhere near as good as Mulholland Drive)

American Beauty, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Chicago, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Million Dollar Baby, Crash, The Departed, No country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire

Here’s my comparrison with Mulholland on each of these films (in reverse order for reasons that will become clear later).

Mulholland Drive > Slumdog Millionaire: Slumdog is just too predictable with too many holes, and it pisses me off that the guy dances better than the girl at the end of the film.

Mulholland Drive = No country for Old men: No country is essentially a perfect movie. But there’s no girl on girl.

Mulholland Drive = The Departed: A lot of critics kind of pan the Departed for not even being Scorcesee’s best film. It’s easier to watch multiple times than Mulholland though.

Mulholland > Crash: Crash is overrated crap essentially.

Mulholland Drive > Million Dollar Baby: Baby is the most depressing move ever made. Clint should have won all his oscars as an actor.

Mulholland Drive > The Return of the King: Unless you’re on acid…well that girl on girl scene keeps me rethinking this.

Mulholland Drive > Chicago: Chicago? Please, are you kidding me?

Mulholland Drive > A Beautiful Mind: Beautiful mind is engaging and entertaining, but it’s simply not otherworldly like Mulholland Drive.

Mulholland Drive > Gladiator: Gladiator is just not best picture worthy, even though it’s a rousing film.

Mulholland Drive > American Beauty: American Beauty was released in 1999, but it was eligible for the 2000 Acadamy Awards…although it shouldn’t have won best picture.

You know, without a doubt, Mulholland is the best of all Lynch movies. For me, it’s at least twice as good as anything else he’s ever done. Sometimes a director’s weird vision sort of accidentally comes together and creates something more than the sum of its parts. That’s the case with Mulholland (and Lynch). And really, there’s no point in him ever making another film.

HOWEVER, if they’re counting American Beauty as a film in the 2000’s, then I’m going to have to say the best film of the decade was Fight Club. Fight Club had the exact same thematic concerns as American Beauty, but because it was skewed towards Gen Xers instead of Baby Boomers it was reviled by critics. Still, it’s essentially the perfect film.

You know…I gotta say No country is better than Mulholland too.

oh, and yeah, Brittany Murphy isn’t the greatest actress of all time, but she was a hell of a lot more interesting than just about any other 32 year old actress that I can think of. Seriously, she was kind of psycho looking, and I always find that appealing.