‘Hold That Thought’ is a standout track from Ben Folds Five’s reunion album, 2012’s The Sound of the Life of the Mind.
This track’s vibe sounds a lot like some of Folds’ solo work, such as ‘Jesusland’ from 2005’s Songs From Silverman. But Darren Jesse’s drumming and especially Robert Sledge’s bass work add something that Folds has never been quite able to capture the same way on his own.
How often do you see a movie that is unlike anything else ever made?
The unique achievement of Richard Linklater’s Boyhood — that it was shot over 12 years, capturing its main character’s entire childhood in two and a half hours — would make it worthy of this list almost regardless of its quality.
But Linklater used his storytelling conceit to tell a deep, poignant story about the life of an ordinary kid without succumbing to sentimentality or melodrama. He found poetry in the everyday moments that build up to shape a life.
It’s tough to consider the most recent year when compiling a ‘best of the decade’ list. The films both benefit from being freshest in your mind and suffer from not having enough time to really sink in.
I’ve read a couple of decade recaps that set aside 2019 altogether for that reason, which I find silly. How can you assess a movie decade while looking at just nine years’ worth of films?
Another alternative would be to hold off on creating this list until 6 months or a year from now, when 2019 has the benefit of a little more hindsight. But I’m not that patient.
I didn’t deliberately set out to make a Top 20 of the Decade list that looks a lot different than all the ones I’ve read across the web. But only a handful of my titles are showing up on those “professional” lists.
John Carney’s Sing Street wasn’t properly appreciated when it came out three years ago and it’s certainly not getting its due now, but for my money it’s one of the greatest coming-of-age tales and one of the greatest music movies ever made.
I’ve gone on record naming the Coen Brothers as my favorite filmmakers, so it should come as no surprise that they landed two films on my Best of the 2010s list.
I will wait until I get to the next one to talk about the Coens’ decade overall.
But today, a few words about the brothers’ last film of the decade, the Western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Paul Thomas Anderson often shows up at or near the top of critics’ lists of the best living film directors. I’m a card-carrying member of the cult.
Anderson directed my third favorite movie of the 00s (There Will Be Blood) and both Boogie Nights and Magnolia, two of my favorite 90s films. In the 2010s, he delivered a trio of fascinating and wildly different movies, including 2014’s Inherent Vice and 2017’s Phantom Thread.
I was intially surprised to see I hadn’t already posted today’s track, from Rufus Wainwright’s 1999 self-titled debut album.
In fact, I’ve posted only one song from this album, period, the opening cut ‘Foolish Love.’
Looking back at that post, I was reminded why Wainwright has had a relatively low profile on the blog (26 Songs of the Day, including six on Random Weekends). My regular readers, especially ten years ago, just didn’t like him very much.
