Blake's Think Tank

Corey Haim, 38, was found dead in his Hollywood apartment today of an apparent drug overdose. The years had passed him by, but when he was on, he was on. I spent a decent amount of evenings between the years 1986 – 1992 with Haim and, at times, his infamous counterpart, Corey Feldman: “Lucas,” “The Lost Boys,” “License to Drive,” “Dream a Little Dream,” and even “Blown Away,” which still makes an appearance on cable. It’s been 18 years since he made a watchable movie. Still, for the films noted above, I’ll pour one out.

My Arkansas Sunday Edition prediction: Saints 45, Colts 38. Karma, turnovers, Sean Peyton’s offense being my ratrionale.

I’m taking a step away from the health care debate to look at the best movies of the decade. I’m not really sure why; it seemed like a perfectly enjoyable thing to do. For a part of it I wrote a film blog for the Arkansas Times called The Moviegoer and occasionally reviewed movies for them. Watching movies, writing about movies, talking to my friends about movies is pure joy. I love it. I do. This can drive Mrs. Think Tank a little crazy.

Think Tank friend Philip Martin of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette already has my 2009 Top 10 movie list, and assuming he publishes it you will see what I liked in 2009. Until then, here are my thoughts on the decade’s best films. You won’t see a lot of Best Picture winners here, although there are a few. These are the films that over the past nine years made a lasting impression with me. I return to them over and over. They are, in my view, terrific.

Ten Best Films of 2000 – 2008
1. Almost Famous (2000)
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
3. City of God (2002)
4. The 25th Hour (2002)
5. The Dark Knight (2008)
6. Children of Men (2006)
7. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
8. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2008)
9. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
10. Gosford Park (2001)

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Mrs. Think Tank reminds me that it’s Christmas.

One of the refreshing things about Bill Simmons‘ new book, “The Book of Basketball,” is his unwavering and persuasive belief that basketball, unlike baseball, is both an objective and subjective sport. It’s objective in the ways you might imagine: scoring, shooting percentage, rebounds per game, assists, minutes. But it’s subjective in the sense that certain players (Shane Battier, for example) do things on the court that cannot be measured by statistics.

I write this an unenthusiastic observer of the NBA. Okay, that’s too nice. I really can’t stand it. The league is filled with crappy players and even crappier teams. The New York Knicks suck, which is fine with me, but so do the New Jersey Nets, who lost 18 games in a row before finally winning one this weekend. There’s no excuse for that. Sure, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett and Carmelo Anthony anchor the best teams in the league, and admittedly they’re fun to watch on most nights.

But that’s about it. If we consider sports as entertainment, what’s less enjoyable than listening to another telecast of Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley on TNT? Nothing. Trust me.

I’m 150 pages in to Mr. Simmons new book. It’s hilarious, as expected, and his thesis – as stated above – is provable. So I give him credit for that along with writing a monster book. It may not win any awards (and even I find the pop culture references a bit over cooked), but he uses footnotes brilliantly. No one is a bigger fan.

Which leads me back to stats. Today, The New York Times reports that Bloomberg has devised software that will help chart player performance in Major League Baseball. Oh shit, I thought. There goes the intangible argument.

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This is the time of year when I really miss writing a movie blog. Maybe I gave the gig up a little too early over at the Arkansas Times‘ Web site. Oh well, that ship has sailed. Still, from time to time, I’ll write about movies in this space. Today seems like a good day for it. After all, I’ve absorbed all of the Mike Huckabee/Maurice Clemmons that I can for one day.

The other night at dinner Mrs. Think Tank and I got to talking about 2009 movies, specifically our favorites. This got me thinking about my top ten list, which I compile annually for fun, and is sometimes printed in the local newspaper.

Earlier this year I posted my mid-year Top Ten. Looking back on that list it wasn’t all that bad. 1) Summer Hours; 2) Adventureland; 3) Public Enemies; 4) That Evening Sun; 5) Goodbye Solo; 6) The Soloist; 7) The Hangover; State of Play; 9) Two Lovers; 10) Star Trek.

Since that time, I’ve seen some terrific stuff: “The Hurt Locker,” “Where the Wild Things Are,” “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “(500) Days of Summer,” “Julie & Julia,” and “An Education.”

My yet-to-see/must-see list looks like this: “Up,” “Bright Star,” “Precious,” “The Blind Side,” “Up in the Air,” “Inglorious Basterds,” “Brothers,” “Broken Embraces,” “Invictus,” “Nine,” “The Lovely Bones,” “A Single Man,” “Avatar,” “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus,” “It’s Complicated,” “Crazy Heart,” “The Last Station” and “Sherlock Holmes.”

If want to get some good movie talk locally, check out Cameras on the Radio.

If you’re a fan of Oscar talk go here, here and here.

From Dana Stevens:

In a way, despite its unremitting grimness, The Road is a perfect Thanksgiving weekend release. It gives even those who dread seeing their families for holiday dinner something very literal and tangible to be thankful for. Mom’s turkey may be dry and her pie crusts leathery, but at least you have something to eat and someone to eat it with, and the menu doesn’t include you.