Don’t watch the trailer first – if there is one piece of advice I could give regarding the movie “Hugo,” Martin Scorsese’s latest foray in cinema, it’s that the trailer just sucks. It appears that the trailer is marketing a film filled with cheap inspiration and whimsical nothingness. But “Hugo” is a movie with considerable depth that pays homage to Scorsese’s first love – movies.

Hugo is the story of a boy who is passionate about machines. He was trained by his Father to fix gears, and build anything that could be crafted by human hands. Hugo lives in a train station, constantly working the clocks and keeping time. Along the way, he is fixing a rather mysterious looking automaton. The only thing missing is a heart shaped key.

Though “Hugo” is great on its own, your appreciation for the film will only deepen if you know a few facts about its director. Scorsese was raised in Little Italy in New York. As a boy, he was rather limited to physical activity by his asthma, which led to many outings with his Father to the movies. Though he dabbled in training for the Catholic Priesthood, he ultimately would find his calling as a filmmaker. As a filmmaker, he is not only responsible for some of the most brilliant films ever made (Goodfellas, Raging Bull, etc, etc), he is dedicated to the gospel of film. He is a head of a film preservation group that finds older films and restores them so they can be enjoyed for generations to come.

As the door closes on the first decade of the 21st century, it's time to take stock of what we've been through and what it all means. And it's time to make lists. As a film critic, it's been fun for me to look back on this decade and sift through the good and bad of what I've seen (and I've seen a lot). And so here is my humble offering to the glut of "best of the decade" lists: my picks for the 100 best movies. Maybe it wasn’t the 1930s or the 1970s, but the 2000s was a darn good decade in film. Take a look (and fill up your Netflix queue)!