Movies by Decade: 2000s

The 2000s are an interesting decade for movies.  There’s some really good movies, no question (you will see from my rankings the best tend to come from the first half – a continuance of the 90s?).  But we also start to see an over-reliance on CGI that plagues us today.  There’s just a whole lot of movies, ranging from some of the worst ever made to some legitimately great ones.  There’s also an emphasis on sequels, though not as bad as today, because there’s plenty of really good stand-alone movies.  Overall, it’s perhaps the second-best decade for movies.

 

Before my list (remember this is “best,” not necessarily “favorite”), a few notable movies not mentioned, because I have not seen them: Mystic River, Brokeback Mountain, There Will Be Blood, Chocolat, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Moulin Rouge!, Chicago, The Hours, Seabiscuit, Ray, Capote, Babel, Michael Clayton, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Precious, A Serious Man.  Then there’s the bad movies that people think are good: Lost in Translation, Crash, Million Dollar Baby, A.I., The Da Vinci Code.  And the overrated Avatar, No Country for Old Men (among others).

 

Honorable Mentions: Memento, Cast Away, Catch Me If You Can, The Bourne Identity, Frequency, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Chicken Run, Snatch, Spy Game, A Beautiful Mind, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Spider-Man, The Pianist, Signs, The Two Towers, The Italian Job, Open Range, Return of the King, Big Fish, Miracle, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Incredibles, Cinderella Man, Munich, Inside Man, The Fountain, The Departed, Casino Royale, Miss Potter, 300, 3:10 to Yuma, Dan in Real Life, Cloverfield, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, The Dark Knight, Moon, The Young Victoria, Zombieland

 

Top 10 Countdown:

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

            This top 10 was really hard to determine, and this last spot could have been at least a half-dozen different movies.  I have Ocean’s Eleven here because it is a great mixture of funny and exciting.  It’s perhaps the best heist movie that I’ve seen.  The ensemble cast is fantastic.  It’s a very well-made movie (and much better than the original).

 

Unbreakable (2000)

            In the decade that started the run on superhero movies, the best is one outside of the major comic franchises.  I love this movie because it’s the best of Shyamalan: subtle, yet once you finish it you see how all of the pieces fit together.  I can still remember seeing it in the theater, being perplexed by the introduction about comic books, then being overwhelmed at the end of how great a superhero movie it was.  Yes it’s slow, but that was intentional, because it was made to be the first of a trilogy, deconstructing origin movies.

 

Finding Neverland (2004)

            I can never get through this movie with dry eyes.  Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, and the children are all fantastic.  You get caught up in the wonder of one of the great children’s stories of all time.  You really feel for the loss of their mother because you get invested in the characters.  It’s a beautiful movie.

 

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

            I love revenge movies (it’s a flaw of mine), and this is one of the greatest.  Jim Caviezel is fantastic.  Really all of the cast is.  You have to love Richard Harris.  The score is phenomenal.  The payoff is perfect.  A truly underrated gem.

 

Gladiator (2000)

            Originally, I had this ranked higher, but it fell back as I took some time to think these movies over.  It’s great, and maybe worthy of the top spot, but it is a little long and perhaps gratuitous in violence at times.  It is a top example of how great a movie maker Ridley Scott can be.

 

Road to Perdition (2002)

            Without a doubt, this is one of the most perfect movies based on a graphic novel.  The cast is fantastic.  The directing and visuals are stunning.  The score is beautiful.  The scene in the rain with just the score and no other sound is one of the greatest scenes in movie history.  What a way for Paul Newman to go out.  “I’m glad it was you.”

 

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

            I also had a hard time ranking this because it’s hard to think of Lord of the Rings separately.  For me, this is clearly the best of the trilogy (Two Towers makes dumb changes from the book and is clearly a set-up movie, Return of the King is too long at the end).  As an achievement, there are few things like LotR.  It’s really great in every aspect.

 

Black Hawk Down (2001)

            This could be the best war movie ever made.  It is heart-breakingly real.  The ensemble cast is great.  It makes you cheer on the Americans while hating they were there to begin with.  As great as the movie is, the book is even better.

 

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

            I had this at the top for a little bit, but guilted myself into swapping the top two.  The sad thing is how few people have heard of this movie (which absolutely deserved sequels).  While Russell Crowe is very good in Gladiator, he shines as Captain Jack (and it’s the main reason I dropped Gladiator down).  The rest of the cast is great as well.  I don’t know if I can think of another movie that has done such a fantastic job of making you feel like you are there, living the life, experiencing the events (yes, I consider it much better than Das Boot).  It’s truly impressive and, again, deserves a lot more credit.

 

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

            This is tops not just because of the subject matter, it’s because Mel Gibson is one of the greatest directors we have ever seen.  He crafts a movie like few others can.  Everything is precise.  It’s incredibly emotional.  It’s hard to beat.

 

Extra fun: the best movie scores of the decade

 

The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Howard Shore)

The Village (James Newton Howard, also Dinosaur, Unbreakable, King Kong)

The Count of Monte Cristo (Edward Shearmur, also Reign of Fire)

Road to Perdition (Thomas Newman, also Finding Nemo, A Serious of Unfortunate Events, Wall-E)

The Fountain (Clint Mansell, also Moon)

Gladiator (Hans Zimmer, also Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, The Last Samurai, The Holiday)

The Nativity Story (Mychael Danna, also The Time Traveler’s Wife)

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, and Reinhold Heil)

Catch Me If You Can (John Williams, also Harry Potter 1-3, The Patriot, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)

Mission: Impossible 3 (Michael Giacchino, also The Incredibles, Ratatouille)

The Italian Job (John Powell, also The Bourne trilogy)

X-Men (Michael Kamen, also Open Range)

Spider-Man (Danny Elfman, also Big Fish, Hulk, Terminator Salvation)

Love Actually (Craig Armstrong, also The Incredible Hulk)

Hellboy (Marco Beltrami, also Live Free or Die Hard, 3:10 to Yuma)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Harry Gregson-Williams, also Kingdom of Heaven)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Patrick Doyle)

Casino Royale (David Arnold)

Atonement (Dario Marianelli)

Transformers (Steve Jablonsky)

 

Other music from the decade: for me, this is the decade of Coldplay, as well as Muse, and a good smattering of rock like Audioslave, Linkin Park, System of a Down, and Chevelle.  And while it’s not my style, this was the decade when rap/hip hop clearly started to take over.  But you can also find some good indie music (thanks to Zach Braff) with Imogen Heap, The Shins, Cary Brothers, Joshua Radin, and Schuyler Fisk.  A final mention must be made for the masters of the music video: OK Go.