Rank the 2000s Best Picture winners

[CaptainCanada]

With last night's Oscar ceremony, we've got another full decade of Best Picture winners. My ranking:

The Great:

1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
2. Chicago (2002)
3. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
4. The Departed (2006)
5. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

The Good:

6. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
7. The Hurt Locker (2009)
8. No Country For Old Men (2007)
9. Gladiator (2000)

The Should've Been Munich:

10. Crash (2005)

 

[23skidoo]

The Should've Been Munich:

10. Crash (2005)

How refreshing that you didn't put "should've been Brokeback Mountain". That was an overrated film if ever there was one. I think Crash's victory was the result of a vote split more than anything else.

The big one that I'm still scratching my head over is Gladiator. Oh well.

Still, you have to admit there's quite a bit of diversity in the list of winners this past decade. As I've only seen a couple of them myself, I can't really make an informed ranking.

Alex

 

[Aragorn]

Master and Commander or Mystic River should've won over Return of the King, and Fellowship of the Rings should've gotten it over A Beautiful Mind (even though I'm one of the few people here who likes this movie).

 

[Hermiod]

The unfortunate problem for me is that my general dislike of Oscar-bait movies means that I've only seen two of the those ten - Gladiator and Return of the King.

Though I've had Crash on DVD for years and still haven't watched it.

 

[23skidoo]

Master and Commander or Mystic River should've won over Return of the King, and Fellowship of the Rings should've gotten it over A Beautiful Mind (even though I'm one of the few people here who likes this movie).

The Best Picture Oscar for Return of the King, and the other Oscars won that night were, in my opinion, not awards presented to just one picture, but for the entire trilogy which was and remains an outstanding achievement. So taken in that context I thought it was well deserved.

I'm half expecting to see something similar happen with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (unless the split-film format disqualifies it). It doesn't really matter whether the last film is as good as the others, we could see Oscar rewarding the production team for pulling off a feat unique in filmmaking in adapting a complete long-term series of books without major changes to cast and production team (directors notwithstanding).

Alex

 

[Othello]

The Great:
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Chicago (2002)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)


The Good:
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
The Departed (2006)
Gladiator (2000)

Will Se but Haven't Yet:
The Hurt Locker (2009)

The Didn't Even Bother/Had No Interest To See:

Crash (2005)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
No Country For Old Men (2007)

Also, would disagree with Aragorn that Master and Commander was a great movie. And this is form someone hugely predisposed to love a period piece and sailing combined.

 

[Snaploud]

The Great:
Chicago (2002)

The Good:
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Gladiator (2000)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

The Didn't Even Bother/Had No Interest To See:

Crash (2005)
No Country For Old Men (2007)
The Hurt Locker (2009)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)

The Bad/Bleh:

A Beautiful Mind (2001)
The Departed (2006)

 

[Roger Wilco]

Good:
1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
2. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
3. The Departed (2006)

Okay
4. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
5. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
6. No Country For Old Men (2007)

Crap:
7. Chicago (2002)
8. The Hurt Locker (2009)
9. Gladiator (2000)
10. Crash (2005)

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Lord of the Rings- Really given for all three. RotK was probably the weakest of the outings, but the trilogy was an excellent adaption

Million Dollar Baby- A good, but definitely NOT great film. I really do question if such a sudden and complete reversal in the plot of a film works at all from a storytelling perspective.

A Beautiful Mind- Do people here not like this one? I really liked this film because it treated his illness in a realistic manner. A lot of Hollywood films would have made some pretense to wanting to stick with the fanciful elements of the story, but this one brought right square into his psychosis.

Gladiator- Don't remember much, but I generally dislike films that take real history and make it silly and over the top and this was one of them. Also I thought the commodus character hinted at a lot more depth to him, but the filmmakers just wanted a standard baddie.

No country For Old Men - I'd say a great film

The Departed- Good, but hardly great when compared to Goodfellas. Film seemed implausible at times.

Slumdog Millionaire- Very good film. Told its story in a clever and believable way. Indian cinema is sill in love with the schmaltz though.


Didn't see the others.

 

[Trek4Ever]

The Great
1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)
2. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

The Good
3. The Departed (2006)

The So-So/Okay (not necessarily deserving the award)
4. The Hurt Locker (2009)
5. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
6. No Country For Old Men (2007)

The Crap
7. Gladiator (2000)
8. Chicago (2002)
9. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
10. Crash (2005)

 

[Kegg]

In order of year, rather than any preference.

The Great:
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
No Country for Old Men

The Good:
Chicago
Crash
The Hurt Locker

Um...
The Departed

Don't Remember Much About But Did Not Like:
Gladiator

Never Got Around To:
Million Dollar Baby
Slumdog Millionaire

...they just looked dull to me?

 

[Too Much Fun]

I hated this movie
1. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Liked it, considered it worthy of winning
1. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
2. The Departed (2006)

Not the best of the year, but I don't mind it winning
1. Crash (2005)
2. No Country For Old Men (2007)
3. Gladiator (2000)
4. A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Haven't seen it, don't want to
1. Chicago (2002)
2. Lord of the Rings (2003)

Haven't seen it, but want to
1. The Hurt Locker (2009)

Alternate choices

1. 21 Grams (2003). I thought Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring sucked. Never bothered with its sequels, I doubt either of them were as good as this movie.

2. The Aviator (2004). Maybe a little long, but a much better story with much better acting (Dicaprio's only great performance, other than "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?") than Eastwood's overrated melodramatic piece of junk.

3. Far From Heaven or Adaptation. (2002). I haven't seen "Chicago", but there's no way it's even close to as brilliant as these wonderfully original, moving, awesomely shot and beautifully acted movies.

 

[Harvey]

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Frankly, the only film in the series that holds up as a standalone piece is the first one, The Fellowship of the Ring. I would have liked to have seen that film win, not the narrative mess that was The Return of the King.

Chicago (2002)

Haven't seen it. I should, though.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Can't stand it. Danny Boyle apes Bollywood and then claims that it wasn't really an influence.

The Departed (2006)

Unneeded remake of the superior original, Infernal Affairs. It doesn't help that the American version manages to simultaneously dumb down the relationships into a silly love triangle while simultaneously being 20 minutes longer.

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

I liked it, but I think Eastwood's Mystic River was a better film.

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Silly, commercial version of the life of John Nash that has very little to say besides its love story, which was too thin to sustain my interest and held a far too tenuous relation to actual events for my taste.

The Hurt Locker (2009)

I liked it, and have no strong complaints that it won, but, as with Up in the Air, I find myself liking it less over time, and preferring A Serious Man and Inglorious Bastards.

No Country For Old Men (2007)

The Best Picture of the year, no question in my mind. A trio of strong performances and a faithful, well-shot adaptation from the Coen brothers.

Gladiator (2000)

Eh, okay. I like Gladiator, but as Best Picture winner? Looking at the other nominees, though, I'm mostly indifferent.

Crash (2005)

Munich? Nah, I wasn't big on that, either. But anything that is not the sentimental and modestly patronizing Crash.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

The Great:
1. The Hurt Locker (2009) (Liked it before I knew it had a chance to win anything.)

The Good:
2. The Departed (2006) (Never saw Infernal Affairs, so I don't care about if it was worse.)
3. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (Worst of the three, but...)

The Meh:
4. Gladiator (2000) (Overly loved because of the return of sword and sandal, but at least Traffic didn't win)
5. Chicago (2002) (Musical...that cuts away to the stage when characters are not on a stage...er...okay.)

The Crap:
6. A Beautiful Mind (2001) (The real triumph of the human spirit was making it through the movie.)
7. Crash (2005) (Deserved a Golden Globe for Best Comedy and Golden Raspberry)

Didn't See:
8. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
9. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
10. No Country For Old Men (2007)

 

[CaptainCanada]

Can't stand it. Danny Boyle apes Bollywood and then claims that it wasn't really an influence.

That's...not true. He's talked about various Indian movies and tropes he drew on for the film on a number of occasions. Likewise, the screenwriter talked quite a bit about it.

 

[Harvey]

Can't stand it. Danny Boyle apes Bollywood and then claims that it wasn't really an influence.

That's...not true. He's talked about various Indian movies and tropes he drew on for the film on a number of occasions. Likewise, the screenwriter talked quite a bit about it.

I wish I had the interview I keep remembering in my hand, but I surely don't. Perhaps I was thinking of this one, but it doesn't exactly say what it did in my memory. Some Google searching indicates that you're right. My apologies.

I still don't like the film one bit, though. The entire structure, appropriated from the book of course, but it is the structure of the film nonetheless, is far too sentimental and contrived for my tastes. I'm also a bit annoyed that it took a British guy directing for Hollywood to finally pay attention to Indian cinema (as much as this film can even be considered that).

 

[tomalak301]

1 being favorite and 10 being least favorite:

1. Gladiator
2. No Country for Old Men
3. The Hurt Locker
4. A Beautiful Mind (Surprised a lot of people don't like this one)
6. The Departed
5. Chicago
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Million Dollar Baby
9. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
10. Crash

 

[Yoda]

Great:
1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Good:
2. The Departed (2006)
3. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
4. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Crap:
5. Gladiator (2000)
6. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
7. Chicago (2002)
8. No Country For Old Men (2007)
9. Crash (2005)

Will watch for the first time sometime this week:
The Hurt Locker (2009)

 

[Too Much Fun]

Am I the only one who liked "The Departed" more than "Infernal Affairs"? I thought the latter was okay, but pretty forgettable. "The Departed" on the other hand has a whole bunch of really memorable scenes, some excellent suspense, a very enjoyable typical hammy Nicholson villain performance (totally just channeling his "Batman" and "Witches of Eastwick" characters, but I didn't mind) and hilarious potty-mouthed turns from Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin. People should stop condemning things just because they're not as good as other things. Obviously "The Departed" is not even close to the quality of Scorsese masterpieces like "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", and "Goodfellas", but that doesn't mean it isn't great in its own way.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Slumdog Millionaire
The Departed
Gladiator
No Country for Old Men
Million Dollar Baby
Crash

Haven't seen:
The Hurt Locker
A Beautiful Mind
Chicago