The 2000s in film

[CaptainCanada]

As another decade draws to a close, I put some thought into what my favourite films of the last 10 years (2000-2009) were. My choices:

Batman Begins - in a lot of ways, The Dark Knight is a better film, but I like this one more both because of how big a blast of fresh air it was at the time and because it's such an effective character study of Bruce Wayne.

Before Sunset - Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy walk around Paris for two hours. And it's really, really entertaining. The film also ends with them basically deciding that he's going to throw away his family and shack up with her, which is...kind of appalling, in a way, but you see how they got to this point.

Catch Me If You Can - I debated whether this or Munich was my favourite Spielberg work on the 00s, but I went with this. A great lead performance from DiCaprio, and Spielberg just having a lot of fun; and it was nice for Christopher Walken to be in a genuinely good movie.

Gran Torino - whenever Clint Eastwood's filmography is fully evaluated, I think this will go down as a fairly significant entry. It got way less critical and award support then Mystic River or Million Dollar Baby, but I'd call it his most important and overall best film since Unforgiven.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - While the first two movies I think get a bit too harsh a reputation these days (they're solid, if unremarkable, commercial exercises), Cuaron definitely revolutionized the franchise here. One of the first films I saw where I was really aware of the director's impact while watching it.

The Incredibles - I don't know whether his or Begins is the best superhero movie of the decade, but this is definitely the funner of the two. Introduced me to Brad Bird (whose Ratatouille I also considered for this list), and puts the lame Fantastic Four movies to shame.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - this is basically a stalking-horse for the whole series, but the second one was my favourite, which is, from what I've seen, an unusual position.

Match Point - for the first time in quite a while, a genuinely great Woody Allen movie. He managed the difficult feat of rerunning much of the plot Crimes & Misdemeanors, but making it seem fresh (and it's a better movie than C&M), in part by tackling different thematic elements.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - probably the most unexpectedly enjoyable film experience I've had. It was based on a theme park ride, but it turned out to be totally awesome.

WALL-E - the other Pixar entry on the list, this movie must have caused a few marketing executives to bash their heads against a wall, but Pixar makes it work (one of a streak of them taking really high-wire concepts and hitting home runs). WALL-E and EVE might be the best screen couple of the decade.

Your thoughts?

 

[JacksonArcher]

This was a hard decision, so pardon the lengthy little write-ups for each film.

Batman Begins - I would have to agree with the original poster. As much as I love The Dark Knight, I don't think I've waited for a film quite so anxiously and excitedly as Batman Begins. This was really the first film that I remember following from the moment Christopher Nolan was attached to direct in early 2003, to when David Goyer was announced as writer, and then when Christian Bale was announced as the caped crusader on September 11th, 2003. Call it borderline crazy, but I was obsessed with the production of this film, and the end result did not disappoint. The fact that it shot in my hometown of Chicago, much like The Dark Knight, added to the experience. Probably my favorite film of the past ten years.

In Bruges - I was really overwhelmed by my reaction to this little indie by playwright Martin McDonough, mostly because I had no idea I would even like it. It's probably one of the very few times I've went into a film completely cold, not knowing anything, and the experience was one of the best times I've had in a movie theater in years. The film feels so natural and unexpected because when it starts out, you literally have no idea what to expect. It started as a buddy comedy, and then became a crime drama, and then towards the end a mixture of the two. It's a film driven by characters and the ethical choices they make, which is so rare these days.

United 93 -- Paul Greengrass' strongest effort to date. I became a fan of his after watching The Bourne Supremacy, also on this list, but this is the film that made me realize the magnitude of his talent. It's an extraordinary homage to the people who lost their lives on 9/11, and a compelling re-enactment showcasing the resolve and couragiousness of the human spirit. I was glued to my chair for five minutes after this movie ended. I was that emotionally moved, and I don't think I've ever been that emotionally moved by a film ever.

The Bourne Supremacy -- The first film was great and all, skillfully directed by Doug Liman, who revitalized the spy thriller 'genre', but it was Paul Greengrass who came onboard and gave it a pulsating spin. With his cinema verite style of filmmaking, he gave the film a sense of urgency and immediacy. The film is also the strongest in the series, followed closely by Greengrass' follow-up, The Bourne Ultimatum. But it is Supremacy that stands the test of time -- a film just not motivated by spectacle, but by character and story. Watch Bourne's scene where he reveals he murdered the young Neski girl's parents. It's not just about atonement, but about finding solace within yourself, and it explains the entirety of Bourne's mission up to that point. "When someone you love is taken from you, you want to know why. It changes things. Doesn't it? That knowledge?" Terrific film.

X2 -- Bryan Singer's most exciting and satisfying film, and up until Batman Begins, probably the best comic-book adaptation of all time. Driven by excellent pacing, strong characters, a crackerjack script and sublime direction, Singer's film is a fantastic allegoy for whatever social minority you want to name. The scene where Bobby Drake comes out to his parents is extremely universal, in the fact that it speaks to anybody who has a had a secret, revealed it to their parents or close loved ones, and were met with that reaction of, "Have you ever tried not being yourself?"

Superman Returns -- I was debating not featuring this film, but I couldn't resist. This is, without a doubt, Bryan Singer's most accomplished film to date. Superman Returns is, above all things, a love story. But at its inner, deeper core lies an astoundingly sensitive and heart-wrenching character drama about alienation and fitting in into a world that you feel you don't truly belong in. It speaks to everyone, the very thought of being an outsider, and the emotions that come with it. This is perhaps Singer's most romantic, heartfelt and dramatic film yet. Whereas The Usual Suspects was more style over substance, and Apt Pupil was more good ideas over proper execution, Superman Returns is a mix-mash of all the right ingredients.

Casino Royale - Daniel Craig steps into the freshly pressed tuxedo as Bond, but unlike the previous incarnations, this Bond is exactly the type that Fleming imagined all those decades ago: the type of misogynistic, flippant asshole with a dangerous streak and a cold-hearted nature. Casino Royale succeeds on almost every level. As general pop entertainment. As a thrilling, spy thriller. As a classic, hard-eged James Bond adaptation that mixes Ian Fleming's pulp roots into a contemporary setting. The performances are stellar and the production values top-notch, the script is up-to-par and the direction is sublime. But what makes the movie so gripping is the connectivity of the characters and most importantly the connectivity we feel for Bond. Hard-edginess and masochism aside, Bond is a vulnerable, beatable entity who bleeds and hurts, not only physically but emotionally as well. When a waiter asks Bond how he wants his Vodka martini: shaken or stirred, Bond merely replies, "Do I look like I give a damn?". And a Bond who hardly gives a damn is a Bond we can all the more give a damn about.

Children of Men - This is the most indie-feeling film I've ever seen produced by a major studio. The plot doesn't fall into a lot of the typical Hollywood clichés. It has a very true to life feeling in that the proceedings occur without fanfare. Characters often come into & out of Theo's life in very sudden ways and without a lot of the normal drama that accompanies it in a normal film. You don't get to hear the dramatic music to warn you that a character is going to die. In this film, like life, death is a senseless, violent act that occurs without any warning. It's a sobering reminder of the fragility of human existence. Globalization's effect on economy, democracy, segregation, poverty, etc. is all featured in this film. This film covers a whole spectrum of sociological topics and issues.

The Fountain - Darren Aronosfky received a lot of flak for making this overly 'pretentious' but I must disagree. It is probably one of the most genuine, authentic science-fiction films I've ever seen, with extraordinary visuals and performances by Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. I've rarely seen a sci-fi film that was centrally about grief, and I think the two mesh together brilliantly. Also, Aronosfky is really a splendid visual storyteller, and the last ten minutes or so are one of the best combinations of visuals, acting, and music that I've ever witnessed in a film. There are so easy answers, and I love that. It is very ambigious, and allows the audience to determine the nature of the story, and those are some of my favorite stories, so naturally The Fountain succeeds on that level for me.

Insomnia -- I am not a fan of procedural crime dramas, but this one packs an emotional punch, and Christopher Nolan deftly takes you into the mind of the main character, Detective Dormer, portrayed with stunning poignancy by Al Pacino. I could never resonate with Memento, possibly because of its total non-linear structure, or because the entire film felt like a gimmick and a cheat, but Insomnia takes you into the mind of someone in such a way that I've never seen before. As Dormer slowly descends into madness as the sleep deprivation takes its toll, you can see the threads and seams of his consciousness slowly began to unravel, and it takes for a very thought provoking and captivating film. Christopher Nolan is probably my favorite filmmaker of the last ten years, for his ability to almost seamlessly intertwine story and character in an effortless fashion that's always entertaining and provocative.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Best I could come up with, I usually miss most Oscar/Indie/ whatever movies...

The Prestige - The best Nolan film I've seen.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - I like it best because it's not constantly cutting back and forth between 2 or 3 plot lines, which is necessary for the next two parts, but...

The Departed - After The Aviator and whatever, Scorsese reminds us that it's crime dramas he does best.

The Dark Knight - Years from now, it and maybe Batman Begins will be seen as the few 00's superhero films worth a crap. Wait, what do I mean years from now? It's that way now.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - I'm not sure I'd say that if I rewatched it, so I've vowed never to rewatch it.

The Rules of Attraction - Made me long for the college campus years I never had.

The Hurt Locker - It's not that I love the movie, it's that I couldn't find anything really wrong with it.

The Patriot - Awesomely ahistorical revenge fantasy. I mean, really...it's just sooo Mel Gibson, Rodat and Emmerich. Oh, and Jason Issacs oozing villainy...man, it's like a movie from 50 years ago made with late 90's/early 2000's sensibilities.

Planet Terror - Parody of crappy horror movies that was funnier than most comedies of the decade.

Kung Fu Hustle - A live action cartoon that worked.

Honorable Mentions:

28 Days Later - Too bad it falls apart when they meet the soldiers.

Dawn of the Dead - It starts to fall apart with the birth.

LOTR: The Two Towers - Tries to hard to topical relevancy in a few spots, Gollum starts to get annoying.

Gladiator - It's whorish history like The Patriot, but more over-hyped, like it's star Crowe, who never quite became the box office gold everyone thought he'd be after this.

Kill Bill - When Tarantino hits he hits, but when parts misfire, it feels so forced and hokey. I find his films uneven in that regard.

 

[Starbreaker]

The Lord of the Rings
Star Trek
The Prestige
The Descent
Children of Men
28 Days Later
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
500 Days of Summer
Crash
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
3:10 To Yuma
Adaptation
Amelie
Zodiac
American Gangster
Casino Royale
City of God
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Fountain
Mongol
Mystic River
Pan's Labyrinth
The Pianist
Rescue Dawn
Unbreakable
United 93
The Wrestler
Milk
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
The Cove

So many movies, so little time...

 

[Mr Light]

To me this decade will be always the decade of the Star Wars Prequels and Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. The Triple A film franchises. What the hell will we get in the 2010s?

 

[Starbreaker]

To me this decade will be always the decade of the Star Wars Prequels and Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. The Triple A film franchises. What the hell will we get in the 2010s?

The Hobbit
Spider-Man 4
Iron Man 2
Pirates of the Caribbean 4
Thor
The Avengers
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Star Trek 2

It's gonna be awesome.

 

[Nowhere Man]

To me this decade will be always the decade of the Star Wars Prequels and Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. The Triple A film franchises. What the hell will we get in the 2010s?

The Hobbit
Spider-Man 4
Iron Man 2
Pirates of the Caribbean 4
Thor
The Avengers
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Star Trek 2

It's gonna be awesome.

Agreed, don't forget Captian America, Green Lantern and hopefully another Star Trek, Incredible Hulk,Batman and Superman. Heres my top 5 as of now(bad memory) 1. Boondock Saints 2. The Dark Knight 3.POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 4. Star Trek 5. Batman Begins

Honorable Mentions
The Patriot, Ironman, Clerks 2, SW:2&3, Pretty much anything with Denzel washington, The Hangover, Superman 2: Richard donner cut(Technally a lot older movie)

 

[Harvey]

I don't know if I could pick ten films. But I watched American Splendor for the first time in several years today, and it would have to be on a list of top films of the decade. Perhaps not the top ten, but up there.

 

[zakkrusz]

Lots of good stuff, but If I had to do a top ten for the decade:

Iron Man
Batman Begins/The Dark Knight
Star Trek (2009)
The Bourne Movies
The Kara no Kyoukai (Garden of Sinners) Films
Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3
Kill Bill 1&2
V For Vendetta
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Star Wars Episodes 1-III

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

Almost Famous
Clerks II
Before Sunset
X2: X-Men United
Sunshine
Rocky Balboa
Big Fish
Lord Of The Rings: The Return of the King
Rocket Science
Grindhouse

 

[Guy Gardener]

This decade is either know by the glib as the "naughties" or, "the turn of the millennium".

Almost famous was wonderful.

 

[Captaindemotion]

The Lord of the Rings series (I thought each was better than the last, but I really view them as one epic movie, the fantasy Godfather 1 & 2).

The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. As Jackson Archer said, Doug Liman deserves credit for a great opener in the Bourne series, but Greengrass' brace of movies really elevated this spy series into an entirely different level

Batman Begins - Yeah, for all the plaudits rightly thrown at The Dark Knight, I think its predecessor was a more enjoyable and leaner movie. And it was for my money the first time they'd actually gotten a Batman movie right.

Memento - Mr Nolan again, with a brilliant premise, a trippy way of telling a tale and great performances (who knew Mike from neighbours was such a great actor?!)

The Departed - Scorsese's best movie since Goodfellas and Nicholson's best performance in years. And Matt Damon probably confirming his status as Movie Star of the Decade (the rest of the cast was pretty good too)

Children of Men - proof that science fiction doesn't have to be space opera (not that there's anything wrong with that), SFX or big budget. A thought provoking and compelling thriller, oddly enough, based on a story by detective novelist PD James.

Inglourious Basterds. In some ways, I still wish Tarantino had matured as a movie maker and did more character based and realistic movies. Then again, there isn't another director in the world who could have made this movie. So leave the character and realism to everyone else, thank you Quentin. Probably merits an inclusion on the opening scene in the farmhouse alone.

X-Men 1 & 2, Iron Man & Spider-Man 1 & 2. Perfectly pitched popcorn movies, which could so easily have come out wrong (especially the X-Men movies) but which proved that superhero movies could be plain FUN and could appeal to a widespread audience, not just to nerds. And which helped Marvel kick DC's ass, for a few years anyway. Roll on IM2, S-M 4, Avengers, Thor, Captain America, etc, etc ...

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In some ways, I prefer Hero and The House of the Flying Daggers. But this was the first wire-fu foreign language movie to get such a widespread release and to really put that sort of beautiful martial arts movie in the map.

Gladiator - welcome return of the sandals & swords epic and probably the last time Russell Crowe was a compelling screen presence.

Then there are a few movies which perhaps don't necessarily deserve to be hailed as the best of the decade but which I personally enjoyed a lot. These would include Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Superman Returns and Star Trek.

 

[Kegg]

Far too many films to name, so I won't even pretend to. It was a big, long, exciting, successful decade, full of ups and downs but by and large more than enough highlights for me. I still love the retro-quirky sci-fi stylings of 2046, but In the Mood for Love is one of Wong Kar-wai's best films overall. My Winnipeg was beautifully, wonderfully, weirdly funny and Guy Maddin is just brilliant, period. Bergman and Kurosawa, the two names I've seen frequently paired together as the typicall good arthouse cinema people, both got a movie out - Bergman's Saraband; with Kurosawa doing a 'from-beyond-the-grave' trick to have his screenplay for The Sea is Watching adapted) - though only the Bergman film understandably is a great one. There was this Korean movie called Old Boy, a cartoon called Persepolis. And so on. This isn't even a list of favourites, just movies I can remember seeing and talking about (and liking).

Goodbye Lenin! The film I bonded with the most as a teenager for some reason, even if the zeitgeist was a decade early. The Lives of Others was the excellent rebuke to that excellent film, somewhere in the middle there was Downfall, Sophie Scholl was brilliant, and speaking of Germans, what of Herzog's Grizzily Man? That was nice.

As far as genre flicks go, Lord of the Rings basically set the standard for epic adventure, being the most successful films in that regard since the original Star Wars trilogy. Their use of special effects, music, action, and so on made them by far the most compelling and memorable blockbuster films for me.

Though the Batman films were also buckets of fun, and any claim the LOTR films would have to being the best fantasy films of the decade can be legitimately challenged by the wonderful Pan's Labyrinth. Many odd sci-fi films got lost through cracks and sidelines and of those let me name of course A Scanner Darkly, the definitive PKD adaptation, and Moon, which was just wonderful.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In some ways, I prefer Hero and The House of the Flying Daggers. But this was the first wire-fu foreign language movie to get such a widespread release and to really put that sort of beautiful martial arts movie in the map.

Crouching Tiger is definitely one of my favourite action movies of the decade - and so too is Hero. Fun, fun films. Flying Daggers does suffer from a completely preposterous plot, but is that actually a strength? Hm. The action scenes here are also spectacular, beautiful, and completely engaging. Loved it. But then, I even loved The Golden Flower, which got a decidedly lukewarm reception - I am perhaps easily bought by aesthetic beauty. Definitely dug Zhang Yimou's movies in general here.

 

[Ben Sisko3]

Top Seven In Alphabetical Order:
Children of Men
Hot Fuzz
I'm Not There
Mist, The
Mulholland Dr.
Primer
Shaun of the Dead

Other Favorites beyond those, in alphabetical order:
28 Days Later...
Across the Universe
American Splendor
Assassination of Richard Nixon, The
Aviator, The
Batman Begins
Burn After Reading
Capturing the Friedmans
Casino Royale
Clerks II
Dark Knight, The
Devil's Backbone, The
Dirty Pretty Things
Donnie Darko
Frost/Nixon
Good Night, and Good Luck.
History of Violence, A
Illusionist, The
Incredible Hulk, The
Insomnia
Iron Man
Kill Bill
Magdalene Sisters, The
Memento
Million Dollar Baby
Minority Report
No Country For Old Men
No Man's Land
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
One Hour Photo
Orphanage, The
Others, The
Pan's Labyrinth
Pledge, The
Road to Perdition
Serenity
Signs
Solaris
Spider-Man 2
Spirited Away
Star Trek
Superman Returns
Time of the Wolf
Traffic
Tropic Thunder
Unbreakable
V for Vendetta
Village, The
WALL*E
Watchmen
Where the Wild Things Are
X-Men
X2
Zack and Miri Make a Porno

 

[Lord Garth]

My favorite movies in the 2000s:

Stranded
Rabbit-Proof Fence
White Orleander
The Pianist
11:14
Shattered Glass
Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2
Flight of the Pheonix
Batman Begins
Goodnight & Good Luck
Flightplan
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Man of the Year
Superbad
The TV Set
Persepolis
The Dark Knight
The Brave One
Tropic Thunder
Star Trek

Half of those are probably pretty obscure.

 

[Ceridwen]

There was this Korean movie called Old Boy...

God, that really was a fantastic film, wasn't it?