I am trying to compile a master list of the best films of the 00s, which I can then winnow down to a best 100, or best 50 or whatever. I am concerned that I may be forgetting some good ones. Below are the movies I have so far. Please take a look and suggest others that ought to be included (including your reasons, if you like, to kick-start some discussion). Thanks!
(500) Days of Summer
1408
28 Days Later
3:10 to Yuma
A History of Violence
A Serious Man
Adaptation
All the Pretty Horses
Almost Famous
Along Came Polly
Amélie
An Inconvenient Truth
Apocalypto
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Aviator
Baby Mama
Bad Santa
Batman Begins
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Before Sunset
Being John Malkovich
Bend It Like Beckham
Black Hawk Down
The Bourne Identity
Bowling for Columbine
Boy A
Brokeback Mountain
Broken Flowers
Bubba Ho-tep
Burn After Reading
Capote
Capturing the Friedmans
Cast Away
Catch Me If You Can
Children of Men
City of God
Cold Mountain
Control
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Danny Deckchair
The Dark Knight
Dawn of the Dead
The Departed
The Devil’s Backbone
District 9
Dog Soldiers
Donnie Darko
Doubt
Eagle vs. Shark
Enchanted
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Finding Neverland
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Frailty
Frozen River
Gangs of New York
Ghost Town
Gladiator
Gone Baby Gone
Grizzly Man
The Hangover
Hard Candy
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
High Fidelity
Horton Hears a Who
Hotel Rwanda
In Bruges
The Incredibles
Infamous
Inglourious Basterds
Into the Wild
Iron Man
Jimmy Carter Man from Plains
Junebug
Juno
The Kite Runner
Lars and the Real Girl
Last King of Scotland
Let the Right One In
Little Miss Sunshine
The Lives of Others
The Lookout
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Lost in Translation
Love Actually
Me Myself and Irene
Meet the Parents
Memento
Michael Clayton
Milk
Million Dollar Baby
Minority Report
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Mongol
Munich
Mystic River
Napoleon Dynamite
No Country for Old Men
Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens)
O Brother Where Art Thou?
The Orphanage
Pandorum
Persepolis
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Reader
Requiem for a Dream
Rescue Dawn
The Ring
The Royal Tenenbaums
Se, Jie (Lust, Caution)
Serenity
Session 9
Shaun of the Dead
Shrek
Sideways
Slumdog Millionaire
Snatch
Spider-Man
Spider-Man II
Spirited Away
The Squid and the Whale
Star Trek
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The Station Agent
Stranger Than Fiction
Sunshine State
Superbad
Syriana
The Tale of Despereaux
Talk to Her
Talladega Nights (Shut up. I thought it was hilarious.)
The Tao of Steve
The Transporter
The Valet
Vanilla Sky
The Visitor
Wall-E
The Wedding Crashers
The Wrestler
Y Tu Mamá También
Zombieland
Zoolander
Still another few weeks in 2009, so if you see any good candidates that are in theaters now, let me know.
Auto Focus - Starts off looking like Herbie the Love Bug, finishes off looking more like Deadwood. You won’t realize that the first and last scenes belong to the same movie. Having the film quality degrade along with Bob Crane’s circumstances could have been tacky, but it isn’t.
There Will Be Blood - I could still be aglow from having just seen it last week, but it’s really an acting coup. I thought the creepy faith-healer would make a great serial killer.
Hmmm. Both my choices are about men descending into their own little worlds o’ hurt. I wonder if that means something.
A few I thought of that ought to at least be on the initial list, although I’m not sure how many would go on to the final cut:
Dancer in the Dark
Bus 174 (Ônibus 174)
Nobody Knows (Dare mo Shiranai)
The Host (Gwoemul)
Good Bye, Lenin!
Winged Migration (Le peuple Migrateur)
Moon
Whale Rider
Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
I also think Prisoner of Azkaban should go on ahead of Chamber of Secrets
2000
American Psycho
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Requiem for a Dream
2001
Amelie
Black Hawk Down
Conspiracy
The Devil’s Backbone
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Y Tu Mama Tambien
La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher)
2002
Adaptation
Better Luck Tomorrow
City of God
The Pianist
Roger Dodger
2003
Kill Bill vol. 1
The Station Agent
2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Hotel Rwanda
Million Dollar Baby
Primer
Super Size Me
Drag Me to Hell
Cloverfield
Gran Torino
Taken
Trick 'r Treat
Tropic Thunder
Wanted
Reign Over Me
Vacancy
Borat
Slither
Red Eye
V For Vendetta
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
Kill Bill Volume 1
Saved!
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Panic Room
Joy Ride
Pitch Black
Unbreakable
Wonder Boys
Whale Rider
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
Walk the Line
There Will Be Blood
Auto Focus
American Psycho
Some of the others I haven’t yet seen, and some I didn’t care for, but I recognize that tastes vary, and they should probably all be included on the master list.
Well, I think Infernal Affairs (2002) is better than its adaptation The Departed since it’s inherently harder to create something original than it is to adapt someone else’s work. It certainly had a better ending, since the bad cop gets away with it at the end, there’s no Mark Wahlberg character to punish him. If you think about it, he doesn’t do anything in the movie at all besides killing Good Will Hunting. Good guy dies, bad guy lives, how often do you see that? In that vein, the original Shutter (2004) was a nice Thai twist on the horror film, it’s good to see the growing status of Thai cinema internationally.
And what about House of Flying Daggers (2004)? Or **High Tension/Haute Tension **(2003) for showing what an old school slasher film is like without the self-awareness of recent films in the genre. I’m not sure how wide a net is being cast but if we’re going unlimited then I’d also have to include Linda Linda Linda (2005), a nice unhurried look at a Japanese high school band’s scramble to get something together for the school festival - don’t believe the back of the DVD which makes it sound like a screwball comedy, it’s definitely funny but in a quieter way.
It’s kind of hard to remember movies from the early part of the decade now, though. Let’s see, The Descent (2005) was also a good horror movie which is quite deep, repeat watchings are fruitful. Additionally, The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros (2005) is a story about a young gay boy which is refreshingly not about the struggle for acceptance (he already has that), rather it’s about his first crush and how that conflicts with his family’s position in their poor neighbourhood. Seraphim Falls (2006) is a nicely compact Western, it’s like the Western distilled to its essential characters.
Note that I’m specifically covering movies that haven’t been mentioned, I definitely agree with some of the previous ones listed. I’ll probably think of something else later. And before someone mentions it, I have to say I specifically don’t include Battle Royale (2000). It was interesting but the premise was just too much for me to take.
I just knew I’d add stuff, I forgot about Donnie Darko (2001) and Redbelt (2008). The first is trippy and demands repeat viewings, the second is I think the first serious movie depiction of mixed martial arts. And no one likes Kill Bill vol 2 (2004)?
Coraline should at least be on the list. Reason: if we can specify the 3-D version it’s the best movie ever made. Even if we don’t, it’s in my top 5 favorites of the decade. My others are already in the list.
