100 Favorites of the ‘00s: 25-1

Welcome back to my 100 Favorites of the ‘00s! This piece finishes off the countdown to my favorite ‘00s movies. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out 100-76 and come back!

Let’s not waste any more time. Let’s get back into it.

25. Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)

There are few achievements in filmmaking that tops the Lord of the Rings films. All 9 hours and 18 minutes (theatrical) were filmed together over 14 months. Digital software needed to be developed in order to create parts of Middle Earth and all of the participants in each battle for not even David Lean could’ve directed the masses required. The films were a clear, single vision that can never be seen as separate or distinct on their own. The makeup, costumes, production design, and the motion capture innovations all combined to clearly demarcate the history of the fantasy genre in film as before Lord of the Rings and after Lord of the Rings. Remember: all of this was shot on film, too! It’s a remarkable achievement. But it falls a bit on my list due solely to the overwhelming lengths (the extended editions add close to 2hrs 30mins to the overall runtime) and the unified nature of the trilogy, which is prohibitive to casual viewings. Regardless, as a cinephile, I hold these films in high regard.

24. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

This is one of my absolute favorites of the entire Harry Potter film series, another benchmark in fantasy filmmaking. This was the second and last film to be directed by Chris Columbus and many prefer the creative visions of the following entries to this. I get that, but after seeing my favorite of the series, The Deathly Hallows, I realized this film is the most significant of the entire series, as it sets up no less than 60% of what Deathly Hallows pays off. I also was impressed by how the basilisk was defeated in the end, as I expected the Harry Potter films to be too tame for such violence (I hadn’t read more than the first book). Anyway, Prisoner of Azkaban would lead the heroic trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione into their troubled teens. But the Chamber of Secrets was a balance of the wide-eyed innocence of the first film and the darkness and maturity on the horizon with the following films.

23. Star Trek (2009)

I admit, this is one of the best films in the Star Trek film series. It was the first legasequel of its kind in that it acted as a sequel to the originals, yet forged its own path with a new cast. In this case it worked as both a sequel and a reboot of Star Trek, which was a franchise thought dead for the previous seven years. It’s not terribly surprising that at this point Paramount decided the best way forward was to essentially start over to reignite the franchise - and it worked! Consider all of the Star Trek movies and shows we’ve gotten the past 15 years as a result of this movie. And hiring J.J. Abrams, who had given Mission: Impossible a shot in the arm 3 years before, was not a surprising move. Yes, this film made Star Trek more action-driven than the previous movies and shows and purists are understandably disgruntled about that. Yes, not everything in the movie follows its logic of time travel and the effects one space ship has on continuity (Spock and Uhura in a relationship?!). Those things prevent it from being the absolute best of the franchise (First Contact did a better job with time travel and Wrath of Khan may always reign supreme). But this cast, the direction, the script and its character conflicts all make this an undeniably fun entry. And Michael Giacchino’s score is the best since James Horner’s.

22. Batman Begins (2005)

The Batman film series was dead. But nearly a decade had passed and so it was time to reintroduce the Dark Knight back into the culture. Christopher Nolan was hired based on his films Memento and Insomnia to give us a new vision of the bat. Being inspired by Richard Donner’s Superman, Nolan wanted to ground the film in drama, driven by character development and a reality that felt like our own. That was music to every Batman fan’s ears. Nolan chose Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul as his villains and proved you could have two villains in a superhero movie and make the film less about their villainy and more about the hero and his motivations. Being partially inspired by the story Batman: Year One, Batman Begins tells the origin of the titular superhero. Other influences include ‘The Man Who Falls’, Batman: The Long Halloween (which would also inspire the sequel), and Batman: Dark Victory. I’m also a fan of Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. It was truly wonderful to see the other characters brought to life for the first time or again by respected actors. Batman Begins will always be one of my favorite Batman movies.

21. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

This was considered the best Spider-Man movie for a very long time. It’s also one of the best superhero movies of the decade. It certainly raised the bar and helped make the first half of the decade a very exciting time to be a comic book geek. This film gave us one of Spider-Man’s biggest adversaries: Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina). It was a very interesting depiction of the character, one of tragedy and horror. Sam Raimi had a lot of fun in this one and fans of his can see elements of his Evil Dead days pop up. But Doc Ock wasn’t the only well-rounded character in the film. Peter Parker was faced with several day-to-day challenges in his personal and academic life. These added dimension to the film and helped break from the convention of the villain creating the primary conflict in a superhero movie. It all shaped up to be a leap above the first film and one of the best of the genre.

20. Mean Girls (2004)

Tina Fey managed to take a non-fiction book about teen life and craft an incredibly witty and enjoyable teen movie. This was peak Lindsey Lohan; it was where her potential was most visible and exciting. That makes Mean Girls a bit of a bummer in hindsight, because Lohan was never better than she was here. But I loved Lizzie Caplan and Daniel Franzese as friends of Lohan’s Kady the most. They were SO funny and hilarious! Yes, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, and Lacey Chabert were great as the titular characters. But Caplan and Franzese kept me laughing. As did Tim Meadows as the exasperated principle. And Rajiv Surendra as the mathlete with hip hop swagger. There’s just so much to love about this film; it’s not a wonder it became a classic.

19. Donnie Darko (2001)

The article seems lost in the webisphere, but I named Donnie Darko one of the best movies of the ‘00s, because of its beleaguered journey to become a cult classic (it was released immediately after 9/11). I can’t think of any other film in history that survived a national tragedy, gained huge word of mouth, earned a theatrical re-release and became a classic of any sort. The thing is Donnie Darko is a baffling movie; a thinker, particularly if you watch the theatrical cut. There was one intent of what is actually happening in the film, but the film felt open to several interpretations. That experience was rare even in the early ‘00s. The cast adds a lot to this film: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Drew Barrymore, Holmes Osborne, Noah Wyle, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Seth Rogen, Beth Grant, and Katharine Ross. And that Thompson Twins needle drop! Such a cool sequence! I love it. It’s a shame Richard Kelly could never deliver beyond this film.

18. Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)

This is one of my all-time favorite documentaries and just missed my 100 Favorite Movies of All Time list. Robert S. McNamara talks to legendary documentarian Errol Morris about his time as Secretary of Defense in the 1960s. The lessons he departs in this documentary served as warnings for the administration of the time and it was probably the most significant documentary of the ‘00s. The score by Philip Glass and John Kusiak is one of my favorite scores of any film. The film cuts archive footage with present-day McNamara looking at the camera and talking. It is riveting.

17. Casino Royale (2006)

After the Bond franchise steadily headed for the train wreck that was Die Another Day Brosnan’s time in the role was over. It was time for a new Bond and with him, a new vision. Enter Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig. Campbell had success before with reigniting the franchise (GoldenEye). Here he starts at the beginning with Bond earning his 00 status. It was a fantastic and thrilling new beginning to the legacy. And it added a surprise: an actual love interest (Eva Green) who Bond was willing to quit Her Majesty’s Secret Service for. Fans hadn’t seen anything like that since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, a relationship that became significant to the character’s history for years. It isn’t my absolute favorite Bond movie, but it’s up there and I love it.

16. High Fidelity (2000)

This quasi-romantic comedy is based on what would become one of my favorite books and adapted by its novelist, Nick Hornby. Stephen Frears directed. But it’s about a guy whose recent break-up makes him think about his Top 5 breakups and why they all broke up with him. Rob Gordon (John Cusack), the protagonist, is a bit of a jerk and this journey eventually helps him realize he needs to grow up. But he’s also an audiophile and a fan of making lists - both speak to me greatly. Gordon owns a record store and his two employees (Todd Louiso and Jack Black) sit around and talk about music most of the day, creating their own Top 5 lists of various categories. I love this shit. I used to want to be these guys. High marks for Iben Hjelje, whom I’d never heard of before and I don’t think I’ve seen since, and Jack Black, for whom this was his breakout role. It’s an underrated film for sure.

15. Elf (2003)

This is one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies. Will Ferrell plays a man who was raised by elves in the North Pole and discovers his real father (James Caan) lives in New York City. Fish-out-of-water hilarity ensues. And it sure is hilarious. The climax is a bit family movie hokey, but most of the movie works and is highly quotable. Faizon Love is a standout to me with a deadpan face that reacts to Ferrell’s overzealous joy. And this movie cemented my crush on Zooey Deschanel, who is absolutely lovely as Ferrell’s love interest. Elf is guaranteed to bring joy and laughter to any holiday season. Unless you’re a Scrooge or Grinch.

14. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

This Ang Lee wuxia martial arts saga just fell outside of my 100 Favorite Movies of All Time list. It is absolutely gorgeous. Its love stories are respectively restrained and passionate. Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-fat, Zhang Ziyi, and Cheng Pei-pei star. The story is fiercely feminist and the action choreography is ballet-like. It’s probably my favorite Chinese movie. And it was significant as it was the gateway for many Americans to a decade’s worth of foreign films that became popular annually. It’s hard to beat.

13. Kill Bill (2003-2004)

The first film of the ‘00s to make my 100 Favorites of All Time list. I’m still waiting for the day I can see or get my hands on a copy of The Whole Bloody Affair, which combines the two chapters into a single film experience, as conceived. Quentin Tarantino wanted the 4-hour+ experience to be a single film, but was convinced to split it for distribution practicalities. The film is a mix of martial arts, anime, and vengeance films like Lady Snowblood. It’s a mash-up of several Hong Kong and Japanese films Tarantino loves and that Cuisinart form of filmmaking made for one of Tarantino’s most unforgettable experiences. It’s wildly violent and exciting. The Bride’s (Uma Thurman) journey through her checklist of vengeance is one of the most thrilling of the decade. It’s easily one of my absolute favorites by Tarantino.

12. Bowling for Columbine (2002)

This is one of my favorite documentaries of all time. I think it’s also Michael Moore’s best documentary, because it is mostly devoid of the smugness and antics that can characterize his worst work. In this film Moore has a simple question and goes around the country trying to find answers to that question: are we a nation of gun nuts or are we simply nuts? It’s very effective with humor peppered throughout. But it gets its name from the school shooting that was sort of the beginning of a national crisis that our leaders refuse to defuse and has, therefore, been raging for the better part of 25 years: Columbine. That shooting took place during my senior year in high school, so there’s a personal resonance and significance this film has for me. Like his documentary Sicko and its subject matter, nothing has changed since its release. At least Moore can make us think and laugh about it.

11. Bride and Prejudice (2004)

I’ve seen all but two of director Gurinder Chadha’s feature films and this is the second of her three films from the ‘00s to make the list. Surprisingly, despite it releasing during a musical resurgence period in the ‘00s, it’s apparently not that well known. But I’ve always been taken by this adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. It takes an Indian spin on the tale with American and Brits peppering the cast, too. This movie makes me fall in love with Indian culture and wish I married into an Indian family. It helps the three leading sisters are played by Aishwarya Rai, Namrata Shirodkar, and (I think) Peeya Rai Chwodhary. Anupam Kher, Naveen Andrews, Indira Varma, Alexis Bledel, and Marsha Mason all star and are great (Martin Henderson is okay). But, aside from the colorful costumes and production designs, what I love about this movie is the musical songbook by Farhan and Zoya Akhtar and Anu Malik. It is full of catchy earworms like ‘No Life Without Wife’. It was no hit like Bend It Like Beckham, peaking at number 15 with 288 theaters, but it’s Chadha’s second-highest grossing movie at the box office with $24.7 million worldwide.

10. Once (2007)

John Carney’s low-budget Irish musical was one of the most refreshing and beautiful musicals of the decade. It focused on Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, two non-actor musicians who make up The Swell Season, as two people who have an affair through creating music together. It’s an emotionally restrained film compared to most musicals and love stories, but the songbook is incredible. It’s also an atypical musical in that the songs never break from the film’s reality; they’re always songs they’re working on or performing in house parties or on the street. I don’t think Carney has quite repeated the success of this movie, although Sing Street is also really good.

9. Unbreakable (2000)

Unbreakable is an underrated movie. When people talk about M. Night Shyamalan movies they usually talk about how great The Sixth Sense is or how bad other movies of his are. But this movie deserves to be talked as highly as The Sixth Sense. It just has a really excellent script and its concept of real-life superheroes is still a novel one. And that concept’s execution was so cool! I don’t think it paid off well with Glass nearly 20 years later. Sometimes it’s better to just let the audience’s imagination take over of what could be. But Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson are spectacular here. The score by James Newton Howard is top shelf material. I seriously don’t think Shyamalan has recaptured the level of craftsmanship he achieved with The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. He came close with Split, though.

8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

This film is one of the most genius sci-fi movies of the decade. It’s one of the most genius love stories of the century. It uses a sci-fi concept (a small clinic can remove your memories of someone or a pet) as a setup to explore how difficult romantic relationships can be. If you could forget every memory you have of someone, would you? Is ignorance truly bliss? Or are the experiences and the pain worth holding on to? Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet lead a cast that includes the great Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, and Kirsten Dunst. Through a lot of trick photography and forced perspective we get an imaginative rabbit hole of memories that add up to an incredible vision. Director Michel Gondry was held up as one of the decade’s most promising visionaries and that didn’t end up being the case, as he’d have two or three more English language movies that was received tepidly before leaving Hollywood. But co-writer Charlie Kaufman did fulfill his potential and went on to have a successful career after this one.

7. Inglorious Basterds (2009)

I think this is Quentin Tarantino’s greatest masterpiece. I think everything he’d been doing prior prepared him for this film. I don’t think anything he’s done since this film so far has quite met or surpassed it. The opening sequence between the farmer and SS field officer Hans Landa is a perfect example of Tarantino’s long seemingly mundane dialogue building character and tension, leading up to an explosive climax. There are at least three scenes in the film like that. They are all excellent. The cast includes Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Michael Fassbender, Daniel Bruhl, Eli Roth, and BJ Novak. Waltz and Laurent are particularly excellent and should’ve skyrocketed after this film. I don’t think either of them have starred in anything nearly as good as Inglorious Basterds, which is a shame. But, yes, this is among my Top 3 Tarantino films.

6. X2 (2003)

This remains one of my absolute favorite X-Men movies and one of the few of the 7 mainline movies I’ll revisit. It has so many great cameos and power sets and is a fantastic adaptation of a couple of great X-Men stories. Purists balk, but I was in seventh heaven then and now.

5. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

I think Shaun of the Dead remains my favorite Edgar Wright movie. It was his second film and quite the international breakout. It’s no wonder. The man concocted a comedy that riffed on George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead while also served as a romantic comedy. And he managed a new metaphor out of the zombie menace. It’s brilliant. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Kate Ashfield, in particular, are excellent. But what’s wonderful is how the film is surprisingly moving in bits. Come to think of it, this might be my absolute favorite zombie movie.

4. The Dark Knight (2008)

My 20th favorite movie of all time is my favorite Christopher Nolan movie of the ‘00s. It may be my favorite Batman movie of all time, but I also think it’s still the best Batman movie; only 2022’s The Batman somehow manages to come close. Aaron Eckhart, who had quite the decade with Erin Brockovich and Thank You for Smoking, is criminally underrated here as Harvey Dent / Two-Face. Maggie Gyllenhaal stepped in as Rachel Dawes and managed to be spectacular. And, of course, there’s the Ledger of it all. This is some of the best and smartest popcorn entertainment of the new century. I absolutely love it.

3. Moulin Rouge! (2001)

My favorite musical of all time is Moulin Rouge!. I think this is Baz Lurhmann’s best movie. I just don’t think he’s ever directed a film nearly this good since. I’m sorry. I literally love every single thing about this movie - and I’ve gone into some detail about that before. There are other musicals I adore - a couple of them made this piece. But very few rival Moulin Rouge!

2. (500) Days of Summer (2009)

This film fell just outside of my 10 favorite movies of all time. I fell in love with this movie before I even saw it: the trailers, the soundtrack, a podcast review all convinced me this was something special. And it is. After an entire decade of simplistic, rote, and schmaltzy rom-coms this movie came along and said something about love, relationships, and how wrong the romantic male can be about all of it. It’s absolutely brilliant. And it was Marc Webb’s directorial debut! I don’t think he’s done anything nearly as interesting or great since. But co-writer Scott Neustadter, from whose experiences much of the script is based, has gone on to write scripts for The Spectacular Now, The Fault in Our Stars, and The Disaster Artist - all really good films. But I hold (500) Days of Summer in high regard as one of the greatest movies about love ever made.

1. Almost Famous (2000)

My 3rd favorite movie of all time is by director Cameron Crowe. He fell off quickly after this film, which is unfortunate, because he’s one of my favorite directors. His four narrative films after Almost Famous are so poor compared to his first four films. But this film is a perfect film for any audiophile, as it captures a lot about a particular time in rock music via a fictional band that, I believe, was a composite of Led Zeppelin and The Allman Brothers. The characters in and around the band are just as great as the ones outside the tour. Frances McDormand is one of the great movie moms. Philip Seymour Hoffman is exceptional as Lester Bangs. Zooey Deschanel appears as the protagonist’s sister and is a dream. Kate Hudson gave her career best as “band aid” Penny Lane. The list of notable talent is long. The script is perfect. The score and music supervision is fantastic. As a cinephile and audiophile there are few films that are a perfect marriage of everything I love about movies and everything I love about music. This is it for me.

So, those are my favorite movies of the 2000s. Every year of the decade is represented and no year has less than 8 movies on this list. There were 4 years that all had 10-12 movies each on this list: 2000, 2002, 2008, and 2009. But the one year that had the most movies was 2004 with 13 movies. The years 2001, 2003, and 2006 tied with the least at 8 movies each. There were 13 comic book movies that made this list - and not all of them are superhero movies. Only two directors made the list with 3 movies, respectively: Christopher Nolan and Michael Moore. Several stars appeared on this list multiple times. The one actress to appear on this list the most - 4 times - is Zooey Deschanel. There are three actors who appeared in 4 movies on this list: Jack Black, Cillian Murphy, and Alan Rickman. Technically, Samuel L. Jackson has credits on 5 movies on this list, but all except Unbreakable and The Incredibles are bit parts with one scene, so they basically don’t count. Who are your favorites from the ‘00s?

That does it for one of my most watched decades of all time. I hope you find some new recommendations. What are some of your favorites from the decade already? Feel free to share.