Best Movie of the 2000s Update #7
Hello! This is not a Disney-Pixar update! However, we have been chugging along through some 2000s movies (after a brief hiatus due to Oscar season) and here are the last 17 that we watched, along with our thoughts! They range from the original Spider-Man to Bring It On to Pirates to Hot Fuzz! Check it out:
Wonder Boys (2000)
Tom: Michael Douglas was great as usual in this adaptation of the Michael Chabon novel, but it didn’t really hit overall. The most interesting thing to me about it was that you can TOTALLY see where they got the idea to cast Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man from this movie.
Erin: I didn’t really like this one. I thought it was simultaneously boring and weird. Why would I care about this guy? He sucks! I would be interested to see how it differs from the novel, because major meh on the adaptation.
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Tom: So this was my first real exposure to David Lynch (the 1984 Dune adaptation doesn’t count) and…it was WILD. Had I not already basically known the concept, I would have been totally lost, but given that I broadly knew what it was about, I thought it was a creative and surreal way to get across the movie’s message. Half of it still makes no sense to me, and I’m not sure if I’ll watch it again, but I definitely have never seen a movie like it before.
Erin: This was a trip that was worth it just because it was so out there and chaotic. I appreciate that David Lynch does his own thing, but it was a little too male-gazey for my taste. Still worth the watch!
Spider-Man (2002)
Tom: The movie holds up 20 years later! I’m a big fan of Tobey as Spider-Man and I think James Franco is a good foil for him and Kirsten Dunst a good love interest. But the true star of this one is the absolutely unhinged Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin. This movie is filled with meme after meme and we pointed each of them out as they popped up. Also, Bonesaw McGraw never drew a dime in wrestling after this burial.
Erin: I first watched this back in 02 and ended up liking this even more the second time around! It was a blast and it was cool to watch it knowing all of the Marvel domination that was to follow in the next few decades.
Bend It Like Beckham (2003)
Tom: Fun story! Love Keira Knightley, and the lead actress, Parminder Nagra, is charismatic and likable and you just want to see her do well. I hadn’t seen this one before despite its popularity when it came out, but I’m glad we watched it for this. Entertaining, feel-good movie.
Erin: I have always loved this movie! It is so so British, and while I was watching I COMPLETELY GOT PART OF THE PLOT WRONG (I thought that Keira Knightley and Jonathan Rhys Meyers were siblings since 2003?????) but it’s a great watch.
Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
Tom: I didn’t quite like this one as much as Ocean’s Eleven, but the bit where Julia Roberts’ character is pretending to be the real Julia Roberts and almost gets caught in the con by the real Bruce Willis is truly genius stuff.
Erin: I def fell asleep a little in this one oops. I also really like the Julia Roberts meta moment but otherwise it was a literal snooze fest for me.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Tom: Another one I hadn’t seen despite the fervor around it when it came out, but as you’ll see in my opinion on Crash later on in this list, I’ll join the echo chamber of people (including Crash’s director Paul Haggis) who thinks this one should have ran away with Best Picture that year. It’s a little less subtle than it would have been if it came out nowadays, but without this movie being a smash hit you don’t get as many LGBTQ releases nowadays. As a card-carrying Jake Gyllenhaal Fan Club member, I can admit that Heath Ledger’s performance in this is legendary.
Erin: I loved this when I first watched it in high school, and it really is a gorgeous film! Heath Ledger is truly wonderful in it—I think it may be his best performance. This is one Best Picture loss that is sort of an unarguable snub!
WALL-E (2008)
Tom: Yet another one I took way too long to catch, and probably one of Pixar’s best. The idea that Disney made this movie cracks me up given that it’s about a greedy mega corporation and consumerist culture creating a wasteland Earth, but they would definitely be a candidate for the company to blast off in the Axiom, so whatever. This is one of Pixar’s most interesting concepts and I think rings true today even more than ever before.
Erin: This sort of blew my mind back in the day, because it felt so high concept for Pixar. Now, a decade and a half later, WALL-E doesn’t seem quite as revolutionary, but it’s still an excellent movie with lots of heart.
Bring It On (2000)
Tom: Bring It On might be the most 2000s movie to ever exist. There’s a major plot point where one character rights a romantic pop punk song for another. I wish I could think of something more 2000s than that but I cannot. I get the appeal here, it just doesn’t really hit me as a 30-year-old man. Pretty fun though.
Erin: I know every single word to this movie. Also I find it hilarious that we could not find it streaming anywhere but the entire movie was on YouTube in half decent quality. In conclusion, this is a perfect film that’s a glaring omission from the Criterion collection.
Monster’s Ball (2001)
Tom: All the rave reviews I’ve heard over the years for Halle Berry’s Oscar-winning performance in this movie, yet this was one of those where about 45 minutes in Erin and I turned to each other and were like…“so this movie’s not good, right?” And while I enjoyed it enough for the over-the-top melodrama that it was, it was just too aimlessly sad with not much of a point to it. Wouldn’t recommend.
Erin: Like this sucked? I’m so confused on how it was seen as a good movie? Major cringe and also I didn’t care about any of the characters 😖 plus it was very 2000s when it came to social messages. Pass!
Unfaithful (2002)
Tom: These types of erotic thrillers are sort of relics of the '90s, but this Diane Lane-Richard Gere vehicle by Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction) was a fun entry into the genre. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be as funny as it was (especially the other love interest, who felt like he was doing a Tommy Wiseau impression), but Lane and Gere are true stars, and the film takes quite a few wild turns until the ending. And DEWEY from Malcolm in the Middle was in it. Very fun. Very memorable.
Erin: This is an iconic movie AS LONG AS you find the humor in it. I feel like it could be a cult classic if it’s watched with campiness in mind. Great movie to watch with friends! (Maybe less so with parents)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Tom: You guessed it: another mega popular hit I’d never seen! As hardcore readers may know, I’m not the biggest Johnny Depp fan, but he’s obviously iconic in the lead role. Special shoutouts to Geoffrey Rush for eating every scene alive, and to Darius Wolski the cinematographer, for a really underrated excellent performance. Feelings of a simpler time when Orlando Bloom was like, the biggest star in the world too.
Erin: Yo (ho) why is this movie so great? I had no idea that it would hold up so well! Also props to Disney for making a very clearly PG13 movie here. It’s pretty intense! And it’s a total blast. Plus the ride is great too—I can smell the chlorine now.
The Terminal (2004)
Tom: I’m finding that I like some of Spielberg’s more off-kilter stuff like Minority Report and this. It probably could’ve been shorter and not much of the plot makes too much sense, but Tom Hanks ambling around an airport for 2 hours with a vaguely Eastern European accent is pure entertainment.
Erin: I liked this one too! I thought it was super charming and Tom Hanks was fully in. The plot got weird and random but I thought this one was a vibe. Good job to Spielberg!
Crash (2005)
Tom: It’s This Is Us tackling racism in movie form. It’s the worst Best Picture winner I’ve seen so far. It’s very bad. But if it doesn’t win Best Picture, it’s not as reviled as it became, and it simply fades away like many other bad movies. But it did win, and that’s not a great look. I think Paul Haggis’s heart wass in the right place here, but he was not a person qualified to effectively tell a story about racism in Los Angeles. There were kernels of a good movie in here but the constant over-the-top explanations of racism felt like a bit too much from the screenplay. I groaned a lot.
Erin: I mean, it’s not good. It’s actively a pretty bad movie, and nowadays it would have been a random Netflix release that didn’t make much of a splash. I will say though—it was not nearly as offensive or awful as I had anticipated! But still, it’s a bad movie that you shouldn’t watch!
The Departed (2006)
Tom: We watched this in Rhode Island (because the grind never stops) and it began a streak of some great movies for me. I’m sure most of you have seen it - it’s pretty much a Scorsese self-parody but it’s so out of control that you can’t stop watching. Dropkick Murphys two separate times. Random clunky transitions. Wahlberg getting an Oscar nomination. Nicholson playing the mob boss version of his Anger Management character which is the life coach version of himself. The Martin Sheen scene. It’s all off the rails. Probably could’ve used fewer slurs, but that’s Boston I guess. Also, as the Letterboxd review I read about it said: “that third act be basically like the mmm whatcha say snl skit.”
Erin: I had so much fun watching this one! Too long, as is Scorsese’s thing, but it was a twisty, well-acted film with one of the most insane endings ever.
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Tom: This was neither of our first time watching this movie, and man, it’s a classic from start to finish. There are so many quotable lines the entire time, and the comedic timing between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost is unmatched. Timothy Dalton is a perfect mustachioed caricature of a villain and of course Olivia Colman steals the show. Bring back the Pegg-Frost-Edgar Wright trio to heal our wounds please.
Erin: I am a Cornetto Trilogy stan, and have been a fan of these Edgar Wright movies for years and years. Is this the best one? It may be even better than Shaun of the Dead… every single scene has ten LOL funny jokes!
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Tom: Charlie Kaufman doesn’t make easy movies to watch but this is true art. It plays with peoples’ most visceral, existential fears - slow-acting, unidentified illness; abandonment; sudden deaths of loved ones; the list goes on. It reminded me of Bo Burnham’s Inside in that it felt like it was straight from the depths of the writer’s soul and psyche and while it’s not always logically coherent, it’s more about the feelings of fear and anxiety that radiate through the art itself. Plus, Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the greatest actors of his generation and was able to ground this surreal movie in believability and nuance. It’s not an easy watch, but if you’re into the art of movies, you’ve gotta see this.
Erin: I am happy that I watched this because I heart Philip Seymour Hoffman, and I would be happy going through his entire filmography. That being said…I didn’t love this. I found it a bit cold and a little too **~~artsy for me.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Tom: I’ve seen this one a bunch, and I think it’s probably Tarantino’s best. Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs might have more iconic moments, but this is an incredibly strong movie from start to finish. He has a way with dialogue in most of his movies, but this one I think it shines. I also enjoyed the long, tense scenes like the opening with Landa on the farm and the entire third act. It’s slightly wonky and has an odd soundtrack, but it’s really effective. Plus nothing in the world beats the Italian scene with Christoph Waltz because of Brad Pitt’s delivery of “bawnjawrno.”
Erin: Eye roll for Quentin T always…but I do really like this movie. It’s probably my favorite Tarantino overall, with Brad Pitt really showing off that star power. I feel like there are a few too many characters going on, but what am I going to do, ask for my king Michael Fassbender’s character to be cut? No way!