Explained List: The... Ugh... Aughts

In all this time, we really haven't figured out a better term for the first decade of the 21st Century? But I digress. The New York Times list of the best movies of this century's Q1 got me thinking about making my own list. Step 1 is breaking it down by decade like I did for the 2010s. I know this century didn't begin until 2001, but I did the other decade 2010-2019, so this time it will be 2000-2009. Whatever. It's my list, I'll do what I want. Just like before, we're splitting this list into movies and films. (NOTE:  Thirteen Days is #13 and 21 Grams is #21 by sheer coincidence, not planned)

MOVIES25) Reign of Fire 24) Zoolander 23) The Bourne Identity 22) Borat 21) Ocean’s Eleven 20) Death to Smoochy 19) Wall-E 18) Kill Bill, Vol. 1 17) Big Trouble 16) Anchorman 15) X2: X-Men United 14) Hot Fuzz 13) Thirteen Days 12) The Incredibles 11) The Transporter 2 10) Zombieland 9) Mean Girls 8) Spider-Man 2 7) A Knight’s Tale 6) Catch Me if You Can

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FILMS25) Stranger Than Fiction 24) About Schmidt 23) An Inconvenient Truth 22) Lars and the Real Girl 21) 21 Grams 20) Best in Show 19) The Prestige 18) Cecil B. Demented 17) Big Fish 16) Secretary 15) Little Miss Sunshine 14) Bowling for Columbine 13) The Invention of Lying 12) Moon 11) The Departed 10) Juno 9) Inglourious Basterds 8) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 7) City of God 6) Adaptation.

MOVIE #5: Finding Nemo

I worked as a projectionist at an eight-theatre multiplex. My job was to stick my head between two giant platters and lace the film through the mechanism so every movie could start smoothly and on time. I worked alone in one projection room that fed all eight theatres, and the movies all started within minutes of each other. When I started each film, I turned on the audio monitor to check volume and synch. The biggest, newest theatre that always got the big new releases had an issue with the audio monitor, so if we turned it off, we might never get it back, so we just kept it on. That is how I found myself bent between film platters when a desperate voice echoed through the projection booth, "Nemo! Nemo! No! Nemo!" Knowing it would screw me over, I had to stop what I was doing and get my first glimpse of this movie. Movies about fathers and sons gut me to my core. A father's love for his son. A son trying desperately to get his father to listen, to trust him. I cry every time, multiple times per viewing. And also blah blah blah, the water animation is fucking gorgeous.

FILM #5: Memento

Do yourself a favor. There's a way to watch this movie in chronological order. Don't do it. It doesn't provide any insight into the film. It makes the film as a whole worse to watch it chronologically. It's just not designed to work that way. And that is what makes this movie so good. The non-linear structure isn't just a gimmick. It is the only way the story makes sense. It's the only way the story has emotional impact. This film works so well, at such a high level, it makes me sad these brothers don't collaborate anymore. They really do need each other. We need them too, I think. I forgot where I was going with this... 

MOVIE #4: Snatch

Look, I get it. It's just a remake of "Lock, Stock..." But "Evil Dead 2" was just a remake of "Evil Dead" and we all agree 2 is better than 1. Guy Ritchie saw what he had done and knew he could do better. Somehow, he hasn't been able to capture this again. It's a high adrenaline, cleverly written movie that has fun with its own form and structure. I love Ritchie's little three-word phrases to describe everyone. I love Brad Pitt's ridiculous accent. If you look closely at my own body of editing work, you will see how many different ways just that opening title sequence has influenced me

FILM #4: Y Tu Mamá También

It is impossible for me to separate this film from the context in which I saw it. The summer before college, two of my friend group went on a road trip, leaving two of us behind. By the time I left for school, we had really gotten on each other's nerves. The last thing we did before I left town was see this movie about two boys leaving their childhoods behind, embracing their love for each other, and ultimately moving on. He is still in my life, but we're no longer close. There's a reason there are two Cuaron films in my top 5. 

MOVIE #3: Crank: High Voltage

This movie is very, VERY hard to for me to talk about. When I saw it in theatres, I immediately said it was the best movie since The Dark Knight. It is a tight 96 minutes of pure imagination, creativity, anarchy, insanity, and most importantly: Jason Statham. The movie OPENS with the main character falling a hundred stories from a helicopter and surviving. I've shown this movie to so many people, and the pure joy on their faces is worth it every time. But then I put it down for several years and came back to it very recently. The world is very different now. The same moviemaking spirit that makes this movie so unhinged also led the writer/directors to purposefully throw in a TON of casual racism. At the time, it was a form of rebellion. Throwing out standards and saying a movie doesn't have to be polite to be good. Now, though, it just comes across as a couple dudebros who think racial slurs are funny. I think to make a list where I look back 15 years, I have to honor how I felt about this movie back then. But I have to acknowledge that this kind of moviemaking wasn't okay then and it definitely isn't okay now. I'm a different person now, and this movie hits very differently. Then again, maybe I'm being overly sensitive. I just don't know. At the end of the day, this is what happens when someone gets to put their unfiltered vision on screen -- you can really think about it, for better or worse.

FILM #3: Pan's Labyrinth

I once saw an interview with Gary Marshall where he said that when he was a kid, he was very ill and he would invent little films in his head to escape the reality of his situation. I've always wondered if this is the core impulse that makes people want to make films. There is only one art form that allows you to take the contents of your imagination and make it into a living, breathing, moving thing. If that's true, this film is the purest form of film. It's a brutal, horrific world, where a child must invent an entire fantasy to escape. The film in her mind saves her in every way that matters, and we get to watch her do it. 

MOVIE #2: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

From a pure moviemaking standpoint, this trilogy may never be matched as the greatest achievement of all time. I had to combine them to not kick more movies off the list. This wasn't the first attempt to adapt Tolkien's masterpiece, but it should be the last. The subsequent Hobbit trilogy just goes to show that Lord of the Rings was made exactly how it should have been made, and any deviation would cheapen the whole experience. Controversial statement: the theatrical cuts are better than the extended editions. I was also working at that movie theatre when these came out and saw them all at private employee-only midnight screenings. The experience of seeing them is as burned into my memory as the movies themselves. As a whole, it is truly a masterpiece.

FILM #2: Children of Men

Alfonso Cuaron is possibly the best filmmaker of the century. His mastery of the form is unmatched. He combines virtuoso filmmaking, like extravagant long takes, with a true understanding of why you would need to tell the story using a shot like that in the first place. The world of this movie is as grim as it gets, but Cuaron never forgets this story is ultimately about hope, even if it's the hope you delude yourself into believing. 

MOVIE #1: The Dark Knight

It's no coincidence that I'm putting a Christopher Nolan movie at number 1 for both decades. However you feel about him, you cannot deny his mastery of popular filmmaking. This movie almost single-handedly made it okay to make super hero movies. This is how you take the story of a rich dude who puts on tights to beat up criminals just seriously enough for it to work. There's literally nothing I can say here that hasn't already been said to death. It's a perfect movie.

FILM #1: Amélie

I can't help but compare this pick to my 2010's pick. This movie is the polar opposite of "12 Years a Slave." It is pure Humanism and joy and altruism. It's a fairy tale about remembering to connect with your fellow humans, no matter how bleak the world gets. This kind of saccharine filmmaking is not usually my cup of tea, but Jean-Pierre Jeunet comes at this world not from a place of glossing over the bad parts, but rather not dwelling on them. It's not about the world being rosy. It's about waking up every day and CHOOSING a good life.