top 100 films of the 2000s: 20-11

20. Let the Right One in, 2008, Sweden
Dir: Tomas Alfredson
Cast: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson

You don't really know what to expect when you're about to watch "Let the Right One In," it's violent, it has vampires (well, one vampire), it has scenes that are particularly gruesome, yet there is a surprising tenderness to the movie that would easily win over the hearts of guys and girls alike. This is a vampire movie that's 100 times more romantic than any Twilight movie, but it's also a movie that has scenes that are just as violent as many other horror movies. And believe me, this is a horror movie. It may not play out as one of your typical horror movie, but you have to realize that these are kids. And even though they've found companionship with each other, the movie ends with the suggestion that these two kids will be committing more acts of horrific violence in the future.

The way this story is approached and how it unfolds is just brilliant. The movie is shot fantastically, but it's really about how the story unfolds. First, you're introduced to this 12 year old boy named Oskar, he's a loner at school who constantly gets picked on by bullies. When he's home, he acts out his fantasies of revenge with a knife. Eli, the 12 year old vampire "girl," takes notice of Oskar and they almost instantly develop a friendship. The bond between Eli and Oskar is done so tenderly and so lightly that it all works to a surprising amount of success. Tomas Alfredson really outdoes himself with this film.

Let the Right One In instantly has become one of the greatest vampire movies of all-time. It puts a refreshingly new spin on the classic vampire story and it adds in a wonderful little love story that is understated, realistic, and ultimately, it moves you.


19. Sideways, 2004, USA
Dir: Alexander Payne
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church

Out of all the comedies of the 2000s, Sideways has really aged well. I remember when it first came out... and you know how comedies of this kind start out. First, they get rave reviews. The critics love it across the board so it starts winning critics awards left and right. Then the general audience gets a hold of it and it starts to make a surprising run at the box office. There were a handful of movies that did that in the last decade. But because of all the success and the rave reviews, for some reason, the next wave of viewers of the movie begin to expect the world from this movie and ultimately wind up getting disappointed. That's simply not how you approach a movie like this. You're not going to laugh at everything in Sideways right away, but after a few viewings, you begin to find new things about this movie that are funny and amusing.

More than that, Sideways is a sweet, feel-good movie. It has this bright, warm look to it and it captures the essence of Northern California just brilliantly. Alexander Payne has proven once again that he's just as adept at being a visual director as well as being a director of comedy. Sideways is about the value of friendship, it's about our own fears and insecurities, but most importantly, it's about trying to find something in life that's meaningful to you. Miles (Giamatti) is a pessimistic middle-aged man with not much to show for in his life. He just finished a ridiculously long novel that he'll probably never publish. Nevertheless, he attempts to find a breath of fresh air when he takes his soon-to-be-married buddy, Jack (Haden Church), to wine country in California before his wedding.

Sideways is just a terrific movie with a plot that appears to unfold gradually and it all feels natural and organic. It's also a masterfully crafted film with fantastic performances all around. Paul Giamatti was robbed at the Academy Awards, it's as simple as that. They tried to make up for it by nominating him for Cinderella Man, but this performance was definitely better than that. Also, you have to hand it to Virginia Madsen and Thomas Haden Church. Thomas Haden Church's performance is perhaps the most surprising as Church had formerly been a former failed sitcom actor and here he is co-starring in the best comedy of the decade. Great performances, pitch-perfect screenplay, and wonderful direction makes Sideways an obvious choice for #19 on this list.

18. Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, 2007, USA
Dir: Andrew Dominik
Cast: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck


Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was doomed from the start. This is a slow-moving anti-Western movie by a fairly new director with a three hour running time. It's not action-heavy, instead, it's a character(s) study. Brad Pitt gives a great performance as Jesse James and he's the perfect straight man for Casey Affleck's oddly effective performance as the creepy Robert Ford. Seriously, Casey Affleck has never been better than he is in this movie. And really, the acting is so great and feels so natural that it's easy to get sucked into this movie.

The real champion of this film, however, is the cinematography. Every shot in this movie feels perfect and it's rich with color and texture. Andrew Dominik proved with this movie that he's a talent that we all have to look and watch out for in the next decade. The movie's slow-moving plot kind of reminds me of Gangs of New York if it was directed by Terrence Malick. It's a movie where the visuals are just as, if not more important than the plot. But I compare it to Gangs of New York because the movie kind of goes back and forth with the relationship between the two main characters. In Gangs, Amsterdam Vallon is eventually taken under the wing of the violent and dangerous Bill the Butcher until he eventually turns on him out of revenge for killing his father. In Assassination, Robert Ford is eventually taken under the wing of Jesse James, but Ford turns on Jesse James for the fame and the reward. Robert Ford is just an odd man who seems to have an unhealthy affinity with Jesse James and ultimately could never live up to his idol. To me, the way this plot unfolds is more interesting to me just because of how odd this Robert Ford character is.

But the movie also gives a very interesting and mature account on the story of Jesse James. Now I never really looked up the accuracy of this movie, but the story is told very well and that's really all that it comes down to. You may not instantly fall in love with this movie, but if you give it an honest chance, you will think as highly of this movie as I do. It's a visual delight, with wonderful performances, and it officially put Andrew Dominik on the map as a bright, young director. Hopefully a studio in the future will be willing to give him another chance.

17. Zodiac, 2007, USA
Dir: David Fincher
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr.


Zodiac is another movie that was never really given a chance at the box office. Even though it opened to more theaters and was, by all accounts, a mainstream release. Audiences didn't seem to love this movie as much as the critics did. Eventually, through DVD release, I think the film gained a lot more momentum as it has a healthy 7.9 rating on imdb.com. I can't really blame the audiences though, they were probably expecting a typical action/thriller. But you can't approach the Zodiac character like that because... he still hasn't been caught yet. This movie is really about the mystery behind the serial killer and it presents his murders as facts although they are still brutal and quite violent.

I know I said this a lot so far, but repeated viewings really does this movie better justice. After all, it's a 160+ minute movie and there's a lot to take in with all the little details the SFPD and the San Francisco Chronicle come up with in regards to who the Zodiac killer is. The movie moves from genre to genre quite gracefully and it has something for everyone. It starts out as almost a horror movie with the brutal and gruesome way the Zodiac makes his killings. But then it becomes a brilliant police drama with help with the excellent Mark Ruffalo as Inspector Dave Toschi. Seriously, Mark Ruffalo nails Dave Toschi. He captures the frustrated, obsessed, quick-witted police detective perfectly and he does it in a way you don't really expect. Toschi is funny and he approaches his job very practically and it helps you relate to his character quite easily.

But after that, the movie turns into a mystery/thriller as cartoonist Robert Graysmith and reporter Paul Avery attempts to figure out and decipher all these different clues that the Zodiac releases to the press. Although Avery eventually goes crazy after personally being threatened by the Zodiac, Graysmith (Gyllenhaal) has a persistence that you can't help but admire.

Ultimately, what makes this movie work so well isn't just the great direction by David Fincher which is expected after the great reputation that Fincher has cultivated for himself. He knows this genre well and mastered it with Se7en twelve years earlier, but here he really outdoes himself. This is a crime/drama/thriller of epic proportions. This is the most mature David Fincher movie that he has made and it really turned me into a believer of his talent. But what really makes this movie work well is the script. This was obviously a very tough movie to write as it's hard to make a movie like this relevant since we don't know who the Zodiac killer is. But James Vanderbilt makes this movie impossible for you to ignore as it continues to prod and uncover evidence in such a way that it keeps you on the edge of your seat. Also, the movie has really witty and cleverly-written dialogue that keeps it from being too serious. Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. were perfect in their roles as Toschi and Avery, respectively and they help give the movie a necessary comic relief. Yet these characters are developed so wonderfully that there's more to them than just a witty one-liner here and there. These are people who are clearly affected by and obsessed with the Zodiac killer and it winds up driving them crazy. They both handle it in their own unique ways. Overall, Zodiac is a masterpiece of filmmaking.

16. Lost in Translation, 2003, USA
Dir: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray


There's something about Lost in Translation that's absolutely intoxicating to me and I can't fully figure out why. It's a very simple story, but it's wonderfully told and it contains performances from Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson that will be remembered for years to come. It's truly one of the best modern romance movies of all-time even despite the age difference between the two characters. Sofia Coppola makes excellent use of location and develops these two characters brilliantly as they're both stuck in Tokyo, Japan for a short amount of time in their own respective crises.

Charlotte (Johansson) is a recent college grad who is still in the crossroads of her life. She hasn't quite figured out what kind of career she wants in life and for now she's just following her photographer husband around the world until she finds something she really likes. Bob Harris's life, on the other hand, is more of the typical "mid-life crisis" type as he's a former star actor now forced to do these commercials in Japan for a living. Both characters are completely out of their element and that helps them form a very special bond between each other. If they were living in America, they probably would've never thought to speak to each other, but here in Tokyo, they are the only ones of their kind.

This was another movie that kind of suffered a bit of a backlash after such wonderful raves and many awards by critics and those other big award shows. It was really the first movie this past decade that showed that little independent movies can do pretty well in the box office. Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine, and Juno kind of followed in Translation's footsteps although they're each decidedly different from each other. Ultimately, Lost in Translation is perhaps the best of the bunch because of how it captures just how beautiful and peculiar the city of Tokyo is and how the two main characters are both attracted to the culture and alienated by it. And it's that alienation that brings them together as they both try to understand it together. It also has a considerable amount of emotional depth to this movie that unfolds in a very subtle manner. That's why Lost in Translation still resonates after all these years.

15. Memento, 2000, USA
Dir: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Guy Pierce, Carrie-Ann Moss

From the reigning champion of the 2000s, Christopher Nolan (with four movies on this list, total), Memento is by far his greatest film and perhaps the most originally constructed films of all-time. The story is told in both a backwards and a foreward manner until it comes together brilliantly in the middle. But this isn't just a little clever gimmick from Nolan, in fact, I feel the structure of this movie help makes us better understand Lenny's (Guy Pierce) condition. The structure helps add humor by the use of dramatic irony, but it also adds a considerable amount of inherent sadness to the movie that makes us feel bad for Lenny even if we shouldn't feel bad for him.

Lenny is a man with a condition called anterograde amnesia. He can remember everything up until the time he and his wife were beaten in a bathroom. After that, he hasn't been able to make new memories. Now, his only purpose in life is to figure out who killed his wife. When he finds the man, he will kill him. But Memento is so much deeper than that. It's a movie that gives you a completely different interpretation of Lenny every time you see it. At first, you just think of him as a sad and unfortunate man whose condition has ruined him forever; another time, you kind of think of him as a monster; and so on. There are many different ways to interpret this character and that's what makes him and this movie so compelling.

With this film, Christopher Nolan showcased what a unique talent he is. Obviously, he still has a long way to go in his career, but he's off to one hell of a start so far. And Memento remains the most memorable of all his films because of how well he does with such a modest budget. There's so much to love and admire about this film that I couldn't possibly sum it all up in this little post. If you haven't seen the film, then you're just gonna have to find out for yourself what makes it so special.

14. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004, USA
Dir: Michel Gondry
Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet

Like Memento, Eternal Sunshine is another movie that delves into the complexities of the mind and the memories that it beholds. Of course, Eternal Sunshine is a much different movie than Memento and it also should be praised and lauded for its cutting edge originality and ingenuity which is helped by the master of visual filmmaking, Michel Gondry. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind proved that Michel Gondry is a visual force to be reckoned with and to see all the little different and creative ways he does it is just amazing.

Eternal Sunshine tells the story of Joel and Clementine, two former lovers whose relationship had ended badly and they have turned to a place called Lacuna, inc. A company that can help alter your mind in a way that helps erase all the memories you've ever had about a former lover (or something like that). But like Memento, Eternal Sunshine's genius is how the movie demonstrates to us just how cyclical these peoples' lives are. Joel and Clementine, despite their minds being erased, eventually come across each other again and wind up falling in love once again even though their love might eventually wind up going down the same path over and over again.

It's also a movie that continues to reveal more and more of itself everytime you see it. I know I'm gonna sound like a broken record, but it must be stressed because lots of great movies are like that. Every movie on this list gets better with each viewing and Eternal Sunshine is no different. But what sets Eternal Sunshine apart from any other movie on this list is just how unique, wonderful, and creatively made of a love story this is. It's rare nowadays to find a movie with such an amazing and memorable love story like this, but when they come, it's almost worth the wait.

13. The Wrestler, 2008, USA
Dir: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei

The Wrestler is such a wonderfully and simply made film by the normally complex and highly visual director Darren Aronofsky. But The Wrestler really demonstrated just what a great talent he is at simply telling a story and developing his characters. Much like Zodiac showed just how far David Fincher has come, The Wrestler showed just how far Arronofsky has come and how much he has matured as a filmmaker. And really, there's no other way to tell this story except in this powerfully raw manner.

And yeah, "raw" is definitely how I would describe this movie. Made on a very small budget, The Wrestler basically relies solely on Mickey Rourke's performance and Mr. Rourke definitely put his heart and soul into this movie. Mickey has been known to be a very difficult actor to work with and that difficulty cost him his career starting in the '90s. The Wrestler showed just how amazing of an actor he is and how far he's willing to go with his characters if the director lets him. And boy does Darren Aronofsky do just that.

Mickey Rourke's character Randy "the Ram" Robinson goes through a lot of painful shit when he's on the ring and, as we find out, he goes through a lot of painful shit when he's off the ring too. Randy is wash-up, he's a has-been who currently makes his living by performing in low level wrestling circuits as well as working at a supermarke The Wrestler exposes what happens to people like this. People who live their lives by constantly inflicting pain on themselves just for show and who subsequently inflict pain on themselves when the show is over. Randy used to be a very popular wrestler, but that all changed because... well times change after awhile. The Wrestler shows us that these people still exist when the times change, and they live very tortured lives if they don't take care of it enough. As I mentioned, The Wrestler is a raw and powerful movie that will remain in your memory banks for a long time. That especially goes for Mickey Rourke's performance.


12. In the Mood for Love, 2000, Hong Kong
Dir: Wong Kar-Wai
Cast: Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung

Wong Kar-Wai built up quite a reputation for himself back in the '90s after he continued to make very interesting and highly-stylized films out of Hong Kong. Unfortunately, I've only seen two of them, personally, although I definitely plan on seeing more of his work when the time comes. So perhaps it wouldn't be right to say that "In the Mood for Love" is his crowning effort, but if all the other critics are correct, then it must be. But even if you aren't that familiar with his work, you can definitely see what makes this movie great. I saw "In the Mood for Love" fairly recently and it was one of the movies that took me so long to see and it was the cause for the long delay of this very list.

But once I saw this movie, it quickly escalated up on my list. It may not hit you immediately (like I've mentioned about many other films, but especially on this one), but when it does, it really does. And then you realize that In the Mood for Love just might be one of the greatest romantic movies of all-time. And I'm dead serious. The reason for that is just how gently Wong Kar-Wai approaches this movie and the excellent performances from Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. Their characters are both married and they live on the same floor of an apartment building. Once they figure out that their significant others are having an affair with each other, they begin to form a very deep and touching bond.

But what makes this film stand out so much from other romantic movies, even the good ones, is the strong moral and ethical stand that these characters take. These are people who blatantly refuse to go down the same path as their spouses. No matter how strongly they begin to feel about each other, they respect the sanctity of their respective marriages no matter how much it hurts them. Yes, this is perhaps the greatest unconsummated romance movie of all-time since there's really not a movie that's like it. And directed by Wong Kar-Wai, the movie is literally like visual poetry. The characters move and interact gracefully. There's just something so wonderful about these characters and no matter how badly you want them to wind up together... they won't be together. And that's frustrating as hell, but it makes for a masterpiece of a movie.


11. Diving Bell and the Butterfly, 2007, France/USA
Dir: Julian Schnabel
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner

There's been plenty of unique, creative, and original movies on this list, especially from numbers 20 to 12... well, Diving Bell and Butterfly continues that trend. And you begin to realize that from its opening scenes when you realize that this movie is going to take place, quite literally, inside the one eye of its lead character, Jean-Dominique.

Jean-Dominique suffers from a condition called "locked-in syndrome," an illness that seemed to hit him almost completely at random while he was driving. His life would unfortunately forever be altered as you begin to realize that this man will never be able to experience what we all take for granted. I mean, just imagine how horrible it would be if you're a normal, full-functioning human being on the inside, but not on the outside. That you can talk and listen to people in the outside world, but they cannot understand you. The only way people can understand him is through a fairly sophisticated system of blinking. His doctors and nurses have instructed him to blink in order to tell them what he wants and even though he is initially frustrated by the process, he eventually succumbs to it as he realize just how many people cared about him and loved him so.

This is especially true in one particular scene where one of his nurses is trying to help him talk via blinking. When the nurse finds out, through Jean-Dominique's blinking, that he wants to end his life, she gets so upset that she can barely contain herself. Here is someone who truly cares and is interested in this man's condition and Jean-Dominique is forced to realize the value of human relationships now that he has to rely solely on others in order to get what he wants.

Diving Bell and Butterfly is filled with heartbreaking and emotional scenes such as that and they are done so well by all the actors that you can't help but feel affected too. Like the best movies of this kind, the movie doesn't try to manipulate you into feeling sad about the main character, the movie shows the character as how he truly is. To put it simply, Jean-Dominique may not have been a pleasant character when he was out and about, but that doesn't make his illness any less tragic. If anything, it makes it more tragic as he now has to make up for all that he's lost whether it would be the relationship with his kids, or his ex-wife, or his father. And speaking of his father, Max von Sydow... who has appeared in hundreds of films and seems to be able to speak just about every language imaginable... gives such an amazing performance as the sad, lonely, elderly father of Jean-Dominique who wishes to see his son, but cannot due to his own conditions.

If you're looking for a feel-good movie, steer clear from Diving Bell and Butterfly. But if you can handle a movie that will rock your emotional core, then this is definitely the movie for you. Diving Bell and Butterfly is perhaps the saddest, and yet, one of the most brilliant films of the 2000s.