Dir: Terrence Malick
Cast: Colin Farrell, Christian Bale
When you begin watching a Terrence Malick movie, you kinda have to prepare yourself. Viewing a Malick movie is a different experience than viewing a regular movie. Because with Malick, it's not about the story, it's about the visuals. The visuals tell the story more than anything else and when you get into a Malick movie, you get sucked in. It's guaranteed that everything will pretty much look perfect, the natural outdoor settings will look absolutely beautiful, the music and cinematography will be intoxicating. The New World isn't any different from what I just described, it is a visually intoxicating movie. More than that, I think it's the definitive Pocahontas story, not that it's more accurate than perhaps the Disney movie (although it is), but it's that it touches upon all the right notes and overall the movie is like on-screen poetry. You know, it's easy to come into a Malick movie for the first time expecting the world and being disappointed upon first viewing. But I think most fans of the director know better than to judge the movie like that. Because all four Malick movies are decidedly different from each other even if they are trenched within his style. You still never know how to properly introduce yourself to his movies. You kinda just have to watch the magic unfold in front of you. Q'orianka Kilcher's performance as Pocahontas is the most crucial of the movie in order for it to work and she does a tremendous job here for a newcomer. She's a soft, gentle, warm human being and John Smith (Farrell) immediately becomes attracted. With that, starts the famous love story between John Smith and Pocahontas and I feel that The New World is one of the best pure love stories to come out in recent memory. It captures all the moods and the feelings perfectly. There were, perhaps, better romantic movies that came out last decade (obviously, they're still to come on this list), but this one is the purest, and most beautiful of them all.
29. No Country for Old Men, 2007, USA
Dir: The Coen Brothers
Cast: Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin
Perhaps it's shocking to some of you as you'll remember there were four Coen Bros movies in my '90s list. Just because there's only one of them on my 2000s list doesn't mean I think less of their output that's came out in the last 10 years. O Brother Where Art Thou? and The Man Who Wasn't There just missed the list and I'll probably regret not at least one of them on here, the more I think about. I recognize them as good movies, but I guess I just never thought of them as being "great" unlike No Country for Old Men and their movies in the '90s (along with Raising Arizona and Blood Simple). No Country for Old Men is like the giant climax of their 2000s output. It, to me, is far ahead of their other 2000s movies and it's also a testament to just how amazing they are as filmmakers.
The Coen Brothers are great at making black/dry comedies and No Country for Old Men is as dry as they come. But the Coens have further proven that they are the masters at making crime/drama/thrillers. Seriously, it's like they have to remind us every ten years just how good they are at making those kinds of movies. And with No Country, they're as dark and as relentless as ever. Topping the movie off is their greatest ever villain and perhaps one of the greatest movie villains in recent movie history, Anton Chigurh. Anton relies on chance in order to make a decision on who to and who not to kill. No matter how high you value your own life, to him, your life is as valuable as a simple flip of the coin. This is a man who doesn't like to play games (except the coin flip) and will kill basically everyone he encounters. It's a man who will stop at nothing, not even for a car accident that breaks his arm.
This all comes as unfortunate news to Llewelyn Moss (Brolin) who has unknowingly messed with the wrong man. Simple, slightly greedy Llewelyn just happens to find a whole bunch of cash when he comes across a crime scene in the desert of Texas. Unbeknowest to him, there's a tracking device within the cash and now Anton is going to find him no matter how hard Llewelyn tries to get away. That is the thing that many people don't seem to like about this movie, just how nihilistic the movie is. You don't get to root for a good guy, save for maybe Ed (Tommy Lee Jones) who is a hard-working honest cop who feels that the world is getting too violent for him to handle. They don't understand that this is what the movie is about. It's not simply about a guy having a lot of cash and the bad guy that's chasing him. It's a movie that says that the world has slowly become a dark and cruel place in which our lives have subsequently been left to chance. Personally, although that is decidedly a very dark and nihilistic message, I think it's an interesting and ballsy message to get across in an action/thriller. Sure, many people won't be satisfied with that, but the Coen Brothers make movies in their own way and have been doing so for the last three decades. You can either take it or leave it. I prefer to take it.
28. Changeling, 2008, USA
Dir: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich
I was initially drawn in to Changeling by the movie's rather simple and ingenuous plot about a mother whose boy becomes abducted before the police claim to have found him... only to find out that this boy isn't actually her son. You are sold this plot by the first act (or so) of the movie until you find out what is really going on in this movie and then Changeling turns into something else. It's not that it's different, it's that it becomes a part of a bigger more disturbing picture. Not only is the movie about the corruption of the LAPD in the early half of the 20th century, it's also about the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders which you should definitely read about on wikipedia after you see the movie, which was what I did.
Anyway, it's as if the movie leads us down a river and this river leads us unexpectedly right into the ocean. Ultimately that's where the movie winds up and it doesn't get lost in the shuffle, Changeling knows how to work the original plot into a bigger picture while still making the original plot the most interesting story of the film. Well, maybe not the most interesting, but it still remains interesting. Part of this reason is due to Angelina Jolie's amazing performance. Her performance here reminds me of Sean Penn's performance from Mystic River. The only difference is that Angelina Jolie's character doesn't turn into an unlikable scumbag.
Of all the movies Eastwood made in the 2000s, this is clearly his best work. It's definitely his best movie since Unforgiven, that's for sure. Although maybe time will help boost Changeling ahead of Unforgiven. The reason why I say that is just because of how amazingly Eastwood manages to delve into this story and make it come out clear, fascinating, and thrilling. In that case, this has to be considered his best work as it strays outside his norm and yet he masters the mood and feeling of this movie.
27. Traffic, 2000, USA
Dir: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas
Steven Soderbergh's brilliant film Traffic was where Soderbergh really came alive as an immense talent. While his subsequent films in this decade never really lived up to this 2 1/2 hour drug epic, they still are an excellent exercise in continuing to mold his craft and they are always, at least, interesting. But what really makes Traffic come together are all the characters, mostly played by famous actors, yet their performances are understated and raw which prevents you from being distracted. Also, every actor in this film happens to be brilliant and most of them aren't merely famous for their star power. You have Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, Benicio del Toro's Oscar-winning performance, Don Cheadle, Luis Guzman, Benjamin Bratt, Dennis Quaid, even That '70's Show's Topher Grace puts in a brilliant and realistic performance as a smart, privileged, teenage prep student who has found himself in the midst of taking hard drugs. Then there's Erika Christensen's performance as the former honor student turned drug abuser.
The thing is, Soderbergh doesn't try to use these stories to manipulate an emotional response from the viewer. Instead, he simply poses them as facts and allows you to come to your own conclusions about everything. This isn't a movie for or against the War on Drugs, it's simply about the struggle and failure. The movie says we're all ultimately responsible for our own actions no matter how young or old we are. We have ourselves to blame just as much as those who bring in drugs to this country. They are both issues and we must treat them carefully.
Traffic, aesthetically speaking, is just wonderful to look at. It's so technically well-made that Soderbergh managed to win the best director Oscar over Ridley Scott in 2000. The color-coded storylines may seem like a simple way of getting these stories across, but that doesn't make it any less brilliant.
26. The Pianist, 2002, France/UK
Dir: Roman Polanski
Cast: Adrien Brody
Let's just ignore all of Roman Polanski's controversies here and focus on his film, The Pianist is a remarkable tale about one man's shocking willingness to survive no matter what's at stake. Perhaps my second favorite movie set during the holocaust, Life Is Beautiful, used to take that spot, but that movie has slowly fallen out of favor with me lately even going so far as to be ignored in my '90s list. I know I'm veering off topic here, but I struggled with trying to come up with an appropriate spot for Life Is Beautiful and eventually I might finally decide that the movie, while flawed, is too good to be missing from my '90s list. We'll see.
Anyway, back to the Pianist, when you take a look at that year's Oscar-winner Chicago and compare it to The Pianist--- it's a joke. The Pianist is without a doubt the superior film and you have to wonder if the Academy secretly thought that way because Adrien Brody and Roman Polanski both won Oscars for their work on the film. But giving the film a best picture Oscar might have made the Academy look bad because of who it was directed by and that's a shame. Regardless, The Pianist is a wonderfully made film and Adrien Brody very much deserved that Oscar just in the way his character struggles to escape what looks to be inevitable doom in the Holocaust. But he manages to survive and in that way, The Pianist is really one of the most inspirational and touching films of the new millennium.
25. Almost Famous, 2000, USA
Dir: Cameron Crowe
Cast: Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson
Almost Famous is Cameron Crowe's greatest film. The movie's salute to all of that great '70s music is also great thanks to Cameron Crowe's awesome upbringing as a young teenager who winds up going on tour with a band that's on the verge of becoming famous. I really like the way this movie essentially treats all of its characters equally. Everyone in the movie from the mother to William to Russell to Penny Lane are flawed, yet decent people. Penny Lane may be a promiscuous groupie but she's also naive, charming, and a free-spirit. Russell might treat her and his band like shit, but not because he's a bad guy. The way he subsequently takes William under his wing ultimately makes him likable. You want to root for these characters even when they make mistakes.
That was part of the problem with Crowe's previous film Jerry Maguire. While Maguire is still a great film, its title character was kind of a douche, wasn't he? But nobody in this movie is like that. In fact, there is so much to love about this movie, Almost Famous, that when the tour bus spontaneously starts singing "Tiny Dancer" on the tour bus... seriously, what do you do at that point? All you can do is sit in the presence of a truly special and brilliant movie. It's a movie with a lot of heart and it just makes you feel good when you're watching it.
24. The Hurt Locker, 2009, USA
Dir: Kathryn Bigelow
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie
Kathryn Bigelow's breakthrough movie, the one that has finally gave her a good degree of mainstream critical success and respect wasn't just a fluke. She has proven before that she can make great films, but The Hurt Locker simply managed to be a pitch-perfect Iraq War movie that wasn't necessarily a war movie, but definitely was a suspense/thriller. Jeremy Renner is absolutely brilliant as Sgt. William James. Renner has also proven himself to be a great actor and now The Hurt Locker has officially cemented his status.
People often wonder how a movie like The Hurt Locker could possibly win over Avatar. I found it ridiculous when a lot of guys complained the "some indie film" won over Avatar. The Hurt Locker is so much more powerful, entertaining, thrilling, and memorable than Avatar. It's not even close. Avatar is very visually stimulating... and that's it. Even so, The Hurt Locker also succeeds technically as Kathryn Bigelow is a very sound director who gets all the technical aspects of her films just right. This is a very tight movie that left itself with very little room for error and it's a movie that really showed us how with some soldiers... war has become their livelihood. Sure, a guy like William James may love his family and want to come home to them, but that thrill of successfully diffusing a bomb before it explodes both excites and terrifies him. But more than that, it's something he's done so often that he's used to all the danger that is involved with the job. He's gotten so used to it, that he can't imagine his life without it. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal did a great job with directing and writing this film which won a ton of Oscars, including a much deserved Best Director Oscar for Miss Bigelow.
23. Finding Nemo, 2003, USA
Dir: Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
Voices: Albert Brooks, Ellen Degeneres
Finding Nemo is a Pixar masterpiece. It's a beautifully told story with tons of really funny scenes and great, convincing voice acting work all around. More than that, it's visually awe-inspiring. The way it fully immerses us into the deep blue ocean and all the main characters have these little personal quirks about them that make them each unique. But also, Finding Nemo has a lot of very touching, emotional scenes and by the time you get to the final scenes, you can't help but be overwhelmed with emotion. I can't say I cried by the end of the movie, but I definitely could have if I wanted to. It's just done so well, it flows so perfectly that it almost feels too short. But, really, it's all just right.
22. The Dark Knight, 2008, USA
Dir: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger
So we finally made it to the juggernaut of all summer blockbuster movies to come out in the past 10-20 years. The Dark Knight exploded once it hit theaters and it rocked the world to its very core. The hype for the movie was so great that nobody thought it could live up to it, but it did. And let me repeat that again: it did. Sure now, it may come across as "overrated" simply because the subsequent overwhelming response to the movie was just that - overwhelming. But that doesn't make it a lesser film, not by any means. And I don't understand people who dismiss people who love this movie as fanboys. People get so wrapped up in it that they talk down on Christopher Nolan, who has done more than enough garner the praise that he receives on a continual basis. He's made a handful of good-to-great movies in the last decade and one of them was the 2nd highest grossing picture of all-time... now it's the 3rd highest, but that's still amazing. What I like about Nolan is that even though he now makes big budget Hollywood films, they are still wholly original. And The Dark Knight is certainly a different type of summer blockbuster comic book film. The Dark Knight rose the stakes so high that it will be hard for any subsequent superhero film to top it - even the third Batman film. I also love that Nolan has brought Batman to respectability.
The thing is, The Dark Knight doesn't just work as a superhero/comic book film. It also works as a crime/thriller epic. If you take away the fact that this is a Batman film, this would've been the great crime/thriller of our time. And did I not even mention Heath Ledger's performance in this movie? Heath Ledger, by far, outshines everyone else in this movie that the film's only main problem is that no one else can successfully equal him in the movie, not even Batman. The Joker really turns shit upside down in this movie and becomes a truly terrifying, insane character. He's easily one of the greatest villains of all-time already and it's a real shame we won't be seeing anything like it ever again.
21. Pan's Labyrinth, 2006, Mexico
Dir: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Ivana Baquero, Maribel Verdu
Just missing my top 20 films of the 2000s is Guillermo del Toro's wonderful and majestic Pan's Labyrinth. Ivana Baquero's convincing performance in this film is what really makes Pan's Labyrinth great and she adds a necessary emotional weight to this film that makes you care about this poor little girl and it just makes her world that much more terrifying and unbelievable. Bringing in a perfect setting of the violent and dangerous world of post-Spanish Civil War Spain and combining that with the fantasy world that Ofelia has created to escape the harsh realities of the real world, which includes her mother's worsening condition after she had delivered her newborn child.
With Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro has demonstrated how wonderful and incredible his limitless imagination is. It's definitely one of the most original movies ever made in the last decade and it has a wonderful, yet slightly dark ending which I feel perfectly wraps up the rest of the movie. It may be sad, but in a way, it's beautiful. It's another great movie that provides a grain of hope in a very dire, tragic real-life situation. I think movies like this that manage to work, do so because of how well its filmmakers treat and develop its characters. And del Toro does just that with Ofelia. I wouldn't exactly show this movie to young kids, but I think there are some children where this movie would definitely resonate with them. I know it would've with me.
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