It wasn't always a great decade, but at least it produced some incredible films. I missed a lot of great ones over the years, but I caught a lot of them as well. These are the ones that left the biggest impression on me between 2000-2009. Time sure does fly. Quite a few of these I saw in college and that was ages ago. Almost as difficult as choosing, is ordering. I just can't seem to do either properly. At any rate, here goes:
I thought this movie was better than any other I saw this decade. Watching it we see in detail, how in the corruption or absence of law enforcement, crime lords provide stability, urban warfare destroys communities, and that even in a world without rules there's a strange sort of justice or karma to it all. Casted using almost entirely non-actors who really lived the life, there's raw, realistic energy in the portrayals. It's the underworld of Rio De Janeiro's slums in all its harsh and gritty violence, but also its vibrance and liveliness. And at the end of it all a surprisingly uplifting message of hope. If someone can emerge out of this environment safely maybe there's hope for all of us.
American Gangster
2. Y Tu Mama Tambien
Two young guys embark on a road trip through Mexico with the company of a Spanish woman they just met recently and some less than pure intentions toward her. They don't let the fact that they're young, inexperienced, and don't really have a clue what they're doing slow them down, they only know what they want. In then end, however, they're absolutely no match for this woman who's not only experienced, but has nothing to lose. There are three main themes explored over the course of this film. The first one, sex, is very obvious. The second, Mexico, is seen more and more as the characters travel. The final, death, is explored intermittently throughout. A film that's dramatic and often very humorous as well, with a quiet revelation at it's ending that incredibly enough, turns everything you've already seen on its side for repeat viewings.
"Life is like the surf, so give yourself away like the sea..."
3. The 40 Year Old Virgin
Seems like comedy is the hardest thing to get people to agree on. So much seems to depend on a viewer's expectations and the ability to surprise them, to keep them unable to predict what will come next. While a lot of people I've met liked some other comedy better, I've met few who didn't like this one, and perhaps what was most surprising of all was just how thoughtful and heartfelt this movie is for a comedy. There's a lot more to it than just a bunch of jokes about sex (or some people's lack there-of), and I really couldn't name a comedy I liked more than this one.
4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
A new classic is born. This is one that'll really stand the test of time, the same way the books have, and just as Star Wars did. Decades from now people will still be watching it and talking about it. From it, high-fantasy returned to the cinemas like never before. The first movie in the series was also the first block-buster to come after 9/11, and I sometimes wonder if traditional storytelling was what America wanted when it came. Regardless, it's an achievement of special effects, of performances, and literary adaptation.
5. Sideways
Two guys, Jack and Miles, head out to California's wine country for some final celebration before Jack's wedding. Miles just wants to relax, Jack just wants to chase women for one last time before getting married. They meet two women, drama and comedy ensue. It's strange to me that for all the drama in this film, it's not a chick-flick at all, if anything it's actually a guy movie. The central characters are two guys, and this movie certainly understands their way of thinking. For all of Miles's rationality, he's getting nowhere. For all of Jack's bad qualities, his cockiness pulls Miles out of his moping and into taking the chances he needs to. I was also surprised by just how humorous this film was, funnier than most of the so-called comedies out there.
6. Wall-E
Pixar has been turning out great films pretty much since it's inception and directly because of their influence, children's animated fare has largely become standard. "Traditional animation" is now in the minority. Other companies have emulated their style, but they remain unmatched. With Wall-E, it seems they've reached their pinnacle... for now at least. Aside from being full of new sights and wonderment it also has a very timely environmental message lingering in the background.
7. Gangs of New York
A lot of people didn't consider this a great movie, but I sure did. Perhaps the only epic Martin Scorcese will ever make, it's a film that really is unlike any other I've seen, with a performance by Daniel Day-Lewis that has become my favorite. The New York of the mid-1800's was more a collection tribes imported from other countries who brought their old rituals and hostilities from the old country to America with them. The streets and neighborhoods more like little kingdoms constantly at war with each other, and towering over them all is Day-Lewis's Bill the Butcher, who rules them with a cold, iron fist like a ruthless old monarch. It's a uniquely American story, although the America it portrays -one not yet transformed by time- is one completely alien to the one we know.
8. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
A martial arts film that transcends all others and understands the inner heart and soul of the warrior at it's poetic best. Other attempts have been made to mimic what Ang Lee accomplished here -most notably Zhang Yimou's Hero- but Crouching Tiger remains at the precipice. Few movies have ever made fighting look this beautiful.
9. The Dark Knight
In a decade where movies based on comic books enjoyed unbridled success, one of them stood head and shoulders above the rest. It continues what started with Batman Begins, showing the masked vigilante optimistic that he might not be needed soon, and perhaps can even hang up his mantle (a notion foreign to any anyone familiar with the character). That is until he's challenged by a sociopath with no conscience, and slowly begins to come to the sad conclusion that his Batman persona won't ever cease to be needed. The movie featured a performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker which has already become legend. What dark depths of his psyche Ledger reached into in order to create his portrayal of this character will never be known due to his untimely demise.
10. Okuribito (Departures)
For some reason death is a topic the Japanese have been able to do well for a very long time (Ikiru and Tokyo Story both come to mind). The sadness of loss, the lingering regret, and ultimate finality of it all. They're all in this movie, along with an anger and redemption that you don't always see in movies of this sort. As it drew to its close, I actually wanted to shout at the screen, tell the guy not to let it end the way he intended to, to just let it go. Perhaps it's because a few things have happened recently that changed me, or perhaps it's because me living in Japan makes it hit closer to home, but this film brought me closer to tears than any other I've seen.
11. Requiem for a Dream
Lyrical beauty, heart-wrenching sadness. This movie shocked me more than any other I've ever seen. The horrors which occur to characters we've come to care about leaves a hole inside and it's viewers changed forever. I can't think of anyone who'd want to get much deeper into drugs after seeing this film. The last 30 minutes of it will haunt me to end of my days.
12. Spirited Away
The best "traditionally animated" film of the decade, with all the wonder that Miyazaki has come to be known for in his works. His message is so subtle it's hard to see it; a deriding of the apathy of the young, and the triumph of personal improvement that comes of being challenged.
13. Closer
There isn't a single "good" character in this film, and the fates they get, they earn. Incredible performances, and a script with some fucking teeth on it, this movie was emotionally violent the way many others are physically. Truly difficult to watch. Like Kids and Requiem for a Dream, at the conclusion of this story, there is no catharsis whatsoever. The end result of all that selfishness is just the bittersweet knowledge that it's done.
14. The Matrix
It's hard to gauge the cultural significance of this movie, its importance is such that the word itself has entered our widespread cultural lexicon. It challenged our perceptions about reality and forced us yet again to question our relationship with machines. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon it made action beautiful and poetic. On a side note, I liked the second film a lot as well, though it's hard not to consider the second and third films to really be two parts to the same film, whereas the first stood alone. As such it lacked an ending and put everything on the third movie. We all know how that turned out.
15. There Will Be Blood
A movie that despite its taking place in the past carries a very relevant message for today. From the beginning, oil has been a dirty business, and we can begin to see the mess we've gotten ourselves into by becoming dependent on it and the people who run it. Another great performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, this time as a cruel and unethical oil man. Religion is of no interest to him and in the end no match for him, even though ironically enough, he does at one point need it order to gain the support of the very people he's cheating (shades of George W. Bush perhaps?) Eric Schlosser once said that there is nothing crueler than the free market unchecked, and this film shows us why. Only the most merciless seem capable of climbing to the top.
16. Munich
Few other movies -save maybe for The Good Shepherd- present the reality and bleakness of this subject matter. Revenge is seldom ever satisfying, it only teaches you that you can do to others the things that hurt you. The very existence of the spy is one with no soul and little joy. The whole profession of information gathering means ruthlessness and deception. There's no room for friends when somewhere down the line, either the people you know or the ones they know are going to be betrayed. And that's if you win. At the end of it all is the profound conclusion that in hunting terrorists we've become more like them, and the unanswered question of whether or not we're still just for doing so.
17. Avatar
More than a movie, this has become a cultural event, and as of this writing, one still going on. We haven't seen the last of James Cameron or filmmaking using the techniques and effects he's created here. Like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, the world he created was so well-imagined that reality just melts away watching it. The story resembles a lot of others that came before it, but is compelling and well-told nonetheless.
18. Syriana
Another trend to come about recently is the so-called "hyperlink movie". Traffic, Crash, and even Love Actually all come to mind as examples. This was my favorite. By surrounding the viewer with the plot we come to see how the characters' actions affect one another even though most never meet. It's very much like real life is in this regard. The central theme is oil, a macguffin that rather than being pursued the whole time by the characters, is actually surrounding them and so must be fought for with distraction and covert ways. It also shows us very clearly how America purposely tampers with and destabilizes other countries simply to get it cheaper.
19. Children of Men
"The whole world lost some of its laughter when the echoing of playgrounds ceased...", uttered one of the characters late in this film. By then the idea has already been hammered home. What would happen to us if suddenly we couldn't bear children? How would we react if the notion that humanity has no future became very real over-night? How many of us would try to burn everything, dance around the flames, and of those who didn't, how many would only be clinging on desperately because we didn't know how much longer we all have left? The world portrayed by this film is indeed decaying and nearly hopeless. That is until a woman is found who is pregnant. Suddenly there are those stepping up with renewed hope and purpose, and still others looking to take advantage of what might be humankind's final hope.
20. The Passion of the Christ
I've got to give it to Mel Gibson, he makes the movies he wants to make, the way he wants to make them, even if others aren't willing to back him. Along with Apocalypto, he showed the world very brutal, visceral images and heightened the authenticity by filming in rare languages (some of which are extinct). With The Passion he managed to create an experience unlike any other, and regardless of the man or his views, that's an amazing achievement.
Some other films I felt were runners up. I just can't seem to limit myself in the end. Probably shouldn't take the ordering of this all too seriously, beyond the first ten or so I liked most of them about the same.
Tropa de Elite
Another film from Brazil depicting the urban war-zone its slums have become. This time centering on a hard-to-the-teeth captain who leads the "Elite Squad" (Tropa de Elite) that goes into the places and situations the normal cops are too afraid to. With his own pending retirement soon to come, the story follows two younger soldiers who he feels might be worthy to take his position.
The Proposition
A western unlike any other I've ever seen, including Unforvgiven. It has many of the elements of other westerns -corrupt lawmen, bloodthirsty outlaws, hostile natives- but it doesn't take place the American old west, but rather the Australian outback during it's own "Old West" sort of period. Its idea: That Australia's outback, among the most savage of natural environments for man to survive in, produced equally savage men. A very brutal movie indeed.
Shotgun Stories
This movie captured the feeling and pace of life in the South like few others ever have. It's story, about bitterness and revenge erupting into violence between stepbrothers in a small town, is told so subtly that the tension becomes incredible by the conclusion.
Renaissance
Like Waking Life, it uses the same roto-scoping technique of painting cells to achieve it's realistic animation, though it didn't get quite the attention that movie did. Purposely done in black and white, to achieve a very slick, futuristic, sci-fi noir effect. Right up there with Blade Runner and Minority Report. The story has not been neglected either, and its questions of ethics with an emerging technology of immortality left me deep in thought.
Persepolis
An animated film that takes a personal and humorous look at the life of a spunky young girl from Iran who watches her whole world start to fall apart as its government begins to deteriorate from a free democracy into a conservative, repressive regime. An important film because it shows how the process of a democracy crumbling is slow and gradual, and before you know it, gone.
Harry Potter Series
Along with the Lord of the Rings, this series helped establish that fantasy literature could be a bankable commodity at the box office. Its long, drawn out story (7 books and 8 films when it finishes) is truly epic and starts with a main character who is young and watches them grow like no single movie every was able to. Another future classic for certain.
Documentaries:
American Drug War
A closer look at the toll America's "War on Drugs" has taken on the country. Over-packed jails, CIA smuggling and corruption, and no end in sight. It's discouraging to watch, as many of the documentaries are, and though this one swept its share of festivals, it is practically unknown to the mainstream because its subject matter puts it up against such powerful interests and people who wave flags and shout in louder voices.
Collapse
An alarming look at some of the things happening in the world right now with Michael Ruppert. Some of the things he points out are very frightening, in terms of simple math, supply and demand, we're using up our planet at an unsustainable rate and in the midst of a revolution we can only hope will proceed without much pain.
"If your camp gets attacked by a bear, you don't have to be faster than the bear, you only have to be faster than the slowest camper."
An Inconvenient Truth
A documentary that's proven to be very important and might actually end up making a difference in what's become a global problem.
Fahrenheit 9/11
Another important documentary which attacked a president who up until that point had almost complete immunity due to 9/11 and U.S. public perception of his importance.
Zeitgeist
Let the conspiracy theories begin. How much of this was true, and how much can really be taken seriously, I don't know. For an amateur-made expose, which found itself an audience willing to listen on the internet, however, it certainly was a piece of work.
Notable Mentions:
Babel
Minority Report
Pan's Labyrinth
Waking Life
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Almost Famous
No Country for Old Men
A History of Violence
The Departed
Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2
Eastern Promises
Michael Clayton
Tsotsi
Changing Lanes
Collateral
Amores Perros
Open Range
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