The 2000s produced hours and hours of truly great cinema but, after much debate and discussion, Tangled Up in Wires has narrowed it down to our 25 favorites. Not to spoil anything for you, but Michael Bay didn’t make it. Read on to find out who did and then tell us where we’re wrong in the comments.
25. Oceans 11
Less than satisfying sequels aside, Steven Soderbergh’s remake of the Rat Pack classic doesn’t have a bad moment in it. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and the rest of the class have such great chemistry that the back and forth banter seems incredibly natural and hardly seems forced. Just as fun in the first moments as it is in the last, Oceans 11 is a movie you don’t turn off when it’s played over and over on TNT. (M)
24. Goodnight and Good Luck
Goodnight and Good Luck is a brief, fascinating intellectual and stylistic exercise that doesn’t idealize its protagonist. Instead, director George Clooney takes a journalistic approach to Edward R. Murrow’s fight with Senator Joe McCarthy. It helps when he populates the cast with low-key, naturalistic actors like Patricia Clarkson, Frank Langella, and David Strathairn, whose deadpan work as Edward R. Murrow went beyond a mere impression. Similarities to more recent events are irrelevant; more historical dramas should have the rigor and depth of Clooney’s. (J)
23. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Documentaries can sometimes be tedious, 90 minute arguments for an issue that you become either strongly for or strongly indifferent towards in the end. Then there’s King of Kong, which throws all of that out the window. Documenting the battle for the record for the highest Donkey Kong score between long time champ Billy Mitchell and down-and-out everyman Steve Wiebe, the film takes a look into the cutthroat world of competitive arcade gaming while creating an emotional resonance that literally got me up and cheering the first time I saw it. (M)
22. Pan’s Labyrinth
Fairy tales are as much about tragedy as triumph, and Del Toro includes plenty of the former in his gothic horror film. Pan’s Labyrinth’s layered narrative goes to some extremely dark places, as it depicts the harsh, violent reality of life in fascist Spain in 1944, but still provides moments of tremendous beauty. This contrast is certainly helped along by some of Del Toro’s best effects and creature work ever. (J)
21. Lord of the Rings
It may be cheating to name a trilogy as one entry, but it’s really impossible to separate Peter Jackson’s three perfect adaptations of the classic books. Visually, the films are the most stunning sci-fi films you’ll see. Story wise, the films are extremely faithful to the books, and the strongest devotees have extended DVD versions with even more. The best part is that the films are hugely epic while not going over the top. Definitely classics that shouldn’t be missed. (M)
20. 28 Days Later
Danny Boyle’s anti-zombie film starts with a moment of such showy eeriness that it would have been easy to coast by on just that. But after working through the creepily empty streets of post-zombie apocalypse London, Boyle moves on to tell a story that, like the best bits of horror, is more about the monsters that lurk inside of us. Boyle doesn’t go for easy scares, and instead crafts a deliberate, assured film that’s still extremely terrifying. (J)
19. The Squid and the Whale
Noah Baumbach’s intensely personal film about a family taking sides in a divorce is at times a hard film to watch because of it’s unabashed realism. It’s hard to really side with either of the parents in the film (Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels), and Jesse Eisenberg doesn’t oversell his role as the son stuck in the middle. Though he’d already gotten recognition for his debut, Kicking and Screaming (not the Will Ferrell movie), The Squid and the Whale brought Baumbach to the forefront of a new generation of indie filmmakers. (M)
18. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Despite making millions of dollars from it in the 1990s for his action scripts, its clear (probably some time around The Long Kiss Goodbye) that Shane Black soured on Hollywood. But the result was this completely overlooked near masterpiece, an entertaining, hyperactive, loquacious, hilarious action film with an excellent cast (anchored by Robert Downey Jr.’s typically strong work and Val Kilmer, looking like he’s having the most fun he’s had in year) and a fun, twisty script. (J)
17. Best in Show
Having already perfected the mockumentary with This is Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman, Christopher Guest took on the world of dog grooming in his hilarious improvised comedy. A cast of fantastic improvisers come together in a film full of goofy one liners and genuine sweetness that produces some of the most memorable lines of all time. That’s really all I have to say, I have to get back to reading American Bitch magazine. (M)
16. Wall-E
Combine Buster Keaton, Arthur C. Clarke, Tex Avery, and Steven Spielberg and you get something close to what Andrew Stanton and the Pixar team achieved with Wall-E. It is not just a children’s film adults can enjoy or an adult film with some elements for children, Wall-E is a film for everyone. Underneath the shockingly dark dystopian view of the distant future and Pixar’s technical wizardry is a film with true heart and emotional heft. (J)
15. Primer
If you want mind blowing science fiction that takes at least a second viewing to fully grasp, then Primer is the movie for you. Shot with a tiny $7,000 budget and written by a former engineer and filled with technical jargon, the film’s take on time travel makes Back to the Future seem absurd as opposed to fantasy. Primer is a cult classic who’s impact on sci-fi will undoubtedly continue to grow in years to come. (M)
14. Lost in Translation
Sophia Coppola’s follow-up to The Virgin Suicides isn’t about story as much as it is about a feeling. Feeling lost, confused, and generally put down doesn’t usually lend itself to cinema, but in Coppola’s hands, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson’s loneliness takes on a fragile beauty, set against the backdrop of one of the most vibrant cities in the world. (J)
13. Brick
Making an old fashioned film noir picture is one thing, but setting it in a high school, as Rian Johnson did in his directorial debut, manages to make Brick an unpredictable, powder keg of a film, ready to blow at any time. A great performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and a phenomenal script by Johnson make Brick one of the great independent features of the 2000s. (M)
12. The Dark Knight
Such is the nature of Christopher Nolan’s bleak vision for Gotham City that, by the end of The Dark Knight, the heroic Harvey Dent has become a supervillain who needs to be stopped, the vigilante Batman has had to burn the proverbial forest down to catch his nemesis, and half of Gotham is charred and burnt. Sure he catches the Joker at the end, but its cold comfort in a movie that is as much an anti-superhero film as it is a superhero film.(J)
11. The Incredibles
Not the most popular or commercially successful of Pixar’s stream of successful movies, The Increibles is their best. A pulpy, action packed movie that draws on 1950s comics, The Incredibles is just plain fun to watch. In a decade in which film heroes needed to be more human, The Incredibles are revealed as a normal family with the added circumstances of being forced to hide who they really are. (M)
10. Hot Fuzz
We here at Tangled Up in Wires know that Shaun of the Dead is generally the more popular choice, but, unlike Simon Pegg’s by-the-books policemanofficer, we don’t play by the rules! Hot Fuzz’s laughs are more consistent than its predecessor and Edgar Wright’s direction feels more confident, especially as he handles the big finale. Hot Fuzz is the rare movie that’s as funny when you’re shouting the quotes along with it, as when you’re hearing them all for the first time. (J)
9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
If you could erase certain parts of your memory, would you? That’s the central premise of the Charlie Kauffman penned, Michel Gondry directed film. The film doesn’t so much dwell on the scientific possibilities of such invention as the human use of it. The film’s characters use it not to forget their childhood or embarrassing moments, but rather the ones they have loved or want to love. Great performances from a solid cast make the quirky story work on screen in a film that avoids any sort of classification. (M)
8. Donnie Darko
Appropriately enough for someone with a keen interest in time loops, Richard Kelly’s career has basically consisted of the same thing happening: he makes a movie, it is reviled and dismissed by the public, and then it gets a cult on video. But neither of his follow-ups work on the purely visceral level that Donnie Darko does. Part episode of Lost, part coming-of-age story, part Greek tragedy, and part nostalgic romp through the 1980s, Donnie Darko stretches the limits of science fiction until they rip apart. (J)
7. Memento
Before hitting it big with the Batman reboot, Christopher Nolan made a movie that is just as perplexing to watch the third time as it is the first. A story in reverse about a man with a severe memory condition is a taxing film to watch, but that’s what makes it most enjoyable. The film gets better and better with every viewing, as each time you know something you didn’t before. (M)
6. No Country For Old Men
As of 2006, the Coens’ output for the 2000s consisted of one decent, funny film, one puzzler, and two complete failures. Many had given them up for dead, but like Javier Bardem’s hulking, unstoppable force, they got back up and made one of their finest films yet. No Country for Old Men daringly casts aside narrative conventions, painting an impressionistic picture of the modern west and of people trapped by forces beyond their control. (J)
5. Children of Men
Alfonso Curan’s futuristic film could have veered into the realm of bad science fiction, but with minimal acting and barely even a musical soundtrack, Children of Men is a haunting and beautifully photographed film. The film never dwells on how the world got to be the way it is, instead focusing on what it is and how it can better, and once things are set in motion, there’s hardly a moment to breathe. Fantastic performances by Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine are punctuated by Curan’s trademarks style in this truly fantastic film. (M)
4. There Will Be Blood
Oil, money, greed, religion, violence. The question is what happens when you combine these forces and the answer is there in the title. There Will Be Blood makes no qualms about wanting to toss the last 10 years in a blender, but it avoids overt politicizing. Instead, P.T. Anderson’s finest film takes a stark, unflinching look at one person and how a combination of those forces mentioned above turned him into something much less. The violent, divisive epilogue to the film plays, especially upon seeing the film a second time, as the only natural conclusion to the preceding three hours. (J)
3. Adaptation
Charlie Kauffman had already established himself as a daring screenwriter, but with Adaptation, he raised the bar for originality in Hollywood. Rather than writing a straight adaptation of Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, Kauffman wrote his struggles as a writer and person into the story, as well as a fictional brother Donald. Throw in director Spike Jonez, Nicholas Cage, Meryl Streep, and a fantastic Chris Cooper, and you have a quirky, thoroughly enjoyable film. (M)
2. Ghost World
Being young sucks. It’s not exactly the newest theme but Ghost World plays it to the hilt, casting Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson as the most convincing, disaffected youth this side of Neptune High School. But its only after they attempt to prank another outcast, just as lonely and misunderstood as them, that they begin to connect with the world. Ghost World is often hilarious, but there’s a real sadness underneath the laughter that gives the film a weight, boosted by Terry Zwigoff’s assured direction. (J)
1. The Royal Tennenbaums
Wes Anderson became an indie auteur master in the 2000s, but it’s first film of the decade, that is the most fun to watch. Filled with rich characters in an oddly vintage world, The Royal Tennenbaums manages to be a film about disappointment and forgiveness while at times be absolutely hilarious. Aided by a great cast, The Royal Tennenbaums is one of the few films I find I can watch over and over again without getting tired of it. (M)
For Wes Anderson’s third movie, he set out to make a film about Something. The largely ensemble nature, the more openly emotional beats, and the way he cranks his signature stylistic tics up to 11 all point to the high potential for messy overreach. And yet, through the clutter emerges a starkly personal vision of life’s ups and downs, filtered through the candy coating of Anderson’s direction. He borrows from Welles and Salinger (and from Schultz and Konigsberg and Scorsese and Jagger and Smith) like a neighbor borrowing sugar and eggs to bake a cake. Even if you recognize the ingredients the results are something completely unique. (J)
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