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Smart Hollywood: My Top Ten Fave Films of the 00’s

the aughts

by Jonathan Fuhrman | 12:50 pm, December 4th, 2009

» 4 comments

6. Any Pixar animated movie

Ok, I’m cheating here as I’m not going to just name one Pixar film (though if you forced me to choose I would probably pick this year’s academy-award contender, “Up” (2009), “Finding Nemo” (2003), or “The Incredibles” (2004) – see you force me to choose and I still pick 3! That’s how good Pixar is!). As the 2000’s come to a close, computer animated films are de rigeur, with every major Hollywood studio and many indie studios releasing such films (some more successfully than others). But if you think back to the ancient days of 2000, Pixar was basically the only game in town (Dreamworks had released Antz in 1998 and was prepping Shrek for a 2001 release which would soon finally give Pixar some worthy competition). You might think a studio with essentially no competition could possibly get complacent or release substandard product and take advantage of an audience hungry for computer animated fare. Not Pixar. And movie lovers everywhere are the winners in this case. Each of Pixar’s animated films are incredibly re-watchable and every film they released this decade was revolutionary in its own way – so honestly, just insert your designated Pixar choice here. These movies are all instant masterpieces not only because of their visual inventiveness and creativity, but because at the heart of every Pixar film is good old-fashioned story-telling that connects and stays with the viewer on an emotional level. These films truly play to an audience of any age, and without a doubt will continue to play on and on to new generations of film goers. They are the new Disney classics. For more on “Up”, which was recently released on DVD/Blu-Ray, see my musings in my “Smart Pick of the Week” posting about “Up” at http://smarthollywood.tumblr.com.

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kevinsemicolon

That’s a pretty interesting list. Of the movies I’ve seen, I would only disagree with a few of them (one in particular—I can guarantee I will not be rewatching any Russell Crowe movie in the next 20 years). Here’s my list, with the added restraint of only one movie per year:

Wonder Boys (2000)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
24 Hour Party People (2002)
The Saddest Music in the World (2003)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
Volver (2006)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Coraline (2009)

For Volver, you can substitute Pan’s Labyrinth if you prefer. 2006 was the year Madrid picked up the slack for Hollywood. That was a fun exercise. Thanks!
Rachel Sklar

What a great list. I admit that I can watch “Legally Blonde” anytime…or “Bring It On”…or “Mean Girls”…I think I just stumbled upon another idea for a list…

(I also like smart-people movies too, sheesh. Oh and I think I’d put Inglorious Basterds on any list. I still find myself thinking about it, and arrested by it.)
Jonathan Fuhrman

I agree re: “Basterds” but left it off the list for 2 reasons: 1) personal bias given I worked on it and trying to remain somewhat impartial; 2) and more importantly, it’s probably a case of timing hurting its chances to make the top 10 – its just too soon – need a little bit of time and distance to really determine its place on this list. That being said Quentin’s other masterpiece of the 00′s, “Kill Bill” (especially Volume 1) was definitely a near miss to this list. I can watch that scene where The Bride takes on the Crazy 88 over and over. What a movie.
lkruse

Excellent choices! I agree with all those films. I think if I had to try and do both: pick movies just from the 00′s that I’ll enjoy yrs from now (enjoy being the key word in this category as some of the best movies can be difficult to watch over and over again), as well as movies that stand up to critical acclaim I would have to add:

Both Joe Wright’ films “Atonement” and “Pride and Prejudice”
Steven Soderbergh’s “Erin Brokovich”
“Little Miss Sunshine”
“Tropic Thunder”

Smart Hollywood: My Top Ten Fave Films of the 00’s

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