Best Movies of the 00s -- Part III

So, we've reached the Top 10. Hasn't this been fun? I know I've enjoyed it.

The Top 10 will be a two-parter, not because I'm anxious for attention, but because I want to say more about these movies and, if possible, include more clips. It's just more manageable if I split it into two parts. That, and it means more attention for me.

10. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003)

Is it cheating to count all three movies as a single entry? I say it's not. You're welcome to your own opinion. You're also welcome to start your own blog and make you're own rules. I prefer to consider these movies as one cohesive whole. That being the case, they get one spot on my list. And, it's the the #10 spot.

There was a time when people considered the LOTR trilogy to be unfilmable. While the movies would have you believe differently, the actual pace of the LOTR books is pretty meandering. Certainly, there are action sequences -- chases, battles, etc. -- that take place. But, for the most part, author J.R.R. Tolkien gave these aspects shorter shrift than he gave the historical accounts, the songs, the mythology, and, in most respects, the character's personalities. That being the case, it seemed like an accurate LOTR film trilogy would resemble episodes of "Masterpiece Theater" more than a battle/action epic. This is not to say that the movies produced by Peter Jackson are not faithful adaptations --and that's the genius of them. Not only was Jackson able to create a number of thrilling sequences, he was also able to structure the narrative in a way that did not basterdize Tolkien. No small feat.

For a long time, I considered the third film, The Return of the King, to be the best film of the trilogy. However, after recently rewatching The Fellowship of the Ring (the first chapter), I've concluded that I was wrong. Fellowship is the flagship, the Cadillac of the LOTR movie trilogy. It's in that first chapter wherein the themes of the literary trilogy are best on display. In the first film, Jackson perfectly captures the unique idea of a world -- a majestic, magical world at that -- completely reliant on its most inconsequential inhabitants -- the Hobbits -- for its salvation. The Hobbits are not all that concerned with saving the universe, only with preserving their jovial, relaxed way of life. Yet, a group of them are thrust into the epic struggle over the fate of Middle Earth. This apparent narrative conflict -- between the intimate simplicity of Hobbit life and the broad stage of the struggle to save Middle Earth -- is the heart of Tolkien's story and is captured perfectly in The Fellowship of the Ring.

In The Two Towers, this dichotomy plays second fiddle to the larger story and to the non-Hobbit characters. The result is a very good battle film. But, in the end, it always seemed like it was a long preview to Part III to me. The trilogy was capped by The Return of the King, which took home 11 Oscars in 2003. Return brought the Hobbits back into focus and, as a result, is much more faithful to Tolkien's efforts. As in Fellowship, the simple desires of the Hobbits are perfectly juxtaposed to the larger conflict, making the two films perfect bookends to the movie trilogy.

I can't find any good scenes on YouTube. So you get an extended trailer:



9. Minority Report (2002)

It seems like once every decade, Steven Spielberg delivers a classic action/adventure story that ranks among the all-time greats. In the 1970s, we got Jaws. In the 1980s, we got Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the other Indiana Jones movies. In the 1990s, we got Jurassic Park. And, in the 2000s, we got Minority Report. The status of this movie as a classic is probably more in dispute than that of the other films I've mentioned. But, that's because people are stupid.

Minority Report is based on Phillip K. Dick story, which should tell you up front that it's based in a not-too-distant future wherein some new technology has brought with it a series of moral questions. In this case, it's the ability to predict murders and therefore incarcerate the murderers before any crime has actually taken place. A group of three apparently infallible psychics -- labeled "pre-cogs" -- have dreams and visions of future murders and, in this movie set in 2054, the government has harnessed this power to its advantage. Tom Cruise stars as police chief John Anderton, one so committed to what they've termed Pre-Crime, that he's cavalier in response to any suggestion of moral ambiguity to the practice. Of course, this is turned on its head when Anderton himself shows up as the murderer in one of the pre-cogs' visions.

In the end, the futuristic setting and convoluted plot is a merely a backdrop for a pretty traditional noir mystery and adventure thrill ride. More than a sci-fi movie, Minority Report is an action/chase story that never lets up and never let's the moral/ethical/political debate get too much in its way.

While Cruise gives one of his finest performances of his career in this film, he is upstaged in most of the scenes he shares with Samantha Morton who plays the most talented of the pre-cogs and whose mind Anderton must hack in order to prove his innocence. Both of these two were robbed when Oscar time came around in 2002, as was the film itself.

In addition to the fine performances and stellar action sequences, Minority Report provided a unique and ultimately realistic view of the future. From the hand-based computer interfaces (which resemble newer computer systems, the Nintendo Wii, and the upcoming Xbox 360 attachment unit) to the non-lethal weapons imposed by police offices (including sonic blasters and sticks that make you vomit), the movie featured a number of original devices that, like some of those seen in Star Trek (cell phone, anyone?), will be copied by real life, if they haven't already.

This movie dropped in the summer of 2002, right in the middle of the post-9/11 debate over the proper extent of the government's terrorist prevention efforts. At that point, the country was faced with questions relating to the due process rights of known and suspected terrorists and whether the government had substantial enough evidence to hold suspects for longer periods of time. Obviously, these debates were more complicated than I'm letting on -- I am a lawyer after all -- but, I don't want to bog down the discussion. While far from being a legal treatise on these matters, Minority Report provided a perfect pop-culture outlet for this still ongoing debate.

I flat out love this movie.







8. Memento (2001)

Before he became the hottest director on the planet, Christopher Nolan wrote and directed this indie masterpiece starring Guy Pearce as Leonard, a man with no short-term memory. This is a film that succeeds almost entirely due to it's pacing and structure. Indeed, none of the performances are all that amazing and the overall story itself, if told in the right order, is less than spectacular. Quite simply, it works because of a plot gimmick. But, then again, so did Rashomon.

The gimmick here is that the story is told backwards. Leonard is on a self-appointed quest to find and kill the man who murdered his wife. The story begins with him shooting Teddy, played by Joe Pantoliano, who is apparently the guilty party. In 15-minute increments, the story moves backward from there, interspersed with black-and-white segments that move forward chronologically in which Leonard explains his condition and gives background.

This plot structure requires that we see characters' actions before learning their motives and much of the time, it is a surprise, if not a full-on shock, what the people are up to, including Leonard. Nolan, to his credit, remains religiously devoted to this structure throughout the film and never strays into nonsensical or too-good-to-be true territory.

Like I said, it's a masterpiece. Quite honestly, if you haven't seen it, I'm probably doing a lousy job explaining it. But, then again, you need to see it to understand it.







7. No Country for Old Men (2007)

I am a Coen Brothers aficionado...of sorts, anyway. I own almost all of their movies and can watch almost any one of them no matter what mood I'm in. Seriously...I can even watch their lesser movies like Intolerable Cruelty or The Ladykillers pretty much any day of the week. They're that good. Some write them off as cynical humorists, but they're more than that. Most of their movies have a philosophical bent to them, usually a demonstration or elaboration on the thesis that life and human existence has no meaning. Of course, other times, their movies are just about fat versions of Jeff Bridges trying to stay out of trouble.

No Country for Old Men is the film that finally won them their Oscar. Yet, it is different from any other movie they've made. Unlike other Coen classics like Fargo and Miller's Crossing, No Country was based on another person's work, namely Cormac McCarthy, possibly America's greatest living novelist. To say that the movie is based on McCarthy's book is putting it lightly. With little exception, the script could have been cut and pasted from the book, it follows it so closely. In large part, that's why it is so good.

The book No Country for Old Men is considered among the most readable and accessible of McCarthy's novels. The story is straightforward and the prose is surprisingly sparse. Yet, there is great depth in that simplicity. In telling the simple story of calculating killer on the loose, the idiot who has his money, and the scared, aging Texas lawman trying to track them both down, McCarthy describes the very human condition, or at least how he sees it. His point, simply put, is that, while violence, death, and tragedy are generally unavoidable, people make choices that make them completely inescapable.

In the movie, violence, death and tragedy all come in the form of Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem, who is one of the scariest screen villains of all time. He is, no doubt, a murdering psychopath, but there is a sense of planning and even justice to his actions, which makes him even scarier. The aging sheriff is played by Tommy Lee Jones, a simple man who has no expectations that life is supposed to be all roses and lollipops, but who is nonetheless horrified by what he sees.

Rather than infuse some of their trademark wackiness to McCarthy's story, the Coens simply put the book on screen. As a result, it is probably the most focused and serious work of their career and, in my opinion (remember, I'm an aficionado), one of their very best. Just a glorious joy of a film.







6. Wall-E (2008)

The last/first Pixar masterpiece on my list, Wall-E could rightfully be given any number of labels and it would still be a success. It's part sci-fi epic, part kids' cartoon, part goofy comedy, and part political diatribe, and, in each category, it's one of the best of all time. It is easily the best animated film of the decade and one of the best animated features in history.

My favorite part of the movie comes at the beginning which works like a silent film -- all action, no dialogue -- and never for a moment seems boring or tedious. It never seems out of place either. The hero, Wall-E, a trash compacting robot that is a cross between E.T. and Number Five from Short Circuit, is all alone on planet Earth, doing the only thing he knows how -- compacting and stacking garbage, stopping only at night to catalog his collection of human artifacts and watch VHS clips of Hello Dolly! Human beings have been living off-planet for over 700 years due to high levels of toxic pollution. Cue the boos and hisses of those decrying the movie's environmentalist agenda...because the simple message of "less garbage is better" is totally leftist.

Eventually, Wall-E meets EVE, a lady robot who's come to Earth to search for signs of life, and he follows her into space. There, he meets the remnants of humanity who have become fat and drunk on a life of automation and commercialization (boo! hiss! political agenda!) and joins the quest to return the humans to Earth. Though, ultimately, he's just in love and is dying for a chance to just hold EVE's hand like the people do in Hello Dolly!

Wall-E is a sweet, sweet movie, filled with heart-warming moments that can border on being downright cheesy. But, its laughs are real, its story is engaging, and, as is to be expected when Pixar puts its name to it, it is 100 percent original.







The Top 5 is next. Any guesses on what's #1?