Comments on: Best Movies of the 2000′s

By: SMG

SMG — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:28:19 +0000

In my opinion, Watchmen shouldn’t be on any list, unless your making one entitled “DVDs to be thrown away.”

By: Anthony Mator

Anthony Mator — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:25:54 +0000

I couldn’t sit through Watchmen. I guess I just didn’t get what the big deal was about that one.

By: A Conservative Teacher

A Conservative Teacher — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:32:23 +0000

You need to include the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe on there.

By: Tickletext

Tickletext — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:52:03 +0000

“overall it was [a] lackluster decade”

No way, Joe.

2000 – Yi-Yi
2001 – Werckmeister Harmonies
2002 – The Man Without A Past; Punch-Drunk Love
2003 – The Son; Not of This World; Finding Nemo
2004 – The Return
2005 – Junebug; The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
2006 – The New World; The Island; L’Enfant; Casino Royale
2007 – Into Great Silence; Ratatouille; Lars and the Real Girl; Into the Wild; Manufactured Landscapes
2008 – Syndromes and a Century; Shotgun Stories; Heartbeat Detector; Man on Wire; The Visitor; Up the Yangtze
2009 – Up; Star Trek

By: Gail F

Gail F — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:46:02 +0000

O Brother Where Art Thou?

Wall-E

“Pride and Prejudice” was awful, though Kiara Knightly was wonderful in it — every other actor was wrong for the part, the Bennett house looked like a pigstye, and Jane’s character was completely ruined. Other than that it wasn’t so bad…

Other than Master and Commander, which should have won Oscars that year, I haven’t seen most of the movies on the “serious” list and I don’t want to. Not that I don’t like serious movies, I am just at a point in life where my limited time for movies is spent differently.

By: Mike Melendez

Mike Melendez — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:16:40 +0000

I agree with “Spirited Away” as one of the best animated films of the decade. “Tokyo Godfathers” was good, but much better was “Millenium Actress” in 2001, I believe by the same animator.

By: Miguel

Miguel — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:17:26 +0000

Do you mean Pride and Prejudice, the Keira Knightley version? I hope there is some other version also made during this decade that I haven’t heard about, because otherwise that makes me cast your entire list into very serious doubt. If that is indeed the version you mean, I guess one might say in its favor that it has some moments of unintentional hilarity (the final scene comes to mind, though I imagine poor Austen was spinning in her grave). I’m not an Austen purist, that’s not the source of my opposition. Rather, it’s the fact that I consider Pride and Prejudice a worthwhile book, not a piece of chick-lit, but the Knightley version is nothing if not a chick-flick. It panders to the sensibilities of all those Jane Austen groupies who are modern Lydia Bennets and don’t even know it. In my view, that version of Pride and Prejudice is about as worthy of the real thing as Brad Pitt’s Troy was of the Iliad.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:45:45 +0000

I call bias in favor of superhero movies.
Evidence: the claim that any of the listed films could be considered for best of the decade, conjoined with the inclusion of the X-men movies. I will accept no rationalization of this egregious lack of judgment and taste. There is no plausible argument to be made that any one of those films (esp. the sequels) could be anything like the best of the decade.

De gustibus non est disputandum, but the lesser-known corollary is: de gustibus pontificandum est.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:03:01 +0000

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Star Trek for 2009. It was pure genius.

The Visitor (2008)
No Country for Old Men (2007) (honorable mention for Into the Wild)
Casino Royale (2006)
Good Night and Good Luck (2005) (honorable mention for Goblet of Fire)
Hotel Rwanda (2004) (though Eternal Sunshine is a close second)
Mystic River (2003) (honorable mention for The Station Agent)
Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002) (honorable mention for Adaptation)
Fellowship of the Ring (2001) (honorable mention for Gosford Park)
Almost Famous or Traffic (2000)

By: Peter S

Peter S — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:33:06 +0000

Joe,

I commend you for listing “In America” for 2003. I have promoted that film ever since I saw it that year. At it’s core the movie is about the communion of the saints and being reconciled with death and grief. Other pluses are:

The well-deserved Best Actress nomination for the actress who played the mother (whose name escapes me);
One of the best, if not the best, set of child performances I have ever seen (the daughters), and, for me, a pro-immigrant advocate of Irish descent, the opening scene of the “undocumented” family making through the Canadian border check.

I could blather on more, but I highly recommend this well made and subtly Catholic movie (I mean, even the one sex scene is between a husband and wife).