a) I was in my early years of grade school between 2000-2004. Therefore, my fragile little mind at the time could only remember the 2000 Presidential election, 9/11, the Iraq War, the storylines from the WWE and whatever was on Nickelodeon.
b) Even if I did want to make posts about the entire decade, it would be much more time consuming then one column about a whole year. Think about it: I have to remember the biggest things to come out of a span of 3,650 days from the very beginning to the very end. There might also be a lot of stuff I may have forgotten while writing it to (see point A again for more on this).
So, instead, I decided on making a three part series commemorating the best of the decade for three categories that I adore talking about: movies, sports and TV. To start, I've decided to revise my "Movie of the Decade" post from late July. If you have any comments or disagreements on it, please feel free to e-mail me. Or you can just comment on the bottom of the page. Hope you enjoy:
I watched "The Hurt Locker" with some of my friends and cousins in July. We watched the trailer and heard some of the reviews (97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.com). It was an easier decision to go watch it then finding out what theater is it playing in (it's in select theaters). After watching it, I just have to say that if it's not the best movie of the Iraq war ever, it has to be in the top 3. It was compelling, the acting was great and relate able, and simply terrific. In my opinion, it's the leading contender for February's Oscars.
Speaking of great movies, we are about to be finished with the final year of this very quick decade (2000-2009). That also means that it is time to start looking back at some of the best and worst stuff that happened in it, including the movies. Overall, this decade offered probably the least memorable movies in the last 80 years of film making.. The 30's had "King Kong," "Silent Nights," and the greatest year in film history (1939). The 40's had "Citizen Kane," "Casablanca," "Fantasia," and "It's a Wonderful Life."
The 50's had "On the Waterfront"," "Singing in the Rain," "All About Eve," and Alfred Hitchcock movies. The 60's has "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Dr. Strangelove," "Lawrence of Arabia," and "The Graduate." The 70's had "The Godfather," "Star Wars," "Apocalypse Now," "Chinatown" and "A Clockwork Orange." The 80's had "Raging Bull," "E.T.," and "Platoon." And the 90's, well that was probably the greatest decade of films ever with movies like "Schindler's List," "Forrest Gump," "Silence of the Lambs," "Fargo," "Goodfellas," "Titanic," and "Saving Private Ryan" (not to mention some of the movies I left out like "The Shawshank Redemption," "Pulp Fiction," "Toy Story," "Reservoir Dogs," "Lion King," "Dances with Wolves" and many more).
Despite that, this decade did have some memorable films. Which brings up the question: what was the best and most defining film of this period of time? Everyone has an opinion, but I'm going to end this discussion right now! Before I start, here are some of the qualifications to win this prestigious accomplishment:
- Critical reception and/or box office success
- Rewatchability
- Originality
- Awards won
I'll start by naming the nominations from each year, then proceed to name each year's top three and then each year's best films (the finalists) and finally pick the winner.
The Nominations (per year)
2000- "Gladiator"
" Erin Brokovich"
" Traffic"
" Cast Away"
"The Royal Tenenbaums"
" Meet the Parents"
" Almost Famous"
"Chicken Run"
"O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
2001- "A Beautiful Mind"
" Lord of the Rings" 1
" Shrek"
"Monsters Inc."
"Harry Potter" 1
2002- "Chicago"
" The Pianist" "
"Lord of the Rings" 2
"Spiderman"
"Gangs of New York"
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
"Ice Age"
2003- "Lord of the Rings" 3
" Lost in Translation"
"Mystic River"
"Saw"
"Finding Nemo"
"Pirates of the Caribbean" 1
"Kill Bill"
"Shaun of the Dead"
2004- "Million Dollar Baby"
"The Aviator"
"Ray"
"Super Size Me"
"The Incredibles"
"Shrek 2"
"Fahrenheit 9/11"
"The Passion of the Christ"
"The Polar Express"
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
2005- "Crash"
"Brokeback Mountain"
"Walk the Line"
"Capote"
"Good Night, Good Luck"
"Munch"
"March of the Penguins"
"Star Wars: Episode III"
"The 40 Year Old Virgin"
2006- "The Departed"
"The Queen"
"Little Miss Sunshine"
"Happy Feet"
"Cars"
"Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit"
"Letters From Iwo Jima"
"Pan's Labrynth"
"Borat"
2007- "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Juno"
"Eastern Promises"
"Ratatouille"
"Transformers"
"300"
"Superbad"
2008- "Slumdog Millionaire"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"The Wrestler"
"Wall-E"
"Iron Man"
"Kung Fu Panda"
"Twilight"
2009- "The Hurt Locker"
"Up"
"500 Days of Summer"
"Star Trek"
"The Hangover"
"Up in the Air"
"The Twilight Saga: New Moon"
"Avatar"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
Top Three (per year)
2000- "Gladiator"
"Traffic"
"Almost Famous"
2001- "A Beautiful Mind"
" Lord of the Rings" 1
"Shrek"
2002- "Chicago"
"The Pianist"
"Lord of the Rings" 2
2003- "Lord of the Rings" 3
"Lost in Translation"
"Finding Nemo"
2004- "Million Dollar Baby"
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
"Passion of the Christ"
2005- "Crash"
"Brokeback Mountain"
"Munich"
2006- "The Departed"
"Little Miss Sunshine"
"Pan's Labrynth"
2007- "There Will Be Blood"
"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
"Ratatouille"
2008- "Slumdog Millionaire"
"The Dark Knight"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
2009- "The Hurt Locker"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"Up in the Air"
The Finalists (per year)
2000- "Gladiator"
2001- "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
2002- "Chicago"
2003- "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
2004- "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
2005- "Brokeback Mountain"
2006- "The Departed"
2007- "Ratatouille"
2008- "The Dark Knight"
2009- "The Hurt Locker"
The Top Five (overall)
2001- "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
2003- "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
2004- "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
2006- "The Departed"
2008- "The Dark Knight"
And the Winner is. . .
The Lord of the Rings
trilogy
Reasons why:
-- Only film from this decade on AFI's top 100 movies list (http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZW4ud2lraXBlZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpL0FGSSUyN3NfMTAwX1llYXJzLi4uXzEwMF9Nb3ZpZXNfKDEwdGhfQW5uaXZlcnNhcnlfRWRpdGlvbg==)
-- The highest grossing movie trilogy of all time ($2.8 billion worldwide)
-- Winner of 17 Academy Awards (most all time)
-- Nominated for 30 Academy Awards (most all time)
-- Peter Jackson. He turned what most people called an "unfilmable" novel into a cinematic masterpiece.
-- The wonderful visual effects that won them the Oscar every year in the category.
-- One of the best trilogies of all time (along with "The Godfather" and the first three "Star Wars")
-- Honestly, who doesn't think the films aren't great. I mean, really people?
And, there you go! Enjoy your Sunday, precious reader!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you want to suggest anything to mj15 on his next blog entry, e-mail him at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mail might be addressed on a future post.
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