The Best Films of the 00s

by Tony Dayoub

Oscar night has arrived. And with the Oscar recipients this year being all but a foregone conclusion, I post an alternative to the conversation happening throughout the rest of the film blogosphere.

Here are the best films of the 00s...


1. (tie) The New World (2005)

All the children of the king were beautiful, but she, the youngest, was so exceedingly so that the sun himself—though he saw her often—was surprised whenever she came out into his presence. Her father had a dozen wives, a hundred children, but she was his favorite. She exceeded the rest not only in feature and proportion, but in wit and spirit too. All loved her.

1. (tie) There Will Be Blood (2007)

I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.

2. In the Mood for Love (2000)

In the old days, if someone had a secret they didn't want to share, you know what they did? ...They went up a mountain, found a tree, carved a hole in it, and whispered the secret into the hole. Then they covered it with mud and left the secret there forever.

3. Zodiac (2007)

I am not the Zodiac. And if I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you.

4. Das weisse band (The White Ribbon) (2009)

White, as you all know, is the color of innocence.

5. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

"Subject to the requirements of the service."

6. Miami Vice (2006)

... There is undercover, and then there is "Which way is up?"

7. 25th Hour (2002)

...You're a New Yorker. That won't ever change. You've got New York in your bones. Spend the rest of your life out west, but you're still a New Yorker... You make a new life for yourself, and you live it. You hear me? You live your life the way it should have been. But maybe... this is dangerous, but maybe after a few years you send word to Naturelle. You get yourself a new family, and you raise them right. You hear me? Give them a good life, Monty.

8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Well, technically speaking, the operation is brain damage, but it's on a par with a night of heavy drinking. Nothing you'll miss.

9. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

You probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business. We in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin'.

10. Children of Men (2006)

As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices.

Performers of the 00s: Honored for their consistent quality in an extraordinary number of films this decade, regardless of the individual success of each movie.

Cate Blanchett - The Man Who Cried, The Gift, Bandits, The Fellowship of the Ring, Charlotte Gray, The Shipping News, Heaven, The Two Towers, Veronica Guerin, Coffee and Cigarettes, The Missing, The Return of the King, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Aviator, Stories of Lost Souls, Little Fish, Babel, The Good German, Notes on a Scandal, Hot Fuzz, I'm Not There, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Ponyo, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mark Ruffalo - You Can Count on Me, Committed, Life/Drawing, The Last Castle, XX/XY, Windtalkers, My Life Without Me, View from the Top, In the Cut, We Don't Live Here Anymore, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 13 Going on 30, Collateral, Just Like Heaven, Rumor Has It, All the King's Men, Zodiac, Reservation Road, Blindness, The Brothers Bloom, What Doesn't Kill You, Where the Wild Things Are

Additional for Out 1 Film Journal:

James Hansen of Out 1 Film Journal solicited submissions (for movies, directors, and individual performances) from a number of film writers for their Best Movies of the 2000s post. I suggested all of the movies listed at the top, but since he was lookin for 13, here are two additional. The directors and performances follow.

A Christmas Tale (2008)
I ♥ Huckabees (2004)

Directors:
-Paul Thomas Anderson (Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood) for allowing the madmen—actors—to run the asylum.
-Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York) for being an auteur before he was a director.
-Michael Mann (Ali, Collateral, Miami Vice, Public Enemies) for mastering the digital camera as he ventures further into "pure" cinema.
-Julian Schnabel (Before Night Falls, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Lou Reed's Berlin) for following his muse, and making lyricism a priority in cinema.
-Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Traffic, the Ocean's Eleven series, Full Frontal, Solaris, Eros (segment: "Equilibrium"), Bubble, The Good German, Che, The Girlfriend Experience, The Informant!) for his overwhelming output, consistent in both quality and innovation.

Individual Performances:

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Benicio Del Toro, Che
Laura Dern, Inland Empire
Mélanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds
Meryl Streep, Doubt

For earlier postings of this series, including the best films by individual year, click here.