Since a new decade has begun, I decided to do a post on the best and worst movies of the last decade. My ratings have nothing to do with Academy Awards, Oscars, or the Golden Globes. Forget box office gross, hype surrounding the movie, whatever. I’m rating them based on simply how much I enjoyed the movie. :)
Also, I think summer movies belong in a completely different category considering most summer flicks are high on action, low on story. Perfect example: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Fall movie of the same year: The Blind Side.
2000:
Runner-ups: Pitch Black, Boiler Room, Remember the Titans, Whatever It Takes, 28 Days, Gossip, Where the Heart Is, Chocolat, Frequency, Gladiator, What Woman Want, Meet the Parents, Almost Famous, Amores Perros,Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Patriot, Requiem for a Dream, Traffic, Momento.
Favorite Movie: Girlfight.
This was the first movie I ever saw Michelle Rodriguez in...this little independent film that still gets her work to this day. Hell, James Cameron wanted her in Avatar based off of what he saw from her in this movie. From the very first moments, Rodriguez grips you tightly with that fighter’s glare and doesn’t let go for the next 90 minutes. It’s very much an independent movie and it certainly feels like it. This movie won the Director’s Award at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival as well as Award of the Youth at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Rodriguez herself also won numerous awards for her work in the film, including Independent Spirit Awards , Gotham Awards, and National Board of Review awards. If you’re looking for something with intense acting and a great story, add this one to your Netflix list, pronto.
Favorite Summer Movie: Gone in 60 Seconds - LOOOOOVED the cars in this movie, throw in Angelina Jolie [my first girl-crush] and BAM!
Worst Movie of the Year: Dracula 2000 -- no comment… no really...
2001:
Runner-ups: Tortilla Soup, Swordfish, Donnie Darko, The Mexican, Behind Enemy Lines, Knockaround Guys, Crazy/Beautiful, Don’t Say A Word, Festival in Cannes, Hearts in Atlantis, Lucia y el sexo, Mulholland Drive, Ocean’s Eleven, Riding in Cars with Boys, The Safety of Objects, A Knight’s Tale, Sidewalks of New York, Spy Game, Training Day, Pearl Harbor, Dogtown and Z-Boys.
Favorite Movie: Black Hawk Down/Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
Now, the two movies I picked as my favorites are clearly vastly different films and everyone who knows me knows that I DON’T like war films. BUT, Black Hawk Down was and still is an absolutely amazing piece of work. Every single actor in it, down to the smallest role, was cast perfectly. It’s always difficult to tell a war story, even more difficult to tell one that’s true and to honor those real people who lost their lives. Black Hawk Down [similar to Saving Private Ryan] makes you really feel like you’re there. The gunshots thud in your chest and your heart breaks for every fallen soldier.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings is just beautiful. Peter Jackson definitely knows how to take a classic story from the page to the screen. I saw this in theaters with my mom and at 14, I KNEW that one day, I had to make a movie as amazing as this one is one day. Plus, this movie was the beginning of my crushes on Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen. ;)
Favorite Summer Movie: The Fast and Furious - fast cars and hot guys….need I say more??
Worst Movie of the Year: Monster’s Ball -- ugh, even Halle Berry naked couldn’t save this film. Makes me sad that this movie is what she won her Academy Award for instead of Losing Isaiah....
2002:
Runner-ups: Dark Blue, Unfaithful, 8 Mile, 25th Hour, Adaptation, We Were Soldiers, Analyze That, Bend It Like Beckham, The Bourne Identity, Bowling for Columbine, Changing Lanes, The Count of Monte Cristo, Frailty, Hart’s War, In America, Life or Something Like It, Minority Report, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Resident Evil, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The Rules of Attraction, White Oleander, Windtalkers, City of God, Catch Me If You Can, Antwone Fisher, The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys.
Favorite Movie: Panic Room (but the Pianist was practically a tie)
I’ll watch practically any movie with Jodie Foster [or Kristen Stewart] in it. Foster is just that good. Fun action movie with actors who can actually act. ;)
Favorite Summer Movie: Blue Crush -- filmed in Hawaii...can I have that job? Please? Please?? Hilarious commentary from the 3 female leads.
Worst Movie of the Year: FeardotCom - WTF?
2003:
Runner-ups: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Bad Boys II, 21 Grams, Anger Management, Bad Santa, Beyond Borders, Le Divorce, The Human Stain, The Italian Job, A Man Apart, Monster, Once Upon A Time in Mexico, Out of Time, The Recruit, Remember Me, My Love [Ricordati di me],Tears of the Sun, Thirteen, Uptown Girls, V-Day: Until the Violence Stops, House of Sand and Fog, My Life Without Me.
Favorite Movie: Mystic River
If you’ve seen the part where Sean Penn finds out that his daughter is dead, when he’s sobbing and fighting the police…. Chills. Straight chills down my spine. Sean Penn is one of greatest actors of his generation, no doubt. Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. Sean Penn won Best Actor [and gave a great speech] and Tim Robbins won Best Supporting Actor. Anything Clint Eastwood touches is pure gold.
Favorite Summer Movie: S.W.A.T - Colin Farrell, Sam Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, and LL Cool J in one movie? Score! Hilarious commentary from the lead cast members.
Worst Movie of the Year: Final Destination 2 - Never make sequels for shitty movies. Just don’t waste the film.
2004:
Runner-ups: Hotel Rwanda, In America, After the Sunset, Bad Education, Blade: Trinity, The Bourne Supremacy, Catch That Kid, Cellular, Crash, Criminal, The Day After Tomorrow, A Day Without A Mexican, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Fahrenheit 9/11, Flight of the Phoenix, Friday Night Lights, Garden State, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Hidalgo, House of Flying Daggers, In Good Company, King Arthur, Ladder 49, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, A Love Song for Bobby Long, The Machinist, Man on Fire, Mean Girls, Meet the Fockers, Million Dollar Babies, Noel, The Notebook, Paparazzi, The Perfect Score, The Punisher, Saved!, Spanglish, Speak, Taking Lives, Troy, Van Helsing,
Favorite Movie: The Notebook --Finally watched this movie with my roommate Erin last summer, just to see what all the hype was about. Now I’m a ruined woman. I want a ‘Notebook’ kind of love, damn it!!
Favorite Summer Movie: I, Robot -Will Smith...naked...shower. Enough said.
Worst Movie of the Year: You Got Served - embarrassed to admit that I’ve actually seen this movie...
2005:
Runner-ups: A History of Violence, Coach Carter, Hitch, Be Cool, Hostage, Guess Who, Beauty Shop, Sin City, Sahara, The Amityville Horror, The Interpreter, A Lot Like Love, Crash, Mindhunters, The Longest Yard, Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, Four Brothers, The Skeleton Key, And Unfinished Life, The Greatest Game Ever Played, Into the Blue, Serenity, In Her Shoes, Waiting…, Domino, Dreamer, Zathura, Walk the Line, Rent, Transamerica, Memoirs of a Geisha, Munich.
Favorite Movie: Lords of Dogtown - Catherine Hardwicke’s awesome skate movie, based on “The Z-Boys”, a group of young skteboarders who revolutionized the sport. Great story, plus it’s fun to stare at Heath Ledger and Victor Rasuk for close to two hours. Director’s commentary on this movie is quite amusing.
Favorite Summer Movie: Mr. And Mrs. Smith - Angelina and Brad in one movie? I’m shocked my DVD player hasn’t spontaneously combusted yet. Such a kickass movie.
Worst Movie of the Year: The Dukes of Hazzard - Jessica Simpson…. Any questions?
2006:
Runner-ups: The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, Half Nelson, Glory Road, Last Holiday, Tristan and Isolde, Something New, Eight Below, Madea’s Family Reunion, Failure to Launch, Thank You For Smoking, V for Vendetta, Inside Man, ATL, Take the Lead, Akeelah and the Bee, Stick It, United 93, Art School Confidential, Poseidon, The Da Vinci Code, Click, The Devil Wears Prada, You, Me and Dupree, Clerks II, Miami Vice, World Trade Center, Gridiron Gang, The Guardian, Flags of Our Fathers, The Prestige, Babel, Catch a Fire, Borat, Volver, Bobby, Casino Royal, For Your Consideration, Deja Vu, Blood Diamond, The Holiday, The Pursuit of Happyness, Letters from Iwo Jima, Rocky Balboa, The Good Shepard, Night At the Museum, We Are Marshall, Children of Men, Pan’s Labyrinth, Brick, Find Me Guilty, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Haven, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, Mini’s First Time.
Favorite Movie: Apocalypto
Aside from the fact that I was ridiculously thrilled that real Indians and Mayans were actually cast as Mayans, this movie KICKED ASS! That’s all I have to say. It’s made of win, go rent it and watch the commentary.
Favorite Summer Movie: Accepted - fun college movie with the Mac guy, Justin Long and hotties Kellan Lutz and Columbus Short. Who doesn’t wanna be a S.H.I.T. Head? LOL
Worst Movie of the Year: Final Destination 3/ Lady in the Water - both are wastes of film.
2007:
Runner-ups: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Juno, Freedom Writers, Alpha Dog, Stomp the Yard, Because I Said So, The Messengers, The Number 23, Black Snake Moan, Wild Hogs, 300, Pride, Reign Over Me, Shooter, The Lookout, Grindhouse, Disturbia, Perfect Stranger, Fracture, In the Land of Woman, Waitress, Knocked Up, A Mighty Heart, Rescue Dawn, Talk to Me, Hairspray, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, The Bourne Ultimatum, Superbad, Across the Universe, Good Luck Chuck, The Game Plan, The Kingdom.
Favorite Movie: Smokin’ Aces
Such a great ensemble cast, although I am a bit partial to Ryan Reynolds.
Favorite Summer Movie: Live Free or Die Hard/Transformers - action packed + cute guys = one very happy Danyelle. :)
Worst Movie of the Year: I Know Who Killed Me - Lindsay Lohan as a stripper, a stripper who never gets naked btw. A few amputations later and you have one of the worst movies of the century.
2008:
Runner-ups: 27 Dresses, Cloverfield, Mad Money, Rambo, Fool’s Gold, Definitely, Maybe, Step Up 2 The Streets, Be Kind Rewind, Charlie Bartlett, Vantage Point, The Other Boleyn Girl, Never Back Down, 21, Stop-Loss, Smart People, Street Kings, 88 Minutes, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Baby Mama, Deception, Iron Man, What Happens in Vegas…, Sex and the City, Get Smart, Hancock, Mamma Mia!, Swing Vote, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Traitor, Babylon A.D., Burn After Reading, Righteous Kill, The Woman, My Best Friend’s Girl, Miracle at St. Anna, Nights at Rodanthe, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Religulous, Max Payne, The Secret Life of Bees, Changeling, Pride and Glory, Soul Men, Slumdog Millionaire, Quantum of Solace, Twilight, Milk, Doubt, Gran Torino, The Wrestler, Seven Pounds, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Last Chance Harvey, Defiance.
Favorite Movie: The Dark Knight
Heath Ledger genuinely frightened me at the Joker. The rest of the cast was pretty good too, but Ledger’s Joker reminds me of the Old Joker, the way I always envisioned him on film. The FX on Arron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent was beautifully terrifying. The moment he turned his ruined face towards the screen, I had such a visceral reaction to that sight. Still grosses me out… and not a lot grosses me out.
Favorite Summer Movie: Wanted - Angelina Jolie, Common, and Morgan Freeman in one movie… :)
Worst Movie of the Year: One Missed Call - I couldn’t get past the first 30 minutes...
2009:
Runner-ups: Up, The Unborn, Taken, The Uninvited, He’s Just Not That Into You, Push, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Friday the 13th, Watchmen, The Last House on the Left, Race to Witch Mountain, The Cake Eaters, Sunshine Cleaning, I Love You, Man, Adventureland, Fast and Furious, 17 Again, State of Play, The Soloist, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, Little Ashes, Terminator Salvation, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Proposal, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Hurt Locker, The Stoning of Soraya M., Public Enemies, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Inglourious Basterds, Taking Woodstock, Extract, Gamer, Surrogates, Whip It, Zombieland, Couple’s Retreat, Good Hair, Law Abiding Citizen, New York, I Love You, The Box, Precious, Pirate Radio, The Blind Side, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Ninja Assassin, Old Dogs, Brothers, Everybody’s Fine, Up In the Air, Invictus, The Lovely Bones, Nine, It’s Complicated, Sherlock Holmes, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,
Favorite Movie: Avatar/Adventureland
Two VERY different movies, but I loved them both. Just got back from seeing Avatar in 3D and I was amazed the entire 2.5 hours. Visually stunning film. I would gladly wait another 10 years for another film world that’s so brilliantly captured. James Cameron created an entire world, complete with new creatures, a language, and a universe, from the depths of his imagination.
Adventureland comes from the same guy who brought us Superbad, Greg Mottola, but it’s a completely different kind of dramedy. It takes place in the summer of 1987 [I was a few months old! ;)] in a theme park called, what else, Adventureland. Jessie Eisenburg reminds me soooo much of myself that it’s kinda scary. This is a movie about a guy fresh out of college with a useless degree [kinda like me] and he’s forced to go work at a hometown theme park in order to save money for grad school. What he thinks is going to be the worst job of his life turns out to be the best time of his life. Adventureland has received critical praise with 89% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Bonus: Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Wigg, and Bill Hader.
Great music in the film, including, Lou Reeds, David Bowie, The Outfield, Crowded House, Hüsker Dü, the Replacements, and The Velvet Underground.
Favorite Summer Movie: The Hangover - FUNNIEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR! See the unrated version ASAP.
Worst Movie of the Year: Year One - Never thought you could go wrong with jack Black and Michael Cera… Guess I was totally wrong.
Highest Grossing Films [i.e. Movies I Wished I’d Worked On]:
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: $934,559,990
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: $834,969,807
Avatar: $745,078,899
2012: $734,282,522
Up: $683,004,164
The Twilight Saga: New Moon: $665,403,961
The Hangover: $459,422,869
Counting down to these:
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
The Yellow Handkerchief
Remember Me
The Runaways
Youth in Revolt
The Book of Eli
Legion
Extraordinary Measures
Dear John
The Wolfman
Valentine’s Day
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Alice in Wonderland
Green Zone
Last Night
Our Family Wedding
Clash of the Titans
Repo Men
Why Did I Get Married Too
The Losers
The Back-Up Plan
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Iron Man 2
Letters to Juliet
Robin Hood
Takers
Prince of Persia
Sex and the City 2
Killers
The A-Team
Jonah Hex
Footloose
Knight & Day
Inception
Salt
Priest
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