Posts Tagged ‘Movies of the Decade’

List #1. Movies of 2000-2009

A couple weeks ago, during my commute to and from work, I realized that we are weeks away from the next decade. I figured that this is a prime time to collect and review a list of my favorite things from the 2000-2009 decade. I have four lists so far, and I’ll do a post for each. All of these movies are on my list for a reason. Not all of them are blockbusters, nor have all of them received the recognition they deserve. After you read my list you might say to yourself “Robot where are the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Pirates, Bourne and the Ocean Trilogies?” I consider them gimmes. They are huge Blockbusters, and some of my favorite movies, yet the movies on my list I wanted to highlight for my review. This will be the same process for the rest of my lists. I will also be adding Honorable Mentions. These are other films that I love from the selected year. I think that I’d even be able to write a paragraph for each of those movies if I didn’t possess the will power to cut of my list to ten movies.

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O Brother, Where Art Thou? – 2000

Why? Well this movie is what you get when you mix an all-star cast, Homer’s Odyssey, set in the 1930’s, and the Coen Brothers. This is one of those movies that you watch when you are home sick and you want to go on an adventure.

Honorable mentions from this year: Chicken Run, Remember the Titans, U-571, and Chocolat.

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The Dish – 2001

Why? A movie that didn’t receive the amount of recognition that it should have. A giant dish out in the middle of a sheep field trying to bounce the moon landing signal half way around the world. A great story about what happened on the other side of the world when the Earth really stood still.

Honorable Mentions from this year: The Mummy Returns, Beautiful Mind, Monsters Inc.

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Couldn’t find a movie during 2002 that fits this list.

Honorable Mentions from this year: The Importance of being Ernest, Catch Me if You Can, The Rookie.

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Master and Commander – 2003

Why? This is the first movie I saw after returning from Italy. I am honestly surprised that this movie didn’t win more than just two Academy Awards. Sound and Cinematography in this film were worthy, but so was costume, acting, director. A great fictional story about a non-fictional reality. Many thought that this film could never be translated from book to movie but they were wrong.

Honorable Mentions from this year: The Italian Job, Finding Nemo, Big Fish.

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The Incredibles – 2004

Why? As you can tell from this list, is that I love comic book action movies, and I’m a big kid. I love the X-men movies, but the acting and story lack…. a lot. Yet this movie has it all. Death defying leaps and explosions that could never be done in live action movies. The part that I love best is that when Cambria grows up she will, hopefully, enjoy this movie as much as I do, and this will be her indoctrination into geek and nerdom.

Honorable Mentions from this year: National Treasure, I,Robot, Danny Deckchair, Hero

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Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit – 2005

Why? British Comedy in claymation. I’ve been a huge fan of Wallace and Gromit for years, and I’m just happy that Dream Works was able to make this into a feature length film.

Honorable Mentions from this year: Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Lion,The Witch,and The Wardrobe, Walk the Line.

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Casino Royal – 2006

Why? Again, I’ve been a huge fan of Bond for years, and I was so happy and first on board with the changing of Bond from Brosnan to Craig. I am a strong believer in the reinvention of and resurrection of movie series. If production companies write themselves into corners… give up and start over. Make it the way you should have years ago. With the entrance of Craig we lose a lot of the comic campiness from the earlier Bonds, and we finally bring it into the new Millennium.

Honorable Mentions from this year: Cars, Nacho Libre, Over the Hedge.

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Hot Fuzz – 2007

Why? Simon Pegg is a comic genius, and it doesn’t hurt to have Nick Frost at your side, and Edgar Wright as the Director; why wouldn’t this movie succeed? The chemistry between Simon, Nick, and Edgar has been evident since Spaced and Shaun of the Dead. The tag line in the trailer says it all for this movie, “From the guys who’ve seen every action film ever.” It is the action film that action films dream about.

Honorable Mentions from this year: Stardust, Amazing Grace, Once.

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Iron Man – 2008

Why? Finally a Comic based Movie from Marvel that was AWESOME! X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man all OK, but not great. With Iron Man it was the first Marvel film written and produced with in the Marvel Studios. The Acting was great, the movie never missed an action beat, and the story felt like Stan Lee himself wrote the story, with modern twists.

Honorable Mentions from this year: KungFu Panda, Quantum of Solace, Speed Racer

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The Dark Knight – 2008

Why? There has never been a Batman sequel that hasn’t sucked, until now. This was the best movie to come out in 2008. The aspect of the movie that won me over was the dynamic between Batman and the Joker. The writing in this movie brought out the true philosophies, systems, fears, and ideas of the characters. You truly have the black and white, good versus evil power struggle that lacks in most movies, and even novels.The Joker isn’t just a funny guy is creepy makeup, he is depicted as Batman’s true philosophical opposite. Hands down best sequel ever. Yes, even better than Back to the Future 2, Temple of Doom, and Empire Strikes Back.

I added a second movie from 2008 to make the movie list an even ten movies.

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Star Trek – 2009

Why? This goes back to my love for resurrecting and recreating series. Sure this dives deeper into the mythos, and origin of this 4o year old story than anyone or thing has gone before, but it does it in an intelligent way. The writers made the jump from destroying ties to the previous origin story to the “alternate reality” story line seamlessly. J.J. Abrams took a huge leap with this story and this type of production. I think he passed with flying colors and I hope they ask him back for the sequel. I can’t think of any one better to bring this rookie cast back for a strong sophomore effort. Oh, and before I forget Rachel Nichols as an Orion…. HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!

Honorable Mentions from this year: Up, Taken, Push, The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Hope you enjoyed my decade of movies,

Ciao Ciao Ciao,

Ry The Robot.