My Top 10 Favorite Movies from the Year 2000 – The Start of a New Millenium

 

 The year 2000 … it was the beginning of a new millennium, and as far as movies are concerned, it was a time for change, with big franchises on the horizon and new classics waiting to be discovered. 

Speaking personally, back in the year 2000, I was transitioning between my 2^nd and 3^rd grade years and was being exposed to a wider range of films along with the traditional family films I grew up with at the time including “Snow Day” and “Pokémon: The Movie 2000”.

It was the year I found myself dabbling in comedies like “Dude, Where's My Car?”, Science Fiction films like “Mission to Mars”, disaster Drama’s like “The Perfect Storm”, and even little splashes of horror with films like “Shadow of the Vampire”. With so many of my own personal favorite movies approaching 30 years, I wanted to celebrate and rank my own personal top 10 favorite movies of the year 2000. 

Disclaimer … this was not an easy list to assemble, as there’s so many big titles that came out from this year, including solid Oscar nominated movies like “Traffic” and “Chocolat”, along with blockbusters like “Mission Impossible 2”, “Space Cowboys” and “Scary Movie”. As such, this isn’t a list of the objective best or most significant movies to come out, just the ones that mean the most to me. With all that said, let’s go back to the year 2000, and highlight my own personal favorite movies of the year.

 

#10 “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” 

Kicking off my list is the first of two movies on my countdown to be Nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Following after the success of the previous year’s hit “The Matrix”, there was new generational interest in martial arts and the wonderment of slow-motion. Director Ang Lee then provided the next big martial arts picture to “wow” audiences with “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, a film set in the mythical past of China, and features supernaturally gifted warriors who can effortlessly defy gravity. 

The result was astonishing slow-motion action sequences, rich lore, and just enough compelling human drama to balance out all the wonderment. While the movie lost its Best Picture trophy to another action epic that I’ll be highlighting latter … “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” helped usher in a new golden age of martial arts cinema from over in the East, and the film still took home it’s well-earned Oscar gold for Best Foreign Language Film (Taiwan), as well as launched interest in the talents of director Ang Lee.

 

#9 “Final Destination” 

After receiving a premonition of a crashing airplane, a small group of teens are able to avoid a massive disaster … only to get on “Deaths” hit list, and as the tagline says … You can’t cheat death”. While this film can fit into the wheelhouse of cheesy teen horror films of the time, it was elevated with a creative premise, thoughtful topics and a sharp direction from James Wong, who was able to make the comfort of home feel terrifying … as any random object in the house can cause an accident if you’re not careful. 

Also, having a faceless entity like “death” as the main threat was a brilliant creative choice, and lead to a number of exciting domino effect scenarios. I’ll admit that the final act got a little too over the top for its own good, but the sensational opening and sense of dread sustained most of the films good will and momentum. It launched a mostly decent franchise and remains one of the better early 2000’s horror pictures.

 

#8 “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” 

While this film has never been labeled as one of the Coen Brother’s great classics, it’s still my personal favorite movie of theirs to date … certainly the one I’ve re-watched the most and have consistently enjoyed. The film is a curious amalgamation of “Homers Odyssey” set in the depression era of the late 1930’s, with an anything goes sense of comedy, and three wannabe travelers who encounter a slew of colorful characters. It’s all the more unique with its odd but fun tone, upbeat music and three very talented comedic leads. 

There’s just a refreshing sense of comradery and genuine charm that comes from these three talents and it’s an instant joy watching them go from one crazy predicament to the next. No argument can be made for “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” as the Coen Brothers objective best movie … but it’s still my personal favorite of their collective works.

 

#7 “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” 

For the longest time, I’ve labeled this as my biggest Christmas “guilty pleasure”, and the same applies with its placement among my favorite movies of the year 2000. I’ll admit this film is far from perfect and may be just a little too dark and unpleasant for some kids ... but I still love it wort's and all. No, it’s not as good as the original animated classic, but there are still so many things that I adore about this film. The jokes at times are funny, I like its otherworldly look and feel, and the musical score by the late James Horner never fails to lift my spirit. 

Of cores, it’s the always fantastic Jim Carry who completely steals the show. This movie came out at a time when I was obsessed with Jim Carry, and it’s still remained one of his most entertaining roles all these years later. While this live action reimagining certainly has its share of faults, I just can’t help but enjoy it. There’s still a lot of warm holiday cheer, a good message to boot, and Jim Carry shining in one of his most iconic roles.

 

#6 “Titan A.E.” 

After Earth is destroyed by evil aliens, a group of humans set out on a journey to find a new home. While I wouldn’t write “Titan A.E.” off as an underrated masterpiece, it still has a secure spot ranked among my personal favorite Sci-Fi animated pictures. This film also has the sentimental distinction of being the final animated picture to be directed by the legendary Don Bluth, which alone makes this movie feel special to me. Objectively viewing the film as an adult, I will admit that “Titan A.E.” is far from perfect, but even with that said, I still have a great deal of fondness for this picture. 

It’s a movie that left an impression on my childhood, and it fits right in my wheelhouse of laser shooting, Sci-Fi adventures through space. The stakes are high, the action is thrilling, the animation is stunning, and it’s still to this day one of my favorite outer-space designs I’ve ever seen in a film. There’s nothing more to the movie than strait forward Sci-Fi tropes and eye-candy, but it’s done just well enough that it continues to leave me with a highly satisfying experience.

 

#5 “The Patriot” 

When it comes to war movies to watch on Independence Day … one set during the Revolutionary War is an obvious yet fitting choice. While I’ve never placed Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot” among the all-time inspiring war movies, it’s still an engaging, and highly re-watchable experience, with an A-list cast, and no shortage of iconography on display. Gibson's valiant charge with the flag has always stuck with me as a memorable movie moment. 

Directed by Roland Emmerich … the same talent who directed “Independence Day” with Will Smith … shows his range of talent in this picture and suggests he could have done more outside of his disaster movie wheelhouse. While “The Patriot” never achieved Oscar recognition like “Braveheart”, I still find it an exciting and memorable action picture.    

 

#4 “Remember the Titans”

Set in 1971, a Black Coach named Herman Boone aims to integrate an all-white football team with African Americans, despite being a highly prejudice time. As expected, they don’t get along initially, but soon … close friendships are formed. Thus, the real challenge isn’t if they’ll win a big football game or not … it’s if their newfound friendships can change the viewpoint of a highly prejudice town. This movie marked my own personal introduction to Denzel Washington, who knocked it out of the park in this film, and became a favorite of mine for years after. 

The remaining cast all give equally strong performances and have excellent chemistry with one another. Despite following many of the same sports movie conventions, this film has an extra human touch that makes it feel more meaningful than simply an underdog team rising to the challenge. As far as the more serious and grounded sports movies are concerned, “Remember the Titans” has always stuck with me as a personal favorite, and I feel should have been nominated at the Oscars.

 

#3 It’s a tie between two animated movies … “The Emperor's New Groove” & “The Road to El Dorado”

(A.) Disney’s “The Emperor's New Groove” 

Oh Yeah, got to include this film, it’s remained one of the funniest, and purely entertaining films to come from Disney’s animated studio. While previous animated Disney movies like “Aladdin” and “Hercules” had their comedic moments, “The Emperor’s New Groove” is the only one that had me laughing myself silly as a kid. The film contains every great cartoon, comedy cliché, and the personality of the characters leaps off the screen. 

Despite being more like a “Looney Tunes” cartoon than a theatrical animated Disney movie, there is still a lot of heart in this film and a genuinely touching reformation story about a selfish king that became a dignified man. The characters are a lot of fun, with their zany personalities, and with just enough meaningful depth to balance out. All in all, it’s just a joyful experience wrapped in one fine package.

 

(B.) DreamWorks “The Road to El Dorado” 

Within the same year, we got another animated comedy with a similar backdrop … and I love it just as much. With the joyfully banter between voice actors Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh in the lead roles, some beautifully colored animation, a nostalgic soundtrack provided by Elton John, plenty of comedy, lots of character charms and exciting adventure scenes allow “The Road to El Dorado” to stick with me as a very pleasant escape, and I still love returning to it years later. 

While this film doesn’t offer much in terms of epic storytelling, or deep moral subtext, it’s just a pleasant viewing experience, and one of those special films that can easily put me in a good mood … sometimes, that’s all an animated movie really needs to be. Not too much else to say, I just really love the characters, artistry, music and just about everything that the film has to offer. It may not be solid gold, but I’ve always found this film a rich experience in its own simple way.

 

#2 “Gladiator” 

Here it is, the movie that won Best Picture of the year, and naturally it has a secure spot among my top favorites. Director Ridley Scott aimed high with his $100 Million budgeted production, in hopes to revive the genre of “Ancient Epic’s”. Needless to say, under his shinning direction, and bonded by a strong cast … this is the sword and shield classic that made the genre achieve its title of “EPIC”! At face value, it would almost seem that “Gladiator” had an easier time winning over both audiences and critics … but it actually had a lot to prove for itself, as the story is admittedly an amalgamation of various other epics. 

Yet, through the films approach and presentation, it never once felt like a run-of-the-mile action flick … at least not to me. I’ve seen countless other movies throughout the millennium try to replicate the same crowd pleasing, Oscar approving, adrenaline pumping power of “Gladiator”, and not one of them captured the same effect that both Ridley Scott and lead star Russel Crow delivered in that film. Beyond its brilliantly staged Gladiatorial combat, there’s something at the core of “Gladiator” that’s always felt human, and genuinely inspiring … “are you not entertained!”

 

Before I reveal my number one favorite movie from the year 2000, here are some quick Honorable Mentions …  

Disney’s “Dinosaur”

“Cast Away”

“Me, Myself & Irene”

“Rules of Engagement”

“The 6th Day”

 

#1 “X-Men” 

At last, firmly sitting at my number one favorite spot is the movie that kicked off one of the longest running superhero franchises, and the one that pulled me into the world of Marvel comic pictures. While certainly not the biggest comic-book adapted movie, I'll always regard this as the classic movie that started it all, the one that set the standard for all superhero movies in the following years to take inspiration from, and to lead us away from the campy affairs of the previous 1990’s decade. 

Beyond that, while I was already fond of the X-Men comics and animated TV shows, it was seeing this live action film adaption at a young age that solidified my feelings for the “X-Men” as my personal favorite Superhero property. This is the movie that made me love comic book movies in general, a big Marvel fan, an even bigger “X-Men” fan than I already was, a big action fan, and a fan of the wonders of cinema. 

Outside of my own personal connections with this film, it succeeded in bringing a crowded group of characters together, with charm, humanity, and a sharp narrative focus. To this day, it’s still one of my most important movie experiences that shaped me into the fan I am today … and things have never been the same since.

Thanks for reading my countdown ... and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!

 

Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett (2021) (Series Review)

 The overnight success of the 2019 series “Star Wars: The Mandalorian” garnered a new era of live-action "Star Wars" programs on Disney +, most of which could stand on their own. However, the 2021 series "Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett" was a curious crossover season with the previous "Mandalorian" series, lasting for only one season and with only seven episodes total.  

While this series is commonly sighted as its own stand-alone show, I can’t for the life of me separate it from “The Mandalorian” series. The ending of Season 2 highlighted that “The Book of Boba Fett” would be coming next, and it has the exact same music and credits. The show was also spearheaded by the same team of Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson and Robert Rodriguez. 

Mando himself was still a main character with several stand-alone episodes, and there are several game changing events in the narrative that can’t be glanced over in order to continue watching Season 3 of “The Mandalorian” … as such, it’s absolutely part of the same series, just not clarified very well. Had the show been branded as “The Mandalorian Presents: The Book of Boba Fett”, maybe that would have worked. It was certainly a curious choice, but how’s the season overall? Well, it’s a mixed bag, with some of my favorite “Star Wars” material I’ve ever seen, and a very confusing method of presenting it.

 Initially, the masked Bounty Hunter Boba Fett was going to have a stand-alone movie, but it was canceled, and what remained of the script was merged with early episode scripts for the upcoming season of "The Mandalorian" ... resulting in this "Frankenstein" of a spin-off series. Following after Boba Fett's apparent death in the movie "Return of the Jedi", we see him escape the monster pit that consumed him, now he sets off with a new purpose. 

The season’s narrative goes back and forth between three stories. One of them being a “Last Samurai” inspired story of Fett being captured by the sand people of Tatooine and gradually becoming a welcomed member of their tribe. The second story revolves around Boba running his own territory, and igniting a turf-war with rival gangsters called The Pyke’s, and their lethal hired gun ... the bounty hunter Cad Bane. Meanwhile, we also follow Mando on his personal journey, after being separated from the Child Grogu. The presentation of jumping between these three different narratives made for an awkwardly paced and structurally messy season, but not without some highlights. 

The Characters ... 

Boba Fett (played by Temuera Morrison) 

Prior to this show, the masked bounty hunter Boba Fett survived the events of the original movies through various comics, novels and video games ... thus, it only made sense to bring him back in live action. I personally would have preferred he be left as a reoccurring character on "The Mandalorian" series, as his character is far sharpper as that extra bit of coolness, as opposed to a main lead. 

After nearly dying in a monster pit, the fierce hunter emerged a new man … one eager to make changes for the good of those stomped under foot by either gangsters or the Empire. I suppose it's an okay change-up for the character, and he’s still just as deadly as ever … just with a new moral code. While I’ll always take some enjoyment from this iconic hunter, it’s Temuera Morrison’s ever committed performance in the role that elevates the quality of his screen presence.  

 

Fennec Shand (played by Ming-Na Wen) 

Yet another cool hunter character elevated by a talented actress, and another fan favorite to make a life of her own outside of the previously established "Mandalorian" series. She’s quiet, calculating, dangerous and shady, but is fiercely loyal to those she respects. After being left for dead in the desert, Boba Fett saved her life, and she’s stuck with him as her trusted partner ever since. Actress Ming-Na Wen, famous for her voice acting and martial arts roles, gives the character a sly and mischievous demeaner. She too transitioned from reoccurring character to leading role in this season, and I don’t think she would have come so far had it not been for the charisma of the actress.  

Cade Bane (voiced by Cory Burton)

To get right to the point, the most exciting moment of this show was the live action debut of my other favorite bounty hunter Cade Bane … who was originally introduced back in the animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and has remained my personal favorite “Star Wars” villain to be introduced in the animated program. In this season, Bane is out for blood against his long standing rivel Boba Fett, which is great ... but unfortunately is arrival is far too late into the show, and this series doesn't do enough to highlight his character for newcomers. Worse, his defeat at the hands of Fett is unsatisfying, and comes off as waist of a great character. Had Bane been present from the start and developed a rivalry with Fett over the course of the season, then maybe it could have worked. 

Other characters and groups appear throughout the show, but their hardly worth mentioning. 

Boba Fett's young crew of bikers look cool, but there's little else to them outside of esthetics. The sand people are noticeably given more focused and admirably fleshed out as a culture as opposed to mindless beasts ... it's honestly the best piece of universe building the show achieves. With all the characters addressed, let's get to the highlights. It's almost silly to count down my Top five favorite episodes from a show with seven chapters, but what the heck ...  

I suppose the honorable mentions would be ... 

"Stanger in a Strange Land"

"The Streets of Mos Espa"

Thus, my personal Top 5 favorite episodes of "The Book of Boba Fett" are ...

#5 “The Gathering Storm” (S1 – Ep. 4) 

In this fourth episode, we see Fett in his post “Return of the Jedi” days aiming to chart a new direction after nearly dying in a monster pit. First up is recruiting his new partner Fennec Shand, and we see the origins of their loyal friendship. Next, they set off on a mission to retrieve Fett’s stolen ship, which results with an exciting heist sequence. 

The meat of this episode comes from the on-screen chemistry of leading actors Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen in their respected Bounty Hunter roles. While the two remained the leads throughout the series, this is the episode that highlighted them as a dynamite pair, and a worthwhile outing in this lopsided spin-off series.  

#4 “The Tribes of Tatooine” (S1 – Ep. 2) 

Continuing with Fett’s "flashback" section, his second chapter gave him a most unusual … yet very well-made outing. After surviving his captivity with the sand people, and battle with a monster, our “Last Samuri” inspired story finally takes shape. Boba Fett gradually transitions into a welcomed member of their tribe, and is no-longer a prisoner, but a brother in arms. After gaining their respect, he leads the tribes in a revolt against an armored train terrorizing their village. 

Afterword's, we see Boba Fett go on a spirit quest to find his new identity and sense of belonging. This culminates into an awesome montage vision sequence through the years, where he's been and the new man he’s emerged as. For all the shortcomings of this series, this chapter at least marks one of Boba Fett’s shining moments. This was the only episode to be directed by Steph Green, who gave this outing a visual flare all his own. 

#3 “Return of the Mandalorian” (S1 – Ep 5) 

Following after the events of Mando’s Season 2 finale, Din Djarin finds himself alone for the first time, no longer in the company of the Child Grogu, no longer with a ship, and since he removed his helmet, Mando has been dismissed by his creed, and branded an apostate. Thus, he travels across the stars and aims to slowly rebuild himself. Aside from a white knuckled brawl in the opening, and a duel with another Mandalorian, this episode doesn’t have much action at all, and yet … it’s one of the most engaging episodes. It goes to show how great this character is when an episode with little narrative stakes can be so compelling. 

Just seeing him assemble a new ship and taking it for a test drive makes for an enthralling moment. This episode also features one of the coolest space stations I’ve ever seen … as it looks like a city built into the world’s largest ramp. Lastly, this was the third
"Star Wars" related episode directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, who previously directed two episodes of "The Mandalorian", and I feel it’s her best work by far. There’s an especially cool sequence with Mando ascending to a second level, dropping off a package to a client, and returning back to where he started … all done in one continues take, with no visible edits.  

 

#2 “In the Name of Honor” (S1 – Ep 7) 

We now segue from a quiet and reflective episode to an all-out action spectacle. At the end of Boba Fett’s series, he and Mando join forces to fight back against an onslaught of enemy forces … leading up to a confrontation with Fett’s long-time hunting rivel Cade Bane. While this episode has its faults in the script and threatens to get redundant with its non-stop laser shooting, director Robert Rodriguez injects the experience with high energy, and a number of novel highlights. 

We have our heroes flying about on jetpacks, war wagging in a close quarter city setting, giant spider-robots fighting giant monsters, a “King Kong” inspired climax, and the novelty of seeing my two favorite bounty hunters Boba Fett and Cade Bane in combat. While this season needed to do more to set up their rivalry, it’s unmistakably riveting in the moment. All around, this is perhaps my biggest guilty pleasure episode, as I know it’s flawed … but very fun to watch.

#1 “From the Desert Comes a Stranger” (S1 – Ep 6) 

As the title suggests, this episode marks the surprising arrival of a new character who emerges from the desert … and surprise, surprise … it’s my favorite Bounty Hunter of all, Cade Bane. Despite being discarded in the following episode, this debut was as perfect as they get, and highlighted Bane as the deadliest character to draw a gun. However, the real reason this episode ranks so high is simply for a subplot in which the alien Child Grogu is undergoing Jedi training under the guidance of Luke Skywalker and overseen by Ashoka Tano and R2-D2. 

This episode was directed by Dave Filoni, and he breathes exquisite life and beauty into the presentation of this chapter. The de-aged look on Mark Hammel's Luke Skywalker is outstanding, and the character is utilized masterfully, as a quiet and loving teacher. It’s another episode that’s limited on action but is immensely absorbing in presentation and character interaction.

 When all is said and done, Boba Fett's personal stand-alone series noticeably struggled to ... well ... "stand alone", as most of its biggest highlights revolve around the stories and appearances of other established characters. 

Temera Morrison certainly shines as our favorite masked Bounty Hunter, and there's a promising set-up for his own layered, yet smaller scaled story, but the narrative either repeats itself or gets sidetracked. The result is a very mixed program that failed to deliver a complete story ... yet undeniably features some top-tier highlights that stand out among any "Star Wars" series. I'd say only determined fans of "The Mandalorian" need watch it, and even to that extent, I'm mainly referring to his specific episodes. Everything else is a big bag of "take it or leave it", which is unfortunate for such an iconic character ... but that's the way it is.  

Thanks for reading my review of the 2021 series "Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett" ... and continue to enjoy the shows you Love!