Great Movies of the 2000s That You May Have Missed

Everyone sees the blockbusters, and eventually everyone sees the Best Picture Oscar winners. Most years have films that became culturally significant, and most everyone sees those too. But every year there are great movies that didn't garner much attention that should have – not necessarily because they are “great films” but because they are damned fine entertainment.

Below is a list, with some brief reviews, of some of the movies released from 2000 to 2010 that you may not have seen, but that you should have.... they are all tremendously entertaining films.

2000

Best Picture Oscar: Gladiator

My Favorite Film of the Year: High Fidelity and Unbreakable

The Great One You May Have Missed: The Way of the Gun

“Guy Movie” warning.... if you hated “Pulp Fiction” stay away from “The Way of the Gun”. Not that they are very much alike, but their feel is much the same, and driven more by the characters' reactions to the situations than by the situations themselves. My detailed review is here:

http://greatbigcmovies.blogspot.ca/2014/11/the-way-of-gun-2000.html

2001

Best Picture Oscar: A Beautiful Mind

My Favorite Film of the Year: The Score

The Great One You May Have Missed: Serendipity

I guess I can pick a rom-com once a decade, can't I?

John Cusak is Jonathon Trager, and one evening over the holidays he meets Sara (Kate Beckinsdale) while shopping. They spend the evening in New York City and have a wonderful time, but she is a big believer in omens. She has him write his name and number on a $5 bill and she writes hers in a book – they then sell the book and spend the $5 bill. If those things ever find their way back to them, they'll know they were meant to be. Fast forward a few years and she is living with a musician and he is engaged. But neither of them either really got over their one evening together, and they both start the process of looking for each other again. But with only a lost book and a lost piece of money, how can they ever do it?

Drippy, sappy and schlocky, “Serendipity” will have the colder part of the audience rolling their eyes throughout. But mainly due to a wonderful and engaging performance by John Cusak..... I'm sorry, but this movie just works. Anyone with any small bit of heart will be pulling for these two to find each other again.

2002

Best Picture Oscar: Chicago

My Favorite Film of the Year: The Pianist and Bowling for Columbine

The Great One You May Have Missed: Frailty

What do you do when you're a kid and your widowed Dad comes home one day saying he's been visited by God? Not only that, but that he is now God's avenging angel on Earth, and that the family must now kill all the people who are demons? Bill Paxton is the Dad, and he is certain that this is now his lot in life, and he loves his new job. His oldest son knows the old man has lost his mind, but he's just a kid and doesn't know how to stop him.

I loved this movie because it didn't try to preach or evangelize of have any big message to convey. It was just a really good story that the filmmakers wanted to tell, and they tell it wonderfully.

2003

Best Picture Oscar: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

My Favorite Film of the Year: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

The Great One You May Have Missed: Identity

If I wanted to, I could probably come up with a great movie of John Cusak's for every year of this decade. I've always found his to be one of the most versatile actors around. Here he is Ed Dakota, a limo driver who is stranded at a hotel with a dozen others during a hellacious rain storm. One problem – the folks stranded at the hotel are being picked off one at a time, and nobody has any idea who the killer is..... or if anything at all is as it seems.

A small in scale film but big on thrills, this one would have been right at home with Alfred Hitchcock at the helm. Not exactly a movie “you have to see”, but one that is almost sure to please any watcher of whodunnits.

2004

Best Picture Oscar: Million Dollar Babay

My Favorite Film of the Year: Million Dollar Baby

The Great One You May Have Missed: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

There was a time when having Jim Carrey as the star of your movie guaranteed you a $100M payday. But starting with “Eternal Sunshine” Carrey appears to have decided to do some real acting, and his formerly manic characterizations have been few and far between since.

Carrey is Joel, who just found out that his estranged girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has had him erased from her memory. In a vengeful fit of pique he decides to do the same thing to her and have his memories of her purged. But once the erasing process gets underway he realizes that she represents the best part of him and he changes his mind. But he can't stop the process, and must try to figure out a way to preserve his memories of her from being permanently removed.

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is not your everyday film, but it plays on your everyday feelings. As Joel relives his memories of Clementine and then tries to hide them away, you see the evolution of their relationship, including the fact that it never should have ended. It is heartaching film, and doesn't quite have the ending you'd hope for, but it is a fascinating story nonetheless.

2005

Best Picture Oscar: Crash

My Favorite Film of the Year: The 40 Year Old Virgin and Brokeback Mountain

The Great One You May Have Missed: Cinderella Man

The true story of James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe), a man who lost a promising career as a boxer to be barely scraping out an existence for himself and his family during the great depression. Slowly he finds his way again thanks to his manager (Paul Giamatti) and his wife (Rene Russo) and manages to get a shot at the world heavyweight title.

An example of truth scripting something Hollywood would reject as unbelievable, “Cinderella Man” is a terrific little story of a hardworking guy finally getting a break. Is it hokey? Sure. That doesn't mean it isn't terrific.

2006

Best Picture Oscar: The Departed

My Favorite Film of the Year: Idiocracy and Deep Water

The Great One You May Have Missed: Idiocracy

Suppose you went to sleep for 500 years and woke to find yourself in a world where the smartest person is denser than the dumbest backwoods hillbilly you can find today. That's what happens to Luke Wilson in “Idiocracy”. He was supposed to be a test subject for an army hibernation project, but he was forgotten about for centuries. As he slept the intelligent people of the world would have one or two kids while the nitwits would have dozens. Soon, there was nothing left but idiots, and now the idiots rule the world.

When I first saw this I thought it was funny, but never expected it to be prophetic. Yet only ten or so years later, we see a racist moron in the white house that ought to be wearing a dunce cap, so we're already well on the way. It's a funny movie, but the implications are actually anything but funny. Still a good watch.

2007

Best Picture Oscar: No Country For Old Men

My Favorite Film of the Year: No Country For Old Men

The Great One You May Have Missed: Mr. Brooks

“Mr. Brooks” was not exactly loved by the critics, but it was surely loved by me – kind of a Dexter Grows Up.

Mr. Brooks (Kevin Costner) is a very successful man. A wealthy entrepreneur and devoted family man, nobody suspects he is actually two people – the man they see, and also a brutally effective serial killer. He tries to battle his killer half, but eventually he always gives in. But during his latest kill he got careless and was photographed. However, rather than turn him into the police, the photographer (Dane Cook) would rather be taken along on a kill to experience the thrill first hand.

Costner's usually bland performances detract from most roles, but it plays perfectly here as a man who is never quite what he is presenting himself to be. Throw in a nice supporting performance from Demi Moore as the detective hunting him, and another from William Hurt as “the devil on his shoulder” and you have tidy little thriller that moves frantically to a somewhat predictable but still satisfying conclusion.

2008

Best Picture Oscar: Slumdog Millionaire

My Favorite Film of the Year: Gran Torino

The Great One You May Have Missed: Man on Wire

Great documentaries watch like great action movies. There is a back story, then an objective, plans laid and finally the execution of the plan. And “Man on Wire” is just like that.

Phillipe Petit was one of the world's great tight-rope walkers, having illegally installed cables to walk several landmarks, including the towers at Notre Dame cathedral. And when the twin towers of the World Trade Center went up in the 1970s, he saw them as a perfect stage for the greatest daredevil walk of them all. He and his team made meticulous plans to sneak in at night, string a wire from one tower to the other, and Phillipe would walk them when the sun came up – 1360 feet above the New York sidewalks.

Truly one of the best documentaries of the decade, this is a great tale told in great fashion. Much better than the Hollywood movie version “The Walk” which tells the same story but not as well.

2009

Best Picture Oscar: The Hurt Locker

My Favorite Film of the Year: Inglorious Basterds and The Hangover

The Great One You May Have Missed: The Cove

Every year in Japan there is a great “dolphin hunt” where hundred to thousands of dolphins are captured to fulfill the world's need for trained aquatic mammals. But what happens to the dolphins captured but not used? The documentary “The Cove” tries to answer that question. The location of the cove and the hunt are fiercely protected and guarded so not outsider can see what happens there. But through the use of hidden cameras, we get to see every aspect of the hunt.

Not for the tenderhearted, “The Cove” is actually a pretty important film if you care about the other species we share this planet with. And fascinating – the process of trying to see what happens there plays like a heist film, and is every bit as intriguing.

2010

Best Picture Oscar: The King's Speech

My Favorite Film of the Year: Hot Tub Time Machine and True Grit

The Great One You May Have Missed: Buried

There are rare movies with only one person in them, and rarer still are ones that don't suck. I can only think of one other one off the top of my head (“All is Lost” - 2013). But the best of them is “Buried”, which takes place entirely inside a coffin and featuring a dizzyingly wonderful performance from Ryan Reynolds.

Reynolds is Paul, a contracted truck driver in Iraq. He wakes at the start of the film to find himself buried alive with a cell phone, and he is informed through it that he is to call his employers to pay a ransom to rescue him. He makes plenty of calls on the cell, trying to save himself before he runs out of air, but also taking care of personal business in case he never sees daylight again.

Hard as it is to believe, a 7 foot by 3 foot by 2 foot movie set can work for a great film. Add in Reynolds' career performance and a script loaded with great dialogue, and you get “Buried”, the most claustrophobic thriller of all time.

2011

Best Picture Oscar: The Artist

My Favorite Film of the Year: Moneyball

The Great One You May Have Missed: Fright Night

When I was 15 years old I saw the original “Fright Night” at the theatre …. twice. Chris Sarandon as the vampire and Roddy McDowell as the vampire killer was one of the original kitsch horror-comedies. And the remake, while not quite measuring up to the original, is just as much fun.

Charlie Brewster (Anton Yelchin) has a new neighbour (Colin Farrell). But Charlie becomes convinced that the neighbour is a vampire. What do you need to kill a vampire? A vampire killer (David Tennant) of course. Full of tongue-in-cheek and dry wit, this is a worthy remake, just different enough from the original to stand on its own merits.

2012

Best Picture Oscar: Argo

My Favorite Film of the Year: The Imposter and Searching for Sugarman

The Great One You May Have Missed: Searching for Sugarman

Yeah, I know..... another documentary.

Rodriguez was a folk-rock artist of the late 60s that just never hit. The record company believed he was the next Bob Dylan, and they had him record a couple of albums that did nothing on the charts so they let him go. As far as the music scene went, he was never seen or heard from again. But unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Rodriguez's records outsold every other artist in the small nation of South Africa, where he and his “disappearance” were the stuff of legend. So eventually a couple of sleuthing South African music lovers decide to try to find him and bring him to a nation where he was bigger than Elvis ever dreamed of being.....

You may never see another true story that warms your heart like “Searching for Sugarman”. The desire to see what became of the man, and for him to find the glory that he had earned but never experienced keep you enthralled. A great movie.

2013

Best Picture Oscar: 12 Years a Slave

My Favorite Film of the Year: Blue Ruin and About Time

The Great One You May Have Missed: Blue Ruin and About Time

How could I possibly choose between these two classics? Neither of them made a cent at the American box office and both are among my favorite films ever. In Blue Ruin, a homeless man named Dwight Evans finds out his parents' murderer is being released from prison, and he decides to exact vengeance. But he is hopeless, helpless and going up against people far out of his league. Detailed review:

http://greatbigcmovies.blogspot.ca/2014/12/blue-ruin-2014.html

And “About Time” is a film that at first seems to be lighthearted and funny, then does a 180 to have a second half that will tear your very heart out. And it conveys a message that we would all be better off if we paid attention to. Again, my detailed review is here:

http://greatbigcmovies.blogspot.ca/2015/10/about-time-2013.html

2014

Best Picture Oscar: Birdman

My Favorite Film of the Year: John Wick

The Great One You May Have Missed: Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhall gives the performance of his life as a paparazzi photographer that can't wait for events to happen, so he makes them happen so he can get the scoop. His character, Lou Bloom, still gives me the creeps. My detailed review of “Nightcrawler” is here:

http://greatbigcmovies.blogspot.ca/2015/02/nightcrawler-2014.html

2015

Best Picture Oscar: Spotlight

My Favorite Film of the Year: Room and Brooklyn

The Great One You May Have Missed: Room

It seems impossible to me that this film only made $14M in domestic box office – I thought it was easily the best movie of the year. Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay both give career-making performances as a mother and son held hostage for years in a backyard shed. Their plan to escape and find their place in society is a riveting, fascinating journey. My detailed review is here:

http://greatbigcmovies.blogspot.ca/2016/01/room-2015.html

Great Movies of the 90s You May Have Missed

Everyone sees the blockbusters, and eventually everyone sees the Best Picture Oscar winners. Most years have films that became culturally significant, and most everyone sees those too. But every year there are great movies that didn't garner much attention that should have – not necessarily because they are “great films” but because they are damned fine entertainment.

Below is a list, with some brief reviews, of some of the movies released from 1990 to 1999 that you may not have seen, but that you should have.... they are all tremendously entertaining films.

1990

Best Picture Oscar: Dances With Wolves

My Favorite Film of the Year: Pump Up The Volume

The Great One You May Have Missed: State of Grace

Ten years ago Terry Noonan (Sean Penn) left Hell's Kitchen, leaving all of his friends behind. When he returns he finds his childhood pals Frankie (Ed Harris) and Jackie Flannery (Gary Oldman) are running the Irish mob in New York. Terry is on the run from a shooting in the Bronx, and begins to become part of the Flannery's criminal fold. But is Terry what he appears to be, or does he has another agenda?

“State of Grace” is filled with terrific performances, but none better than Gary Oldman's turn as Jackie. His combination of devoted friend and borderline psycho is almost surreally good, and made me a lifelong fan. Penn is (as always) terrific and supporting work from John C. Reilly, Ed Harris and John Turturro make this one among the best gangster movies ever made.

1991

Best Picture Oscar: The Silence of the Lambs

My Favorite Film of the Year: The Silence of the Lambs

The Great One You May Have Missed: L.A. Story

Smack in the middle of Steve Martin's 12 year run of great movies is this satirical gem about the hollowness of the jet-set LA lifestyle. He plays a weatherman who falls in love with a visiting journalist and they try to get to know each other among the empty-headed LA crowd. In the meantime, Martin finds that a highway sign is communicating with him and he continues to go to it for advice, even as his life seems to be falling apart around him.

Funny and engaging, “LA Story” is a bit out there but tons of fun if you don't take it too literally. And you may find yourself in a cafe ordering a “half-double-decaffeinated half-caff.... with a twist of lemon” just to see what happens.

1992

Best Picture Oscar: Unforgiven

My Favorite Film of the Year: Unforgiven

The Great One You May Have Missed: Of Mice and Men

There are still people out there that will argue that this version is inferior to the 1939 version that won Best Picture. For anyone who thinks that I can only say you should give yourself a shake. Malkovich's Lenny is superior in every way to Lon Chaney's, and Gary Sinise's George is every bit as good as Burgess Meredith's. A beautiful telling of Steinbeck's depression-era story of two friends, one simple minded but incredibly strong, hoboing across the south and trying to find work. When they get steady employment where they hope to earn enough to buy their own homestead, they run into problems with prejudice and ignorance that eventually lead them to ruin.

1993

Best Picture Oscar: Schindler's List

My Favorite Film of the Year: Carlito's Way and My Life

The Great One You May Have Missed: My Life

This is one of those “I don't give a shit what mainstream critics say” movies – they didn't like it. I LOVE it.

Michael Keaton is a Public Relations superstar who finds out that he has terminal cancer. His wife (Nicole Kidman) is pregnant with their first child, and he secretly begins videotaping himself to leave messages behind for his unborn son. But when he starts trying to get people he knows to talk about him, he finds out that nobody really knows him at all, and he comes to realize he has a rather superficial existence. His self discovery as his disease progresses, the messages he is leaving behind for his son, and his desire to continue living tug hard at your heartstrings until the inevitable conclusion that will leave the most stone-hearted person biting back tears.

Keaton is just incredible as Bob Jones/Ivanovich in “My Life”. Absolutely everything about his performance is totally authentic. Add to that the fact the screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin has created dialogue that rings so true, so melancholy, that you feel Bob's loss deeply. I am a big fan of well written dialogue, and this film is loaded with it. The scene that affected me most is one where Bob and his wife go to an amusement park, and while there he tells her that this is his “death day” - the doctors initially told him he'd be dead by that day. From this moment forward he'll be living on borrowed time. Then he and his wife slow dance in the middle of the crowd to music that only they can hear. Truly a lovely, painful scene, and one of my favorites.

1994

Best Picture Oscar: Forrest Gump

My Favorite Film of the Year: The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction

The Great One You May Have Missed: When a Man Loves a Woman

Despite looking initially like a romantic comedy, this film is another about addiction, recovery and how it affects your life. Meg Ryan is Alice, the mother of two little girls and wife to Michael (Andy Garcia), an airline pilot. She used to be a social drinker, but now finds herself drunk most of the time, to the point where she is becoming a danger to her little girls. Michael generally isn't bothered by her drunkenness as he is a “fixer”; one of those guys that needs problems to exist so he has something to do with himself by taking care of them. But as she starts to sober up and change her life, it changes their relationship to the point where there may not be one anymore.

This role isn't Meg Ryan's usual thing but she does a very effective job with it, being a convincing drunk and an even more convincing ex-drunk . Andy Garcia is very good as Michael, a hero that doesn't realize that he isn't very heroic, and a villain who doesn't realize he is villainous at all. But his slow realization that he isn't in control of some things, just as her realization that she needs to live in her own skin despite her loathing of herself, are definitely worth the watch.

1995

Best Picture Oscar: Braveheart

My Favorite Film of the Year: Mr. Holland's Opus and Heat

The Great One You May Have Missed: Leaving Las Vegas

Brace yourself for this one..... it ain't no feel good movie.

Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) has nothing to live for. His wife has absconded with their daughter, he hates his lonely and directionless life, so he decides to sell everything and go to Vegas to drink himself to death. While there he meets Sara (Elizabeth Shue), a prostitute who falls in love with him, but nothing will stop him from his self destructive path.

There is no other way to describe Cage's performance other than astounding. Not because of the physical deterioration of Ben but because of how he conveys Ben's single mindedness so completely. “Leaving Las Vegas” is a gritty, glamour-less film that leaves you rather depressed – but that doesn't mean it isn't great. However its greatness sits squarely in its ability to tell the story, and to make you feel something about it even if it isn't a very positive feeling.

1996

Best Picture Oscar: The English Patient

My Favorite Film of the Year: Bound

The Great One You May Have Missed: Bound

If you have never seen “Bound”, I envy you. I wish I could watch it again for the first time. It's one of those films where I went in knowing nothing about it, expecting nothing at all, and was totally swept away by what a wonderful film it is. In my opinion the Wachowskis (who wrote and directed) never came close to doing anything this good ever again.

Violet (Jennifer Tilly) lives with Cesar (Joe Pantaliano), a low-level accountant for the Italian mob. Corky (Gina Gershon) is a recently released convict who starts renovating the condo next door. Violet and Corky begin a relationship (including some graphic love scenes) and they would like to run away from their lives together. Only problem is they have no money and Cesar would search for and find them. But when Cesar discovers another accountant has embezzled millions from the mob that he now has to find and account for Violet and Corky devise a plan to get the money, get away, and leave Cesar holding the bag. Of course, not everything goes according to plan.

This film is a true classic. Every member of the cast is excellent in their roles, the pacing and tension of the movie are perfect, and on first viewing you honestly have no idea how it's all going to unfold. Highest possible recommendation.

1997

Best Picture Oscar: Titanic

My Favorite Film of the Year: Good Will Hunting

The Great One You May Have Missed: Cop Land

It's funny to call a Stallone/DeNiro/Liotta/Keitel movie an “under the radar” one, but this truly is. Stallone plays Freddy Heflin, the sheriff of a New Jersey town just across the Hudson river from New York. This town is a bedroom community for many of the NYPD, resulting in its nickname “Copland”. Freddy is a nice guy but considered by the New York cops to be a bit of a joke, and he more-or-less lets himself be that joke by looking the other way at all the police corruption he sees. But when a hero cop accidentally kills a couple of black kids on the George Washington Bridge and an internal affairs officer (Deniro) starts asking questions, Freddy finds himself forced to choose a side and deal with the consequences.

Stallone is so well known for playing over-the-top action heroes that not much attention was given to his subdued role in “Copland”. But he dials it down perfectly for his role as Freddy, and Ray Liotta is equally good as Freddy's coke snorting, twitchy best friend. Deniro is Deniro, and Harvey Keitel is fabulously evil as the bad cop running the show. Not an action packed or fast movie, “Copland” is a slowly developing dramatic turn for everyone that culminates beautifully at the climax.

1998

Best Picture Oscar: Shakespeare in Love

My Favorite Film of the Year: The Big Lebowski

The Great One You May Have Missed: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

One of the greatest caper films ever made. Four pals scrape everything they have together to enter one of them (Eddie) in a local mob-run poker game. Thanks to some devious dealings by the mobster (Hatchet Harry) in question, not only does the player lose the whole lot, but ends up 500,000 pounds in debt. Harry's plans collect Eddie's father's pub in payment, but the four devise an alternate scheme – their next door neighbours are big-time armed robbers, and when they return from their next score the boys will relieve them of their take. But their take was to rob the HQ of a local drug lord who will stop at nothing to make an example of anyone that steals from him. Mayhem ensues.

“Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” is one of the funniest films of the decade, even if most of the humour is in brilliantly written dialogue and wink-wink-nudge-nudge moments. It's full of sub plots driven by hilarious secondary characters, and when they all come together and the shit hits the fan, it hits the fan spectacularly. It made a name for director Guy Ritchie, though I feel he never hit these great heights again. A must see.

1999

Best Picture Oscar: American Beauty

My Favorite Film of the Year: American Beauty

The Great One You May Have Missed: Stir of Echoes

Tom (Kevin Bacon) is a skeptic of all things supernatural. So one night at a party, to prove what hokum it all is, he challenges one of his wife's friends to hypnotize him. Turns out he is very open to suggestion and is easily hypnotized but the friend, who thinks he is too close minded, leaves him with the suggestion to “be more open to things”. This unleashes Pandora's Box on him, as his house is haunted by the spirit of a dead girl who clearly wants him to do something, and figuring out what she wants becomes his dangerous obsession.

Kevin Bacon's name has become a bit of a joke in recent years, what with “The Oracle of Bacon” and him parodying himself on any show that will allow him to. But he is terrific in this little thriller, which while having some aspects of horror is anything but a horror movie. And much as “The Arrival” was overshadowed early in the 90s by “Independence Day” (both about alien invasions), this film was lost in the shuffle of “The Sixth Sense”, another movie about convening with the dead. In both cases the film that got lost was superior, and in the case of “Stir of Echoes”, far superior.