In 2001,
American Online and Time Warner merged;
Wikipedia launched;
George W. Bush became the 43rd President of the United States;
Hijackers crashed America Airlines flight 11 and United Airlines flight 175 into the World Trade Center;
Nintendo released the Gamecube;
Apple introduced the iPod;
Microsoft released the Xbox;
Enron declared bankruptcy;
Mister Roger’s Neighborhood aired its final episode;
The Mole, Bob the Builder, Lizzie McGuire, Six Feet Under, Murder in Small Town X, Samurai Jack, Crossing Jordan, Star Trek: Enterprise, Alias, According to Jim, Smallville, Pardon the Interruption, and 24 premiered on US television;
LaMelo Ball and Caleb McLaughin were born;
While Ray Walston, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Stanley Kramer, William Hanna, Beatrice Straight, Joey Ramone, Douglas Adams, Perry Como, Imogen Coca, Anthony Quinn, Timothy McVeigh, John Lee Hooker, Carroll O’Connor, Jack Lemmon, Mortimer J. Adler, Chet Atkins, Katharine Graham, Kathleen Freeman, Aaliyah, Troy Donahue, Pauline Kael, Victor Wong, Dorothy McGuire, Herbert Ross, Ken Kesey, George Harrison, Nigel Hawthorne, and Eileen Heckart died.
The following is a list of my ten favorite films released in 2001:
10) Mulholland Drive
Twin Peaks on steroids. Describing the plot is an impossible, useless gesture. It’s like a precursor to Lost, but unfettered from any pretense of explanation.
Naomi Watts arrived with this film. Between this and The Leftovers, Justin Theoroux has legitimate bonafides as a surrealist muse. Robert Forster is awesome in everything. I enjoyed the legendary Lee Grant and the always fascinating Dan Hedaya.
My positive feelings for the movie were sealed by Rebeka Del Rio’s spellbinding a cappella performance of “Llorando” (a Spanish language version of Roy Orbison’s “Crying”).
9) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Bringing Tolkien’s massive, beloved fantasy world to theaters was a monumental undertaking. Filming all three movies back to back to back sounded like an insane waste of money, but devoted Tolkien fan Peter Jackson pulled it off, and, twenty years later, his masterpiece remains the gold standard of fantasy movie making.
This is not the best movie in the trilogy, but without the excellent work here, Return of the Kings wouldn’t pay off. Elijah Wood, Rhys Davies, Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, Billy Boyd, and Dominc Monagham wonderfully embodied the fellowship, while the supporting cast of Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Liv Tyler, Ian Holm are equally impressive.
Even if you don’t care for fantasy fiction, this movie has had an indelible effect on popular culture, paving the way for carefully constructed and interconnected franchise films.
8) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
J.K. Rowling is now (inexplicably) a controversial figure, but her fictional world remains an incredible feat of imagination. The details (chocolate cards, newspapers with moving pictures, the use of older technology) are key. The careful, deliberate way she used these to embellish the present volume and set up plot points in the later ones is astounding.
In a world dominated by existing intellectual property and constantly looking for ways to monetize them, this powerhouse shows how clear visions and creativity will cut through the noise and reach an audience.
The young cast is incredible; watching them grow up before our eyes is a fascinating experience. In the span of a day, we can see Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe, and Tom Felton go from precocious tweens to young adults.
The latter films in the series are deeper, but they wouldn’t exist without the magic of this one. Other beloved series have fizzled in their big screen adaptations. This one didn’t on the strength of this film.
7) Waking Life
In Richard Linklater’s experimental film an unknown man floats about his life, observing (and occasionally participating in) philosophical conversations with everyone around him. They talk about the nature of God, the origin of the universe, free will, cinema, and art.
The film features cameos by Steven Prince, Steven Soderbergh, Speed Levitch, and a retrospectively bizarre appearance of Alex Jones. There’s an allusion to Linklater’s previous film Before Sunrise, with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy briefly reprising their roles.
The central premise, a questioning of the perceived reality we all agree to accept as true, was aided immensely by the films use of rotoscoping, reminding us we are watching a representation of reality.
I don’t agree with all of the conclusions reached by the film, but I wholeheartedly approve of the questions.
6) Amélie
Because her parents think newborn Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) has a dangerous heart condition, they raise her in isolation. When her mother is killed in a freak accident, her father further withdraws the family from the outside world.
When Princess Diana’s sudden death leads to a discovery of a metal box containing someone else’s childhood memories, Amélie’s journey to find the owner draws her out of her shell.
She coaxes her dad out of his depression, facilitates a romance between one of her coworkers and one of her customers, puts the cruel local grocer in her place, bonds with her odd, reclusive neighbor, and finds love.
Audrey Tautou is adorably impish and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s film is the definition of whimsy. Wonderfully idiosyncratic, it’s a celebration of France and a delightful, modern fairytale. His animation background informs every shot of the film.
It’s a shame Jenuet’s off kilter vision has repeatedly proven difficult to finance, but fortunately he managed to make this film, a greater accomplishment than many directors with much more expansive filmographies.
5) A.I. Artificial Intelligence
After global warming significantly reduces the world’s population, sophisticated robots are used to supplement and aid humanity.
When their child, Martin, is diagnosed with a rare disease, Monica (Frances O’Connor) and Henry Swinton purchase a robot replacement. The humanoid child, David (Haley Joel Osment), imprints on Monica, creating an intense attachment, but when Martin is cured and returns home, he manipulates his parents into getting rid of his competition. Monica abandons David in the forest.
Remembering a story Monica read him, David seeks the help of the Blue Fairy. On his journey, he befriends a male prostitute robot, Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), and meets his creator, Professor Allen Hobby (William Hurt). An encounter with a line of identical David robots causes an existential crisis and our David attempts suicide, but is trapped in an aquatic machine facing what he thinks is the long sought Blue Fairy (but is actually a part of an ancient Coney Island amusement ride). He begs the just out of reach fairy to make him a real boy until his power supply dies.
Two thousand years later, David is found by evolved robots interested in learning about their creators. Using David’s memory and one of Monica’s preserved hairs, they reconstruct the Swinton home and replicate a version of Monica which can survive for a day. David spends a perfect day with his mother before he “falls asleep … [going] to that place ‘where dreams are born.'”
The melding of the vision of two of the most important filmmakers of the twentieth century produced one of Steven Spielberg’s darkest films, and one of the most hopeful associated with Stanley Kubrick.
Between this and The Sixth Sense, Osment can make a strong case for one of the best child star careers. William Hurt is great as the pontificating creator. Jude Law is fascinating as the robot prostitute on the run. The voice acting is top notch, featuring Robin Williams as Dr. Know, and Meryl Streep as the Blue Fairy.
If the movie had ended with David staring at the Blue Fairy for eternity, it would have been very dark, but, I think, a slightly better film. The final twenty minutes are good, but cheapen the unfulfilled longing at the core of the film’s message. We idealize our childhood and our parents to our detriment, preventing us from experiencing the world around us.
This may or may not be Spielberg’s masterpiece, but he made an entire film about someone wanting an everlasting childhood: a beautiful, poetic retort to early criticism he suffered from Peter Pan Syndrome.
4) Gosford Park
Over thirty years after he burst on to the scene, Robert Altman proved his fertile imagination remained as supple and powerful as ever. He subverted the Agatha Christie formula, combining it with the nostalgia tinged elegance of Upstairs Downstairs, to create a murder mystery about class, Anglophilia, and idealized history.
I love Downton Abbey and without this, Jullian Fellowes would have been unable to create that world.
The casting is impeccable: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Charles Dance, Bob Balaban, Clive Owens. Emily Watson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Alan Bates, Richard E. Grant, Helen Mirren, and Stephen Fry. It’s one of the greatest assemblages of British acting royalty.
Altman’s career was incredible; every time he was written off, he rebounded with another great movie reminding us of his enormous talent.
Twenty years before “white privilege” was the du jour cause of the moment, Altman gave us a scathing look at what privilege looks like and the ways it corrupts and destroys everyone in its wake.
Jukebox musical + La Boheme + Francophilia + amazing choreography = a winning recipe. T
he love story of ill fated Satine (Nicole Kidman) and Christian (Ewan McGregor) is wonderfully told by Baz Luhrmann. John Leguizamo is perfectly cast as the famed painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. Jim Broadbent is at his funniest as the owner of the Moulin Rouge, Harold Zidler.
The performance of “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya, and Lil Kim is electric.
Some have criticized the film for being all style, but when you have this much style it’s a minor criticism.
This unsubtle film wears its heart on its sleeve, but the driving music and vibrant color palette hits me in all the right places.
Matt (Tom Wilkinson) and Ruth (Sissy Spacek) don’t approve of their son Frank’s relationship with divorced mother, Natalie Strout (Maris Tomei), but tolerate it.
Natalie’s ex, Richard (William Mapother) is a violent, jealous man, and murders Frank, but because of his family’s wealth and the lack of an eyewitness, he’s only charged with accidental manslaughter.
Frustrated by the failure of the justice system to adequately avenge his son’s death, Matt takes matters into his own hands.
This is a heartbreaking, measured film, buoyed by impeccable performances from Wilkinson, Spacek, and Tomei. Sissy Spacek is an unlikely movie star and overlooked as one of the leading actresses of her generation, but a glance at her filmography says otherwise. She’s incredible as a mother reeling from unspeakable loss. Wilkinson’s quiet fury is palpable in every scene. Marisa Tomei is not the driving force of the film, but her turn as the lost, battered wife is one of her most complete transformations.
Todd Field’s film is a poignant look at how tragedy transforms us and a statement on the effectiveness of revenge as a means of dealing with loss.
The quirky Tenenbaums are the quintessential dysfunctional twenty-first century American family.
Eli Cash, the Tennebaum family friend, is the most realized character of Owen Wilson’s career, and eccentric former tennis player, Richie Tennebaum, is easily Luke Wilson’s best performance. Everyone assumes Anjelica Huston was given her spot because of her famous father and grandfather. She’s not a typical Hollywood beauty and doesn’t always come to mind when thinking of the great actors of her generation, but her spectacular resumé includes This is Spinal Tap (1984), Prizzi’s Honor (1985), The Dead (1987), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), The Grifters (1990), and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). Fortunately, since her performance as Etheline, the Tennebaum matriarch, she’s experienced a late career Renaissance.
Her work as Margot Tennenbaum reminds me there was a time when Gwyneth Paltrow was a great actress and not prima donna tabloid fodder, and Alec Baldwin’s narration makes the movie feel like a nightmarish bed time story.
Bill Murray was a popular middlebrow comedian whose career stalled as he aged like fellow SNL alumni Dan Ackroyd, Chevy Chase, and Steve Martin, but beginning with the Anderson directed Rushmore (1998), he transitioned into a laconic, super cool trend setter / Internet legend. His later work has been so good, it’s forced us to view his earlier work through a different prism. We see Peter Venkman and Phil Connors differently because of Herman Blume and Bob Harris.
This was the last great role for Gene Hackman who epitomized the 1970s in films like The French Connection (1971), The Poseidon Adventure (1972) The Conversation (1974), and Young Frankenstein (1974). Sadly, in 2003 he opted to spend his twilight years engaged in other pursuits, ending a fifty year Hollywood career. Luckily, enigmatic and selfish Royal Tennenbaum is a glorious farewell.
Despite the success of Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), this remains the quintessential Wes Anderson film.