zwolanerd

I have seen 70 of the 400+ movies that were released in 2001. Looking through the list revealed only a couple other ones I’d actually be interested in, but when you consider movies like A Beautiful Mind and Training Day didn’t even make my list of favorites for the year, maybe it’s for the best I didn’t see some of the other ones.

Here’s my list of favorites for the year, which I think would have been pretty easy for you to put together, given my history up to this point:

10. Jurassic Park III – I’ve heard a lot of griping about this one over the years, but I’ve always liked it. We just watched Jurassic Park the other day, and are hoping to get through the next two before Jurassic World comes out this summer.

9. Ocean’s Eleven – I don’t know if we needed a modern day Rat Pack, but we got one and it was pretty fun. I also liked Ocean’s Thirteen, but haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaated Twelve.

8. Shaolin Soccer – If real soccer was like this, more Americans would watch it.

7. Shrek – A slightly-twisted take on fairytales with a sweet heart at the middle of it, mixed with great performances. This one holds up pretty well.

6. Zoolander – They’re making a Zoolander 2 and I’m more excited about that than I should be.

5. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – A pretty good translation from game to movie, I thought. I wish they had made more of these.

4. Monsters, Inc. – I remember thinking “That was okay” the first time I saw this one, but over time I have come to like it more and more.

3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Or “Sorcerer’s Stone,” if you’d rather) – I’ve never read the books, but I really enjoy the movies.

2. The Royal Tenenbaums – There’s pretty much only one Wes Anderson movie I didn’t really like, and I need to watch it again to see if my opinion has changed on it. My favorite story about this one, though, is how grumpy and hard to work with Gene Hackman was on it. I don’t know why that amuses me so much.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – My favorite of the LotR movies, especially if we’re talking about the extended edition. I love the optimism and camaraderie.

Other Mentions:

• A.I. Artificial Intelligence – Boy, people sure griped about this one a lot. I liked it well enough.
• Donnie Darko – I liked it at first, but got irritated with it the more I thought about it. It’s the ultimate teen angst movie, I feel.
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within – People griped about this one, too. It sure was pretty, though, and the DVD had a special feature where the characters did the Thriller dance.
• Planet of the Apes – I thought the portrayal of ape culture was fantastic, but no matter how many explanations I read about the ending, it still doesn’t make any sense.
• A Beautiful Mind – This movie worked really well for me the one time I saw it. Knowing how it goes made a second viewing not all that desirable for me, though.
• Ghost World – I think I’d like this more if I watched it again, but I took to its attitude pretty well.

Tags: Tuesday10, Yearly

Written by: Mark