The 100 Project: Top 10 Movies of 2001

2001 started off as a rather happy-go-lucky year. We had survived the Y2K scare a year before and we were just beginning our journey into a new, and hopefully better, millennium. That all changed on September 11 when New York's World Trade Center, specifically the Twin Towers, was brought down during a terrorist attack. While this hadn't yet affected the type of stories movies would tell, it immediately changed the imagery. As a result, a number of films were delayed as they were rushed back into post-production to have the towers removed. Otherwise, the films we got were unencumbered by any recent earth shattering events. Even the toughest topics tackled were either on a personal level or were dulled by the passing of time.

My Top 10 Movies of 2001

• According to my Letterboxd account, I've seen 69 movies that were released during 2001.
• I saw 7 movies in theaters, the fewest since 1994. 2 made my top 10 while one other is an honorable mention.
• I've seen 3 of the 5 movies nominated for Best Picture. None of them make my top 10. 2 are honorable mentions.
• For the first time, 3 non-English movies make the top 10.
• Also for the first time, 2 animated movies make the top 10, including a first-ever #1.

10. Save the Last Dance

This is another of those movies that's been a favorite in the Dell household for years. Sure, it's got problems and is a cliched dance flick. It has also has an infectious cast that goes full tilt and is clearly having a good time. I even went to high school with one of them in real life - Fredro Starr, who plays Malakai. Name dropping aside, I have a blast with this film. I long ago lost count of how many times this movie has played in my house. And I was happily present for most of them.

9. Ali

Muhammad Ali was the first person outside of my family that I looked up to. I've been reading and watching things about him ever since I can remember. That includes the 1977 biopic The Greatest, which stars the champ as himself. I was very eager to go to the theater and see what Michael Mann could do with the material with Will Smith as his star. I was not disappointed in the least. Much to my dismay, many people were. If you were one of those people, please give it another chance. This film deserves it.

8. Black Hawk Down

A few years earlier, Saving Private Ryan brilliantly moved its plot forward mostly through action scenes. Black Hawk Down turns the same trick. And it's a tough, tough watch for so many reasons, good and bad. It's tense and pulls you to the edge of your seat while you simultaneously recoil.

7. Ichi the Killer

The plot of this movie is pretty good, but you'd be forgiven for not remembering it even if you've seen it. That's because the visuals in this are so bonkers they devour brain cells that dare attempt processing it all. A lot of movies are nuts, then there's this live-action anime that goes beyond plenty of actual anime.

6. Blow

Before every role of his was just another exercise in self-parody, Johnny Depp was a damn good actor. His work in this movie is proof. The tale is a familiar one: the rise and fall of a gangster. Admittedly, his gangster is more Hollywood heartthrob than Scarface, but it works so well for this film. Depp pulls me in right at the start of the film and makes his character a sympathetic figure. Sorta.

5. Spirited Away

Occasionally, a movie gives you a calming sense of beauty despite veering into grotesque waters. Spirited Away is one of those. It's true magic, however, lies within the fact that it disturbs that calm just enough to unnerve us. It unnerves us just enough to make us truly care about our young protagonist. It makes us care enough to share in her despair and her exhilaration.

4. Training Day

In lots of movies, the villain is far more interesting and cooler than the hero. I can't think of any film in which the gap between the two is as wide as it is in Training Day. Ethan Hawke plays the good guy. He's a fine actor who does a good job in the role. Fortunately for us, he drowns in the shadow of Denzel Washington as the bad guy. We can't take our eyes, or our ears, off him. Whenever we think about this movie, we think about Denzel, posturing, wickedly grinning, intimidating anyone in his path, and just generally being evil. King Kong ain't got shit on him.

3. Ocean's Eleven

If Training Day is a movie with a cool bad guy, Ocean's Eleven is a movie full of them. They're so magnetic and charismatic, they make us completely forgive the ridiculous heist at its core. When you step back and think about it, you realize there's no way that's working, even with guys as skilled as they are. Still, we can't help but get caught up in their endless planning and bickering. By the end, we think it would be really cool to get together with all of our buddies and pull off a huge, sophisticated robbery. We're less deterred by the legality and morality of such an undertaking than we are by the fact that neither we, nor our friends are anywhere near as suave as George Clooney or Brad Pitt.

2. Y Tu Mamá También

We switch from movies that ooze cool to one that drips awkwardness. A couple of guys in their late-teens (18-19, I think) set off on an impromptu road trip with a much older woman. It's equal parts realistic and boyhood fantasy, growing pains and wings spreading, silliness and poignancy. The oft-ignored part of the film is the growth and realization done by the woman. It all mixes to create a bittersweet concoction that's impossible to forget.

1. Shrek

If I've said it once during this project, I've said it a thousand times. Films effectively deconstructing films while still being good at the very things its tearing down is my thing. Shrek destroys Disney fairy-tales in hilarious fashion, but at the end of the day it's a really good Disney fairy-tale, albeit one not made by the mouse house. The jokes are on point, the songs are great, and it was body-positive before that was a thing. When I left the theater the first time I saw it, I knew I had seen greatness.


Honorable Mentions (alphabetically): 61*, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, A Beautiful Mind, From Hell, Hardball, Jason X, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Monsters Inc., The Princess Diaries, Rush Hour 2