227. Donnie Darko (2001)

Dear Roberta Sparrow, I have reached the end of your book and... there are so many things that I need to ask you. Sometimes I'm afraid of what you might tell me. Sometimes I'm afraid that you'll tell me that this is not a work of fiction. I can only hope that the answers will come to me in my sleep. I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to.

A movie that is at once entertaining, mind-bending, and serves as a solid philosophy lesson is a rare treat. If you are into '80s music, time travel, teenage angst, or just like evil-looking bunnies, then boy have I got the film for you!

226. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

It is clear that I must find my other half. But is it a he or a she? What does this person look like? Identical to me? Or somehow complementary? Does my other half have what I don't? Did he get the looks? The luck? The love? Were we really separated forceably or did he just run off with the good stuff? Or did I? Will this person embarrass me? What about sex? Is that how we put ourselves back together again? Or can two people actually become one again?

A Rock Opera about a transgendered person with a botched sex change who is trying to find love all the while playing live shows at restuarants and following around his/her famous ex. If that sentence doesn't interest you, then you won't like the movie. I seriously watched this movie four times the day I rented it from East Coast.

225. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

-If the buzz is any indicator, that movie's gonna make some huge bank.
-What buzz?
-The Internet buzz.
-What the #*@) is the Internet?
-The Internet is a communication tool used the world over where people can come together to %$*#@ about movies and share pornography with one another.

This is what happens when a director makes a movie simply as an inside joke to his fans, but oh what a hilarious joke it is if you are a fan! Kevin Smith literally cast his family in this movie with his daughter playing the younger version of Silent Bob and his wife playing one of the sexy jewel thieves. Like the movie or not, I'm not sure there is any movie in the past decade with a more impressive cast: Will Ferrell, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Lee, Mark Hamill, Chris Rock, Jason Biggs, James van der Beek, Carrie Fisher, George Carlin, Eliza Dushku, Ali Larter, Shannon Elizabeth, Judd Nelson, Sean William Scott, Jon Stewart, Tracy Morgan, and Jamie Kennedy.

224. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

I don't know where I'm being taken. I don't know what I'll find, beyond the earth and sky. But I'm not afraid to go. Maybe the things I don't understand will be clearer there, like when a fog blows away. Maybe Doris will be there. And maybe there I can tell her all those things they don't have words for here.

I've said it before on this blog, and it will surely come up again, but the Coen brothers simply make flawless movies. That being said, this is my favorite. It is absolute proof that you don't need drastic special effects or even the luxury of color to make an absolutely beautiful movie. This movie is criminally underseen, so I won't waste your time any more... go see it, if for nothing else then for the UFO-inspired lighting that is persistent throughout.

223. Monsters, Inc. (2001)

It's hard to believe, but just 10 short years ago Pixar had not completely solidified itself as the greatest animation studio in history. Sure, the Toy Stories were both pretty amazing and "A Bug's Life" wasn't half bad, but it wasn't to the point it is today. That is, today the name Pixar alone can assure the viewer of a perfect feature film. All of this being said, I went to the opening showing of "Monster's Inc." on a Friday afternoon. I'd like to say it was my bourgeoning confidence in the Pixar brand, but in all honesty it was the first movie with an "Attack of the Clones" trailer attached. After my fanboy excitement had died down, I was treated to an absolutely amazing movie. John Goodman and Billy Crystal were pitch perfect for the roles of Mike and Sully and Steve Buscemi gave the evil Randall a sinister life that perfectly walked the border of scary and too scary. This movie also contains one of my favorite final shots of all time. I get chills just thinking about it:

-Boo...?
-Kittie!

222. Moulin Rouge! (2001)

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

A beautiful tragedy about forbidden love between an inoccent young bohemian and a singing and dancing courtesan with a heart of gold. If it had stopped right there, I would have been hooked, but nooooo, they had to go on and add Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman as the couple. Still, director Baz Luhrmann felt that wasn't quite enough to thoroughly win my heart so he cast John Leguizamo as (real-life artist) Toulouse-Lautrec and added a wonderful subtheme about artists claiming their place in society. Just when you thought it couldn't be any more of a movie made for me, it is all set to a wonderful musical soundtrack that freely samples popular music including everything from Nirvana to Elton John to Donna Summer. This movie honestly has everything I could ever want in a movie and that is why it is (by far) my favorite romance of the 21st century.

221. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

-I wrote a suicide note.
-You did?
-Yeah, right after I regained conciousness.
-Well what does it say? Is it dark?
-Of course it's dark, it's a suicide note.
-Can I read it?
-No.
-Well could you at least summarize it for us?

This movie is about the Tenenbaum family: an estranged mother (Angelica Huston) and father (Gene Hackman), their two sons (Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson), their adopted daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow), and their "sorta" adopted next door neighbor (Owen Wilson). This seems like a pretty big group of characters but the director Wes Anderson masterfully introduces each one of them in the opening scenes of the movie. These beautiful scenes not only give an exhaustive background of each character, they foreshadow the problems that the characters will face during the film, and it is all narrated by Alec Baldwin. The genius of Wes Anderson is his ability to tell a story through quirky visuals, seemingly random occurences, and music that is just familiar enough to be recognizable (but not popular enough to be uncool). I know quite a few people who absolutely despised this movie. Although I don't get their hatred, I can say that if you aren't absolutely hooked by time you hear the strains of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday", then you aren't going to get it.

On a semi-morbid side note, this movie has my favorite suicide scene of all time, which gives me a chance to present a "High Fidelity"-esque top 5 suicides in movies of all time:

5. Alien 3
4. Boogie Nights
3. The Shawshank Redemption
2. The Rules of Attraction
1. The Royal Tenenbaums