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The search for the most 2000-oughts movie ever


Quorra

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Now that it's 2015, and we've placed the years 2000 - 2009* firmly in the rear-view but not so distantly that we've had time to grow truly nostalgic, I think it would be the perfect summer to decide on which movie truly represents that decade more than any other.



Now, you could be reading this and asking me, and asking yourself, and asking the universe: But, how could such a movie exist? What do the first 10 years of this century even mean? What does it mean for a movie to represent a decade?



Good questions, you!



Well, first we have to consider the art form itself, the medium, before we consider the content.



Were the 2000-oughts a time of indie movies or blockbusters? Rom-coms or epics? That's something to consider.



  • What were the ultimately ubiquitous (in hindsight) film themes/conventions/technical elements that seemed to have died out for the most part by now?

A big reveal/twist ending (M. Knight - style)


The internet is evil


The Manic Pixie Dream Girl


Improv-style dialogue


(often with the above) Faux documentary


Zombies


Vampires


People being tortured in creative ways



Other elements to consider :



  • Notable actors of the time that we truly associate with that time period and their mega success.

Johnny Depp


Natalie Portman


Colin Firth


Catherine Zeta Jones


Cate Blanchett


Will Smith



True, these actors are still big stars and we don't know what else they may have in store for us but, perhaps, they shone brightest in that decade and we rode the crest of their waves only for those 10 years before we could see that it began to curl and recede.

  • Cultural/technological references of the time that, if used today would seem dated:

Myspace


The atkins diet


Devices that only play MP3s


Starbucks being a big deal


Free Tibet



  • Likewise Fashion

Bootleg jeans


Trucker hats


White girls wearing a bindi and no one says "cultural appropriation"


Camo cargo pants on really hot chicks


Cargo anything, really


Pukka shell necklaces



  • employment or generation of a catchphrase that caught on at the time

Very Niiice!


Wasssuup


Snoop Dogg style -izzle speak


Chillax



  • Or, perhaps not much of the above, but it is a franchise that seemed to dominate the world of movies in that decade, in which case all the movies in the series count as one.

The Lord of The Rings


Star Wars Episodes I - III


Harry Potter


Pirates of the Caribbean





*Edited to say 2000 - 2009. Thank you, Biter :)


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My first thought was The Dark Knight as the movie of the 2000's. Not so much for the time it represented though but for the impact it made in that time.



Otherwise I think The 40-year-old Virgin is a great representative of that time. A Best-Buy type store as a background. Actual menton of VHS' demise and rise of DVD's. Video games. Ebay. The beginning of the Apatow movies and Seth Rogen's movie career.


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Not sure what my thoughts are on the movies, but I have never seen a white girl with a bindi. I'm curious as to where this was considered fashionable?

ETA: The more I think about it raunchy comedies seem like a staple of the 00s. Movies like Old School and Van Wilder. Even though I think it was 99 American Pie too.

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what I think of last decade is the rise of superhero and fantasy franchises.

Spider Man and Xmen set it off for superheroes

LOTRS and Harry Potter for fantasy.

Although this decade seems to be amplifying the super hero movies by a million but it stems from the success of those early 2000s blockbusters

As for pop culture I think of actors that had 15 minutes of being a heart throb that were quickly kicked out of the club.

Josh Hartnett anyone?

The American Pie movies certainly have their place all over that decade.

Also any movies where a character references how being a nerd or geek is actually cool now! Would be a very 2000s thing.

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it was certainly a decade of franchises.

How many memorable stand alone movies in comparison to movies that were part of a trilogy or franchise.

This was a forgettable movie but the title really dates it to a certain era---> You've Got Mail.

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Epic Fantasy/Sci-Fi franchises: LOTR, Harry Potter, Pirates, Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men.

Sci-Fi CGI-Fests like Transformers and Avatar.

Gritty, parkour-action spy movies like Bourne and Bond.

Christopher Nolan is the director of the aughts: BB, DK, Prestige, Memento, and Inception.

The Hangover is probably the comedy of the aughts.

Oh, and found footage horror movies. Actually, I take this back. Found footage is more recent, I think. Torture-centric films like Saw and Hostel are the horror films of the aughts.

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Recently compiled a list of the movies that got the most promiscuous with the viewer's mind.


No idea if they're from the 2000's but there's an excellent chance!



V for Vendetta.


Kill Bill


Alien Vs. Predator


The Wedding Crashers


[American Gangs]??? (the diCaprio one)


Bourne


Men in Black


American Treasure


Avatar


Anchorman


Underworld


Da Vinci Code


Minority Report


Van Fucking Helsing


Transporter (of historical note for the oil fight)


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I nominate 2007's Transformers for consideration because:



It's a big budget, grown-up indulgence of a popular 1980s children's fanchise - which was something big coming up in the early 2000s



It had scenes of war and destruction taking place in the middle east - relevant, people seemed to want to address the middle east in some way in movies - though didn't always want to address a specific conflict. It just seemed a popular reference or backdrop. (Shit's going down in Quatar)



References to U.S. government spying on individuals, cell phone tracking, etc. - right? I don't recall the specifics.



References to ebay.



Megan Fox as the hottie


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I also nominate 2001's xXx starring Vin Diesel.



In addition to starring Vin Diesel it contains:



a soundtrack with Nelly, L'il Wayne, Moby, Bush's Gavin Rossdale


NSA and spies and international espionage


extreme sports


copious tattoos


mega guns and weapons and the international gun trade


a "bad" guy recruited by the "good" guys because he's the best


an electronic dance music club scene


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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It checks all the important movie boxes of the time, romantic, indie, thriller, pixie-ish female lead, big name male lead, the strange world that technology is leading us towards, and a hopeful ending despite the scary world we are in.


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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It checks all the important movie boxes of the time, romantic, indie, thriller, pixie-ish female lead, big name male lead, the strange world that technology is leading us towards, and a hopeful ending despite the scary world we are in.

I do like this suggestion! It has Kirsten Dunst, Kate Winslet and Elijah Wood who were big in that decade.

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Garden State is a great film, was really pleasantly surprised by Zach Braff.

I liked this movie the first time I saw it and then disliked it exponentially every viewing thereafter. I can't even stand it now. Eventually I'll come back around to loving it again but in a grotesque, picking-at-scabs way.

That scene where Natalie Portman is in her bedroom doing her "quirky" thing, or when he says "You know what Dad? a little piece of plastic..." whatever. I just gag. It's a great representation of the oughties in how it captures angsty adult returning home and manic pixie girl - and the music of The Shins is pretty oughties, too.

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Lost in Translation, Children of Men, There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men- movies that have something to say about the era.



Every damn Pixar movie of the decade- they're all basically good and a few are very good- definitely staples of the decade.



LotR, X-Men, Spiderman, Batman trilogies & Harry Potter series as cultural phenomenons.



Commercial breakthrough indies- Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Wrestler.


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Now that it's 2015, and we've placed the years 2000 - 2010 firmly in the rear-view but not so distantly that we've had time to grow truly nostalgic, I think it would be the perfect summer to decide on which movie truly represents that decade more than any other.

The Noughties, if we call it that, should refer to ten years, right? Not the eleven years you mention in your original post. I think it should refer to 2000-2009.

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The Noughties, if we call it that, should refer to ten years, right? Not the eleven years you mention in your original post. I think it should refer to 2000-2009.

Correctapalooza. Correction made.

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