Y2K, throw your hands up at me

In the year 2000... Ketchup was green, Florida was red, and Pantone's color of the year was Cerulean Blue. Guess you had be there - and chances are, a lot of you were! One fact that's come into focus since I started publishing these commemorative observations is that the worth of any given year is highly subjective; war, disease, economics, reality TV - whatever shape the world was in was only as good or bad as the condition of my own personal bubble. For me, 2000 has a few blurry spots; I'd lost a considerable amount of weight due to an eating disorder, I began to engage in more social interactions amongst my peers as well as romantic relationships, I began my senior year of high school, I was earning my first taxable paychecks. But because I'm me, a lot of these developments feel worn and faded for the reason that they hang on the hooks of an era in Pop Culture that I found to be bland and uninspired. 

In hindsight it becomes apparent that I really began to lose touch with Television after Seinfeld ended in '98. I turned 17 in February of '00 and so I wasn't about to embrace the likes of Bob the Builder, Dora the Explorer, or SpongeBob SquarePants. But at the same time I had zero interest in CSI, The West Wing, or The Sopranos. And I don't know what age group was popping the sleeping pills that were Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Survivor but they certainly weren't capturing the attention span of an angry teenager with better stuff to do. So that presents the question: what exactly was I doing? 

I'd all but ignored or dismissed the music of the 1990s, so it either had something to do with my age or the way it saturated the zeitgeist but I began to notice new songs and artists in this year - both ironically and genuinely. Actually, from my point of view, the defining cultural sounds and imagery that best illustrate the start of the 21st Century would be the content of TRL. Britney, Christina, *NSYNC, and The Backstreet Boys made it seem as though Teen Pop was the only option. But there was also Destiny's Child and Alicia Keys. Linkin Park and Papa Roach. The White Stripes and Radiohead. Then all of it would become sanitized and repackaged into a compact disc of Now That's What I Call Music, leaving one Marshall Mathers to point and laugh at the whole parade. 

Despite the quality or actual longevity of these bands and artists, almost all of them remain relevant today, and it's because they fall into the net that is The New Millennium. Even one hit wonders from 25 years ago still swirl around the playlists marked "Today". So far this century has felt like one cohesive glob, but there are some abstract and indefinable qualities that make 2000 stand alone as a unique era unto itself; it was no longer the 90s but the tone of the decade that followed wouldn't fully emerge till September of 2001. So here we were, with our trucker hats and PlayStations, celebrating the union of Brad and Jen and praying for the safety of Elián González. A Big Mac cost $2.24. The computers didn't crash. Jennifer Lopez was always somewhere on TV. What more could we ask for? 

We've all sang the song and danced the dance of "The Films of 1999" - that sparkling gem of innovation and achievement. But even more memorable than the masterpieces that came out that year was the hope and optimism surrounding the future of Motion Pictures - that we were perhaps at the dawn of a new age where risk takers were blessed with the money and technology to realize this potential Renaissance. But we're not gathered here today to lament for the eleventy millionth time how that prophecy did not come to fruition, but I bring it up because by the end of 2000 it was glaringly apparent to me that not only did it not live up to the previous year's output, but that it was perhaps the weakest year for movies I'd witnessed since I started paying attention to such things. I mean it was partially unfair to hold it to the standards of '99 (the fact that I first saw Magnolia in January of '00 may've presented a greater contrast) but this was ridiculous. There weren't even any real standouts to me at the time, and I saw a ton. I remember really liking a handful of new releases but I couldn't shake the feeling that they would've been like window dressing in any year from the '90s. And now, 25 years later, as I stand back and scan the directory of Y2K Cinema, I find that I was mostly correct in my original assessment; I still managed to squeeze out a pretty eclectic Top 20, but in addressing the year 2000 as a whole, no, I was not entertained. 

- Paul

1. Unbreakable

I was not at all part of the Sixth Sense cult - I thought it was good, but not in a way that had me fully prepared for this. I think what stood out to me at the time (and still) was the directing; I was becoming more hyperaware by the minute at that age, and stuff like movement and composition and overall mise en scène were of utmost importance, and there is nary a shot in this entire movie that isn't remarkable or clever to some degree (minus those parting title cards...). 

2. Wonder Boys

Another pleasant surprise that was a bit different from what I was expecting. I remember being turned on by how small the scope of it is: a dialogue driven character study over the course of a few days was very much what I was into at the time. It was marketed as a Dramedy and I sorta digested it that way, but when I revisit it now I'm beginning to recognize it as one of my favorite straightforward Comedies. 

3. Shaft

I showed up for the novelty of Sam Jackson fulfilling this no-brainer casting decision, and what I got was a sharp and exciting triumph that continues to be one of the best Action Movies of this century. I was expecting a low-key Blaxploitation parody but it takes itself just seriously enough to be equal parts smart and fun. The big takeaway from its amazing ensemble cast was that Christian Bale was fast becoming a favorite actor. 

4. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

This was still when the Coens could do no wrong, and it was of my opinion that this movie continued that streak. The soundtrack deserved all the praise and prosperity it received, but as usual I was most impressed with the writing; their playful execution of regional and era-specific dialects will always be the first thing I think of when I think of them in their heyday. 

5. Best in Show

It's like "The White Album" of Mockumentaries; not only is it the best, but everyone's contribution is unique and at the top of their game, creating one cohesive collage of absurdity. It's so fitting that the main thread is a contest because you can't help but root for a favorite performance. 

6. American Psycho

Even people who read the book didn't know what to expect. I remember some initial disappointment that it wasn't a gorefest, but instead it quickly identified itself as the Black Comedy it was supposed to be -- and that humor landed gracefully into the canon of Pop Culture, due largely to the talents of its lead actor. 

7. Sexy Beast

British Gangster Films always seemed to flirt with surrealism, but this one just fucks. I can't pretend Ben Kingsley doesn't steal the show but that's mostly amplified by Ray Winstone's fear and fatigue. These two deserved their own BBC miniseries. 

8. Cast Away

A Hanks/Zemeckis reunion held a lotta weight, so personally there was gonna be some amount of letdown. And there still is; I've always felt underwhelmed by the final act, and excessive CGI makes the entire scenario a lot less threatening, but it's still easily one of the most engrossing movies of the year (and probably this century). 

9. Traffic

Storytelling by way of color scheme! Soderbergh certainly has a look, and he, along with cinematographer Peter Andrews (wink wink), went hard and reached the mountaintop with this one. For as heavy-handed as it is, it inspired decades of copycats who never seemed to do it as well as it was done here. 

10. Ginger Snaps

The "Teenage Werewolf" trend wasn't new, but this was an admirably fresh take on it - at least to me. And from my perspective this was one of the worst times for Horror, maybe ever, so a clever Indie Gem with rich performances and practical effects actually seems that much more miraculous in hindsight. 

11. Memento

There were some entries that felt clever and daring enough to feel like they came outta the 90s. Sometimes maybe a little too clever. Like, cutesy? I will say Chris Nolan on a shoestring budget is something we have very little of in this world and it's a challenge I'd like to see him create for himself again in the future. 

12. Snatch

I was embarrassed about liking it at the time, but I thought it was pretty funny and had a great soundtrack; the Huey Piano Smith closer is inspiring. It all felt very much like a mood of the moment; I never saw another Guy Ritchie movie after this one but along with Lock, Stock in '98 it felt like the appropriate curtain call for the Violent Gangster Comedy craze. 

13. The Beaver Trilogy

Technically made in 1979, and 1981, and again (yes, again) in 1984, the three shorts were complied into a trilogy and began the Festival Circuit in 2000, making this the most creative and ambitious passion project of the year. 

14. Amores Perros

Imaginative, provocative, and, of course, dark and depressing, Iñárritu gave us an unflinching debut with a unique voice and a sharp eye. I didn't know it at the time but he was the real hope for the new century. 

15. What Lies Beneath

And we also had seasoned veterans trying to stay ay the top of their game. Obviously Zemeckis fell in love with computer animation long before this but here's where he began to use it in frivolous ways (or the technology itself began to falter). Either way, at its core this is a wonderful, twisty, old-fashioned tale with remarkable performances driving it home. 

16. Cherry Falls

While Horror was still in the midst of "Ironic Slasher" mode, it was a joy to find something that wasn't just a music video for a soundtrack album. All the tropes are still present but what keeps this afloat is its truly wacky premise and collection of colorful character actors. Additionally (or probably especially) I'd present this as further proof of just how captivating and unique Brittany Murphy was. 

17. Requiem For a Dream

π, now in color! I remember reading about this in '99 as part of that grandiose promise that Film was only gonna get more inventive and exciting. And to be fair, every shot and every cut and every sound effect had my attention, but definitely to be filed away as a neat exercise. It remains in that folder to this day. 

18. Mission: Impossible II

I still can't shake that initial rush of how much more I liked it than the first one. It was at this point that I'd felt John Woo had become a parody of himself, and that other people were in on the joke as well, and that maybe this is just what these kindsa movies had become; it was the only big, loud Summer Blockbuster that year that stayed with me, and that's because it was noticeably silly. 

19. Scarlet Diva

Art imitating life imitating whatever the hell this is. Originally a kinda funny kinda sexy kinda weird faux documentary, and now through the lens of a quarter century worth of sobering reality, it apparently wasn't funny or sexy at all. The fact this this is a public diary entry gives it a gravitas that, admittedly, makes it more interesting. 

20. In the Mood For Love

In terms of tone, texture, and themes, one could call it a claustrophobic Barry Lyndon -- or at least I do. Were this to take place in the contemporary Western World it would have been a raunchy melodrama, but in its 1960s Hong Kong setting it's a paced tragedy, and that manages to make it more effective.