The Magnificent Seven
(The Best Movies of 2001)
The year 2000 was a crappy year for movies—it will always be known as the year that gave us Battlefield Earth—so it should come as no surprise that this year turned out better. While there was no shortage of dreck (see our Worst of 2001 for proof), we were treated to plenty of films that were original, challenging, and immensely enjoyable.
Animation continued to be a strong presence in 2001 (two very different animated films made our list this year), but the biggest draw was fantasy, as people shell-shocked by events in the real world escaped to Hogwarts Academy and Middle-Earth in record numbers, and those who wondered whether movies still mattered got their answer loud and clear. Still, it’s a good thing The Two Towers isn’t due until next year!
The Fast and the Furious – Hey, what can I say? I live my life one movie at a time, and this one was big, dumb, fuel-injected, NOS-powered fun, propelled by wonderfully stupid trash-talk dialogue, and some of the most visceral race sequences since Mad Max. Besides, what could be cooler than Vin Diesel driving “900 horses of Dee-troit muscle?”
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – Chris Columbus’s dedicated faithfulness to the J.K. Rowling book wasn’t particularly daring of him, but then again, just bringing the beloved kid wizard to the screen was daring enough to make Columbus an honorary Gryffindor.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – If Chris Columbus felt stressed about adapting J.K. Rowling, imagine how Peter Jackson felt about adapting J.R.R. Tolkien, the granddaddy of fantasy. Just before Christmas, Jackson finally showed us what he had in his pocketses, and it turned out to be the best epic-fantasy flick since The Empire Strikes Back. With the two sequels already done, the series could prove to be a hard Hobbit to break.
Memento – Christopher Nolan’s memory-loss thriller-in-reverse was the most confusing film noir since The Big Sleep—and the best. Even if you had to tattoo plot points on your body to remember them. Movies like this are why it’s so vitally important to own a DVD player.
The Others – Alejandro Amenábar gave his haunted-house tale an extra turn of the suspense screw (throwing in a Sixth Sense-ish twist at the end), and put Nicole Kidman’s frosty screen presence to great use. This ghost story was more subtle, more stylish, and more scary than Ghosts of Mars and 13 Ghosts put together.
Shrek – The big green antihero of William Steig’s classic children’s book was brought to computer-animated life with such panache, wry humor, and technical skill by DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images that you’d be excused for thinking you were watching another Disney/Pixar masterpiece. Actually, Disney made Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Pixar made Monsters Inc., neither of which were as good as Shrek. That’ll do, DreamWorks, that’ll do.
Waking Life – Richard Linklater’s animated lucid dream was visually and conceptually the year’s most original film; it challenged us to wake up and smell the philosophy. Come to think of it, you’d better turn the light switch off and on to make sure you’re not sleeping while you read this.