The Turn of the Century is a phrase that, growing up, I knew referred to that blurry period between the Gilded Age and WWI. Working with people born after 2001 humbles one into realizing, somewhere between the reminiscences of Y2K paranoia and Daria, that for many, and soon many more, the Turn of the Century occurred just 25 years ago. And I was part of it!
With the gravity of that realization, I decided my look at the year 2000 would be different from other retrospectives. I lived through it! I watched many of the hits either in theaters that year or on VHS (ha!) the year after! And what I didn't see, I certainly knew about thanks to daily conversation, TV spots, newspaper reviews, and subsequent pop culture references. So, instead of the usual 65-80 films, I watched 122, doing my best to watch in the order of their release (the only exception: January releases, which I sprinkled throughout because...well, I'm not sure why I did that, but that's how it worked out). I had my friends on Instagram vote on what I should prioritize. And I decided to spend two months talking about it.
Sunday, I'll discuss the films released in January and February 2000 that I was already acquainted with; Monday, I'll discuss the films released in January and February 2000 that I saw for the first time. And it will continue in that pattern until September, when I take a look at that year's Oscar race category by category (well...ten categories, at any rate), culminating in my personal picks for the best of the year.
By the way, these are the 122 films:
28 Days
102 Dalmatians
Almost Famous
American Psycho
The Art of War
Autumn in New York
Bamboozled
Battlefield Earth
Beau travail
The Beach
Bedazzled
Before Night Falls
Best in Show
Big Momma's House
Billy Elliot
Boiler Room
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
The Boondock Saints
Bounce
Bring It On
The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy
But I’m a Cheerleader
Cast Away
Cecil B. Demented
The Cell
Center Stage
Charlie's Angels
Chicken Run
Chocolat
Chuck & Buck
Chunhyang
The Contender
Coyote Ugly
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Croupier
Dancer in the Dark
Disney's The Kid
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Dr. T and the Women
Dracula 2000
Drowning Mona
Dude, Where's My Car?
Duets
The Emperor's New Groove
Erin Brockovich
Eye of the Beholder
Fantasia 2000
The Fantasticks
Final Destination
Finding Forrester
Get Carter
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Girlfight
Gladiator
Gone in 60 Seconds
Hamlet
Hanging Up
High Fidelity
Hollow Man
The House of Mirth
The In Crowd
Isn’t She Great
Judy Berlin
Keeping the Faith
The Last September
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Love & Basketball
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Malèna
Me, Myself & Irene
Meet the Parents
Men of Honor
Miss Congeniality
Mission: Impossible II
Mission to Mars
Next Friday
The Ninth Gate
Nurse Betty
The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Paragraph 175
The Patriot
Pay It Forward
The Perfect Storm
Pitch Black
Pollock
Psycho Beach Party
Quills
Ratcatcher
Red Planet
Remember the Titans
The Replacements
Requiem for a Dream
Return To Me
The Road to El Dorado
Road Trip
Romeo Must Die
Rules of Engagement
Scary Movie
Scream 3
Shadow of the Vampire
Shaft
Shanghai Noon
Shower
Small Time Crooks
Snatch
Space Cowboys
State and Main
Sunshine
Thirteen Days
Traffic
U-571
Unbreakable
Urban Legends: Final Cut
Vatel
The Virgin Suicides
What Lies Beneath
What Women Want
Wonder Boys
X-Men
Yi Yi
You Can Count on Me
