The 6 Best Movies of 2000

Fortunately, the year 2000 brought us a batch of great movies -- instead of a widely-anticipated global catastrophe. 





6. Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream explored the opioid crisis in graphic detail -- before it became a trending topic. The film presents four distint protagonists so that it can examine four forms of havoc that drug abuse can wreak on lives. Tyrone's heroin addiction leads to his arrest and his race (African-American) and poverty assures him a spot in prison instead of rehab; his best friend Harry's constant mainlining of the drug has caused irreparable damage to his veins; Harry's middle-aged mother Sara's addiction to prescribed amphetamines lands her in a psych ward; and Harry's girlfriend, Marion, resorts to trading sexual favors for heroin.









5. Remember the Titans

This true story of Coach Herman Boone's leadership of T.C. Williams High School football team to an undefeated season and state championship win is one of the greatest gridiron movies of all time.









4. Shaft

Legendary detective John Shaft's nephew and namesake quits the NYPD and takes on a Dominican drug kingpin and a racist fugitive in this 21st century sequel to the 1971 classic. 









3. Pitch Black

Pitch Black proved that this millenium would be just as horrifying as the previous one. A group of space-farers crash land on a planet with three suns but the survivors manage to make do. But an eclipse allows the planet's photosensitive and extremely predatory inhabitants to leave their subterranean dwellings and roam the surface. The good news for the crash survivors is that one of them has sick survival skills and surgical implants that allow him to see perfectly well in total darkness. The bad news is that he's a convicted murderer without an ounce of remorse.

Not only do the passengers and crew aboard the Hunter-Gratzner find themselves saddled with a convicted murderer for the duration of the trip, they collide with a comet and crash land on a deserted planet with way to get home. And then the trouble starts.









2. Love & Basketball

When Quincy and Monica meet as kids, they have no idea that their shared love of basketball will last -- and link them -- for years. Though their paths in life eventually diverge, their love for the game and each other remains a constant.









1. Gladiator

After learning that his father plans to leave his imperial crown to one of his generals, Commodus commits patricide in order to become emperor of Rome. What follows is a battle for the future of the empire between the emperor and a lowly gladiator.

Gladiator is that rare Best Picture Oscar winner that actually deserved to win.