The 11 Best Movies of 2001

 

2001 saw the debuts of three huge cinematic franchises, one of Hugh Jackman's few good movies not related to Wolverine and Denzel Washington's second Oscar-winning performance.

Bonus:

Enemy at the Gates

This story about a Russian sniper who achieve notoriety for taking down German soldiers during WWII would be much better if the British and American actors had at least attempted Russian characters. 

11. Lost and Delirious

In this coming-of-age story, a painfully shy student at an all-girls' boarding school finds an unlikely mentor in a friendly landscaper. And all the while, she witnesses her roommates' (who are outwardly homophobic) romantic relationship implode when it's exposed. In the aftermath, they trade false rape-accusations and sexual assault.

10. Shrek

Saturday Night Live generations collide in this subversive adventure-comedy starring Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy (who steals the show). Proving that Disney hasn't yet cornered the market on fairytale animation, this story that casts an ogre as the hero was the fourth highest-grossing film of 2001 and spawned three sequels and a spin-off (all lackluster).

Shrek's popularity is at least partly due to the many jokes intended for the adults in the crowd, including: two references to Prince Farquaad's assumed overcompensating, multiple "ass" puns; and, oddly enough, the dragon's clear, repeated sexual-harassment of Donkey.

9. Someone Like You

Hugh "the Wolverine" Jackman defies typecasting in this comedy brimming with inappropriate workplace relationships. After commitment-averse Eddie takes his man-hating coworker, Jane, on as a roommate, he discovers the ironic root of her bitterness and they form an unlikely friendship. While Jane, who becomes a successful author (and pursues an affair with another coworker who's already involved with someone else), publicly insists that men's wandering eyes are to blame for the collapse of relationships, she eventually confesses that she fears that her personality alienated her own former love interests. For his part, Eddie lost interest in romance (but not casual sex) after his last one ended in heartbreak and now parades an endless stream of women past Jane's bedroom door.

8. Ali

Ali explores a decade in the life of legendary heavyweight boxing champion and political activist Muhammad Ali. The movie begins in 1964, the year that Ali, then known as Cassius Clay Jr., defeated Sonny Liston to become only the second-youngest (at 22 years old) fighter to win the heavyweight title. Liston refused to continue the bout before the seventh round. Prior to the fight, Clay verbally harassed Liston, describing him as a "big, ugly bear". Jeering opponents would be a signature of Clay's. After befriending civil rights activist Malcolm X, Clay joins the Nation of Islam and is renamed Muhammad Ali (he was initially renamed Cassius X) by the group's leader, Elijah Muhammad. However, when a rift develops between X and the Nation leadership, Ali sides with the NOI and abandons his friend. The two never reconcile prior to X's 1965 assassination.

The following year, Ali is drafted to serve in the Vietnam War but refuses based on his religious and political beliefs. He famously declares, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong...They never called me nigger." However, his refusal results in his being stripped of his heavyweight title (which he'd successfully defended in a rematch with Liston), losing his boxing license and his passport. He's also criminally charged, convicted of refusing to serve and faces five years in prison as well as a $10,000 fine.

Ali's conviction is finally overturned in 1971 and he goes on to challenge undefeated Philadelphia-native Joe Frazier in a title bout billed as the Fight of the Century. Ali's loss, by decision, is the first of his career. However, Frazier is subsequently defeated by George Foreman who later agrees put his title on the line against Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The 1974 fight, billed as the Rumble in the Jungle, is promoted by Don King and is preceded by a concert headlined by music legend James Brown. During the bout, attended by 60,000 fans and watched by one billion on television, Ali employs his famous rope-a-dope strategy and beats the previously undefeated Foreman with an eighth round knockout. Ali's victory over Foreman, who was seven years his junior, making him the the first boxer to win the heavyweight belt twice.

7. Jeepers Creepers

A series that now spans four movies and over two decades began with this first -- and greatest -- installment. Twins, Darry and Trish, happen to end up in the wrong Florida town at the worst point in time after a truck driver menaces them on the road during the drive home from school for spring break. Unfortunately for the pair, an ancient entity preys on humanity in the area once every 23rd spring for 23 days in brutal fashion. And one of them possesses something that attracts it.

6. Pearl Harbor

While director Michael Bay is not known for injecting substance into his movies, his take on the morning attack of the US naval base at Pearl Harbor gives a visual glimpse of the tragedy that documentary footage and older films just don't provide. 

The movie is an obvious attempt to follow the formula that achieved so much success for Titanic four years earlier. And while it failed to critical acclaim, billions of dollars in ticket sales and multiple Oscar awards, Pearl Harbor does manage to surpass the big boat movie in terms of sheer spectacle.

The air raid on Pearl Harbor has been depicted on film before but never as realistically -- which is ironic, because the movie's melodramatic love triangle involving a nurse and two Army Air Corps pilots doesn't come across as very realistic at all. But Pearl Harbor's tendency to put you right in the middle of the bombing and strafing runs forces a new appreciation for what the sailors stationed at the base on December 7 back in 1941 went through. The movie also features a lesser-known piece of history (though the details are somewhat inaccurate) -- the counterattack on Japan carried out by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and his raiders.

Imperial Japan's surprise attack on the base on Hawaii's Oahu Island, which involved about 360 planes, resulted in the deaths of over 2,300 U.S. military personnel.

The majority of the movie's problems can be attributed to its contrived love-triangle story. Without it it's a pretty solid war movie.

5. The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring kicks off the Lord of the Rings trilogy with a bang. And the movie itself begins with a bang, showcasing the villain and titular ring lord Sauron at his most powerful in one of the few glimpses we get of his physical form.

4. Jurassic Park III

In what represents the only time that it made sense for someone to return to Jurassic Park, Dr. Alan Grant is kidnapped and flown to Isla Sorna by a shady couple who coerce him into locating their missing son, who disappeared during a parasailing trip.

3. Ocean's Eleven

Ex-con Danny Ocean recruits an assorted band of thieves to pull off the crime of the century -- robbing a Vegas casino on New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, it's revealed late in the film that Ocean's primary motivation for the pulling off the heist is the fact that his EX-wife is currently dating the casino's owner. Up until that bit of bs, Danny -- and the movie -- is spectacularly compelling.

2. The Others

If you haven't seen The Others it's best to go in knowing as little as possible. 

1. Training Day

Training Day is the movie that brought Denzel Washington his second Oscar
but his first for Best Actor (he'd won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar 12
years earlier for his performance in Glory). His win is due in no small part to his decision to portray a villain for the first time in his career. The stark departure from his usual onscreen demeanor proved to any remaining doubters that Mr. Washington could convincingly bring any type of person to life. Training Day would be the first of four collaborations between Washington and director Antoine Fuqua.

The movie tells the story of naive LAPD Jake Hoyt, who's given one day to
prove himself to narcotics detective Alonzo Harris. Being offered a job in Harris' unit would fasttrack Hoyt up the ranks of the department. After an early morning introduction, Alonzo takes his trainee on a tour of South Central in his custom Monte Carlo and gives him an unwanted crash course in police corruption. After leaving some white college kids shook and emptyhanded, Alonzo forces Jake -- at gunpoint -- to smoke their dust (which he'd told him was only weed). Alonzo doesn't smoke any. Later, the two witness a pair of crackheads attempting to rape a teenage girl. While Alonzo has no intention of intervening, Jake rushes to her aid and the latter is rescued in turn by the former when the junkies get the best of him.

Next, Jake accompanies Alonzo when he brutally shakes down a paraplegic
crack dealer for information. After the dealer, Blue tells them that fellow
dopeboy,  Kevin "Sandman" Miller, who was incarcerated, has a $40,000 stash
at his home. Flashing a Chinese food menu and claiming that it's a search
warrant, the two cops make off with the cash under a hail of gunfire from
neighborhood Crip members after Sandman's wife alerts them to the robbery.
To Jake's continued amazement, Alonzo uses the money to buy an official
arrest warrant from high-ranking LAPD officials who are aware that the
Russian mob has placed a bounty on him for killing one of their own during
a confrontation in Las Vegas.

Alonzo then takes Jake to meet the members of his unit and proceeds to
lay-out a plot to take possession of the $4 million his acquaintance Roger, with whom they had a friendly visit earlier, has buried under his kitchen floor. After executing the plan, which includes murdering Roger and shooting a member of the squad in order to frame the murder as a self-defense killing, Alonzo reminds Jake that he has PCP in his system and will fail the mandatory drug test they will all be given (without Alonzo's connections) if he deviates from the story.

That night, Alonzo takes Jake along when he gifts some stolen goods to
"Smiley", a Chicano gang-banger. Jake agrees to play poker with Smiley and
two of his fellow Surenos while he waits for Alonzo, who unbeknownst to Jake, paid Smiley to murder him before driving off. Smiley does, however, tell Jake about Alonzo's dilemma with the Russians and informs him that his
training officer was given until midnight to pay them $1 million to call off the hit. Before long, Jake realizes the danger he's in and unsuccessfully fights off the ESE's, who drag him to the bathtub so as to minimize the blood-splatter when they shotgun him to death. However, when one of the gang-bangers halts the execution long enough to rob him, he finds the wallet that Jake retrieved earlier that day. It was dropped by the teenager he defended from the would-be rapists and as luck would have it, she's Smiley's cousin. After calling her to verify Jake's version of events, a grateful Smiley lets him go.

Determined to arrest Alonzo, Jake makes his way to the Bloods-controlled
housing project, where Alonzo's mistress, Sara, and illegitimate son live.
Arriving as Alonzo's about to leave for his meet with the Russians to give them $1 million of Roger's money, Jake narrowly avoids getting killed when the two of them engage in a shootout. When the confrontation spillsoutside, and Alonzo is shot, he offers to pay any of the onlooking gang members to murder Jake. However, the ranking Blood on hand, Bone, makes it clear that Alonzo must do his own dirty work. After the gang-bangers allow Jake to leave with the money (he intends to turn it in), Alonzo heads to LAX intent on leaving town. However, Russian gangsters ambush him en route to the airport and gun him down in the street.

The best lines:

Hoyt: "You've been planning this all day."
Alonzo: "I've been planning this all week!"

Alonzo: "This shit's chess not checkers."

Bone: "You gotta put in your own work around here, homie."

Alonzo: "King Kong ain't got nothin' on me!"