The Best Movies of 2001

The only attempt that Hollywood adapted J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy novels before the live-action films was in the form of a 1978 animation film that compressed all three novels in the span of 132 minutes. A decade later, director Peter Jackson made his name as part of Hollywood’s elite directors with the live-action adaptation of the novels that were filmed back-to-back-to-back in Jackson’s native New Zealand and released one year after the other around the holidays. With the visual and makeup effects to create the fantasy world of Middle Earth, the film also featured an outstanding ensemble that include Eiljah Wood as Frodo, Oscar-nominee Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Oscar-nominee Viggo Mortensen as Aragon. All the awards and money ($1.1 billion to be exact) the last film has gathered has cemented the trilogy’s reputation as one of the all-time great franchises with an upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit.

Based on the true story of U.S. soldiers attempt to capture a Somali warlord in 1993, Black Hawk Down is one of the most realistic and best war movies to come out recently. Scott uses an international ensemble that includes Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana and Jason Issacs to show how hectic this was by putting the audience next to soldiers as they struggle to survive. The action sequences are intense and suspenseful and the technical achievement from the cinematography to the editing helps recreate what the U.S. soldiers went through at the time down to the smallest details. Even though it is hard to keep in track which characters are what, Black Hawk Down is still an impactful and powerful film that carries an anti-war message and questions why did we get involved in the first place.

Though “A Bug’s Life” had an interesting premise, “Monsters, Inc.” is the Pixar’s first innovative and brilliant movie since “Toy Story” as it introduced the notion of a world of monsters where their economy relies on the scream of children. Not only, it also introduces the idea that while humans are scared of monsters, the same monsters are just as scared as the humans they are scaring. Goodman and Crystal are terrific together and even though this is an animated film, their roles as Sully and Mike have to be one of their performances in their career as they made their on-screen alter ego more than just cartoon characters, but real and genuine characters that we care about throughout the film.