Part 1 (#100-91)

Part 2 (#90-81)

Part 3 (#80-71)

Part 4 (#70-61)

Part 5 (#60-51)

Part 6 (#50-41)

Around the time I started this site, I did a “Top 100 of the 1990s” with the intention of doing a new decade every year. I had meant to do a new decade every year, but as with life, stuff came up. I got overwhelmed by my primary responsibilities on this site: reviewing new film and television releases. Hence, folks have some guidance when consuming new content.

Recently, I conducted a small poll on my personal Instagram (@fartgetis2) to ask what past decade I should do a “Top 100 Films” on. Overwhelmingly, the answer came back: “the 2000s”. Not the best decade for film, in my approximation; in fact, I was low-key hoping the poll results would be the 1970s or 1980s, but some beautiful gems came out of a post-9/11 mindset. Some of my choices are obvious and well-known, and others you may not have heard of. Please remember that art is subjective, and these choices are personal. 

Please don’t threaten to kill my family cause I like Sideways. 

I decided to release this article in ten parts, covering ten films each, to not overwhelm the viewer and make the movies stand out more. This was an arduous ranking process, especially for selections #73-#100, picking 28 films out of nearly 150 possible contenders.

So, let’s continue with #40-#31:

40. A History of Violence

2005 / dir. David Cronenberg / 96 minutes

cast: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes, Peter MacNeill, Stephen McHattie, Greg Bryk

A History of Violence is top to bottom, Cronenberg‘s tightest and most focused film. Running a blisteringly fast 96 minutes, it utilizes every second to the tell a simple and parabolic tale of small town business owner, Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), who after fending off a couple of psychos at his diner, gets mistaken for the brother of an Irish mob boss who went AWOL twenty years prior. When a high ranking member of the syndicate, the quietly menacing, one-eyed Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris), comes to town with his crew, he insists Stall is not who he says he is and begins harassing his family. Even though they love and trust him, everyone in town town begins to question how much they really know this “Tom” guy. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards in 2005, one for Best Adapted Screenplay and one for Best Supporting Actor for William Hurt, who has a brief but memorable role. However, Maria Bello deserved an acting nomination more than anyone for playing Stall’s conflicted wife, Edie, who goes through a wide range of primal emotions during a staircase sex scene, maybe THE sequence of the movie. A History of Violence checks all the boxes of a good thriller while also being uncommonly thoughtful in its examination of the pervasiveness of violence in our society and in ourselves. (Available for $4 rental on Amazon Prime, Vudu, Google Play, YouTube, and AppleTV+)

39. WALL-E

2008 / dir. Andrew Stanton / 97 minutes

voice cast: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Sigourney Weaver

Wall-E is a lot of people’s favorite Pixar film and it sits comfortably in my Top 5. This is an extremely ambitious movie both in its animation and the fact its protagonist only has 17 lines of dialogue in the entire movie and doesn’t even have a mouth. Somehow though, we grow to care about this little robot guy and get heavily invested in a never predictable or cliche story. Wall-E manages to touch you emotionally without ever feeling schmaltzy or try hard. (Streaming on Disney+)

38. The Royal Tenenbaums

2001 / dir. Wes Anderson / 109 minutes

cast: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Houston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Kumar Pallana, Seymour Cassell, Alec Baldwin

My favorite Wes Anderson film because it’s actually about human beings versus fantastical art direction. I’m not a huge fan of Anderson in general because while his movies are gorgeous to look at, they often make me feel empty. It’s interesting cause Wes started out making quirky character studies about quirky but relatable characters. The shift to what he basically does now happened somewhere around The Darjeeling Limited with Life Aquatic acting as sort of like a bridge from palpable human drama to painstakingly detailed set design. The Royal Tenenbaums is about three damaged souls (Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson) trying to reconcile with an abusive parent (Gene Hackman) before he dies of cancer. That description may make Royal Tenenbaums sound like a super bummer, but it’s not. While it certainly has its fair share of sad moments, it’s a darkly hilarious and offbeat comedy that’s really perceptive in parent/child dynamics. The cast is fantastic with Hackman delivering one of his all-time best performances, sadly snubbed for an Oscar nomination (Streaming on Hulu/Disney+)

36. Far From Heaven

2002 / dir. Todd Haynes / 107 minutes

cast: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, James Rebhorn, Celia Weston, Michael Gaston, June Squib

If there’s a more poignant and better articulated movie about white guilt, I haven’t seen it. Todd Haynes‘ Far From Heaven honest and nuanced look at the bigoted underbelly of 1950s Norman Rockwell Americana is emotionally rousing and direct with its message without ever feeling ham-fisted. Julianne Moore, in arguably her very best performance, plays Cathy Whitaker, a housewife with a big heart whose life begins to fall apart when she catches her ad exec husband, Frank (a never better Dennis Quaid), having sex with a male co-worker in his office. Being 1950-whatever, Cathy chalks this up to her man just being overworked and confused, and definitely not gay. Frank enrolls in gay conversion therapy which will most likely be successful in turning him straight. Meanwhile, Cathy strikes up a friendship with her new gardener, Raymond, a black man (Dennis Haysbert – the All State Guy!), to the shock and dismay of all their neighbors and friends. The film is mostly about how strong their friendship is but ultimately one that puts Raymond and his daughter in danger. This is a beautiful film. (Streaming on Peacock)

37. Wendy and Lucy

2008 / dir. Kelly Reichardt / 80 minutes

cast: Michelle Williams, Lucy, Will Patton, Larry Fessenden, Wild Oldham, John Robinson

Most say, “First Cow!” but I say, “Wendy and Lucy,” when asked what my favorite Kelly Reichardt movie is. I also scream it at people. I’m just kidding. I never get asked what my favorite Kelly Reichardt movie is because nobody knows who she is. Kelly Reichardt is an indie filmmaker who makes tiny films about struggling working-class folks, primarily women, in the Portland area. I once joked to my extremely film-literate co-workers that traffic was slower than a Kelly Reichardt movie, and they disinvited me to lunch. Anyway, Reichardt‘s best film stars Michelle Williams in her very best role as Wendy, a woman living out of her car. On her way to Alaska to hopefully find work, her car breaks down in Portland, and she is desperate for food for herself and her dog, Lucy. She ends up shoplifting and gets arrested. Somewhere in the hubbub, her dog runs away, and she spends the rest of the movie trying to find it. That’s it, that’s the whole movie, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say this wasn’t one of the most emotionally engaging movies I’ve ever seen. (Streaming on Peacock)

35. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

2001 / dir. Steven Spielberg / 146 minutes

cast: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O’Connor, Brendan Gleeson, William Hurt, Sam Robards, Jack Angel, Jake Thomas, Paula Malcolmson, Robin Williams

One of Steven Spielberg‘s most underrated films and arguably his most crushingly sad. It’s all about a little A.I. boy (a fantastic Haley Joel Osment) who is programmed to want love but will never get it. He’ll live forever, craving affection. How fucked up is that? And yet, people still call this movie sappy. Sure, some of the filmmaking choices and especially the humor (what little there is) seem dated in 2024, but this film is part of the last great run of the famed director’s career – followed by Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can. Jude Law is really good as a robot gigolo, as is the always underrated Frances O’Connor as Osment‘s adoptive mom. The ending is impossible to defend, especially since the scene right before it would have been a perfect, chilling ending, but still, most of this is very moving and thought-provoking as well. (Streaming on Paramount+/MGM+)

34. You Can Count on Me

2000 / dir. Kenneth Lonergan / 111 minutes

cast: Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, Jon Tenney, Rory Culkin, J. Smith-Cameron, Josh Lucas, Gaby Hoffmann, Amy Ryan

Before he made his even better Manchester by the Sea, playwright turned filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan made this low-key, nearly perfectly executed family drama about a single mom (Laura Linney) reuniting with her troubled brother (Mark Ruffalo) after losing their parents in a car accident when they were children. Despite having the potential to be downright saccharine in its exploration of sibling dynamics, Lonergan firmly resists the temptation and gives us a palpably emotional experience that never sinks to the level of tear-jerker manipulation. This is a realistic and understated piece of work powered by two brilliant performances by Linney and Ruffalo. (Available for $4 rental on Amazon Prime, Vudu, Google Play, YouTube, and AppleTV+)

33. Lost in Translation

2003 / dir. Sofia Coppola / 102 minutes

cast: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, Fumihiro Hayashi, Catherine Lambert, Matthew Minami

Guys, my dad fucking hates this movie. It really turned him off of Bill Murray. I remember he took me to see it when I was in eighth grade, and I pretended I disliked it to avoid getting into some dumb argument with my father. The truth is I loved it. I still love this movie. In fact, it’s the only Sofia Coppola movie that I genuinely love. It’s one of her only movies that I merely like. It’s such a powerful, not-love story about two lost souls finding each other on a 100% not sexual level. Bill Murray has never been better, and neither has Scary Jo. Karaoke has also never been more thought-provoking. (Streaming on Max)

32. Ratatouille

2007 / dir. Brad Bird / 111 minutes

voice cast: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brad Garrett, Peter O’Toole, Janeane Garofalo, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Will Arnett, James Remar, John Ratzenberger, Teddy Newton, Tony Fucile, Jake Steinfeld, Brad Bird

Besides Toy Story, this is the Pixar movie I always return to. It is a feature film so charming that it can make something as inherently disgusting as a rodent in the kitchen seem adorable. It also has one of the best movie critic characters ever explored in film. I really do hate rats, though. If I saw one in my kitchen, I’d fucking kill the shit out of it. No mercy. Bye-bye, rat fucker. (Streaming on Disney+)

31. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

2008 / dir. Kurt Kuenne / 93 minutes

Perhaps the most emotionally devastating documentaries I’ve ever seen in my life. If you can get past this film without bawling your eyes to the point where you’re coughing, congratulations, you aren’t human. You should register yourself as a robot because you possess zero empathy. It’s maybe not even a great documentary from a technical standpoint, but the fact it was made by someone so close to the victim makes it so personal. Talk about a movie that will make you hate Canada’s justice system. (Streaming on Amazon Prime)