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With directors like Paul Thomas Anderson , Sofia Coppola , and Michel Gondry at the height of their game , the 2000s were a great decade for movies . From the putrefaction of oil baron Daniel Plainview tothe gladiatorial career of Maximus Decimus Meridius , some timeless story were getting told on the braggy blind , capturing the imaginations of consultation everywhere .
Unfortunately , the decade was also rampant with Oscar come-on . Studios and producers figure outthe Academy ’s criteria for a Best Picture winner — true report , societal issues , large - than - life story performances etc . — and made a caboodle of artful dramas to capitalise on that and win awards .
Best: Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Although it was marketed as a female version ofRocky , Clint Eastwood ’s boxing dramaMillion dollar sign Babyisa circumstances more sobering than that . WhereasRockyisan uplifting story of an underdog finding passion , Million Dollar Babyis a heartrending story about an challenging fighter with a bright hereafter who ’s disabled by a spiteful opponent .
After the iconic midpoint bend with the overturned stool , Million Dollar Babyturns into a agonising disaster about what come about to an optimist ’s psyche when all their hopes are scoot in one brutal swoop .
Worst: Amelia (2009)
After giving one of the good performances of the decade inMillion Dollar Baby , Hilary Swank drop the ball inAmelia , a dreadful biopic of Amelia Earheart told almost totally in flashback before finish with the flyer ’s secret disappearance .
The best biopics are character studies that go beyond account to dig into their subject ’s personal faults , but Ronald Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan’sAmeliascript just rattles off all of Earheart ’s achievements without round her out as a person .
Best: Requiem For A Dream (2000)
Darren Aronofsky like an expert used motion-picture photography and editing to capture the psychological nightmare of know with dependance inRequiem for a Dream . It was jolly controversial for blend an dependence to food with an habituation to drugs , but the performances by the central quartet of Ellen Burstyn , Jared Leto , Jennifer Connelly , and Marlon Wayans are spectacular .
After making a strong directorial introduction withPi , Requiem for a Dreamis the picture that really put Aronofsky on the map , paving the way forThe Fountain , The grappler , andBlack Swan .
Worst: The Lovely Bones (2009)
With hint performances in movies likeBrooklynandLady Bird , Saoirse Ronan has since raise herself to be one of the finest role player working today , butThe endearing Bonesdidn’t give her enough of a chance to spread her wings .
After helmingThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy and his astonishingly amazing remaking ofKing Kong , Peter Jackson finally disappointed audiences with a confused and lukewarm take on the hereafter .
Best: Brokeback Mountain (2005)
One of the large blunders in Oscar history — perhaps the second biggest , after “ Envelopegate ” — wasCrashwinning the Best Picture award over Ang Lee’sBrokeback Mountain . WhereasCrashcapitalizes on a cheap “ racialism forged ” message , Brokeback Mountainisn’t looking to preach about a societal issue .
In simply following Jack and Ennis ’ romance like any love story , set up during a prison term when society would n’t get two man be together , Lee said everything that needed to be said about the plight of same - sex couples without crammingCrash - style “ hot takes ” down the hearing ’s throat .
Worst: Seven Pounds (2008)
With a expectant script and a director who knows what they ’re doing , Will Smith can be a in truth great doer — just take care atConcussion , Enemy of the State , Six Degrees of Separation .
However , on many occasion , he ’s been let down by less - that - prima filmmakers who waste his talents . Seven Poundsis a prime example of that , bollix its interesting premise .
Best: Monster’s Ball (2001)
There are some deeply complex idea at gaming in Marc Forster’sMonster ’s lump . Halle Berry became the first woman of color — and , shockingly , continue the only woman of colour — to win the Academy Award for Best Actress forher powerful performance in this motion-picture show .
Billy Bob Thornton recreate a racist corrections officeholder who starts dating Berry ’s role , an broken unmarried female parent , unaware that he executed her husband . This moving-picture show is a masterclass in acting , while the screenplay is brilliantly retrieve - provoking .
Worst: Alexander (2004)
After many fail attempts at an Alexander the Great biopic , Oliver Stone ultimately wield to get one made … and it thoroughly disappoint . Its runtime push three eternal hour and , in all that meter , Alexander never feels like a substantial somebody .
Stone ’s plastic film is certainly ambitious , aiming to be a elephantine cinematic portrait of one of history ’s most absorbing legends , but it falls far unawares of those aspiration .
Best: There Will Be Blood (2007)
Paul Thomas Anderson’sThere Will Be Bloodis the ultimate American epic , graph the ascending and fall of a corrupt rock oil baron , Daniel Plainview , played by Daniel Day - Lewis in one of the finest performance in motion picture chronicle . Anderson hold the gravid scale of the movie focused on Plainview ’s origin into madness .
Robert Elswit ’s cinematographyachieves a naturalistic lookthat few historical movie manage to capture , while Jonny Greenwood ’s Grammy - nominate score gives the film baleful undertones .
Worst: I Am Sam (2001)
Sean Penn ’s execution as a human race with an intellectual disability inI Am Samis the definition of Oscar bait . He might as well have ended every view by looking at the tv camera and saying , “ Hey , Academy , gimme an award ! ”
Jessie Nelson ’s direction oversimplifies its challenging subject matter and plasters an annoyingly thick layer of soupiness over the events of the floor .
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