Fanboys Anonymous

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2000

1. American Psycho
   
2. Scary Movie
3. Memento
4. X-Men
5. The Way of the Gun
   
6. Unbreakable
   
7. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
8. Mission: Impossible II
   
9. Cast Away
10. Traffic
11. Pay It Forward
12. Battle Royale
    

I distinctly remember walking out of U-571 in theaters because of how bored I was, and rolling my eyes at What Lies Beneath for every jump scare I could see coming from a mile away. And boy, was a teenage me disappointed when I went to see Coyote Ugly in theaters.

So many movies these year just don't stand up to my memory, like The Whole Nine Yards and Best in Show or The Skulls or Reindeer Games or Animal Factory.

Blind Spot Movies = The Beach, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Emperor's New Groove, Miss Congeniality, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Rules of Engagement, Space Cowboys and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2001

1. K-PAX
   
2. Not Another Teen Movie
   
3. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
   
4. Hannibal
   
5. Rush Hour 2
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
7. Wet Hot American Summer
   
8. Donnie Darko
9. 3000 Miles to Graceland
10. The Score
11. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
12. Scary Movie 2
13. Ocean's Eleven
14. Heartbreakers
15. Blow
16. American Pie 2
17. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
18. Pearl Harbor
19. I Am Sam
20. Jurassic Park III
21. The Fast and the Furious
    

This year had Black Hawk Down, Behind Enemy Lines and Enemy at the Gates. I saw all three and can't remember more than a scene or two from any of them. Good music from Hans Zimmer in the former, though. Also, Bandits and Heist gave me the same vibes.

Want to talk about a massively disappointing movie? Mulholland Drive is your answer.

I'm curious if I were to rewatch Vanilla Sky if I would be thoroughly underwhelmed like I was walking out of the theater, or if I would actually like it now after 20 years.

No, I'm not nuts over Shrek or Zoolander. Sorry.

Blind Spot Movies = Ghost World, A Knight's Tale, Legally Blonde, Spy Kids, Super Troopers and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2002

1. Spider-Man
   
2. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
3. Catch Me If You Can
   
4. Die Another Day
   
5. Death to Smoochy
   
6. Phone Booth
   
7. Austin Powers in Goldmember
   
8. Minority Report
9. Jackass: The Movie
10. Red Dragon
11. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
12. An Evening with Kevin Smith
13. National Lampoon's Van Wilder
14. Road to Perdition
15. John Q
16. Insomnia
17. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
18. One Hour Photo
19. The Bourne Identity
20. Bowling for Columbine
    
21. 28 Days Later
22. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
23. The Ring

Of course Spider-Man tops the list. But while I fully acknowledge Catch Me If You Can is above Die Another Day and Attack of the Clones as far as quality of the film goes, I have to give special credit to Episode II for being the movie I've seen the most in theaters by far. I think I went something like 7 times. Catch Me If You Can is easily the superior film above it, but again, this is a list of favorites, not best.

Loooove Death to Smoochy. Phone Booth is an overlooked really solid flick. While Goldmember isn't the strongest of the three Austin Powers films, it still has its fair share of chuckles. And Minority Report is really good.

This is a strong year. To get to the 14th spot before I reach some movies that I wouldn't mind bumping off is impressive. But I still need to rewatch Insomnia again. I might like it better the second time around. The same goes for The Bourne Identity.

Blind Spot Movies = 8 Mile, The Count of Monte Cristo, Ice Age, Lilo & Stitch, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Panic Room and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2003

1. Matchstick Men
   
2. X2: X-Men United
   
3. Kill Bill: Volume 1
   
4. Scary Movie 3
   
5. Bad Santa
   
6. Big Fish
   
7. Identity
   
8. Old School
   
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
11. Daredevil
12. Finding Nemo
    
13. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
14. Hulk
15. The Matrix Revolutions
16. The Matrix Reloaded
17. Oldboy
18. Elf

I think it is criminal Matchstick Men is a movie most people don't know. Also, Scary Movie 3 is supremely underrated in the spoof genre.

Those films up in bold are so good and most people wouldn't mention them at all, which is a shame. X2 was one of the best comic book films ever until the genre stepped it up a notch. Kill Bill is awesome. Bad Santa is hilarious. Big Fish and Identity are two movies I never hear people talk about, but I always recommend. And high school me thought Old School was a laugh riot for sure. I've watched that movie so many times.

The other films have some pretty decent spots on here, too. But there is a distinct drop-off. For instance, there are a few elements of Terminator 3 that I like, and I've seen the movie way more times than it needs to be seen, but that was mostly to try to convince myself it was better than what it was. Hulk is in similar territory. At the time, I enjoyed parts of it enough to watch it more than once, but I've always known that it wasn't good, and as time goes on, my criticism gets harsher and harsher. Oldboy was great for a one-time watch. I couldn't say it is a favorite, but it is good. That's a distinction that has to be factored in a lot more on this list.

This was the year of The Room. That movie is horrendous and by proxy, a fantastic watch.

I need to rewatch Love Actually at some point.

Blind Spot Movies = Cheaper by the Dozen and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2004

1. Collateral
   
2. Team America: World Police
   
3. Kill Bill: Volume 2
   
4. Spider-Man 2
   
5. Garden State
   
6. The Terminal
7. The Incredibles
8. National Treasure
9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
10. Saw

I'm not as gaga over Shaun of the Dead like most people. It was fine. The Notebook didn't do it for me.

But I am totally nuts over Collateral. I think it is one of the most criminally overlooked movies of the past 20-some years. It is fantastic.

Team America is brilliant. Kill Bill 2 is awesome. Spider-Man 2 has a few flaws, but it is still one of the better overall movies in the franchise. My opinions on Garden State get lower as time goes on, but I still loved it. I definitely need to rewatch The Terminal, but I loved it at the time I saw it.

This is a good list, for sure. Even Saw is something that I was super fond of enough that I watched the next two movies and got annoyed at how the franchise fell off when it started from such a good place.

Blind Spot Movies = Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The Aviator, DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, Friday Night Lights, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Hotel Rwanda, Ocean's Twelve, Million Dollar Baby, Ray, Shrek 2 and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2005

1. Batman Begins
   
2. The Island
   
3. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
4. V for Vendetta
5. Sin City
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
7. Fantastic 4
8. Wedding Crashers
9. Saw II
   
10. Sky High
    

Batman Begins is probably my favorite overall Batman film, if you ignore all the years as a kid that built up '89 and Returns.

The Island is super underrated, and a movie I recommend to a lot of people.

Solid marks all around for Revenge of the Sith, V for Vendetta and Sin City.

There's a drop for Harry Potter, Fantastic 4, and Wedding Crashers. Then, another drop for Saw II and Sky High.

What a shame King Kong and War of the Worlds weren't better.

Blind Spot Movies = The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Be Cool, Brokeback Mountain, Crash, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Legend of Zorro, Memoirs of a Geisha, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2006

1. Stranger Than Fiction
2. Casino Royale
   
3. Clerks II
   
4. The Da Vinci Code
   
5. The Prestige
6. Mission: Impossible III
7. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
8. Superman Returns
9. Jackass Number Two
10. Grandma's Boy

Casino Royale is arguably the very best James Bond film and a strong contender to top the year, if it wasn't for Stranger Than Fiction, which I absolutely adore. It is one of my go-to comfort films that I recommend to EVERYBODY. I can't sing enough praises. Easily one of my favorites of all time, as you'll see on the decade list.

Clerks II is nowhere near as strong as the first, but still makes me laugh. The Da Vinci Code and The Prestige are about tied. MI3 was a big improvement that really started this trend of each film in the series matching or surpassing the previous one.

There are a handful of movies from this year that I remember enjoying to an extent, but not enough to watch a second time, and I can't really recall too much of them. For instance, Inside Man and Lucky Number Slevin. The same goes for The Holiday and Wristcutters: A Love Story. But since this is a list of FAVORITE movies, I can't reasonably put them on this list with that in mind.

I was so disappointed when X-Men: The Last Stand sucked.

Blind Spot Movies = Apocalypto, Beerfest, Blood Diamond, Cars, The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Idiocracy, Little Miss Sunshine, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2007

1. Superbad
   
2. Transformers
   
3. The Mist
4. I Am Legend
5. Spider-Man 3
6. Zodiac
7. Jackass 2.5
8. Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
9. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
10. Sunshine
    
11. Superman: Doomsday

This is a weaker year, all things considered. While Superbad is hilarious and I still maintain that the first Transformers movie is legitimately good as well, and I enjoyed the overall ride for The Mist and even I Am Legend (the third movie ever to make me cry), and of course, my fandom has Spider-Man 3 in a weird spot where I hate it, but it's still Spider-Man...some of the other movies are lacking.

Zodiac is in that range of "I liked it a lot when I saw it, but I've never felt the urge to watch it a second time."

So many movies like Hot Fuzz, Fracture, In the Land of Women, Disturbia, Vacancy, The Bucket List,  Shoot 'Em Up, Smokin' Aces and more are just non-factors here. I can't even remember if I saw 30 Days of Night and many others, but I doubt they would have made the top 10 anyway.

You would think I would have seen Hannibal Rising, but I didn't. I never bothered to see Sweeney Todd, either, despite liking the Neil Patrick Harris version I had seen a few years prior.

Blind Spot Movies = 300, 3:10 to Yuma, American Gangster, Balls of Fury, The Bourne Ultimatum, Gone Baby Gone, Hannibal Rising, Hitman, Hot Rod, Juno, Knocked Up, Lars and the Real Girl, Live Free or Die Hard, Ocean's Thirteen, Shrek the Third, Southland Tales, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, There Will Be Blood and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2008

1. Iron Man
2. The Dark Knight
   
3. The Incredible Hulk
   
4. Hancock
   
5. Cloverfield
   
6. Quantum of Solace
   
7. WALL-E
8. Gran Torino
9. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
10. Punisher: War Zone

The Dark Knight and Iron Man are phenomenal and essentially tied in my book, but at the end of the day, the one that I've seen more at this point is Iron Man, so it narrowly ekes out the top spot. The Incredible Hulk is underrated, but not on par. I really like Hancock and Cloverfield. Unfortunately, Quantum of Solace is one of my least favorite Bond films.

Boy, was I disappointed that Superhero Movie had nothing to laugh at. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a big let down, among some others, too.

Blind Spot Movies = Get Smart, The Happening, In Bruges, Kung Fu Panda, Milk, Rambo, Speed Racer and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2009

1. Star Trek
2. Zombieland
3. Terminator Salvation
4. Watchmen
5. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
6. Angels & Demons
7. Moon
8. Ink
9. I Love You, Man
10. (500) Days of Summer
11. Timer
12. The Time Traveler's Wife
13. Sherlock Holmes

I was never a Star Trek fan, but the movie is awesome. Zombieland is a ton of fun. Terminator Salvation has some major problems, but it was still a better attempt at T3 than Rise of the Machines.

Upon a second watch, I liked Watchmen a lot more than the first time around.

Moon and Ink are movies I haven't had the urge to watch a second time, but they wowed me when I saw them.

There's a trio up there of (500) Days of Summer, Timer and The Time Traveler's Wife that I watched all around the same time and was really in the feels, and loved. But all three of them were one-time views.

Blind Spot Movies = The Blind Side, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Paranormal Activity, Sunshine Cleaning, Taken and more.

TOP 100 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2000-2009 DECADE
BONUS ROUND

1. American Psycho (2000)
2. Iron Man (2008)
3. Batman Begins (2005)
4. The Dark Knight (2008)
   
5. Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
6. Casino Royale (2006)
7. Spider-Man (2002)
8. Collateral (2004)
9. K-PAX (2001)
10. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
11. Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
12. Matchstick Men (2003)
13. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
14. The Island (2005)
15. Team America: World Police (2004)
16. Superbad (2007)
17. Scary Movie (2000)
18. X2: X-Men United (2003)
19. Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
20. Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)
21. Transformers (2007)
22. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
23. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
24. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
25. Die Another Day (2002)
26. Death to Smoochy (2002)
27. Scary Movie 3 (2003)
28. Bad Santa (2003)
29. Memento (2000)
30. Big Fish (2003)
31. Clerks II (2006)
32. Identity (2003)
33. Old School (2003)
34. X-Men (2000)
35. The Way of the Gun (2000)
36. Unbreakable (2000)
37. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
38. Hancock (2008)
39. Hannibal (2001)
40. Cloverfield (2008)
41. The Da Vinci Code (2006)
42. The Prestige (2006)
43. Star Trek (2009)
44. Quantum of Solace (2008)
45. Garden State (2004)
46. Phone Booth (2002)
47. Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
48. Zombieland (2009)
49. Terminator Salvation (2009)
50. Watchmen (2009)
51. Mission: Impossible III (2006)
52. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)
53. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009)
54. Minority Report (2002)
55. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
56. Jackass: The Movie (2002)
57. Angels & Demons (2009)
58. Moon (2009)
59. Ink (2009)
60. I Love You, Man (2009)
61. V for Vendetta (2005)
62. Rush Hour 2 (2001)
63. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
64. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
65. Mission: Impossible II (2000)
66. The Terminal (2004)
67. The Incredibles (2004)
68. Sin City (2005)
69. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
70. An Evening with Kevin Smith (2002)
71. Red Dragon (2002)
72. (500) Days of Summer (2009)
73. Timer (2009)
74. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
75. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
76. National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002)
77. Donnie Darko (2001)
78. The Mist (2007)
79. Superman Returns (2006)
80. I Am Legend (2007)
81. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
82. Grandma's Boy (2006)
83. Jackass Number Two (2006)
84. Jackass 2.5 (2007)
85. Wedding Crashers (2005)
86. WALL-E (2008)
87. Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
88. Fantastic 4 (2005)
89. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
90. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
91. Daredevil (2003)
92. Road to Perdition (2002)
93. Cast Away (2000)
94. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
95. Saw (2004)
96. Finding Nemo (2003)
97. Zodiac (2007)
98. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
99. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
100. National Treasure (2004)
101. National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
     

I hate how low I have to rank some of my more favorite movies. Look at how low Death to Smoochy is. You'd think I wasn't so high on it, but I love it. The same for Hannibal, for example.

Right at the tail end there, you can essentially combine the two National Treasure movies into one and insert something like the first few minutes of Up (but not the rest of the movie), and I'm sure if I rewatched a few like Tropic Thunder they might end up on there. But you can also just say "all the Harry Potter movies" combined, because they're all about equal to each other in my mind, and while none of them are high enough to crack this list, the franchise as a whole definitely would be.

What are your favorite movies from every year?
Drop your thoughts in the comments below!