While it may be tough to think about 2002 being twenty years ago now, it was a stronger year for cinema than most. While movies are often derivative products of their period that do not age well, others stand the test of time as either hallmark creations of their era or masterwork innovations in film. Here are ten films that fall into one of those two categories. While every film may not be for everyone, there are certainly a few movies here that anyone can enjoy.
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Catch Me If You Can
Speilberg’s light-hearted crime film, Catch Me If You Can, centers on con-artist Frank Abagnale (played by Leonardo Decaprio) as he lives con to con subsisting on his intellect and boyish charisma. Speilberg creates a movie that is quick-paced, colorful, and sleek that pairs well with a great score from Williams. Opposite Decaprio, Tom Hanks stars as an FBI agent tracking the cases and attempting to apprehend Abagnale. The two stars generate much of the charm the movie rides on resulting in a stylish and accessible movie for anyone.
Watch for: Breezy entertainment; engaging film-making; charming and light-hearted crime.
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Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
Forever a masterclass in proper execution of the fantasy epic, the second movie in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy remains a touchstone in large-scale fantasy adaptations. From set-design to performances, director Peter Jackson is in proper form as he tackles adapting the godfather of fantasy fiction. Replete with humor, heart, incredible set pieces, and grandiose fantasy action, the Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers still remains one of the strongest and most even additions to the fantasy epic pantheon.
Watch for: Elaborate fantasy adventure; beautiful settings; inspiring score.
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Minority Report
A sharp contrast to Catch Me If You Can, Spielberg’s gritty science-fiction thriller Minority Report was one of the strongest reviewed movies of 2002 and many of the reasons why continue to ring true twenty years later. Based on a short story by Phillip K. Dick, Minority Report is a fast-paced and cerebral action thriller set in a believable and grungy take on the year 2054. In the movie Spielberg takes cues from many different film styles such as tech noir, detective mystery, and chase films blending them into a well-crafted and tense product.
While some computer effects crafted in 2002 haven’t aged well, much of the movie looks great for its age. Most of the imagined tech of 2002 seems more sensible than not and it gives this otherwise hard sci-fi flick a bit of grounding. Like most science-fiction, it uses its fantastical plot and settings to explore hard themes not as often explored in film and is a must-watch for any fans of science-fiction noir or tense chase films.
Watch for: Gritty science-fiction; tense ‘whodunnit’ thrills; prescient themes.
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The Pianist
A somber and emotional film that follows the fate of a jewish musician in Poland throughout the duration of the Holocaust, The Pianist is one of kind in the sensible way it tells its harrowing true story. The movie centers on Władysław Szpilman, a classically trained Pianist living in Warsaw during the German occupation. Dreading what may happen to them, Szpilman and his family live in fear as more and more German sanctions on the Jewish destroy the life they knew.
Adrian Brody’s role as Szpilman landed him the Academy Award for his performance whose method-acting approach to the role was well-publicized and the actor claims to have suffered a severe depression during and after the film. On top of Brody’s performance, the movie is shot with a captivating sensibility that shines from scene to scene. It is certainly not a movie for the light of heart, but it is wonderfully crafted and tells a story that needs to be told. Very long and surprisingly understated, The Pianist remains a pinnacle achievement in historical film.
Watch for: Unique and accurate viewpoint of holocaust; slow and deliberate story of survival.
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City Of God
A Brazilian film focused on organized crime in the favelas of Rio De Janeiro, City Of God may be the least known on this list but it remains a triumph of film-making. While telling its tale, City Of God often exists an epic tale told through a gritty and violent lens. With incredible editing, storytelling, and performances; the year it came out saw it lauded by many of the top critics in the United States yet many film-watchers never heard of it. With its thrilling pacing, kinetic editing, and scope of story, many critics made comparisons between Scorsese’s Goodfellas in scope of film-making but the story City Of God tells is much less glamorous.
Watch for: Gritty violent crime epic; novel viewpoint and portrayal of Brazilian slums.
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Signs
M. Night Shyamalyn’s suspenseful science fiction thriller remains one of the director’s strongest works. Signs focuses on the personal struggle of a father and his family as they weather the Earth’s possible contact with extraterrestrials from their rural Pennsylvania farm. Supported by a strong cast; Mel Gibsons stilted performance reinforces his character as a former priest and single father quite well. The cast includes Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, and Abigail Breslin that all bring charm and heart to their supporting roles.
Delivering subtle apprehension that builds throughout the movie and supported by a haunting yet curious score, Signs’ construction of suspense through the writing and cinematography still feels unique among its contemporaries. Throughout the movie, Shyamalan practices a strong tonal balance between chilling suspense, light-hearted humor, and self-aware campiness that crafts a film that is still quite accessible.
Watch for: Extraterrestrial thrills; heart-warming performances; suspenseful film-making.
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Chicago
The film that swept the Academy Awards in 2002, Chicago was a key success for the small revival of the musical film genre. Chicago had all of the energy and fun you’d expect to see out of a broadway adaptation, but also injected with a hearty dose of humor and character.
Watch for: Grandiose music and dance; dark humor, strong performances.
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28 Days Later
British director Danny Boyles’ 28 Days Later remains a standout and fresh take on the zombie genre in a time before the fad had seen its reemergence. While the director himself does not consider it a zombie movie, and instead a post-apocalyptic film, 28 Days Later practices many of the hallmarks of both genres to quality heights. As is the case with most films in the zombie genre, the true themes harken more to disaster films, where the focus of the storytelling is the interpersonal human struggles amidst the disaster. Being a dark and heavy story, it is not a movie for everyone, but for fans of the genre or just well-made movies it is certainly worth a watch.
Watch for: Sleek addition to the zombie genre; dark rumination on human behavior.
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Spider-Man
With the incredible success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and especially Spider-Man: No Way Home, it may be easy to forget that superhero movie adaptations were not always the quality we have become familiar with. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man was a major step for the superhero genre, bringing blockbuster quality and storytelling that had so far been missing in superhero movies besides the Batman movies of the 90’s.
While full of campiness, and bizarre script choices, Spider-Man still became a touchstone Marvel movie six years before Marvel Studios’ 2008 Iron Man. It’s legacy has continued to live on not just because of the critically panned third movie in the trilogy, but also because of lasting iconic performances given by its hero and many of its villains such as Willem Dafoes’ Norman Osbourne. Despite its age, it deserves a viewing by any fan of Marvel movies, especially if they haven’t seen No Way Home yet.
Watch for: Campy and fun superhero origin story; iconic performance by Willem Dafoe.
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Hero
The first Chinese-language film to achieve No.1 at the United States box office, Hero is a martial-arts fantasy epic set in historical China. As opposed to martial arts movies more often familiar in the west, the action in Hero takes on a form more akin to stage choreography and ballet. The intricate dance-like flying of the martial arts pairs well with the deliberate attention to artistic expression throughout the movie. During Hero, much attention is given to the use of colors and breathtaking cinematography resulting in a fantasy epic that is much more grand painting and stage-play than brutal combat and action. While it may be off-putting to viewers expecting the hard hitting martial arts of Bruce Lee, or those not familiar with foreign films, it remains a unique achievement in film-making.
Watch for: Artistic filmmaking; beautiful choreography; incredible color usage and cinematography.
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