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#4. The Pianist
(2002)



This is one of the most depressing, yet uplifting movies in a long time. It concentrates on various themes, such as luck, love, hate, morals, and death. It's interesting that one movie can provoke such strong reactions from brutal scenes like throwing a man head first out a window, and then have such beautiful moments as the scenes near the end where the German soldier was helping him survive. The screenplay was beautiful, with thought provoking lines, and unbelievable, yet realistic depictions of concentration camps. One great element of the movie was the scenes where he Szpilman played the piano. It was used at all the right moments to act as sort of a symbol of hope. Adrien Brody gave an incredible performance, conveying strong emotions without speaking too often. It was depressing and inspiring at the same time. From the scenes with Szpilman and his family and friends talking about the situations, and trying to deal with them together, to the scenes with him alone trying to survive, to the scenes with him being helped by the German, the movie was filled with moments of struggle that led up to an incredibly uplifting ending on one hand, while still recognizing the struggles that still occurred for others. I thought the last scene with him playing the piano at the end was perfect, and I loved how it played right through the credits.

Major awards it won or was nominated for:
Best Picture (lost)
Best Director (won)
Adrien Brody for Best Actor (won)
Best Adapted Screenplay (won)

Major awards / nominations I would've given it:
Best Picture (nomination)
Best Director (nomination)
Adrien Brody for Best Actor (award)
Best Adapted Screenplay (nomination)

#3. The Lord Of The Rings
(2001, 2002, 3003)



I decided to rank this as one because I think that was the most fair thing to the trilogy. It's one continuous story, so I figured it would be more apples and oranges to compare the individual movies in the series to the other individual movies on the list. It's hard for me to do it that way, because I feel like it would be ranking pieces of a story against complete stories. Take a good movie, let's say, Fight Club, and compare it to something that's known as one of the greatest movies of all time, like Gone With The Wind. If I had to rank the entire movie of Fight Club, as well as the first, second, third, and fourth hours of Gone With The Wind, Fight Club would be number one, but if I'm choosing between Gone With The Wind and Fight Club, Gone With The Wind wins. That's why I chose to do it this way, but that's just me. I think this series is brilliant. For one thing, it has the ability to appeal to a large number of people from any age or gender because of the variety in it. It's en exciting action series filled with intense battle scenes, but it's also an emotional powerhouse, touching on just about every theme under the sun, such as power, friendship, love, gender roles, and trust. If you don't like it, it's not because it's not your style, because it touches on just about every style. It's absolutely brilliant, and for a nine hour series, there wasn't a dull moment. I haven't even mentioned the directing yet, which was phenomenal. It was a technical masterpiece if I ever saw one, in every aspect, especially with the music. It's also underrated in the acting area, in my opinion. Weirdly enough, I'd actually rank the three films in the exact same way that Andr has ranked them, with The Return Of The King first, The Fellowship Of The Ring second, and The Two Towers third. In any case, all three films are great, and the series is easily worthy of this spot.

Major awards it won or was nominated for:

The Fellowship Of The Ring:
Best Picture (lost)
Best Director (lost)
Ian McKellen for Best Supporting Actor (lost)
Best Adapted Screenplay (lost)

The Two Towers:
Best Picture (lost)

The Return Of The King:
Best Picture (won)
Best Director (won)
Best Adapted Screenplay (won)

Major awards / nominations I would've given it:

The Fellowship Of The Ring:
Best Picture (nomination)
Best Director (nomination)
Ian McKellen for Best Supporting Actor (award)
Best Adapted Screenplay (nomination)

The Two Towers:
Best Picture (nomination)
Best Director (nomination)
Sean Astin for Best Supporting Actor (award)
Andy Serkis for Best Supporting Actor (nomination)
Best Adapted Screenplay (nomination)

The Return Of The King:
Best Picture (award)
Best Director (award)
Sean Astin for Best Supporting Actor (nomination)
Best Adapted Screenplay (award)

My nominees in order for Best Picture of 2001:
1. Memento
2. Moulin Rouge
3. In The Bedroom
4. Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
5. Donnie Darko

My nominees in order for Best Picture of 2003:
1. Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
2. Finding Nemo
3. Monster
4. Seabiscuit
5. Mystic River

#2. Million Dollar Baby
(2004)



This is the kind of movie that can change lives. It has an incredible message about taking risks in life, and how everyone in life wants their shot, and they shouldn't be afraid to go for it, no matter what could happen. It features three excellent performances from Hilary Swank, which makes my list of the top 20 performances on this ranking, Clint Eastwood, and Morgan Freeman. It starts out as an underdog story of a girl who lived less than a desired life, but who works hard to change things for herself. It ends up as a beautiful story about seeing what living life really is like, and being forced away from that. Different elements of the story are represented through different characters. Clint Eastwood's character is the guy who wants to protect himself and everyone around him, because he's afraid of what could happen if he didn't. Morgan Freeman's character is the guy who Clint's character protected, but who regrets the way his life is currently. Hilary Swank's character is the girl who's not afraid to do whatever it takes, and risk anything, to experience life to its fullest. As great as Sideways is, this movie easily should've won best Original Screenplay, due to its brilliant quotes regarding the themes, most of which are stated by Morgan Freeman in the narration. What should've put it over the top was the scene where Hilary asks Clint to euthanize her, which featured powerful lines like "they were chanting for me" and "don't let me lie here until I can't hear those people chanting no more," although they were beautifully delivered by Hilary as well. This is my favorite Best Picture winner of the 21st century, bar none. 

Major awards it won or was nominated for:
Best Picture (won)
Best Director (won)
Clint Eastwood for Best Actor (lost)
Hilary Swank for Best Actress (won)
Morgan Freeman for Best Supporting Actor (won)
Best Adapted Screenplay (lost)


Major awards / nominations I would've given it:
Best Picture (award)
Best Director (award)
Clint Eastwood for Best Actor (nomination)
Hilary Swank for Best Actress (award)
Morgan Freeman for Best Supporting Actor (award)
Best Adapted Screenplay (award)

My nominees in order for Best Picture of 2004:
1. Million Dollar Baby
2. Sideways
3. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
4. The Incredibles
5. Mean Girls

JLK Name wrote:

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SleepTight wrote:

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Am I the only one who thinks that Swank breaking' her neck on that stool was one of the most retarded scenes ever? Ugh.

At first, yes because I saw that similar scene in Scary Movie 3

But when you look at it, it was an unexpected accident that changed her life and things like that happen in real life. For example, I went to a basketball game before and when the cheerleaders were performing, they failed to catch the girl who jumped in the air and we all saw it. 1 week later, the cheerleader died because her spinal cord was broken.