What movies from 2000-2019 are Must Sees?

[Garga]

I was a teen in the 80s and in my twenties in the 90s.  I didn’t have kids of my own until 2002.  There are movies from the 80s and 90s that I adored and everyone else I knew adored. They’re the movies that people of my generation make a point of sharing with their kids.

As soon as my kids were born I had a list of movies I wanted to share with them when they were old enough.  Here are just a few of them, but this isn’t all inclusive.  These are the movies that I felt like everyone loved and wanted to share with their kids.  I felt like they sort of defined my generation.

Back the Future trilogy
Indiana Jones trilogy
Star Wars (ok-this started in the 70s, of course)
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
The Princess Bride
E.T.
Adventures in Babysitting
If I’d have had girls (I tried, but my boys couldn’t get through these movies):
While you were Sleeping
Sleepless in Seattle
Little Women (the Winona Ryder version)
and so forth...

The only movie from the 2000s that is the sort that I feel everyone knows about and quotes from is Napoleon Dynamite (2004).

I am aware that once I became a mother of small children and then a middle-aged woman, I probably began viewing movies differently from when I was a teen and in my 20s.  Maybe current movies no longer define me or my generation...or something?  Not sure how to word what I’m thinking.  

People who were in their teens and twenties in the 2000’s probably have a list of movies the same way I did.  But what movies are on their lists for the 2000s?  What are the movies from the 2000’s that the people who were teens/twenties from 2000 to 2019 will say, “I can’t wait to show these to my kids!”

What are the defining movies of 2000-2019?
 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Garga

[historically accurate]

My first thought was Titanic, but that was 1997. 

Twilight and Love Actually are often quoted/discussed, and they are both from the 2000s.

 

[TheReader]

Was the Matrix trilogy late 90s, or early 2000's? 

Of course the Marvel movies; I really think that whole set is going to be a pretty defining thing of the last few decades. (and, really, the whole thing spans I think 10 yrs....)

Darker, but also I'd say the Batman trilogy that starred Christian Bale. 

Other than that, not sure what movies have been "generation defining" kinds of movies....I mean, there are a few more we personally loved (Greatest Showman is one, for us), but....Generation Defining....not sure what else. 

Oh, maybe some of the various X-Men movies, but there would likely be debate amongst fans as to which ones are worth sharing and which aren't. (or, not so much debate, but....definitely don't have to watch all of them, because some were bad, but some were really really really good). 

And, I'm glad to see someone else have Bill & Ted on their list; DH is trying to argue against that. 

[Wheres Toto]

I know for my daughter who was born in 1994, there's a lot of dance and cheer movies on her list - Bring It On, Save the Last Dance, etc.   

I agree about the Marvel movies.  

I would have Grease and Dirty Dancing on my list as a teen in the 80's. 

[TheReader]

DH Says: 
the new Jumanji, and the new Star Wars movies

DS19 says:
How to Train Your Dragon (trilogy/series); Kung Fu Panda; Shrek (series); the continuation of Toy Story series; The Lego Movie (and especially Lego Batman) (which is my personal favorite Batman of all time, but....)

DS22 says:
Ice Age series

I add:
Inception

[Garga]

1 hour ago, beckyjo said:

My first thought was Titanic, but that was 1997. 

Twilight and Love Actually are often quoted/discussed, and they are both from the 2000s.

Oh yeah! I’d forgotten about Twilight!  That was huge in the mid 2000s.  

I’ve seen Love Actually, and I do hear people talk about that one a lot.  I’d agree that’s probably a biggie that many people have watched/enjoyed and would want to share with others.  

Titanic..that was a biggie, but you’re right that it wasn’t quite 2000. 

1 hour ago, TheReader said:

Was the Matrix trilogy late 90s, or early 2000’s?  Of course the Marvel movies; I really think that whole set is going to be a pretty defining thing of the last few decades. (and, really, the whole thing spans I think 10 yrs....)

Darker, but also I'd say the Batman trilogy that starred Christian Bale. 

Other than that, not sure what movies have been "generation defining" kinds of movies....I mean, there are a few more we personally loved (Greatest Showman is one, for us), but....Generation Defining....not sure what else. 

Oh, maybe some of the various X-Men movies, but there would likely be debate amongst fans as to which ones are worth sharing and which aren't. (or, not so much debate, but....definitely don't have to watch all of them, because some were bad, but some were really really really good). 

And, I'm glad to see someone else have Bill & Ted on their list; DH is trying to argue against that. 

 The Matrix was 1999, so, right on the edge.  But you’re right that it was a huge movie that many people saw and that had a cultural impact.  

I agree about the Batman movies and especially the Marvel movies.  Those are pretty defining since there are so many and they’re all such big blockbusters.  

Your DH is a silly-butt. Bill and Ted’s 100% deserves to be on the list as a movie that teens in the 80s adored.  I couldn’t wait until my kids finally got through our first round of history and had studied all the people of historical significance that were portrayed in the movie.  I think my oldest was about in 6th grade when we could finally watch Bill and Ted’s and he knew all the characters from his studies of history.  

1 hour ago, Where's Toto? said:

I know for my daughter who was born in 1994, there's a lot of dance and cheer movies on her list - Bring It On, Save the Last Dance, etc.   

I agree about the Marvel movies.  

I would have Grease and Dirty Dancing on my list as a teen in the 80's. 

Very interesting about the dance and cheer movies. When they came out, I was in the middle of raising kids and they were too “young” for me, but they would be perfect for all the people born in 1994.  I did end up watching a couple of them on Netflix years later and I can see the draw they’d have for young people to watch them.  Those movies are mostly under my radar, but I can see how they’d have an impact on a generation.

Grease was released in ‘78, but a lot of ‘80s kids/teens loved it.  And yes, Dirty Dancing is a big one.  It seems like *everyone* knows the line, “Nobody puts baby in a corner,” or the lesser quoted, but still widely known, “I carried a watermelon.”  

1 hour ago, TheReader said:

DH Says: 
the new Jumanji, and the new Star Wars movies

DS19 says:
How to Train Your Dragon (trilogy/series); Kung Fu Panda; Shrek (series); the continuation of Toy Story series; The Lego Movie (and especially Lego Batman) (which is my personal favorite Batman of all time, but....)

DS22 says:
Ice Age series

I add:
Inception

 

I agree about the new Star Wars movies.  Ep 1 came out in 1999, but the other 5 were after that, so I agree.  5 of the 9 movies (not counting the stand alones) were in the 2000s.  

I agree with your ds19 and ds22 that those are the defining kid movies.  As your kids get older, they’ll probably start to find more teen/adult movies that are defining.  

Inception is a good one.  A lot of people know about that movie.  

Edited January 5, 2020 by Garga

[rebcoola]

So many movies.  Lord of the Ring's, Harry Potter, avatar.  Zoolander, my big fat Greek wedding, castaway, pirates of the Caribbean, crouching tiger hidden dragon, wall-e, anchor man, oceans movies, night at the museum movies.

 

[Stacia]

Baby Driver

Inception

The Dark Knight

The Kill Bill movies

The Lord of the Rings movies

The Harry Potter movies

[vmsurbat1]

I'd have to add The King's Speech--one of my personal faves.

[Robin M]

I'll second or third the Star Wars series, Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter.   

The Blind Side

the Help

My son's favorites are anything Star Wars,  Harry Potter, Shrek, Lara Croft, Austin Powers,  Terminator Franchise, Godzilla and Toho monster franchise,  Matrix, but he also loves all the old movies of the 80's such as The Last Star Fighter which we watched last night as well as War Games.

[Storygirl]

On 1/5/2020 at 1:48 PM, beckyjo said:

My first thought was Titanic, but that was 1997. 

Twilight and Love Actually are often quoted/discussed, and they are both from the 2000s.

 

Love Actually is mentioned frequently in the media around the holidays, so I decided to buy it a couple of years ago.

And I was utterly shocked to find that there is a repeating scene of two people shooting a movie sex scene, and it gets more and more graphic as the film goes on. I did not remember that from when I watched it myself as a young adult, but I was definitely glad that I previewed it before showing it to my young teens.

It's not one I would recommend for family viewing.

We have not watched Titanic either, because there is one nude scene, and I didn't want to show that to my young boys. Which is too bad, because I like the movie otherwise. Maybe we can fast forward though that. I will have to preview it and see.

There is also a very sensual love-making scene in the second (I believe) Matrix. We own that series, but I've been reluctant to show it to my teens yet. Maybe we can skip that scene.

As you can tell, I'm careful about what we show our kids. I have one person in particular who would latch onto anything like that and talk about it ad nauseam and not be able to be mature about it; other families will vary when it comes to love scenes and kids.

But I have a similar list of what I've wanted to show my kids, because I love movies. I'll see if there is anything on it that has not been mentioned yet.

Edited January 6, 2020 by Storygirl

[gardenmom5]

22 hours ago, vmsurbat1 said:

I'd have to add The King's Speech--one of my personal faves.

I would add chariots of fire to go along with it.  since david makes an appearance as prince of wales (and is a jerk), it gives more insight into his lack of character.

 

sports movies

    chariots of fire (1924 Olympics)   - it was released in 1981, but it pairs well with the King's speech.

    the blind side.

    miracle  (1980 US Olympic hockey team that beat the Russians.  it was a huge deal. has lots of 1970's nostalgia.  like gas lines . . . . )

 

- good for kids/boys

    second hand lions

    pirates of the Caribbean 

    the Incredibles

    cars

for teens

  the bourne movies

   LotR.

   taken (dh and my boys really enjoyed it.)

[Storygirl]

Men in Black series (first one is from 1997)

Sherlock Holmes series (with Robert Downey, Jr.)

And I have a big list of other fun movies that I'd like my kids to see. I'm not going to check the release dates on all of these; I know some are older than 2000. I'm not sure they are what I would consider defining films of their era for youth, but they are worth seeing, IMO.

City Slickers
Legally Blonde
Miss Congeniality
Never Been Kissed
American President
Dave
Julie and Julia
Speed
Jack Ryan series
Rush Hour
Real Steel
Oceans 11, 12, 13, 8
Apollo 13
Hidden Figures
Air Force One
Top Gun
Field of Dreams
Truman Show
We Bought a Zoo
Enchanted
League of Their Own
James Bond movies
Sixth Sense
Unbreakable
Rocky series (and Creed series)
Terminator (if you can handle the violence)
Forest Gump
High School Musical series
Independence Day
Castaway

There have been a lot of good bio pics over the last decade, about Thurgood Marshall (Marshall), Jackie Robinson (42), James Brown (Get On Up), etc.

Tom Hanks has been in a lot of biopics recently. I would add just about anything with Hanks in it to this list.

That is probably half of my list of movies. Some of the others are older than your parameters. A bunch are romantic comedies. Some are things that we have watched that I feel have not held up over time. Two that fall in this category are Father of the Bride (just not that funny for my kids or even for me when rewatching), and Roxanne (much raunchier jokes than I remembered, and a lot of talk about sex and setting up sexual situations). They are both older than 2000, but they are on my list. They are a reminder that I should preview things before showing to my kids.

Groundhog Day had more sexual jokes, etc., than I remembered, and he was trying to get her into bed for much of the plot. Ghostbusters has a weird sexual business toward the end that ruined it for me when rewatching and considering showing it to my kids.

So I find I need to rewatch things before showing them. There are many things that I didn't remember the first time I watched the films. When I watch with my kids as the audience in mind, I find that I decide not to show some things that I thought I might have wanted to.

 

[gardenmom5]

If you want something quoteable

 

cold comfort farm.  it's from 96, but we've been known to quote it.   

[Storygirl]

Things we have seen that I didn't mention yet, because my kids saw them when they came out:

Spider-Man (all of the series)
Wonder Woman
Man of Steel and related sequels with Batman and Wonder Woman (some are better than others)

My kids have seen all of the Marvel movies other than Deadpool.

I think that superhero movies and biopics are the defining movies of the past decade, though there have been many stand alone movies not in those categories that have been great.

Edited January 6, 2020 by Storygirl

[Garga]

38 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

Love Actually is mentioned frequently in the media around the holidays, so I decided to buy it a couple of years ago.

And I was utterly shocked to find that there is a repeating scene of two people shooting a movie sex scene, and it gets more and more graphic as the film goes on. I did not remember that from when I watched it myself as a young adult, but I was definitely glad that I previewed it before showing it to my young teens.

It's not one I would recommend for family viewing.

 

I agree. My kids are 14 and 17 and NO WAY am I sitting in a room with them watching those scenes.  I’m just not that hip of a mom I guess. 😕

I think of that movie as something for twenty-somethings and older.  

[gardenmom5]

October sky

17 again

[Bluegoat]

I think there is probably going to be a difference between "serious" artistic movies that are remembered because they are really good films, and then those that are more nostalgic to young people who grew up with them.

I wonder about the Marvel and latest crop of Star Wars films, or even some of the Disney films over the last few years. I don't think they will be remembered as great films really, though maybe as technical feats. But I do wonder about whether people who were young will remember them fondly or with nostalgia. I can't decide if its more a matter of having enjoyed them at the right age, or whether there needs to be something about the films themselves that they need to have.

But the "big" movies people might remember are those plus HP, LOTR.

There are lots of good quality films between 2000-2010 but I think fewer since, a lot of the best writing moved to television.

[Garga]

I think a large number of the movies that define the 2000s, then, might be the huge blockbusters with a billion different sequels:  8 Harry Potter movies, 5 of the 9 Star Wars movies, 16 Marvel movies (or however many there are!)

Batman movies, DC comic movies, etc.  

The idea of movies being successful with many, many sequels is a relatively new phenomenon. I remember reading about it in regards to Star Wars and that when George Lucas decided to work on Ep 1, 2, and 3, all those years after releasing 4, 5, and 6, that it was a new and risky thing to do. 

But after 20 years of all these movies coming out with 8, 9, or more parts, it’s almost commonplace and is expected.  At least for the action movies.  (And you can argue that it’s always been that way with Bond movies...but I guess Eps 1, 2, and 3 is what sparked so many movies coming out with so many parts.  

The Lord of the Ring, Hobbit movies call into that category too as there are 6 of those.  It was rare before the 2000s to have movies that had 6 or more parts.  

[Garga]

11 minutes ago, Bluegoat said:

I think there is probably going to be a difference between "serious" artistic movies that are remembered because they are really good films, and then those that are more nostalgic to young people who grew up with them.

I wonder about the Marvel and latest crop of Star Wars films, or even some of the Disney films over the last few years. I don't think they will be remembered as great films really, though maybe as technical feats. But I do wonder about whether people who were young will remember them fondly or with nostalgia. I can't decide if its more a matter of having enjoyed them at the right age, or whether there needs to be something about the films themselves that they need to have.

But the "big" movies people might remember are those plus HP, LOTR.

There are lots of good quality films between 2000-2010 but I think fewer since, a lot of the best writing moved to television.

You’re right. I’m thinking of the nostalgic ones that people will want to show their kids for fun because they loved them and/or quoted them to each other so much.  

Edited January 6, 2020 by Garga

[Lori D.]

"Nostalgic films to show for fun because we loved them and like to quote them..." Hard to think of any from the past 2 decades! 

Here are a few we do quote and have enjoyed a lot:
2000 = Emperor's New Groove
2000 = O Brother Where Art Thou
2001 = A Knight's Tale
2004 = The Incredibles
2004 = Shaun of the Dead (R)
2007 = Hot Fuzz (R)
2008 = Iron Man
2009 = Sherlock Holmes
2010 = Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2010 = Tangled
2010 = Megamind
2010 = Despicable Me
2013 = Austenland
2013 = World's End (R)
2014 = Lego Movie
2015 = Fury Road (R)
also -- Studio Ghibli films -- esp. Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Castle in the Sky

Not rewatched/quoted here, but fun and somewhat similar to your original list:
2005 = Zathura
2005 = Sky High
2007 = Enchanted
2007 = National Treasure
2009 = The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Edited January 6, 2020 by Lori D.