Flashback 2000: My top 10 favorite movies from 20 years ago

It's really hard for me to believe that the year 2000 was twenty years ago. It was a real milestone year for me -- it's the year I graduated from high school and started college. It my first time voting, too. I still think I was coming into my own in terms having good taste.

For example, I remember thinking Gone in Sixty Seconds was good at the time.

It was a fantastic year for director Steven Soderbergh, who was able to score an incredible and rare two Best Director nods for Erin Brockovich and Traffic. Michael Douglas was killing in 2000, two of his best films make my list. It was also a solid year for mainstream popcorn fare like Remember the Titans (which didn't make this list but remains undeniably rewatchable).

Of course, it was the year before 9/11 -- so it was sort of the last gasp of a mush simpler time in retrospect. A lot hasn't aged well -- this year launched the increasingly tiresome Meet the Parents franchise -- but there are quite a few titles that still hold a special place in my heart. And they are...

10)  Unbreakable - It's probably the understatement of the century to say that director M Night Shyamalan has had an uneven filmmaking career. In fact, he may have peaked with this solid hit follow-up to his blockbuster The Sixth Sense. A truly original, grounded premise about a man who's a superhero but doesn't know it (a subdued Bruce Willis) connecting with a man who is a supervillain and knows it (Samuel L. Jackson). Great tension and mood throughout, with far less of the clunky dialogue that destroyed many of the director's later works.

9) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - The rare foreign film that became an industry altering cross-over success. It's peerless wirework inspired a lot of lesser imitators, but it's hard to deny the power and beauty of this film's elaborate action sequences or the emotional power of its drama (featuring Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh in soulful leading roles). This is a movie I haven't revisited in years -- but it sticks in my mind as an immersive, impressive feat of period filmmaking from director Ang Lee.

8)  Y Tu Mama Tambien - One of the sexiest movies ever made -- Gael Garcia Bernal was all the rage within my freshman class at college -- and a testament to the range of director Alfonso Cauron (Gravity, Roma). A lively road trip movie about an older woman who is facing an imminent death paired up with two young men who have their whole lives ahead of them. The sexuality is frank and fearless and the storytelling is sublime.

Nurse Betty

7) Shaft - The late John Singleton's wildly underrated reboot of the classic blaxploitation private eye series was a terrific vehicle for Samuel L. Jackson (who was also, come to think of it, having a banner year). I can't speak to the most recent entry -- which was a flop commercially and critically. But this film boasted two terrific, colorful bad guys (Christian Bale as a Donald Trump Jr-esque creep, and Jeffery Wright as a fierce Puerto Rican criminal kingpin) to go toe to toe with Jackson's suave hero. Funny and surprisingly authentic, this may be Singleton's best commercial movie.

6) Bamboozled - Spike Lee's provocative and tonally jarring satire of the state of black TV and movies was savage and arguably ahead of its time (Madea movies made their debut in 2000). He assembles a fantastic cast (including tap dancing sensation Savion Glover) to skewer everyone who still trafficked in black stereotypes in media. Ironically, its surreal subplot about blackface making a comeback has turned out to be more prescient than anyone could have predicted.

5) American Psycho - A coming out part for Christian Bale's unique brand of uber-committed acting -- this bananas black comedy probably deserved to be seen more widely than it did upon its first release. The film nails the novel's satire of a certain kind of Wall Street bro, while maintaining enough or the horror show aspects of the story as well. I'd be very curious how this film would play were it released now, post-MeToo, but at least 20 years ago, this was a real shock to the system.

4) Wonder Boys - Like a warm blanket, this gentle and heartwarming character study about a past-his-prime novelist turned college professor (a perhaps never better Michael Douglas) and the people who weave in and out of his life is full of simple pleasures and endearing belly laughs. It works because of its specificity -- it really feels like one of the true authentic 'college' movies -- and the fact that it wears its heart on its sleeve. They don't really make movies like this anymore, and that's a shame.

3) O Brother Where Art Thou? - One of the Coen brothers' most accessible and enjoyable efforts features George Clooney having a ball as the leader of a trio of not-so-bright escaped convicts (John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson fill out the gang) on an odyssey (inspired by the legendary Greek tale). A visual stunner, with a soundtrack so infectious it would up taking the Grammys by storm. A sleeper hit that is just a quirky joy from start to finish.

2) Traffic - An incredibly accomplished and thoughtful look at the drug war from several different vantage points. Soderbergh beautifully uses different color stocks and styles to tell three very different narratives, while juggling what would become one of his trademark all-star casts. Benicio Del Toro (who won the Oscar) is the standout with his remarkable performance as one of the only honest cops at the border. An unassailably smart and exciting film about a topic that could have been dry and depressing.

1) Nurse Betty - I have always had a strong personal connection with this black comedy and its themes of fantasy sometimes supplanting our reality. Director Neil LaBute, who track record is rocky at best, nailed this absurdist story about a soap opera fan who becomes convinced she's a character on the show following a traumatic event. Renee Zellweger is incredible, as is a totally against type Morgan Freeman. A far more sophisticated film than it might initially appear to be with some unforgettable violence and pathos.

PAST TOP 10 FAVORITE LISTS
1974 #1 movie - The Godfather Part II
1975 #1 movie - Nashville
1976 #1 movie - Taxi Driver
1977 #1 movie - Star Wars
1978 #1 movie - The Deer Hunter
1979 #1 movie - The Jerk
1984 #1 movie - Ghostbusters
1985 #1 movie - Fletch
1986 #1 movie - Blue Velvet
1987 #1 movie - The Untouchables
1988 #1 movie - Coming to America
1989 #1 movie - Batman
1994 #1 movie - Pulp Fiction
1995 #1 movie - Heat
1996 #1 movie - Fargo
1997 #1 movie - Boogie Nights
1998 #1 movie - The Big Lebowski
1999 #1 movie - Eyes Wide Shut
2004 #1 movie - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 #1 movie - A History of Violence
2006 #1 movie - Casino Royale
2007 #1 movie - There Will Be Blood
2008 #1 movie - The Wrestler
2009 #1 movie - Inglourious Basterds
2010 #1 movie - The Social Network