Movies of the 2000s [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Having owned a few books from Taschen's movie series I have eagerly been awaiting this book. However I was really surprised and somewhat disappointed that Taschen has published such a beautiful book full of typos and inaccuracies. It appears they needed a few more months to proofread and edit the book properly. For instead, it mispells Benjamin Button as Benjamin WButton, it indicates in the introduction that it will cover Inception but doesn't, and certain Oscar winning movies have the Oscar icons beside its title while others don't. I felt like I got a fake copy as Taschen is normally quite meticulous.

Once again Taschen has asked Jürgen Müller, the chair for art history at the University of Dresden, to prepare a book outlining the best movies of the 2000s - movies at the dawn of the third millennium - and this time around the book has a decided bent toward philosophy. As Müller states, the 2000s are `a decade characterized the rise of a new era in global politics and technology, the 2000s were most notably marked by September 11, 2001 and the ensuing wars in the Middle East, as well as the explosion of social networking and mobile computing. This comprehensive volume covers an inspiringly broad range of titles made during a unique period in history, from the fantastical special effects masterpieces Lord of the Rings, Inception, and the 3D film Avatar; to entertaining fare such as the Bourne action films, the Harry Potter series, Moulin Rouge, Borat, and Inglourious Basterds; socially and politically conscious cinema including Hurt Locker, Babel, Bowling for Columbine, and City of God; and art-house standouts such as Brokeback Mountain, Mulholland Drive, Dogville, Talk to Her, No Country for Old Men, and Black Swan. If indeed we are approaching the end of cinema--it can be argued that the 2000s were the last decade of cinema as we knew it, before technology altered it beyond recognition and the movie theater was superseded by the computer screen--then this study is both a celebration of moviemaking and an elegy for a soon-to-be-lost art.'

The book, as with the others, devotes pages to film stills, a synopsis and analysis, and a list of the cast and crew with incidental biographies as indicated. The movies included in this volume are as follows: 2046, 25th Hour, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, 8 Mile, 8 Women, Ali, Amélie, American Gangster, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Y to mama tambien, Atonement, Avatar, The Baader Meinhof Complex, Babel, Bad Education, Barney's Version, A Beautiful Mind, Big Fish, Biutiful, Black Book, Black Swan, Blue Valentine, Borat, The Bourne Ultimatum, Bowling for Columbine, Bridget Jones's Diary, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Carlos, Casino Royale, The Child, City of God, The Constant Gardener, Control, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Curse of the Golden Flower, The Darjeeling Limited, The Dark Knight, The Departed, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Dogville, The Dreamers, Due Date, Eastern Promises, Elephant, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Far from Heaven, The Fighter, Finding Nemo, Frost/Nixon, Gomorra, Good Bye Lenin!, Good Night, and Good Luck, Gran Torino, Grizzly Man, The Hangover, Happy-Go-Lucky, Harry Potter, Head-On, Hidden, A History of Violence, Hotel Rwanda, The Hurt Locker, I'm Not There, Ice Age, In Bruges, In this World, The Incredibles, Inglourious Basterds, Iron Man, Juno, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, The King's Speech, L.A. Crash, Last King of Scotland, The Life of Others, Little Miss Sunshine, The Lord of the Rings, Lost in Translation, Mao's Last Dancer, Match Point, The Messenger, Million Dollar Baby, Miral, Moulin Rouge, Mulholland Drive, Munich, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, My Name is Khan, No Country for Old Men, Oldboy, Open Water, The Others, Pan's Labyrinth, Persepolis, The Pianist, Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Precious, A Prophet, Public Enemies, The Queen, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, The Ring, The Royal Tenenbaums, A Serious Man, Sex and Lucia, Sideways, Silent Light, Sin City, Sin nombre, A Single Man, Slumdog Millionaire, The Social Network, Spider-Man, Spirited Away, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring, State of Play, Talk to Her, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, There Will Be Blood, True Grit, Turtles Can Fly, Uncle Boonmee, Up in the Air, Up, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Walk the Line, WALL·E, Waltz with Bashir, Welcome to the Sticks, The White Ribbon, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Winter's Bone, The Wrestler, Yella, and Zodiac. 10 years of movies and pages upon pages of commentary and illustration. It is a bargain of a book and a fine stroll down memory lane. Grady Harp, July 12

Very much a typical entry into the gorgeous set of books. Great, spectacularly colorful photos are the rule in all of them. And they are often rare, seemingly previously unpublished photos. I have the entire set, from 1920s on through to this new volume. Taschen books are always worthwhile; this series is very much like the ALL AMERICAN ADS books.