Decade big on remakes, reboots and raunchy rom-coms

Movies of the first decade of the 21st century officially welcomed the age of digital filmmaking, spawned a subgenre of Iraq war dramas, saw a blizzard of sweet-but-gross romantic comedies and celebrated the passing of 007's license to kill.

But mostly, the century's first 10 years - shall we call them the "00s"? - became the decade of comebacks, reboots and remakes.

First, they began with a disaster.

The Twin Towers had just been destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, and I had been assigned to write a story on the impact the terrorist acts would have on Hollywood movies, particularly the action and disaster genres.

Already, Warner Bros. had pulled its Arnold Schwarzenegger terrorist movie "Collateral Damage" from the fall line-up.

Columbia Pictures recalled a theatrical trailer for "Spider-Man" because it depicted the web-slinging superhero capturing a fleeing helicopter by spraying a net between the Twin Towers. The studio said the footage had been shot just for the trailer and was never intended to be part of the final movie. (Suuuuure.)

The studio also yanked a one-sheet movie poster that contained the image of the Towers reflected in Spidey's eyes. (I still have one of the originals.)

As I wrote the story, a former Daily Herald assistant features editor whipped up a headline. It said that 9/11 would change our national movie-viewing habits forever.

No it wouldn't, I told her.

She was aghast. She said Americans could never be entertained by death and destruction again.

I explained that Americans have very short memories, and that full-fledged disaster movies with exploding skyscrapers would be back on the big screen as soon as the 9/11 memories cooled off.

Sure enough.

"Collateral Damage" went into theaters a mere five months later. It wasn't a huge success, but it wasn't a very good movie, either.

Within three years, Roland Emmerich rolled out "The Day After Tomorrow," an apocalyptic horror hit about global warming, and the disaster movie returned as if the 1970s were happening all over again. In fact, they're still happening with the global meltdown drama "2012."

(Sept. 11 and the ensuing War on Terror did provide Hollywood with subject matter, though, inspiring dramas like "World Trade Center," "Redacted," "Stop-Loss" and the more recent "Brothers.")

Disaster, however, wasn't the only movie mainstay to stage a comeback in the '00s. So did a bunch of other things:

Bond rebooted. The 2006 release "Casino Royale" replaced 1990s GQ star Pierce Brosnan with a rough-and-tumble Daniel Craig, a thuggish Bond more suited to the '00s, and the best 007 since Sean Connery originated the role. Had "Casino Royale" been released in 2007, it could have reaped a bonanza in arts graphics possibilities for its posters and advertisements.

Batman begins, again. He even hung out in Chicago during "The Dark Knight," the last feature completed by the late Heath Ledger.

An inglourious resurrection. After a decade of coasting along on sporadic critical and commercial acclaim for his "Kill Bill" films, Quentin Tarantino roared back to his former 1990s glory this year with "Inglourious Basterds," a critical and commercial smash.

Cameron can, again. James Cameron also worked his way back to the top with his fantastical 3-D science fiction adventure "Avatar," his first feature film since 1997's "Titanic," and a movie that fulfilled the promise of digital animation relentlessly pushed by George Lucas in his second trilogy of "Star Wars" movies.

Raider of the lost AARP? The decade was brightened by the unexpected return of Indiana Jones in his fourth movie under director Steven Spielberg. Harrison Ford, at an age (65) when most adventurers hang up their bullwhips, re-teamed with his "Raiders of the Lost Ark" star Karen Allen in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the greatest AARP promotion in Hollywood since "Cocoon."

A die-hard, really. Not to be outdone by his fellow 1980s action hero, Bruce Willis brought super cop John McClane back for one more round in "Live Free or Die Hard."

Is regurgitation the sincerest form of flattery? The '00s saw another type of comeback, a flood of inferior remakes of classics and other movies that would have been better off left to gather dust.

Did we really need those so-called updates of "Fame"? "The Stepfather"? "The Manchurian Candidate"?

Horror redux reflux. Then came the torrential downpour of lame horror film remakes: "Last House on the Left," "Halloween," "Friday the 13th," "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," and "My Bloody Valentine," among others. A rebooted "Nightmare on Elm Street" is coming next year and it was partially shot at Elk Grove High School.

(An exception: Zack Snyder's superbly rendered remake of George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead.")

Star bores. Did George Lucas need to bring back "Star Wars" so we could sit through three badly written prequels, the stories of which had already been told in the three-minute crawl at the beginning of 1977's "A New Hope"? (Yes, I know "Phantom Menace" came out in 1999. Sue me.)

What the Shrek? In the decade's biggest Hollywood "gotcha!," DreamWorks' production of "Shrek" won the first Academy award ever given for Best Animated Feature, beating out Walt Disney's "Monsters, Inc." DreamWorks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg headed up Disney animation for many years before being forced out by boss Michael Eisner.

Revenge is a dish of Shrek.

Under the influential. As has become a tradition for the past three decades here at the Daily Herald, it's time to name the Most Influential Motion Picture of the Decade, the most widely imitated movie.

This decade's winner is a much tougher choice than in previous decades. Unlike earlier MIMPs that were easily recognizable ("Pulp Fiction" in the 1990s, "Friday the 13th" in the 1980s, "Airport" in the 1970s, and "Goldfinger" in the 1960s.), the '00's MIMP was tougher to determine.

But we have a winner, and it's Judd Apatow's 1995 comedy "The 40 Year Old Virgin," starring "The Office" lead Steve Carell as the title character.

Apatow, a producer, writer, actor and director, has practically spawned a mini-genre of his own by spinning off his peculiar brand of gross, yet compassionate sense of humor to other productions, such as "Superbad," "Knocked Up" "Funny People," "Pineapple Express," "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," "Step Brothers," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," "Step Brothers" and others.

They follow the Apatow format established in "The 40 Year Old Virgin" of bumbling main characters who do and say outrageously gross things, yet remain so lovable that we're not offended.

Not too offended.

Of course, Apatow didn't originate this style of comedy, which first popped up in the Farrelly brothers' 1998 classic "There's Something About Mary."

Yet, the "Mary" prototype wasn't widely imitated by other movies of the period. It took "The 40 Year Old Virgin" to inspire other filmmakers to use Apatow's template, and create movies with varying degrees of success, among them "I Love You, Beth Cooper," "Adventureland," "I Love You, Man," "Role Models," "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" and several others.

As the '00s go. So, there you have it. The decade is about to draw to a close.

We begin again with 2010. See you at the movies.