16 January 2001

READER OF THE DAY: R&D writes -- "Due to the vast amount of potential favorites that were released wide in early January this year, I have had to postpone my list until now. There are a few I may have missed along the way (You Can Count on Me and Wonder Boys spring to mind), but for the most part I saw just about everything that I think would really appeal to me (thus excluding Chocolat and Dancer in the Dark). For a year that everyone said was so bad for movies, I really enjoyed all the movies on this list, plus several others that didn’t quite make it. There were a lot of disappointments in 2000, and some of them will be represented in my "Worst of" list. These were the movies that I really, really hated for some reason or another. If you’re wondering where Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is on my list, it’s not here. I saw it and liked it, but didn’t feel as positive about it as I had hoped. The fighting looked too wire-fu for me. Anyway, here goes with my Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2000 as they stand on January 15, 2001:

Honorable Mentions: U-571, Boiler Room, Meet the Parents, Erin Brockovich.

10. Frequency

This was the feel-good serial-killer thriller of the year. Some cheese, but a fun, twisting story and likable performances from Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid.

9. The Way of the Gun

One of the coolest movies of the year, and the first great performance of the year from Benicio Del Toro. This movie is filled with so many memorable scenes and so many minute details that it took a couple viewings for me to really take it all in. The opening scene is one of the funniest in recent memory.

8. Thirteen Days

People will bit** about Costner’s accent and how he sucks, but after a few minutes of getting used to it, he really owns this character. The Kennedys are fantastic in this movie. They avoid being caricatures and really give you a sense of the pressure these men felt. It’s long and a bit slow at times, but the length, along with the repeated failures to end the crisis, allow this movie to build up a head of steam until the tension is so great you have to remind yourself that you already know how it plays out.

7. The Contender

The movie actually beats out the Kennedy love-fest above as the most liberal political movie on my list. Jeff Bridges plays just about the coolest president ever in a movie; Joan Allen is great; Gary Oldman is great; Sam Elliot is great; even Christian Slater is good.

6. Almost Famous

The fact that this movie isn’t higher on my list is a testament to the fact that 2000 was not the total waste everyone says it was. This movie was pure joy to watch, the best Cameron Crowe movie to date. All the performances were fantastic and the look and feel were just so dead on. And the music rocked.

5. High Fidelity

This was the funniest movie of the year, and probably my favorite movie dealing with relationships since I can’t even remember when. John Cusack was perfect, but Jack Black steals every scene he’s in. Another movie with cool music.

4. X-Men

You don’t wait your whole life for the opportunity to finally see Wolverine on screen and not love this movie. As far as straight-up comic-book adaptations go, this is my favorite ever. The aforementioned Wolverine was just as bada** as he had to be, and the movie totally left me wanting more, which the subsequent sequels will hopefully deliver. Bryan Singer must be brought back to direct.

3. Unbreakable

As far as adaptations of comic books that never existed go, this is my favorite. All the Sixth Sense hype was hard to live up to, but for my money, this is the better movie. I love the way Shyamalan tells stories with such a deliberate pace, dropping clues along the way, building tension, soaking characters in atmosphere, never laughing at itself no matter how out there it gets. Bruce Willis does his best work since 12 Monkeys, and Samuel L. Jackson, who I also liked this year in Shaft and Rules of Engagement, plays a wonderfully tragic figure. I have a feeling that one day people will grow to appreciate this movie beyond those in the geek community.

2. Traffic

It’s really hard putting this at Number Two, and with another viewing or two, it could move up. If I got to hand out the Best Picture Oscar this year, this is the movie I would give it to. Steven Soderbergh blends each story in this movie so seamlessly with the next, that you almost feel like each one should have its own movie. Benicio Del Toro should carry home the Best Supporting Actor award for his calmly conflicted performance. Michael Douglas is great, Catherine Zeta-Jones surprised me with her turn as the wife of a drug dealer, and Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman make up the best pair of DEA agents ever in a movie together. Soderbergh should also carry home Best Director honors. This movie is heavy and important without being preachy and overly sentimental.

1. Gladiator

After seeing this twice in the theaters, I left thinking it was an amazing spectacle that probably benefited from the big screen. However, after several viewings on DVD, it’s not the big screen that carried this movie, it’s the quality of the film. The story may not be the most original thing ever written, but it does a good job of setting up its characters and putting them into situations that make for damn fine entertainment. Russell Crowe, a personal favorite of mine since L.A. Confidential, created my favorite on-screen character of the year with Maximus. The battle scenes are wonderfully shot, and the score is my favorite of the year. Since May 5, I’ve been waiting for a movie to come along and knock this one out of the top spot, but, pound for pound, nothing has been able to match it, with the exception of Traffic. The reason I ranked it ahead of that drug trade epic is the simple fact that it’s a little more entertaining in a diversionary sort of way. I wouldn’t really put Traffic on as background noise, whereas anytime is a good time to pop in Gladiator.

There you have my Top 10 Favorites; now for the list of my five most hated films of the year, which will be much shorter.

Dishonorable Mention: The Whole Nine Yards; Dude, Where’s My Car?; The Patriot

5. Pay It Forward

With this cast, how did it suck so bad?

4. Reindeer Games

Stupid set-up, bad delivery.

3. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2

Everything I liked about the first one? Gone. Everything I hate about bad movies? Here.

2. What Lies Beneath

The most obvious horror crap fest I’ve ever seen from people I normally like. Harrison Ford passed on Traffic but made this pile of dung? I know it made a lot more money, but his sleep-walking through movies is beginning to get really old. Boring, lacked tension, relied on shock rather than fear to scare. Awful.

1. Mission: Impossible 2

I hate John Woo. How do you take a TV show about a TEAM of super-cool agents that performs kick-a** missions, then make a good first movie that actually requires you to think about it and for the most part sticks to the roots of the original, and then churn out this one man on a retarded mission, slow-mo hair blowing, asinine stunt performing, rubber-mask pulling off, falling in love in seconds, absolute piece of sh**. I HATE THIS MOVIE WITH ALL MY BEING. They have killed a once-promising franchise for me. Bring back De Palma please.

That’s it. If you actually read all this it probably took you three days. Sorry about that. In closing, I’d like to hand out my picks for the big Oscars and offer my top three most-anticipated movies of 2001.

Best Picture: Traffic

Best Actor: Russell Crowe, Gladiator

Best Actress: Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich

Best Supporting Actor: Benicio Del Toro, Traffic

Best Supporting Actress: Kate Hudson, Almost Famous

Best Director: Steven Soderbergh, Traffic

Best Original Screenplay: Cameron Crowe, Almost Famous

Best Adapted Screenplay: Stephen Gaghan, Traffic

Best Score: Hans Zimmer, Gladiator

Best Cinematography: Gladiator

Top Three Most-Anticipated of 2001

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

2. The Fellowship of the Ring

3. Pearl Harbor

Here’s hoping these and every other 2001 release kicks a** and makes people shut up about this year, and that each of you has a great time seeing many movies."

E ME: Tell me more, tell me more!