There are still two whole months of flicks to see before we can truly determine who the best actors and actresses of 2000 are, but several of you submitted your preliminary picks for performances of the year. Paul D. starts us off with his unique choice for the best acting of the year...

"There are, of course, the obvious choices for performance of the year. Russell Crowe was outstanding in Gladiator and deserves a nomination for Best Actor. And the rest of the usual suspects deserve consideration, such as Julia Roberts, etc. But one performance has stuck with me all year. The best acting I have seen in 2000 came from Gina McKee in Michael Winterbottom's Wonderland, which is also in my top five movies of the year. McKee's performance devastated me. I felt her pain throughout the entire film. Rarely have I been so affected by someone's acting. She was truly remarkable and gives, in my opinion, the best performance, male or female, of the entire year. Sadly, the movie came and went, and she will probably not be nominated. But see this movie when you get the chance. I guarantee she will blow you away." --Paul Doro

Also submitting a list of the best of the best is Jayjerry...

"Though it's been a dismal year for movies, it can't be blamed on the actors. As usual, several performers have managed to stand out, even when their roles have been unworthy of their talent. I agree with other readers who've singled out Christian Bale's work in American Psycho. Additional kudos to Gary Oldman (The Contender), Christopher Walken (The Opportunists), Ralph Fiennes (Sunshine), Clive Owen (Croupier), and Owen Wilson (Shanghai Noon). "Julia Roberts is fine in Erin Brockovich, but I prefer Famke Janssen (Love & Sex) and Iben Hjelje (Mifune). "Others: Minnie Driver (Return to Me), Joan Allen (The Contender), and Helen Hunt (Pay It Forward; not a performance I expected to like). "In supporting roles, there's Albert Finney (Erin Brockovich), John Torney (Ghost Dog), Nicholas Farrell (Beautiful People), Greg Kinnear (Nurse Betty), James Caan (The Way of the Gun), Tommy Lee Jones (Space Cowboys), Stellan Skarsgard (Timecode), John Michael Higgins, Fred Willard (Best in Show), Jeff Bridges (The Contender), Jennifer Ehle (Sunshine), Ashley Judd (Where the Heart Is), Vera Farmiga (The Opportunists), Frances McDormand (Almost Famous), and Elaine May (Small Time Crooks). "I'm sure the movies with performances most likely to win awards have yet to be released. Most of the people I mentioned don't have a snowball's chance, but they deserve acknowledgment." --Jayjerry

Here are Li W.'s picks for best performances as well as a few kind words about the late, great Steve Allen...

"The best performances so far: Jeffrey Wright -- Over the Top Michelle Rodriguez -- Girlfight Parker Posey -- Best in Show (unexpected) Will Patton -- Remember the Titans "Steve Allen: Shocked at his death; some entertainers you think will live forever. Great wit and ad libber." -- Li Wright

And rounding out today's nominees for best performance of the year is Kevin, who also has a theory about the soon to-be-released Unbreakable...

"To answer two questions from recent columns... 1. Performance of the year so far (for me) is Jack Black in High Fidelity. Some dismissed him as just obnoxious, but he's so much more than that. And the moment when he sings "Let's Get It On" is nails! "2. No way will Unbreakable be as big as The Sixth Sense, no matter how good the movie is. Three words: Hayley Joel Osment. Think back to when The Sixth Sense was all the rage... how was the movie described by people? 'It's the one about the kid who sees dead people.' Now, describe Unbreakable. 'Well... there's this guy who's in a train crash... and there's this other weird guy with a bone disease... and they meet...'. HELLO, you've just lost middle America. That kid was what brought people to the theater -- it was HIS story they wanted to see. Unbreakable looks, for lack of a better word, COLD. Cold doesn't play. "And how often do these 'from the director of...' campaigns really work? Is M. Night's name on the poster supposed to bring the flocks in? It didn't work for Almost Famous (from the writer/director of mega-grossing, Tom Cruise-starring, Best Picture-nominated Jerry Maguire). It's all about what's currently being served, not what was on the menu last week." --Kevin

Shawn F. has this to say about another upcoming film...

"I was going to talk about the trailers for the upcoming films this Thanksgiving season, but instead I would rather just cut to the chase on one of those mega-budget deals and talk about the film I saw a couple of nights ago: How the Grinch Stole Christmas. "I loved the book when I was a kid and the animated cartoon is a classic, no two ways about it. Now Hollywood has taken a stab at it, and the results play like 'Ace Ventura: When Christmas Calls.' I'm a fan of Ron Howard's work, but this film is not one of his finer moments. There really is no spark of fun or wonder here. Instead, Howard tries to create whimsy by having his camera move practically nonstop throughout the whole film at different angles (yes folks, it's 'Battlefield Whoville'!). This doesn't create whimsy. It creates nausea. "Then there is the problem of Carrey. Gone is the talented actor from The Truman Show, Liar Liar, Man on the Moon and even Me, Myself & Irene (the film may have been so-so, but he did a great job with the physical comedy) and back is the improv shtick from the Ace Ventura films, slightly toned down in content so the movie could get a PG. All this endless mugging for the camera does is pad out the movie to an almost unbearable two hours. "Of course, with a clunker of a screenplay, I guess making stuff up at the spur of the moment would be the only thing one could do. The original story is there (along with Anthony Hopkins doing a decent narration), but the screenwriters put into the film a lame, emotionally manipulative backstory about how the Grinch got so mean (the Grinch as a child reminded me of Green Gargantua from War of the Gargantuas). "The sets and visual effects were quite nice, though (another bang-up job by Digital Domain), and the makeup effects by Rick Baker were excellent (I expected no less), but unfortunately, it didn't help the film from being an ordeal for this viewer. However, the audience I saw this with (which consisted of a lot of families) were eating it up (a critic-proof Jim Carrey film? Novel concept), which should translate to long lines at the box office and another financial winner for Carrey, Howard, and Universal." --Shawn Fitzgerald

Thanks for the warning Shawn. Alex from Atlanta also warns us about the worst movie ever. No, it's not Blair Witch 2...

"In asking whether or not Blair Witch 2 is the worst movie ever, one must consider that there has been a lot of celluloid trash out there. And for every Godfather 2, there is certainly a Highlander 2. With that in mind, I'd like to cast my vote for Treasure of the Four Crowns in 3-D. In the early 1980s, when the rebirth of the 3-D craze brought such cinematic poop as Jaws 3-D and whichever Friday the 13th Part 3: 3-D, Four Crowns gave us the entertainment value of staring at a phone book for two hours. The premise -- three crowns contain jewels of good, evil, and anarchy (the fourth crown of the title is never mentioned in the movie, and the 'anarchy' crown is never shown) and a team of scientist/adventurers trying to stop their use by a vicious cult leader -- isn't as bad as the entire movie being in 3-D! Attempts to play at that fact are done so poorly that visual stunts are used that completely undermine major plot points! When a room is wired in such a way that a feather could set off an alarm, and an adventurer drops his hat for the effect of the hat flying toward us, and it doesn't set off the alarm, it makes us wonder, 'Was the hat just not made of feathers?’ Blair Witch 2 may be a bad movie. In fact, all signs point to yes, it is a bad movie. Still, it has a long way to go to claim the crown of Worst Movie with the bar set so high by the laughable Treasure of the Four Crowns." --Alex Autrey

Anybody else have best-performance nominees or worst movie ever nominees? Send me an e-mail with your picks and I'll post them in the next edition of Civilian Voices. Also, this is the big Charlie's Angels weekend. While I certainly won't be first in line, I think I may have been won over by the marketing campaign. Wow, I can't believe I just admitted that. Still, seeing chicks kick a** seems like a good way to spend a couple of hours. I'll be sure to make up for this guilty pleasure with a Dancer in the Dark/Requiem for a Dream double feature. Will you be hanging with the Angels this weekend? Send us your review and let your fellow readers know if Drew and the gang actually make this thing worth watching.

 

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