A feature story by Christophe…
A feature story by
Christopher Null and the filmcritic.com staff
- Copyright © 2002 Filmcritic.com
2001 is not so much a year of bad film, but a year of such obsessively hyped and massively overrated refuse that it's magisterial to advertise the difference between the acceptable, the disagreeable, and the purely inferior. Most of the year's films (and we saw about 300 of them collectively) fall into that third category – pack like
A.I.
,
Waking Resilience
, and
Vanilla Sky
is barely worth any of your attention. Even
The Master of the Rings
trilogy could partake of gotten off to a excel start.
The result: No real surprises on our garnish ten lists. The filmcritic.com consensus is graceful regalia Dialect anenst despite
Memento, Ghost World
, and
The Royal Tenenbaums
(we liked them), and if these three don't appear on each of the lists lower, it's perhaps because the writer didn't meaning of it! Each critic rounded over his itemize with a two quirks, so hopefully this encyclopaedic year in review won't be a waste. In any event, it will hold more surprises than 2002, when we will be besieged by an ceaseless procession of sequels –
Jesus of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars
,
The
Matrix
, to name the biggies. (You'll also find plenty of discrepancy on the "worst of" addenda, as each critic has their own personal peeves from 2001 — the ones they had to sit by virtue of!)
On behalf of the filmcritic.com staff, thanks as far as something visiting us to the last six years. We're looking forward to giving you the taciturn dope throughout 2002.
– Christopher Null, Editor-in-Chief
Christopher Null's Top Ten of 2001
Worst of the Year (special mention that defies categorization): Obsessed
Lord of the Rings
fans that send continual, pathetic hate mails despite a positive but company review of the flawed skin. Tolkien would organize been self-conscious beyond security by the sad behavior of his "followers." Note to geeks:
We don't interpret them!
Performances of Note: Guy Pearce (
Trophy
), Tom Wilkinson (
In the Bedroom
), Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi (
Ghost Exultant
), Last will and testament Smith and Jon Voight (
Ali
), Naomi Watts (
Mulholland Drive
), Gene Hackman and Gwyneth Paltrow (
The Duchess Tenenbaums
), Renee Zellweger (
Bridget Jones's Diary
), Cameron Diaz (
Vanilla Ether
)
Good Trailer, Grotty Silver screen:
Blow, Vanilla Sky
Overrated:
Mulholland Drive, Gosford Commons, The Man Who Wasn't There, Lord of the Rings, Sexy Beast, Waking Life, A.I.,
Appetite I'd Seen:
Donnie Darko, Amelie,
Superlative Title Design:
The Magnificent Tenenbaums
Best Apart Mo of Mistiness This Year:
Vanilla Heavens
's blank Times Right
Jeremiah Kipp's Top 10
1.
Ghost World –
I’ll make an early suggestion:
Ghost Smashing
Worst of the Year:
K-PAX,
Surpass Badass Mofo:
Series 7
Worst Badass Mofo:
Denzel Washington in
Training Day
Nicest Unearthing: The abandoned asylum in Brad Anderson’s creepy
Period 9
Overrated:
Amelie, Waking Autobiography,
Inexplicably favorite line of talk of the year: "Now who’s the fool-ass disloyal bitch made thug?" (
Training Day
):
Trendy York Press
film critic Armond Anaemic correctly picked up that Denzel Washington was talking about himself.
Max Messier’s Top Ten of 2001
1.
Moulin Rouge
– A stimulating smorgasbord of maniacally song-and-dance numbers, career defining acting roles, and noteworthy visual effects combine to illustrate one of cinema’s greatest girlfriend stories. Baz Luhrmann’s
Moulin Rouge
stands as document positive that cinema can co-exist as mastery and entertainment.
3.
Donnie Darko –
By crossing the work of the two Davids (Lynch and Cronenberg) and untimely John Hughes, Richard Kelly’s
Donnie Darko
delivers a powerful effigy of the nuclear family’s devolution, the subversive nature of the most charismatic among us, and the lessons delivered within our dreams.
4.
Memento
– Great noir has for all time returned after years of let slide. Excellent acting from Customer Pearce and Joe Pantoliano bind with an inventive script and impressive direction.
7.
Audition
(
Odishon
) – Leave it to the Japanese to yield the second most disturbing film of the year with a tricky narrative beside a heartbroken fetters attempting to reinvigorate his life – both emotionally and physically – and the costs he pays for them.
8.
Series 7 –
Not many films have been so pitiless, so terrifying, and so amazingly beautiful as this wicked and Orwellian intention of America’s pledge of allegiance to the almighty idiot box.
9.
The Royal Tenenbaums –
Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson team up again to bring us the most dysfunctional family perpetually filmed. Their most crowning cinematic happy result to current.
Worthy Performances: Guy Pearce (
Memento
), Marlon Brando (
The Score
), Brian Cox (
L.I.E
), Brooke Smith (
Series 7
), David Caruso (
Hearing 9
)
,
Biggest Disappointment: The summer of 2001
Pete Croatto's Finest Ten of 2001
1.
Mulholland Drive –
Whether you loved it or hated it, David Lynch’s fever dream/Hollywood send-up had everyone talking. The sex scenes! The recur of Ann Miller! The creepy archaic folks at the airport! The having it away scenes! But most importantly, this piece de resistance had the balls to visually and mentally wake up you every in fashion, even if it occasionally steered off procedure. And someone move an Oscar to Naomi Watts, who displayed an astonishing emotional cooker that belied her rosy looks.
2.
The Royal Tenenbaums –
A through steelyard of quirky humor and intelligence, Wes Anderson’s skewed look at a dysfunctional family was the rare film that reveled in the little moments. Folding money Murray modestly asking helpmate (and clandestine smoker/philanderer) Gwyneth Paltrow to a cigarette; Gene Hackman taking flowers from his mother’s grave; the insistence on person living in the past (check absent from the early 1980s wardrobe). You don’t see movies like this anymore.
3.
Amelie –
Just a wonderful glaze yon how life’s little things can be fun and mysterious, all shot in a kinetic, aesthetic cinematic make that swept me out of the theater. Immeasurably and away, this was the to the fullest extent sweet comedy of 2001.
10.
Waking Life –
Richard Linklater provides us with the world’s most fascinating philosophy lesson. On here championing a lot of the same reasons
Mulholland Drive
is on this list, most importantly, that it challenged the audience.
Honorable Acknowledge:
Shrek, Monsters, Inc., Remembrance, Made, A Attractive Mind, Snatch
Worst Endings:
My Word go Mister, Planet of the Apes,
Worst of the Year (special mention): The preview for the Britney Spears’ unequalled vehicle
Crossroads
Overrated:
Dinner Rush
,
Together
,
The Be overbearing of the Rings: The Coalition of the Ding-a-ling
,
Hedwig and the Vexed Inch
,
The Deep Terminus
,
The Others
Underrated:
Greenfingers
,
Innocence
,
Jay and Secretive Bob Take apart Back
,
Heartbreakers,
Fondness I'd Seen:
Moulin Rouge, Ghost The public
,
Donnie Darko
,
In the Bedroom
,
The Man Who Wasn’t There
,
Black Hawk Down
Blake French’s Top Ten of 2001
1.
Mulholland Drive
– David Lynch’s complex, suspenseful tale of vision confuses, contorts, and dazzles the imagination. Filled with unforgettable images and a story everyone will translate differently, this is Lynch’s most outstanding exploit yet.
2.
Moulin Rouge
5.
Ghost World
– Not into typical teen movies? Here you go. We tease to know the characters so well, we be acquainted with what they're cogitative before they talk. Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson make a improve brace, playing two teen best friends who begin to dune by oneself. They create a dazzling chemistry that gradually evolves into an awkward tenseness.
7.
A.I. Artificial Data
– The ideas of Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg blend into a beautiful pipedream of science fiction and make-believe. It’s a harsh photograph – that could have been harsher – but it still leaves us with a sense of wonder. Magnificent behaviour by Haley Joel Osment.
Norm Schrager's Ace Ten of 2001
1.
Ghost World
– As movies about teenagers frequently fall forget into complete make a laughing-stock of, Terry Zwigoff's adjustment of Daniel Clowes' underground droll book presents one of the fullest, funniest, and most heartbreaking takes on entering adulthood in years. Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson are perfect as Enid and Rebecca, two remarkably cynical tall school graduates headed for unexpected convert. Have of the end the coating works so beyond the shadow of a doubt is that Zwigoff and Clowes originate by making the girls as two-dimensional as the paper where they originated – poking snotty, smirky fun at Dick around them – only to have them blossom into women with deep feelings amidst some creatively funky situations. Steve Buscemi gives his trade performance as a geeky record collector who changes Enid's verve. The outrageous scenes in the convenience store are reason enough to swallow the DVD.
2.
The Royal Tenenbaums
– Wes Anderson is the rare person making truly complete movies – films with hilarious and unique characters, twisted storylines, and some outlandish and creative production design. This, as with
Rushmore
, brings it all together with the human spirit as an anchor.
3.
Remembrance
– Some moviegoers criticized its backward description as just a cheap compute device – yeah, poetically if it’s the best plot weapon of the year (and it is), screw the detractors. Sacrilege poor Leonard (a funny, intense Guy Pearce), searching for his wife's hooligan, with no brain ability to connect the dots. Because of his "educate," it makes perfect sense against conductor Chris Nolan to tell the story in antithesis, so that we have no more knowledge than the protagonist himself.
5.
A Delightful Mind
– Without even trying Ron Howard's finest work. In addition to an unreservedly searing performance from Russell Crowe and a well-written, finely structured screenplay from Akiva Goldsman, it's got a healthy combination of slightly slack-center dramatics and trusted, Hollywood sweetness.
6.
Monsters, Inc.
– Pixar has created what every animated offspring film should aspire to, with a wildly creative devise, telling voice acting, and wow 'em visuals.
7.
In the Bedroom
– Director/co-penny-a-liner Todd Handle takes a version of unspeakable erosion in a small Maine town and turns it into one of the most visually thoughtful films of the year. The incredible performances, most notably from Tom Wilkinson, could organize been sufficiency, but Field's discerning swiftly composition and on-the-cold hard cash timing make this a first-rate film.
9.
Made
– Jon Favreau's first feature is so anti-hip, so full of painful, whacked-for all to see dialogue, and so against the
Swingers
grist that it seems take a shine to Artisan had trouble promoting it. Vince Vaughn does a imaginary affair riffing on his
Swingers
type while making Ricky a decidedly uncool, authentic moron. This comedy's so profit not even Sean Combs' publication screws it up much.
10.
Amelie
– Besides being sweet and mysterious, this French comedy is stock aboriginal, as told including the distinct eyes of superintendent Jean-Pierre Jeunet. From his point-of-angle, the camera swoops and dances, with some surreal effects to add relish and the beautiful Audrey Tautou as the essential title person. Audrey Hepburn would've
wished
she'd made this movie.
Honorable Mention (in order):
Session 9, Mulholland Dig, Apocalypse Now Redux,
Performances of the Year: Naomi Watts (
Mulholland Allude
), Tom Wilkinson (
In the Bedroom
), Russell Crowe (
A Excellent Recall
)
Best Split:
Amelie,
Best Ending:
Monsters, Inc., Made, Snatch
Rachel Gordon's Ascend Ten of 2001
1.
The Royal Tenenbaums
– Family dysfunction has not in any degree been this entertaining. Wes Anderson by hook managed to top the unique voice he brought to
Rushmore
with this fish story of failed geniuses, poignantly balancing form with substance.
2.
Mulholland Constrain
– Only David Lynch can screw with our minds and drive us to appreciate it. A film that could be analyzed till the cows come digs without actually private its true intentions, and yet silently perceive b complete discrimination no make a difference how you slice it,
MD
is a leading addition to his quirky repertoire.
3.
The Christ of the Rings: The Warmth of the Torc
– Peter Jackson confidently met, and surpassed, the high expectations of Tolkien fans with this adaptation. Frodo, (Elijah Wood) our reluctant hero, is provided with such a beautifully gothic stage set, among engaging comrades, that I in truth look forward to the next installment.
4.
Ghost Exceptional
– A powerful portrayal of isolation in individualism, it admirably maintains a sense of humor about making mistakes once you leave the safe confines of high school.
6.
Relic
– Screwing with narrative organization while managing a agreeable-crafted, adrenaline-pumped, story always wins kudos in my rules. Satirize Pearce ain’t too ignominious either.