My Top 10 films of 2001

[CMJ]

No doubt my list will irritate a few people with it's inclusions and/or exclusions. I think this is about as final a list as I'm gonna get...I believe I saw just about every film I really wanted to see from 2001(though who knows I guess the list COULD be modified in July if I catch a real gem on video that I missed). Anyways, here goes.

1. A.I. Artifial Intelligence
2. Memento
3. A Beautiful Mind
4. Black Hawk Down
5. The Royal Tenenbaums
6. The Man Who Wasn't There
7. In the Bedroom
8. Monster's Ball
9. Shrek
10. From Hell

Some Honorable mentions(films that barely missed out)...in NO particular Order

Jurassic Park III(Hey I love Dino's what can I say)
The Score
Mullholland Drive
The Majestic
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Iris
Planet of the Apes
Amelie
Training Day

[sirdizzy]

what no glitter, or freddy got fingered not even joe dirt

[CMJ]

LMAO...no...I guess I could do a worst of year list though. ;)

[Jedi Master Carr]

I will probably right up my own top 10 here soon, but I have not seen as many films as you CMJ so it would not be as complete as yours, for example I still haven't seen In the Bedroom which I am curious about or A Beautiful Mind still I won't be able to see them in theaters so I just will leave them off.

[Shawn]

I don't think there were 10 good films last year.

My list would look something like this:

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Memento
Moulin Rouge!
A.I. Artificial Intelligence

And that's it. :p Shrek was good, but not something I'd stick on a list.

[JonathanLB]

I still like most of your list, CMJ. I gave 5 of those films 3.5 or 4 stars, 4 got 4 stars.

I only saw 9 of the films, though, I missed The Man Who Wasn't There so I will have to catch that.

I also agree with most of your honorable mentions. I personally really enjoyed The Majestic and would give it 3.5 stars (a high 3.5), and also I thought JP3 was very well done. It was tightly edited, excellently produced, and I believe it is a superior summer blockbuster (also 3.5 stars). The Score was really good, gave that 3.5 stars, and I think it is my 2nd favorite recent robbery movie, hehe (Ocean's 11 is first, then I think I'd say Heist is third, Bandits fourth, but all four films get 3.5 stars so it's really tough to rank them). I also really enjoyed Planet of the Apes and gave it four stars, I really like Tim Burton. It wouldn't most likely make my top 10 list I don't think, it would be just outside of it. I am not really sure though because I just cannot remember all of the films I saw. I know it was just about every one, lol, and for 2002 I will make an official top 10 list.

I never saw Iris, also want to see that still.

I will question your choice of "From Hell," though, because I truly thought that was a movie from hell. It was so much worse than I expected it would be. I guess I finally gave it two stars, which isn't terrible, sure beats the Oscar trash, but it was such a boring, meandering, violent-with-no-purpose type of film. I don't understand what there was to like about it. I thought some of the cinematography was fairly good, but the film just was so mediocre.

It sure would be convenient if there were a list of every single movie that opened in one year, hehe, at least in wide release and also including films that were major independent movies, i.e. Amelie, Gosford Park, etc. That way I could make my list easier.

I just can't even remember the first part of the year that well.

I think I gave a ton of 3.5 star ratings, which for me is a B or B+ level, and I didn't give more than maybe 10 A's but I don't even remember that many. Black Hawk Down, Memento, A.I., Shrek, Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes... hmm... Cannot remember what else. Hannibal was 2001 yeah? I guess I gave that four stars, although it certainly was a weird film. I probably should re-review it (I have the DVD).

I've given only one four star rating in 2002 so far, yikes, at this pace it'll be a pretty miserable year. I am sure that will change soon though. Blade 2 on Friday, Panic Room the week after that, I assume one of them has to be four stars, or both, better be anyway.

[CMJ]

Yeah it's kind of hard to remember everything I see, I agree with you Jon. I've been doing this best of year list since '97...so I'm in my 5th year now. It's gotten easier with the passage of time to catalogue films...I've begun to make mental notes of films I REALLY enjoyed. Still considering I probably see 100 new films a year, give or take a few, and I enjoy at least half of them; coming up with a top 10 list is tough. Hell...I even had films I wanted to include on my HM list but decided against it. ;)

[Dutchy]

There's still quite some movies that have yet to open here or that I still have to see, but right now my Top 10 looks like this:

1. Amores Perros
2. Shrek
3. Monsters Inc.
4. A Beautiful Mind
5. No Man's Land
6. Billy Elliot
7. The Others
8. Ghost World
9. The Man Who Wasn't There
10. The Royal Tenenbaums

[Dutchy]

By the way,


Originally posted by JonathanLB
I just can't even remember the first part of the year that well.



Originally posted by CMJ
Yeah it's kind of hard to remember everything I see, I agree with you Jon.

You guys don't keep track of all the movies you watch?

[CMJ]

No...I kinda do Dutchy. I have a million ticket stubbs in plastic bags. ;) It's not like I dump them out to make sure what all I saw during a given year though...I just keep them as momento's. :)

Oh yeah..."Billy Elliot" is ineligible as is "Amores Perros"(for me) because they were released in 2000 in the USA. "Billy Elliot" was an honorable mention on that year's list though. ;)

[JonathanLB]

Yeah, I agree, those are 2000 films...

Dutchy reminded me, though, hehe. I would put The Others on my top 10 list also. That was a very good film, it was masterfully well done. It'd be in the bottom to middle part of my top ten list for the year, quite a surprise film. I didn't think anything that good would be coming out at the end of August (I think that was right?), but then it hung around FOREVER and was like a mini-TSS at the box office. My best friend and I loved it. I honestly wish Kidman had got a nomination for that too, or that instead of Moulin Rouge, but I still have to see MR.

I used to keep track of every film I saw each year, but I didn't do that in 2001 for whatever reason. I fell behind sometime early in the year and forgot about it after that. I think I lost the list of the 2000 movies I saw too, I just looked for it for like 10 minutes and cannot find it. Hmm... :(

I don't keep track this year, but I can tell you simply by looking at my reviews because I review everything I see and I remember what I saw twice, which so far is only The Count of Monte Cristo (but Sean and I are going to Resident Evil again this week, he loved it, I loved it, hehe).

I had thought about writing a "best and worst of" for each month of the year for my site, but after February I began to question that notion. I mean, hehe, I only gave ONE good review in all of February yet I saw about 15 films, so it would have been more like, "Just stay out of theaters in February -- save yourself time and money." I could do it for March sort of, though this month is exactly the opposite. I have given 4 very positive ratings and 1 negative one, one mixed one, and once I see Ice Age and Blade 2, that'll be 6 positive reviews no doubt. Except Sorority Boys opens next weekend and everyone knows that is going to suck the fat one, hehe.

This year looks great for movies though, besides the fact that so far the movies have mostly sucked before the last two weekends(except the 2001 movies like Black Hawk Down and Brotherhood of the Wolf that I saw in Jan.).

These are four star candidates that I see this year:
Blade 2
Panic Room
Spider-Man
AOTC (hehe, definite)
The Twin Towers
Analyze That
Minority Report
Men in Black II

Probably others of course, and a few of those may end up being less than what I had hoped, you never know.

[Shawn]

Analyze That? They're making a sequel??

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by CMJ
No...I kinda do Dutchy. I have a million ticket stubbs in plastic bags. ;) It's not like I dump them out to make sure what all I saw during a given year though...I just keep them as momento's. :)

I got a list of every movie I've seen in my life. Well, at least since the late 80's when I started tracking them.


Oh yeah..."Billy Elliot" is ineligible as is "Amores Perros"(for me) because they were released in 2000 in the USA. "Billy Elliot" was an honorable mention on that year's list though. ;)

You're right about Billy Elliot. Amores Perros was released in 2001 in the USA, though, hence I used it.

Actually, I can make 3 different Top 10's for each year:

1. Based on original release year
2. Based on USA release year
3. Based on Holland release year

I like the first list best, coz it's the most universal, so to speak.

I can not imagine Amores Perros is ineligible for your Top 10 list, coz then you can only put it on your 2000 list which is no fun and fun is what these lists are all about. :) Did you see Amores Perros, by the way? If so, what did you think of it?

Anyway, if I have to replace both those films I add You Can Count On Me and A.I.

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by JonathanLB
Yeah, I agree, those are 2000 films...

Did you see Amores Perros, though?


Dutchy reminded me, though, hehe. I would put The Others on my top 10 list also. That was a very good film, it was masterfully well done. It'd be in the bottom to middle part of my top ten list for the year, quite a surprise film.

Yup, caught me by surprise as well.

[CMJ]

"Amorres Perros" played here in LA for like a week in 2000, hence a 2000 release. ;) "You Can Count On me" was a HM for 2000's list as well, since it was released that year(even got up for some Oscar's). It was a nice film about family...I did enjoy it alot.

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by CMJ
"Amorres Perros" played here in LA for like a week in 2000, hence a 2000 release. ;) "You Can Count On me" was a HM for 2000's list as well, since it was released that year(even got up for some Oscar's). It was a nice film about family...I did enjoy it alot.

Shall I just post my Top 10 for 2002 as my list for 2001 then? :p

Which is impossible, coz I only saw 1 2002 release yet. :)

[CMJ]

LOL..no Dutcy..it's okay. The release patterns around the world just much this up when you're comparing lists from diferent countries. :P

[JonathanLB]

Well I like Dutchy's idea of making the top ten list based on when they were first released, no matter what country.

Like Brotherhood of the Wolf. That film was not playing in 2001 in the United States, or not that I know of, but it could have been in a few NY and LA theaters. I was in LA, though, and it wasn't playing at the Bridge, which is the second most expensive and luxurious theater in Los Angeles (see Variety's article from last week). Still, Brotherhood of the Wolf is a 2001 movie. Black Hawk Down was not out in any cities except NY and LA before 2002, but it's still a 2001 movie.

I think of January 2002 as a pretty good month, hehe, but in reality two of the great films that month were not even 2002 releases, so really it's just like spillover from the last year.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Ok I am going to do mine, I probably won't be by Order though that would be too tough, except for the Best Movie which I include, I am also going to count 2001 movies I saw on Video and that would be about half the list. Not everybody will agree with my list but I look at films I enjoyed and that entertained me as well.

1 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2 AI
3 Memento
4 Hannible
5 Monsters INC
6 JoyRide
7 Enemy at the Gates
8 Rush Hour 2
9 Jurassic Park 3
10 The Score

There are a few other films too that if I thought about if for a while might pass the bottom 3 on this list
Along Came a Spider
Heist
Shrek

Also I haven't seen Training Day, Black Hawk Down, A Beautiful Mind or In the Bedroom but probably will catch them all on tape (I am probably renting Training Day tomorrow so I might have to change this list if I like it)

[CMJ]

"Enemy at the Gates" was pretty underrated. I liked it quite a bit...or at least I liked alot about it. I thought Harris was quite good for example(isn't he always...give the man an Oscar already ;) ).

I remember thinking "Hannibal" had it's definite good moments, but I came out a bit disappointed. The production qualities were superb though(especially cinematography and make-up).

[JonathanLB]

Yeah I had forgotten about Enemy of the Gates, I gave that four stars definitely, it was in my top ten. It's an excellent film and I must agree, Harris is the man. I just liked the idea that it was showing another part of the war aside from the U.S. and we get this great story about one man who made a real difference in the war, and that is a true story. I bothered reading up more about it online and whatnot and although no movie is even close to totally accurate, that person did exist and registered many, many enemy kills and energized the army.

Carr's list:
"1 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2 AI
3 Memento
4 Hannible
5 Monsters INC
6 JoyRide
7 Enemy at the Gates
8 Rush Hour 2
9 Jurassic Park 3
10 The Score"

LOL, every single one of those films is very good. At least three stars each. Here would be my ratings:

1) 4
2) 4
3) 4
4) 4
5) 3.5
6) 3.5
7) 4
8) 4
9) 3.5
10) 3.5

Carr, I REALLY hope you visit my movie site when it is online because we have such similar tastes, I really think you will find it useful and hopefully you'll enjoy the reviews/news/box office stuff. You are exactly the type of person I am hoping finds and likes my site because I know people with such similar tastes will enjoy it. I mean, hehe, it is rare for someone to post a top ten list where I found myself giving such an extremely high rating to every film. A total 38/40. We definitely have just about the same taste in movies, plus I love Heist, love Shrek, and haven't seen Along Came a Spider but my mom and dad did and said it was excellent, so I will have to get to it, but I just wanted to see "Kiss the Girls" first as I understand that is the first one.

CMJ, you and I are about half and half, haha. I still think you will enjoy my site though, or at least I hope so, but I cannot really expect that people who often disagree with me are going to be loyal visitors or anything. :(

Basically, I do the same thing that I expect visitors to do, which is to find a few critics that I agree with most often and then I end up reading their reviews the most. Ironically I cannot name too many critics I am agreeing with a lot, but I must say I like USA Today as a whole, their critics are doing a good job except that I disagree with the independent movies, but they are dead on with most of the stuff, besides my disagreements with Collateral Damage and Resident Evil, both films they gave 2 stars and I gave 3 and 3.5, respectively. I can name more critics that I know I do not agree with, though. The Owen dude at Entertainment Weekly is horrid. He thinks the only BAD Best Picture nominee is LOTR. He is a total idiot! I mean, I swear he cannot be a guy, no guy would love every romance movie and hate every great action movie. Maybe he's gay, honestly, lol. Nothing wrong with that but I suspect he must be. Then Peter Travers at Newsweek, he's a moron too. Kenneth Turan at the L.A. Times... I met him in real life and I have his home address, phone number, talked to him on the phone and in real life for a while, but I must say, I do not agree with his reviews much at all. He seems overly negative to me, like Travers...

I like Lisa of EW, she is mostly a very good critic. I suppose she is in the general vicinity of my reviews 70% of the time, which is good.

I would have said Ebert before, but he's just a total idiot lately. Doesn't like Gladiator, doesn't like Resident Evil, doesn't like much of anything lately and he really does like some stupid movies. Ebert has gone bad or he's in some kind of crisis lately or something because he's doing an awful job, lol. Ever since he wrote that political article that was anti-Bush I lost a lot of respect for him because it was SO poorly written and I don't want to hear his opinion on anything but movies. Stick to what you know, fat man. :D

Carr, you and I agree on movies like, what, maybe 90% of the time? haha ;)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Maybe I don't know I am sure there are some movies you like and I didn't POTA comes to mind I guess its because I saw the original and the first one just didn't equal it in my view, and then the Time Machine which I haven't seen yet, so the book is still out on that one. I end up seeing more movies on DVD than in the theaters, I just don't have time to go, and sometimes its more convient to just pop a movie into my DVD player than go to the theater for some movies, so I kind of pick and chose which ones I do that with. I am sure I will visit your site Jon just let me know when you get it up and I will go there and read some of the reviews.

Ok for the movies I agree with Enemy at the Gates I wanted to see it in theaters but never got around to it, it was a great movie on WW II, (I guess that is why I liked it) it did a good job showing the battle of Stalingrad, and they also should give Harris an Oscar he is a great actor. As far as Hannible well, I understand why you might be a little disapointed, it does not measure up to SOTL, I mean it is no where near as scary. When I saw SOTL, it really scared me and grossed me out especially the part about Buffalo Bill and him using women parts to make him into a female:x (actually I think SOTL was grosser than the Hannible maybe because I knew the brain scene was coming, I don't know) what won Hannible for me was Hopkins (he is brilliant in every thing IMO) and Oldman who was terrific and unrecognizable as that sadistic pedophile. I still loved the movie just didn't find it as scary as SOTL (though I have to say I knew about some of the stuff coming before I saw it which probably hurt that some). Speaking of Hopkins I realized another movie from 2001 that I just saw and really liked Hearts in Atlantis, I thought it was a great coming of age movie by Stephen King, not sure if I would put it as one of the top ten of this year but I it was one of the better movies that I saw from last year.

As far as worst moves of 2001, I doubt I could make a list really because the worse movies (Freddy got fingered, Town and Country, Glitter) I did not see. The worst film I saw I guess would be The Musketeer and I think that is more because I am such a student of that period and was too biased against the changes (historical mostly). If didn't know much about the period and hadn't done my thesis on Cardinal Richelieu I actually might have had a different opinion on it. (Orignially I actually liked the 93 version of the Three Musketeers but have come to hate it because of the historical changes they made in the movie.)

[JonathanLB]

There is our disagreement. I just loved The Musketeer, even though most people hated it, I thought it was totally awesome. Action was great, nice plot and a cool twist on the original idea, so I thought it was wonderful. I gave it 3.5 stars.

As far as Hearts in Atlantis, well, I had my problems with the film but I gave it 3 stars and I enjoyed it still. I have my review done actually, it'll be on the site upon launch.

I'll let you know.

Actually, the site should be done tomorrow my designer tells me, but he says it may take one more day. He's doing a great job on what I have seen so I cannot complain that much, but still :(

The problem is, I cannot show you the site until it is all done, that is just how I am. I will not even show my best friend anything until it is totally done because I know how people judge things based on partial information.

When I show it to other people, it will have all of the 110 reviews up (may have 112 or so) and it will have a few news items, plus everything should be working perfectly including affiliate programs. I should have about a day to test the site myself. I am really really hoping to launch the site in full on Monday but I just don't know.

I'm totally bummed about this whole situation. The point was that I am taking a week off my hardcore work from this Friday through about the next Friday or Saturday even because that is spring break for all of my friends, the one week until mid-June when I actually get to hang out with them. So that is my week off, party time, house to myself while the parents are gone w/my sister from Fri. to the next weekend or something. I may even get to go to the Spurs-Blazers game on Wed. I think it is.

So I'm just totally mad about the fact that this site was supposed to be up way way before now but instead I have no choice but to work on launching it this weekend when/if I have the time or early next week. I know Saturday and Saturday night is the big party night, shhh, don't tell my parents. Of course, none of my friends would touch the alcohol, oh no, hehe, they are all good kids ;)

LOL. riiight.

I'll try to get this site launched anyway, but man, it's been tough lately for business. I spent $1,200 Wednesday including a $1,000 check FedExed to NY for 85,000 subscribers to my humor site's newsletter.

I agreed to pay $300 more, so in a way I spent $1,500 Wed. I think it'll all be worth it for sure, plus I deposited $1,689.82, haha, so that wasn't that bad ;)

But the worst part is, I just totalled up the money I owe my mom from charging to my credit card (money she paid off for me) and her credit card, and it's $2,141.35. UGG, I think I have almost double that left in the bank, but I just don't know, all of these numbers are giving me a headache lately because of the odd way these companies have billed me and paid me and the difficulty of separating what payment is for which month.

The movie site will be up soon, though, it has got to be. I have about 65,000 subscribers paid for, about 60K are actually onboard now, probably almost all by the time I launch. Then I am buying 30,000 more (thus that $300 I agreed to pay today), so I should be very near having a list of 100,000 people to promote the movie site to. I just hope it goes well, you never know really.

[CMJ]

Yeah I'm planning on going to your site Jonathan. I check out all sorts of films sites whether I agree or disagree with reviews. Oftentimes I find reviews that disagree with my opinions more interesting to read.