Our Top 10's of 2002 -- Time To Throw Down / The HTF 2002 Film Awards (See Post #1) - Page 3

Chuck's Favorite Films Of The Year:

1) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2) Equilibrium
T3) Minority Report
T3) Catch Me If You Can
5) Gangs of New York
6) The Bourne Identity
7) Chicago
8) Y Tu Mama Tambien
9) Frailty
10) We Were Soldiers

Take care,
Chuck

The remainder was moved to the last page.

Though I've always felt that the formality of top 10 lists is a little silly, this has been a terrific year. Among some of the more remarkable and significant films released this year:

Storytelling
Heaven
24 Hour Party People
Spirited Away
Far From Heaven
Punch Drunk Love
Bowling for Columbine
Adaptation
The Two Towers
Gangs of New York


The most disappointing films I've seen this year (not necessarily bad films):

Panic Room
Minority Report
Signs
Invincible

It's probably not the right place to mention this, but as satisfying a year this has been I was depressed to read about different receptions a lot of films received this year. Solaris and Punch Drunk Love come to mind as films that were savaged audiences in general. Of course, not everybody is expected to like some of these films, but some of the reactions I've read goes to show just how unsophisticated most filmgoers really are.

Top 10 of 2002... 1, 2 and 3 pretty solid, 4 and 5 could move, 6 to 10 are slightly "Not necessairly in that order.

1. Kissing Jessica Stein
2. L'Odysee D'Alice Tremblay
3. Spirited Away
4. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
5. Metropolis
6. About A Boy
7. Punch Drunk Love
8. Ice Age
9. Birthday Girl
10. Life Or Something LIke It

Other movies I really liked but just can't put in Top 10: Star Wars 2, Minority Report, Lord Of The Rings: 2 Towers, Harry Potter 2, Spiderman. It's strange but it's usually movies that I wasn't looking forward to, that I went to see on a sunday afternoon because I had nothing else to do that stood out the most.

Recaps of previous years:

Top 5 of 2001:

1. Amelie
2. Ghost World
3. Memento
4. Bridget Jones Diary
5. Josie And The Pussicats

Top 3 of 2000:

1. Magnolia
2. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
3. Dancer In The Dark

1. Catch Me If You Can
2. Road To Perdition
3. Adaptation
4. Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
5. Minority Report
6. Far From Heaven
7. Solaris
8. Punch Drunk Love
9. Chicago
10. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones

Well, here goes nothing:
1: Minority Report
2: The Two Towers
3: Bowling For Columbine
4: Changing Lanes
5: Gangs of New York
6: Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
7: Adaptation
8: The 25th Hour
9: About A Boy
10: Punch Drunk Love

Honorable Mentions: Catch Me If You Can, Solaris, Spirited Away, Lovely and Amazing, The Good Girl, Y Tu Mama Tambien, We Were Soldiers, Moonlight Mile, Red Dragon, Super Troopers, Chicago, About Schmidt, Panic Room

Kevin

My Top 10 of 2002:

1. Y Tu Mama Tambien
2. 13 Conversations About One Thing
3. Igby Goes Down
4. Late Marriage
5. The Man From Elysian Fields
6. Chicago
7. He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
8. The 25th Hour
9. The Pianist
10. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys


Honorable mentions:

Rabbit Proof Fence
The Salton Sea
The Good Girl
Maelstrom
About Schmidt
Roger Dodger
One Hour Photo
Auto Focus
Nine Queens
Scotland, PA
Italian for Beginners
Unfaithful
Catch Me if You Can

Disappointments:

Adaptation
Punch Drunk Love
Far From Heaven
Heaven
Spirited Away
Solaris (but one of the most thought-provoking)
Gangs of New York
Road to Perdition

Have yet to see (and may affect the Top 10):

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Hours
Nicholas Nickleby
The Quiet American
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

.

.

Here are my top ten films of 2002:

1. The Way Home
2. Nowhere in Africa*
3. The Kid Stays In the Picture
4. Chicago
5. Monsoon Wedding
6. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
7. Spirited Away
8. Nine Queens
9. Days (Giorni)*
10. Standing in the Shadows of Motown

Honourable mention goes to "The Devil's Backbone" and "Lantana" which got wide release in early 2002, even though NY/LA saw the release of these films in 2001.

* denotes special Festival screening.

The worst:

Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood - cringe inducing

Charlotte Gray - even the beautiful Cate Blanchard couldn't save a mess of a movie, "Heaven" was also disappointing.

Enigma - Again, the star power cast, couldn't save this mundane, forgettable movie.

Windtalkers - unfocused, violence for violence sake, a movie in search of a plot.

Reign of Fire - all the special effects in the world couldn't save this film, plot holes galore, never met it's potential.

Jason X - why?

Pinocchio - the godawful dubbing gave me a headache. Roberto Benigi creeped me out.

Scorpion King - completely mindless.

Kung Pow - wtf?

Bad Company - a waste of my time and money. What was Anthony Hopkins thinking... what was I thinking...

Top prize goes to a movie that sounded interesting but failed on every level: A British 2001 film called "Endgame" (*). Completely uninteresting characters, scenes that don't make any sort of sense. An unintentional comedic sadist cop. One can see why this hasn't been picked up a US distributor. This movie tried so hard to be daring and different, but lacked any coherency or believability.

1. Punch Drunk Love
2. Spirited Away
3. 24 Hour Party People
4. Adaptation
5. Bowling for Columbine
6. The Two Towers
7. Minority Report
8. Catch Me If You Can
9. The Pianist
10. Gangs of New York

Top Ten of 2002 (to date; I still haven't seen some of the possible contenders)

1. Two Towers
2. Adaptation
3. Y Tu Mama Tambien
4. Chicago
5. The Hours
6. About Schmidt
7. Insomnia
8. Narc
9. About a Boy
10. Lilo and Stitch

My list:

I may add write-ups later.

1) Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
2) Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)
3) Frailty (Bill Paxton)
4) Metropolis (Rintaro)
5) Time Out (Laurent Cantet)
6) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson)
7) Femme Fatale (Brian De Palma)
8) Frida (Julie Taymor)
9) Atarnajuat: The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk)
10) The Rules of Attraction (Roger Avary)

Runners Up: Adaptation, Catch Me If You Can, The Kid Stays in the Picture, The Road to Perdition

Most Overrated: Bowling for Columbine, Chicago, Far From Heaven, The Hours, Y tu mama tambien

My list:

1. Minority Report
2. Secretary
3. Talk To Her
4. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
5. Bloody Sunday
6. The Pianist
7. Tully
8. Italian for Beginners
9. Rabbit-Proof Fence
10. Spirited Away

Best Director
Peter Jackson
Spike Jonze
Martin Scorcese
Roman Polanski
Tom Tykwer

Best Actor
Adrien Brody
Sam Rockwell
Steve Coogan
Michael Caine
Nicholas Cage

Best Actress
Emily Watson
Meryl Streep
Cate Blanchett
Maggie Gyllenhall
Diane Lane

Supporting Actor
Alfred Molina
Andy Serkis
Brendan Fraser
Joaquin Phoenix
Noah Taylor

Supporting Actress
Catherine Zeta Jones
Heather Jurgenson
Samantha Morton
Ana Lopez Mercado

Breakthrough Performance
Adam Sandler
Maggie Gyllenhall
Ryan Gosling

Animated Feature
Spirited Away
Lilo & Stitch
Metropolis

Art Direction
The Two Towers
Gangs of New York
Road to Perdition
Chicago
Frida

Costume Design
The Two Towers
Gangs of New York
Road to Perdition
Catch Me If You Can
Chicago

Cinematography
Road to Perdition
The Quiet American
The Two Towers
Heaven
Gangs of New York

Editing
City of God
Sex and Lucia
Adaptation
Minority Report
Talk to Her

Foreign Language
City of God
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Talk To Her
Sex and Lucia

Makeup
The Two Towers
Frida
Chicago
Gangs of New York
Far From Heaven

Music Score
The Two Towers
Road to Perdition
Signs
Punch Drunk Love
Frida

Original Screenplay
Adaptation
Punch Drunk Love
Far From Heaven
Talk to Her
Y Tu Mama Tambien

Adapted Screenplay
The Two Towers
Gangs of New York
Heaven
Minority Report
Catch Me If You Can

Sound
The Two Towers
Signs
Punch Drunk Love
Star Wars Episode 2
Minority Report

Sound Effects Editing
The Two Towers
Signs
Punch Drunk Love
Star Wars Episode 2
Minority Report

Visual Effects
The Two Towers
Minority Report
Harry Potter
Gangs of New York
Brotherhood of the Wolf

My 10 best films of 2002, in order:

1) the Fast Runner: Four hours of arctic bliss and wonder.

2) Bloody Sunday: So real it looks like a documentary.

3) Lady and the Duke: Easily the most technically innovative film i saw this year (much moreso than say Spiderman or Lord of the Rings II). People walking in and out of paintings.

***NOTE: It was very hard for me to decide among the top 3 films - each was outstanding and a good case for #1 could be made for any of them.

4) the Secretary - Daring, hilarious filmmaking

5) chicago - the "he had it coming" sequence was a tour-de-force, the best 8 minutes of film of 2002.

6) Monsoon Wedding - how the pathetic "greek wedding" made the 240 million instead of this gorgeous, touching film baffles me.

7) Solaris - Beautifully made, haunting sc-fi

8) Lord of the Rings II - Yes, even better than I. Epic stuff.

9) Spirited Away - magical realism

10) Frailty - Scariest movie of the year

Well, I took so long to post that I just moved my list to here. Pictures later to spice it up.

1 - Two Towers
2 - Chicago
3 - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
4 - About Schmidt
5 - Solaris
6 - Punch Drunk Love
7 - Changing Lanes
8 - Adaptation
9 - Frida
10 - Talk to Her


11-20: Spider-Man, 25th Hour, The Quiet American, The Hours, About a Boy, Bowling for Columbine, Gangs of New York, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Signs, Antwone Fisher,

21-30: Y Tu Mama Tambien, Far From Heaven, Road to Perdition, 13 Conversations about One Thing, Heaven, Bourne Identity, Minority Report, The Ring, One Hour Photo, The Good Girl

Contenders yet to see: Spirited Away, The Kid Stays in the Picture,


Adding my current 10 worst films I saw from 2002

1 - Sweetest Thing
2 - Jason X
3 - Windtalkers
4 - Rollerball
5 - Bad Company

6 - Imposter
7 - Crocodile Hunter
8 - Mr. Deeds
9 - Adventures of Pluto Nash
10 - John Q




My final ballet for the HTF awards

Best Director
Spike Lee - 25th Hour
George Clooney - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Steven Soderbergh - Solaris
Rob Marshall - Chicago
PT Anderson - Punch Drunk Love

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis - GONY
Nick Cage - Adaptation
Jack Nicholson - Schmidt
Caine - Quiet American
Dario Grandinetti - Talk to Her
(Leo DeCaprio-CMIYC and Sam Rockwell-Confessions just miss)

Best Actress
Julianne Moore - Far From Heaven
Meryl Streep - The Hours
Renee Zellweger - Chicago
Selma Hayek - Frida
Nicole Kidman - The Hours

Best Supporting Actor
Andy Serkis - TTT
Ed Harris - Hours
Christopher Walken - Catch Me
Chris Cooper - Adaptation
Barry Pepper - 25th Hour
(Molina-Frida just misses)

Best Supporting Actress
Kathy Bates - About Schmidt
Catherine Zeta-Jones - Chicago
Emily Watson - Punch Drunk Love
Susan Sarandon - Igby Goes Down
Amanda Peet - Changing Lanes
(Streep-Adaptation and Toni Collette-About a Boy just miss)

Best Breakthrough Performance (3)
Kieran Culkin - Igby Goes Down
Sam Rockwell - Confessions
Everlyn Sampi - Rabbit Proof Fence

(yes, Rockwell has been fairly high profile, but Confessions gave him the chance to show interesting range and the ability to carry a film)

Best Animated Feature (3)
(I haven't seen Spirited Away yet)
Metropolis
Lilo and Stitch
Ice Age

Best Art Direction
Frida
Catch Me If You Can
Chicago
Far From Heaven
The Two Towers

Best Costume Design
The Two Towers
Gangs of New York
Frida
Chicago
Far From Heaven

Best Cinematography
Rabbit Proof Fence
Quiet American
Road to Perdition
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Talk to Her

Best Editing
The Two Towers
Chicago
The Hours
Bowling for Columbine
Adaptation

Best Foreign Language Film
Talk to Her
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Heaven
Monsoon Wedding

Best Makeup
The Two Towers
The Hours
Frida
Adaptation
Minority Report

Best Music Score
Gabriel - Rabbit Proof Fence
Williams - CMIYC
Blanchard - 25th Hour
Goldenthal - Frida
Glass - Hours

Best Screenplay, Original
Talk to Her
Signs
Gangs of New York
Igby Goes Down
The Good Girl

Best Screenplay, Adapted
Adaptation
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
About a Boy
The 25th Hour
Solaris

Best Song
"I Move On" - Chicago
"Die Another Day" - DAD
"Hands That Built America" - GONY
"Lose Yourself" - 8 Mile
"Hable Con Ella (Talk to Her)" - Talk to Her

Best Sound
The Two Towers
Minority Report
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Gangs of New York
Signs

Best Sound Effects Editing (3)
Minority Report
The Two Towers
Bourne Identity

Best Visual Effects
The Two Towers
Minority Report
Frida
Brotherhood of the Wolf
S1m0ne

# Seen: 51

Top 10 Academy
1) 25th Hour
2) Spirited Away
3) What Time Is It There?
4) Punch Drunk Love
5) Talk To Her
6) Far From Heaven
7) The Piano Teacher
8) Y Tu Mama Tambien
9) Catch Me If You Can
10)Sunshine State

Top 10 World
1) 25th Hour
2) Russian Ark
3) Punch Drunk Love
4) Talk To Her
5) Far From Heaven
6) Catch Me If You Can
7) Sunshine State
8) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
9) Signs
10)City Of God

Haven't Seen:
Adaptation, The Hours, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, The Quiet American-Best Director


-Best Actor
Isabelle Hubert, The Piano Teacher-Best Actress
Barry Pepper, 25th Hour-Best Supporting Actor
Edie Falco, Sunshine State-Best Supporting Actress
Adam Sandler, Barry Pepper, City of God ensemble-Best Breakthrough Performance (3)

Spirited Away, Lilo and Stitch-Best Animated Feature (3)
Far From Heaven-Best Art Direction
LOTR: The Two Towers-Best Costume Design
What Time Is It There?-Best Cinematography
25th Hour-Best Editing
Spirited Away-Best Foreign Language Film
LOTR: The Two Towers-Best Makeup
Joe Hisiashi, Spirited Away-Best Music Score
Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch-Drunk Love-Best Screenplay, Original
Spike Lee et al., 25th Hour-Best Screenplay, Adapted
-Best Song
Punch-Drunk Love-Best Sound
Punch-Drunk Love, LOTR: The Two Towers, City of God-Best Sound Effects Editing (3)
LOTR: The Two Towers-Best Visual Effects

(based on 2002 Oscar eligable films)

1. Bowling for Columbine 9/10
2. Punch Drunk Love 8/10
3. Spirited Away 8/10
4. Signs 7+/10
5. Catch Me if You Can 7+/10
6. Chicago 7+/10
7. Rabbit Proof Fence 7+/10
8. All or Nothing 7+/10
9. Spider-Man 7+/10
10. Hush! 7+/10

My 2002 list
My 2001 list (Hush! was on that list)

---Individual Awards---
(only awarding select catagories)

Best Director Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Actor Adam Sandler :p
Best Actress Everlyn Sampi
Best Supporting Actor John C. Reilly
Best Supporting Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones
Best Breakthrough Performance Everlyn Sampi
Best Animated Feature Spirited Away
Best Foreign Language Film Spirited Away
Best Music Score Catch Me if You Can
Best Screenplay, Original Punch Drunk Love
Best Screenplay, Adapted Chicago

My top 10 of the year (and I've seen everything on that list but Thirteen Conversations):

1) City of God
2) The Two Towers
3) Irreversible
4) Adaptation
5) Secretary
6) The Pianist
7) Y Tu Mama Tambien
8) The Hours
9) Narc
10) The Quiet American/Gangs of New York

I cheated there, with 11, but I just had to give GoNY a little credit despite its flaws.

I hate making absolute lists, but I suppose I need to in order to get in on a voting process.

1. Punch-Drunk Love
2. Adaptation
3. Rabbit-Proof Fence
4. The Pianist
5. Frailty
6. Real Women Have Curves
7. Sunshine State
8. Chicago
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
10. Far From Heaven

Next 10 (in no particular order)

The Hours
Catch Me If You Can
25th Hour
Bowling For Columbine
Frida
Gangs of New York
The Good Girl
The Man From Elysian Fields
Minority Report
Solaris

I saw 77 different movies in the theater last year, not counting 2001 movies I saw at the beginning of the year (Iris, Ali, Black Hawk Down, etc.) and not counting movies I saw more than once.

46 films seen.

My top ten list for 2002

1. Bowling for Columbine
2. Far From Heaven
3. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
4. Changing Lanes
5. Punch Drunk Love
6. Gangs of New York
7. The Rules of Attraction
8. 25th Hour
9. About Schmidt
10. 8 Mile

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you on that one.
I loved "Chocolat" (it was #8 in my Top 10 of 2000), and thought it was a much stronger film overall. As you said, it received 5 Oscar noms, and I thought it was deserving of all of them. And, let's not forget that it had some amazing performances from its stellar cast (Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench, Alfred Molina, Carrie-Anne Moss, Johnny Depp).

I'm honestly stunned at the success of MBFGW, and even more shocked that it was nominated for an Oscar. Sure, I thought it was a very funny film, with average performances, and it had its cute moments... but that's as far as it gets. Does anyone here really think that it deserved a nom for "Best Original Screenplay"? I don't think so, and I can probably name 100 films from 2002 with better screenplays (don't worry, I won't name them).

I don't. However, while mourning all the screenplays that didn't get in, I must say that I'm glad that it got some recognition, and I'm glad that the recognition had Nia's name on it. As someone who would give her soul to be a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I'm thrilled, THRILLED I tell you, for Nia Vardalos. She went from guest spots on TV shows to an AMPAS member in one year, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer person. She never again has to worry about money, everyone knows her name, she's on the "A list" and everything that entails, she has a sure-fire hit TV show on the way, she gets freebies galore and, most importantly, in my eyes, she GETS TO VOTE on the Academy Awards. Talk about a Cinderella story! I wish people would just be happy for her as a person. Backlash is nasty.

Well, obviously.

The point of the message was that it's praise from critics/Academy didn't translate into praise here on the HTF. The freshest incident of this in my mind was Chocolat, as I recall it not being one of the faves around here but praised by critics/Academy/Miramax.

IIRC, Chocolot wasn't heavily praised by critics.

Just checked at Rotten Tomatoes and Chocolat came it at a meager 61% with 104 reviews counted. Definitely not high critical praise.

Also as for MBFGW, I remember there being quite a bit of support for it on the forum. Edwin, Seth, and Tino were constantly urging me to go see it...

Also...I know that RT isn't a perfect indicator of anything, but it's the best critical compilation available, with quite a few reviews.

edited for spelling and the RT disclaimer

Yes, Chocolat was different from MBFGW in that it had a smaller but stronger contingency of fans. MBFGW seems to have done so well by striking the fancy of a wide range of groups, though none of them would consider it the best film of the year (AFAIK).

Watching Wedding again the other day I was considering all these dynamics and I'd have to say that Wedding succeeds for 2 specific reasons - entertaining supporting cast and some pretty fun writing. So seeing the script in the Oscar mix is okay with me. In fact, being able to sell what is basically formula as fun and/or fresh tells me that the script did have something to it.

But its tough to tell, it could just be that the performers are all so solid.


My biggest problem with Chocolat was that it was just Pleasantville all over again.

True, but I guess we should also admit that 2002 was a much stronger year than 2000. Oscar noms are about selecting the year's five "best" in any given category, so I guess it's all relative. Perhaps if "Chocolat" had been released in 2002, it would've been ignored by the Academy.