2001 Is Shaping Up To Be A Very Good Year At The Movies; Top Ten List Getting Crowded (1 Viewer)

[Edwin Pereyra]

I just added the Swedish film, Together, a satirical look about life in an idealistic commune from director Lukas Moodysson to my top films of 2001. With the slate of Fall and Christmas films yet to come, this year is shaping up to be a very good year at the movies. Ghost World and Bread and Tulips are also making their way into town. Finally!
Here are my current Top 10 contenders for 2001 in alpha order (U.S. release dates as qualifier):
1. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
2. Amores Perros (Mexico)
3. Deep End, The
4. Enemy At The Gates
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
6. Memento
7. Moulin Rouge
8. Road Home, The (China)
9. Together (Sweden)
10. With A Friend Like Harry (France)
At this point last year, I was scraping the bottom of the barrel to fill my Top 5 list.
~Edwin
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http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Forum9/HTML/005780.html#8 http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Forum9/HTML/006466.html
[Edited last by Edwin Pereyra on October 04, 2001 at 01:08 AM]

 

[Tino]

Great post Edwin. You are the man!

Seriously, I have seen 5 of the films so far in your top 10 (A.I., The Deep End, Enemy At The Gates, Memento and Moulin Rouge) and they all are in my top 10.
So, I'm halfway there and with the fall and winter releases yet to be released, I hope I can fill out my personal top 10 with some quality films.
I agree that it's been a good year for films so far, but it also has been one of the worst in terms of absolutely horrible films such as American Pie 2, Evolution, Tomb Raider etc..
Hopefully the remainder of the films are more like the former rather than the latter.
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[Michael Reuben]

You are the man!

 

[TheLongshot]

2. Amores Perros (Mexico)

Just to correct you, Amores Perros is officially at 2000 film. It was a nominee for Best Foreign Film last year.
Jason
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[Morgan Jolley]

Sometimes, you get a lot of ok movies and very few great or horrible movies, and sometimes you get a bunch of great movies and a bunch of horrible movies. This year, we got a lot of GREAT movies, and we got a lot of HORRIBLE movies. Last year was the "some ok, some bad, few great, few horrible" years. Thats my explanation.

 

[Rich Malloy]

What about In the Mood for Love? Did we ever finally conclude that it was a 2001 film?
If so, I've got that one and A.I. jockeying for the top position on my list!

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

quote: Just to correct you, Amores Perros is officially at 2000 film. It was a nominee for Best Foreign Film last year.[/quote]
I agree that by the Academy standards (or first public release date) it is a 2000 film but to my knowledge it never played in North America (N.A.) in 2000. And since I am using North American release dates for my own classification, it is a 2001 film for me.
quote: What about In the Mood for Love? Did we ever finally conclude that it was a 2001 film?[/quote]
It depends on what classification you are using. For worldwide release, it is a 2000 film vs. 2001 for N.A. This film was never shown in my area.

And I'm still waiting for the DVD.
~Edwin
[Edited last by Edwin Pereyra on October 04, 2001 at 03:21 PM]

 

[MichaelPe]

Personally, I wasn't too crazy about Together, but it was better than most of the films I have seen this year. My favorite foreign films of the year that are worth mentioning are Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, The Princess And The Warrior, and Our Lady Of The Assassins.
Overall, this is shaping up to be a much better year than 2000.
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MY TOP 20 OF 2001
[Edited last by Michael Perez on October 04, 2001 at 09:59 PM]

 

[Seth Paxton]

Yeah, I even rather enjoyed 2 of the summer flick blockbusters - Apeland and JP3.
My list is looking a bit better than last year, but not a whole lot...yet. We will see what the Oscar run brings us.
Tenebaums got slightly cooler than expected comments from Welles at Reel.com although he still liked it.
I have a feeling that Fellowship will end up on my list, maybe Monsters and Harry. Maybe Gangs or K-Pax. But there are no guarantees.

 

[Jason Whyte]

Looking at my Top 10 right now, I'm really happy with the results so far this year. Everything from quirky dramas (Ghost World) to bombastic musicals (Moulin Rouge) to documentaries (Startup.com) to animated classic (Shrek) to Tilda Swinton (The Deep End); you could end the year right now and it would be one hell of a list.
Still, the ratio of good to bad films has certainly dwindled since 1999. I had roughly twelve four star ratings at the end of 1999, about eight in 2000, and only THREE to this point in 2001. Am I getting more tougher on my star ratings? Perhaps. And sometimes the same star rating can have its levels...."Rush Hour 2" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" are both films of which I found exhilirating, and worthy of a 3.5 star, but certainly not one of the best films of the year. Then you get a 3.5 "Moulin Rouge," which I clearly think is one of the year's best films and will surely be on my Top 10 by year's end.
I don't know what to make of the rest of the year. There are a LOT of films I am excited about, but I'm not thinking about them just yet. I like working on a week-by-week basis (hell, I'm seeing four films today!). And then I ALSO have to realize I'll be working into the wee months of 2002 with platform releasing and foreign pushovers (can you believe some major cities are JUST getting 2000 Best Foreign Oscar nominees in the fall of 2001?). Is this job fun or what?
Jason
Top 10 as of right now:
1. Ghost World
2. Lost and Delirious
3. The Pledge
4. Shrek
5. Moulin Rouge
6. Baby Boy
7. Startup.com
8. A.I.
9. The Anniversary Party
10. The Deep End
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[Bill Harris]

Its still to early..but
(1) Memento
(2) Amores Perros
(3) Lost and Delerious
(4) Ghost World
(5) Moulin Rouge
(6) Battle Royale
(7) Series 7: The Contenders
(8) Shrek
(9) Enemy at The Gates
(10) Sexy Beast
this list was compiled using the NY/LA rule
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[Mark Cappelletty]

I can't agree with any of you. I have a short list of movies I've liked (Ghost World, The Deep End, The Others), but this has been by far been the WORST year for movies in over a decade. It's just been miserable. When the "summer movies" have to be ranked by which one irritated me the least (Jurassic Park III) I know something is wrong.
I finally saw one energetic and well-crafted B-picture, "Joy Ride," today and was pleased less that I had a good time but that it actually accomplished what it set out to do-- jolt me. That's all.
Looking forward to the new David Lynch & Coen Brothers films, but this has been a grim year for movies indeed.

 

[dd1079]

I just checked rottentomatoes.com. There are already 19 movies with a 90%+ rating while in 2000 there were only 9 90%+ movies throughout the whole year. And with Ali, Monsters Inc. or Lord of the Rings still in the oven this might very well be one of the better years for movies in recent history.
[url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/top/bestofrt_year.php?year=2001
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[Brook K]

My NY/LA Top 10:
1. In The Mood For Love
2. Moulin Rouge
3. A.I.
4. Mulholland Drive
5. Amores Perros
6. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
7. The Pledge
8. Divided We Fall
9. The Princess and the Warrior
10. The Anniversary Party
I'm still mixed on the year. Nothing has been as good as last year's top 3 of Requiem, Yi Yi, or Dancer, but there's still several I'm really looking forward to like Amelie and the new Coen Bros.
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[Seth Paxton]

Well, at this point last year I think I only considered Erin Brockovich to be remarkable. I was just about to see Requiem, my 2nd powerful film viewing of the year. Most of the rest of my list came in DEC and JAN (IIRC).
That Coen film looks good, I agree. And Amelie has some good buzz carrying it along.
So now Gangs is getting delayed till next year it appears?
I've bolded the 3 films that really blew me away this year - Moulin Rouge, Memento, Jay and Bob. There are several others that I respected and enjoyed but which did not capture me. Last year I ended with about 6-8 of those.