Not to be too contrarian, but only two movies in my Top Ten were nominated at the Academy Awards, none of them for Best Picture, two nods and zero wins between them. Not to play favorites, but four of my Top Ten are not just films I'd seen before, but films I'd seen many times before. As for my almost-made-its, here they are, linking to my original reviews: Almost Famous, American Psycho, Billy Elliot, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, Mission to Mars, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Red Planet, Snatch, Vatel, The Virgin Suicides, and What Women Want.
And now, the Top Ten...in alphabetical order:
dir/scr: Spike Lee
pr: Jon Kilik / Spike Lee
cin: Ellen Kuras
At times messy and with an awful lot on its mind regarding race and media, performance and power, it's an unforgettable, thought-provoking dark comedy that is guaranteed to leave you frustrated, angry, exasperated, amused, horrified - anything but bored. Why is it in the Top Ten? Because I can't stop thinking about Damon Wayans' accent, Paul Mooney's booze-soaked standup, the Mau Maus and their broadcast assassination, Savion Glover's dancing, the white audience in Blackface, the "souvenirs" of America's racist past and present, the final montage of Black "representation" throughout most of Hollywood history, and the perfectly hideous cinematography that is off-putting yet, for this film, perfect. I appreciate a swing like this, and Lee and his cast and crew connect more often than not.
dir: Christopher Guest
pr: Karen Murphy
scr: Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy
cin: Roberto Schaefer
Waiting for Guffman is still my favorite, but this may be the most successful of Christopher Guest & Co.'s ensemble mockumentaries. They know when to get in and out of a scene, they land the right jokes in the right way, everyone's character is vivid, and they all get a chance to play off of one another hilariously. I could watch another 10 minutes of the meet-and-greet in the hotel "ballroom," just to hang out with my new friends, the Flecks and the Donlan-Vanderhofs. Great storytelling in wardrobe and hairstyle - Jane Lynch's even gets its own subplot. And although it finds its ensemble of eccentrics, eh, eccentric, it never condescends or mocks them. They feel like the real deal.
dir: Peyton Reed
pr: Marc Abraham / Thomas A. Bliss
scr: Jessica Bendinger
cin: Shawn Maurer
Is it my rose-colored glasses, or did the mid-90s through mid-00s really produce the best teen comedies Hollywood ever put out? Here's a film that isn't just teeny-pop fun, infectious even, but intelligent enough to tell its story honestly, and with complexity: no heroes, but people trying to do the right thing; no villains, although there are assholes. It celebrates an underappreciated combination of dance and athletics while asking questions about race, class, privilege, and how competitions themselves can foster corruption and nurture promising talent. The jokes hit, the dances are jaw-dropping in their execution, and the actors? Perfection.
dir: Danny Leiner
pr: Broderick Johnson / Andrew A. Kosove / Gil Netter / Wayne Allan Rice
scr: Philip Stark
cin: Robert M. Stevens
I knew once it ended it would be here, a ridiculous, laugh-a-minute riot with as many narrative turns and red herrings as anything by, say, the Coens. Proudly sophomoric, the characters living in a comic strip reality, characters are self-sufficient yet juvenile, situations are literally out-of-this-world, and the answer to the titular question is forgotten so quickly, the greatest surprise is that they actually answer it by film's end...absurdly, of course. One of the more inventive "what the hell happened" comedies I've ever seen, committed to its in(s)anity.
dir: Mark Dindal
pr: Randy Fullmer
scr: David Reynolds, story by Chris Williams & Mark Dindal, additional story material by Stephen J. Anderson & Don Hall & John Norton and Doug Frankel & Mark Kennedy & Mark Walton, from an original story by Roger Allers & Matthew Jacobs
cin: Thomas Baker
The best fourth wall-breaking road trip buddy comedy since Road to Utopia, boasting exceptional voice work, sight gags and dialogue executed with an emphasis on mischievousness, a rollicking score, and a hell of an opening number - with Tom Jones! I am always in a good mood when I watch this movie. Just great!
dir: Darren Aronofsky
pr: Eric Watson / Palmer West
scr: Hubert Selby Jr. and Darren Aronofsky, from the book by Selby
cin: Matthew Libatique
An opera of appetitie, fixation, and, ultimately, degradation. Its depiction of time lost in a high through editing, score, production design, and sound is incredible; the use of title cards delineating between seasons, too: far from giving us a timeline to follow, we're unmoored further - surely that was just a day, has it really been three months? I admire its commitment to showing the tediousness of addiction: yes, this will get to tragedy, but first, a lot of people lying around, not leaving their apartments. You also feel the occasional euphoria, the feeling that, hey, things really are getting better, who wouldn't want to keep this going? Captures that feeling of wanting to save someone but being forced to watch their self-destruction.
dir: Bonnie Hunt
pr: Jennie Lew Tugend
scr: Bonnie Hunt & Don Lake, story by Bonnie Hunt & Don Lake and Andrew Stern & Samantha Goodman
cin: László Kovács
I have probably seen this one the most out of any film here - maybe even out of every film released in 2000. I could blame my mother, but at a certain point, it became one of my favorite movies, too. I still can't believe this is the only movie taking advantage of the natural chemistry shared by David Duchovny and Minnie Driver, nor can I believe this is the only film Bonnie Hunt directed and wrote. I love how the score crescendos with both the kiss in Italy and the gorilla's climb in his new habitat, perfect for both instances because it follows the swell of the chest and the soaring of the soul one feels when they arrive Home.
dir: István Szabó
pr: Andras Hamori / Robert Lantos
scr: István Szabó and Israel Horovitz, story by István Szabó
cin: Lajos Koltai
I said it once, I'll say it again: this movie feels like it was grown in a lab to appeal to me, specifically, from subject matter to casting. The only things missing were a musical number and a mafia hit!
dir: Sofia Coppola
pr: Francis Ford Coppola / Julie Costanzo / Dan Halsted / Chris Hanley
scr: Sofia Coppola, from the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides
cin: Edward Lachman
Like the teenage boys who narrate the film, I have found myself haunted by the memory of this film almost daily. I genuinely cannot fathom how one presents something as literal and clear as a movie and still gives the impression of something you almost remember, but whose truth is still just out of reach. I see this spotless house and these Polaroid-ready tableaux of attempted parties and youthful, promising faces and none of it seems quite real; ghostly, I believe, is the word. Coppola has captured memory's fleeting nature, yet does not make her characters or intentions vague or unknowable. A home run on the first go.
dir/scr: Edward Yang
cin: Kai-Li Peng
A lot can happen in a year. Bittersweet, human. The kind of movie that gives you a scene so personal, so familiar, you wonder how Edward Yang could possibly know that about you...a viewer watching this 25 years later. I'm thinking specifically of the parallel date nights that maybe shouldn't be happening, of the guilt over your own perceived contribution to a loved one's sudden ailment, of the indulgence in a new hobby that's not taken seriously or even mocked, and of a businessman taking a moment to commune with the pigeons. Might be the perfect film with which to welcome the New Millennium.
And tomorrow - the nominees for the 2000 Retro Hollmann Awards!
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