The Best and the Worst: May 2000 (contd)

May 2000 continues from yesterday.

The month of May was fruitful for awards season, seeing the release of two films whose popularity and infamy, respectively, lasted well into March of the next year. I refer, of course, to Gladiator and Battlefield Earth.

Gladiator was a hit, Battlefield Earth was a bomb. Gladiator was the #1 film in the USA two weeks in a row, the #3 film of the whole year; Battlefield Earth bankrupted its studio, the #100 film of the whole year.  Gladiator won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Battlefield Earth "won" the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture. Are their reputations warranted?

Read on:

The First Eight Months: Part Two

We're playing catch-up. Did you read the 17 capsule reviews from yesterday? Well, we've got more today, starting with...

Crazy Rich Asians

dir: Jon M. Chu

scr: Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim

adapted from: the novel by Kevin Kwan

seen: AMC Burbank 16

A Chinese-American professor visits her Singaporean boyfriend's homeland for a wedding - only to learn that he is the scion of the country's wealthiest family, and now must guard herself against the friends and foes who question her intentions and suitability. Sexy, hilarious, heart-wrenching. Watch Constance Wu struggle to fit in as both an American and a "commoner"; behold Michelle Yeoh as she fights to not lose her son; worship Gemma Chan as she holds her head high against the pettiness around her. Costumes, production design, music like something out of a dream...or Ross Hunter's Hollywood. The most beautiful people you've ever seen on screen. I cried while talking about it the next day. It's so good!

16 more after the jump, including Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Christopher Robin, Hereditary, and more....