2001

Best Movies of 2001
The Usual Choices
A Beautiful Mind (Ron Howard)
Gosford Park (Robert Altman)
In the Bedroom (Todd Field)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson)
The Man Who Wasn't There (Ethan & Joel Coen)

But how about...
Last Orders (Fred Schepisi)
A little movie about grief, family, friendship, war, marriage, lust, gambling, disability and drinking. Phew! The obvious immediate joy of this film is the cast: Bob Hoskins + Helen Mirren + Michael Caine + Ray Winstone + Tom Courtenay + David Hemmings...they don't make 'em like that anymore. Impossible to dislike, the story ambles along like a Sunday walk, shuffling through memories like we all do when we're with longtime friends. The flashbacks are handled seamlessly, and the directorial style opts to underplay the inherent sentimentality. A film about ordinary people who live the usual extraordinary lives. With each other.

...and what about...
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
I always found it curious that this film was almost universally bagged when it first came out. All the usual moans that you get about a Spielberg film: sickeningly schmaltzy & the resolution is too pat. Me? From the first time I saw it, I thought it was just terrific. A wonderful take on the done-to-death Pinocchio story, with as-to-be-expected-from-Steven visuals and a lead performance from a child that is absolute perfection. A.I. is the near artistic equal of both E.T. and Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, but I do have a couple of qualms: Frances O'Connor is all wrong as Mum (see below), and it should have ended 15 minutes before it did...which is where I turn it off when I re-view it. However, it is a lovely sci-fi fairy tale, and how many of those are there in existence?

...not to mention...
Bridget Jones's Diary (Sharon Maguire)
I know I know I KNOW, okay? A chick flick. Another one of those Hugh Grant rom-coms where he says 'fuck' a lot. A colour-by-numbers movie. A purely commercial contrivance with zero artistic merit. But...so bloody what? It makes me laugh (and be honest...how many 21st Century movies have done that for you?) American Renee is absolutely fab as the Brit Bridget; Colin & Hugh do their dry, straight-faced, bemused routines; the supporting players are quirky, totally one-dimensional and appealing; the script is witty with good little one-liner zingers peppered throughout; and it manages to be vulgar without being gross...and how rare is that? Better than Notting HillFour Weddings & a Funeral and definitely Love, Actually. Feelgood feels good. 

...and one personal unmentionable...
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson) & Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's's Stone (Chris Columbus)
A pair of Episode Ones of two major fantasy-movie franchises, kicking off in the same year! Wow! Break out the term "landmark cinema". And yes, I went to see (rather than just wait for the DVDs) all of the subsequent chapters for both, because I felt as if it was expected of me. And everything I saw was...admirable. Visually spectacular, great booming sound, set pieces that benefited from cutting-edge SFX, wonderful make-up, comforting characters who kept coming back, evil bastards who got satisfyingly dispatched, happy happy endings.
And, without exception, the days after I had watched both movies (not to mention all the days to come when I watched all their endless sequels that kept appearing like headcolds in August), I had forgotten absolutely everything. Nothing lingered; chewing gum for the senses.

My Top 10 Films of 2001
Cheeta Kardashian

#01  A   Mulholland Drive (Lynch)
#02  A   A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Spielberg)
#03  A   Lantana (Lawrence)
#04  A   The Man Who Wasn't There (Coen)
#05  A-  The Royal Tenenbaums (Anderson)
#06  A-  Bridget Jones's Diary (Maguire) 
#07  A-  The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (de Heer)
#08  A-  Donnie Darko (Kelly)
#09  B+ Ghost World (Zwigoff)
#10  B+ Last Orders (Schepisi)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11  B+ The Tailor of Panama (Boorman)
#12  B+ A Beautiful Mind (Howard)
#13  B+ Enemy at the Gates (Annaud)
#14  B+ The Deep End (McGehee; Siegel)
#15  B+ Gosford Park (Altman)
#16  B+ In the Bedroom (Field)
#17  B+ Iris (Eyre)
#18  B+ The Others (Amenabar)
#19  B+ Yolngu Boy (Johnson)

Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
>  B   The Cat's Meow [apart from Kirsten, poor casting lets it down]
>  B   Ali [acceptable biopic of a great man, but it doesn't hit hard enough]
>    Training Day [very urban; very confronting; very cynical; very unpleasant]
>    Charlotte Gray [inexplicably unengaging]
>    Enigma [too much fiddling about with the already-fascinating facts]
>  B   Birthday Girl [went in a direction I didn't much care for]
>  B   Planet of the Apes [needless remake from a director who used to have an original vision]
B   My First Mister [affecting odd couple character study that gets too soft in the tail end]
>  B   The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [epic fantasy franchise-starter]
>    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's / Philosopher's Stone [epic fantasy franchise-starter too]
>  B   Monster's Ball [powerful and uncompromising, but it pushes me away]
>  B-  L.I.E. [VERY uncomfortable viewing]
>  B-  Moulin Rouge! [everybody involved needs to take a chill pill RIGHT NOW]
>  B-  Hannibal [the essence of excess]
>  B-  Black Hawk Down [Health Warning: Pro-War]
B-  Heist [a sleek caper movie that contains no surprises whatsoever]
>  B-  Fourth Angel [a suspense-less story told at breakneck speed]
>  B-  Ocean's Eleven [big names looking for Cool]
>  B-  Zoolander [a Ben Stiller movie]
>  C   America's Sweethearts [yet another US rom-com non-entity]
>  C   Rat Race [It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad...oh...forget it]
>  C   The Shipping News [a great book that should sue for slander]
>  D   The Believer [watched the first 20 minutes then turned it off: an important subject, but just too ugly]
>  D   Bully [just try to tell me that this isn't morally-questionable porn trying to get under the radar]

"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 2001 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
Don’t Say a Word (Fleder); From Hell (Hughes); The Grey Zone (Nelson); I am Sam (Nelson); The Pledge (Penn); Tape (Linklater); Waking Life (Linklater)


Best Performances of 2001
Oft-Mentioned Choices
Halle Berry in Monster's Ball
Jim Broadbent in Iris
Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind
Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind
Judi Dent in Iris
Will Smith in Ali
Denzel Washington in Training Day

But how about...
Richard Dreyfuss in The Old Man Who Read Love Stories
Close your eyes and listen to this idea: let's make a film about an old Spanish guy who lives in the Amazonian jungle. His greatest pleasure is reading love stories; his greatest challenge is tracking down a man-eating jaguar. We'll get a Dutch Australian film-maker to direct it and...here's the kicker...we'll get Richard Dreyfuss to play the old man. Now, for the most unlikely fact of them all: Richard is FANTASTIC in the part. Perfect, soft accent; comes across as genuinely wise & crafty & brimming with passion; moves like a cat himself. Yeah...Richard Dreyfuss. One of the greatest unjustly-overlooked performances of all time. 

...and what about...
Nicole Kidman in Birthday Girl
You gotta hand it to our Nicole; she doesn't shy away from a challenge. A Russian prostitute, speaking nothing but Russian, then English with a Russian accent...not bad for a Sydney girl. And she manages a Meryl Streep (ref. Sophie's Choice, natch) by being totally believable. While she plays the straight woman in this flick, and is responsible for some fairly despicable deeds, Nicole never lets our attachment to her to completely disintegrate. When she smiles, we (okay...I) melt. How many other actresses could have made such a horrible person so easy to forgive?

...not to mention...
Ed Harris in Enemy at the Gates
Strong performance after strong performance, Ed is the kinda actor that is wholly dependable but rarely spectacular. He never goes for the big, showy spotlight, but burrows into the character and presents him as...just a fella, regardless of emotional extremes or questionable motivation. And here's another one: a Nazi king-of-the-snipers who refuses to be bettered, no matter the moral or spiritual cost. Determined and ruthless, Ed pans his character around slowly, patiently, waiting for the opportunity to kill. Absolutely nothing (certainly not feelings) gets in his way. A bitterly cold performance from one of the great under-esteemed actors.

...and one personal unmentionable...
Frances O'Connor in A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Motherlove is supposed to be the ultimate exhibition of security and protection; the loss of a child, a mother's ultimate grief. In A.I., Frances attempts to play such a Mum, but somebody needs to show her what love is, because her version comes across as distant, self-serving and bizarrely polite. Warming embraces? No. Looking after your basic needs while teaching you how to behave properly? No. Driving to an isolated spot, abandoning you and howling about it out of sheer guilt? You betcha. Raising a flesh 'n' blood kid to be a spoilt and emotionally manipulative little brat? Yeah, that too. Ironic Fake Spoiler: Mummy is the real robot. 

My 10 Favourite Performances of 2001
A snapshot from happier days: 
Nicole smuggles Tom past the paparazzi.

#01  Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive
#02  Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones' Diary
#03  The cast of Lantana
#04  Richard Dreyfuss in The Old Man Who Read Love Stories
#05  Haley Joel Osment in A.I. Artificial Intelligence
#06  Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums
#07  Helen Mirren in Last Orders
#08  Nicole Kidman in Birthday Girl
#09  Ed Harris in Enemy at the Gates
#10  Marisa Tomei in In the Bedroom
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11  Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind 
#12  Tilda Swinton in The Deep End 
#13  Sissy Spacek in In The Bedroom
#14  Scarlett Johansson in Ghost World
#15  Judi Dench in Iris  
#16  Denzel Washington & Ethan Hawke in Training Day
#17  Kirsten Dunst in The Cat's Meow
#18  Jude Law in A.I. Artificial Intelligence
#19  James Coburn in The Man From Elysian Fields

Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Tom Wilkinson in In The Bedroom [Cringing Attempted American Accent Alert]
> Halle Berry in Monster's Ball [all too much for me]
> Will Smith in Ali [stings like a butterfly]
> Billy Bob Thornton in The Man Who Wasn't There [the only time in film history when a performer was out-acted by his smoking]


And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 2001 are:

FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
SILVER: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
BRONZE: Lantana (Ray Lawrence)

LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Richard Dreyfuss (The Man Who Read Love Stories)
SILVER: Gene Hackman (The Royal Tenenbaums)
BRONZE: Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind)

LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive)
SILVER: Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones's Diary)
BRONZE: Nicole Kidman (Birthday Girl)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Ed Harris (Enemy at the Gates)
SILVER: Jude Law (A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
BRONZE: James Coburn (The Man from Elysian Fields)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Helen Mirren (Last Orders)
SILVER: Marisa Tomei (In the Bedroom)
BRONZE: Maggie Smith (Gosford Park)

ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Anthony LaPaglia & Geoffrey Rush & Barbara Hershey & Kerry Armstrong & Rachael Blake & Vince Colosimo & Daniela Farinacci & Peter Phelps & Leah Purcell & Glenn Robbins (Lantana)
SILVER: Judi Dench & Jim Broadbent; Kate Winslet & Hugh Bonneville (Iris)
BRONZE: Denzel Washington & Ethan Hawke (Training Day)

JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Haley Joel Osment (A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
SILVER: Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World)
BRONZE: Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's / Sorcerer's Stone)

The Alternate Razzies for 2001 are:

CRAP FILM of the YEAR
Bully (Larry Clark)

CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Eddie Izzard (The Cat's Meow)

CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Frances O'Connor (A.I. Artificial Intelligence)