2002 was a year of mediocrity. Not much was really all that bad, but only a scant few films truly touched Film Hobbit heaven. Maybe there were things that didn't live up, but for Hobbit movie lovin, these are ten that went above and beyond.
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Directed By: Peter Jackson Written By: Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Stephen Sinclair (I), Frances Walsh Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhys-Davies, Liv Tyler Produced By: Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson. Frances Walsh
The Two Towers somehow bucked all trends to deliver a sequel every bit as good as the first. Perhaps that's because it isn't really a sequel at all, but just part two of one fantastically huge film broken up into three parts so we can all have time to run to the bathroom. We're watching movie history here as each new installment of Peter Jackson's masterful epic rolls in front of our eyes. The trick is making sure we don't take this piece for granted, just because we know there's more goodness coming from Lord of the Rings down the pipes. Sure, the best is yet to come, but The Two Towers is without a doubt the best film of 2002!
Best Moment: Charge of the Rohirrim, Gandalf rides!
2. Spider-Man
Directed By: Sam Raimi Written By: David Koepp Starring: Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, J.K Simmons, Rosemary Harris, Cliff Robertson Produced By: Avi Arad, Laura Ziskin
I guess since I'm supposed to be a film critic that I ought to at least attempt to be objective when talking Spidey. That likely means I should take a few steps back and tear Spider-Man apart one piece at a time, until the wall-crawler has received an analysis that would make Freud proud. Well I'm not that kind of girl. Spider-Man is without reservation the most perfect superhero film ever put to celluloid. Batman is grand, and Reeves is someone we'll never forget, but no movie has ever so captured the essence of the comic book character upon which it is based better than Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. This isn't just a great superhero movie, or a perfect comic book translation; this is genius filmmaking on an immediately iconic level.
Best Moment: "Who am I? You sure you wanna know?"
3. (TIE) Punch-Drunk Love
Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson Written By: Paul Thomas Anderson Starring: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman Produced By: P.T. Anderson, Daniel Lupi, Joanne Sellar
Punch-Drunk Love is a film that resonates with the shy little guy hiding away inside all of us. Like the other film that ties it for #3 on my list, it sports a beautiful and innovative visual style and a simply revolutionary use of sound and music to tell it's story. But most of all, I love Punch-Drunk as a straightforward and beautifully sweet story of romantic love, the type of which we never really seem to get enough of anymore. Through Barry Egan we learn that love can make even the weakest among us stronger than you could ever imagine.
Best Moment: Dancing in the pudding aisles.
3. (TIE) Road To Perdition
Directed By: Sam Mendes Written By: David Self Starring: Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig (I), Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Jason Leigh Produced By: Sam Mendes, Dean Zanuck, Richard D. Zanuck
Road to Perdition ends tied up with Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love at #3, simply because I cannot find a way in my mind to love one less than the other. I'm weak. Shut up. Perdition is a complete film masterpiece, a beautiful example of using every tool available to tell a moving story. A perfect blending of aural, visual, and narrative complexities to create a deeply moving and harrowing story of redemption on the road to perdition. Like a perfect painting, or some other beautiful work of art, Road to Perdition splashes across the screen with some of the most moralistically complex characters I've ever seen in a gangster movie. It earns its spot at #3 not because it is a beautiful piece of cinematography, but because it uses that beauty as one piece of telling a cinematically moving story.
Best Moment: Michael Sullivan and his magic bead of sweat.
4. Signs
Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan Written By: M. Night Shyamalan Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin Produced By: Frank Marshall, Sam Mercer, M. Night Shyamalan
What's great about Signs isn't the subject matter… after all there's nothing new about alien invasion. What is fresh is Director M. Night Shyamalan's take on it, approaching it from the view of one small rural family questioning their faith, questioning their beliefs in the face of a new and terrible world. Signs is War of the Worlds for REAL. Signs is YOUR world if all the unthinkable, unbelievable, "Twighlight Zone" stories we've all seen on TV happened right in your own living room, right next to your own slightly worn out couch. More than any other filmmaker working today, Shyamalan connects with his audience and his characters in a totally unique way to transport us effortlessly into the world of "what ifs". For my part, I'll never again look at a nighttime rooftop without a little voice in the back of my head reminding me that maybe, just maybe those shadows up there are something that ought to make me afraid.
Best Moment: Shadowy figure on the roof.
5. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Directed By: George Lucas Written By: George Lucas, Jonathan Hales Starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Frank Oz Produced By: Rick McCallum (I)
I admitted it in my review, so I might as well admit it again. I am no longer a Star Wars fan. I am a junkie, selling my soul at $7.50 a pop for just a few crumbs of George Lucas's table scraps. The thing is, for all its glaring and nearly painful flaws, Attack of the Clones is a lot of fun. In fact, I maintain that somehow, miraculously, the last 45 minutes is almost an entirely different (and entirely perfect) film. No matter how inconsistent the first part of the movie may have been, the last half re-awakened the Star Wars fan in me that I had thought long dead. Maybe this isn't as good as the original trilogy… in fact it certainly isn't. But at least Attack of the Clones at last recaptured some of the things which made Star Wars so fanboy droolingly great to begin with.
Best Moment: Yoda kicks ass.
6. 25th Hour
Directed By: Spike Lee Written By: David Benioff Starring: Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox Produced By: Julia Chasman, Jon Kilik, Tobey Maguire
25th Hour is not a typical Spike Lee production. But, like all of his work, New York is a pivotal piece of this world. Treading boldly into 9-11 imagery, 25th Hour paints a snapshot picture of a man on what is in effect, the last day of his life. Sentenced to prison for seven years, Monty Brogan must find peace with his past and the few loyal family and friends remaining to him. The result is a powerfully compelling film that focuses not so much on plot, but on examining the choices its characters have made to bring them to this place in time.
Best Moment: Brogan rants against New York to his reflection.
7. Chicago
Directed By: Rob Marshall Written By: Bill Condon Starring: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, Queen Latifah, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs, Dominic West, Lucy Liu Produced By: Marty Richards, Harvey Weinstein
Chicago is not an update to the musical genre, but a revival. A throwback in every sense of the word, Chicago is every bit the garish spectacle of old time musical blow ups like Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, but with ten times the charisma and class. The musical numbers are catchy, the performances eye popping… and the story practically an exact translation from the one in the already successful stage version of "Chicago." That works better than anyone might have expect. Maybe Moulin Rouge blazed a modernized trail, but Chicago carries the torch with a oddly insightful blast from the past.
Best Moment: Cell Block Tango.
Directed By: Bill Paxton Written By: Brent Hanley Starring: Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe, Matthew O'Leary, Jeremy Sumpter, Luke Askew Produced By: David Blocker, Corey Sienega
Despite Director Bill Paxton's tongue in cheek claims that the film's title is actually reference to the movie's budget, Frailty couldn't be more appropriately named. The movie's narrative is woven on the most delicate of threads, pulling audience and character alike through a dark and disturbed trail of past and present as we follow the evolution of a family of future serial killers. Frailty never takes the easy route, opting for a Hitchcock like suspense formula where viewers are faced with the much more terrifying task of envisioning each grisly death for themselves. Who'd have thought the goofy, good old boy star of Twister could create what turns out to be the most unsettling film of the year.
Best Moment: The truth is revealed.
9. Blade II
Directed By: Guillermo del Toro Written By: David S. Goyer Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Luke Goss, Leonor Varela, Matt Schulze, Donnie Yen Produced By: Michael De Luca, Peter Frankfurt, Wesley Snipes
I went into Blade II as someone merely interested, and left as a fan. Blade II is so far beyond the original, which was in its own right a good flick, that the original should simply be forgotten in the depths of it's much bigger brother's shadow. Wesley Snipes is an instant icon in a role he has begun to solidly OWN. Del Toro's love of gore serves him well in the world of vampires and the action sells. Sells hard. I don't think this film sits still for a minute, and we're all the better for it.
Best Moment: Vampire elite invade Blade's layer.
10. One Hour Photo
Directed By: Mark Romanek Written By: Mark Romanek Starring: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Dylan Smith, Erin Daniels, Paul H. Kim, Gary Cole Produced By: Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon, Stan Wlodkowski
Frailty may have been unsettling, but One Hour Photo just plain freaked me out. Robin Williams is Sy Parrish, a photo-tech working in what can only be described as "Wal-Mart heaven." A lonely and desperate man, he becomes obsessed with a family developing their photos there. A deeply stylized and beautifully layered film, One Hour Photo doesn't just let lame symbolism float around as filler, but uses it to develop the characters themselves. Williams is amazing in what he becomes and One Hour Photo ensures that you'll never feel safe developing photos again.
Best Moment: Sy the Photoguy meets Dad.
HONORARY: William Shatner's Spplat Attack
Spplat Attack does not make the "official" ten, but only because it did not receive an actual theatrical release. Make no mistake though; this is the best documentary of 2002, and the most geek-tastic thing I've ever seen. William Shatner leads paintball troops to battle in a documentary about the world of paintball, and the largest paintball match ever played. Watch your back, apparently Captain Kirk likes to shoot messengers. Armed with paint, Shatner doesn’t sit in some “celebrity tent” surrounded by agents and studio producers. Instead, even though the man is in his 70’s, he literally TAKES command, and races out onto the field to lead warriors into battle. It is on this ground that William Shatner plants his flag as the king of celebrity cool.
Best Moment: Captain Shatner leads the Federation charge.
Great stuff that didn't make the cut:
Catch Me If You Can, Far From Heaven, Star Trek Nemesis, xXx, Insomnia, Die Another Day, 8 Mile, About A Boy, The Bourne Identity, The Panic Room, Undercover Brother, Reign of Fire, The Good Girl, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Two Weeks Notice, The Hot Chick, Barbershop, The Importance of Being Earnest, Scooby Doo, The Count of Monte Cristo
Just in case you were wondering:
Deuces Wild was the worst film of 2002. Don't dwell on it, it really isn't worth your time.
