Best 5 Movies of 2001
There's many ways to review a year, but perhaps one of the most telling is to examine the films
which highlighted a year of movie-going. To be honest, 2001 wasn't a great year for movies.
I saw a lot that I wish I hadn't, or at least that weren't worth the price. A few
others were pretty solid. These 5 were excellent. In this particular order:
#1
The Others ~ at the time I saw it, I
was pretty sure it was the best movie of the year to that point. In retrospect, it stayed
at the top. Probably the best scary movie I've ever seen, with excellent acting from the
entire cast & a great mood. Somehow this film escaped recognition from every top ten
list I could find. That's sad.
#2
Memento ~ original & creative.
That's really good in a year that yielded mostly tired stuff. This was one of two
films (along with the above) that I recall voluntarily seeing twice in theaters.
#3
15 Minutes ~ another movie that slipped
under everyone's radar, this kept risking going bad, but never actually did. In fact, it
had one of the most powerful messages of any Hollywood film in a long time. Stina, Freez,
& I all saw it in Baltimore & were all impressed.
#4
Moulin Rouge ~ everyone's crowd-pleasing
pick, I would not put it in the top five had my life not substantially improved this year.
It would frankly be too painful, as it was when I first saw it. With my renewed
belief in love, it's not so hard to watch movies that really capture what it's like to love.
#5
A Beautiful Mind ~ a very compelling
exploration of mental worlds & reality. That's cool. Well acted, too, & with
shots of a campus I now see often. But mostly the mental exploration.
