Best Movie You've Seen All Year

[Brian Koontz]

I've seen maybe 50 movies that were released in 2002, and of those I'd rate Signs the best. It did what only a handful of movies have ever done... it *scared* me. The lighting and direction with respect to suspense was incredible in this film. The rest of the movie balanced out to be good, which in a year without elite titles is good enough for the top spot.

[Met_K]

If anyone replies to this blatantly obvious troll (I guess Brian just "happened" to "forget" about Two Towers, Harry Potter, and the likes), then so help me God I'll jack you in the fucking eye with the god damn Space Needle.

[Brian Koontz]

If anyone replies to this blatantly obvious troll (I guess Brian just "happened" to "forget" about Two Towers, Harry Potter, and the likes), then so help me God I'll jack you in the fucking eye with the god damn Space Needle.

Since I haven't jacked a copy off the internet or seen a preview release in theaters, I haven't seen TT yet. Given early reports it may rival Signs for sure.

Harry Potter was a good or even very good movie but it doesn't approach Signs.

[Brad Grenz]

Maybe he hasn't seen those yet. Are you arguing that Chamber of Secrets is the best film released in 2002? You realize that in you effort to persuade anyone from replying to these "trolls" you always seem to be the first to be baited? I thought Signs was great. I also thought Spiderman was great, and the Extended version of Fellowship was great. I haven't seen Punch Drunk Love or Two Towers yet, so I'm not ready to pick a favorite.

[Met_K]

You realize that in you effort to persuade anyone from replying to these "trolls" you always seem to be the first to be baited?

Maybe I can call 'em, and you can't?

[Murph]

Hmmm...I guess I'd have to vote for Spiderman, but I fully, fully expect The Two Towers to claim that title in two weeks.

[TimElhajj]

Frankly I don't understand all the attraction that Spiderman got. I liked it, but I just knew the story so well it seemed sorta boring. I have to say the same for Harry Potter 2. Not that they were bad movies, just not that gripping.

[chet]

If my night-time dreams count - the ones where brian koontz dies by getting hit by a truck. Otherwise I am voting for punch drunk love.

Chet

[Rywill]

Probably "Road to Perdition," although "Secretary" and "Signs" would both be close seconds. I expect TT to be way better than all of them, though.

I'd also toss in a vote for "Spiderman" being pretty ordinary. I didn't get why everyone liked it so much, either. It was a pretty average action movie.

[Gordon Cameron]

I saw very few films this year. The longer I work in the movie biz, the fewer movies I actually watch. :(

Let's see. I saw. Y Tu Mama, but that came out last year, I think. Attack of the Clones, which I actually liked, but not enough to make it movie of the year. Changing Lanes, which was pretty good. In The Bedroom, but that came out last year. Oh yeah, I also saw High Crimes, but that was a free screening thingy; my company produced it. Also saw The Kid Stays in the Picture -- it was stylish and fun, but a little shallow, and my memory of it is marred by a minor medical emergency that happened right after. And Minority Report, which I didn't much like (one of the few occasions where I find myself agreeing with a Harry Knowles review).

I guess I'd give the cake to Spirited Away. Not my favorite Miyazaki film (the sublime Totoro gets my vote for that), but it had some great scenes.

Still looking forward to:

Gangs of New York (aka the Scorsese Redemption? Or Bringing Out the Dud?)
Catch Me If You Can
Two Towers

Methinks I will catch all of these over the holidays. And maybe the Pianist, or Chicago, or the Quiet American.

[Ben Sones]

I haven't seen the Two Towers yet, but so far my vote would go to Spirited Away.

By the way, a Region 1 version of My Neighbor Totoro is now available on DVD:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00003CXCZ/qid%3D1039359838/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-0355570-8667944

Apparently the extras aren't that great (as in "there aren't any"), but the movie is there.

[Gordon Cameron]

Yeah, I've been waiting for a Totoro DVD and may have to pick that one up. One may gripe it's dubbed not subtitled, but I thought it was a good dubbing job (as were Spirited Away, Mononoke, and Kiki). Apparently it's not widescreen either, which is lousy, but I'll live with it.

[Ben Sones]

The lack of widescreen bothers me more than the dubbing. Miyazaki's films have mostly enjoyed excellent dubbing, and I'm not particular about the whole sub/dub debate. I'll watch a dub as long as it's done well.

Fullscreen only is a pain, though.

[Dave Perkins]

Punch Drunk Love entertained me more than any other movie this year. If Y Tu Mama Tambien came out this year, though, I'd like to mention it too.

[Gundaliro]

I just saw Adaptation the other day, and though it's not even close to as good as Being John Malkovich and seemingly unbiased critics everywhere are falling all over themselves to praise it, I'd say it was still the most interesting movie to me all year. Still head and shoulders over Punch Drunk Love, although they both suffer from the same critic-fawning.

Honestly, there really weren't that many super-amazing films this year, so far. I'd have to say one that stuck with me was Lovely and Amazing, though -- one of the few I actually left the theatre feeling satisfied with.

[graller]

Preview Vote - 1 ) Two Towers
2) Road to Perdition
3) Greek Wedding
4) Attack of the Clones
5) Spiderman

[Tom Chick]

Oh, goody, movie top ten lists!

So far, I've got:

1) Punch-Drunk Love
2) 8 Mile
3) Bloody Sunday

...and then a bunch of other stuff that I haven't pieced together yet.

-Tom

[Wholly Schmidt]

I haven't seen too many movies this year. I guess Road to Perdition is it for my favorite? I don't know, nothing stands out in memory. I also expect Two Towers to be my favorite when all's said and done.

[Brian Koontz]

For the record I have not seen Spirited Away (never came to my area) or Road to Perdition (I didn't feel like it). I'll catch both of them on DVD.

[Tyjenks]

I just saw Adaptation the other day, and though it's not even close to as good as Being John Malkovich and seemingly unbiased critics everywhere are falling all over themselves to praise it, I'd say it was still the most interesting movie to me all year.

Ewww. Nicolas Cage handicaps and takes one star off my rating even before viewing the film.

I really liked Frailty while we are throwing names out. Not sure if it beats all the above mentioned, but my wife and I dug it.

[Rywill]

"Frailty" was really good, although it didn't get a lot of press and I assume it didn't make a lot of money. It's the sort of movie you only see every 5-10 years: a psychological horror thriller. Good stuff, and believe it or not, Bill Paxton is a really good director (or at least, he has an excellent cinematographer. One or the other).

[Tyjenks]

"Frailty" was really good, although it didn't get a lot of press and I assume it didn't make a lot of money. It's the sort of movie you only see every 5-10 years: a psychological horror thriller. Good stuff, and believe it or not, Bill Paxton is a really good director (or at least, he has an excellent cinematographer. One or the other).

His acting ability has always been a little suspect to me, but the nut role in Frailty was right up his alley.

On second thought, he was good in Tresspass, but was having to act in the shadows of both Ice T and Ice Cube so it is no wonder that performance went unnoticed by the Academy.

[Jason Lutes]

I'd have to vote for Spirited Away with Punch Drunk Love a close second so far. TT might take the cake if the CGI Gollum doesn't wreck it for me, and I expect Adaptation to rank up there. I thought Lovely & Amazing and Y Tu Mama were both great, too.

[Tom Ohle]

Well, I saw Mulholland Drive for the first time this year, so that's #1.

- Spider-Man (just plain awesome)
- The Ring (not as good as it could have been, but Naomi Watts rocks my world)
- Attack of the Clones (minus the terrible dialogue)
- Jackass (I haven't laughed that hard in a long time)

I can't even think of any other movies that I saw. There were plenty more, but those are the ones that stick out in my memory.

[Anonymous]

This was a suck year for the movies.

I say Adaptation...at least it was trying.

[Tyjenks]

I say Adaptation...at least it was trying.

Seriously, does this mean Nicolas Cage was not a total stiff? I have seen precious little media on Adaptation. Maybe his role uses his stiffness to the movie's advantage.

[Gundaliro]

Seriously, does this mean Nicolas Cage was not a total stiff?

Thing is, I hate Nicolas Cage with a passion, but he was bearable in Adaptation. To my mind, Cage is like the dramatic version of Ben Stiller, who I also hate with a passion, but the part that impressed me was less how he portrayed this nebbishy, panic-wracked guy (it was actually a bit over the top, in that Cage way) than how he managed to convey this weird sibling rivalry between himself and himself.

[Brian Koontz]

- The Ring (not as good as it could have been, but Naomi Watts rocks my world)

I spent the whole movie thinking she was only so-so as a hottie and then her tits made a cameo in the well and I'm ready to give them an Oscar. They can act their pants off (or my pants off anyway).

[wumpus]

After considerable thought, I've decided that I would like to second that "Brian Koontz gets hit by a truck" nomination.

[Ron Dulin]

24 Hour Party People.

[wumpus]

Y Tu Mama were both great
I don't see what's so great about Y Tu Mama. It's sentimental, meandering, and ends up going nowhere.

Oh, I get it. Boobs.

[Bokonon]

5. Ghost Ship
4. The Ring
3. Gangs of NY
2. Attack of the Clones
1. The Two Towers

[Guestacy]

Y Tu Mama were both great
I don't see what's so great about Y Tu Mama. It's sentimental, meandering, and ends up going nowhere.

Oh, I get it. Boobs.
It's not just boobs, thought that helps, it's that it's FOREIGN boobs. In this case, I didn't care too much for them because they were fake foreign boobs.

You know, Hollywood films are morally bankrupt (I learned this from Adaptation.), and movies made in countries like Mexico are inherently better because, you know, they're Mexican. Any filmgoer who wants to show how hardcore they are has to put at least one foreign film in a top 5 list. Three in a top 10. It shows that you're sophisticated and, since most require you to read subtitles, cerebral.

Note: films made in England don't qualify, unless maybe they're by Mike Leigh and starring people using those working class accents that don't sound entirely unlike English.

[Bub, Andrew]

I don't see what's so great about Y Tu Mama. It's sentimental, meandering, and ends up going nowhere.


Wumpus has no soul.

[Erik]

Not in order.

Jackass
About a Boy
Hell House
Adaptation
Punch Drunk Love
Super Troopers
Talk To Her
Panic Room
The:Bourne Identity
Eye
Pianist
Two Towers

[Qwijybo]

Hell House


I just saw that the other day. It was somehow even more insanely surreal than I had expected. It was amazing how these repressed kids were all excited about their moment to do these "horrible" things, even if only in a play. The ex-raver kid was the best, where he was semi-subtly trying to impress everyone with his knowledge of the dark depravity that goes on at a rave.

The movie ranks right up there with David Cross' new comedy album as things that can simultaneously make me laugh and very VERY angry.

[Erik]

The movie ranks right up there with David Cross' new comedy album

Which reminds me: the most disappointing movie of the year was Run Ronnie Run.

[DrCrypt]

Hell House? Based on the Richard Matheson novel of the same name, which probably ties Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" as the greatest haunted house novel of the century? (Though, unlike Jackson's novel, it doesn't have the advantage of a psychologically introspective last chapter that throws the entire rest of the book into a far more interesting realm of the supernatural than angry spooks.)

There was a Vincent Price version in the 70's, but it blew. When did this movie come out and when is it coming here, dammit?

[DrCrypt]

My list, interpreting the topic literally as being the best films I saw this year. I saw tons of movies released this year, but most failed to make any impression whatsoever:

Audition
Singin' in the Rain
Breakfast at Tiffany's
The Bourne Identity (best action film released in ages, in my opinion)
Cabin in the Sky
28 Days Later
Battle Royale
Ring (Japan)
The Man Who Wasn't There

I keep on thinking I saw some really power, emotionally stirring films this year, with messages so poignant that they have become the underweaving veins of my ebbing intellectual and moral conscience, but I can't remember what they were or what they were called. So xXx should be up there on that list too.

[Tom Ohle]

The Bourne Identity was really good, actually--saw it twice (two different dates)
I was surprised at how well Matt Damon managed to pull off German without THAT bad of an accent. I think the second half of the film could have been better, but the first half was more than enough to make it a good flick--some of the hand-to-hand combat was just wicked.

[Jason Lutes]

Hell House? Based on the Richard Matheson novel of the same name [...]? When did this movie come out and when is it coming here, dammit?

I think they're talking about

Hell House (2002)

Synopsis: A chronicle documenting a high-tech fire-and-brimstone sermon that a Dallas Pentecostal church puts on every Halloween to scare kids into coming to services.

Is "The Haunting of Hell House" the Vincent Price version of the story you're talking about? That movie scared the bejeezus out of me when I was around twelve or thirteen.

[DrCrypt]

Hell House (2002) Synopsis... Is "The Haunting of Hell House" the Vincent Price version of the story you're talking about? That movie scared the bejeezus out of me when I was around twelve or thirteen.
Oh. Well, I don't want to see that. But yeah, The Legend of Hell House is the Vincent Price movie. And when I said that Richard Matheson's Hell House was tied for the best haunted house novel of the century, I forgot about Kingsley Amis' The Green Man. So I guess it is still tied for first place, but I'm kind of hoping The Green Man pulls ahead, since it features an alcoholic womanizer as the protagonist and God himself steps in at one point to get said protagonist to stop boozing it up and get his shit together. Oh, and a menage a trois that ends in lesbian sex as our narrator is completely ignored. Hell House's solitary promiscuous, completely naked babe is hard pressed to keep up with that thoroughbred.

[Jason Lutes]

Doc, there's also this one:

Haunting of Hell House, The (1999)

Writing credits: Henry James (story), Mitch Marcus

Plot Outline: A mysterious, morbid professor (Michael York) who has suffered a number of horrid events in his life tries to help a young troubled man (Andrew Bowen), whose girl friend was killed during an illegal abortion.

Which I haven't seen, but whose title I got confused with the other one. And Vincent Price wasn't in The Legend of Hell House, it was Roddy McDowall.

-----

I thought the Bourne Identity was the best straightforward action/thriller I'd seen in a long time, too -- My favorite scene was when he outwitted the sniper in the wheatfield. Plus I loved the Mini car chase stuff -- first time I gave a shit about a car chase in forever.

[Anonymous]

Well, here in the trailer park we mostly watch old VHS tapes of Walker: Texas Ranger, but I did manage to sneak off to the big city a time or two last year and I suppose my favorite new flicks were:

1. Y Tu Mama Tambien
2. Catch Me If You Can
3. Solaris
4. Far From Heaven
5. Igby Goes Down
6. 24-Hour Party People

Worst movie of the year...there's so many to choose from... Moonlight Mile has to take the prize since I walked out on it. Runner up: About a Boy (bleck!).

---------

*It has been brought to my attention that I was misspelling my own name (what a dunce!), which has been corrected here for your benefit.

[Ron Dulin]

My favorites of 2002, in order:

25th Hour
24 Hour Party People
Fellowship of the Ring SE
Jackass
The Two Towers
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Adaptation
The Bourne Identity
About a Boy
Biggie and Tupac

What I didn't see: The Trials of Henry Kissinger, The Pianist, About Schmidt, Solaris, Far from Heaven.

Best movies I saw this year, not released this year:

You Can Count on Me
I Confess
The Great Escape
Two Lane Blacktop
George Washington

Also: I want to echo Erik's disappointment re: Run Ronnie Run.

Edit: Added Jackass.

[Guestacy]

I love that multiple people picked About a Boy. I just bought the DVD because I really loved the movie... it was better than the book, which I also enjoyed. I think Hugh Grant is a credible choice for a "best actor" nod (though he won't get it, since Nicolas Cage will get the token "comedy" nod).

Man, About a Boy should have sucked. It should have turned into some awful, maudlin, icky thing that would annoy pointy-headed movie snobs like Charlie Kaufman and Tom Chick. And it almost did. Hell, you can probably make a good argument that it did, and that the ending was that contrived Hollywood kind of thing everyone bitches about. But it didn't matter.

[Jason Lutes]

I completely agree. I loved that movie. I thought the ending worked because it wasn't about getting the girl, it was about making friends and building a community. It's a rare theme in movies, I think, and it makes me want to watch it around the holidays.

A lot of people seemed to hate the part where he sings "Killing Me Softly," but I thought it was both hilarious and moving.

[wumpus]

We watched About a Boy a few days ago. It certainly avoids a lot of the obvious pitfalls, but I hesitate to call it a truly great movie.

[DrCrypt]

Haunting of Hell House, The (1999)

Writing credits: Henry James (story), Mitch Marcus
Turn of the Screw Henry James? I wonder which Henry James story focussed on ghostly aborted fetuses wielding rusty coat hangers and Michael York.

[Jason Lutes]

I have no idea, but yeah, according to the movie database, it's that Henry James. Go figure.

[Monty Cantsin]

The movie ranks right up there with David Cross' new comedy album

Which reminds me: the most disappointing movie of the year was Run Ronnie Run.

Wow, it's really upsetting to find out about something and find out it sucks simultaneously. I had no idea it existed. Did you catch it at Sundance or on the Internet? I'm guessing - the Internet!! They should have made Coupon. Oh well, I guess I can still look forward to the Season 3 + 4 DVD.

[Erik]

I had no idea it existed. Did you catch it at Sundance or on the Internet?
I found it on the Internet. It doesn't completely suck, but it's only sporadically funny. From the Bob and David website:


Seriously, let's put this thing to bed. Better yet, let's kill it as it sleeps peacefully. If any situation called for an act of euthanasia, this is it. Both Bob and I agree that all in all, the movie is not that great...

[Anonymous]

Man, About a Boy should have sucked. It should have turned into some awful, maudlin, icky thing that would annoy pointy-headed movie snobs like Charlie Kaufman and Tom Chick.

I'm not sure what's worse. That anyone would consider any movie more sophisticated than "About a Boy" to be the stuff of pointy-headedness, or that someone whose idea of a great movie is clever, cynical tripe like Adaptation and Drunk on Punch (or whatever it was called) is now defined as intolerably snobbish.

How depressing.

America: a culture in ruins.

[Tom Chick]

America: a culture in ruins.

Yeah, what have we come to when someone trying to be clever with a reference to Toole's Confederacy of Dunces can't even get the reference right...?

-Tom

[Anonymous]

Actually I'm well aware now that it's Ignatius J. Reilly, but I just like the sound of P. in the middle better.

[Michael Butt]

I am late to the party, but my favorite movie of 2002 was Road To Perdition.

Runner up would be Frailty.

[Qwijybo]

I found it on the Internet. It doesn't completely suck, but it's only sporadically funny. From the Bob and David website:


Seriously, let's put this thing to bed. Better yet, let's kill it as it sleeps peacefully. If any situation called for an act of euthanasia, this is it. Both Bob and I agree that all in all, the movie is not that great...

It is only sporadically funny; plus some of the funny parts are no different than watching old Mr. Show episodes. However, I had read the post on their website first, so I was expecting something really horrible. So I'm not sure where on the disappointed/pleasantly surprised see-saw I am right now. It's no Brain Candy, though. :)

[antlers]

(In Order-- note, I have a small child so I don't get to see that many movies)

The Hours
24-Hour Party People
The Two Towers
Adaptation
Solaris

[Jupiter Jones]

About A Boy

[Monty Cantsin]

re. Run Ronnie Run

First of all, I'd like to thank the internet, which has now evolved from simply allowing me to see movies that aren't worth paying for to allowing me to see movies that aren't worth releasing. I'd also like to thank Erik, who lowered my expectations sufficiently that I was very pleasantly suprised. Unlike other reviewers I found it only sporadically unfunny and well worth dragging the couch over to the computer. I'm forgainst it!