The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

RARE) tle SIME Herta a 1 AAR 8 TN PO PPAR J a a Tn A lt 1. A nln, oo NECKEND STAR" FRIDAY, JANUARY s, 2001 - 7 Picking the best films from a slim crop in 2000 ge SGREENING ROOM By John Foote In a year fraught with major big budget disappointments (Gone in 60 Seconds, Dinosaur), star vanity projects that were huge failures (Beautiful, Duets, Battlefield Earth), and sappy Hollywood products (Pay It Forward), | did not look forward to sitting down to sift through the years' films to find the best. My fear was that | would not be able to come up with at least 10 good films, but I was acutely aware that 1 could easily fill a worst of the year list with at least 40 films. After the bounty of bold, courageous cinema that came to audiences in 1999, it seemed the American film industry was poised to enter into an exciting new generation... American Beauty, Boys Don't Cry, Fight Club, and Magnolia, all 1999 releases, were works of complexi- ty that attracted the attention of both audiences and critics, a rare combination. Thus it seemed rea- sonable that in 2000, a new move- ment in cinema would be put into motion to enthrall and thrill us with works of diversity and origi- nality. Instead, despite a handful of very powerful films, there seemed to be a step backwards by film makers and studios into the realm of what was safe. Ironically, what seemed safe proved to be anything but, as films that studios believed would sell became failures at the box office for the simple reason they were dreadful pieces of movie making. Steven Soderbergh, the dar- ling of independent cinema for the past decade, broke into the realm of great American filmmak- er with two radically different films. The first, Erin Brockovich, could land Julia Roberts an Academy Award for best actress, 'while the second, Traffic, should be the film that earns Soderbergh an Oscar for direction. * - Great performances from women came in abundance, with Oscar nominations seemingly assured for Roberts, Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), Renee Zellweger (Nurse Betty), Laura Linney (You Can Count on Me), Frances McDormand (Almost Famous), and Kate Hudson (Almost Famous). Actors did equally well, with Tom Hanks giving the performance of his career in Cast Away, and Michael Douglas delivering not one but two Oscar worthy performances in Wonder Boys, and later in Traffic. The best of 2000 is an eclectic' lot of cinema ranging from studies of addiction, portraits of the drug business, a young women's cru- sade against corporations, through to the last days of the Marquis de Sade. Following are the 10 best films of the year in order of preference. REQUIEM FOR A DREAM... The year's best, most unsettling film of addiction, and the har- rowing descent into hell each of the characters goes through. While most people expect the film to be solely about drug addiction, the genius of the film is that addictions to choco- late, game shows, television and companionship are also explored. Yes, drugs come into play, and yes, the desperation of each of the characters remains harrowing throughout the film, but it never quite goes where you think it will. Ellen Burstyn deliv- ers the performance of her great career as a lonely Jewish widow hooked on TV, who becomes addicted to diet pills so she can make herself thin to appear on TV. It is among the most devastat- ing performances recorded on film. Director Darren" Aaronofsky has created one of the most elec- trifying portraits of addiction ever put on film; a stunning accom- plishment, but be wamed, the film is brutally honest and the images possess horrifying power. TIGERLAND...Director Joel Schumacher, often referred to as "the man who ruined the Batman films", breaks free of the Hollywood conventions of film making to create this picture about a group of young soldiers in their last days of basic training before heading off to Vietnam. What gives the film its edge, set- ting it apart from other similar films, is that the year is 1971 and the characters are painfully aware of the fact the war is wrong, and that they want no part of it. With a freewheeling camera style, no artificial lighting, and a gritty doc- umentary feel, the film is among the most authentic made about the period, and features a star making performance from Irish actor Colin Farrell. TRAFFIC.. Director Steven Soderbergh's richly complex study of the drug business offers several fine actors the roles of their careers in exploring both sides, free of judgement of the drug cartel. Michael Douglas delivers an extraordinary sup- porting performance as a judge appointed to stop the drug trade, but is faced with the recognition his daughter is a hopeless addict. Catherine Zeta-Jones is frighten- ing as the trophy wife of a drug czar, who finds she is more than capable of handling business after her hubby is jailed. Best of "all is Benicio Del Toro as a cop who is faced with several moral decisions to make and never allows the audience to really know what he is thinking. Soderbergh gives the film a docu- mentary feel that allows us to get up close to the characters, but like real life, we never are quite sure what they are thinking. CAST AWAY... With two Academy Awards for best actor is a study of various forms Tom Hanks delivers an Oscar-worthy performance in Cast Away, one of critic John Foote's picks for the year's 10 best list. sitting on his mantle, Tom Hanks has spent the last few years qui- etly surpassing the work that eamed him both awards. He was astounding in Saving Private Ryan (1998), but in Cast Away, gives not just the best performance of the year, but one of the greatest per- formances in the history of the cinema. Cast as a Federal Express executive to. whom time means life, his own existence takes a. sharp turn'when he is the lone survivor of a plane crash and is stranded on a small island. For the middle section of the film, we watch the character come to terms with the physical demands of such an existence. Then, of course, the loneliness sets in, and he must adjust to the mental demands of being utterly alone. NURSE BETTY...Five seconds into this film I was utterly in love . with Betty, the character por- trayed by Renee Zellweger in this charming fable with a caustic edge. After seeing the brutal mur- der of her nasty husband, our heroine retreats into a fugue state, becoming Nurse Betty, and sets out to find her long lost love, who happens to be a character on a famous soap opera. Off she goes to find him with two hitmen in hot pursuit. On the way one of the killers, majestically portrayed by the great Morgan Freeman, becomes enchanted by her, and finds he is falling in love with her. Big surprise...we all did. Zellweger and Freeman are superb, and director Neil LaBute creates a magical journey that feels very much like an adult fairy tale. 2 SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE. ..E. Elias Herlige recre- ates movie history (sort of!), with this alternately funny and fright- ening picture about the making of the great German film Nosferatu. Filmed in 1920 by the great expressionistic director F.W. Mumau, the film was the first vampire movie; in this film, the premise is that Murnau cut a deal with a real vampire to portray the vicious bloodsucker in the film. Willem Dafoe is marvelous as Max Schreck, the vampire who grows petulant when talk comes of no close-ups, but ferocious when it is announced he can no longer feed off the cast and crew. John Malkovich is equally good as Murnau, and the film has a rich expressionistic feel to it that may re-kindle an interest in early silents. QUILLS...Not a biography of the last days of the Marquis de Sade, but based on a modern play, Quills is as much a study of the horrars of censorship as it is an examination of the workings of the mind of the depraved de Sade. Director Philip Kaufman creates bold, striking images of the Reign of Terror that gripped France, and pulls a brave, tricky performance from Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush as de Sade. With a wicked glint in his eye, Rush cre- ates the man as a naughty boy who must write to exorcise the demons that rage in his mind. It is a remarkable, emotionally naked -performance one simply does not expect from this great actor...he is astounding from beginning to end. Strong support comes from the great Kate Winslet and Miehael Caine as the nasty doctor "sent to "correct" the mind of de Sade. ALMOST FAMOUS. ..Cameron Crowe both directed and wrote this wonderful valentine to his days as a young reporter for Rolling Stone magazine covering the bands of the 70s in the years after the explosion of rock and roll. Patrick Fugit delivers a fine performance as the young reporter who cons his way into a writing job and then makes the mistake of becoming too close to his subject, a fictional band called Stillwater, obviously based on Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Allman Brothers Band. Billy Crudup is fine as the hunky leader of the band, but it is Kate Hudson as a wise though fragile groupie named Penny Lane who delivers a luminous, career mak- ing performance. ERIN BROCKOVICH...Steven Soderbergh's "other" movie of 2000 was this blockbuster that features the best performdnce of Julia Roberts' career, and proof that she is an actress of substan- tial talent. Based on a true story, the film explores the life of a young mother, burdened with debts and four mouths to feed, who takes a job with a law firm and then begins to uncover a scandal that was buried involving the poisoning of water. Roberts is incredible, finally finding a role that merges her natural star power with that of a real person with equal charisma. There is a strong feeling in Hollywood that Roberts will win the Academy Award for best actress, and that finally, haughty critics such as myself will appreciate her acting talents. CROUCHING TIGER, HID- DEN DRAGON... Is without ques- tion the best foreign language film of the year, and one of the most purely magical experiences at the"movies you will ever have. Director Ang Lee's first film in Mandarin in years is something of an adult fairy tale romance that is merged with a martial arts epic to create one of the most jaw-drop- ping visual works ever put on film. Gravity can be defied in this wild ride of a movie, and battles can be fought on the thinnest of tree branches. It gives new meaning to the words movie magic. Runners-up...Thirteen Days, the excellent Cold War thriller based on the experiences of Kennedy and his administration during the Missile Crisis of 1962; Gladiator, the wild Hollywood spectacle about the glory of glad- iators in ancient Rome; Unbreakable, the best film ever made about comic booker heroes, ang the movie that could land Bruce Willis an Oscar nomi- nation for best actor; The House of Mirth, based on the literary work of Edith Wharton, the film features a career smashing perfor- mance from X-Files star Gillian Anderson. je Rr A TI AN... J