2001 Movies

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The Year in Review

2001, the Year that Cinema Fantasy matured.

My Top Picks

  1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Nothing could have prepared us for this. Wow, what a vision.
  2. Bridget Jones's Diary: At last, a truly funny "girl" comedy.
  3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: This should have been the best fantasy film of the year but for Peter Jackson.
  4. Amélie: This french gem is so quirky and beautiful. It makes you feel like life is a fairytale.
  5. The Tunnel (Der Tunnel): A German film (or two part mini-series?) about a man who digs a tunnel under the Berlin wall to rescue his sister.

Notable Mentions ("Surprise" Films)

2001 was full of surprises, so I can't reduce them to three.

  1. Devil's Backbone, The,: Masterful Horror in Spanish. This is how horror should be done.
  2. Piano Teacher, The: An incredibly dark French film about growing up with an abusive mother and how pain and need transfers from mother to daughter.
  3. Donnie Darko: Old school, low budget Sci-Fi. One of those films which is at first impenetrable but after a few days thought, it makes sense.
  4. Fat Girl / For My Sister (À ma soeur!): A French film about a girl who desperately wants to be like her older sister without realising that these things have consequences.
  5. Experiment, The (Das Experiment): This is like "The Wave" but instead of a school, it's set in a prison.
  6. The Audition (Odishon): A Japanese horror film, not for the squeamish.
  7. Body, The: A great religious "What-If". What if they found the body of Jesus? What would the church do? What would the other religious groups in the area do?
  8. Lantana: A great Australian drama about infidelity and relationships -- and how we're all connected. It has some great Sydney scenery in it too.
  9. Focus: If you thought that the whole Jewish thing was confined to Germany in the 1940s, think again. A very thought-provoking film.
  10. Mists of Avalon, The: A very different retelling of the King Arthur story from the female point of view.
  11. Ghost World: Based on a comic book, this is a film about growing up.

The Biggest Disappointments

  1. Elvira's Haunted Hills: I was really looking forward to this after her brilliant first film. Alas, it was not to be.
  2. Vidocq: A film about a monster-chasing detective set in France in the 1800's. It sounded good... it wasn't.
  3. Three Extremes 2: After the amazing series of Asian horror films lately, I'd have expected an anthology film by their best directors to be well... ...better?
  4. Planet of the Apes: This was a remake that really shouldn't have happened. It might have been passable if they'd cast Arnold Schwartzenegger in the Charlton Heston part and stuck to the original script and colour palette. Instead, they made muppet-like apes, changed the colour palette to mostly blue and used the original book ending, which is somewhat less punchy than the cinema end.
  5. Tomb Raider: A female Indiana Jones with Angelina Jolie. It was a formula that they couldn't possibly get wrong - yet somehow they did.

All the films I saw for the first time at the Cinema

  1. Along Came a Spider
  2. Black Hawk Down
  3. Bridget Jones's Diary
  4. Hannibal
  5. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
  6. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
  7. Monsters, Inc.
  8. The Mummy Returns
  9. Riding in Cars with Boys
  10. Shallow Hal
  11. Shrek

All the films I saw for the first time on the Small Screen

  1. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
  2. A Beautiful Mind
  3. Amélie (from Montmartre)
  4. American Pie 2
  5. Animal, The
  6. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
  7. The Audition (Odishon)
  8. Bat Thumb
  9. A Beautiful Mind
  10. Behind Enemy Lines
  11. Birthday Girl
  12. The Body
  13. Bubble Boy
  14. The Bunker
  15. Cats & Dogs
  16. Charlotte Gray
  17. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles
  18. Crush
  19. Devil's Backbone, The
  20. Donnie Darko
  21. Down to Earth
  22. Dr. Dolittle 2
  23. Earth vs. the Spider
  24. Elvira's Haunted Hills
  25. Enemy at the Gates
  26. Enigma
  27. Evolution
  28. The Experiment (Das Experiment)
  29. The Fast and the Furious
  30. Fat Girl / For My Sister (À ma soeur!)
  31. Focus
  32. Frailty
  33. Frankenthumb
  34. From Hell
  35. Ghosts of Mars
  36. The Glass House
  37. Hearts in Atlantis
  38. I Am Sam
  39. The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells
  40. Jason X
  41. Jeepers Creepers
  42. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
  43. Jurassic Park III
  44. Kate & Leopold
  45. Kissing Jessica Stein
  46. Knight's Tale, A
  47. The Land Before Time: The Big Freeze
  48. Lantana
  49. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
  50. Life as a House
  51. The Little Polar Bear
  52. Metropolis
  53. Millennium Actress
  54. Mimic 2
  55. The Mists of Avalon
  56. Moulin Rouge!
  57. Mulholland Drive
  58. Not Another Teen Movie
  59. The One
  60. Original Sin
  61. Osmosis Jones
  62. The Others
  63. Pearl Harbor
  64. The Piano Teacher
  65. Planet of the Apes
  66. Prince Charming
  67. Pulse (Kairo)
  68. Rat Race
  69. Replicant
  70. Road Kill (Joyride)
  71. Rush Hour 2
  72. Scary Movie 2
  73. Serendipity
  74. Soul Survivors
  75. Spirited Away
  76. Spy Kids
  77. Swordfish
  78. Thir13en Ghosts
  79. Time Out (L'Emploi du Temps)
  80. Tomb Raider
  81. Training Day
  82. Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
  83. The Tunnel
  84. Uprising
  85. Valentine
  86. Vanilla Sky
  87. Vidocq
  88. Y tu mamá también (and your mother too)
  89. Zoolander

What's left to see from 2001?

There's still a few films I need to see from 2001. The boldfaced ones are the ones I'm most keen to see.

  1. 15 Minutes
  2. 3000 Miles to Graceland
  3. Affair of the Necklace, The
  4. Ali
  5. All Over the Guy
  6. American Astronaut, The
  7. American Outlaws
  8. America's Sweethearts
  9. Angel Eyes
  10. Another Life
  11. Antitrust
  12. The Art of Woo
  13. Atanarjuat
  14. Avalanche Alley
  15. Baby Boy
  16. Bandits
  17. Believer, The
  18. Big Bad Love
  19. Big Shots
  20. Bintou
  21. Black Chicks Talking
  22. Black Knight
  23. Blow
  24. Brothers, The
  25. Captain Corelli's Mandolin
  26. Carving Out Our Name
  27. Cat's Meow, The
  28. Center of the World, The
  29. Chaos (French)
  30. The Cookers
  31. Chelsea Walls
  32. Corky Romano
  33. CQ
  34. Crazy/Beautiful
  35. Delivering Milo
  36. Dogtown and Z-Boys
  37. Domestic Disturbance
  38. Don't Say a Word
  39. Double Take
  40. Driven
  41. Dumb Luck
  42. Elling
  43. Escape from Hell
  44. Exit Wounds
  45. Festival in Cannes
  46. Finder's Fee
  47. Fourth Angel, The
  48. Freddy Got Fingered
  49. Gadar: Ek Prem Katha
  50. Gasoline
  51. Get Over It
  52. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
  53. Gosford Park
  54. Hardball
  55. Harvard Man
  56. Head Over Heels
  57. Heartbreakers
  58. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
  59. Heist
  60. Herman U. S. A.
  61. Him gok (Tricky On)
  62. Hotel
  63. How High
  64. How to Make a Monster
  65. Human Nature
  66. In the Bedroom
  67. Intimacy
  68. Iris
  69. Iron Monkey
  70. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
  71. The Jimmy Show
  72. Joe Dirt
  73. Joe Somebody
  74. Josie and the Pussycats
  75. Joy Ride
  76. Just Visiting
  77. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
  78. Kiss of the Dragon
  79. Kingdom Come
  80. Knockaround Guys
  81. K-PAX
  82. Lagaan
  83. Lan Yu
  84. Last Castle, The
  85. Last Wedding
  86. Late Marriage
  87. Legally Blonde
  88. Lloyd
  89. Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The
  90. Lovely & Amazing
  91. Lucía y el sexo
  92. Maangamizi: The Ancient One
  93. Majestic, The
  94. Max Keeble's Big Move
  95. Me Without You
  96. Mean Machine
  97. The Mexican
  98. Mike Bassett: England Manager
  99. Mockingbird Don't Sing
  100. Monkeybone
  101. Monsoon Wedding
  102. Monster's Ball
  103. Musketeer, The
  104. My First Mister
  105. My Sassy Girl
  106. Nabi
  107. No Man's Land
  108. Novocaine
  109. Nowhere in Africa
  110. Ocean's Eleven
  111. On the Green Carpet
  112. On the Line
  113. One Night at McCool's
  114. Out Cold
  115. Out of the Black
  116. Le Peuple Migrateur
  117. Pledge, The
  118. Pokémon 3: The Movie
  119. Princesa
  120. The Princess Diaries
  121. Rain
  122. Recess: School's Out
  123. Revolution OS
  124. Rock Star
  125. Royal Tenenbaums, The
  126. Safety of Objects, The
  127. Save the Last Dance
  128. Saving Silverman
  129. Say It Isn't So
  130. Say Yes
  131. Scratch
  132. The Score
  133. Scotland, Pa.
  134. See Jane Run
  135. See Spot Run
  136. Shaolin Soccer
  137. She Creature
  138. Shipment, The
  139. Shipping News, The
  140. The Shrink Is In
  141. Sidewalks of New York
  142. Someone Like You
  143. Son's Room, The
  144. Sorum
  145. Southern Comfort
  146. Storytelling
  147. Stranger Inside
  148. Stuck
  149. Summer Catch
  150. Super Troopers
  151. Sur mes lèvres
  152. Sweet November
  153. Tape
  154. Tailor of Panama, The
  155. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
  156. Tomcats
  157. Tortilla Soup
  158. Two Can Play That Game
  159. Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact
  160. Va savoir
  161. Waking Life
  162. War Photographer
  163. The Wash
  164. The Wedding Planner
  165. Welcome to Pyongyang Animal Park
  166. Wet Hot American Summer
  167. What's the Worst That Could Happen?
  168. What Time Is It There?
  169. When Strangers Appear
  170. Yamakasi
  171. Yellow Hair 2