2001 Movies
The Year in Review
The Year in Review
2001, the Year that Cinema Fantasy matured.
My Top Picks
My Top Picks
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Nothing could have prepared us for this. Wow, what a vision.
- Bridget Jones's Diary: At last, a truly funny "girl" comedy.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: This should have been the best fantasy film of the year but for Peter Jackson.
- Amélie: This french gem is so quirky and beautiful. It makes you feel like life is a fairytale.
- 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)
Notable Mentions ("Surprise" Films)
2001 was full of surprises, so I can't reduce them to three.
- Devil's Backbone, The,: Masterful Horror in Spanish. This is how horror should be done.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Experiment, The (Das Experiment): This is like "The Wave" but instead of a school, it's set in a prison.
- The Audition (Odishon): A Japanese horror film, not for the squeamish.
- 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?
- Lantana: A great Australian drama about infidelity and relationships -- and how we're all connected. It has some great Sydney scenery in it too.
- Focus: If you thought that the whole Jewish thing was confined to Germany in the 1940s, think again. A very thought-provoking film.
- Mists of Avalon, The: A very different retelling of the King Arthur story from the female point of view.
- Ghost World: Based on a comic book, this is a film about growing up.
The Biggest Disappointments
The Biggest Disappointments
- Elvira's Haunted Hills: I was really looking forward to this after her brilliant first film. Alas, it was not to be.
- Vidocq: A film about a monster-chasing detective set in France in the 1800's. It sounded good... it wasn't.
- 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?
- 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.
- 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
All the films I saw for the first time at the Cinema
- Along Came a Spider
- Black Hawk Down
- Bridget Jones's Diary
- Hannibal
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Monsters, Inc.
- The Mummy Returns
- Riding in Cars with Boys
- Shallow Hal
- Shrek
All the films I saw for the first time on the Small Screen
All the films I saw for the first time on the Small Screen
- A.I. Artificial Intelligence
- A Beautiful Mind
- Amélie (from Montmartre)
- American Pie 2
- Animal, The
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire
- The Audition (Odishon)
- Bat Thumb
- A Beautiful Mind
- Behind Enemy Lines
- Birthday Girl
- The Body
- Bubble Boy
- The Bunker
- Cats & Dogs
- Charlotte Gray
- Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles
- Crush
- Devil's Backbone, The
- Donnie Darko
- Down to Earth
- Dr. Dolittle 2
- Earth vs. the Spider
- Elvira's Haunted Hills
- Enemy at the Gates
- Enigma
- Evolution
- The Experiment (Das Experiment)
- The Fast and the Furious
- Fat Girl / For My Sister (À ma soeur!)
- Focus
- Frailty
- Frankenthumb
- From Hell
- Ghosts of Mars
- The Glass House
- Hearts in Atlantis
- I Am Sam
- The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells
- Jason X
- Jeepers Creepers
- Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
- Jurassic Park III
- Kate & Leopold
- Kissing Jessica Stein
- Knight's Tale, A
- The Land Before Time: The Big Freeze
- Lantana
- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
- Life as a House
- The Little Polar Bear
- Metropolis
- Millennium Actress
- Mimic 2
- The Mists of Avalon
- Moulin Rouge!
- Mulholland Drive
- Not Another Teen Movie
- The One
- Original Sin
- Osmosis Jones
- The Others
- Pearl Harbor
- The Piano Teacher
- Planet of the Apes
- Prince Charming
- Pulse (Kairo)
- Rat Race
- Replicant
- Road Kill (Joyride)
- Rush Hour 2
- Scary Movie 2
- Serendipity
- Soul Survivors
- Spirited Away
- Spy Kids
- Swordfish
- Thir13en Ghosts
- Time Out (L'Emploi du Temps)
- Tomb Raider
- Training Day
- Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
- The Tunnel
- Uprising
- Valentine
- Vanilla Sky
- Vidocq
- Y tu mamá también (and your mother too)
- Zoolander
What's left to see from 2001?
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.
- 15 Minutes
- 3000 Miles to Graceland
- Affair of the Necklace, The
- Ali
- All Over the Guy
- American Astronaut, The
- American Outlaws
- America's Sweethearts
- Angel Eyes
- Another Life
- Antitrust
- The Art of Woo
- Atanarjuat
- Avalanche Alley
- Baby Boy
- Bandits
- Believer, The
- Big Bad Love
- Big Shots
- Bintou
- Black Chicks Talking
- Black Knight
- Blow
- Brothers, The
- Captain Corelli's Mandolin
- Carving Out Our Name
- Cat's Meow, The
- Center of the World, The
- Chaos (French)
- The Cookers
- Chelsea Walls
- Corky Romano
- CQ
- Crazy/Beautiful
- Delivering Milo
- Dogtown and Z-Boys
- Domestic Disturbance
- Don't Say a Word
- Double Take
- Driven
- Dumb Luck
- Elling
- Escape from Hell
- Exit Wounds
- Festival in Cannes
- Finder's Fee
- Fourth Angel, The
- Freddy Got Fingered
- Gadar: Ek Prem Katha
- Gasoline
- Get Over It
- Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
- Gosford Park
- Hardball
- Harvard Man
- Head Over Heels
- Heartbreakers
- Hedwig and the Angry Inch
- Heist
- Herman U. S. A.
- Him gok (Tricky On)
- Hotel
- How High
- How to Make a Monster
- Human Nature
- In the Bedroom
- Intimacy
- Iris
- Iron Monkey
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
- The Jimmy Show
- Joe Dirt
- Joe Somebody
- Josie and the Pussycats
- Joy Ride
- Just Visiting
- Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
- Kiss of the Dragon
- Kingdom Come
- Knockaround Guys
- K-PAX
- Lagaan
- Lan Yu
- Last Castle, The
- Last Wedding
- Late Marriage
- Legally Blonde
- Lloyd
- Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The
- Lovely & Amazing
- Lucía y el sexo
- Maangamizi: The Ancient One
- Majestic, The
- Max Keeble's Big Move
- Me Without You
- Mean Machine
- The Mexican
- Mike Bassett: England Manager
- Mockingbird Don't Sing
- Monkeybone
- Monsoon Wedding
- Monster's Ball
- Musketeer, The
- My First Mister
- My Sassy Girl
- Nabi
- No Man's Land
- Novocaine
- Nowhere in Africa
- Ocean's Eleven
- On the Green Carpet
- On the Line
- One Night at McCool's
- Out Cold
- Out of the Black
- Le Peuple Migrateur
- Pledge, The
- Pokémon 3: The Movie
- Princesa
- The Princess Diaries
- Rain
- Recess: School's Out
- Revolution OS
- Rock Star
- Royal Tenenbaums, The
- Safety of Objects, The
- Save the Last Dance
- Saving Silverman
- Say It Isn't So
- Say Yes
- Scratch
- The Score
- Scotland, Pa.
- See Jane Run
- See Spot Run
- Shaolin Soccer
- She Creature
- Shipment, The
- Shipping News, The
- The Shrink Is In
- Sidewalks of New York
- Someone Like You
- Son's Room, The
- Sorum
- Southern Comfort
- Storytelling
- Stranger Inside
- Stuck
- Summer Catch
- Super Troopers
- Sur mes lèvres
- Sweet November
- Tape
- Tailor of Panama, The
- Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
- Tomcats
- Tortilla Soup
- Two Can Play That Game
- Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact
- Va savoir
- Waking Life
- War Photographer
- The Wash
- The Wedding Planner
- Welcome to Pyongyang Animal Park
- Wet Hot American Summer
- What's the Worst That Could Happen?
- What Time Is It There?
- When Strangers Appear
- Yamakasi
- Yellow Hair 2