Superheroes, serial killers, and… a spelling bee? This year’s best movies were once again a variety showcase. There was also a great mix of different genres, from fantasy and documentary to… a romantic comedy? Give us a romantic comedy set against the turbulent backdrop of a spelling bee, and we’ll officially have seen it all.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Peter Jackson, heir to George Lucas as the king of cinematic fantasy, closed out his vastly ambitious and visually stunning epic trilogy with this supersize final chapter. Unless he falls into the Cracks of Doom between now and March, we’re pretty sure he’s got the Best Picture Oscar in the Baggins.

Lost in Translation – Channeling the spirit (and style) of Wong Kar-Wai, Francis Ford Coppola’s prodigal daughter Sofia created an austere, funny-sad not-quite romance between an unlikely pair lost in the pachinko-parlor madness of Tokyo. And like Wong’s films, this one translated well.

Love Actually – This astoundingly smart and funny romantic comedy by Notting Hill writer Richard Curtis was the sort of offbeat thing only the Brits could make up. From a Prime Minister smitten with his secretary (all right, so maybe the Yanks could make this up), to a pair of soft-porn actors who exchange pleasant small talk while simulating sex, the characters in this group of interrelated stories were whimsical without the saccharine aftertaste. Probably because Richard Gere and Kate Hudson were nowhere to be seen.

Monster – Charlize Theron made herself utterly unrecognizable as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Patty Jenkins’ feature debut, but what made this film truly remarkable—and disturbing—was Theron’s portrayal of the psychically damaged human being beneath the monster.

Mystic River – LOTR aside, the best cinematic literature of the year was this adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel. It was also Brian Helgeland’s best writing since his adaptation of L.A. Confidential, Clint Eastwood’s best directing since Unforgiven, and Sean Penn’s best acting since… well, ever.

Spellbound – This documentary dispelled the notion that spelling bees are just nerd-dominated snorefests. Okay, so most of them are pretty nerdy. But the eight brilliant, determined kids who competed in the 1999 National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. made for a funny, fascinating, and surprisingly suspenseful film. And they’re a helluva lot smarter than the guy in the big white house down the road.

X2 – Bryan Singer’s uncanny sequel to X-Men was cut so sharply you’d think Wolverine was the editor, and the debut of Nightcrawler was the most kinetic opening sequence we’ve ever seen in a superhero flick. Stan Lee is surely smilin’.

This year proved that all movies can be created equal—or at least equally good. Our favourites include a superhero flick, a fantasy epic and a musical along with the weightier dramas that usually grab all the top spots in lists like this.

Perhaps more surprising than the films that made the cut are the ones that didn’t. Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, Spielberg’s Minority Report, and Sam Mendes’ Road to Perdition were all highly anticipated, and all turned out to be disappointing.

But the biggest surprise of all? That would be Eminem. Even though 8 Mile didn’t make this list, Marshall Mathers showed that as both rapper and actor, he’s eight miles high above that other wigger thespian, Vanilla Ice.

Adaptation – Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman, the director and writer of 1999’s Being John Malkovich, reteamed for Kaufman’s meta-autobiographical tale about the existential angst of the screenwriter. Blocked writers everywhere now have something to write about: being blocked.

Chicago – Rob Marshall kept the musical’s resurrection going with this stylish adaptation, but Catherine Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah were the ones who provided all that jazz.

Far From Heaven – Todd Haynes gave us a painstakingly faithful replica of a ’50s Douglas Sirk melodrama, right down to the gorgeous colour cinematography and the note-perfect emotional overload in Julianne Moore’s performance.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – If Peter Jackson had made this sequel to last year’s The Fellowship of the Ring only half as good as its predecessor, it still would have been one of this year’s top films. But as it turned out, Jackson made it better.

The Pianist – Based on the true story of Polish Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman, this etude in cinematic genius from Roman Polanski was a welcome return to form from one of film’s true maestros.

Spider-Man – Sam Raimi’s love and respect for the Marvel comic books shone through in every frame, and Tobey Maguire’s costume was the coolest live-action superhero outfit ever. Bring on the Spidey sequels!

Talk to Her – Pedro Almodovar restrained his more wacky impulses long enough to make this comparatively understated (but still wacky) film about two comatose women and the men who love them.

The year 2000 was a crappy year for movies—it will always be known as the year that gave us Battlefield Earth—so it should come as no surprise that this year turned out better. While there was no shortage of dreck (see our Worst of 2001 for proof), we were treated to plenty of films that were original, challenging, and immensely enjoyable.

Animation continued to be a strong presence in 2001 (two very different animated films made our list this year), but the biggest draw was fantasy, as people shell-shocked by events in the real world escaped to Hogwarts Academy and Middle-Earth in record numbers, and those who wondered whether movies still mattered got their answer loud and clear. Still, it’s a good thing The Two Towers isn’t due until next year!

The Fast and the Furious – Hey, what can I say? I live my life one movie at a time, and this one was big, dumb, fuel-injected, NOS-powered fun, propelled by wonderfully stupid trash-talk dialogue, and some of the most visceral race sequences since Mad Max. Besides, what could be cooler than Vin Diesel driving “900 horses of Dee-troit muscle?”

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – Chris Columbus’s dedicated faithfulness to the J.K. Rowling book wasn’t particularly daring of him, but then again, just bringing the beloved kid wizard to the screen was daring enough to make Columbus an honorary Gryffindor.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – If Chris Columbus felt stressed about adapting J.K. Rowling, imagine how Peter Jackson felt about adapting J.R.R. Tolkien, the granddaddy of fantasy. Just before Christmas, Jackson finally showed us what he had in his pocketses, and it turned out to be the best epic-fantasy flick since The Empire Strikes Back. With the two sequels already done, the series could prove to be a hard Hobbit to break.

Memento – Christopher Nolan’s memory-loss thriller-in-reverse was the most confusing film noir since The Big Sleep—and the best. Even if you had to tattoo plot points on your body to remember them. Movies like this are why it’s so vitally important to own a DVD player.

The Others – Alejandro Amenábar gave his haunted-house tale an extra turn of the suspense screw (throwing in a Sixth Sense-ish twist at the end), and put Nicole Kidman’s frosty screen presence to great use. This ghost story was more subtle, more stylish, and more scary than Ghosts of Mars and 13 Ghosts put together.

Shrek – The big green antihero of William Steig’s classic children’s book was brought to computer-animated life with such panache, wry humor, and technical skill by DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images that you’d be excused for thinking you were watching another Disney/Pixar masterpiece. Actually, Disney made Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Pixar made Monsters Inc., neither of which were as good as Shrek. That’ll do, DreamWorks, that’ll do.

Waking Life – Richard Linklater’s animated lucid dream was visually and conceptually the year’s most original film; it challenged us to wake up and smell the philosophy. Come to think of it, you’d better turn the light switch off and on to make sure you’re not sleeping while you read this.

In our Best of 1999, we expressed our hope that 2000 would be half as good a year for movies. It wasn’t. Unlike last year, when American Beauty had us looking closer, this year’s film offerings usually made us want to look at a book.

Still, we try to be optimistic here at Screen & Noted. Though Y2K didn’t exactly produce a bumper crop of celluloid greatness (see our Worst of 2000), at least there was no Armageddon to worry about—film or otherwise. And aren’t you glad you won’t have to hear the term “Y2K” anymore?

Actually, there were some movies that managed to emerge from the cesspool smelling like a rose petal-covered Mena Suvari. As per our David Fincher fixation, we’ve picked seven of these as our best films of 2000. They come from a variety of genres; you’ll find comedy and even action among the usual batch of character-driven dramas. But all of them represent what we like best about the movies: imagination, good storytelling, and above all, entertainment.

OUR TOP SEVEN
(presented in alphabetical order)

American Psycho – Mary Harron’s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s infamous novel was chilling not only for Christian Bale’s breakthrough performance as corporate climber-slash-serial killer Patrick Bateman, but for its insinuation that Bateman’s soul is only slightly more dead than that of the yuppie next door.

Best in Show – Mock-meister Christopher Guest earned a blue ribbon with his faux documentary about show dogs and their hilariously idiosyncratic owners. The year’s funniest movie, it proved that one Fred Willard cameo is worth a thousand of Scary Movie’s head-impaling penises.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s masterpiece honoured its ancestors—old-school martial arts movies and heroic-epic wuxia novels—with an uncanny blend of dreamy imagery, high romance, and fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping’s trademark flying-warrior fantasies.

Erin Brockovich – Steven Soderbergh wisely kept his bag of art-house camera tricks shut, and let Julia Roberts do the best acting of her career. Playing a real-life legal assistant who helped win a huge class-action lawsuit, Roberts dressed like a hooker, swore like a sailor, and proved beyond reasonable doubt that she’s not just a romantic-comedy lightweight.

Gladiator – A Circus Maximus of crowd-pleasing entertainment, Ridley Scott’s throwback to sword-and-sandal spectacles like Spartacus and Ben-Hur won a thumbs-up thanks to Russell Crowe’s virility and Joaquin Phoenix’s villainy. We who are about to buy [the DVD] salute you!

Traffic – Featuring the year’s most to-die-for ensemble cast, Steven Soderbergh’s denouncement of America’s War on Drugs was a stylish, carefully layered antidote to an overdose of wastoid tripe like Dude, Where’s My Car? Wait a minute… isn’t Steven Soderbergh already on this list?

X-Men – A senses-shattering optic blast from director Bryan Singer, complete with a Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) seemingly willed into flesh from the pages of Marvel Comics. ‘Nuff said?

As always, we want to hear from you. Drop us a line and let us know which films you think should have made the list, and which ones don’t belong there. We’re always happy to hear the opinions of others before disregarding them completely.

When film buffs look back on 1999, they’ll most likely lean back for a pensive moment, squint wistfully, and proclaim with all the authoritative weight of wine experts, “Yes, that was a good year… a good year indeed.”

It was a year in which more records were broken than at an anti-disco rally, thanks in large part to a certain movie about some kid named Anakin. At the same time, it was a year that brought a whole new legitimacy to the cinematic equivalent of the garage band—people like Eduardo Sanchez and Dan Myrick, whose Blair Witch Project became the most successful home movie in history. Independent movies continued to be a force in the industry. Even the animated fare, from the laugh-a-millisecond South Park to the Japanese classic Princess Mononoke to Pixar’s superior sequel Toy Story 2 and Warner Bros’ The Iron Giant, was consistently strong.

Was the year perfect? Of course not, but we here at Screen & Noted prefer not to dwell on crap, so we’ll avoid discussion of abortions like Wild Wild West, End of Days, or even the super-pretentious The Thin Red Line (all of which seem like Citizen Kane compared to uber-stinkers like Life and Black Mask). Suffice it to say we sat through ‘em so you wouldn’t have to.

Instead, we’ll focus on those films that entertained us, that made us think, that attempted to do more than simply make money. And now, because this is our inaugural year, because we didn’t see a lot of movies, because we really like David Fincher, and most of all because you’re probably sick to death of hearing the “Top Ten” or “Top Five” movies, we are pleased to present our “Top Seven” films of 1999.

There are so many other fine films we’d love to mention, but these seven are, we think, the best summation of what 1999 was all about: originality, creativity, and artistry. We can only hope that 2000 is half as good a year for the movies.

OUR TOP SEVEN
(presented in alphabetical order)

American Beauty – Sam Mendes’ humorous and contemplative study of middle-class suburban dissolution told us to “look closer” to find the true source of happiness.

The Blair Witch Project – It wasn’t as slick as The Sixth Sense, but more than made up for it in originality. More than just an exercise in building hype, it was a truly unique film (witness the endless parodies), and one that horror fans have long craved—the one that scared us by leaving everything to the imagination.

Go - An outstanding, eclectic young cast (including Canadian Sarah Polley) headed this commercial flop that was marketed to the Gen X set. John August’s carefully crafted story ended up over their heads but scored big with adult critics. Call it “Quentin Tarantino Lite.”

The Green Mile – Frank Darabont proved he’s the undisputed king of King with a superbly faithful, brilliantly acted translation of the author’s best-selling serial novel. The best example of cinematic literature the year had to offer.

The Matrix – The Wachowski brothers fused a metaphysical premise with the best wire-work outside of Hong Kong martial arts flicks to create the most eminently watchable movie of the year and restore Keanu Reeves to coolness. In a word… “Whoa.”

The Sixth Sense – Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan and whiz kid Haley Joel Osment combined to give us a genuinely creepy experience, not to mention the coolest twist ending of the year.

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut – This one made the cut thanks to its relentless fusillade of jokes, pop-culture skewering, and most of all, its utter refusal to cave in to the MPAA. Trey Parker and Matt Stone struck a blow for freedom of expression, and made a damn hilarious movie to boot.

As always, we want to hear from you. Drop us a line and let us know which films you think should have made the list, and which ones don’t belong there. We’re always happy to hear the opinions of others before disregarding them completely.