Best & Worst In Movies (2001)
by E. Charl Hattingh

Best Movies:                                           Worst Movies:            
1(tie). Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship    -Vanilla Sky
  Of The Ring                                            -Freddy Got Fingered
1(tie). Memento                                        -Scary Movie 2
(the rest in no particular order)                   -Tomcats
-The Others                                              -A.I.
-Moulin Rouge                                          -Hedwig And The Angry Inch
-Shrek                                                    
-Rush Hour 2(Just because it's an
action comedy doesn't mean that
it wasn't good).
-The Royal Tenenbaums
-Ocean's 11

Nice Surprise:                                         Good (But Could've Been Better):         
-Legally Blonde                                         -The Score
-Behind Enemy Lines                                 -Planet Of The Apes
-Shallow Hal                                              -Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Best Directing:
-Peter Jackson (LOTR)
-Christopher Nolan (Memento)

Best Editing:
-Memento

Best Screenplay:
-Christopher Nolan (Memento)
    
Best Performance(Actor):                               Worst Performance:
-Guy Pearce (Memento)                                    -Tom Cruise (Vanilla Sky)
-Tim Roth (Planet Of The Apes)                          -Tom Green (Freddy Got Fingered)
-Ian Mckellen (LOTR)
-Edward Norton (The Score)

Best Performance (Actress):                           Worst Performance:
-Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge/The Others)         -Penelope Cruz (Vanilla Sky)
                                                                      -Cameron Diaz (Vanilla Sky)

Best Performance In A Bad Movie:
-Jude Law and Haley Joel Osment in A.I.

Worst Overall Scene:
-Tom Green helping with the birth of
a baby by biting the embilical
cord and swinging the baby
around in the air (I can't believe they put that in a movie)
Freddy Got Fingered 

Nastiest Kiss:
-The lesbian kiss in Not Another Teen Movie.

Funniest Line:                                              
-"I have to go save my ass" (Shrek)

Funniest Line (That You're Not Supposed To Laugh At):
-"Tech Support!  Tech Support!  Tech Support!" (Vanilla Sky)

Best Action Scene:                                      
-Any action scene in LOTR

Most Disappointing Movie:                           Most Confusing Movie:
-Vanilla Sky                                                   -Vanilla Sky

Hope There's A Sequel:                                Hope There's No Sequel:
-Planet Of The Apes (so they can                    -Scary Movie 2
explain the ending of the first one)

Popularity Rising:                                         Popularity Fading:
-Nicole Kidman                                              -Tom Cruise

Public Needs An Apology:
-From Tom Cruise and Cameron Crowe
-From Tom Green

Most Uncomfortable Situation (Good And Bad):
-Hugh Jackman's character in Swordfish receiving oral sex from a woman while a 
man is holding a gun to his head.

Rising Stars In 2001 (That will make a big splash in 2002):
-Guy Pearce-Although he already starred in big movies before like L.A. Confidential-
(Highly acclaimed Memento in 2001 and Time Machine & Count Of Monte Cristo
early in 2002)    
-Hayden Christensen (Golden Globe nominee for Life As A House in 2001 and Attack
Of The Clones in 2002)

Even Though Critics Love These Movies Doesn't Mean You Should Waste Your Time:
-Hedwig And The Angry Inch
-Amelie
-Memento (Yes, this is one of my favorites, but I know it's not for everyone)

Reason Not To Listen To Ebert & Roeper (2001 edition):
-I didn't watch their year end, top 10 show, but I can bet you that it's filled with a
bunch of independent movies that most of us have never heard of, much less will
rent on video.  The reason is that the movies are usually no good, but still they have
to say they are, to be able to keep their license as movie critics, and follow the laws
of the book: The Laws That You As A Critic Have To Live By Or You Will Be Banned
From Being A Critic.
-Ebert actually liked Hedwig And The Angry Inch (but on Rottentomatoes.com, most 
critics agreed with him...They must have seen a different version than I did.)
-On Rottentomatoes.com, Roeper is 1 of 5 critics out of a total of 106 that doesn't
recommend LOTR (but I guess he has to make a name for himself somehow, so why
not put down one of the most loved movies in the world). 

Movies That Critics And Audiences Agreed On:
-Lord Of The Rings
-Shrek
-Ocean's Eleven
-The Princess Diaries
-Harry Potter
-Monsters Inc.

Movies I Haven't Seen:
-Ali
-A Beautiful Mind
-Black Hawk Down
-In The Bedroom
-Life As A House
-Monsters Inc.
-Pearl Harbor
-Training Day

Movies To Look Forward To In 2002:
-Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones (May 2002)
-Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (December 2002)
-Spiderman (May 2002)
-Signs (August 2002) - M. Night Shyamalan directs Mel Gibson in thriller
-The Count Of Monte Cristo (January 25) - Guy Pearce and Jim Caviezel
-Time Machine (March 8) - Time traveler with Guy Pearce
-Roller Ball (February 8) - Futuristic action movie with Chris Klein and LL Cool J.
-Hart's War (February 15) - Bruce Willis
-Showtime (March 29) - Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy in a comedy
-Insomnia (May 24) - Christopher Nolan (Memento) directs Al Pacino in thriller
-The Bourne Identity (May 31) - Matt Damon in action thriller
-Scooby-Doo (June 14)
-Minority Report (June 28) - Spielberg directs Tom Cruise in Sci-Fi actioner
-XXX (August 2) - Not a porno.  Action movie with Samuel L. Jackson and Vin Diesel
-Bond 20(November 22) - James Bond is back
-Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind (November 22)  Clooney and Kidman in thriller
-Analyze That (December 2002) - Crystal and De Niro reprise their roles in sequel to
                                                Analyze This.