More "My Top Tens"
by: Scott Fairbanks

1. Fight Club: I still think this is the best film of the year despite its poor box office returns. Critics either hated it or loved it. Although it’s a brilliant psychological thriller, its target audience (“Generation X” males) was not that large. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton make for an anarchistic Odd Couple in more ways then one. David Fincher's film does require the audience to engage its brain to interpret the ending. The frightening implication is that in this consumer-based homogenized society, we don't even know ourselves. See it and decide for yourself.

2. The Sixth Sense: The surprise hit of the year, M. Night Shyamalan's second film caught fire in late summer. A suspenseful and stylish film, Bruce Willis (yes, Bruce Willis) gives a great performance as a withering therapist who tries to help the even more damaged Haley Joel Osment cope with his ability to see the mangled dead. While it has supernatural aspects, the film is a drama that ends in a surprise ending that has become the movie's most talked about sequence.

3. Toy Story 2: Being the most entertaining film of the year, it's hard to believe this was going to be sentenced to a direct-to-video release. John Lasseter (A Bug's Life) directs this touching story of Buzz Lightyear trying to rescue Woody from a greedy toy collector. Even though there's a subtle undertone of existential dread (why bother staying with Andy if he's going to outgrow Woody anyway?), the pacing and tone is upbeat with several hilarious action sequences. What's most amazing is the emotional response of the audience to computer-generated pieces of plastic. Best of all, there isn't a Pokemon in sight.

4. The Matrix: After seeing this movie several times, it gets better and better. The film follows Neo, Morpheus and Trinity as they rebel against the Matrix, which holds mankind hostage and uses them for energy. Blending cyberpunk, Christianity and Hong Kong action films, the Wachowski brothers have created a unique action film with an old story that is made new again thanks to its style and visionary form of filmmaking. Fans of The Matrix should check out Dark City (1998) which is essentially the same story, just more cerebral and thoughtful.

5. Bringing Out the Dead: I keep finding myself thinking about Martin Scorsese's latest over and over again. Similar to his earlier works, Scorsese once again visits seedy New York City and follows the insomniac EMT Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage) as he tries to save people and somehow fails. He comes upon the scene of a shootout that could have been the work of psychopath Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver. Scorsese's kinetic camerawork, Cage's performance and great
soundtrack help propel Frank down the road to stark raving madness.

6. Star Wars-Episode 1: The Phantom Menace: Being a die-hard Star Wars fan, I can't help but love George Lucas' first movie in 22 years. Yes, there could have
been more character development, but this is only the first part of a whole trilogy. Liam Neeson gives a rock solid performance as the wise Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn who discovers the young Anakin and thinks he's capable of great (or terrible) things. Lucas delivers two perfect sequences in the harrowing pod race and the vicious lightsaber fight between the two Jedi and the satanic Darth Maul.

Oh, and by the way, I loved Jar Jar Binks.

7. Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick's last film was bashed for being dull, but I think that it was a great meditative work about the need for communication and
honesty. Kubrick is able to draw out great performances by Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman who play a couple torn by a secret kept by the wife Alice. Cruise's character Bill wanders the streets enraged when his wife reveals she lusted after another man. The orgy that Bill sneaks into is the centerpiece of the film even though it has been censored. The sex isn't exploited which makes me wonder why it was covered up. Did the MPAA ever consider that one of the reasons American kids are obsessed with sex is because we hide it from them so much?

8. Three Kings: David O. Russell's satirical adventure through the media blitz that was the Gulf War turns the new form of the "media war" on its ear. Sargent Gates (George Clooney) along with three reservists set out to steal Kuwaiti gold and get caught up in helping save Iraqi civilians from their own army in a film
that should make some Americans embarrassed as to what we did in Iraq. Russell also features original action sequences that shouldn't be missed such as a gun battle set to Chicago's soft rock hit, "Baby Please Don't Go".

9. American Beauty: Sam Mendes' direction and photography help lift what could have been a mundane TV-movie of the week into something special. We've seen the dysfunctional American family before, but not so well acted as it is here by Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening and Thora Birch as the family Burnham falling apart at the seams. Not since Blue Velvet has the underbelly of America been flipped over to the point where the quiet drug-dealer next door (Wes Bentley) seems virtuous.

10. Being John Malkovich: The most screwball movie of the year is also a good observation on the idea of the celebrity; people we celebrate who often are just like you and me (only famous). Spike Jonze directs this movie with sincerity despite the fact that it features a chimp with mental problems in one subplot and depressing puppeteering in another. A man finds a doorway into the brain of John Malkovich, which allows for numerous problems with identity and double- crossings between the trio of characters played by John Cusack, Katherine Keener and Cameron Diaz.

Read the "original" top ten review