AboutFilm.Com

Carlo's Picks
The Best and Worst of 2000

The Top Ten

1.  Gladiator
2. Winter Sleepers
3. Sunshine
4. The House of Mirth
5. High Fidelity
6. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
7. You Can Count on Me
8. Chicken Run
9. Dancer in the Dark
10. Requiem for a Dream

Most Overrated (But Not Necessarily Bad)

1.  Billy Elliot
2. Before Night Falls
3. The Perfect Storm
4. O Brother Where Art Thou?
5. Almost Famous
6. Traffic
7. The Virgin Suicides
8. Chocolat
9. Erin Brockovich
10. Quills

Best Actor

1.  Ralph Fiennes, Sunshine
2. Ed Harris, Pollock
3. Tom Hanks, Cast Away
4. Billy Crudup, Waking the Dead/Jesus' Son/Almost Famous
5. Sean Connery, Finding Forrester

Best Actress

1.  Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me
2. Gillian Anderson, The House of Mirth
3. Joan Allen, The Contender
4. Cate Blanchett, The Gift
5. Michelle Yeoh, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Best Supporting Actor

1.  Joaquin Phoenix, Gladiator/Quills/The Yards
2. Bruce Greenwood, Thirteen Days
3. Benicio del Toro, Traffic/Snatch/The Way of the Gun
4. Ulrich Matthes, Winter Sleepers
5. Gary Lewis, Billy Elliot

Best Supporting Actress

1.  Jennifer Ehle, Sunshine
2. Connie Nielsen, Gladiator
3. Laura Linney, The House of Mirth
4. Jennifer Connelly, Requiem for a Dream/Waking the Dead/Pollock
5. Kate Winslet, Quills

Best Director

1.  Ridley Scott, Gladiator
2. Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3. Tom Tykwer, Winter Sleepers
3. István Szabó, Sunshine
4. Terence Davies, The House of Mirth

Breakthrough Performance

1.  Bjork, Dancing in the Dark
2. Colin Farrell, Tigerland
3. Mark Ruffalo, You Can Count on Me
4. Hugh Jackman, The X-Men
5. Vin Diesel, Pitch Black/Boiler Room

Best Ensemble Cast

1.  Sunshine
2. The House of Mirth
3. State and Main
4. Gladiator
5. High Fidelity

Please Fire Your Agent

1.  Kim Basinger, I Dream of Africa/Bless the Child
2. Winona Ryder, Autumn in New York/Lost Souls
3. Gary Sinise, Mission to Mars/Reindeer Games
4. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Beach
5. Jeremy Irons, Dungeons & Dragons

Best Original Screenplay

1.  István Szabó, Sunshine
2. Ken Lonergan, You Can Count on Me
3. David Franzoni, John Logan & William Nicholson, Gladiator
4. Peter Lord, Nick Park & Karey Kirkpatrick, Chicken Run
5. Ross Klavan & Michael McGruther, Tigerland

Best Adapted Screenplay

1.  D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack & Scott Rosenberg, High Fidelity
2. Terence Davies, The House of Mirth
3. Anne-Françoise Pyszora & Tom Tykwer, Winter Sleepers
4. Hui-Ling Wang, James Schamus & Kuo Jung Tsai, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
5. Robert Dillon, Waking the Dead

Best Cinematography

1.  Tristan Oliver, Frank Passingham & Dave Alex Riddett, Chicken Run
2. Mathew Libatique, Tigerland/Requiem for a Dream
3. John Mathieson, Gladiator
4. Peter Pau, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
5. Paul Laufer, The Cell
6. Frank Griebe, Winter Sleepers

Best Visual Effects

1.  Gladiator
2. The X-Men
3. Vertical Limit
4. The Perfect Storm
5. Pitch Black

Best Film Editing

1.  Mick Audsley, High Fidelity
2. Jay Rabinowitz, Requiem for a Dream
3 Katja Dringenberg, Winter Sleepers
4. Stephen Mirrione, Traffic
5. Rick Shaine, Pitch Black

Best Music

1.  Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard, Gladiator
2. Clint Mansell & the Kronos Quartet, Requiem for a Dream
3. Tan Dun & Yo-Yo Ma, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
4. Mark Bell (III) Björk, Dancer in the Dark
5. Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer, Winter Sleepers

Pearls Before Swine (Greatness amid Mediocrity)

1.  Paul Laufer (cinematography); Tom Foden (production design); Geoff Hubbard & Michael Manson (art direction); Tessa Posnansky (set decoration) in The Cell
2. Roman Polanski (director); Darius Khondji (cinematography); Dean Tavoularis (production design); Gérard Viard (art direction); Philippe Turlure (set decoration) in The Ninth Gate
3. James Spader and Angela Basset in Supernova
4. Javier Bardem in Before Night Falls
5. The climbing sequences in Vertical Limit

Best Ending

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Gladiator
3. The House of Mirth
4. Sunshine
5. Winter Sleepers
6. Dr. T and the Women

Why...

1. did anyone think the videogame sequence would work? For that matter, why did anyone think the entire movie would work? (The Beach)
2. wasn't there only one? (Highlander: Endgame)
3. am I supposed to care about a bunch of idiots who make a stunningly foolish decision? (The Perfect Storm)
4. would anyone want to see Richard Gere kissing Winona Ryder? (Autumn in New York)
5. didn't anyone notice the boom mikes were in the shot on more than occasion? (You Can Count on Me)
6. did Ennio Morricone write such an inappropriate score for Mission to Mars?
7. weren't Tigerland or The House of Mirth released widely?
8. are we supposed to sympathize with anyone in Eye of the Beholder? Heck, why did they even make the movie?
9. did John Frankenheimer direct Reindeer Games?
10.  was a remake of Shaft necessary?

Too Much

1.  Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream
2. Diane Lane, A Perfect Storm
3. Kim Basinger's voiceover narration in I Dreamed of Africa
4. Robert Redford's mythic storytelling of a nonsensical sports yarn
5. Kate Hudson's beautific groupie in Almost Famous

  Year in Film index