Best of 2000
by Emily Stewart

First, and most importantly, I should qualify my favorite movies of 2000 with a disclaimer. I don't watch very many movies. I didn't camp out to see Star Wars, Episode 1. I haven't seen a movie on it's original release day since Star Trek 8 - First Contact. With that said, I'm sure there are several movies released in 2000 that deserve attention. I have not yet seen Gladiator, Bamboozled, Crouching Tiger - Hidden Dragon or The Virgin Suicides yet and I've heard several positives about all of them. Anywho... The following is a list of my likes and dislikes from 2000. Years, like opinions are different for everyone.

Good movies I saw in 2000.

• Chicken Run
  Easily my favorite movie of 2000. Well animated, great story, hysterically funny, also featured some well played political commentary about social unrest. There are just not enough good things to say about this film.

• X-Men
  One of Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine's reviewers referred to it as eX-craMENt. I disagree completely. With a relatively small budget and a time limit customary for major releases not fishing for Oscars, X-Men was great. Magneto was not just a customary bad guy hell bent on evil and mayhem. He was a well developed character with plausible motivations. Also, the action sequences, though somewhat predictable were still visually fascinating and fun to watch. Well worth seeing!

• The Road to El Dorado
  (Review written with help from my charming daughter) A Fantasy written around two con-men and their pursuit for a city of gold. Funny, well animated, the facial expressions and voice work were very impressive. It was like a younger version of Puke and Snot. Also had a good blend of 3-D animation and standard animation.

• Dogma
  Do you like religion as much as I do? Sure, we all do! The part of God, ironically, is played by someone who doesn't understand 'irony' very well.

• Office Space
  Being a blue collar worker, it's nice to see how the other half lives.

• Rope
  An Alfred Hitchcock movie about two young men and a steam trunk.

• The Trouble with Harry
  Another Hitchcock masterpiece. Featuring Shirley MaClaine before she got creepy.

Tolerable movies of 2000.

• Shaghai Noon
• Mission Impossible 2

Movies I will never see:

• Battlefield Earth
  I've never seen one good review of this movie, I have however seen newer reviews using Battlefield Earth as the standard by which to judge all crappy movies.

• The Art of War
  You'd think that with such an astronomically huge military budget, the U.S. could produce better looking right-wing propaganda.

• Coyote Ugly
  If I don't see it, I won't have to wake up regretting it.

• Left Behind:The Movie
  (qualified so as not to be confused with "Left Behind - The low fiber breakfast cereal." One causes constipation and debilitating illness, the other can be found in grocery stores.)

Worst movie of 2000:

Highlander...and I was only able to tolerate the first half. I couldn't stand it any longer. Originally released in 1986, I saw it for the first time in 2000, and that's where the scar is etched in my memory. No, not the second Highlander movie - I will never see the second one. Especially because everyone says it's so much worse than the first one. A brief plot summary - First there's this pale guy from Egypt with a Spanish last name and a Scottish accent. He dies. Then, there's this beautiful forensic pathologist/ancient weaponry expert and she falls in love with a murder suspect she meets at work... I'm sure there's more, I just couldn't bear to watch. Sweet mercy, it was vile.

Best reason to get cable:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central
The only news program worth watching.

Best reason to cancel cable:

Crossing Over with John Edwards on Sci-Fi
I can hear the dead speak too. Just last week, Janis Joplin communicated with me via my record player.

Tim Wick did his best of 2000.