Jeremy Stomberg's List

1. Magnolia
   Paul Thomas Anderson can do no wrong. His first two films (Hard Eight and Boogie Nights) respectively captured gambling and the '70s porn industry perfectly. Now a film about how lonely families can be, with eight main characters fully realized, a musical number, and the much vaunted r___ o_ f____! You think you know how it's all going to wrap up at the end, but then... A fine, fine film. Well-acted, well-written, and well-filmed.
   
   
2. American Beauty
   I didn't think anything was going to beat this movie, and it was close. This portrait of an extremely screwed-up family was also filled with great acting and a superb story. Another "so horrifying it's funny" film. In Jeremy's perfect Oscar awards, the four acting awards go to Kevin Spacey, Annette Benning, Thora Birch, and Wes Bentley. "You are SO busted!"
   
   
3. Being John Malkovitch
   Come up to the 7-1/2th floor and enter John Malkovich's mind. A very odd place to be, indeed. Never has Cameron Diaz looked so bad.
   
   
4. Run Lola Run
   Hyperkinetic, deftly edited to a perfect soundtrack. A crime drama that proves that RUNNING is the international language.
   
   
5. The Sixth Sense
   I'm so proud of the American filmgoing public. I just wish they would keep this quiet all the time. A nice film with a great ending that will make you want to go back and see it again to see how perfectly it fits together.
   
   
6. The Matrix
   Thinking person's action movie. Great special effects that ADDED to the story without destracting from it. The best ever usage of Hong Kong-style filmmaking in an American film. And this is only the first part of a trilogy? Cool! And it's a first part of a trilogy that stands alone, unlike...
   
   
7. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
   Plus: Star Wars. Minus: Bad script. Plus: Ewan McGregor. Minus: Jake Lloyd. Plus: Great enemy designs. Minus: Wimpy enemies. Plus: Tough female characters. Minus: Only two female characters Plus: Gungans. Minus: Jar Jar. Plus: Final lightsaber duel. Minus: Waiting three years for the next one.
   
   
8. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
   Trivia: This was the second choice for the title. The MPAA refused to allow it to be called "South Park: Go To Hell", so creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone went with this, less offensive, title. This toast to personal responsibility and freedom of speech was the funniest, most offensive movie of 1999.
   
   
9. The Iron Giant
   "An animated film without musical numbers? That'll never work!" But it did. Captured '70s style and paranoia to a T. The only thing that didn't work for me was the overbearing anti-gun stance from gun-toting Hogarth. Oops.
   
   
10. Man on the Moon
    I know it's trite, and it's been said before, but Jim Carrey doesn't play Andy Kaufman, he IS Andy Kaufman. Anyone can do Andy's Foreign Man/Latka voice, and the Tony Clifton voice is fairly simple, but when we were sitting in that darkened theater and he spoke in Andy's regular voice...perfection. I mean, most bio films have people that sort of look like and sort of sound like the people they play, but Carrey was perfect.
    
    The problem is, Andy's wife and best friend didn't know what was fully going on in his mind, so they couldn't fill in the numerous blanks in his life, so the film becomes a kind of retrospective of his work with a few "behind the scenes" bits. Quite a good film, but not as good as it could be.