Mary Bertelson's top ten/bottom five 2000 Films

Top Ten Films

1. Thirteen Days: Story of the Cuban Missle Crisis. This movie blew me away. I knew what the final outcome was - that we didn't end up in a nuclear holocaust. It still kept me on the edge of my seat wondering how they would get out of it. This is proof that making peace can be as riveting as making war. Bruce Greenwood did an excellent job of portraying JFK at his finest and Kevin Costner was remarkable.

2. Proof of Life: I found it interesting that this made one of the worst lists. Different strokes, I guess. Meg Ryan was occasionally annoying but Russell Crowe and especially David Morse gave great performances. In some ways, the beginning of this movie has a lot in common with Thirteen Days. People are trying desperately to find a peaceful way out of a complex, out of control situation. Only in this one, at the end we got to see Russell Crowe look great in camoflage while shooting guns!!!

3. Return to Me: This one just barely edged out Leap of Faith for my favorite chick flick. At first I was worried that the plot was too contrived - Man's wife dies, heart is donated to young woman, he meets and falls for her without knowing she has his wifes heart. Sounds like a hokey plot but they pulled it off with a great deal of humor and warmth. Rent this one for Valentine's day if you haven't seen it yet.

4. The Perfect Storm: I lived on the East Coast when the Storm at the center of this movie occured, so maybe that's why I liked this movie so much. The special effects are incredible. No one can put on a show like Mother Nature. George Clooney continues to show that he has what it takes to be a major movie star. And, yes, that female fishing boat captain is a real person.

5. State and Main: This movie by David Mamet was a late year release that hasn't made it into many theaters. That's a shame, because it's a delight. It tells the tale of a movie company that takes over a small Vermont town for a shoot. The movie people expect the locals to be hicks who are easily taken in. The locals quickly see a chance to make a buck and get a shot at fame. This is ensemble acting at its best.

6. Erin Brockovich: I'm not a great Julia Roberts fan, but she really shows why she is one of the top female actors in this movie. She does well as the not perfect crusader, trying to get justice while looking out for her own interests. The character actually has a lot of negative qualities, bad taste in clothes, poor parenting skills, etc but you still root for her and her cause. Roberts is a big contender fro an Oscar for this one.

7. Chicken Run: Like a lot of others in this group, I loved this movie. I seen it multiple times and it will end up in my permanent collection. I have great fun playing "Name the movie that scene references".

8. What Women Want: Mel Gibson playing a real male chauvenist pig who suddenly can read women's minds. Does he use this power to understand them? Of course not (at least in the beginning), he uses it for manipulation. I think every female in the audience cheered when he discovered the pain of leg waxing ("How do women ever get the courage to do the other leg?"), and when he discovered that he was lousy in bed.

9. Gladiator: Russell Crowe for the second time in my list. (I know--Mel Gibson made it twice too) I felt this movie came closer to acurately depicting ancient Rome than any I have ever seen ( Unless you count 13 hours of I, Claudius on PBS). The fight scenes were well done and you can get a feel for the sheer size of the colliseum.

10. Pitch Black: Everyone deserves a guilty pleasure and this one is mine. Yes the plot had holes you could not only drive a truck through, you could park it sideways. On the plus side it had Vin Diesel as Riddick, it did not go with survival of the best looking, and the monsters were way cool, especially when you saw them through Riddick's night vision eyes.

The Five Worst (Oh how do I Choose?)

1. Supernova: Absolutely no redeeming features. Science Fiction at its worst. (And this is coming in a year that had Mission To Mars, Battlefield Earth, and Red Planet.)

2. Little Nicky: Adam Sandler as Satan's stupid son. This could have been funny or at least interesting. It is neither.

3. Dungeons and Dragons: Cool Dragons, no plot, bad dialogue, and uninteresting characters. You could hear the dice rolls and the blatant Phantom Menace rip-offs were annoying.

4. How The Grinch Stole Christmas: Overblown, overacted, and containing plot twists that ruined the message of the original. The differece in the poetry between what Seuss wrote and what they added in does show just how good Seuss is. Forget this one. Stick with the cartoon or the book.

5. Dracula 2000: This movie had a "Plot Twist/Suprise Ending" concerning the origin of Dracula that was so strongly foreshadowed, halfway through the movie I was thinking "They can't really be going there." They were.