Jeremy Stomberg's top ten/bottom five

1. Dancer in the Dark
   Not for everyone, but for me. Björk makes her movie debut in a crazy, depressing musical and shines. Catherine Deneuve and David Morse also star in a story of unfulfilled dreams and the giving of oneself for another.

2. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
   You never know what to expect from the Coen Brothers, and I like that. Lightly based on The Odyssey , this depression-era musical made me smile throughout the entire film (and, to Heidi's chagrin, talk like Ulysses for an hour afterwards). Quirky humor from two of Minnesota's greatest exports.

3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
   Ang Lee proves he can do action and drama in one movie. I haven't liked his more recent stuff ( Sense & Sensibility , Ride With the Devil ), but I'm a big fan of his earlier, Chinese language stuff (The Wedding Banquet , Eat Drink Man Woman ) and I'm a super fan of Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh, so I was excited for this. Not the best wirefighting movie ever made (try Fong Sai Yuk II ), but a great blend of action and a great story of aging warriors and unrequeited love.

4. Chicken Run
   Brilliant parody of dozens of movies. Great movie for kids as well as adults. What else can be said?

5. Snatch
   Guy Ritchie's followup to Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels beats the pants off its predecessor. Soccer star Vinnie Jones again steals the show. Wraparound plot, blindingly cool visual stlye, punchy dialogue, and proof that, given the right script and director, Brad Pitt can shine.

6. High Fidelity
   One of my favorite books, and the most faithful book->movie adaptation I've ever seen (beating out The Shawshank Redemption ). Every bit of casting is perfect, and so's the music.

7. X-Men
   A great superhero movie. A great MARVEL superhero movie. Who'dve thunk it? Successfully melds superheros into the real world. And I got to wear Wolverine's jacket!

8. Traffic
   It's hard to make a movie that pisses off people in the Republican AND Democratic parties. The drug war is a farce, and this movie shows it. It's also very well-done, with strong performances all around.

9. Meet the Parents
   I love Ben Stiller, and the comedic chemistry between him and Robert DeNiro is wonderful. Jay Roach shows he can do more than Austin Powers . A sequel, Meet the Fockers , is on the way.

10. Erin Brokovich
    Didn't think I would liked it, but I did. Too many times when movies are "based on a true story", the people are made to look perfect, with no faults or foibles. Not here. She ignores her kids, makes bad decisions...gotta love her.

1. Dungeons & Dragons
   I didn't think I would see a movie worse than Mission to Mars in 2000, and I was right (I waited until last week, when it was at a $2 theater). A friend I went with called it "Competently shot, badly scripted, and drunkenly edited". I couldn't agree more. So many stupid lines, characters that appeared and disappeared with no explaination, and more Star Wars ripoffs than any film since The Phantom Menace .

2. Mission to Mars
   A multi-billion-dollar spaceship that doesn't have a fuel pressure indicator light? Ugh. A better title for this pooplog would have been 2001 For Dummies.

3. Battlefield Earth
   This shameless ripoff of John Christopher's Tripods trilogy was nice and loud, at least.

4. Red Planet
   Cool Robot, Carrie-Anne Moss, murder, betrayal...sounds cool, huh? Wrong.

5. Loser
   It certainly was.