David Kingsley's 2001 Lists

1. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
   An epic movie for an epic novel. I read FOTR for the first time last year, and Peter Jackson did a fine job in capturing the essence of the book.
   
2. Memento
   This is a movie that really makes you think. While we know what happens in the future, we are as confused about the past events as the main character, who has no short term memory.
    
3. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
   The funniest movie of the year, especially if you don't mind a lot of adult (or juvenile) humor.
   
4. A Beautiful Mind
   Russell Crowe gave a great performance as a math professor who overcomes mental illness to win the Nobel prize in economics.
   
5. Vanilla Sky
   This is a movie that keeps you guessing about what's going on, and the resolution was nicely handled.
   
6. Mulholland Drive
   It's a David Lynch film, so it's weird, but not quite as weird as most of his movies. This was originally going to be a TV series, but I doubt that the lesbian love scenes were filmed for TV.
   
7. Shrek
   The best animated movie of the year. Excellent animation and humorous spoofs of fairy tales.
   
8. The Dish
   A charming movie about the people at an Australian radio antenna dish who received the first video transmissions from the Apollo 11 moon landing.
   
9. Ghost World
   A movie with good quirky characters and fine perfomances by Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi.
   
10. [Alan Moore's] From Hell
    The movie From Hell was a good retelling of the Jack the Ripper legend. This was based on the graphic novel from Alan Moore, the best comic book writer ever.

Bottom Five

1. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
   It was like Indiana Jones with boobs but without much other action.
   
2. Pearl Harbor
   This movie had good special effects but failed to live up to its potential due to a contrived love triangle subplot. Went on needlessly long by including Doolittle's raid on Tokyo.
   
3. Hannibal
   I really didn't need to see Hannibal Lecter feeding someone his own brain.
   
4. Evolution
   There were a few funny moments, but I was disappointed that it wasn't better.
    
5. Swordfish There are only a couple of good reasons to watch this movie.