Miscellaneous Reviews Festivals Lists Interviews
#
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Here


web analytics

The Best Films of 2002

10. The Good Girl: Jennifer Aniston's portrait of a lonely and depressed small-town woman forms the heart and soul of The Good Girl, the follow-up to Chuck and Buck from screenwriter Mike White and director Miguel Arteta.

9. Femme Fatale: Femme Fatale marks Brian DePalma's return to the genre that made him famous, to often outrageous and exciting results.

8. One Hour Photo: Robin Williams' scary (but completely believable) performance anchors this stunning directorial debut from Mark Romanek.

7. Signs: M. Night Shyamalan finally gets it right with this terrifying aliens-come-to-Earth tale.

6. Insomnia: Chris Nolan proves that Memento was no fluke, while Al Pacino and Robin Williams give astoundingly captivating performances.

5. The Count of Monte Cristo: Kevin Reynolds' exciting take on the Dumas classic is one of the best adventure movies to come out of Hollywood in years, featuring a fantastic lead performance from Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce as an enjoyably over-the-top bad guy.

4. Solaris: Steven Soderbergh's deliberately paced but utterly absorbing sci-fi tale is his very best film, and demands an attentive viewer.

3. Panic Room: David Fincher's take on the thriller genre is a stylistic triumph, and features an amazing cast (lead by Jodie Foster).

2. Punch Drunk Love: Adam Sandler proves he's got more talent than anybody ever suspected, in this brilliant love story by director Paul Thomas Anderson.

1. Road to Perdition: Sam Mendes' first movie since American Beauty was simply the most compelling film I saw all year, and as good as Tom Hanks is here, he's overshadowed by the brilliant Paul Newman.


The Worst Films of 2002

10. Chicago: Filled to the brim with forgettable songs and dark dancing sequences, Chicago does not bode well for the future of the musical.

9. Slackers: Though Jason Schwartzman's insanely over-the-top performance provided some entertainment, this was otherwise a stupid and dull gross-out comedy.

8. A Walk to Remember: Mandy Moore makes her starring debut in this terminally dumb romantic drama.

7. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner: Lots of critics appreciated the "fascinating" look at Inuit life provided by the film. Me, I was bored silly.

6. Impostor: Proof that it is possible to make a bad movie with two amazing actors like Gary Sinise and Vincent D'Onofrio.

5. Serving Sara: A comedy so unfunny and so horribly misguided, it makes Matt LeBlanc's Ed look like a masterpiece.

4. Scooby Doo: Matthew Lillard made for a surprisingly decent Shaggy, so it was a real shame that the film surrounding his performance was so terrible.

3. Bad Company: Bad Company is representative of everything that's wrong with today's action films: Lots of stuff blew up, but there was virtually no violence. And Chris Rock gives what is possibly the worst performance ever in a movie.

2. Fear Dot Com: Dark and dreary, Fear Dot Com was certainly the most unpleasant movie to sit through this year, and likely would have been the worst movie on this list had I not already seen...

1. Pumpkin: Pretentious and self-serving, Pumpkin threw out all the important elements required for a film (silly little things like character and plot) just to make a point. It really didn't get any worse than this.

© David Nusair