TOP FIVE FILMS OF 2001
1. In The Bedroom - Todd Field's masterful direction and Sissy Spacek's touching performance makes this a powerful film experience.

2. Mulholland Drive - A Hollywood dream rendered enigmatically (and beautifully) by the great wierdo of cinema, David Lynch. It's a tragedy that should have seen Aussie Naomi Watts receive a nomination for this year's Oscar.

3. Amelie - Jean-Pierre Jeunet creates a love letter to Paris worth a thousand kisses.

4. Bridget Jones Diary - Give Renee Zellweger 20 extra pounds, an inferiority complex, an English accent and you got one kick ass comedy. Best date movie of the year.

5. Memento - Brings memories of such time-shifting classics as Pulp Fiction. But make no mistake, Memento's a daringly original and suspenseful treat.

WORST MOVIES Of 2001
1. Pearl Harbor - maybe the worst war movie in the past 10 years. A Titanic clone that sunk much faster to the bottom of the ocean. I'm glad to say it flopped.

2. Freddy Got Fingered - Tom Green shows us why Drew divorced him. What was the problem, Ms. Barrymore? Was it Tom jerking off a horse?

3. Moulin Rouge - What do you get when the two leads can't sing and dance but do anyway? Nicole Kidman and Ewan Macgregor in Moulin Rouge. What do you get with numbers like "Like A Virgin," "Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend"?: Baz Luhrmann's flashy, lightning fast quick-cutting, absurd, talentless
(I could go on, but what’s the point) musical.

4. Glitter - Mariah Carey’s pseudo-biography and her pseudo-acting gave me the biggest laughs of 2001. I got my fingers crossed for a sequel.

5. Hannibal - This wasn't scary, just disgusting. Absolutely no suspense. Sir Anthony Hopkins should be ashamed. But that's hard to do when you got paid a cool 15 million to do it.

(Dis)honorable Mentions: The Mexican, Along Came A Spider, The Mummy Returns.

MOST OVERRATED FILMS OF 2001
1. Moulin Rouge - a vapid experience that gave me the migraine of my life.

2. The Royal Tenenbaums - an entertaining, but empty family comedy. Also, it's not funny enough and can't compare to Wes Anderson's far superior offering Rushmore.

3. The Score - a dull as a sponge mop heist flick. Too much wasted talent: Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton, Marlon Brando and Angela Bassett.

4. The Man Who Wasn't There - It's on way too many critics top 10 lists. If you like the Coens (and I do, a whole lot) then check out their earlier, far better films, such as Raising Arizona, Fargo and The Big Lebowski.

5. Gladiator - I know it came out last year, but I'm still pissed about it's Oscar win for Best Picture. It's a shallow, muddy actioner that should have been left in the dust by the great Traffic. It's two and a half hours bored me and I don't care that this might be Staten Island's favorite movie; just ahead of Road Trip.