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'Toy Story,' 'Insider' Top Tim's Movie ListTim Lammers, Staff WriterJanuary 3, 2000, 10:07 a.m. EST
These findings are based on something simple: How did they entertain me as a moviegoer? 10. "The Blair Witch Project" Verdict: If it weren't for the hype, which let the (black) cat out of the bag, this innovative indie may have found a higher place on the list. What really made this one of year's best wasn't the film itself, but a savvy Internet marketing plan. Hundreds of years of the legend, for instance, are chronicled on the film's Web site. Strip all that away and market it as "fiction" -- this film becomes average at best.
9. "The Red Violin" Premise: A violin curator (Samuel L. Jackson) investigates the mysterious history of a priceless 300-year-old violin. Verdict: Although you don't often hear the combination of words "violin" and "thriller," that is exactly what describes this film. It's told in a thought-provoking fractured narrative (the same story from different points of view, out of sequence), à la "Pulp Fiction". Chronicling how the violin affected every life that it touched, the film keeps you at bow's length until the very end. It may even find you looking into the history of your own family's heirlooms. It did mine -- from an entirely different light. Fascinating.
8. "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" Verdict: Alright, alright -- the plot seemed thin and Jar Jar drove you nuts. But I really think Mr. Lucas has something in store for us. Maybe people were simply disappointed because of the inevitable hype. When the dust settles, consider "The Phantom Menace" as simply a piece of a much bigger intergalactic pie to come. The film's spectacular special effects can't be denied, and as for the storyline, it should gain more respect and have greater significance as the others are released.
7. Tie: "The Matrix" / "The Mummy" Premise: In "The Matrix", a techno-wiz (Keanu Reeves) is rescued by a group of cyber-renegades who reveal to him that society is a prisoner to an electronic existence. In the "Mummy", a group of gold diggers and Egyptologists (led by Brendan Fraser) search for a long-lost treasure in the Egyptian desert -- and unleash a 3,000 year-old legacy of terror! Verdict: "The Matrix" had captivating special effects without question. But it's the complex, thought-provoking storyline that makes this film work (and the fact that Keanu Reeves can indeed act). As for "The Mummy," high-brow critics be damned; this is an entertaining movie. Sure it's a "popcorn movie," but it also made going to the movies fun again. The special effects rival "The Phantom Menace", which only makes sense -- Industrial Light and Magic did both movies.
6. "Being John Malkovich" Verdict: You have never seen anything like this before, and any deliberate knock-offs that try duplicating it would be embarrassing. While not perfect, it's still one of the most original movies in years. Best of all, it co-stars John Malkovich himself, who shows why he's earned the dubious distinction of having the project modeled after him.
5. "The Green Mile" Premise: A death row security guard (Tom Hanks) questions the conviction of an inmate (Michael Clarke Duncan) who possesses mystical capabilities. Verdict: Three words make this movie happen: Michael Clarke Duncan. While this is clearly Hanks' film, we feel Duncan's presence throughout, similar to the impact Anthony Hopkins had on "Silence of the Lambs". Delivered from the minds of a the masterful "The Shawshank Redemption" (Stephen King and Frank Darabont), it's another enlightening story of hope in a place where hope doesn't exist.
4. "Three Kings"
Verdict: Next to "Being John Malkovich" (directed by co-star Spike Jonze), "Three Kings" tops the list for original and refreshing filmmaking. Writer-director David O. Russell tells a tale of war like none other, and refuses to commit to any specific genre to do it. A complex morality play, this film is enlightening and enraging at the same time.
3. "American Beauty" Premise: Hell busts loose in suburbia. Lester Burnham is going through a mid-life crisis, disconnecting from his career-obsessed wife (Annette Bening) and angst-ridden daughter (Thora Birch). Verdict: A clinic in acting. Spacey leads the charge, Bening runs a close second, but the film's young trio -- Birch, Wes Bentley and Mena Suvari (as Spacey's Lolita) -- isn't far behind. Why is this important? The film has to sell us on the heartbreaks of everyday life. And it does so - painfully, but beautifully.
2. "The Insider" Verdict: This fascinating look at one of TV's most legendary programs is every bit as good as the program itself. Intensified by the brisk pacing of director Michael Mann and compelling performances by Pacino, Crowe and Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace. What makes this clock tick, though, is the way it allows us to relate to a man concerned with nothing more than meeting the basic needs of his family. It peels back the layers to give us a better grasp on the riveting story behind this country's biggest public health reform issue.
1. "Toy Story 2" Premise: This sequel to the 1995 blockbuster finds Woody (Tom Hanks) toynapped and reunited with the "Round-Up" gang, a valuable toy collection from the 1950s. It's up to Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and his friends to save Woody before he's shipped off to a toy museum in Japan.
Honorable Mentions: These didn't make the Top 10, but . . . "Music of the Heart" "The Sixth Sense" "Anna and the King"
Movie Web Site Of The WeekAnd The Oscar Goes To. . . With the awards season again in full swing, there's no better place to prepare for the "mother of all awards ceremonies" -- the Academy Awards -- than the official site for the Oscars. Although the hype picks up just after nominations in mid-February, this site is fully-operational all year round, with everything you wanted to know about past ceremonies. It's never too early to start brushing up on your Oscar trivia, which of course, will come in handy this spring.
Note: Tim's column appears every Thursday in our Entertainment section. Have suggestions for topics? Questions you'd like to ask movie makers? E-mail away!
Copyright 2001 by NewsNet5. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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Premise: Three student filmmakers venture out into the woods of Burkitsville, Maryland to film a documentary about a legendary witch. Three years later, their footage is found. 
Premise: The first chapter of the six-part saga traces the origins of a young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) and the training of Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) under Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. 
Premise: In the aftermath of the Gulf War, four soldiers (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze) head out into the Kuwaiti desert to claim a cache of stolen gold. Then the troops discover morals. 
Premise: "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman gets ex-tobacco research scientist Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) to blow the whistle on the dirty little secrets of big tobacco. 
Verdict: While a tip of the hat must go to two other animated masterpieces this year ("Tarzan" and "The Iron Giant"), "Toy Story 2" all but totally convinces me that live-action filmmakers need to take lessons from their animated counterparts. This is a perfect movie in every respect, where the filmmakers deservedly are the stars (voices aside, this stuff was created from nothing). Part nostalgic, part modern, this film doesn't talk down to anybody and has everything -- action, subtlety, a wide range of emotions, the best movie song of the year (Sarah McLachlin's "When She Loved Me" which actually manages to be part of the narrative) and, most importantly, a smart script. Despite the stylized animation, the film still makes the characters seem, for the lack of a better word, real. It's totally engaging from start to finish. It had me smiling ear to ear the whole time (except for the sad parts, of course). Didn't it have the same effect on you? 
"
This updated version of the classic story of "Anna and the King of Siam" boasts charismatic turns by Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat in the lead roles, but the most majestic character is the sum borne of the sets, costumes and locations. It's a reminder of how grand the Golden Age of Hollywood once was, and that it still can be. 
