FILMS OF THE DECADE: THE YEAR 2001

WITH HINDSIGHT

PERHAPS I should have made more references to the 9/11 terror attack on The Twin Towers in September.

The films released on September 7 that year were Moulin Rouge, Scary Movie 2, The Foresaken and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Films out on September 14 included Vin Diesel's The Fast and the Furious, Lee Evans in The Martins and Clive Owen in Greenfingers, with September 21 delivering Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence and Kirsten Dunst in Crazy/Beautiful. There was also a powerful Iranian film about childhood, set in a remote Kurdish village - A Time For Drunken Horses (PG).

THE YEAR 2001 IN MOVIES

What were the best and worst films of the year 2001? Mail Film Editor GRAHAM YOUNG gives his verdict.

THREE films have been vying for contention as my film of the year for months - and they've all been pipped at the post.

Whether I am being fair or not, only time will tell.

But, in the end, I just couldn't resist the strong Birmingham connections of THE LORD OF THE RINGS (PG) from swinging it for me right at the death.

This gargantuan, three-hour epic was only released two days ago and, while most people still won't have seen it yet, I haven't had time to watch it for a crucial second time either to find out if, like the very best films, it improves with a repeat performance.

Not that my original viewing hasn't had a sufficient period to truly settle in my mind.

Only then do you begin to realise whether a film is going to become a classic that you would want to see again and again, or will be left undisturbed in your memory bank for ever more.

In short-term hindsight, it now feels slightly repetitive, for example, and should NOT be seen by anyone under eight despite what the censors merely 'recommend'.

But I've still chosen The Lord of the Rings as my No 1 partly out of huge respect for the sheer lengths that 40-year-old director Peter Jackson has gone to in order to bring JRR Tolkien's trilogy to the silver screen.

Previously thought to be the story that could never be adapted for the cinema, it has a real sense of fellowship having been made in Jackson's native New Zealand.

Here's a country on the other side of the world and where there was no major movie industry to begin with, let alone one that could enter the record books by coping with the immense logistical demands of shooting three different films at the same time for release in 2001-2-3.

Yet Jackson's great achievement is to bring a whole new landscape to our attention with scenes which really do transport you back 7,000 years to Middle-Earth.

Complete with terrific performances from Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Ian Holm, Viggo Mortenson and Elijah Wood this is as good as contemporary action blockbusters get and arguably the best of its kind since Terminator 2 a decade ago.

See it as soon as you can - and enjoy the ride in the best digital screens.

Of the other three frontrunners, choosing between them is almost impossible.
The dazzling MOULIN ROUGE (12), released on September 7, featured Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor in Baz Luhrmann's wondrous recreation of life in the famous Paris theatre 100 years ago.

Not everyone liked it, which is a good thing, but I've lost count of the number of people I've met who made the effort to catch it not once, not twice, but THREE times.

January had the other two best films in a very strong start to the year.
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (12) was in Chinese with English subtitles, but this was still the first must see film of 2001 regardless.

Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh star in Ang Lee's breathtakingly majestic martial arts film which itself features an extraordinary blend of never-seen-before scenery and stunningly choreographed fight sequences.

It was pure poetry in motion, which won Oscars for best foreign language film, cinematography, score and art direction.

The Oscar for best director in 2001 deservedly went to Steven Soderbergh for TRAFFIC (18) which had five nominations in total.

It might well have won best film, too, had the votes not been split with the year-2000 release of Gladiator, which earned Russell Crowe the best actor title among its 12 nominations.

Benicio Del Toro won best supporting actor for Traffic thanks to a spellbinding performance as a Mexican cop fighting the unstoppable drugs' trade.

Four down, six to go, and now the choice starts to get a little easier.

In fifth place I've gone for THE CONTENDER (15) on the strength of THREE outstanding performances.

Released on April 20, this was a hugely entertaining political thriller about a woman in line to become US Vice President, with Gary Oldman outstanding alongside Oscar nominees Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen.

The two best superstar performances since then have come from Jack Nicholson and Nicole Kidman.

In his first film since winning another Best Actor Oscar for As Good As It Gets in 1998, big Jack delivered a tour-de-force in THE PLEDGE (15) on October 12.

In a dark, disturbing story directed by Sean Penn, the most nominated male actor in Academy Awards' history played a cop who couldn't let retirement get in the way of catching a child killer.

Just as mesmerising was Nicole Kidman's turn in THE OTHERS (12), an equally-chilling thriller released three weeks later.

When a mother and her two children think they're safe in a remote Jersey mansion at the end of WW2, until the floorboards start to creak, Kidman gives the performance of her career in a super film that leaves much to your imagination until the very end.

With three places left to fill, it's a toss up between any of the following.

In order of release, there's Cast Away (12), for Tom Hanks' stunning turn which saw him carry the whole movie along for more than an hour; Almost Famous which won an Oscar for best original screenplay; Anthony Hopkins for his comic return in Hannibal (18) and Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth for giving women cinema-goers a great time in Bridget Jones's Diary (15).

There's also DreamWorks' Shrek (U) which was up there with the recent best of Disney, Jackie Chan's Rush Hour 2 (12), the funniest film of the year when seen with the right audience; Steven Spielberg's cold vision of the future in AI (12), which included another good turn from The Sixth Sense child star Hayley Joel Osment, and the unstoppable box office sensation of Harry Potter (PG).

But I've chosen three smaller and even more enjoyable movies to round out my top ten.

In eighth place comes THE DISH (12), a sumptuous Australian comedy based on a true story about a malfunctioning dish being used to receive vital pictures from the Apollo 11 mission.

At nine, there's 13 DAYS (12) starring Kevin Costner, Steven Culp and a brilliant Bruce Greenwood as JFK.

This recreation of US government fears about the Cuban missile crisis positively drips with tension and certainly would have done if you'd hired it in late September this year.

And, finally, last but my no means least is another foreign film, AMELIE (15), complete with a career-making performance from Audrey Tautou as the shy waitress who decides to try to make other people happy.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and released on October 5, Amelie was, post September 11, this year's rejuvenating equivalent of The Full Monty which soared in 1997 after the death of Diana, Princess Of Wales.

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IT'S BEEN another year of astonishing growth in the West Midlands as eager cinema-goers warmly welcomed another three 'picture houses'.

Cineworld, a nine screen, 1,700-seater cinema, opened in Solihull's splendid Touchwood shopping development on September 7.

Operators Cine-UK Ltd had earlier been voted the exhibitors of the year by the industry's trade association Cine Expo.

Birmingham's IMAX Theatre was next on September 29 - the same day that Millennium Point opened to the public for the first time, including Thinktank, the Birmingham museum of science and discovery.

One of the first films to be screened was Cyberworld 3D, starring Bart Simpson and his family and the Birmingham Film and Television later put on Ridley Scott's classic sci-fi movie Blade Runner.

From the beginning of January, Disney fans can enjoy a giant day out with Beauty And The Beast on the region's biggest screen.

Measuring 50ft high by 70ft wide, the IMAX has 42 speakers delivering six channel digital surround sound to 385 luxury stadium-style seats.

In October, National Amusements, which already has Showcase cinemas in Coventry, Erdington and Walsall, opened a fourth multiplex in the West Midlands.

Dudley Castlegate has 2,950 seats in 14 screens with stadium seating taking the total number of seats in the region to more than 62,000 in 270 screens.

UK Cinema admissions, which have almost tripled in 16 years, are again expected to show a year-on-year increase this year, despite September 11.

Top of the pile is Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone which has been smashing records galore thanks the widest ever release - 1,168 screens at 507 sites.

Its opening three-day weekend netted £9.6 million to beat the previous £7.6 million set by Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace in 1999.

After four weeks it had taken £43.4 million to become the sixth biggest UK hit in history.

GRAHAM YOUNG'S TOP TEN FOR 2001

1. The Lord of the Rings
2= Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Moulin Rouge
Traffic
5. The Contender
6= The Others
The Pledge
8. The Dish
9. 13 Days
10. Amelie

TEN TURKEYS
1. Scary Movie 2
2. Pokemon 3
3. Disco Pigs
4. Glitter
5. Woman on Top
6. SW9
7. The Martins
8. See Spot Run
9. About Adam
10. Angel Eyes

TEN FOR MEN
1. The Score
2. 15 Minutes
3. Jeepers Creepers
4. Enemy At The Gates
5. The Fast and the Furious
6. Swordfish
7. Miss Congeniality
8. Proof of Life
9. Men of Honor
10. Pearl Harbor

TEN FOR WOMEN
1. Bridget Jones's Diary
2. You Can Count On Me
3. Save The Last Dance For Me
4. Chocolat
5. Riding In Cars With Boys
6. The Wedding Planner
7. Ginger Snaps
8. Enigma
9. What Women Want
10. Captain Corelli's Mandolin

TEN THAT GOT AWAY
1. The Devil's Backbone
2. The Prince and the Warrior
3. Ginger Snaps
4. Josie And The Pussycats
5. A Knight's Tale
6. One Night At McCool's
7. The Parole Officer
8. The Believer
9. The Terrorist
10. Tigerland

TEN NOT-BUSTERS
1. The Mummy 2
2. Pearl Harbour
3. Planet of the Apes
4. Jurassic Park 3
5. Tomb Raider
6. Autumn In New York
7. Pay It Forward
8. The Legend of Bagger Vance
9. The Tailor of Panama
10. Remember The Titans