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Jay Carr, Boston Globe

1. Rollerball 2002 It had a chance to improve upon the crude and stupid 1975 original, set in a future America. Instead, it's only cruder and stupider.
2. Black Hawk Down 2001 Despite all the hard work by an army of craftsmen working on location in Morocco, the film takes the easy way out, subsiding into a thing of technical challenges met rather than attempting to probe the events at a deeper level.
3. Atlantis - The Lost Empire 2001 It should have been more daring, and gone for the grandeur and even poetic dimension its subject invites.
4. Baran 2001 It reminds us of what a film can be when it's drawn from the heart of an artist who believes in the medium as something more than a product or commodity.
5. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 2001 While Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back can't be called hard-hitting, it's both freeform enough and free-swinging enough to make contact with the series' original anarchic impulses.
6. The Musketeer 2001 The images are pretty, and Gene Quintano's screenplay gets everybody from point A to point B, though with no discernible knack for wit or subtlety.
7. Rat Race 2001 The sight gags are too few and far between and the characters, in varying degrees, all seem pale refugees from sitcomland.
8. Session 9 2001 As the violence escalates, the store of ominousness shrinks and gives way to silliness, leaving some talented actors high and dry.
9. Sexy Beast 2001 Its mix of surrealism, coolly chic visuals, and juicy acting leapfrogs it ahead of most of the competition.
10. Tape 2001 Tape is smart, unpredictable, and alive with the energies of actors who clearly are enjoying being stretched by their material.
11. Lara Croft - Tomb Raider 2001 While Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is as cumbersome as most films in this subgenre, Angelina Jolie makes it watchable.
12. Tomcats 2001 From dumb and dumber comedy it drags us south to bonehead.
13. Wet Hot American Summer 2001 There's no getting around the fact that it's a hit-and-miss proposition.
14. Beautiful Creatures 2000 Too much style and not enough of anything else.
15. Billy Elliot 2000 The best dance film in ages.
16. Blow Dry 2000 What Blow Dry needs, though, is less connect-the-dots and a little more of the waywardness that Warren Clarke's mayor-turned-emcee manages to wring from his limited assignment.
17. The Gift 2000 A solidly crafted, suspensefully written, powerfully acted little juggernaut.
18. The Man Who Cried 2000 The story is pretty cornball, with an ending that can only be called pure Hollywood.
19. Meet the Parents 2000 In many ways reminiscent of There's Something About Mary.
20. The Original Kings of Comedy 2000 Time and again, we're transported by the outpouring of liberating humor from four men who know the territory.
21. Our Song 2000 Our Song has no illusions about easy fixes. But neither does it traffic in facile despair as its three Graces saunter along the cracked pavement and into our hearts.
22. Scary Movie 2000 The satire is sharp and knowing.
23. Scream 3 2000
24. Shaft 2000 Finally, someone has remembered how to remake a slick, bang-bang action movie.
25. The Taste of Others 2000 A civilized delight.
26. Titan A.E. 2000 A space shot worth taking.
27. Traffic 2000 Traffic looks like the Oscar best-picture front-runner, and so does Soderbergh, for best director. But long after everyone has forgotten who won the statues, it will be remembered as one of film's most stylish and electrifying wake-up calls.
28. Bringing Out the Dead 1999 Surprisingly lacking in primal impact.
29. Double Jeopardy 1999 A lukewarm outing that mostly just bops from plot point to plot point.
30. In Too Deep 1999 Rewardingly textured work.
31. Man on the Moon 1999 The big problem with Man on the Moon is that it settles for being a thing of surfaces.
32. Runaway Bride 1999 Charm and stardust carry it past its blatantly manufactured quality.
33. Snow Falling on Cedars 1999 It's second to none in its ability to specify a world and immerse us in it.
34. Superstar 1999 The secret of Mary Katherine's success is that she isn't afraid to risk looking foolish by trying too hard. The secret of Shannon's success is that she knows just how hard to try.
35. Teaching Mrs. Tingle 1999 A screenful of nothingness!
36. Topsy-Turvy 1999
37. Black Dog 1998
38. Following 1998
39. Mercury Rising 1998
40. What Dreams May Come 1998 The afterlife movie soars to new visionary heights in 'What Dreams May Come.'
41. The Apostle 1997
42. As Good As It Gets 1997 I'd go to As Good as It Gets and not worry too much about its structural ungainliness.
43. Good Will Hunting 1997 Even rarer than a breath of fresh air is a breath of fresh Hollywood film. Brainy and heartfelt and right on target, Good Will Hunting is such a film.