instantwatcher.com

Steven Rosen, Denver Post

1. Bloody Sunday 2002 Bloody Sunday not only is a classic study in the way things can go devastatingly, violently wrong, but also a lesson in the importance of not letting that happen. full review
2. Bowling for Columbine 2002 At its best, which occurs often, Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine rekindles the muckraking, soul-searching spirit of the 'Are we a sick society?' journalism of the 1960s. full review
3. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys 2002 Recalls The Virgin Suicides, Ghost World and Waking Life. If it's not as good as those, it isn't for lack of heart or ambition. full review
4. Igby Goes Down 2002 This 'dark comedy' has an amazing amount of heart to go with its darkness. full review
5. The Master of Disguise 2002 Neither [Carvey] nor semi-competent director Perry Andelin Blake have the ability to sustain a scene or idea. full review
6. Punch-Drunk Love 2002 Everything about Punch-Drunk Love works in a Being John Malkovich sort of way save one. Sandler. When your star doesn't work, it's hard to get us to buy into the rest of a movie as unusual as this. full review
7. Stuart Little 2 2002 Significantly better than its 2002 children's-movie competition. full review
8. The Sum of All Fears 2002 The explosion essentially ruined -- or, rather, overpowered -- the fiction of the movie for me. full review
9. Treasure Planet 2002 One wants good storytelling from animated films, and Treasure Planet is working with a good one. But, like pirates hoarding gold, it gets greedy trying to wow us with too much. full review
10. The Trials of Henry Kissinger 2002 The film is insightful about Kissinger's background and history. full review
11. XXX 2002 The pretensions -- and disposable story -- sink the movie. And Diesel isn't the actor to save it. full review
12. Black Hawk Down 2001 Scott keeps bringing home the shocks, using light and sound to underscore the visual tumult. full review
13. America's Sweethearts 2001 Given its subject matter, it's too genial to cut deep. full review
14. Atlantis - The Lost Empire 2001 A film without an artistic vision to match its commercial one. full review
15. Gosford Park 2001 This is an exemplary exercise in Anglophilia. full review
16. Sexy Beast 2001 It remains first and foremost an involving story about its characters. full review
17. Tape 2001 A failed experiment with arresting moments. full review
18. Lara Croft - Tomb Raider 2001 It's yet another movie where you frequently have no idea what's going on or why. full review
19. Vanilla Sky 2001 A film that, despite intriguing ideas, cleverly tricky structure and some remarkable imagery, just doesn't work. full review
20. Malena 2000 The film lacks a focused, compelling narrative -- perhaps because Tornatore is trying to manufacture a hit by juggling story elements more forced and manipulative than felt. full review
21. Memento 2000 Destined to become a new noir classic. full review
22. Quills 2000 A rare Hollywood movie that is about the nature of eroticism without being afraid of its own power to arouse. full review
23. Scream 3 2000 Isn't that good. full review
24. Titan A.E. 2000 From the 'New Coke' school of miscalculations. full review
25. Traffic 2000 Traffic sometimes has the impact of a tense war film or a grittily modernist, post- Godfather crime epic such as Heat or Goodfellas. full review
26. Superstar 1999 Superstar will rank closer to Wayne's World than It's Pat or Roxbury. In Saturday Night Live terms, that constitutes a masterpiece.