To see my list of movies for 2001 (and other years), go to My Movie List.

Here's my take on what I saw this year (not every movie, but close)

11 BEST (not necessarily released this year), in no order:

Ride With the Devil - 5 Oct 01 - Fantastic. This or Magnolia was my top film of the year.

Wonder Boys - 17 Dec 01 - Interesting characters, great plot.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - 26 Dec 01 - Fantastic. I've waited 20 years for this.

Magnolia - 20 Nov 01 - Wonderful. Blew me away. I'll see anything by P.T. Anderson.

The Pledge - 4 Aug 01 - As non-Hollywood as they come. True to life. Great ending. Best work Nicholson's done in years.

Unbreakable - 1 July 01 - An interesting take on the superhero story.

Traffic - 26 Jan 01 - Insightful, absorbing, thoughtful.

Memento - 5 May 01 - A great plot device, an interesting story. Made me think.

Frequency - 5 Nov 01 - Schmaltz, but well-done schmaltz.

Bound - 21 Oct 01 - Lesbian noir! Woohoo! Now THAT's entertainment!

The Insider - 29 Nov 01 - Kept my strong interest for 3 hours. Absorbing. Pacino & Crowe were awesome.

DISAPPOINTMENTS

Planet Of The Apes (2001) - 1 Aug 01 - Bad ending, bad acting, plot holes.

Vanilla Sky - 23 Dec 01 - Bad moral. I'm tired of Tom Cruise's shtick.

Urban Cowboy - 9 Sept 01 - Just bad. Every character is trailer trash.

Species - 16 May 01 - Not very good, but defintely watchable.

Shrek - 28 Nov 01 - I'm completely sick of Mike Myer's Scottish accent. Other than that, fun.

Hannibal - 11 Feb 01 - The book was trash, the movie was trash, & it wasn't scary at all.

BEST HORROR

Ginger Snaps - 29 Oct 01 - A high-school werewolf movie. From Canada. Loved the characters!

DOCUMENTARY

The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition - 11 Nov 01 - One of my favorite historical stories. Compelling, amazing.

Revolution OS - 17 Nov 01 - About Linux, my favorite operating system. Could have been better.

Pornstar: The Legend of Ron Jeremy - 10 Nov 01 - 'nuff said.

WEIRD & WONDERFUL

Silent Running - 25 Nov 01 - Bruce Dern. Cute robots. Joan Baez on the soundtrack. My mouth was open several times in amazement (not always good).

Shadow Of The Vampire - 2 July 01 - A great movie. A fun take on Nosferatu.

Pi - 31 June 01 - One of my faves. I'd seen it before. Always worth seeing again.

I SHOULD HAVE SEEN BEFORE NOW (AKA, I'm Embarassed ...)

All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) - 30 Jan 01 - Wow.

The King Of Comedy - 8 Feb 01 - The one time I've enjoyed Sandra Bernhardt. Great movie.

The Exorcist: The Version You Haven't Seen Before - 3 Aug 01 - Never seen it. Not that scary, but a classic nonetheless.

The Gold Rush - 24 Mar 01 - It's Chaplin. C'mon.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - 6 May 01 - Slow, talky, but interesting. Dated, but still worth seeing.

Hang 'Em High - 28 Dec 01 - Good Eastwood. Loved the hanging machine.

The Dead Zone - 25 June 01 - Great movie. Great book. Cronenberg's most 'normal' movie. Walken is perfect.

A Christmas Story - 8 Aug 01 - Hilarious. Made me laugh constantly. A classic.

An American In Paris - 1 June 01 - Wonderful.

Dirty Harry - 3 Dec 01 - I felt lucky.

The Parallax View - 28 Dec 01 - Frankly, I think Arlington Road did it better. But worth seeing, especially in relation to its time.

GOOD MOVIES WORTH SEEING

The World History of Poisoning (Yady, ili vsemirnaya istoriya stravlenij) - 16 Nov 01 - A Russian film I saw at the film festival.

Bedazzled - 30 Nov 01 - Made me laugh many times

Ginger Snaps - 29 Oct 01 - Great horror. Loved it.

Summer of Sam - 6 Dec 01 - I liked it.

The Talented Mr. Ripley - 5 Dec 01 - OK. Not bad. Not really great, but not bad.

Small Time Crooks - 30 Sept 01 - It's Woody Allen being funny. I liked it.

Bringing Out The Dead - Good Scorcese. But not great Scorcese.

Snatch - 30 July 01 - I liked it. 'Lock Stock' part II. Brad Pitt was great.

Selena - 22 Oct 01 - Saw it on cable one night & really liked it. Edward James Olmos was excellent.

Primal Fear - 2 Dec 01 - Pretty crappy, but Edward Norton's first movie, & he was already excellent. He makes the movie. The love story blows. and I really don't like Laura Linney at all - she always plays a bitch.

Primary Colors - 11 Dec 01 - I liked it a lot. Travolta & Thompson were great.

Meet The Parents - 5 May 01 - Very funny.

Monsters Inc. - 2 Nov 01 - Made me cry I was laughing so hard.

Mystery Men - 15 Sept 01 - I liked this a lot! Really funny!

O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 28 Jan 01 - Every Coen Brothers movie is worth seeing.

Almost Famous - 4 June 01 - Great movie about rock 'n roll. See it.

American History X - 28 Oct 01 - Another standout Edward Norton film.

Antz - 14 Sept 01 - Fun.

Bamboozled - 5 Sept 01 - This one stuck with me for a long time. You really ought to watch it.

Black And White - 30 Aug 2001 - Excellent. Overflowing with ideas.

Boiler Room - 7 Sept 01 - Good movie. I like Vin Diesel.

Bottle Rocket - 24 Nov 01 - Fun in a loopy way. Owen Wilson is an interesting actor.

Bridget Jones' Diary - 22 Oct 01 - Enjoyable. Made me laugh. Grant was good. Zellweger was great.

Cats And Dogs - 22 Dec 01 - Very funny, very cute.

The Caveman's Valentine - 29 July 01 - Absorbing, interesting mystery. See it.

Dark City - June 01 - Excellent scifi. Excellent.

Enemy At The Gates - 27 Sept 01 - Good battle scenes, good sex scene, should have left out the love story.

Everything else I saw just didn't seem worthy of appearing anywhere on this list.

Respond, please. Disagree, agree, let me know what you liked & didn't like.