{"id":11,"date":"2007-01-20T12:38:57","date_gmt":"2007-01-20T20:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayivey.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=11"},"modified":"2015-06-13T17:13:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-14T00:13:00","slug":"rays-2002-movie-awards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/movie-awards-archive-2\/rays-2002-movie-awards\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>

Ray’s 2002 Movie Awards<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

2002 will certainly not go down in my diary as a banner movie year.\u00a0 There were a few bright spots, but very little to get really passionate about.\u00a0 Except for the remake of Swept Away, and \u201cburning hatred\u201d and \u201coutraged bafflement\u201d aren\u2019t the kind of passions I\u2019m talking about.<\/span><\/p>\n

I hate having to explain this, but YEAH, an asterisk denotes the winner in a category.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE BEST FILMS OF 2002<\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Spirited Away.\u00a0 This spectacular film from Japanese anime genius Hayao Miyazaki was the most transporting, transcendental moviegoing experience of 2002.\u00a0 It tells the story of a little girl whose family stumbles into what appears to be abandoned amusement park, but which is actually a gateway into a fantastic world populated by spirits.\u00a0 The movie is gorgeous, thrilling, moving, scary, and funny.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Chicago.\u00a0 I would have never believed that a movie this good would have ever been made of the much-beloved 1975 Kander and Ebb \/ Bob Fosse musical.\u00a0 The real stars of the movie are Rob Marshall, the director, and Bill Condon, who wrote the adaptation (without the aid of a phantom twin brother, even!).<\/span><\/p>\n

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3.\u00a0 The Pianist.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure quite how he did it, but Roman Polanski made a movie about the Holocaust in Poland that stands on its own despite the towering shadow of Schindler\u2019s List.\u00a0 Adrien Brody is spectacular as a young musician whose family is torn apart after the establishment of the Warsaw ghetto.\u00a0 His true story of is remarkable not for its depiction of heroism, but of the almost surreal accident that survival can be.<\/span><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 The Quiet American.\u00a0 This beautiful movie practically makes you smell Saigon.\u00a0 Michael Caine is stunning as a world-weary reporter trying to make sense of the new American presence in Indochina.<\/span><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.\u00a0 The magnificent trilogy continues.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 About Schmidt.\u00a0 What a revelation:\u00a0 A major star (not an over-the-hill star) doing a film that\u2019s actually about aging.\u00a0 Nicholson is simply magnificent in this wry, spare, and moving journey of a retired insurance man\u2019s first steps into old age.<\/span><\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Secretary.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to love a peppy, heart-warming movie about sexual liberation and sado-masochism.\u00a0 James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal are brilliant as an employer and employee who learn to work through their personal baggage with a walk on the wild side.\u00a0 Fun for the whole family!<\/span><\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Signs.\u00a0 I consistently admire M. Night Shymalan\u2019s films for their clarity of purpose.\u00a0 Though the previews prompted many moviegoers to expect an alien-invasion blockbuster, Signs was anything but that.\u00a0 Instead, it was a quiet, intense, narrowly-focused drama with the terrifying premise:\u00a0 What would you do if it looked like the aliens were invading your family\u2019s farm, TONIGHT?\u00a0 Even though I don\u2019t like Mel Gibson, he and the rest of the cast are quite effective in creating hair-raising tension.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.\u00a0 A surprisingly funny, smart, entertaining and even moving picture about Chuck Barris and his double life.\u00a0 Who cares if it\u2019s true or not?<\/span><\/p>\n

10.\u00a0 Rabbit-Proof Fence.\u00a0 This stunning movie tells the disturbing story of Australia\u2019s policy of kidnapping half-breed children in the outback.\u00a0 A simple story of great emotional power.<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention:\u00a0 The Hours, Minority Report, Moonlight Mile, Roger Dodger, Tully, Monsoon Wedding, Frida, Kissing Jessica Stein, One Hour Photo, Barbership, , Drumline, Antwone Fisher, Possession, Igby Goes Down, The Ring, The Man From Elysian Fields, Catch Me If You Can, Autofocus<\/span><\/p>\n

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BEST\u00a0FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM<\/span><\/p>\n

Y Tu Mama Tambien<\/span><\/p>\n

*Talk to Her<\/span><\/p>\n

The Crime of Father Amaro<\/span><\/p>\n

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DOCUMENTARY<\/span><\/p>\n

The Kid Stays in the Picture<\/span><\/p>\n

*Bowling for Columbine<\/span><\/p>\n

Standing In the Shadows of Motown<\/span><\/p>\n

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ACTOR<\/span><\/p>\n

*Adrien Brody, The Pianist<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam Rockwell, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind<\/span><\/p>\n

Greg Kinnear, Autofocus<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Caine, The Quiet American<\/span><\/p>\n

Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention:\u00a0 James Spaker in Secretary, Kieran Culkin in Igby Goes Down, Jake Gyllenhaal in Moonlight Mile, Robin Williams in One Hour Photo, Andy Garcia in The Man From Elysian Fields, Campbell Scott in Roger Dodger, Derek Luke in Antwone Fisher<\/span><\/p>\n

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ACTRESS<\/span><\/p>\n

*Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven<\/span><\/p>\n

Jennifer Aniston, The Good Girl<\/span><\/p>\n

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Secretary<\/span><\/p>\n

Salma Hayek, Frida<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicole Kidman, The Hours<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention:\u00a0 Michelle Pfeiffer in White Oleander<\/span><\/p>\n

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SUPPORTING ACTRESS<\/span><\/p>\n

*Robin Wright Penn, White Oleander<\/span><\/p>\n

Toni Colette, The Hours<\/span><\/p>\n

Susan Sarandon, Moonlight Mile<\/span><\/p>\n

Kathy Bates, About Schmidt<\/span><\/p>\n

Meryl Streep, The Hours<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: Samantha Morton in Minority Report, Amanda Peet in Igby Goes Down, Novella Nelson in Antwone Fisher, Christina Applegate in The Sweetest Thing.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

MOST OVERRATED SUPPORTING ACTRESS:\u00a0 Queen Latifah who was perfectly good, but certainly not great, in Chicago.<\/span><\/p>\n

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SUPPORTING ACTOR<\/span><\/p>\n

Eddie Izzard, The Cat\u2019s Meow<\/span><\/p>\n

Dustin Hoffman, Moonlight Mile<\/span><\/p>\n

Willem Dafoe, Autofocus<\/span><\/p>\n

*Chris Cooper, Adaptation<\/span><\/p>\n

Mick Jagger, The Man From Elysian Fields<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: Bob Burrus in Tully, Naseeruddin Shah in Monsoon Wedding, Cedric the Entertainer in Barbershop<\/span><\/p>\n

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DIRECTOR<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

*Rob Marshall, Chicago<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Pedro Almodovar, Talk to Her<\/span><\/p>\n

Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away<\/span><\/p>\n

Roman Polanski, The Pianist<\/span><\/p>\n

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ART DIRECTION\/PRODUCTION DESIGN<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pianist<\/span><\/p>\n

*Far From Heaven<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Catch Me If You Can<\/span><\/p>\n

Frida<\/span><\/p>\n

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CINEMATOGRAPHY<\/span><\/p>\n

*Chicago<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Pianist<\/span><\/p>\n

Frida<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Catch Me If You Can<\/span><\/p>\n

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SCORE<\/span><\/p>\n

*John Williams, Catch Me If You Can (Who knew this Important Movie Composer still had surprises up his sleeve?\u00a0 His jazzy Mancini-esque riffs really helped the movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cliff Martinez, Solaris<\/span><\/p>\n

Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jeff Dana, The Kid Stays in the Picture<\/span><\/p>\n

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OKAY, IT WAS CLEVER, BUT IT WAS SO DAMN SMUG IT JUST PISSED ME OFF<\/span><\/p>\n

Adaptation<\/span><\/p>\n

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MOST DISAPPOINTING MOVIES OF 2002<\/span><\/p>\n

Blood Work.\u00a0 Why would Clint Eastwood want to make a two-hour episode of Mannix?<\/span><\/p>\n

Naqoyqatsi.\u00a0 Koyaanisqatsi was fantastic, its sequel Powaqqatsi had an incredible Philip Glass score, but the third installment in Godfrey Reggio\u2019s visually existentialist trilogy is just a big fat bore.<\/span><\/p>\n

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MOST OVERRATED MOVIE OF 2002<\/span><\/p>\n

The deadly Gangs of New York.\u00a0 Now that Martin Scorcese\u2019s got it out of his system, I hope he next decides to make a a movie that\u2019s actually entertaining.<\/span><\/p>\n

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SMART CAREER MOVES<\/span><\/p>\n

Amanda Peet, doing interesting work in small roles, like Igby Goes Down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adam Sandler, for making a non-Adam Sandler movie (Punch-Drunk Love).\u00a0 Sure, the movie was all but unwatchable, but he was good in it, and it\u2019s going to help him reposition himself in Hollywood.\u00a0 Thank God, because if you\u2019re like me, you\u2019re tired of worried about Adam Sandler\u2019s well-being.<\/span><\/p>\n

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OKAY, TIME TO TAKE A LITTLE VACATION<\/span><\/p>\n

John C. Reilly and Philip Seymour Hoffman.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care how good both of you are, let\u2019s give someone else a turn for god\u2019s sake.<\/span><\/p>\n

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IS IT TOO EARLY TO GIVE HER A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD?<\/span><\/p>\n

The divine, indispensible, ultra-fabulous Reese Witherspoon.<\/span><\/p>\n

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TIME TO TAKE OFF THE SHIRT, KILLER.\u00a0 KEEPING IT ON IS NEVER GOING TO MAKE YOU CARY GRANT<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark Wahlberg<\/span><\/p>\n

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SCARIEST MOVIE IN A LONG TIME<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ring<\/span><\/p>\n

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COOLEST MASS DEATH SCENE<\/span><\/p>\n

Ghost Ship<\/span><\/p>\n

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SMARTEST DIALOG<\/span><\/p>\n

Moonlight Mile<\/span><\/p>\n

Roger Dodger<\/span><\/p>\n

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GOODBYE, MR. HOLLAND\u2019S DEAD POET\u2019S SOCIETY OPUS AWARD<\/span><\/p>\n

The Emperor\u2019s Club.\u00a0 How many times are they going to make this movie?<\/span><\/p>\n

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WAS HOPING IT WOULD BE AS GOOD AS FIRST CONTACT, BUT IT WAS ONLY AS GOOD AS INSURRECTION:<\/span><\/p>\n

Star Trek: Nemesis<\/span><\/p>\n

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OH, WAS THAT RELEASED THIS YEAR?\u00a0 YAWN.<\/span><\/p>\n

Star Wars Episode 2: The Clone Wars<\/span><\/p>\n

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MOST MISUNDERSTOOD AND UNDERAPPRECIATED<\/span><\/p>\n

Death to Smoochy.\u00a0 Okay, maybe it wasn\u2019t a home run.\u00a0 But it was dark and funny and nothing LIKE the disaster everyone declared it to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Possession.\u00a0 I was sorry and surprised that everyone ignored Neil LaBute\u2019s lovely version of A.S. Byatt\u2019s hugely successful novel about parallel love stories set in the English literary world.\u00a0 Sure, most antiquarian scholars don\u2019t look like Gwynneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart, but hey, it\u2019s the movies.\u00a0 The movie was sort of \u201cThe French Lieutenant\u2019s Woman Lite, \u201d and what\u2019s wrong with that?\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Who is Cletis Tout?\u00a0 A fun little trifle starring Christian Slater.<\/span><\/p>\n

25th<\/sup> Hour.\u00a0 Poor Spike Lee can\u2019t get any respect.\u00a0 This was a terrific, heartfelt, beautifully acted movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Cat\u2019s Meow.\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t people enjoy this charming, speculative trifle about one of Hollywood\u2019s most notorious scandals as much as I did?<\/span><\/p>\n

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BRAVO TO NEIL LABUTE FOR FINALLY ALLOWING HIS PERRENIAL STAR AARON ECKHART TO LOOK HIS RIDICULOUSLY ATTRACTIVE BEST<\/span><\/p>\n

Possession <\/span><\/p>\n

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BEST CREDITS SEQUENCES<\/span><\/p>\n

The retro graphics of Autofocus were terrific.<\/span><\/p>\n

The shadow-box effect of the Nicholas Nickelby opening were sweet.<\/span><\/p>\n

*But the combination of the zippy retro animations and John Williams\u2019 Mancini-esque, playful jazzy score at the beginning of Catch Me If You Can reminded us of how fun credits could actually be.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This actually provides a nice seque into:<\/span><\/p>\n

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MOST PRETENTIOUS NEW MOVIE TREND<\/span><\/p>\n

I can live with the \u201cTitle only, all other credits at the end\u201d thing.\u00a0 But several movies this year took this idea one pretentious step too far:\u00a0 They eliminated even mentioning the TITLE of the film until the end!\u00a0 This is just precious and stupid behavior, folks, and the producers of Punch-Drunk Love, The Man From Elysian Fields, Solaris, Gangs of New York, and several other films, need to get over themselves in a hurry.<\/span><\/p>\n

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VERY FUNNY MOMENTS<\/span><\/p>\n

All the women in the ladies room grope Christina Applegate\u2019s fake boobs in The Sweetest Thing<\/span><\/p>\n

Margaret Cho\u2019s opening joke in Notorious C.H.O. (cannot be repeated here!!).<\/span><\/p>\n

Cedric the Entertainer\u2019s now notorious rant about African American sacred cows in Barbershop<\/span><\/p>\n

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GREAT LINES<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just taking a wild guess that the phrase that\u2019s going through your head right now is \u2018Community Property.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Reese Witherspoon gets her estranged husband\u2019s attention by selling all of his belongings in Sweet Home Alabama<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIs this now?\u201d Pre-cog Samantha Morton wrestles with the idea of real time in Minority Report.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother was the most beautiful woman I\u2019d ever seen.\u00a0 I know everyone says that about their mothers, but in my case it was true.\u201d\u00a0 Alison Lohman describes her mother, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, in White Oleander.<\/span><\/p>\n

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BEST RAIN<\/span><\/p>\n

Road to Perdition<\/span><\/p>\n

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MOST ADMIRABLE STUDIO ACTIONS<\/span><\/p>\n

The suits at Miramax for actually hiring the right guy to make Chicago:\u00a0 an actual Broadway musical choreographer\/director.\u00a0 Imagine!<\/span><\/p>\n

The suits at MGM for standing firm behind Barbarshop despite the RIDICULOUS attacks it received by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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BOY WAS THIS YEAR SHORT ON LAUGHS<\/span><\/p>\n

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BEST COMA RAPE MOVIE IN A REALLY LONG TIME<\/span><\/p>\n

Talk to Her<\/span><\/p>\n

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BEST HEARTWARMING S&M COMEDY EVER<\/span><\/p>\n

Secretary<\/span><\/p>\n

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MOST AMAZING MOMENT IN A MOVIE IN 2002<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Moore actually shames K-Mart into removing ammunitions from their store shelves.<\/span><\/p>\n

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CAN WE PLEASE SEE SOME MORE OF<\/span><\/p>\n

Thandie Newton, James Spader, Jeff Goldblum, Diane Keaton, Ethan Embry, Sam Rockwell, Jennifer Coolidge, Franka Potente, Jesse Bradford, Gabriel Union, Derek Luke, Nick Chinlund.<\/span><\/p>\n

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WHAT THE HELL WAS WITH THAT?<\/span><\/p>\n

What the hell was that cave in Gangs of New York?\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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MOST UNNECCESSARY REMAKE<\/span><\/p>\n

Red Dragon<\/span><\/p>\n

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BEST TRADITIONAL DISNEY ANIMATED MOVIE IN A LONG TIME<\/span><\/p>\n

Lilo and Stitch<\/span><\/p>\n

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STUPID, PREDICTABLE, I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT<\/span><\/p>\n

Panic Room<\/span><\/p>\n

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SMARTEST \u201cGAY\u201d MOVIE IN A VERY LONG TIME<\/span><\/p>\n

Kissing Jessica Stein<\/span><\/p>\n

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Comments?\u00a0 Please write Ray at rayivey@ca.rr.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

Average Rating: 4.7<\/span> out of 5<\/span> based on 281<\/span> user reviews.<\/span><\/div><\/p>

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