Critics Poll 2000

Marjorie Baumgarten

Near Misses
Girl on the Bridge, Erin Brockovich, George Washington, Best in Show, Quills

Most Overrated Films
Croupier, Time Code, You Can Count on Me

Most Underrated Films
American Psycho, Black & White, Love & Basketball

Acting Kudos -- Female
Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich), Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), Kate Hudson (Almost Famous)

Acting Kudos -- Male
Christian Bale (American Psycho), Geoffrey Rush (Quills), Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire)

Best Director
Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Erin Brockovich), Lars von Trier (Dancer in the Dark), Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

Best Screenplay
Simon Moore/Steven Gaghan (Traffic), Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous), Mike White (Chuck & Buck)

Worst Film
Dr. T and the Women. Robert Altman has lost his grip.

Best Trend
Honest and Unromantic Portraits of Drug Use: Traffic, Requiem for a Dream, Jesus' Son, Almost Famous, Beautiful People.

Worst Trend
The critical embrace of the new Iranian cinema, whose generally simplistic ideas are being heralded as revelations.

The Year's Biggest Film Story
Locally, the christening of Austin Studios and the closings of several theatrical venues.

Wild Card
Most Disappointing Film: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Robert Faires

Near Misses
Return to Me, Chuck & Buck, Best in Show, State and Main, The Road to El Dorado

Most Overrated Films
Gladiator, Mission: Impossible 2, Fantasia 2000

Most Underrated Films
Joe Gould's Secret, The Fantasticks, Return to Me

Acting Kudos -- Female
Frances McDormand (Almost Famous), Marg Helgenberger (Erin Brockovich), Jean Louisa Kelly (The Fantasticks)

Acting Kudos -- Male
Ian Holm (Joe Gould's Secret), Chris Weitz (Chuck & Buck), Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou?)

Best Director
Joel Coen (O Brother, Where Art Thou?), Stephen Frears (High Fidelity), Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich)

Best Screenplay
Ethan Coen (O Brother, Where Art Thou?), Nick Hornby (book), D.V. DeVincentis & Steve Pink & John Cusack & Scott Rosenberg (High Fidelity), Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous)

Worst Film
The Next Best Thing. Not since The Mirror Has Two Faces has a pop diva put so much effort into loving herself onscreen.

Best Trend
Diversity in animation. It may have been short-lived, but while it lasted, we got everything from Rugrats in Paris to Pokémon to Chicken Run to Dinosaur to Titan A.E. to Fantasia 2000 to The Road to El Dorado.

Worst Trend
African-Americans playing second-banana spiritual advisers to clueless white guys (Legend of Bagger Vance, The Family Man, Unbreakable).

The Year's Biggest Film Story
CGI. From the primordial world of the dinosaur to the Roman coliseum of the gladiator to the perfect storm, it's everywhere you want to be.

Wild Card
Single Most Annoying Thing About Going to the Movies in 2000: That obnoxious Regal Cinemas trailer with ultra-pixie Hallie Kate Eisenberg channeling Jack Palance. Sweet lord in heaven, it burns! It burns!

Sarah Hepola

Near Misses
Billy Elliot, Charlie's Angels, Dark Days, High Fidelity, Requiem for a Dream

Most Overrated Films
Gladiator, Erin Brockovich, Wonder Boys

Most Underrated Films
Bring It On, The Cell, High Fidelity

Acting Kudos -- Female
Björk (Dancer in the Dark), Laura Linney (You Can Count on Me), Frances McDormand (Almost Famous)

Acting Kudos -- Male
Tom Hanks (Cast Away), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Almost Famous, State and Main), Billy Crudup (Jesus' Son, Almost Famous)

Best Director
Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Steven Soderbergh (Traffic), Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away)

Best Screenplay
Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous), Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me), David Mamet (State and Main)

Worst Film
Scary Movie. Okay, I laughed during it (once!). But this god-awful, bottom-sucking spoof-of-a-spoof turned out to be a mega-hit for the Wayans -- not the kind of reinforcement they should be getting, people -- and will probably prompt its own franchise and sequel. Scary, indeed.

Best Trend
Girls Kick Ass -- Girlfight, Charlie's Angels, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Worst Trend
That Matrix-style 360° stop-motion shot. It was cool at first, but once it's been used in a 98° video, Howard Stern's opening credits, and a chip commercial -- it has gone too far.

The Year's Biggest Film Story
Disappointment. From star vehicles like The Beach to summer blockbusters like MI:2 to Oscar-buzz holiday films like Quills, going to the movies this year became (with a handful of exceptions, many of which have yet to come out in Austin) one lame let-down after another.

Wild Card
Best way to sum up a lifetime of rage, disappointment, frustration, and unspeakable ache at the hands of one person: "You suck!" delivered by Laura Linney to Mark Ruffalo in Kenneth Lonergan's You Can Count on Me

Kimberley Jones

Near Misses
State and Main, High Fidelity, The Virgin Suicides, Jesus' Son, Erin Brockovich

Most Overrated Films
Gladiator, Quills, Shadow of the Vampire

Most Underrated Films
Road Trip, The Cell, American Psycho

Acting Kudos -- Female
Björk (Dancer in the Dark), Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich)

Acting Kudos -- Male
Benicio Del Toro (Traffic, Snatch), Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Almost Famous, State and Main)

Best Director
Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Erin Brockovich), Julian Schnabel (Before Night Falls), Michael Winterbottom (The Claim)

Best Screenplay
David Mamet (State and Main), Elizabeth Cuthrell and David Urrutia, adapted from the book by Denis Johnson (Jesus' Son), Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous)

Worst Film
Whipped. The celluloid airings of a serious woman-hater, billed as a "romantic comedy." Yeah, if you're a humorless misogynist who thinks: Romance is dead! Bring on the banging! I still feel dirty six months later.

Best Trend
Home runs by second-time directors. Guy Ritchie (Snatch), Darren Aronosky (Requiem for a Dream), Julian Schnabel (Before Night Falls), and Alison Maclean (Jesus' Son) all prove the first try may be a marvel, but the second and third times are the charm.

Worst Trend
Helen Hunt

The Year's Biggest Film Story
The absolute dominance of Steven Soderbergh ... and yes, he deserves it.

Wild Card
Most wonderfully absurd final shot of a film: A lhasa apso happily humping a doggie-shrink's leg in Best in Show.

Marc Savlov

Near Misses
American Psycho, Shanghai Noon, My Best Fiend, Aimée & Jaguar, Erin Brockovich

Most Overrated Films
Billy Elliot, Dancer in the Dark, Gladiator

Most Underrated Films
Erin Brockovich, Groove, What Lies Beneath

Acting Kudos -- Female
Maria Schrader (Aimée & Jaguar); Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich); Julia Stiles (Hamlet)

Acting Kudos -- Male
Christian Bale (American Psycho); Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire); George Clooney (O Brother, Where Art Thou?)

Best Director
Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon); Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Erin Brockovich); Joel Coen (O Brother, Where Art Thou?)

Best Screenplay
Simon Moore and Steven Gaghan (Traffic); Ethan Coen and Homer (O Brother, Where Art Thou?); John August, Ed Solomon, and Ryan Rowe (Charlie's Angels)

Worst Film
Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows. No book, no witch, no fun. I'd sooner get down and freaky with BW2-booster Harry Knowles than sit through this 90-minute suckpuppy again.

Best Trend
Not much to be thankful for in the multiplex, folks, but oh! those DVD special editions! (You know, my birthday's coming up ... )

Worst Trend
Ya got an hour? Fart jokes masquerading as humor (once again), the MPAA's continuing aversion to nudity and eroticism in favor of guns, guns, and more guns, film "critics" like Susan Granger and the 60 Second Preview gang touting batshit like Scary Movie as "hands down the funniest movie we've ever seen." Don't get out much, do you?

The Year's Biggest Film Story
Strike? No strike! Strike? No strike! Ad nauseam.

Wild Card
Best "retooled" re-release of the year: The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen. More fun than a barrel full of bile. (Much more fun, come to think of it.)