2002: Favorite Moments in Film

2002 is the year I would say I’m least familiar with of the decade. There are tons of movies I want to see including, City of God, Punch Drunk Love, and Minority Report. Of the ones I have seen, I really liked Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers, Road To Perditon, The Bourne Identity, and Adaptation. Not to mention the May 2002 debut of some franchise called Spider-Man, whose $114 million weekend would usher in a new era of blockbusters.

Also, though I wasn’t a big fan of Gangs of New York, Daniel Day Lewis’ turn as Bill the Butcher, will go down as one of the most memorable performances of all time. If the movie hadn’t been so slow and had anyone but Cameron Diaz in it, I would of loved it.

I really went back and forth on what my pick would be, but I’m going with this one because the director’s had not 1, but 2 very well-received films in 2002.

Catch Me If You Can

Steven Spielberg has made so many great films, you would be surprised that only 5 of his films have ever been nominated for Best Picture. Unfortunately, this is not one of them, and I think they really missed the mark in 2002 (I mean Chicago? Really?). Spielberg also had Minority Report on his 2002 docket, so that is a pretty mighty 1-2 punch.

Catch Me If You Can feels like part of the film is made in the vain of golden era cinema and another in the modern, more realistic style, which I thought really went well with the tone of the film, which is slightly comedic and cavalier, but rooted in the dramatic realm.

This, along with Gangs, brought the reemergence of the Leonardo DiCaprio we know now, and not the teen heartthrob he once was. Leo isn’t the greatest actor, but he is definitely one of the most enjoyable stars to watch and he has a pretty good knack for starring in good movies. He is a lot of fun to watch here, and he really gets into the psyche of this character who is nothing more than a kid pretending to be an adult.

Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken are fantastic supporting characters in this. I think this may be Walken’s last great performance, so for that its noteworthy.

Catch Me If You Can is a film that I think appeals to the taste of almost all filmgoers and is a film that is a wonderful blend of comedy, drama, action and intrigue.

By Ryan Hoffman

A Second Opinion

Adaptation

When doing any kind of “best of” list, you aren’t necessarily concerned with covering what the number one best movie of any year is (sometimes, anyway), but it’s important to take a look at a decade (or whatever period of time you’re covering), and making sure that you are not just covering the highlights of a given year, but giving shout outs to the influential and important voices of the period. This may be the reason for me picking Adaptation. over City of God, two movies both from 2002, that were in my opinion, the best of the year.
Adaptation. is Charlie Kaufman’s follow up to his breakthrough Being John Malkovich, possibly one of the ballsiest first movies anyone’s ever had. And if anyone thought he was a “quirky” flash in the pan, he showed them that he was more than ready to top himself. 
The reason I think Adaptation is so brilliant is that it, like Kaufman’s other films, and maybe more than his others in my opinion, is so densely layered that you don’t even realize it until you think about it, and I’m sure that there are many layers I missed. The story is an adaptation of Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief,but it’s not about the book. Well, it is, but it’s really about Charlie Kaufman (played by Nicholas Cage) having to adapt the book in the movie. If that sounds crazy, that’s just the start of it. I won’t give anything else away.
The movie manages to do so much, sometimes without even making you realize it was trying. Like any Kaufman movie, it manages to be about so many things that I can’t even list them all, but it still manages to get you emotionally, when you least realize it.

By Dan Angelucci