At the start of 2002, major movie studios were worried about whether audiences would continue filling cinema seats given the economic downturn and the war on terrorism. If anything, though, moviegoers seemed more eager than ever to schlep to theaters and forget their cares for awhile. Domestic box-office receipts topped $9 billion for the first time, and the final tally is predicted to be up about 10 percent from last year's record $8.35 billion. Here are the year's best according to four observers of the industry.
The New York Film Critics Circle Film Awards 2002
Best Picture: Far From Heaven
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
Best Actress: Diane Lane, Unfaithful
Best Supporting Actor: Dennis Quaid, Far From Heaven
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Clarkson, Far From Heaven
Best Director: Todd Haynes, Far From Heaven
Best Screenplay Adaptation: Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman
Best Cinematographer: Edward Lachman, Far From Heaven
Best Foreign Film: Y tu mamá también, Alfonso Cuarón
Best Non-Fiction Film: Standing in the Shadows of Motown
Best Animated Film: Spirited Away
Best First Film: Roger Dodger
Special Award: The restoration of Metropolis
Thelma Adams's Top Ten Films of 2002 (US Magazine film critic):
1. Far from Heaven
2. Chicago
3. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
4. About a Boy
5. 25th Hour
6. Frida
7. 8 Women
8. Solaris
9. The Ring
10. Y Tu Mama Tambien
Marshall Fine's Top Ten Films of 2002 (Chairman of The New York Film Critics Circle):
1. The Hours: As beautiful, moving and perceptive a film as you could dream of - and as perfect a transformation from page to screen. Directed by Stephen Daldry and adapted by David Hare, this film of Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel boasted the stunning cast of Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore as three women in different time periods, all examining their lives over the course of a day, in a post-modern reworking of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.
2. Adaptation: A MObius strip of a movie comedy, about an insecure writer so stymied by adapting a book into a film that he writes himself into his own movie. Created by the team that did Being John Malkovich (director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman), it was brilliantly funny and self-aware, featuring a terrific dual performance by Nicolas Cage and strong support from Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper.
3. Far From Heaven: Writer-director Todd Haynes created the year's most gorgeous-looking film and one of its most touching: an hommage to the 1950s' women's movies of Douglas Sirk that perfectly captured the style and tone of that era, while exploring the real emotional fallout of problems that never would have been discussed in those days.
4. Bowling for Columbine: Michael Moore wrote one of the year's best-selling books (Stupid White Men) and directed this hilarious, provocative documentary that raised tough questions about the nature of violence in American culture.
5. Road to Perdition: Adapted from a comic book, this Sam Mendes film offered exceptional performances by Tom Hanks, Jude Law and Paul Newman in a stirring gangster film about the bond between fathers and son.
6. Gangs of New York: Martin Scorsese's long-awaited historical epic about lawlessness in mid-19th-century Manhattan was sprawling, bloody and compelling, offering vivid cinematic storytelling, plus the juiciest role yet for Daniel Day-Lewis.
7. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Even better than the first film, this second installment in the three-film adaptation by director Peter Jackson was the rich and brooding a fantasy as you could hope for, plunging you even farther into Middle Earth and the world-shaking struggle between good and evil.
8. Chicago: It took 25 years for this Broadway musical to find its way to the big screen - and director Rob Marshall found the perfect concept to make it relevant to contemporary audiences, in this dark musical comedy about the rough-house tango between murderers and the media.
9. About Schmidt: Jack Nicholson created one of the more surprising characters of his career in this low-key, wonderfully observed film about a retiree, his adjustment to being a widower and his journey to his daughter's wedding. It features the most amazing final shot of any movie this year.
10. About a Boy: Mostly overlooked by audiences, this version of Nick Hornby's hilarious book offered a multifaceted Hugh Grant performance, as a bachelor who starts dating single moms and winds up unexpectedly befriending one of their kids. Easily one of the most substantial comedies of the year.
Runners-up: Roger Dodger, Ice Age, Nicholas Nickleby, 9 Queens, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Talk to Her, The Kid Stays in the Picture, Minority Report; Real Women Have Curves; Storytelling.
Leonard Lopate's Top Ten Films of 2002:
1.The Fast Runner - Atarnajuat (Kunik)
2. I'm Going Home (Manoel der Oliveira)
3. The Pianist (Polanski)
4. Quitting
5. Lovely and Amazing (Holofcener)
6. The Lord of the Rings (2) (Jackson)
7. Talk to Her (Almodovar)
8. All or Nothing (Mike Leigh)
9. Time Out (Laurent Contet)
10. The Quiet American (Noyes)
11. Domestic Violence (Wiseman)
Honorable mentions:
Tully
Igby Goes down
Altar Boys...
Minority Report
Y tu Mama Tambien
Roger Dodger
Unfaithful
Partially successful:
Adaptation
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
25th Hour
Storytelling
Go to The Leonard Lopate Show
to listen to Thelma Adams, Marshall Fine and Gene Seymour share their thoughts
on the best films of 2002.