Best movies of 2002?

I’d say Vanilla Sky is my top pick... though there are still so many other great ones out there... sooo many...

Here are the top 10 films of 2002, according to the American Film Institute's selection (listed alphabetically):
1. About A Boy
2. About Schmidt
3. Adaptation
4. Antwone Fisher
5. Chicago
6. Frida
7. Gangs Of New York
8. The Hours
9. The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
10. The Quiet American

What are your thoughts? Does this list actually hold up?

🙂 My favorites:

1. Harry Potter
2. Men in Black II
3. Minority Report 🙂

Least favorites:

1. Star Wars II
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Signs :2up: 😉 🙂

I was thinking about those two films again—Mulholland Drive and Gosford Park—and how they sort of play off each other in my head. It’s funny how different they look on the surface, but I guess there’s this shared DNA between them if you look closely enough. One is this surreal, dreamlike trip through the Hollywood hills, and the other is this classic, sharp-edged period piece set in a stuffy English estate—well, maybe more like an old manor out in the Hamptons or somewhere similar here in the States. There’s just something about that sense of isolation, isn't there? In Mulholland Drive, it’s the loneliness of the bright lights and the feeling that everything might just be a beautiful lie. Then you have Gosford Park, where the tension comes from being trapped in a house with people who all have secrets behind their polite smiles. I suppose both movies really dig into that idea of identity and how much we hide from the people around us. It makes me wonder if they’re both trying to say the same thing about how fragile our social masks really are. Maybe I'm overthinking it, though.
I guess I’ve been thinking about that whole *Memento* and *Panic Room* vibe lately... you know, those movies where everything feels like it's closing in on you? It's kind of an intense headspace to be in. Maybe it's just me, but there's something about that feeling of being trapped—whether it's by your own memory or just physical walls—that really sticks with you. I don't know, I might be overthinking it, but I've been dwelling on that sense of isolation quite a bit.
I was thinking about those two books today—*Ghost World* and *About a Boy*. It’s kind of funny how they stick in your head, isn't it? I guess I’ve been circling back to them lately. They both have this specific way of looking at things that feels... I don't know, maybe a bit melancholic, but also strangely grounded? With *Ghost World*, there's that sense of being stuck in that awkward, transitional space where you're trying to figure out who you are while everyone else seems to be moving on without you. It captures that feeling of being an outsider perfectly. And then you have *About a Boy*, which feels like its own kind of study in human connection—or the lack thereof. It’s less about finding yourself and more about how we all sort of stumble into each other's lives, sometimes when we aren't even looking. I suppose I find myself drawn to stories where the characters aren't exactly heroes, just people trying to navigate their own messy realities. Maybe it's just my mood lately. Either way, they both leave you with a certain lingering feeling once you close the cover. Just something to chew on, I guess.

best: Lord of the Rings
Amelie
The Fall of the Black Hawk
worst: Scorpion King
Men in Black 2
xxx

THIS MOVIE WAS THE ABSOLUTE BEST OF 2002!!!!

K-PAX

No crazy special effects, no aliens, no jumping twenty feet in the air and landing without a scratch... just a GENIUS script and PERFECT acting from the whole cast!

1. Fragility
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Minority Report

-1 Florida
-2 intersection

Hey there

1.Irreversible
Anyone catch this one yet?👍

Saving Grace
Amelie
Gosford Park

The Musketeers - absolutely brilliant, genius, and unlike anything I've ever seen

Best SW II

And the worst Legend.

I know I'm late to the party, but I have to get this out there...

The Best:
1.About A Boy
2.All Or Nothing
3.Memento

The Worst:
definitely XXX

My top picks:
The Lord of the Rings trilogy—truly a masterpiece
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Amélie and Road to Perdition—both have such incredible atmosphere

As for my least favorites:
Men in Black II—honestly, a total nightmare compared to the first one, which was leagues better
Spider-Man

Honestly, *9 Queens*—that F. Bielinsky flick—is pretty much the only movie I actually enjoyed. Everything else was just a slog, especially *Sex and Lucia*, which was absolute garbage.
Oh, and I guess *Gosford Park* was decent too, though that’s from like, forever ago now.

Susan Wright12 said:... and the absolute worst part was Sex and Lucia.

Why on earth would anyone say that? Honestly, I found the movie to be relatively decent enough... especially once I finally decided to stop taking the whole thing so incredibly seriously. It’s pretty obvious the director was just cherry-picking bits and pieces from elsewhere: you can see the influence of *Amores Perros*, maybe a touch of David Lynch... all wrapped up in a heavy dose of gratuitous sex scenes. 😁 😁
And let's not forget that it's at least half an hour shorter than it probably should have been.
PS. I actually thought it was kind of charming when I saw the lead actress later in that Almodóvar flick, *Talk to Her*... though, of course, she only shows up for those few minutes during the black-and-white sequence. 😁 😁

Susan Wright12 said:Out of all of them, Nine Queens is the only one I actually enjoyed. The absolute worst was Sex and Lucia.
Oh, right—and Gosford Park. It was decent, but that’s from a couple of years back.

Ugh, I saw Nine Queens at a film festival about two years ago and felt like the whole thing was just a calculated rip-off. It feels like a blatant imitation of Mamet, or even Hill’s "The Sting"—though let's be honest, Hill totally copied Ritchie...

The movie is entertaining enough if you aren't familiar with Mamet or Hill... but for me, by the third act, it was so exhausting I was actually looking for the nearest exit...

Bielinsky definitely has potential, but if he's just trying to be a cheap Mamet clone, he's never going to make it...

I actually thought Sex and Lucia was one of the better films from last year... I generally love Almodóvar's work.🙂))

Personally, my favorite film of 2002 was Talk to Her.🙂)) My least favorite was Road to Perdition.🙂

Amélie
The Others
Vanilla Sky

1. Amélie—honestly, one of those rare films that leaves you walking out of the theater with a genuine smile on your face.
2. Talk to Her... Almodóvar is nothing short of a genius.
3. Lord of the Rings🙏

Honestly, looking back at the last three years, there hasn't been much worth watching, even if he can pull a surprise out of his hat once in a while.

They might not be my absolute favorites, but since my memory is a bit fuzzy on everything else, here are a few solid picks. Was it actually 2001 or 2002? I can't quite remember.

Panic Room
No Man's Land
K-Pax
The Princess and the Warrior
Along Came a Spider

+Amelie

Thanks so much, Donna Nelson23!