My Top-Ten Movies Of 2003

1. The Station Agent (Thomas McCarthy)
2. Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola)
3. Winged Migration (Jacques Cluzaud)
4. Mystic River (Clint Eastwood)
5. Elf (Jon Favreau)
6. Big Fish (Tim Burton)
7. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton)
8. Magdalene Sisters (Peter Mullan)
9. In America (Jim Sheridan)
10. American Splendor (Shari Springer Berman)
11. School Of Rock (Richard Linklater)
12. Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King (Peter Jackson)

My Top-Ten Movies Of 2002

1. Spirited Away
2. The Kid Stays In The Picture
3. Igby Goes Down
4. Monsoon Wedding
5. Punch-Drunk Love
6. Road To Perdition
7. About A Boy
8. Insomnia (U.S.)
9. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
10. The Ring

My Top-Ten Movies Of 2001

This year a lot of my favorite movies had a stylized storyboarded feel. In fact, Ghost World and From Hell were adapted from graphic novels.

1. Amelie (Juno & Caro)
2. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
3. Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)
4. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly)
5. The Others (Alejandro Amenabar)
6. Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
7. Lord Of The Rings (Peter jackson)
8. Waking Life (Richard Linklater)
9. Anniversary Party (Alan Cumming, Jen Jason Leigh)
10. From Hell (Hughes Brothers)

Honorable Mention: Sexy Beast, Monster's Ball, Shallow Hal, Iris

The Definitive Rapture Party Playlist

Rapture prophecies come and go, as do the fanatics who try to sell them to us. This Sunday, May 22, 2011, will be yet another day after a supposed second coming of Jesus Christ. Perhaps you should take this opportunity to invite your friends over for a BBQ and use this playlist to make everybody dance, laugh and feel thankful we're the sane ones.

For your convenience, here's a link to my YouTube page where I've assembled them in the same order to play continuously: 



1. The Trammps - Disco Inferno 
2. R.E.M - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
3. Blondie - Rapture
4. Curtis Mayfield - If There's Hell Below (We're All Gonna Go)
5. Pretty Things - Judgement Day
6. The Cure - Grinding Halt
7. Gene Vincent - Race With The Devil
8. Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven
9. Eddie Money - Two Tickets To Paradise
10. Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth
11. Talking Heads - Heaven
12. Prince - 1999
13. U2 - Until The End Of The World
14. Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction
15. Europe - The Final Countdown
16. Meat Puppets - Lake Of Fire
17. The Clash - Four Horsemen
18. AC/DC - Highway To Hell
19. Def Leppard - Armageddon It
20. Eduard Khil - Trololo (just because, damn it)
21. Tavares - Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel
22. XTC - Dear God 
23. Elvis Presley - Devil In Disguise
24. The Cramps - Zombie Dance
25. The Angels - My Boyfriend's Back
26. Antoine Dodson - Bed Intruder Song (trust me it works, looters!)
27. The Cure - The Blood
28. Flock Of Seagulls - I Ran
29. Modern English - Melt With You
30. Michael McDonald - Ya Mo B There
31. Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper
32. Johnny Cash - When The Man Comes Around
33. Rolling Stones - Get Off Of My Cloud
34. David Bowie - Five Years
35. Paradise City - Guns N' Roses
36. Electric Light Orchestra - All Over The World
37. Rebecca Black - Friday
38. Village People - Y.M.C.A (Jesus on the cross makes the first "Y")
39. Janis Joplin - Mercedes Benz
40. John Lennon - Imagine (what we should ALL believe)

My Top-Ten Movies of 2000

1. High Fidelity
2. You Can Count On Me
3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
4. Almost Famous
5. Wonder Boys
6. Chuck & Buck
7. Nurse Betty
8. Traffic
9. Unbreakable
10. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Honorable Mention: Erin Brockovich, What Lies Beneath, Gladiator, Bring It On

My Top-Ten Movies of 1999

I felt cinema took a great leap forward this year in terms of the ability to transport me into total environments - radical storytelling and effects often left me dazed as I exited the theater. It's hard to keep the list at ten, and I feel many of my honorable mentions are just as important.

1. Being John Malkovich
2. The Matrix
3. Magnolia
4. The Sixth Sense
5. American Beauty
6. Three Kings
7. Election
8. Existenz
9. Straight Story
10. Iron Giant

Honorable Mention: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, The Ciderhouse Rules, Boys Don't Cry, Toy Story 2, Afterlife (Japanese), The Virgin Suicides, Croupier, The Five Senses, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Hideous Kinky, Hurly Burly

My Top-Ten Movies of 1998

1. Pleasantville (Gary Ross: Big, Dave, Seabiscuit)
2. Rushmore (Wes Anderson: Bottle Rocket, Royal Tannenbaums)
3. Buffalo 66 (Vincent Gallo: Tricks his girlfriends into filming blow jobs)
4. Big Lebowski (Coen Brothers: See everything by them)
5. Truman Show (Peter Weir: Fearless, Witness, Gallipoli)
6. Happiness (Todd Solondz: sequel Life During Wartime)
7. Out Of Sight (Steven Soderbergh: Oceans 11, Che, Liberace)
8. The Butcher Boy (Neil Jordan: Crying Game, Interview W/ Vampire, Breakfast on Pluto)
9. Wag The Dog (Barry Levinson: Best thing he'd made since 1990 and prior. He still sucks.)
10. Dark City (Alex Proyas: I, Robot, upcoming Paradise Lost)
11. Pi (Darren Aronofsky: The Wrestler, Black Swan)

Honorable Mention: A Simple Plan, Love & Death On Long Island, Good Will Hunting, As Good As It Gets, Saving Private Ryan

My Top-Ten Movies of 1997

1. Boogie Nights
2. L.A. Confidential
3. Ponette
4. Wings Of The Dove
5. Ice Storm
6. Waiting For Guffman
7. Contact
8. Lost Highway
9. Sweet Hereafter
10. In The Company Of Men

Honorable Mention: Flamenco, Ulee's Gold, Copland, Face/Off, Fifth Element

My Top-Ten Movies Of 1996

1. Lone Star (John Sayles)
2. Welcome To The Dollhouse (Todd Solondz)
3. Angels & Insects (Phillip Haas)
4. Flirting With Disaster (David O. Russell)
5. Trees Lounge (Steve Buscemi)
6. Trainspotting (Danny Boyle)
7. Swingers (Doug Liman)
8. Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh)
9. Shine (Scott Hicks)
10. I Shot Andy Warhol (Mary Harron)

Where are they now?
1. John Sayles - He's working out his obsessions with S. America and the rural South.
2. Todd Solondz - Directed well-reviewed sequel to "Happiness" called "Life During Wartime".
3. Phillip Haas - Ain't doing shit.
4. David O. Russell - Directed Mark Wahlberg in "The Fighter". Yaay!
5. Steve Buscemi - Currently starring in "Boardwalk Empire" and directing "Nurse Jackie".
6. Danny Boyle - Directed "Slumdog Millionaire" and fantastic "127 Hours".
7. Doug Liman - Directed Nicole Kidman & Sean Penn in excellent "Fair Game".
8. Mike Leigh - Directed Oscar-nominated "Another Year".
9. Scott Hicks - Kind of a crap director, actually.
10. Mary Harron - Just wrapped production on vampire film "The Moth Diaries".