Max Dionne's top ten movies

Critics around the country have been busy releasing their top ten movie lists. As the new film editor for the Daily, I feel the need to follow suit. My list is slightly different. The ten movies on the list are in no particular order, and each is picked not necessarily because it was the "best," but because it possessed important or outstanding qualities. Also, not to be outdone, I will start with a second top ten list:



>Top ten things to remember about my top ten movie list

10. These picks are just my humble opinion.

9. I am more intelligent and knowledgeable than you.

8. I did not see every film released in 2002.

7. I had good reason not to.

6. I don't like Japanimation.

5. I do like explosions.

4. But not when they are tasteless.

3. I also like lists.

2. I tend to be random.

1. I don't understand why there are word limits on articles.



>The top ten movies of 2002

*Category: Most likely to make you go, "huh?"

Adaptation _ This film, from the gnarled mind of Charlie Kaufman, follows the writer himself as he attempts to adapt the The Orchid Thief into a movie. Essentially the movie we watch in theaters is the movie Charlie Kaufman is writing in the movie.

While it sounds confusing _ it is _ and it isn't. There are many layers to the complex film, but it is also very accessible, and intriguing to watch. The film falls into a genre all of its own: intellectual, hilarious, a Hollywood satire as well as an insightful commentary on life and human nature.

*Category: Most unrecognizable star.

Robin Williams in One Hour Photo _ This was a year for a new Robin Williams. While Insomnia received most of the critical acclaim, it mostly made me sleepy. One Hour Photo was a better showcase for Williams' new villainous skills. He brings an intense, eerie tension and foreboding to a film that could have been mediocre, and turns it into one that is positively chilling.

*Category: Most likely to make you forget whether orcs really exist.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers _ The second is just as good as the first, if not better. We learn more about all the characters, especially Aragorn, played by the brilliant Viggo Morteson, who steals the movie. The battle scene at the end is intensely cool and I cannot wait for the third film.

*Category: Most likely to make you think.

Bowling for Columbine _ This film is Michael Moore's argument for gun control and it searches for an explanation for the large amount of violence in our society.

It is a documentary bursting with images that are full of terror because they are real. Moore asks questions that need to be asked and is not afraid to critique the United States, something that no one should be afraid to do, especially now when we are so close to war. If you can only see one film off this list, see this one.

*Category: Most likely to make you feel like you can change the world.

Changing Lanes _ This is one of those films that make you sigh contentedly for humanity when the credits roll. It stars Ben Affleck as a wealthy lawyer dealing with corruption, and Samuel L. Jackson a hard working honest recovered alcoholic who is continually screwed by the system.

The story starts when Jackson and Affleck get into a car accident, but the film is really about the interplay between two worlds, one of affluence and one of hardship.

*Category: Most likely to boost the writer's ego.

Personal Velocity _ I have not actually seen this film yet, but I am in it... for a couple seconds. I have a line. I was an extra and they filmed it near my hometown. Isn't that cool?

*Category: Most likely to inspire nostalgia of childhood.

Spiderman _ I loved Spiderman as a kid, and this film was a very good adaptation of the origin of the superhero. While his vacant stares were troubling at times, Toby Maguire pulled off the nerdy yet charming Peter Parker turned web slinger with gusto.

Willem Dafoe is fantastically devious as the Green Goblin, a role he seemed born to play (no offense Willem).

All in all, the film kept the bigger than life charm of the comics but combined it with modern technology to make Spiderman seem completely realistic. A pleasure to watch.

*Category: Most likely to make you reflect... a lot.

About Schmidt _ Casting aside all of the gimmicks and facial contortions that have made him famous, Jack Nicholson plunges into the role of Warren Schmidt _ a retired insurance man _ and makes him raw and real. In the film, Schmidt comes to grips with the depressing and startling concept that his life has been completely meaningless. Filmmaker Alexander Payne's depiction of Schmidt's bleak journey to find something to redeem his life is touching, funny and beautifully crafted.

*Category: Most Likely to make you want to commit bank fraud.

Catch Me if You Can _ How can you go wrong: Tom Hanks + Steven Spielberg = a successful film. However, Catch is the first film of its kind for Spielberg, a delightful cat and mouse tale about con man Frank Abagnale Jr. (DiCaprio) and the FBI agent tracking him down (Hanks).

The film, based on the true story of Abagnale, who impersonated a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer all before he turned 21, inspires nostalgia for a past age of innocence, where airline pilots where looked at as heroes and a uniform was enough to inspire trust.

*Category: Most likely to make your head explode.

Solaris _ Steven Soderbergh's dark and eerie retelling of the science fiction classic, stars George Clooney as a psychologist who travels to a space station orbiting the strangely unsettling planet of Solaris to try and figure out what happened to the startlingly disturbed crew. It is a film not to be missed by fans of psychological drama, science fiction or Soderbergh.