YAY!

who wants to live in new york?
who wants the worry, the noise, the dirt, the heat?
who wants the garbage cans clanging in the street?
suddenly i do.

So today I learned that in my Cultures of the US Class, we are not in fact watching the awful Kids but the sublime 25th Hour, Spike Lee's best movie ever...so, I will start my top-10-in-random-categories-for-every-year, but with 2002 since that masterpiece will be playing a large part here. then, with the years, i will work backwards/forwards/in random order.

Best Picture
1. Chicago
2. 25th Hour
3. Minority Report
4. Y tu mama también
5. Talk to Her
6. Adaptation.
7. Far from Heaven
8. Morvern Callar
9. Spirited Away
10. Spider-Man

Best Director
1. Spike Lee for 25th Hour
2. Rob Marshall for Chicago
3. Spike Jonze for Adaptation.
4. Pedro Almodovar for Talk to Her
5. Stephen Spielberg for Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can
6. Alfonso Cuaron for Y tu mama también
7. Todd Haynes for Far from Heaven
8. Alexander Payne for About Schmidt
9. P.T. Anderson for Punch-Drunk Love
10. Lynne Ramsay for Morvern Callar

Best Actor (strong year)
1. Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt
2. Campbell Scott in Roger Dodger
3. Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York
4. Nicolas Cage in Adaptation.
5. Edward Norton in 25th Hour
6. Naseeruddin Shah in Monsoon Wedding
7. Adrien Brody in The Pianist
8. Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can
9. James Nesbitt in Bloody Sunday
10. Hugh Grant in About a Boy

Best Actress
1. Julianne Moore in Far from Heaven (take note, fanboys: the only Oscar she ever deserved)
2. Samantha Morton in Morvern Callar
3. Diane Lane in Unfaithful
4. Isabelle Huppert in The Piano Teacher
5. Nicole Kidman in The Hours
6. Maggie Gyllenhaal in Secretary
7. Meryl Streep in The Hours
8. Renee Zellweger in Chicago
9. Catherine Keener in Lovely and Amazing
10. Julianne Moore in The Hours

Best Supporting Actor
1. Chris Cooper in Adaptation.
2. Paul Newman in Road to Perdition
3. Dennis Quaid in Far from Heaven
4. Barry Pepper in 25th Hour
5. Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can
6. Andy Serkis in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
7. Brian Cox in 25th Hour
8. Stephen Dillane in The Hours
9. Benoit Magimel in The Piano Teacher
10. Philip Seymour Hoffman in 25th Hour

Best Supporting Actress
1. Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago
2. Meryl Streep in Adaptation.
3. Samantha Morton in Minority Report
4. Michelle Pfieffer in White Oleander
5. Edie Falco in Sunshine State
6. Patricia Clarkson in Far from Heaven
7. Emily Mortimer in Lovely and Amazing
8. Bebe Neuwirth in Tadpole
9. Emily Watson in Punch-Drunk Love
10. Toni Collette in About a Boy

Best Screenplays
1. 25th Hour
2. Talk to Her
3. Adaptation.
4. Y tu mama también
5. Spirited Away
6. About Schmidt
7. The Hours
8. Far from Heaven
9. Chicago
10. Lovely and Amazing

It was a pretty darn good year. Unfortunately, every single category at the Oscars, be it Best Picture, Best Art Direction, or Best Documentary Short, had the unfortunate effect of nominating Chicago, The Pianist, Gangs of New York, The Hours, and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Zzz... Ranking those:
1. Chicago (A)
2. The Hours (B/B+)
3. The Pianist (B-)
4. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (B-)
5. Gangs of New York (C+...Scorsese's worst? Still a terribly fascinating mess.)
And I just realized 25th Hour was completely snubbed. EW. That's way worse than Julianne Moore not winning the Oscar...

Next up, unless I get distracted again: some other year!