THE GOLDEN DOZEN

Man, it's 6:30 Monday night and I'm still recovering from The Golden Globes last night. What a night. The glitz, the glamour, the limos, the dresses, the jewelry, the parties... Actually, My Girl and I watched it on her couch while eating Fritos and bean dip followed by Tostitos and salsa con queso con extra queso. I'll tell you, if we hadn't gone to see "The Hours" this weekend before the awards, it would have been a real ho-hum affair. Because, despite what your Baby Boomer parents may claim, "Chicago" is not a great movie. In fact, it was a valiant effort to continue the movie musical revival that the spectacular spectacular "Moulin Rouge" set into motion, but it's frankly pretty boring and, at this point, highly overrated. Predictably and disappointingly, "Chicago" beat out "Adaptation" for Best Comedy/Musical. And, while last night's Golden Globes contained a few peak moments, most notably Meryl Streep's acceptance speech in which she once again showed the world what a class act she is, Larry David's acceptance speech in which he publicly hoped that winning the award would guarantee him sex for the night, and Jack Nicholson's acceptance speech in which he admitted to having taken a valium before the ceremony, Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere's wins for Best Actor/Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical and Chicago's triumph for Best Picture in the same category left a real sour taste in our mouths that no amount of cheese dip was going to eliminate. But "The Hours" saved the day by winning Best Picture in the drama category. Judging from the preview and what little I knew about the film, I went in expecting not to like the chick flick. Now I know not to pre-judge a movie on that basis. Everything about this movie is of the highest quality. The writer expertly adapted what must have been a fantastic book into a flawless script and the director brilliantly brought that script to the screen using all of the resources at hand, including the finest ensemble cast of any movie in recent memory and the best score I've heard in a long time. It is with great confidence that I can agree with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and proclaim my opinion that "The Hours" is the best film of 2002. Thus, I have incorporated it into my new top ten list, which has now been expanded to twelve and will henceforth be known as The Golden Dozen. After sitting with the list for a week, I decided to make a few adjustments which are reflected in the new list.

THE GOLDEN DOZEN

1. The Hours
2. Adaptation
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
4. About Schmidt
5. Y Tu Mama Tambien
6. The Rules of Attraction
7. Catch Me If You Can
8. Far From Heaven
9. The Bourne Identity
10. Narc
11. Igby Goes Down
12. Antwone Fisher

*I have yet to see "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", "The 25th Hour", and "The Pianist" which could potentially alter the final ranking and order of The Golden Dozen