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When I first heard that director Paul Thomas Anderson (BOOGIE NIGHTS, MAGNOLIA) was doing a romantic comedy with Adam Sandler (HAPPY GILMORE, WEDDING SINGER) I thought, oh God, Anderson is selling out? What I wasn’t taking into account was that Anderson is brilliant and he saw something in Adam Sandler films that I never did.

The story follows Sander’s Barry Egan, an executive at a novelty toiletries company. He struggles to overcome his emotional problems, which stem from the intrusive presence of his seven hen-pecking sisters. When Barry feels trapped, he erupts in uncontrollable fits of anger. His problems make it hard for him to hold down a relationship with his sister’s co-worker, Lena (Emily Watson, BREAKING THE WAVES), who he has struck up some real chemistry with even after behavior on their first date that would have scared away 99% of other women. But a later exchange of bizarre “romantic” notions with show how perfect they just may be together. In a parallel storylines, a fraudulent sex line company tries to extort money out of Barry, he finds and caringly restores an abandoned harmonium and discovers a loophole in a Healthy Choice pudding contest that will give him untold frequent flyer miles.

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This film isn’t just a great animated film — it’s a great film. If you think that LORD OF THE RINGS is the best fantasy/ adventure film you’ve ever seen than think again. MONONOKE has all the originally and action of RINGS, but also has an amazing intelligent message about harmony, peace and preserving nature. This is the kind of animated film that you forget is animated about a minute into it.

Prince Ashitaka (English voiced by Billy Crudup, ALMOST FAMOUS) saves his village from a demon boar god, however he’s infected by the beast and is banished from his people. He and his loyal red elk, Yacul, venture out into the world to find the people who turned the boar into a demon and ask the forest god to heal him. Ashitaka arrives in Iron Town where Lady Eboshi (English voiced by Minnie Driver, GOOD WILL HUNTING) is creating guns and wagging war against the forest gods. San, or Princess Mononoke (English voiced by Claire Danes, 1996’s ROMEO & JULIET) is a human who has been adopted by the wolf god, Moro (English voiced by Gillian Anderson, TV’s X-FILES) and has vowed to kill Eboshi for destroying the forest. Then along comes conniving priest Jigo (English voiced by Billy Bob Thornton, SLING BLADE), who has been contracted by the emperor to cut-off the head of the forest god and bring it back to him. Ashitaka works vigorously as a peace broker between the many warring parties knowing that the survival of all depends on their cooperation.

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To think that Sylvester Stallone wrote this film is staggering. He has never been able to repeat such greatest. But it’s not necessarily the all-American underdog story that makes this film so beloved. The characters are the real heart. After this film, Stallone spent the main chunk of his career playing superheroes (even if they didn’t have capes all the time). For a tough guy, Rocky’s emotional vulnerability is that makes the story resonant outside the ring.

The film follows small-time boxer Rocky Balboa (Stallone, OVER THE TOP) as he trains for his one shot at the heavyweight championship of the world. The champ Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers, PREDATOR) losses his ranked opponent before a big bicentennial spectacle. No other contender wants to take the bout because of the short five-week training time, so as an “American dream” marketing concept Creed decides to give the shot to a local Philadelphia boy.

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I feel ashamed as a certifiable film nut that this is the first time that I’ve seen a Buster Keaton film. I’ve been depriving myself for way too long. In the film community the debate rages on whether Keaton or Chaplin was the true king of silent comedy and frankly I don’t care. They are both masters of slapstick and timing, which very few can match. They both knew how to tug at the heartstrings and make you double over in laughter at the same time.

Directed by Edward Sedgwick and Keaton, this film has Keaton playing a wanna-be news cameraman named Buster, who tries to get a job at MGM and at the same time tries to impress the young MGM office girl named Sally (Marceline Day). Standing in his way is current cameraman Harold (Harold Goodwin), who sees Buster as a novice and wants Sally for himself. Buster’s footage is often unusable, being overexposed or double exposed. When he gets a good tip of something big happening in Chinatown, he almost loses his life on several occasions. The comedic wonderment of every scene is amazing. You could list all the scenes in the film and say each one was a classic.

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This is the romantic comedy that all romantic comedies should be held up to. Why is this film so much better than others in the genre? The genre stands pretty predictable with boy meets girl and either something keeps them apart or something tears them apart until they are reunited in the final scene. This is true even about this film, however it’s all built around great characters. Though the conventions are there you don’t even notice them because not once do you feel some external script device is keeping these two people apart. It’s the characters own internal issues that dictate what happens.

I love how the film has Harry and Sally meet than meet again and then finally develop a friendship. The story does a brilliant job showing both the male and female point of view on friendship, love and sex and even shows how those opinions can change over the course of time. As college students, Harry and Sally are almost polar opposites. He’s kind of rough around the edges and blunt while she is prim and proper and reserved. The college Sally isn’t the same Sally who fakes an orgasm at the table of a diner. Like I said the characters mature over the course of the film, however they still remain the same person at their core with the same issues as they had at the beginning. The older Harry and Sally are just mellowed out versions of their college-aged selves.

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I guess this film would be considered a romantic comedy, but I really think it’s much more than that. Harold Ramis’ brilliant comedy is accessible while still having an existential quality. If you were immortal, what would you do with your time? What is the point of life… especially when déjà vu becomes a daily occurrence? Would you feel inspired or trapped?

The story follows Phil Connors (Bill Murray, GHOSTBUSTERS), a self-centered weatherman for a Pittsburgh TV station, who has to cover the Groundhog’s Day celebration in Punxsutawney. After being trapped in town due to a blizzard, Phil starts living Groundhog’s Day over and over again thousands of times. What’s ingenious about the story is what Phil does with the chance to live a day over again. At first he’s weirded-out, but soon he takes advantage of it to get women into bed, especially Rita (Andie MacDowell, FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL), his new producer.

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I thought I had seen all the truly great films of 2001, but I was wrong. This is hands down one of the best from that year. Paul Cox’s film is a powerful, honest romance that lifts up the heart and makes it warm. I only give four stars to films that inspire me. This one not only inspired me artistically, but also personally.

The story is a simple love triangle between two lovers who were in love when they were young and reunite again when they are in their late sixties. Andreas (Charles Tingwell, THE DISH) writes his teenage flame Claire (Julia Blake, HOTEL DE LOVE) and asks to see her again. They still have the same passion for each other after all this time. Andreas is a widower, but Claire is married to John (Terry Norris, TV’s NOAH’S ARK), a man so clueless in his routines that he barely even listens to what his wife says to him. When she tells him that she’s having an affair (because she’s too old to lie), he thinks she has gone crazy and asks their son David (OSCAR AND LUCINDA), a doctor, to look in on her.
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This is the kind of film that you think back on and say to yourself “hey, that was a great scene” and by the time you’re done you’ve said that about two-thirds of the scenes in the film. Director Rob Marshall brings the famed Maurine Dallas Watkins and Bob Fosse production to the scene with classic musical flare.

The picture follows the infamous rise to celebrity of Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger, NURSE BETTY) after she kills her lover, who had promised to get her a starring gig on the stage. She ends up in the same prison with the infamous Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones, TRAFFIC), a successful stage star who killed her sister and her husband. Matron Mama Morton (Queen Latifah, SET IT OFF) is the warden of the prison and for a “small” fee she sets Roxie up with Billy Flynn (Richard Gere, PRETTY WOMAN), the most successful lawyer in town. After Roxie gets her nobody husband Amos (John C. Reilly, WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?) to foot her defense bill, Roxie becomes a media darling thanks to Flynn — even overshadowing Velma.

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It’s a classic children’s film for good reason — it’s a great film. Truly great family films break free from their “family” label, and WILLY WONKA’s mischievous spirit makes it one of those films. Another thing WILLY WONKA has in common with other great children’s films is a darkness that bubbles right under the surface. Willy Wonka smiles and runs a candy factory, but is he secretly a psychotic?

Gene Wilder plays eccentric candy maker Willy Wonka in a performance that is unmatched. Wonka puts five golden tickets in his candy bars allowing five winners and a guardian to participate in a guided tour of his mysterious chocolate factory. As spoiled kids from around the world win slots, the final ticket goes to Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum in his only film appearance), a poor boy who can only buy a chocolate bar after finding money in the gutter. His good fortune inspires his beloved Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson, POSEIDON ADVENTURE) to get out of bed and accompany him on what will turn out to be a wonderful adventure.

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