Thirty years ago, most people weren’t online yet, or at least hadn’t made Internet life a part of their regular life. It was still an intriguing novelty, a mostly silent virtual gathering space for X-Files conspiracy theorists and people earnestly searching for nudity. But Hollywood logged on, and even the movies that weren’t explicitly about the Internet had online-adjacent subtext. Pandora’s modem had been activated.
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You can rarely judge the quality of a movie year by its Oscar winners, but 2002 is especially misrepresented by the victory laps from well-meaning homework like Chicago and The Hours. You’ll notice neither of those movies show up on the list below, but what does appear runs an incredible gamut of genres and styles and moods. Any movie year can have elite titles at the top of the year-end critics lists, but how many can boast such high-quality junk?
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In the year 2000, I both graduated high school and began my freshman year at New York University. One of the most thrilling aspects of moving to Manhattan was the fact that I would now have access to most every movie released to theaters right away. In the past, I had to sometimes wait months for indie flicks to get to Hartford’s one art house theater where it would play for a week. By the end of that year I was living around Washington Square Park and within walking distance of some of the best independent screens around.
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The Client, released July 20 1994
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The Pelican Brief, released December 17 1993
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The Firm, released June 30 1993
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Disclosure, released December 9 1994
For more than five years, my old Entertainment Weekly pal Derek J. Lawrence and I hosted a weekly podcast called The Filmography.
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Hackers, released September 15 1995
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True Romance, released September 10 1993
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Sleepless In Seattle, released June 25 1993
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I Know What You Did Last Summer, released October 17 1997
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Demolition Man, released October 8 1993
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The Craft, released May 3 1996
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Good Will Hunting, released December 5 1997
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Batman Forever, released June 16 1995
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Can’t Hardly Wait, released June 12 1998
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Singles, released September 18 1992
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Empire Records, released on September 22 1995
We just wrapped up an Oscar season where most all of my favorite movies of the year were relatively solid box office performers, but in 2018, my two favorite movies so far were economic clunkers. The first—Paddington 2—is relatively inexplicable, as it's a super charming kid-centric action comedy that works on all levels. But the second, Alex Garland's Annihilation, does make a lot more sense, as it's a complex cross-section of string theory, body horror and mental illness that doesn't necessarily scream a fun night at the pictures.
But Annihilation is a remarkable movie, and I have been casually calling it the best science fiction film of the 21st century so far. But would it really top that list, and what are the other films in consideration for that title? That's the subject of this week's Up All Afternoon Top 10.
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