| A Look Back At 2002... |
| By Anthony |
| A new year is under way, 2002 has come to a close, and so has another movie year. Overall, 2002 was by no means a bad year for movies. One interesting and very positive trend this past year, for example, is the abundance of religiously themed movies. The beginning of the year gave us the excellent action movie The Count of Monte Cristo, which dealt with the question of belief in God, and the at times corny but heart-felt A Walk to Remember, which presented a Christian heroine who is unabashedly firm in her beliefs. Then there was The Rookie which spot-lighted intercessory prayer to St. Rita. M. Night Shyamalan's alien flick Signs showed Mel Gibson as an Episcopal priest struggling with his faith (similar to The Count of Monte Cristo). There was also the first big-screen release from the computer-animated Christian series for kids, VeggieTales. The movie, entitled Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie, tells the story of the Old Testament prophet (you guessed it) Jonah. The blockbusters for this year started with the very popular crowd-pleaser Spider-Man, an entertaining and commendable movie based on the popular comic book series. A big surprise was a small independent movie that turned into a huge hit called My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Two highly-anticipated big franchise installments this year were Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and of course The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (both visual marvels, but the former received many unfavorable reviews due to its slow pacing). 2002 also had its fair share of sequels. Men in Black II, sequel to the blockbuster sci-fi comedy, failed to live up to the humor of the original and remained only mildly entertaining. Then there was the latest Austin Powers installment, which I did not see; but reportedly, it was crude enough to warrant an R-rating. There were also several sequels to family movies. Stuart Little 2 was definitely at least funnier than the original and also had a nice, Leave it to Beaver-esque moral to it. Spy Kid 2 wasn't too bad either; although the pro-family message isn't as prominent as it is in the first movie (and the sequel also has a little more gross humor than the original). Finally, the holiday season brought The Santa Clause 2, which once again didn't live up to its predecessor. There were also many other good family films this year (with the exception of the dismal Scooby-Doo). In the tradition of Shrek and Monsters Inc., this year gave us Ice Age, not as good as either of it's predecessors but still funny and enjoyable. There were also quite a few releases from Disney including, The Rookie, Lilo & Stitch, Tuck Everlasting, and Treasure Planet (the last of which I haven't yet seen, but the rest I can recommend as good family fare). Another animated release this year was Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, which once again I have not yet seen but have heard mixed opinions about. Big contenders for the Oscars this year include morally problematic movies like Gangs of New York, The Hours, and Chicago. In addition to these, The Two Towers and The Pianist complete the nominees for Best Movie. We Were Soldiers was sadly ignored, and Minority Report was only nominated for one small award. So much for the big money-makers and award nominees; now what movies were actually worth seeing? In order to present to you, my devoted readers, my personal picks for this year's finest, I am pleased to present the first top ten list for this website. Enjoy! |