High Fidelity

In so many ways, this is just the perfect movie, at least for me. It may not be the best movie ever made, but damn if it doesn't just nail so many things. What's a better combination than music and failed relationships? As you can probably see from this website, I'm totally into the idea of ranking things in top 5, top 10 lists, especially with music. The idea of chronicling one's life with music or certain songs is kind of what music's all about to me. Sure it's a love story, but it succeeds in being completely original with the way it ties music in with it. I love the way it is shown that music is not just songs, but things that can have a lot of meaning, and often that meaning is completely specific to each individual listener. The casting was right on with John Cusack as Rob Gordon- it's definitely one of his best performances ever. It's just a very smart movie, one that could stand alone as a movie about music or a movie about relationships, but the fact that it blends both together so effectively makes it the best movie of 2000 and one of the best to come around in a long time.

Boiler Room

Okay, I'll admit, I may not have liked this movie as much if I hadn't worked in a teleselling environment, but it's a great movie nonetheless. It's very extreme in the way it depicts greed and working conditions, but that doesn't mean it's not fairly accurate. What I like most about it is you walk out after seeing it seeing your job in a whole new light (at least let's hope so!). The movie brings to light some of the evils that can surface with selling over the phone- how easy it is to forget about honesty when you don't see the person's face. It also paints an interesting portrait of the kind of extreme type A people who will step over anything and everything to make a "civilized" buck. Good performances all around, and even though I'm not a huge fan of Ben Affleck, he's outstanding here as an intimidating recruiter. See it so you can forever rule out selling stock over the phone as a career.

http://www.boilermovie.com/

Almost Famous

Like High Fidelity, Almost Famous centers on music and the obsessive effects it can have on people. Although the movies are completely different, they both put music on a high pedestal, and for that they both rule. For some reason, I liked Almost Famous much better the second time I saw it, I'm not sure why. "Stillwater" serves as the fictitious band in the movie, although they can probably be any of the classic rock bands that we are now seeing advertised on reunion tours. Jason Lee breaks out in his biggest non-Kevin Smith movie as the heavily bearded lead singer, and Billy Crudup complements him wonderfully as the lead guitarist....and Kate Hudson probably deserved best supporting actress. I think any rock fan will enjoy this movie and want to break out their old Elton John or Simon and Garfunkle records. It may not have lived up to it's potential as the greatest rock and roll movie of all time, but it's still a worthy effort and another good movie from Cameron Crowe.

www.almost-famous.com

Me, Myself & Irene

Yeah, Jim Carrey is my favorite actor, but this movie is hilarious pretty much non-stop. With the Farrelly Bros and Jim Carrey, you know that you're in for extreme gags and not riveting drama, but we NEED movies like that once in awhile (Ones that are funny, not ones that suck). The three black sons are probably my favorite part, but Jim's physical comedy here is top notch (especially the cotton mouth scene!!). I'm surprised this movie didn't get reviewed a little better or make more money.....It was so much better than almost anything that came out this year.

www.memyselfandirene.com

The Virgin Suicides

This is quite a trippy film in all aspects, from the wonderful music by the band Air to the way it was directed by Sophia Coppola. Kirsten Dunst is the main star here, but is joined by James Woods and Kathleen Turner in very unusual roles. The film presents brilliantly how sometimes females can be a complete enigma to males, unable to be understood, but still with the ability to fascinate. This is a very strange, but welcome break from more conventional Hollywood movies.

www.virginsuicides.com