Best Picture

About a Boy

Just as it was last year, Best Picture was a hotly contested category among films released in 2002. With 22 different staff members voting, there were first place votes awarded to 16 different films, causing a great deal of parity and a dogfight to determine which films filled out the first four slots on our top ten list.

Winning by just a nose was About a Boy, a movie that almost universally affected the Box Office Prophets staff. The film received 15 votes from those polled, and though it had only three first place votes in comparison to four for the second place finisher, it's pretty clear that our group was quite taken with this nearly perfect adaptation of the terrific Nick Hornby novel. The centerpiece of the film, of course, is Hugh Grant, who is equally charming and despicable as the self-absorbed character of Will, a little boy in a man's body. Of course, the film is really about two boys, and Nicholas Hoult's portrayal of young Marcus, the pre-teen who inserts himself into Will's life, is eye-opening and extremely believable. Topping it all off is an exquisite supporting performance from Toni Collette, making About a Boy a film that is extremely resonant for those of us who really hesitate to grow up.

Adaptation finished in second despite having the most first place votes. Ultimately, the deciding factor was simply the fact that this film was a bit too over-the-top wacky for some of our voters and showed up on fewer ballots, but it's still pretty clear that our staff is very affected by stories about the creative process and struggles with self-loathing and confidence. Charlie Kaufman's script lets the audience in on the joke and is a very personal examination of the difficulties faced by tortured artists, creating two separate autobiographical characters to illustrate the point. Twin brothers Charlie and Donald Kaufman are two sides of the same coin, and both are portrayed in a fairly subdued performance from Nicolas Cage. An attempt to adapt Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, the movie makes characters of the book's author and people featured in the actual book along with the Kaufman story arc. Like Being John Malkovich, the movie that put Kaufman's name on the map, Adaptation is unique and never predictable, and a big favorite among members of the Box Office Prophets staff.

The second film in the Lord of the Rings series finishes a notch lower than its predecessor, The Fellowship of the Ring, did last year. Even though the general consensus of our staff members is that The Two Towers is the superior film, the strength of quality in films released in 2002 was such that the choices were a bit more complicated this year. Nonetheless, two top five finishes for the series is an impressive feat, and after being thrilled by the battle of Helm's Deep and the amazing personification of Gollum, the final chapter in the series, The Return of the King, is something we'll be eagerly anticipating.

Another movie based on a Charlie Kaufman script takes our fourth spot, the is-he-or-isn't-he thriller/comedy Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. A movie that could easily be an intriguing tale of espionage in its own right, Confessions is also chock-full of dark underlying themes and subtle metaphors. Sam Rockwell, who has been stealing scenes left and right for several years (you may remember him as Guy in Galaxy Quest or Wild Bill in The Green Mile), finally takes center stage as game show producer/government-trained assassin(?) Chuck Barris, and he truly embraces the personality of the man. Adding to his amazing performance is a fantastic debut directing effort from George Clooney, as Confessions is ever stylish, using subtle changes in color to delineate between the definite real life and the uncertain second "career."

Rounding out the top five is the top-performing documentary of all time, Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. A sometimes hilarious, occassionally brutal dissection of guns, violence and fear in the United States, the film is particularly topical in these continuing tense times and is an extraordinarily thought-provoking treatise from a talented filmmaker. There are moments in the film that are simply unforgettable, from an animated history of guns in America to a disturbing interview with John Nichols, brother of convicted Oklahoma City terrorist Terry Nichols. It's an important social message that deserves to be seen by a wider audience than it received.

Barely missing the fifth spot was the delightful animated film that is the top grosser of all-time in Japan, Spirited Away. Hayao Miyazaki creates an amazing new world that is mindful of the novelized versions of Frank L. Baum's Wizard of Oz series and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Similarly, Steven Spielberg's brave new world in Minority Report is a futuristic "what if" combined with an absorbing murder mystery. That film took seventh and was a huge discussion generator among our bunch.

We love our movie musicals at BOP, and Chicago's eighth place finish is further evidence of that fact. An impeccably directed film that cuts between musical numbers and "real time" with finesse, Chicago showcases some fine talent and is a humorous and entertaining tale of extreme cynicism.

The final two spots in the top ten go to Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love, a strangely sweet love story that allows the usually critically-reviled Adam Sandler to embrace his inner self and take his rage to a very unusual level, while tenth belongs to Solaris, Steven Soderbergh's cerebral examination of issues both philosophical and deeply personal. Neither of these two films was able to find much success with mainstream audiences, but our voters were affected by their willingness to take chances and straddle the edge.

It's always difficult to withhold goodwill for special films, and three of these that just barely missed the cut were The Bourne Identity, About Schmidt and The Hours. This year's blend of movies is an eclectic mix of genre as well as being a melange of both blockbuster and overlooked, which is just another indication of how very rich the offerings were for the year. (Kim Hollis/BOP)

Top Ten
Position	Film	Total Points
1	About a Boy	124
2	Adaptation	113
3	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	95
4	Confessions of a Dangerous Mind	93
5	Bowling for Columbine	64
6	Spirited Away	60
7	Minority Report	54
8	Chicago	52
9	Punch-Drunk Love	45
10	Solaris	42