This was
the year that Russell Crowe became a star and Julian Temple
showcased Johnny Rotten's higher intelligence in The Filth
And The Fury.
Toy Story 2 and Mission Impossible 2 proved that sequels do
it better. When Tom Hanks fades from the memory - it'll never
happen - he will be immortalised as the voice of Woody. The
more you watch the Toys, and I've been there more times than
I care to admit, Hanks' vocal interpretation of an insecure
cowboy doll is pure genius.
It's so easy to make fun of Hollywood and be boring about
the cost of movies killing initiative, inflating the star
system and encouraging a copycat, play-safe attitude. Of course,
it's true, but let's not forget that DreamWorks picked up
Chicken Run and sold it to the States and Steven Spielberg
chose the English theatre director, Sam Mendes to make American
Beauty, one of the top five movies of the year.
Magnolia and Three Kings contradicts everything in that last
sentence. They were imaginative, risky, daring and original,
adjectives that don't trip off the tongue when discussing
mainstream US fare.
Making predictions is foolish in this business and making
statements like "George Clooney is a yawn pawn", or "Jim Carrey
has so totally lost it", comes back to haunt you. George in
The Perfect Storm appeared to be walking in his sleep. And
yet in Three Kings he stopped shaving and in O Brother Where
Art Thou gave a comic performance to die for.
Carrey was scary in The Grinch and trying too hard in Man
On The Moon. He's a good actor and a great comedian, when
not speeding on his own hyperdrive. Me Myself & Irene might
not have been everyone's bad taste choice, but Carrey was
amazing. Just when you thought he'll never do another The
Truman Show, along comes this split personality role that
stretched his talent beyond anything you've seen.
This was the year that an Icelandic pop singer brought tears
to my eyes in Dancer In The Dark and Denzel Washington failed
to win an Oscar with an outstanding performance in The Hurricane.
Good old fashioned qualities of integrity and sensitivity
adorned The Cider House Rules and Snow Falling On Cedars,
yet noone cared enough to appreciate them.
After decades of whingeing from their Lordships Puttnam and
Attenborough about the government's lack of support for filmmakers,
the national lottery has revived British cinema with the result
that multiplexes were swamped with turkeys like Whatever Happened
To Arthur Smith?, Circus, Maybe Baby and The Wedding Tackle.
As for Rancid Aluminium and Honest, don't ask.
If the Brits were producing pants, the French dazzled with
such gems as La Veuve de Saint Pierre, Rien Sur Robert, The
Girl On The Bridge and Those Who Love Me Can Take The Train.
Their attitude towards sex in L'Ennui, Une Liaison Pornographic
and La Nouvelle Eve was equally admirable. They would never
have made Coyote Ugly, for example, although they did make
Joan of Arc and the unspeakable Asterix and Obelix Take On
Caesar.
Talking of which, Gerard Depardieu seems to have lost the
plot. As well as overplaying Obelix, he gave the most embarrassing
performance of the year in 102 Dalmations.
The
Wolf Awards 2000
