Hey folks, I went over to Dark Horizons this morning and saw Garth's list of the 10 films he's most looking forward to in this year. And... well it got me thinking about the same sorta thing (thanks Garth... ya made my night longer ya lovely bastard ya :) ) So that's what the following is. Now... while I state this list, I am going to put up the disclaimer that... HOPEFULLY the movies I will most love this year are NOT on this list... because... that would make this year... one of them great damn years. Which I hope for... every year.

Harry's Top 10 Most Anticipated Films Of The Year 2000!!!

#1.CHICKEN RUN

Why? Because as an animation lover... I have an affinity for Aardman that goes well beyond the healthy level. The work that Aardman and Nick Park has done with their CREATURE COMFORTS and then the Wallace and Gromit films: A GRAND DAY OUT, THE WRONG TROUSERS and A CLOSE SHAVE have become legendary to those who have been lucky enough to have seen them. I remember when I first heard that John Lassiter and PIXAR was working on a feature film called TOY STORY... a smile creeped it's way across my expansive face, and I started babbling to everyone I knew about it. Many thought I was insane... having never seen TIN TOY or LUXO JR... But I had. I follow and watch the alternative short animation circuit... frequenting SPIKE AND MIKE'S ANIMATION FESTIVAL as well as their SICK AND TWISTED FESTIVAL. I'm lucky enough to exist in a college town that screened all of the Aardman films mere months after they were created. And I own that lovely DVD of the Wallace and Gromit shorts. Plus... Having seen the first 15 minutes of the film... hehe... This is going to be a piece of magic, with a taste that most Americans have never tasted before. It is the singular film event of the year for me. A film about chickens trying to avoid a fowl holocaust... dodging their own intersection with an oven. Led by fearless feathered freedom fighter, Mel Gibson... and including the vocal talents of TIMOTHY SPALL!!! and Miranda Richardson among a great deal more vocal talents... Well... this film is a dream come true for me.

#2 OH BROTHER WHERE ART THOU

Having read the script for the Coen Brothers' latest film they have seen fit to share with us mere mortals... I am eagerly awaiting their latest work of genius. Retooling HOMER into a story about 3 ex-cons' attempt to well... Actually you know.. the less one knows about a Coen film... the better it is. However, I cannot resist reading their scripts the second they hit my hands. They should be published and studied as an artform. The jokes they create just in the way they write are so wondrous, that I delight at their misspellings, the accents... Sigh... Every year it seems that George Clooney manages to find his way into something wondrous. Two years ago it was OUT OF SIGHT. Last year it was THREE KINGS. This year it will be OH BROTHER WHERE ART THOU... even though some may be looking forward to Wolfgang Peterson as that special Clooney movie of the year... well... They're wrong. PERFECT STORM will be a delight, but this one will be magic. The word from Digital Domain on the effects work being done for this film, is that the Coen Brothers are attempting their version of a biblical sized epic. And the film will feature another fantastic turn by John Goodman. Anyone that doesn't have this movie on their radar is making a HUGE mistake.

#3 CASTAWAY

Well, that's if it is actually going to be ready by the Christmas this year... which I hope to Zemeckis it will. First off, the screenplay by Bill Broyles was fantastic. The folks I have talked to that have seen the first half of the film (due to storyline, the film halted production halfway through for Hanks to drop a massive amount of weight to simulate the wasting away upon a deserted island) have told me that Zemeckis has again been working magic with his camera. Basically it's a story about a man who has never slowed down to watch a sunset. He's been wasting away his life as a FEDERAL EXPRESS Crisis Management dude that finds hot spots (problem places) where packages are getting slowed down, he flies in and makes the problems go away. He's always on the run, thousands of phone calls, faxes, emails, etc. And then he ends up abandoned on an island... God knows where, no chance of rescue. And he has to survive... figure out how to live... perhaps how to get off the island. It is so much more than a modern day Robinson Crusoe story... It's a comment on our fast forward society and taking our own lives into context. It is also the best role that Tom Hanks is likely to ever find. Until he plays Reed Richards that is.

#4 SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE

I've heard that Lion's Gate is set to stall the release of this film, for sometime in the Fall to Holiday season, to better position the film for an awards nomination for William Dafoe and John Malkovich. But especially William Dafoe I'm hearing. The 'real' story about the making of the German Expressionistic Horror film, NOSFERATU by F.W. Murnau (Malkovich) and starring Max Schreck (William Dafoe) and yes that name was the basis for the Walken character in BATMAN RETURNS. I love the original NOSFERATU with an unbridled passion. And this film has the potential to be somewhat of a great film at the same sort of level as GODS AND MONSTERS, while being WILDLY different. This film has vast cool potential... if everything works right on it.

#5. MONKEYBONE

And no... it doesn’t have squat to do with me having a cameo in it. This movie was on my list the moment that I heard Sam Hamm had written it, and that Henry Selick was directing it. This is one of those instant miracles of Hollywood Production. The film has one of the most severe warped senses of reality I have ever seen in a script. And it’s the sort of film that may very well ruin a CURIOUS GEORGE movie from ever being made (sorry Brad) but the actual character of MonkeyBone is a bit like Bart Simpson to Beaver Cleaver. He’s Bizarro Curious George. He’s everything that that character isn’t. He’s extremely horny, he wants to destroy the world and give everyone nightmares. The film has minotaurs, Harpies, centaurs, medusa-like prostitutes, hot feline waitresses and things we ain’t even got names for yet. Having been on the Darktown/Downtown set, I felt like I was in some sort of Melies/Tim Burton/Sideshow Barker’s craziest cool dream. And any film where Grim Reapers roller-skate, and the comatose drink in a bumpercar bar.... well... My god, this film is cool. Hell... there’s even re-animated corpses!!! Henry Selick has made NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH... and I can not wait to see this... his next hopefully ingenious work!

#6 GLADIATOR

Once again, given the utter coolness of the script, the fact that the casting of Russell Crowe is perfect in ways that I can not even begin to go into in this space and then there is that... ahem.... guy.... oh what’s his name... the director... OH... RIDLEY SCOTT! The test screenings have resulted in drool being spilt in the digital type-fonted realm of the internet. It’s the last work of Oliver Reed. It has Richard Harris! And I hear that Joaquin Phoenix is very very very good in the film. The trailer is one of those that causes the heart to leap and the hopes to soar. Hopefully... the gods willing... This will be the cool as shit film, that will whet our appetites for the immense coolosity that will be THE LORD OF THE RINGS. I am also looking to this film to elevate Russell Crowe from great actor that we film geeks know and adore... to Great Actor That EVERYONE KNOWS and ADORES!

#7. PATRIOT

Again, I flip to the script as to it’s placement on the list. The trailer isn’t the greatest in the world... but then, this isn’t a movie about a trailer. I’ve been waiting to see a great film about the American Revolution all my life. My father was a history buff and instilled in me the desire to imagine what it was like, and those bouncing cannon balls across the fields in that trailer... well it got me all rearing to go see this one. This’ll be Mel Gibson in a ‘Daniel Day-Lewis-like’ mode, but while THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS was at it’s heart a story of romance... THE PATRIOT is a story about fighting for what one believes in. Standing up and saying.... “NO MORE” And folks, I love single shot muskets, tomahawks and dead red-coated invaders! And I long to hear David Arnold’s inevitably cool score.

#8. DR SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

The only reason this is on the list is that I was on set... and I saw what was going on with it. And the people that have reviewed the script for this one (which I wish I had) have not seen what basically amounts to the sheer genius of Rick Baker’s make-up work on the film. And the sheer size and scope of the production design, costume design, hair and make-up. Having talked with everyone on that set... from actors to Rick Baker to Kevin Mack to Ron Howard, etc... They all seemed to have a sense of duty to make Dr Seuss’ vision come to life as we have never seen it before. And from what I witnessed... That was what was going on. Also... given the great change in Jim Carrey, as we have watched him transform from just being a slapstick comedian, to the work we’ve seen in THE TRUMAN SHOW and MAN ON THE MOON... well... I’m hoping and praying that that same sense of disappearing into a role takes place in that amazing Grinch costume from Rick Baker. Whereas, I consider ME, MYSELF AND IRENE to be a stutter step to the type of film that Jim Carrey was making before. And that realm currently is owned by Adam Sandler.... let him have it, Jim is headed for greater things.

#9. THE HOLLOW MAN

Paul Verhoeven. That’s all I need. He’s a name like John Carpenter, James Cameron, Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg that I sit and await with a child like glee, their next film. This is his horror film. We haven’t seen this type of film from Paul before. There should be a profound sense of uneasiness throughout the movie. As the camera tracks the invisible Kevin Bacon as he watches a lady undress... and then rapes her. You want to talk about scenes that people will talk about well into 2001... There will most likely be a whole host of them in this movie. It’s mean and if Verhoeven plays it right... it’ll be terrifying. And I await the FX work from Tippet and Sony Imagework with a sense of joy. Come on Paul... disturb me.

10. X-MEN

What will come out of Bryan Singer’s production? Will it work? I don’t know, but I am damn well going to give Bryan the chance to pull this film off. As I’ve stated in my recent X-MEN scoops... Well, you know where I stand on this one. The script had scenes that just worked soooo good... and then it had scenes that could go... one way or another. I am hoping like crazy that magic dust will be sprinkled on this project and after we walk out of the theater, we do a u-turn and get back in line again. And if that doesn’t happen... I’ll be profoundly disappointed. My hopes for this film are greater than for any film this year... but I have doubts as well. The child in me says a prayer every night for this film. Please be great. I don’t want it to be just good... or worse... bad.