Father Geek's favorite films and movie experiences of 2000

Well its that time again, the dredded "list" time. First off Father Geek here is NOT making a list of what I think are the BEST films of 2000. I'm making a list of my favorite films of the last year. The differience? Well, while I see approx. 300 motion pictures projected on the big screen each year, I don't see every film made, not even close. So alot of good, maybe even great films from India, Cuba, Brazil, France, Italy, China, hell even the USA slip by me. Anyone who presumes to tell you what ARE the BEST movies produced in the past year is either an outright liar, or a fool. That is something that is physically IMPOSSIBLE to do.

1st I'm going to list the seven best, most memorable experiences I had this year involving film viewing.

7. Sept. 16th... Director Billy Friedkin live at the Alamo Drafthouse with his personal copy of FRENCH CONNECTION; great film, great director, and he went out to hear live music at a small 50 seat bar with 8 of us afterwards for a few hours, a really all around great guy!

6. June 28th... Watching the silent classic DER GOLEM at the Alamo with a live 9 piece Jewish band complete with cantor. Fabulous, plus my cousin who I hadn't seen in 35 years was sitting between me and Harry.

5. Feb. 25th... Harry, Moriarty, and I hosting the 1st screening anywhere of GLADIATOR for 230 AICN readers in San Francisco followed by a fantastic North Beach meal with 25 West Coast fans while uber coooool live jazz filtered up from the basement.

4. Mar. 19th... Experiencing the silent THIEF OF BAGDAD at the Alamo with a full Middle Eastern band using 37 different folk instruments. Words do no good here! Truely a once in a lifetime occurance.

3. Mar. 23rd... SAVINI FEST at the Alamo. One night filled with 3 feature films plus some shorts, including the European cut of DAWN OF THE DEAD with the personable icon of splatter makeup live, interacting with us before, after, and inbetween everything. Hell! Harry even got to blow-away a local stripper with a 45 automatic before the last feature. I had blood blown all over me and I was on the 3rd row.

2. Dec. 9-10... BUTT-NUMB-A-THON 2 at the Alamo. What can I say, its been covered heavily on the site all month. A real 25 hour film viewing orgy with 125 out of staters joining an equal number of Texas fans, and there was that wonderful meal for 35 at Threadgills the night before.

1. Aug. 26th... THE SATURDAY MORNING FILM CLUB that we throw at the Alamo free for kids... This one was in the middle of Quentin Tarantino's 10 day film fest of movies from his private collection. He heard about the kid thing and wanted to be part of it, to co-host it. He showed his print of DESTROY ALL MONSTERS to a packed house of 3 to 12 year olds, their reaction was outstanding, and his reaction to their reaction was even better. There was tough guy Quentin on his knees excitedly interacting with 5 and 6 year olds. I'll never forget it!

Now for the WORST film experience Father Geek had in 2000. Having to sit thru I DREAM OF AFRICA. So bad it wasn't funny, just an incredible neverending Bore.

OK, I tried to trim this down to 10, but I found that 17 was what I kept coming up with. These are in order... BUT given my mood and other factors any of these could change places on a different day, or time of day for that matter.

17. QUILLS, loved the art direction, nice lead performance

16. THE GIFT, at least 4 real solid performances

15. THE PATRIOT, grand epic scale, loved those battle scenes

14. GIRLFIGHT, outstanding lead performance

13. CAST AWAY, Hanks is great again, I just wanted MORE island stuff

12. ALMOST FAMOUS, This is set during one of the happiest periods of my life, and I was on the road doing lightshows with top rock groups... I related.

11. CHICKEN RUN, a pure joy!

10. ALL THE PRETTY HORSES, just a real good motion picture.

9. GLADIATOR, epic opening battle, great arena scenes, Crowe kicks ass!

8. SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE, seen it several times and still love it

7. CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, a real important breakthru film that crosses several genre lines, I'm just not the biggest fan of "wirework"

6. CHOCOLAT, outstanding, superior film, solid performances and direction

5. TRAFFIC, all of the above plus the single best male performance I've witnessed this year... Benicio Del Toro

4. SNATCH, solid performances and direction... plus it kicks ass

3. O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU?, all of the above plus great art direction and cinematography

2. REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, all the comments for 3 & 4 plus the single best female performance I've seen this year... Ellen Burstyn

1. THE GIRL ON THE BRIDGE, B&W with subtitles, but it is still my favorite film of the year, I fell in love with these two people, the magic was contagious and I took it home with me

Well there you have it Ol' Father Geek's favorite films of the year 2000 and his most enjoyable film experiences, plus one overwhelming negative reaction. Remember, I'm not saying these are what you should pick, only that they are MY faves. Why don't you list yours in the below talkbacks...

Father Geek out, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!