Thirty-two new movies in 2001: comfortably situated somewhere between the obsessiveness of 82 and the barren Vermont wasteland of 8.

32.  AI This is the only movie I saw this year that I actively disliked.  Mostly due to that Osment kid, I think.  I spent most of the movie ripping my ticket into tiny pieces and sprinkling them around.

31.  Planet of the Apes Silly.  Dan wasn't impressed with the popular activities in my Wisconsin hometown of swimming in an algae-infested lake and hanging out at the grocery store.  Going to this movie was an attempt to placate him.  My little brother was also home at the time and had seen this movie; we spent several glorious days screeching and hooting and leaping out at each other, much to the chagrin of my mother.

30.  Jurassic Park III A babysitting rental.  The eight year old left the room after the first person was bitten in half.  I should have followed him.

29.  Save the Last Dance I met Julia Stiles's coke dealer at a party at Columbia last year.  He said she was so hot, she seemed to glow in the dark.  I had to agree.

28. Not Another Teen Movie I saw this in a mostly empty theater; most of the kids there were too young to get the john Hughes jokes.  I had to listen to my own hooting and laughing many times, which was disconcerting.  I sounded kind of like a braying donkey.

27. The Independent

26. Sobibor

25. Legally Blonde

24. Ocean's 11

23. Fighter

22. Ginger Snaps

21. Legend of Rita

20. Southern Comfort

19. Va Savoir

18. Memento

17. Behind Enemy Lines

16. Lisa Picard is Famous

15. Monsters, Inc.

14. Why We Laughed

13. Under the Sand

12. Widow of St. Pierre

11. Iris

10.  Lord of the Rings I ate two enormous jawbreakers while I watched this movie and worried that the lovely Jim Flood was annoyed by my loud slurping and crunching.  I also spent a considerable amount time during the movie wondering what the various members of the Fellowship looked like naked; this was certainly not what I was thinking about when I read the book 14 years ago.

9. Jump Tomorrow Whimsical and pleasant.  I have a huge crush on the actor who played George (I forget his real name)and spent several minutes convincing myself that because the movie was obviously so small of a production that I would be able to find George.

8.  Royal Tennenbaums

7.  Mulholland Drive

6. Vertical Ray of the Sun I probably spend 25% of every day thinking about when I'll be able to go back to Vietnam.  This was a very good movie.

5.  In the Mood for Love

4. Gleaners and I A beautiful film, about so much more than Gleaning.  I liked the guy with a Ph.D. in engineering or something who chose to glean because he like the idea of it.  He wandered around after outdoor markets were done for the day, eating leftover parsley and collecting bruised pears.  And there's a nice scene in which Agnes Varda accidentally left her camera on and taped several inadvertent minutes of the lens cap swinging around. I wish there were orchards in Brooklyn to glean from.

3.  Ghost World I started reading Eightball in high school and was overjoyed when talk of a Ghost World movie started a few years ago.  I found that I'm very different than the militant Lord of the Rings and Star Wars followers who whine and moan about every book-movie deviation, though; I would have liked Ghost World even if it had stunk.  It *is* good, though.  Isn't it?

2.  Together

1. Amelie