John Michael Decker's Top Ten Films of 2002

Friends,

It's time again to continue the quant little tradition I started in 1999, by listing my top ten favoriate films which I saw in the year 2002. Keep in mind that A) I didn't see every single film that came out so there are probably several great little movies that I missed totally and B) I am not a professional film critic, these are just my own very biased opinions. Feel free to agree with me or not. And now, without futher ado, here are my top 10 films of 2002 in decending order from 10 to 1.

10) XXX: The best James Bond film in 2002 wasn't a James Bond film at all. With all due respect to DIE ANOTHER DAY (which was a worthy installment in the Bond franchise) XXX was a lot more fun. What the filmmakers did was to take the James Bond formula that has been used for 40 years and amp everything up to the nth degree. Xander Cage is the anarchist super spy for the 21st century.

9) FEMME FATALE: Normally Brian DePalma films aren't my cup of tea, but this one won me over with a plot that was so twisted, so original and so ludicrous that it was fun to just hang on and enjoy the ride. I especially enjoyed the scenery chewing performances of Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as the title bitch and Antonio Banderas as the chump who didn't have a prayer of outwitting her.

8) ROAD TO PERDITION: Tom Hanks is excellent here playing against type as a hit man trying to avenge his family and at the same time save his son from following in his footsteps.

7) HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS: Both darker and more exciting than it's predecessor, director Chris Columbus has done an excellent job of translating J.K. Rowlings magical world to the big screen.

6) THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTER BOYS: A coming of age story with mountain lions, comic book superheroes and Jodie Foster as a one-legged nun. What more could you ask for?

5) FRAILTY: Easily the scariest film of the year. A family is torn apart by religious fanaticism, but the most frightening idea that this film puts forth is the notion that the Christian zealots of the world may be right. Big kudos to first time director Bill Paxton.

4) THE SALTON SEA: How far would a person go to avenge a loved one? And once you've crossed certain lines, can you ever go back? See this film for some compelling answers. Look for stand out performances byVal Kilmer as the morally compromised hero and Vincent D'Onofrio as the no-nosed drug dealer obsessed with the JFK assassination.

3) SIGNS: M Night Shyamalan's latest thriller deals with an ex-priest struggling with his faith and trying to hold his family together during an alian invasion. Keeps you in suspence til the very end.

2) THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS: Just as good as the FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING and perhaps a bit more epic in scale. Peter Jackson continues to do justice to Tolkiens great trilogy.

And my favoriate film of 2002...

1) SPIDER-MAN: Quite simply this is the movie that Ihave been waiting for them to make since I was about nine years old. Sam Raimi should give master classes in how to interpret the comic book art form on the big screen. Other's may argue that there were superior films made in 2002, but to me there was nothing greater than seeing the lives of Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson and Norman Osbourn come alive on the big screen. The secret to a great comic book film... stick to the source material, and this loving tribute to the genius of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko did just that.

Let the debates begin..

John Michael Decker AKA Johnny D