It's a wrap: 2002 is in the can (From Western Telegraph)

It's a wrap: 2002 is in the can

So 2002 is all but 'in the can' and didn't it fly by!

This week, it's time to run through the notable movies of the year. So, how did you rate this movie year? What did you love? What really disappointed you?

You may, or may not, know that to qualify for the Oscars in any given year, you have to have your movie shown in Los Angeles by December 31st. Consequently, a lot of movies find themselves rushing to the box office at the end of the year and we only get to see them in the beginning of the next year.

So January kicked off with David Lynch's weird extravaganza MULLHOLLAND DRIVE, and the obligatory Judi Dench worthy 'Brit pic' IRIS, a biopic of the writer Iris Murdoch. Tom and Penelope got the chance to Cruise together in the bizarre and disappointing VANILLA SKY.

The best film of January ushered British director Ridley Scott back to the Oscars after his success in 'Gladiator'. BLACK HAWK DOWN was an innovative, harrowing and exhausting story of some American troops struggling to subdue their enemies in Somalia.

In February, Will Smith's biopic of the boxer ALI was a pretty morose telling of part of a truly exciting life, while GOSFORD PARK was a light and fluffy murder mystery.

The biggest weepy of the year was I AM SAM, starring Sean Penn as a retard bringing up a little girl so cute she must have been designed by Disney.

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS was a twisted comedy of family values. It had a fantastic ensemble cast, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Gene Hackman, Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller. It was the first of my favourites of the year. It's superb.

All of the films above were featured in the Oscars,which saw special awards for the fantastic Robert Redford, and a rousing welcome for Woody Allen, who delivered a special tribute to New York. Sidney Poitier was honoured for his achievements, and the films MONSTERS BALL, (a heartrending film about unlikely love, starring Halle Berry) and TRAINING DAY (a terrifying tale of a bent cop and his apprentice, starring Denzel Washington) won both actors best performance Oscars.

The best picture was officially BEAUTIFUL MIND. While I was glad to see Ron Howard honoured, I was glad that its beefy, arrogant, Aussie star Russell Crowe was not. The real 'best picture', and star of the Oscars, was actually a film from the very end of 2001:Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. Stupendous, and deserving of even more Oscar glory than it received.

As the spring started to... spring, the Pixar computed-animated family comedy MONSTER INC charmed us kids of all ages.

OCEAN'S 11 was a Brat Pack remake. George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts were the new brats, but the film was let down ultimately by the script. But it didn't get nearly the criticism that pop star Britney Spears got for her movie debut CROSSROADS.

The next of my favourite movies of the year, K-PAX, starred one of my favourite actors too, Kevin Spacey.

As often happens with my favourite films, it did little or no business at the box office. Jodie Foster's commercial comeback PANIC ROOM, a good old-fashioned high-concept thriller did far better.

Then came ABOUT A BOY, another adaptation of Nick Hornby's popular modern novels. Hugh Grant starred as another loveable rogue, which I think he does better than any other British leading man, and even better than Hugh himself does floppy-haired nice guys.

In May, we saw the early start to the summer blockbuster season. And the big hitters were bigger than ever... First up, was STAR WARS EPISODE TWO: THE CLONE WARS. In general, it met with criticism. For me, the major flaw was the over-use of computer generated imaging where a man in a rubber suit would actually have been far better. But even I could appreciate the moments of Lucas' greatness- and it still made a huge amount of money.

VAUGHAN SIVELL