Performances of the Decade: Actresses

Top 10 Performances by a Lead Actress in the 2000s:






10. (Tie) Ellen Page - Juno;
Audrey Tautou - Amelie


Two social outcasts - one by choice, and the other by pregnancy - prove that films starring women don't always have to be chick flicks. Ellen Page won Best Actress at the 2008 Sullivan-Gooley Awards, and if you saw Juno, you'd easily see why. By taking Diablo Cody's script and running with it, Page nailed the quick-witted, take-no-prisoners Juno and stole the hearts of all my friends ... except mine. Mine was stolen by Audrey Tautou in 2000, when Amelie taught me how to be creative in romance. Her adventurous spirit always at constant battle with solitude, Amelie finds a prospective running mate to the test. I'll admit, I've pawned a few of her ideas as my own.


9. Kate Winslett - Revolutionary Road


Although I'll argue that DiCaprio carries this movie, all you have to see is the look on Winslett's face while standing beside a tree in the back yard to realize the outcome of this story. Revolutionary Road uses tragedy as a call to action: stop at nothing to fulfill your dreams; because once you settle, life will stop at nothing to keep you from obtaining them.


8. Joan Allen - The Contender

You may know her as the mom in Pleasantville or Pam Landy in the Jason Bourne Trilogy, but her turn as a senator destined to become the first female Vice President may very well be the most underrated performance by an actress this decade. The way she reacts to every challenge - every source of two-sided propaganda - is just like a boxer shucking and jiving to the jabs of an opponent. "The Contender" is an overt double-meaning.

7. Halle Berry - Monster's Ball

Playing a mother in love with a murderer; who loses that person to the electric chair; then falls in love with his executioner; and witnesses her son get run over by a car and die ... that's excrutiating. Having to sleep with Billy Bob Thorton on camera? That's either a death wish, an invitation for disease, or a one-way ticket to Oscar glory. She'd like to thank the Academy...







6. Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich

"They're called boobs, Ed."




5. Sissy Spacek - In the Bedroom

I wonder if she hired someone to kill one of her children so that she could prepare for this role. I'm not sure if she even has any kids, but with her turn as a grieving mother in In the Bedroom, she sure knows what it's like to lose one.


4. Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream

After getting lost in a very disturbing game show, exercising a diet consisting of 5 pills and a glass of water, fearing the refridgerator is out to eat her, and with her son stealing her TV to pawn for drug money, I'd be just as excited as Ellen Burstyn's Sara Goldfarb. "Be! Excited! Be, Be, Excited!"


3. Hillary Swank - Million Dollar Baby

I wanted to kill myself after watching Million Dollar Baby, but couldn't stop thinking about the performance given by Hillary Swank. The physical training, the psychology, and the depth required to play Maggie was a challenge only a few women could bring to the table, and Swank was a sheer knockout.

2. Helen Mirren - The Queen

She WAS the Queen. The end.

1. Charlize Theron - Monster
Anyone who thinks Charlize Theron is hot will simply not recognize her in Monster. For exhibit A, please see the picture to the left. I wouldn't touch that with a 40 foot pole. Ironically enough, Theron plays a role every guy would kill to see in their own mind: a hooker who kills her way to personal satisfaction. Instead, we get the person in the picture on the left. The joke's on us, boys. She's evil, and doesn't apologize for it. Theron may never deliver another good performance in her life, but she doesn't have to. Monster isn't a movie to see "just for kicks." It's a movie you study. It's a performance you admire. It's an actress embodying the role she was meant to play; even if it means risking everything that got her there.

Performances of the Decade: Actors

Top 10 Leading Performances by an Actor in the 2000s:

10. George Clooney - Up in the Air

Although he kinda plays himself, many would argue that this was the role Clooney was born to play. It's a come-to-terms-with-one's-self-by-playing-yourself-on-film virtuoso performance, a-la Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire.

9. Jamie Foxx - Ray

He WAS Ray Charles. The End.

8. Sean Penn - Milk

Sam Gooley says it best in describing Sean Penn. "Whenever I see a movie with Sean Penn, I never see Sean Penn's character; I see Sean Penn playing a character. I was never able to truly believe his characters - including his Oscar-winning performance in Mystic River - until I saw Milk. He totally embodied Harvey Milk, and his Oscar was well-deserved."

7. Bill Murray - Lost in Translation

Murray's most haunting, touching performance; he CAN play it serious.

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6. Russell Crowe - Gladiator

Name a Hollywood actor who could have played this role with the conviction of Russell Crowe. That would be nobody.

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5. Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind

Quite the follow-up to Gladiator and The Insider, Crowe proves his chameleon reputation. Despite his off-screen behavior, he becomes the most sought-after character actor in the world.

4. Tom Hanks - Cast Away

Name a Hollywood actor who could have played THIS role with the conviction of Tom Hanks. No one. Who else can carry a 60-minute second act on his back, and single-handedly create Oscar buzz for a volleyball? Other than me, that would be no one.

3. Daniel Day Lewis - Gangs of New York

Bill the Butcher; quite the symbol of anti-conformity. A racist, raspy-voiced, violent American patriot, Bill can stop a city with one blink of an eye (...he only has one eye). The bedside monologue about "fear" should be studying in acting classes for decades to come.

2. Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Name one Hollywood actor who could have played THIS role with the conviction of Mickey Rourke. Who else could have embodied Randy the Ram? That, again, would be no one. Welcome back, Mickey. We really didn't miss you, but you got us on this one.

1. Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood

He sounds eerily like John Huston in Chinatown. Painful memories of a failed gold-digging enterprise can be found in every gimpy step taken toward a gushing oil rig. His squinty eyes cut through the bull-crap of anyone standing his his way. His morals are in wealth and nothing else. Getting saved is just a price to pay for a pipeline. He'll steal your milkshake without you knowing it; and once he confesses his sins, kills the priest who hears them. Meet Daniel Plainview, the most ambitious, iconic, engulfing character of the 21st Century.

The Year of the Cartoon: A 2009 Year in Review

Before we get started, here's a brief timeline of animation in cinema:

November 18, 1928: The world is introduced to Mickey Mouse as he stars in Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie."

December 21, 1937: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs debuts, becoming the first full-length animated motion picture released in the United States.

February 7, 1940: Pinocchio wishes upon a star, spawning endless influences on pop culture.

November 13, 1940: Fantasia sets animation to classical music and makes Mickey Mouse a household name.

August 13, 1942: Bambi's mom gets shot the day before my dad is born.

The 1950s: We meet classic characters like Cinderella, Alice (in Wonderland), Peter Pan, Hansel and Gretel, Lady and the Tramp, and a sleeping beauty. We're also invited into an adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm.

The 1960s: More classic characters, such as Cruella DeVil (101 Dalmatians), a young King Arthur (The Sword in the Stone), Fred Flintstone, The Grinch, Rudolph, Charlie Brown, and the Beatles (Yellow Submarine). We also saw the emergence of Japanese animation, with Magic Boy, Alakazam the Great, Sinbad the Sailor, and the mythological The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon.

The 1970s: The 70's pretty much sucked. R-rated and X-rated features brought drug-induced and pornographic influences that challenged the way audiences approached animated features. While many claim these films "expanded our minds" and "explored social commentary," these films aren't even appreciated in recent conversations I've had about the history of animation. If we're still uncomfortable talking about them 30 years later, I do believe these films have made a major impact; and I do not believe it's a good one. The only reason I choose to bring these film up at all is to highlight the "dark ages" of animation, which started in late '67 after The Jungle Book and - with few exceptions - lasted until 1986 when an onslaught of decent-to-good films put the spotlight back on cartoons (The Great Mouse Detective, Transformers, My Little Pony, and An American Tail).

Top 10 Animated Films of the 1980s:
10. Heavy Metal (1981)
9. Transformers the Movie (1986)
8. Akira (1989)
7. All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
6. The Brave Little Toaster (1986)
5. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
4. The Fox and the Hound (1981)
3. An American Tail (1986)
2. The Little Mermaid (1989)
1. The Land Before Time (1987)

February 20, 1992: Beauty and the Beast becomes the first animated film nominated for Best Picture. Even today, it remains the only animated feature to receive a Best Picture nomination.

1992: Aladdin becomes highest-grossing film of the year. This happens only 2 more times: 1995 (Toy Story) and 2004 (Shrek 2).

1993: Tim Burton becomes the first mainstream director to successfully take on animation. As only Tim Burton can, he redefines animation though the stop-motion holiday classic, A Nightmare Before Christmas.

6/14/1994: The Lion King earns $1,586,000 its opening weekend. Not bad for only playing in 2 theatres. Its $793,000 per-theatre average remains the highest per-screen average in film history.

9/29/1994: Nick Park's The Wrong Trousers opens in Germany and introduces the world to Wallace and Gromit and clay-mation.

October, 1994: Jeffrey Katzenberg, an executive recently forced out of Disney, co-founds DreamWorks SKG with Stephen Spielberg and David Geffen. While they do not achieve immediate success, DreamWorks later becomes the main rival of Pixar with the release of The Prince of Egypt (1998), Antz (1998), and the Shrek franchise (2001 - present).

11/22/1995: Toy Story debuts, opening a new door in animation. Classic animation has never recovered.

11/19/1999: Toy Story 2 becomes the first CGI sequel, and arguably the only animated sequel to live up to the original source material (I say "arguably" because I only know the 19,000 Land Before Time sequels... and they sucked.)

Top 10 Animated Films of the 1990s:
10. A Bug's Life (1998)
9. The Prince of Egypt (1998)
8. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999)
7. The Iron Giant (1999)
6. Antz (1998)
5. Aladdin (1992)
4. Toy Story 2 (1999)
3. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
2. Toy Story (1995)
1. The Lion King (1994)

6/23/2000: Chicken Run becomes the first wide-released clay-mation motion picture to gross $100 million.

3/15/2002: The release of Fox Animation Studios' Ice Age proves that Hollywood has now switched from traditional animation to CGI, and that three major distributors are in competition for computer-animated box office domination (Fox, Disney/Pixar, and DreamWorks). This fact is evident in 2004 when Walt Disney Animation abandons hand-drawn animation altogether in favor of CGI.

3/24/2002: Shrek wins the first Best Animated Feature Oscar, beating out Monster's Inc. and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and showing that DreamWorks Animation is here to stay.

2004: Shrek 2 becomes the 3rd highest grossing movie of all time. It will drop to#4 in 2008 thanks to The Dark Knight.

11/4/2005: Chicken Little debuts in 3D. Foreshadowing, anyone?

2008: WALL-E receives Best Picture buzz, but does not receive a nomination. Not to worry, because things are looking "Up" in 2009! (God that was corny)

Top 11 Animated Films of the 2000s:
11. Lilo & Stitch (2002)
10. WALL-E (2008)
9. The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
8. The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
7. Shrek (2001)
6. Ratatouille (2007)
5. Up (2009)
4. The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
3. The Incredibles (2004)
2. Monster's Inc. (2001)
1. Finding Nemo (2003)


This brings us to 2009: The Year of the Cartoon.

First there's box office acclaim. Perhaps you already know why this is such a different year for the Animated Arts. With six animated features grossing over $100 million at the box-office this year (Up, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, A Christmas Carol, and G-Force), you've probably seen a few of them already. Three others (Princess and the Frog, Planet 51, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel) are knocking down the $100 million door, but haven't been out long enough to eclipse the mark. That's nine animated films grossing $100 million in the same calendar year.

Then there's critical acclaim. Now that the Academy has expanded the Best Picture category to 10 films, we will definitely see one animated Best Picture nominee (Up), a possible second (The Fantastic Mr. Fox), and the most heated race for Best Animated Feature since the category's inception in 2002. This year, 20 films have been submitted for Best Animated Feature, which are by far the most entries the Academy has seen. My bet for the 5 nominees: Up, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, Coraline, and Ponyo. Take another look at those nominees and you'll see five different types of animation represented: CGI, puppet stop/motion, hand-drawn animation, clay-mation (in 3D, no less), and anime. There has never been a year where such diversity has shaped the animated genre; and I expect the Academy to recognize it in February (if not, you'll definitely see something in the Sullivan-Gooley Awards).

The truth is, animated pictures have reached a new peak. With the increased quality of storylines, decreased production costs, the ability to transcend standard filmmaking techniques through animation, and given the "all-ages" appeal of cartoons, demand for animated pictures has done nothing but skyrocket in recent years. Also taking into effect the competition between three major distributors, there is a constant pressure to release profitable, quality films on a yearly basis.

Without animated films, this year would have been in a lot of trouble, both financially and critically. As time passes, we may look back at 2009 and discover a few classics hidden within the webs of mediocrity; but until that day, I'll be looking back at 2009 with little excitement. The only films with hope of a bright future are Avatar, The White Ribbon, Up, and (500) Days of Summer. These aren't necessarily my Top 5 Films of the Year; however, these films have the ingredients to make a lasting effect on how movies are made from here on out.

Avatar, which was so epic in scope, revolutionized visual effects the moment we started to get de-sensitized to them. Walking into the theatre, so many people (including myself) thought, "there's just no way this movie can be as visually breathtaking as the critics are saying. I mean, we've seen everything already. I saw Star Wars; I saw Jurassic Park; I saw The Matrix Trilogy; and I saw The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. There is absolutely nothing left that my eyes can feast on." Walking out of the theatre, so many people (including myself) thought, "I gotta see that again." And so many people DID see it again. Week 1: $77 million. Week 2: $75 million. Everyone freakin' saw it again! This is like Star Wars-meets-Titanic.

I know you've never heard of The White Ribbon. It hasn't come out yet - not even in New York until December 30th - but I got to see it in flawless condition from the convenience of a sure-to-be-illegal website. One critic said, "It feels like a classic, even as you watch it for the first time;" and they couldn't be more right. Everything just ... works. I don't know how else to explain it. The symbolism is so thick, that you almost want the characters to shut up so that they don't spoil the filmmaking of Michael Haneke. Every shot is so crisp, so precise, expressing so much, that visions of Citizen Kane keep popping up in my head. Is this film Citizen Kane? No. But you can its influence all over the screen. It's not about a person, it's about a small village; a small village that seems refined to its own world, its own ways, its own customs ... by choice. While at first, everyone seems truly concerned about the sudden accidents that occur around the city. When nobody steps forward to accept blame, we see paranoia slowly engulf the town and turn an elitist town into a set of elitist households. For the average viewer, this may be an excruciatingly boring movie. Nothing happens on the surface - there aren't any car chases, exotic sex scenes, courtroom meltdowns, or epic fights to carry on the story. All the tension is just below the surface, all bubbled up and ready to burst. Haneke says so much by showing us so little, but you doesn't have to look deep to realize that something truly tragic is about it happen in this town; and over the next 20 years, this town will see a new generation arise that will surely to go down in history.

Up is a sure-fire Best Picture nominee, and sits behind Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker as front-runners to win. If Disney has ever had a contender with a fighter's chance, this is the year. If it does win, this will truly be the Year of the Cartoon, and this article will go down as prophesy :)

(500) Days of Summer has been called Generation-Y's Annie Hall. Unfortunately, Oscar labels these films more appropriately, and nobody will remember (500) Days of Summer unless it's at least recognized with a Best Picture nomination. What will make for a lasting impact is its appreciation from a male audience. Dudes don't like romantic comedies; but dudes like (500) Days of Summer. Will dudes remember to rent this flick when they have a date, or will they try to impress their girl by going after "safeties" like When Harry Met Sally or Sleepless in Seattle? (Don't rent The Notebook; that's gay). How dudes answer this question will determine the legacy of this movie. Dudes. Buy it now.

As mentioned before, these four films aren't necessarily in my Top 5, however stand chances at making their long-term mark. We'll just see how they evolve...

As for the best films of the year, I'll reward you for paying attention for this long. Here are my Top 20 Films of 2009 ... in alphabetical order:

(500) Days of Summer
Avatar
Coraline
District 9
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Funny People
The Hangover
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
I Love You, Man
Inglourious Basterds
Knowing
Star Trek
State of Play
Up
Up in the Air
Where the Wild Things Are
The White Ribbon
World's Greatest Dad
Zombieland

There are still a couple films out there that have a shot at making the Top 20 (Crazy Heart, A Single Man, and Nine), so you'll get the opportunity to see the official draft next month.

To all my readers out there, thank you very much for tuning in. I hope you all have had a Merry Christmas, and I wish you a very happy new year.
-Sully

Top 10 Christmas Movies of All-Time

Simply put: The Top 10 Christmas Movies of All-Time, with 1 (or 2) quotes and the best scene from each.

10. Die Hard

Best Scene: Watching Hans Gruber fall in slow-motion.

Best Quote: "Yippie kay-yay..."

9. Elf

Best Scene: Seeing Will Farrell in a Elf's desk

Best Quote 1: "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"

Best Quote 2: "Watch out for the yellow ones; they don't stop."

8. Love Actually

Best Scene: The airport chase

Best Quote 1: "Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free!" - Billy Mack

Best Quote 2: "Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around." - Prime Minister

7. A Christmas Story

Best Scene: "Fa-rah-rah-rah-rah. Rah-rah, rah, rah."

Best Quote: "Fa-rah-rah-rah-rah. Rah-rah, rah, rah."

6. Miracle on 34th Street

Best Scene: The verdict.

Best Quote: "Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles." - Doris Walker

5. Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer

Best Scene: Meeting the Abominable Snowman

Best Quote: The song, "Silver and gold..."

4. Home Alone

Best Scene: The (attempted) robbery.

Best Quote: "Keep the change, you filthy animal!"

3. Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)

Best Scene: When the Grinch takes the presents.

Best Quote: "And what happened then? Well, in Whoville they say
that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day.
And then - the true meaning of Christmas came through,
and the Grinch found the strength of ten Grinches... plus two!"
-Narrator

2. It's a Wonderful Life

Best Scene: "A toast. To my big brother George: the richest man in town!"

Best Quote: "Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?" - Clarence

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Best scene: Every scene is a classic.

Best Quote 1: "If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is! Hallelujah! Holy shit! ... Where's the Tylenol?" - Clark Griswold

Best Quote 2: "Merry Christmas! ... Shitter was full!" - Cousin Eddie

Messing with Memory: The #3 and #6 Films of the 2000s

If you haven't been to Sporcle, you need to check it out immediately. If you haven't heard of Sporcle, you're about to learn. First, it's a website consisting of every type of trivia imaginable. Its slogan "mentally stimulating diversions" can easily be renamed, "Learning instead of working," "How much stupid crap do I know," or "Why the freak do I NOT know that capital of Missouri?! I totally aced that quiz when I was six years old!"

Do any of you 20-somethings remember GeoSafari growing up? No? Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I played that thing all the time back in the day, and I constantly bothered my family with boatloads of useless geographic knowledge picked up from hour-long binges in front of the GeoSafari (Now I know why my mother called me Rain Man growing up. At first I thought it was a complement, but now that I think about it, I may be offended sometime in the next 15 minutes).

Sporcle is an online version of GeoSafari, and expands from geography to touch on hundreds of categories that are sure to distract even the most diligent worker on the planet. If you think you know your presidents, take the quiz. If you think you know Oscar winners, take the quiz. If you think you know every single element in the periodic table, take the quiz. If you think you know every 300-game winner in MLB history, there's a quiz for that too. I'm tellin' ya, they have a quiz for everything. They even have a quiz for the greatest songs of the 80's, 90's, and 00's. When you take each quiz, you're given the name of the song; and you have to list the artist who performed it. I was taking these quizzes at work the other day and came to 3 quick conclusions:

1. The capital of Missouri is Jefferson City.
2. The 80s and 90s rocked.
3. Starting in 2000, guitars were uninvented.

Seriously, can you name 5 bands who got their start in the 21st century and don't sound like castrated 10th graders? All I got are The Killers, Jet, Three Doors Down (who started in '96, but didn't make it big until 2000), John Mayer (who released Inside Wants Out - my favorite album - in '99), and Evanescence. Everyone else sounds like some version of Sum-41/Yellowcard/Fall Out Boy/Good Charlotte … or T-Pain. Even rap sucks now ... and that's the only thing on the radio today. The only highlights of the 00's have been the peak of Jay-Z, Eminem, and a couple start-ups like Ludacris, T.I., and The Game. Lil Wayne sounds like a poodle with asthma, and listening to anything done by an artist from Florida makes me want to revoke my birth certificate. All the best music of this decade came from artists who emerged in the 1990s (or '80s, for all you U2 and Red Hot Chili Peppers fans).

You can almost say the same thing about movies. Truly unique movies are so few-and-far between now; and when something DOES work, their production company launches multiple sequels that dumb down the original. (On a positive note, these sequels are responsible for several box office records, and have helped the industry stay afloat through a recession and writer's strike. 26 of the top 50 all-time highest-grossing domestic releases are sequels, and over 20 were released this decade.) Furthermore, many believe we're reached a point in cinema where everything has been invented already, and that it's impossible to figure out new ways to present a story on the big screen. To back up this philosophy, we've seen an onslaught of post-modern and apocalyptic works that combine all the same storytelling techniques and narrative we're used to seeing, but using them to predict a very bleak future on the human existence (I am Legend, No Country for Old Men, Children of Men, and WALL-E). While several of these films are very, very good, I still believe they represent echoes and homage of the 90s.

The Top 10 Films of the 2000s represent an evolution in filmmaking. Slumdog Millionaire re-defined fate and brought India to the limelight; Finding Nemo took animation to the sea; Good Night, and Good Luck told Edward R. Murrow's story just how Murrow would tell it; Minority Report took film noir to the future as a cautionary tale for the present; Gladiator gave us a classic story through an epic lens; and Almost Famous showed us actual music from a time when music made a difference (and a sick rendition of "Stairway to Heaven" as a special feature of the Untitled Director's Cut).

Memento (#6) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (#3) show us the importance of remembering, even if we want desperately to forget. These are films so hard to describe that my only recommendation is to experience it for yourself.

If you're about 20 minutes into either Memento or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and you're thinking "wtf am I watching," that means Christopher Nolan and Charlie Kauffman have you right where they want you. Were you ever forced to become retarded in order to see Forrest Gump or I am Sam? No, but you were forced to sympathize for Forrest and Sam. Did you have to cut off your hands to see The Best Years of Our Lives? No, but you were forced to sympathize with Homer Parrish (and the true-life background of Harold Russell). Was The Piano a silent film made for you to experience life as a deaf person? No, but you were forced to sympathize with Holly Hunter's Ada McGrath, nonetheless.

If you see Memento - and I highly encourage you to do so - you will immediately experience what it's like to have short-term memory loss. I'm going to try and explain how the film is told; but to be honest, it's nearly impossible. As mentioned before, you have to experience it for yourself. Each scene is constructed as a glimpse in Leonard Shelby's life (played by Guy Pearce). All color scenes are told backwards, and all black-and-white scenes are told forward. The first scene in color is the last scene of the story - in which Leonard kills Teddy. The next scene (which is in black-and-white) is the first scene of the story - in which Leonard wakes up alone in a hotel room. From there, writer/director Christopher Nolan cross-cuts between color and black-and-white. The black-and-white scenes go forward; and the color scenes back up until eventually, the film ends with a surprise twist... get this... in the middle of the story. Will you care? Nope. By this time, you've quit trying to figure out what's going on and have now become Leonard Shelby - a detective lost in the life he creates for himself, yet refuses to take responsibility for. You may not understand Memento the first time around, but on a second viewing it'll make a LOT more sense. Also, if you buy the Director's Cut DVD, there is a hidden special features that allows you to see the film in chronological order, in which it becomes a different movie altogether.

Never before has a director used non-linear storytelling like Christopher Nolen. Sure, Quentin Tarantino has worked wonders with Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, but his technique is more stylized; whereas Nolan's is surgical. Every block of dialogue and every cut are set in place like bricks of a home, and the house called Memento will remain sturdy for a long time to come.

Just like Leonard Shelby would like to forget what he did to his wife, Clementine Krazinski is trying to get Joel Barrish erased of her mind altogether. Thanks to the best screenwriter EVER, Charlie Kauffman, that is possible in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. After Clementine (Kate Winslett) successfully removes every memory of her boyfriend altogether, we get to see the operation performed on Joel. Through this operation, Charlie Kauffman allows us to re-live all the memories Joel and Clementine created, only to have these memories erased moments later.

Much like Memento, Eternal Sunshine moves backwards while moving forward. The memory procedure starts with Joel's most recent memory of Clementine and makes its way back to the day the two met. Meanwhile, we see the people who are performing the procedure; and the subplots surrounding each of them. Each scene peels off a layer of complexity, while at the same time letting you into the hearts of Clementine and Joel. Winslett and Carey's chemistry works so well that by the time Joel's operation approaches completion, we're fighting just as hard as they are to prevent their relationship from dissipating. It's a love story unlike any other you have ever seen; and along the lines of something you will never see again.

While few films pushed the envelope this decade, Memento and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind challenged the way movies are written, structured, and put together. So far, no other film has been put together as pure as Christopher Nolan’s Memento; and no film has been as satisfyingly bizarre as Charlie Kauffman’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

These movies can’t be described; rather, they must be experienced.

Back from Hiatus, and the #4 Film of the 2000s: Almost Famous Untitled Director's Cut

Ok so I decided to take a couple months off. I'm not dead; nor was I sitting on my couch twiddling my thumbs and waiting for something interesting to fall on my lap. In fact, I've experienced just the opposite. Currently there's so many things to write about - so much going on in life right now that warrents a full-blown article - that I haven't had the time to sit down and piece together a complete work on anything.

Times are a changin', and what better time to revamp Sully's World than in the middle of Bowl Season, Oscar Season, and whatever everyone else does while I'm watching a good movie/ football game while opening Christmas presents?

October 15th was the last day I posted an article. Since then, I've seen 6 movies in theatres, 6 million more after Mike Sullivan met Red Box, 8 Florida football games, the beginning of college basketball, the end of the Sullivan-Gooley DVD draft (it went well - stay tuned for results), the World Series, Golden Globe nominees, countless end-of-year/end-of-decade Top 10s, and zero vacation days from my 9-5 job (Thanksgiving doesn't count, unless you'd like to count waking up before the normal wake-up time; driving 3 hours from Raleigh to Charlotte; stuffing 6 pounds of turkey down my throat; watching Miles Austin tear apart the Washington Redskins' secondary for 7 catches and 131 yds in the first half; realizing Miles Austin is on my fantasy team, only to find out I didn't start him; not taking this realization out on my family during Thanksgiving dinner; staying awake for the 3 hour drive home; and going to bed later than the normal bed-time, only to open the doors to the bank the next morning ... yes, I work at a bank, and my vacation begins January 3rd).

We're all busy, especially this time of the year. And with that said, let's set aside some time to recap the #4 Film of the 2000s: Almost Famous Untitled Director's Cut.

To be honest, there isn't much more to say than what Bill Simmons covers in the article that inspired this Top 10 in the first place. For your reading pleasure, his 2-part article:

Part 1
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090727

Part 2
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090728

If you read Part 1, you'll notice the inspiration for the Sullivan-Gooley DVD Draft, which we chose to pick in round-robin format. If you need a format to the rules, please see the link to Part 1 of Bill Simmons' article, or my article "DVD Draft Creating Buzz" (http://sullyz-world.blogspot.com/2009/10/dvd-draft-creating-buzz.html)

#1 Tom Hanks (Sully)
#2 Dustin Hoffman (Sam)
#3 Tom Cruise (Sam)
#4 Robert De Niro (Sully)
#5 Harrison Ford (Sully)
#6 Jimmy Stewart (Sam)
#7 Jack Nicholson (Sam)
#8 Morgan Freeman (Sully)
#9 Matt Damon (Sully)
#10 Paul Newman (Sam)
#11 Al Pacino (Sam)
#12 Gene Hackman (Sully)
#13 Charlie Chaplin (Sully)
#14 Peter Sellers (Sam)
#15 Humphrey Bogart (Sam)
#16 John C. Reilly (Sully)
#17 Brad Pitt (Sully)
#18 Henry Fonda (Sam)
#19 Kevin Spacey (Sully)
#20 Clint Eastwood (Sam)

Who barely missed the cut: Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington, Phillip Seymour Hoffman (see Bill Simmons' argument for him in Part 1), Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando, Clint Howard, Jim Carey, Jeff Bridges, Edward Norton, and Jon Voight.

I highly encourage all readers to create their own draft. I swear, it liberates the soul. In the mean time, stay tuned for more articles coming up soon.

Poll Dancing, by Chris Miller

What’s the best way to rank college football teams?

It has been assumed and accepted for some time now that the AP and USA Today Coaches’ polls are the gold standard for college football rankings. Regardless of your opinion on playoff vs. BCS, (I’m pro- playoff myself), each system no doubt requires some sort of rankings to determine the seeding. So which poll really is the best? Is there a best way to objectively rank something that is so subjective, as college football cannot ever be a round robin format? There are now alternative methods of ranking teams around the web, and I’ll take a look at a few of them.

Mumme Poll (http://mummepoll.3sib.com/index.php)

The brainchild of two different college football blogs, the Mumme Poll is named after Hal Mumme. Mumme is well known for multiple reasons: (a) former Kentucky Wildcats coach responsible for Tim Couch; (b) top of the coaching tree consisting of Mike Leach, Tony Franklin, Sonny Dykes, Chris Hatcher; (c) abusing his privilege to vote in the coaches’ poll by voting Hawaii #1 in the final coaches’ poll in 2007. Thus, the Mumme Poll.

How is it different from other polls? Glad you asked:

1. The first official ballots aren’t cast until after the games of week 6
2. Teams aren’t ranked in order, the pollsters merely select their top 12 teams and teams are ranked based on the number of times the team appears on ballots
3. A pollster suspected of bucking the system with outrageous rankings (Mumme) will be tossed from the voting

Is it reliable/ valid?

There is limited evidence so far, with 2008 being the inaugural poll. However, the final 2008 poll had Florida #1, so take that for what you will. After week 5 of the 2009 season, the top 5 in the Mumme Poll:

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. LSU
5. Virginia Tech

Which is very similar to the AP and coaches polls, except for Alabama at the top and Texas at #3. Based on the ballot style and the comparisons to current and past polls, the Mumme Poll looks to be reliable on a week to week basis and at the end of the season, without the tradition of the mainstream polls of keeping teams at its current ranking unless they lose.

Summary

Advantages
o Pollsters mostly fans, who watch many games each weekend
o Over 300 voters currently (statistically, a sufficient sample size for a good study is > 30)
o Each pollster votes on top 5, then next 7 (top 12 total), in no particular order
o Rankings based on presence in top 12 or not (binaryà less room for gray areas)
o Subjective rankings (can weed out smaller, undefeated teams)
o Fluid (#1 not stuck there until they lose)

Disadvantages
o Fans are biased
o Subjective rankings (may be influenced by program tradition and/ or media)

Who-beat (http://www.whobeat.net/)

Who-beat (est. 1995) is exactly what it sounds like: a rankings system based simply on who you have beaten and who those teams have beaten. It uses only wins to evaluate teams, so before the season, each team (even Syracuse) is ranked #1.

How it works:
1. Team A beats Team B and Team A earns 1 win
2. Team B beats 3 teams (3 more wins for Team A)
3. Those 3 teams beat a total of 15 teams (15 more wins for Team A)
4. Team A for that week has a total of 19 wins
5. #1 team in the rankings has the most total wins

Is it reliable/ valid?

Looking at the rankings before the 2007 bowl games, the rankings looked like this:
1. LSU (won national title 38-24)
2. Oklahoma (lost in blowout in bowl game)
3. Virginia Tech (lost bowl game)
4. Missouri (won in blowout in bowl game)
5. Southern Cal (won in blowout in bowl game)
6. West Virginia (won in blowout in bowl game)
7. Ohio State (lost national title 24-38)

Before the 2008 bowl games, who-beat rankings looked like this:
1. Florida (won national title 24-14)
2. Oklahoma (lost national title 14-24)
3. Texas (won bowl game)
4. Alabama (lost bowl game in blowout)
5. Pittsburgh (lost bowl game)
6. Southern Cal (won bowl game in blowout)
7. Utah (won bowl game in blowout)

After week 6 of the 2009 season:
1. Alabama
2. Virginia Tech
3. Iowa
4. Florida
5. LSU
6. Washington
7. Ohio State

What can we learn by this look at who-beat? It looks as though #1 in the who-beat rankings following the regular season will most likely win the national championship and should absolutely be in the game, but after #1 who knows. It does look like any team ranked higher than 5 in the final who-beat rankings does not deserve to be in the national title game (see Ohio State circa 2007). Based on the week 6 rankings of this year with 3-3 Washington in the top 6, it looks as though these rankings are unreliable on a week to week basis.

Interesting observations:
- Ohio State (11-1) finished #7 in the 2007 post regular season rankings despite one of the best numerical regular season records and had a poor showing in the national title game
- Oklahoma’s rankings may be enhanced by the Big 12 schedule and the conference title game
- USC’s rankings may be too low based on the Pac-10 schedule and lack of conference title game
- BCS “busters” Hawaii in 2007 and Utah in 2008 are ranked much lower in these rankings despite their undefeated regular seasons
- Maybe Texas deserved to play Florida in 2008, they did beat Oklahoma and only the Big 12 championship game rules kept Texas out of their conference championship, which may have given Texas the rankings boost to play Florida

Summary

Advantages
o Objective (eliminates bias)
o Doesn’t detract for losses
o Not affected by “style points” or blowouts
o Strongly favors strength of schedule (eliminates BCS “busters”)

Disadvantages
o Doesn’t detract for losses
o Strongly favors strength of schedule (may hurt BCS leagues with no conference title game)

Coaches/ AP poll (http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings)

For years, these have been the gold standard for ranking football teams, but should they be so? The AP poll is comprised of > 60 sportswriters from across the country with a preseason poll and weekly polls. Sportswriters are generally regarded as experts in the sports that they cover. But, if sportswriter A covers Team A and writes a daily column on Team A, does sportswriter A really know enough about teams B-Z to accurately rank them, or will the writer simply look at results and rank based on previous week and is he or she susceptible to “style point” rankings?
The Coaches’ poll is comprised of > 60 coaches from across the country with a preseason poll and weekly polls. Similar to sportswriter A, does Coach A really have time to research all the teams outside of his conference and accurately rank the teams without bias?

Are they reliable/ valid?

Before 2007 bowl games:

AP Poll
1. Ohio State (lost national title in blowout)
2. LSU (won national title in blowout)
3. Oklahoma (lost bowl game in blowout)
4. Georgia (won bowl game in blowout)
5. Virginia Tech (lost bowl game)
6. USC (won bowl game in blowout)
7. Missouri (won bowl game in blowout)

Coaches’ Poll
1. Ohio State (see above)
2. LSU
3. Oklahoma
4. Georgia
5. Virginia Tech
6. USC
7. Missouri

Before 2008 bowl games:

AP Poll
1. Florida (won national title)
2. Oklahoma (lost national title)
3. Texas (won bowl game)
4. Alabama (lost bowl game in blowout)
5. USC (won bowl game in blowout)
6. Penn State (lost bowl game in blowout)
7. Utah (won bowl game in blowout)

Coaches’ Poll
1. Oklahoma (see above)
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. USC
5. Alabama
6. Penn State
7. Utah

After week 6 of 2009:

AP Poll
1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Texas
4. Virginia Tech
5. Boise State
6. USC
7. Ohio State

Coaches’ Poll
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Alabama
4. Virginia Tech
5. USC
6. Boise State
7. Ohio State

The two groups seem to vote very very similarly (maybe the result of the same bias and same limited exposure to other teams?). The deserving national champion is usually in the top 2. Week to week rankings may not make complete sense, but through the course of the season, the “cream of the crop will rise to the top”, showing that these polls are very reliable when it comes down to the end of the season.

Summary

Advantages
o Respected for years
o Voters are professionals in the sport
o Reliable at the end of each year
o Detracts for losses
o Each has good number of voters, statistically

Disadvantages
o Static (#1 remains there until they lose)
o Detracts for losses (all losses are not created equal)
o Vulnerable to “style points” and blowouts
o First ballots are cast in the offseason based on assumptions from the previous year’s finish and # of players returning
o Coaches and sports writers tend to weight their teams and conferences higher and don’t get to see as many games as fans

Conclusion

Each ranking style has its unique strengths and it appears that the Mumme Poll may actually be the most accurate way to rank teams because many fans who watch multiple games a week vote, however there is limited evidence so far to support it. Who-beat looks to be GREAT when it comes to determining the actual national champion, but again there is limited evidence. The traditional polls have great evidence but are way too vulnerable to bias and may not be the best method. It appears as though a combination of all of these would provide the best rankings system ... which actually validates the BCS. Hmmm…

DVD Draft Creating Buzz

Friends, Romans, Countrymen of Sully's World,

The Sullivan-Gooley DVD Draft is approaching, and the buzz is already heating up. Dozens of readers have already expressed great anticipation of the draft, and many list-makers have sent me their own Top 10 via email, Facebook, and late-night phone calls. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can read the "Previewing the Next Project" article posted a couple weeks ago or follow the rules and guidelines listed below.

(First, I must give credit where credit's due, I thank The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, for inspiring this draft. Many spin-off's are sure to follow (directors, producers, screenwriters, etc.), so I thank him for sparking the idea.)

The main purpose: choose an actor, and you receive his or her entire DVD collection. Who are your top 10, and why?

Disclaimers:
1. Cameos/appearances don't count. The actor must have at least a minor part in the film. Examples of what don't count: Alfred Hitchcock appearing in all of his films; Samuel L. Jackson after the credits in Iron Man; the guy who shows up as Annikan Skywalker at the end of the original Return of the Jedi.
2. While cameos/appearances don't count; minor roles DO count. There's a difference. Examples of minor roles that fit the bill: John C. Reilly in Gangs of New York; Matt Damon at the end of Finding Forrester; and Clive Owen as the assassin in The Bourne Supremacy.

Other than those disclaimers, it's fair game. You pick your 10, then be prepared to defend your answers. By taking in all roles of a movie career - not necessarily starring roles - this draft opens up the doors to so many actors who got the chance to play supporting roles in a ton of good movies; however not got the chance to carry a movie on their own. The best example of this: John Cazale. He was only in five films, so he probably won't make my list for an entire body of work; however, the five films he was in would make for a sick DVD collection (The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2, The Conversation, The Deer Hunter, and Dog Day Afternoon). While he may not make my Top 10, he's a solid top-30 pick ... not bad for five films.

To give you a model of a solid Top Ten, look no further than Aaron Wallace. Aaron's movie knowledge is legit, and he currently writes DVD reviews while attending Law School at Wake Forest. Listed below is a message he sent me through Facebook. What I love about his top ten is that he doesn't hesitate to take risks. Not every person in his top 10 is a blockbuster; and while Aaron admits a present-day bias for having grown up in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, he also includes a few actors with 40-year track records who have made an impact on 5 decades. So far this is the best list I've seen that I can use as a preview to the Sullivan-Gooley DVD Draft. Stay tuned!

#1 Tom Cruise

He's up first because, if you read Mike's earlier post announcing this draft, you know he's in high demand. I need only two words to make my case for Cruise: Top Gun. But while his Gen-X roles made him a star, it's his more recent work that makes him such an important draft choice. In between jumping on Oprah's couch and brainwashing Katie Holmes, he's found time to make some of this decade's best films, from the latter (and better) two entries in the Mission: Impossible saga to his persona-redefining turn in Tropic Thunder. He's been in two of Cameron Crowe's best movies (Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky) and one of Spielberg's best (Minority Report), and even one of Spielberg's weaker films that I STILL want on my shelf (War of the Worlds).

#2 Tom Hanks

Is there any DVD collection of 15 or more that doesn't have at least one Tom Hanks movie in it? There shouldn't be. In fact, you could have a collection of 15 DVDs, each of them starring Tom Hanks, and have a pretty strong roster. I'll name those 15 now: Splash, Big, A League of Their Own, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story, That Thing You Do!, Saving Private Ryan, Toy Story 2, The Green Mile, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, The Polar Express, and Charlie Wilson's War. And that's just scratching the surface. Granted, I might think it's a little weird if the only movies you own all star Tom Hanks, but you'd earn mandatory respect nonetheless.

#3 Will Smith

I can't begin to appraise the worth of a Will Smith DVD collection without first noting that it would include all six seasons (once they're released) of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", which makes him a pretty essential draft pick in and of itself. We needn't turn to TV (or rap) to find Smith's real value, though. Men in Black, Independence Day, and Bad Boys are staples of any movie library, the titles that made him the King of the 1990s Action/Comedy. Those films' sequels (well, there's no ID4-2 yet) are pretty worthwhile too. And I don't care how bad it supposedly is, I love watching Wild, Wild West. Will Smith has got to be the only rapping comedy star whose biggest crowd pleasers are sci-fi flicks. I, Robot is probably the best contemporary "Frankenstein" film and while I Am Legend is kind of narratively muddled, you've got to have the Blu-ray disc if you've gone hi-def because the transfer is out of this world. One of my favorite Will Smith movies finds the young actor going for nothing but laughs in the oft-forgotten Made in America. I want to be sure I own that one so I can loan it out to others who'll be seeing it for the first time.

#4 Johnny Depp

Steven Spielberg is probably the greatest director to ever live, and Orson Welles or Billy Wilder might have been the best, but Tim Burton is my favorite. Naturally, then, I'll be needing Johnny Depp's complete filmography. Edward Scissorhands. Ed Wood. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. These unforgettably showcase the considerable talent of both men, and then there is arguably their mutual career best: Sweeney Todd. Unlike Burton, though, Depp hasn't been so relentlessly dark. His versatility shines through in his movie collection, from the quirky (Benny & Joon) to the charming (Chocolat) to the imaginative (Finding Neverland) to the badass (Jack Sparrow, savvy?). In addition to all these, drafting Johnny gets you a whole host of crazy little film ventures on the side for your diversifying pleasure.

#5 Humphrey Bogart

He played Rick in Casablanca. I don't feel the least bit compelled to justify this pick with anything else. Just for fun, though, I will. While most stars of the classic era have only one or two enduring films to their credit, at least a third of Bogart's work ranks among the indisputably greatest movies ever made. The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and The African Queen are but a few, and each among my favorites. Casablanca aside, though, I'd be most excited about bringing home his extensive film noir work, classics like The Big Sleep and In a Lonely Place included.

#6 Morgan Freeman

I think an all-day Morgan Freeman marathon would be some sort of inspiration overdose. Listening to that voice all day long, the one that makes you believe him even when he's the bad guy, would have me jacked up on enough purpose and good intentions to qualify me for a Nobel Peace Prize. His career is essentially comprised of variations on "the magic negro," but nobody plays the part like him. Driving Miss Daisy, Unforgiven, The Shawshank Redemption, Bruce Almighty, The Dark Knight... the man can drive you out of prison in a Batmobile he made from scratch, speaking with the voice of God along the way. What more could you ask for?

#7 Jack Nicholson

Heath Ledger gave one of the most celebrated performances of all time as The Joker and still the best that can be said is that Ledger's Joker is "different" from -- not better than -- Jack Nicholson's. No actor has intrigued me or freaked me out as consistently as Nicholson, in all-time greats like Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Witches of Eastwick, The Departed, and perhaps my favorite (but certainly not the best) Kubrick film, The Shining. I also give major props to Anger Management, in which Nicholson explores the funny side of crazy for a change.

#8 Dustin Hoffman

With Dustin Hoffman, you get at least two defining films from each of the last five decades. From the '60s: Midnight Cowboy and The Graduate. From the '70s: All the President's Men and Kramer vs. Kramer. From the '80s: Tootsie and Rain Man. From the '90s: Dick Tracy and Hook. From this decade: Finding Neverland and I Heart Huckabees (which may not be altogether definitive but it is nevertheless excellent). The greatest of these is, of course, The Graduate, a movie you are simply required to have in your collection -- so, case closed. Hoffman also gets you fun, if less prestigious, movies like Agatha and Sphere.

#9 Leonardo DiCaprio

Now before you roll your eyes, let me remind you that he graduated from his "teen heartthrob" stigma ten years ago -- and even when he was in the middle of it, he was acting with more skill than any other in his ilk (not to mention headlining the most successful movie of all time). From the "Leo" era, The Basketball Diaries, Romeo + Juliet, Marvin's Room, and The Man in the Iron Mask are all strong films in their own right. From grown-up DiCaprio, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, The Departed, and Revolutionary Road have each been heralded with tremendous acclaim. And then, of course, there's Titanic. Added bonus: "Growing Pains".

#10 Ben Stiller - I really only needed to see four Ben Stiller movies to know that I'd want to draft him: Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Night at the Museum, and Tropic Thunder. He has so many others to supplement that hilarious line-up, though: Heavyweights, Mystery Men, There's Something About Mary, Starsky & Hutch, Keeping the Faith, and the list goes on. If it counts as more than a cameo, I get Happy Gilmore too, which makes me feel a lot better about choosing Stiller over Sandler.

NCAA Football: Who Still Matters

Now that we're five weeks into the 2009 football season, it's time to start highlighting who can actually play football, who has been pretending to play football, and who is still living off their name as a traditional football team. Without further ado, here's the current coaches poll:

1. Florida (54)
2. Texas (1)
3. Alabama (5)
4. LSU
5. Virginia Tech
6. Boise State
7. USC
8. Cincinnati
9. Ohio State
10. TCU
11. Miami
12. Iowa
13. Oregon
14. Penn State
15. Oklahoma State
16. Kansas
17. Auburn
18. BYU
19. Oklahoma
20. Ole Miss
21. Nebraska
22. Georgia Tech
23. South Florida
24. Missouri
25. South Carolina

Others: Wisconsin, Houston, Georgia, Stanford, Utah, Michigan, Boston College, Notre Dame, Pitt, Arizona, West Virginia

By Conference:
6 - SEC: Florida (1), Alabama (3), LSU (4), Auburn (17), Ole Miss (20), South Carolina (25)
6 - Big 12: Texas (2), Oklahoma State (15), Kansas (16), Oklahoma (19), Nebraska (21), Missouri (24)
3 - ACC: Virginia Tech (5), Miami (11), Georgia Tech (22)
3 - Big Ten: Ohio State (9), Iowa (12), Penn St (14)
2 - Pac 10: USC (7), Oregon (13)
2 - Big East: Cincinnati (8), South Florida (23)
2 - Mountain West: TCU (10), BYU (18)
1 - WAC: Boise St (6)

Contenders - Florida, Texas, Alabama, USC

Florida - Next week's showdown in Baton Rouge will be Tim Tebow's chance to move up a few notches in College Football's All-Time Greatest list. You are fresh off a concussion, surrounded by 90,000 people who want to see you die on national television, and have done nothing over the last 2 weeks but watch re-runs of yourself getting leveled by a Kentucky defensive end. Your undefeated season, your rivalry bragging rights, and your legacy all hang in the balance. Pressure? What pressure?

Texas - Ok, so you haven't played anyone yet. The good news is: the only loss you've had in the last two years came on the last play against un-signed NFL WR Michael Crabtree; and you won the re-match (like that took much effort). You had last weekend off; you pretty much have this weekend off (Colorado); and face a showdown against not-completely-rehabilitated-yet Sam Bradford 2 weeks from now. While the Big 12 is supposed to be great, Texas sure has an easy run ahead of 'em.

Alabama - The only loss you've had in the last two years came against Florida in the SEC Championship game. You dominated a strong Virginia Tech squad on opening night; coasted for the last month; and now enter the meat of your SEC schedule. If you can survive at Ole Miss this weekend, you get to face LSU at home before an epic Iron Bowl matchup against Auburn on 11/27. The SEC West is rediculous.

USC - It seems like every year you have a WTF loss that motivates you to destroy the rest of the Pac 10. Two years ago it was Stanford; last year it was Oregon State; and this year you had Washington. Now you've hosted Washington State as a welcome-back scrimmage for the injured Matt Barkley; and pummelled over-rated Cal in what was supposed to be a close game. If you can survive back-to-back-to-back games against Notre Dame (haha), Oregon State (grudge game at home), and Oregon (mystery team of the year, next to Florida State).

Still Need to Prove It - Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Ohio St

Virginia Tech - I still have no idea what to make of them. Yea, they lost a close game to Alabama to start the season, buy yet it was still the first game of the season. Alabama could have been rusty; VT could have played one heck of a game; or they're a legitimate squad. They destroyed Miami (3-1 against 4 ranked opponents to start off the season), but the conditions were awful (it looked like a monsoon) and the Hurricanes didn't show up. Their other big win? Nebraska (3-1, whose victories came against Florida Atlantic, Arkansas State, and Louisiana-Lafayette) by 1 point. Nebraska is ranked, but I'll discuss them in a moment.

Cincinnati - They went 11-2 last year, won the Big East, went to the Orange Bowl, returned their star QB, and still weren't in the preseason Top 25. In fact, no Big East team was ranked to begin the season, and the Bearcats owe their current #8 ranking to all the other teams ahead of them who decided to lose over the last 5 weeks. Cincinnati hasn't really played anybody, unless you think their opponents' 8-15 combined record is something to brag about. Their rise up the rankings has been linear - they've moved up 3-4 spots each week - and seem to be moving up by sheer default. They may never really face a true quality opponent after South Florida (who they get a bye week to prepare for), allowing them to cruise into a BCS Bowl without any serious challenges. Until they either destroy South Florida or win in January, they will not crack my top 10.

Ohio State - They're Ohio State. Win a bowl game and quit playing high-schools in the Midwest. Then I'll half-way take them seriously.

Underrated Contenders - Miami, Oregon, Auburn, and South Florida

Miami - Wow, what a start. You've already faced the bulk of your ACC schedule and upset Oklahoma. Your last 3 tests are all away games: Wake Forest (over-rated), UNC (horrible, but who knows. Miami always struggles with UNC), and South Florida. If the U can make it through the rest of the season with 1 loss, they will have a date with a weak Atlantic Division foe in the ACC Championship Game en route to the BCS National Championship Game. Also, if Florida loses between now and December, Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford may very well welcome Jacory Harris as the 3rd straight sophomore QB to with the Heisman Trophy.

Oregon - Their only loss came in the first week against a top-5 Boise State team; they host USC at home in 3 weeks in the "Pac-10 championship game"; and have 2 minor road challenges (Washington and Stanford) from a trip to the Rose Bowl. Also, if they only lose one of those three games, we may be seeing Oregon enter the BCS as an at-large bid to take on Boise State or TCU. Roll that up and smoke it, LeGarrette Blount.

Auburn - Offense? Where did that come from? Is this the same Auburn who went 5-7 last year, with one of those victories being 3-2 over Mississippi State? After 5 games, they've already matched last year's win total; and are on pace to have a 3,000-yd passer, two 1,000-yd rushers, and 40 points per game. After scoring more points at Tennessee than Florida did against Tennessee at the Swamp, Auburn has entered the national spotlight. Unfortunatley, that's where the good news ends. The bad news: Auburn plays in the SEC West, which, as a 6-team division, is easily the toughest conference in college football. The end of Auburn's schedule would make Miami's first 4 games look like a cake walk. In 34 days, they play LSU (away), Ole Miss, Georgia (away), and Alabama.

South Florida - So how do you respond to losing your starting QB for the rest of the season? Easy, you let your backup throw for 200 yds/gm and rush for 80 yds/gm while traveling to Florida State and Syracuse and beating them both ... convincingly. On the 15th, they host Cincinnati in a sure-to-be battle of undefeateds for the fast-track to the Big East Championship. Unlike Cincinnati, South Florida has already proven themselves. While they have a more difficult road to the Orange Bowl (@Pitt, @Rutgers, @UConn ... plus Miami at home), I wouldn't count out South Florida yet.

Ranked Solely on Reputation - Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, The Big Ten

Oklahoma State - They looked really great against Georgia ... until we found out Georgia was horrible. They looked really bad against Houston ... until we found out Houston was horrible, too (UTEP put up 58 points on Houston last week. 2-and-3 UTEP. Ouch.).

Nebraksa - The only thing keeping Nebraska from an undefeated record is a university that actually plays football. Once Nebraska played a real-life football team, they couldn't handle the pressure; and they lost by 1 point.

Ole Miss - Syracuse, led by Duke point guard Greg Paulus, looked better than Ole Miss on 9/24. That's the night Ole Miss lost the most boring, torcherous game of the year (next to NC State/South Carolina on opening night). I mean that game was painful. After that, I dropped Ole Miss out of my Top 25 and put them just ahead of Syracuse (go to hell, Greg Paulus). Unless they beat Alabama this weekend, I wouldn't vote Ole Miss for dogcatcher.

The Big Ten - Listed below are the non-conference opponents for each Big Ten school. The majority of these games are played in-succession toward the beginning of the season; and, as you will soon tell, not many of these game pose much of a challenge to any school from a BCS conference. What does this mean? It means that most Big Ten schools have an extra month of scrimmages before starting conference play; and, with most of these schools going 4-0 out of conference, each Big Ten team only needs to win 2 conference games to become bowl eligible. Just think about it: what if you went 2-6 in your conference, but went to a bowl game? While I admit that many BCS conferences intentionally schedule weaker non-conference teams to play in the regular season, most of those BCS schools do so in order to provide a break from the harsh conditions and brutal competition from their inter-conference opponents. These schools also take the time out to schedule a QUALITY non-conference opponent for the very purpose of boosting their strength-of-schedule. While the Big Ten plays several schools from BCS Conferences (14 total), the vast majority of these opponents come from the bottom rungs of their corresponding conference. Example? Sure! Syracuse, led by Duke point guard Greg Paulus. Syracuse sucks so bad that they begged a Caucasian point guard to be their starting QB knowing full well that he hadn't touched a football in 4 years. What's funnier? Syracuse plays Minnesota, Penn State, and Northwestern (and beat Northwestern, LOL); and Syracuse will be Penn State and Northwestern's only opponent from a BCS Conference outside the Big Ten.

Moral of the (Big Ten) story: Schedule good teams; beat good teams (especially in January); and until that happens, stop complaining about how you're not getting respect.

Navy
USC
Toledo
New Mexico State

Northern Illinois
Fresno State
Wofford
Hawaii

Northern Iowa
Iowa State
Arizona
Arkansas State

Western Michigan
Notre Dame
Eastern Michigan
Delaware State

Akron
Syracuse
Temple
Eastern Illinois

Syracuse
Air Force
California
South Dakota State

Towson
Eastern Michigan
Syracuse
Miami (OH)

Montana State
Central Michigan
Notre Dame
Western Michigan

Toledo
Oregon
Northern Illinois
Notre Dame

Eastern Kentucky
Western Michigan
Akron
Virginia

Missouri
Illinois State
Cincinnati
Fresno State

Previewing the Next Project

Listed here is a comment posted to my Facebook page from a fraternity brother and great friend, Manny. He poses a good question, and I would like to highlight the "Tom Cruise made like 6 straigh solid flicks" section because it provides a great segway to the next series to hit Sully's World.

Dude, I love that you put Minority Report in your top 10. I freaking love that movie. While I'm sure you think Spielberg makes the movie, you also have to remember this is when Tom Cruise was at the pinnacle of his career, further propelling this film's "mystique" at the time. Yet, if I were to select any film for Tom Cruise during this period (he made like 6 straight solid flicks), I HAVE to go with The Last Samurai. That movie reaches the level of mood that Minority Report has and is more badass. I'd even argue the acting (including Cruise) crushes Minority Report. It's just as rewatchable, has more interesting characters, is an awesome throwback genre crossover, and LOADED with practical effects. Only weakness in comparison is obviously Spielberg's complete command of the screen (that hug between Cruise and Morton comes to mind, which would literally be the most awkward hug ever, but looks so f*ing cool), yet Eddie Zwick is no slouch either and totally pulled that flick off to the max. Thoughts?

Manny knows his stuff, guys. The Last Samurai was a pretty awesome flick, and while it didn't quite make my Top 20 of the 2000s, he should know that I definitely mark it as one of the best films of 2003 (and 2003 was loaded with good flicks, too).

Manny and I can go back-and-forth for days about why I'd pick Minority Report and he would pick The Last Samurai; but I would like to mention that he referenced a "Tom Cruise era," and how Cruise came out with a bunch of can't-miss films in a 10-year span (if you look at his IMDb page from 1996-2005, you'll see a banner saying "Tom Cruise stars in a Billion Dollars"). Great obervation, Manny, which makes me think about my idol Bill Simmons at ESPN who got me started on this whole "Top 10 of the 2000s" in the first place. During Bill's article on the NBA offseason, he not only mentioned that Almost Famous was his pick for the greatest film of this decade, but also mentioned the following:

"If you were to have a DVD-collection draft with five buddies (and by the way, don't think I haven't done this) in which everyone picks six actors in snake fashion and you get every single movie they made on DVD, (Philip Seymour) Hoffman would be a sneaky late-first-round pick. Because you asked, my top 12 looks like this: Hanks, De Niro, Cruise, Stallone, Pacino, Douglas, Freeman, Damon, Hoffman, Costner, Hackman and Denzel. Late-round sleepers: Clancy Brown and Joe Pantoliano. Admit it, you want to make your own list."

Yes, yes I do. And the next series to hit Sully's World will be the DVD-collection draft between me and Sam Gooley. Tom Cruise is a sure-thing on my list, but other sleepers are sure to be included.

As always, I appreciate the feedback from all readers. I will attempt to reply to each comment via email, Facebook, a blog entry like this one, or, if you don't like what I write, a 3:30am phone call letting you know what I think of you. Just kidding ... kinda.

Where's #6?

If you just read my article on the #5 Film of the 2000s and thought I lost count, don't you worry!

The #6 film will be included with the #3 film of the 2000s.

Stay tuned!

#5 Film of the 2000s: Gladiator

"What we do in life, echoes an eternity."

Not sure about y'all, but every time I see this movie I want to fight someone. Just on principle.

There has never been a better demonstration of the term "fight for your freedom" than Gladiator. (Well ... maybe another film, but you'll see it later on in the Top 10 Films of the 2000s. That film was more of a "let's-all-fight-for-our-freedom" film, where as Gladiator was solely Maximus.) Also, what better tale of vengeance than Gladiator. The plot was known by everybody before it came out - it was so simple - yet it delivered the total punch. Hell, in case you spaced out over the first 90 minutes and forgot what you were watching, Maximus brings you right up to speed with a monologue that should fire up anyone who's got a pair.

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife; and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

Gloves are off; fists are clenched. Let's go. I dare my roommate to come home right now. The next person who walks through that door is going to get punched in the face. Sure, they'll be pissed ... but they'll understand.

This review is going to be short, simply because with Gladiator there isn't much to talk about. It's so black-and-white, so transparent, so true to the plot, and so epic. Everyone's perfectly cast; everyone fulfills their character; and everyone in the theatre knows what's going to happen next. There aren't any surprises, but we're not in the theatre to be surprised; we're here to know that we can follow a man like Maximus. We can conquer any obstacle if we fight in the name of our family, our countrymen, our honor, and our identity. If anyone tries to stand in the way of these things, the gloves come off; and you better be ready to brawal, or you better be prepared to die.

It calls you out as a man. It pushes me up against a wall, saying, "if you opt not to fight in the name of your family, your countrymen, your honor, or your identity, you haven't an excuse for what happens in your life. You live a life of quiet desperation, hypocracy, and will be forced to watch from the sidelines as others receive the glory that God gave you to claim.

...So what kind of man are you?"

Quick Shout-Out to Lane Kiffin

Dearest Lane,

First I would like to congratulate you on not getting destroyed this weekend in the Swamp. Your ability to call run plays on every single 3rd-and-long make you the most respected woman coach in college football. The way your skirt was blowing in the wind had some of your players forgetting that UT had a cheerleading squad.

In all seriousness, all of us Gator fans enjoy a woman who doesn't always go for it. You kept it conservative, and we're glad you're saving yourself for the opportune moment. Although you took a loss this time around, your team is surely rested for that epic showdown against Ohio next week. It'll be a tough grind - as is the case whenever you play teams from the great state of Ohio - so I'm proud of you for not wasting all your team's talent and ability on a silly team like #1 Florida.

The Gators also thank you. You're so nurturing! By calling run plays deep into the 4th quarter, you allowed us to rest all of our players on offense who have the flu. Why didn't you actually make us some chicken soup?

I'm actually quite surprised you made your team work as hard as you did. I mean, they were sweating and everything! If you wanted to keep it close and run out the clock, why didn't you take a knee to start off the second half? It would have done you the same good; and it would have kept those bright white uniforms from getting all dirty. I hope some of the scholarship money left over from buying that recruit from Florida (you remember, the one Urban Meyer called without your permission? I thought cheating only happened when you did something physical, not call them after their mother goes to bed.) can be used to buy some extra Tide for those grass stains.

Maybe next year when UT gathers 105,000 people into a stadium, you'll decide to bring two testicals, 22 players, and a gameplan. In the mean time, how about you start asking the city of Knoxville and the state of Tennessee for a football team.

Any volunteers?

Love,
Sully

#7 Film of the 2000s: Minority Report (2002)

Before we do anything, let's get one thing straight: Stephen Spielberg is the greatest director of all time. If you disagree with me, that's cool. This is still a free country (for the time being ... but that's a whole other topic right there), so everyone's entitled to be wrong with his or her own conflicting opinion. To over-summarize my argument, no other director has had a resume, style, consistency, and following that even comes close to Stephen Speilberg.
In fact, there's only one argument you could use against that summary that I would even listen to ... and that's the "Tupac is still better than Jay-Z" argument.

Begin Four Paragraph Tangent

Seriously. Look at Jay-Z's career. Of his 11 or 12 albums, most have received critical acclaim (Reasonable Doubt is ranked #248 in Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums of All Time; The Blueprint is ranked #464, and received a "Five-Mic" review from The Source; and Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life won the Grammy for Best Rap Album in 1999); each has sold at least 1 million copies; and Jay-Z has been the CEO of two record companies. Not bad for a guy who's still in his 30s.

While listening to his latest album with my best friend, Jimmy Lindsey, we both came to the conclusion that Jay-Z has officially passed Biggie as the #2 rapper of all-time. This is hard to admit, because I never thought Jay's talent belonged in the same ballpark as BIG ... ever. While Jay-Z can just think of an idea and roll out a verse at the blink of an eye, Biggie did the same thing with "Juicy," which remains better than any song Jay-Z ever put out. What separates Jay from BIG is Jay's fortunate ability to fulfil the extent of his potential; whereas with Biggie, we can only wonder what could have been. Yes, BIG has 2 All-Time Top 10 rap albums (Ready to Die and Life After Death, and I believe Ready to Die is the greatest album ever), but those are the only albums he ever put out. Jay has my #10 (The Blueprint), #9 (Reasonable Doubt), and #4 (The Black Album) albums of all time.

(#1 Ready to Die; #2 Illmatic; #3 Chronic 2001; #4 The Black Album; #5 All Eyez On Me; #6 Doggystyle; #7 Life After Death; #8 Venni Vetti Vicci by JA Rule; #9 Reasonable Doubt; #10 The Blueprint ... I smell a future article...)

Jay has also said everything a rapper could possibly say in a career. 1.) He prophesized his taking-over of the industry (see Reasonable Doubt). 2.) He dominated the airwaves with radio-friendly songs (see Vol. 2), to become a multi-millionaire. 3.) He told everyone he made it, while simultaneously raising the bar (The Blueprint). 4.) Went out on top, while prophesizing a Jordan-esque return (see "Encore" on The Black Album) 5.) Then he came back; and backed it up (see his work with Linkin Park, Kingdom Come, and The Blueprint III).

So why is Jay-Z still not the greatest rapper of all-time? Why is he not bigger than Tupac? The answer - and this may sound corny - is that Tupac was more than just a man. Here's an analogy for Tupac: imagine if Michael Jordan's athleticism and pop-culture influence was combined with Muhammed Ali's mystique and social commentary, you would then have Tupac Shakur. Jay-Z, like Michael Jordan, has the perfect pro resume; but Tupac accomplished almost everything Jay-Z accomplished before he turned 26. Pac wasn't a businessman, so he couldn't be the CEO of a company; however, he was the spokesperson for an entire generation; and that extends far beyond the measuring stick that Jay-Z uses to scale his career.

End of Four-Paragraph Tangent

Stephen Spielberg, much like Jay-Z, has accumulated the perfect resume. His handful of classics, influence on pop culture, and ability to effortlessly create masterpieces without over-thinking the details make Spielberg the most accomplished director to stand behind a camera. (For those of you who actually read the four-paragraph tangent, re-read it, and replace "Jay-Z" with "Stephen Spielberg" and you'll get the point). To my knowledge, there hasn't been a Tupac-like figure in the film industry to take away Spielberg's crown as the greatest.

What signifies Spielberg is his ability to release multiple classics every decade. Most directors never get the opportunity to tell one classic, let alone two beasts every 10 years. From Jaws to Close Encounters, Raiders to E.T., or Jurassic Park and Schindler to Private Ryan, you can always count on the Dreamworks founder to find a dream and make it work on the big screen.

Entering the 21st Century, Spielberg has put out 2 films that will go down as classics; however, it won't be the flash and epic nature of the films I've listed above that will make these 2 films classics. They're both cop movies, both released in 2002, and both are told as cat-and-mouse throw-backs to the 1940s. What's nuts is that they don't look anything like each other. The first is Catch Me If You Can, featuring the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. and all the shinanigans he caused as a teenager in the '60s. While you won't be seeing it in the Top 20 of the 2000s, you will be seeing it on TV every Christmas, just before Love Actually or It's a Wonderful Life. It features a convincing performance by Leonardo DiCaprio; a touching turn from Christopher Walken; and Tom Hanks armed with the best knock-knock joke ever. I also rank it just behind The Shawshank Redemption as the #2 Guy Movie that Every Girl Likes.

The second film is Minority Report - a fascinating parable on human nature, destiny, and how you would react if you knew your own future. For sake of time, space, and your own reading sanity, I'll go over three quick facts that I love about Minority Report; and if you have any additional questions, I'll post your question and my answer for all to see.

1. The Technicalities. Minority Report was nominated for 1 Academy Award: Sound Effects Editing. That may be the most pointless category of all Oscars, and I almost wish the Academy went all-out to completely forget the movie altogether. Instead, I'll take it as an insult that such a well-crafted film didn't receive critical acclaim for its cinematography, art direction, and visual effects.

...or maybe they simply didn't notice? Now that I look back at each film nominated for cinematography, art direction, and visual effects, each features over-the-top performances of each category. Road to Perdition and Far From Heaven looked like motion-paintings, not motion-pictures (cinematography); Gangs of New York literally re-built NYC, and Lord of the Rings-Two Towers literally re-built all of Middle Earth (art direction); and Spider Man and Attack of the Clones consisted of characters doing corny poses in front of green screens (visual effects). With all of these showy effects, the audience loses its grip on the actual storyline; therefore, in my opinion, weakening the film. Minority Report - while using a plethora of effects - stays so loyal to the storyline that we may not even notice the efforts involved to make each scene possible. We just enjoy it.

The realistic future of Washington D.C. is set up with understated cinematography, art direction, and visual effects. His long-time cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Schindler, Private Ryan, and the non-Spielberg film Diving Bell and the Butterfly to name a few) takes out the majority of the color in each shot: creating a hazy, gray world that's filled with smog and lacking excitement. With pre-cogs preventing every murder, the world is transparent; and Spielberg embodies this transparency using glass-walled sets througout the picture. Pre-Crime Headquarters, for example, doesn't seem to have an opaque substance in the building. All walls are made of glass; and computers show images on a clear screen that can be viewed throughout the building. On the surface, this company has nothing to hide. Even the weapons the police use are understated. Minority Report's triumph comes through its use of CGI to accentuate (not show off) the intensity of each scene. Example: I never thought to myself, "Wow, what kind of technology did they use to come up with those spiders that trace the building?!" Instead, I was thinking, "Holy crap, what are those spiders going to do when they find Tom Cruise?!" This is a lot different than my feelings when watching the first Spider Man ("Dang, that looks fake as hell. Yea, it looks cool and all. But that's fake as hell.")

2. The Story Itself. Spirituality, fate, prophecy, action, suspense, noir, drama, and sci-fi: Minority Report has it all. While I won't dive in to the details of each thing that makes Minority Report a complete film, I will go back to how it fits the three criteria in choosing this list: Quality, Lasting Effect on the Memory, and Rewatchability.

It's quality rests within it's visual flair and it's unique way of storytelling. There's rarely a wasted shot in the 2 hours and 20 minutes of running time (except the "Rocketeer" chase scene; I'll admit that was pretty corny and probably shouldn't have been included in the final cut); and each shot has it's own unique symbolism. Credit the trust between Spielberg and Kaminski for allowing this to manifest. The use of eyes (close-ups, eye-scanners for advertisements, black-market eyeball dealers, etc.) creates such a powerful motif that complements the "what-if-you-could-see-your-future?" premise. Nearly every scene focuses on some attribute pertaining to the eyes, thus giving us a cornerstone to talk about all the themes permeating the film (spirituality, fate, prophecy ... all the ones listed in the paragraph above can be tied back to the motif of "eyes" or vision).

Rewatchability is a big duh. Minority Report has all the popcorn entertainment you can ask for in an action film; and with all the visual motifs permeating the film, it will keep detail-oriented critics like myself consumed for 20+ viewings.

3. Lasting Effect on the Memory. This film will only get better as it continues to predict the future. Could we predict in 1968 that a computer (which, at that time, was the size of a building) built with artificial intelligence would create a world of its own, go crazy, and maybe start killing people? We can definitely forsee it now, and that's the main reason the American Film Institute ranked 2001: A Space Odyssey the #15 film of all-time (up from #22 in 1998). Could we predict in 1998 that a reality television company would adopt a human being and put his entire life on television, thus raising him in a completely ficticious world? Shoot, we didn't even know was reality television WAS in 1998. In fact, the only show that ever fit the description of reality TV was Real World on MTV (this was the Real World when they actually had to get jobs, work together to make a living, and not base their entire television career on how many people each person can sleep with and/or fight). Now, in 2009, if a reality TV company decided to adopt a human being and create his life on television, would it even MAKE the news? Probably not. So tell me this: how prophetic was The Truman Show?

What makes Minority Report such an effective futuristic movie is that its hypothesis of our future isn't without reason. With Facebook's marketing team placing ads on your website that are catered to the information you put on your profile, along with ever-developing webcam technology, would it be hard to envision a contraption that scans your eye, identifies you, and includes your name in their advertisement? Personally, I don't think so. Do me a favor and watch the scene when Tom Cruise walks through a tunnel; and all of the billboards start calling out his name. All those companies have to do is invest in an eye-scanner thingy and BOOM: target marketing. In the real world, how long do you think it will take to invent something like this? My guess: not very long, especially if a company decides that an invention like that would provide a spike in revenue.

On the Special Features DVD, Spielberg describes how they went about creating the technology of the future. In a nutshell, folks from Dreamworks went to work with grad students from MIT, Cal Tech, and a bunch of think-tank universities; and they brainstormed methods of police weaponry in the not-so-distant future. Two clever tricks I noticed in Minority Report: the only gun we see apears in the very end; and all weapons the cops use are non-lethal. For sake of argument, let's say our Second Amedment rights are tossed out the window and we can no longer carry guns. How will we defend ourselves; or, better yet, how will cops be able to subdue criminals? These answers were provided by those MIT and Cal Tech kids, and were included in the film. They have "sonic boom" guns (that Tom Cruise uses at car manufacturing plant) that knocks you unconscious; "sick sticks" that cause you to throw up the moment they touch you (no more tasers, I guess); and jet packs that get you from place to place. Yes, all these weapons seem expensive ... and way too expensive for your basic police department. However; for sake of the futuristic world of Minority Report - where there aren't any murders, and the crime rate has dropped by epic proportions - there probaby aren't that many cops out there to pay, thus freeing up money to pay for all the new toys.

The point I'm trying to create is this: while Minority Report hasn't received the critical accolates it deserves, neither did 2001 or The Truman Show when they first came out. Sure, they were well-received; but so was The 40 Year Old Virgin. Classics become classics because of their influence. Their ability to predict the future - whether it be the future of the real world (like in 2001 or The Truman Show) or whether it be the future of filmmaking (like Citizen Kane or Star Wars) - is what make classics, classics. I believe Minority Report will become a classic; so let's wait and see.