Compiling a cinematic Best of the Year list is always tricky business when the article is due before Christmas and you live outside of New York, L.A., and Chicago; while national critics are extolling the merits of Lord of the Rings, Ali, and Black Hawk Down, I find myself thinking, "Hmmm .

For the past five years, I've written an annual coming-attractions article, detailing 10 summer movies that I was most anticipating. With roughly 50 major relases scheduled for the next 12 weeks, does it say more about me, or the current state of Hollywood films, that this year I can only muster up proper enthusiasm for eight of them? Sure, everyone's curious about Pearl Harbor, and most are at least vaguely interested in seeing what Moulin Rouge is all about (both of which I'll analyze in the next issue of The Reader).

So, compared to last year, just how bad were movies in 2000? Let's put it this way: Last year, the wonderfully inventive and clever Election narrowly missed making my 10 Best list. I consider it a truly great comedy, and its Oscar-nominated screenplay is superb, but I just couldn't fit it in following a year that produced such milestones as American Beauty, Toy Story 2, Being John Malkovich, The Straight Story, and even South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (and that's not even including such works as Magnolia and The Talented Mr.