2001 Mochrie Award winners

Here are the winners of the 2001 Mochrie Awards! I've decided to combine the nominations and winners posts from now on. It's not like millions of people are eagerly awaiting the nominations and then speculating on the winners. Also, years prior to 2002 will not include the 'Best Experiment' and 'Best Documentary' fields.

2001 was actually not a very strong year in film. Fewer than a dozen films were excellent. Here are some of them:

Best Film

A Beautiful Mind, In the Bedroom, Memento, LOTR: FOTR, Training Day

Winner: Memento

There was no clear leader here. All are strong and very different entries. In the end, Memento is the most impressive achievement: a daring, experimental film that absolutely works. A monumental film from a young director with a giant future ahead of him. He has not misstepped yet. The Following was very impressive, especially considered its miniscule budget, and Insomnia was a brilliant remake. Next up for him is Batman Begins. I'm about to die of anticipation, and it's a full year away.

Best Screenplay

A Beautiful Mind, Donnie Darko, Ghost World, In the Bedroom, Memento, Mulholland Drive, Training Day

Winner: Memento

A stunning piece of storytelling. Reminds me of Chinatown in that it is nearly perfect, utterly complicated, and improves with each viewing.

Best Director

Christopher Nolan (Memento), Peter Jackson (LOTR: FOTR), Ridley Scott (Black Hawk Down), Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind), Takashi Miike (Audition, Visitor Q)

Winner: Peter Jackson (LOTR: FOTR)

This was a fairly weak category this year. Peter Jackson saved the day with his glorious and impressive management and direction of The Fellowship of the Ring.

Best Actor

Denzel Washington (Training Day), Gene Hackman (The Royal Tenenbaums), Guy Pearce (Memento), Russel Crowe (A Beautiful Mind), Sean Penn (I Am Sam), Steve Buscemi (Ghost World), Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom)

Winner: Steve Buscemi (Ghost World)

Maybe it's 'mean' to say it, but this is the role Steve Buscemi was born to play, and he plays it beautif... er, ugly, er... perfectly.

Best Actress

Audrey Tatou (Amelie), Halle Berry (Monster's Ball), Jennifer Connely (A Beautiful Mind), Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive)

Winner: Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive)

Good performances by all, but Naomi Watts, whom I had first seen (and liked) in The Ring, absolutely blew me away in Mulholland Drive. The best straight-on, dramatic performance by an actress since... God knows when.

Best Visual Appeal

Amelie, Moulin Rouge, Monster's Inc, Pearl Harbor, LOTR: FOTR

Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The shire is gorgeous. The palate is lush. The special effects are spectacular.

Best Score/Soundtrack

A Beautiful Mind, LOTR: FOTR, The Royal Tenenbaums, Vanilla Sky

Winner: A Beautiful Mind

I love FOTR's score almost as much as I love its sequels' scores, but James Horner's A Beautiful Mind score was simply more beautiful and more enjoyable.

Worst Quality to Box Office Gross Ratio

Corky Romano, Glitter, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Pearl Harbor, The One

Winner: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Pearl Harbor may have grossed more, but Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a much worse film. Perhaps the silliest big-budget film I've seen.

Most Important Film

Memento, LOTR: FOTR

Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

FOTR was not nearly as important as its two sequels, and Memento was an amazing achievement, but the latter simply wasn't influential enough on the industry to warrant a win here. The Lord of the Rings trilogy has a sweep on this category! It deserves that more than ROTK deserved a sweep of the 2004 oscars; that's for sure.

Best Scene

Bridge of Khazad Dum (LOTR: FOTR), Prologue (LOTR: FOTR), Shocking Revelation (The Others), The Abduction (In the Bedroom), The Assault (Pearl Harbor)

Winner: Bridge of Khazad Dum (The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring)

I drooled over the balrog paintings by John Howe and others for years. When I heard that films were being developed of the classic trilogy, the #1 moment I was waiting to see was the balrog. How do you convey something like that on the big screen? I was not disappointed.

And, the breakdown. The most nominated films (as always, not counting the 'Worst Quality to Box Office Gross Ratio' nominations) were:

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - 7
A Beautiful Mind - 5
Memento - 4
In the Bedroom - 3

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring won four times without winning Best Film. Memento won twice: Best Film and Best Screenplay.