Tom Brook's movies of 2001

Moulin Rouge: "Magical"

Entertainment correspondent Tom Brook presents his favourite films of the year.

1. Moulin Rouge: It may have lacked a really strong narrative but Baz Luhrmann gave us wonderful, magical pop art and proved that you can make a modern musical that really flies. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor were outstanding.

2. Lantana: Ostensibly a mystery thriller from Australia starring Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush and Barbara Hershey but more a keenly observed portrait of human behaviour and marriage with exceptional acting.

Shrek: "Exceptional animation"

3. Ocean's 11: A lightweight breezy film, but it had exuberance and life - a truly uplifting entertainment from Steven Soderbergh.

4. Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring: One of the spectacles of the year - truly awesome cinema in which Peter Jackson deserves all the credit he's been getting.

5. Our Song: A low budget little-seen coming of age tale focusing on the lives of three high school girls in Brooklyn from director Jim McKay. It was unvarnished, unadorned and totally honest.

6. In The Bedroom: This first time feature from Todd Field was a skilfully layered family drama showing that beneath the civilised veneer primitive impulses can easily take over.

7. Ali: Michael Mann boldly captured the lively spirit of Muhammad Ali, helped in no small measure by a standout performance from Will Smith.

8. Shrek : A clever, funny film starring a fat, flatulent green ogre - it brought us exceptional animation packed with intelligent humour.

9. Black Hawk Down: After the mess of Pearl Harbor, producer Jerry Bruckheimer partly redeemed himself with this disturbingly gruesome Ridley Scott war drama conveying brotherhood among soldiers under fire in the Battle of Mogadishu.

10. Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence: AI: It didn't quite work, Spielberg seemed too tied to a Stanley Kubrick vision, but it was nonetheless a very engaging thought provoking hybrid held together by young Haley Joel Osment.

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