In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Source Weekly, I have decided to take on the incredibly losing proposition of looking at each year the paper has been open and choosing what the best movie of that specific year was. Not my favorite one, mind you, but the one I think is the actual best movie of the year. AND, just to make things really difficult for myself, I'm also going to pick what I think is objectively the worst movie of the year, too. I'm sure that won't make anyone upset with me. If it makes you feel any better, this list was almost impossible to make. There are just too many good movies. Let's do this.
1997 Best movie: "Boogie Nights" Best movie about '70s porn ever.
Runner-up: "Lost Highway" David Lynch directs my nightmares.
Worst movie: "Batman & Robin" Cheeeel outttt!
1998 Best movie: "The Thin Red Line" The most underrated anti-war movie in history.
Runner-up: "The Impostors" The last great screwball comedy ever made.
Worst movie: "Blues Brothers 2000" One of the worst sequels I've ever seen. Offensive.
1999 Best movie: "Being John Malkovich" Changed the language of cinema forever.
Runner-up: "The Iron Giant" A perfect film from top to bottom.
Worst movie: "The Mod Squad" Tried so hard to be cool that it became super dorky.
2000 Best movie: "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" This just ages so beautifully.
Runner-up: "Bamboozled" A sadly ignored Spike Lee masterpiece.
Worst movie: "Battlefield Earth" We can all agree on this, right?
2001 Best movie: "The Fellowship of the Ring" This gave the fantasy genre some overdue respect.
Runner-up: "The Royal Tenenbaums" I've had a rough year, Dad."
Worst movie: "Pearl Harbor" Just...just such bad everything.
2002 Best movie: "Spirited Away" A work of pure and uncompromising imagination.
Runner-up: "Adaptation" Nic Cage as twins is still iconic 20 years later.
Worst movie: "Halloween: Resurrection" Ironic title since it almost killed the franchise.
2003 Best movie: "City of God" A Brazilian crime epic you'll never forget.
Runner-up: "The Station Agent" Peter Dinklage will steal your heart.
Worst movie: "House of the Dead" Watch the preview and be amazed at the incompetence.
2004 Best movie: "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" My favorite movie of all time.
Runner-up: "Before Sunset" The middle part of the finest romantic trilogy ever made.
Worst movie: "Catwoman" It really is as bad as they say. I tried to watch it.
2005 Best movie: "Good Night, and Good Luck" Black and white has never felt more immediate and timely.
Runner-up: "A History of Violence" Cronenberg breaks down the family unit unforgettably.
Worst movie: "Alone in the Dark:" From the director of 2003's worst film!
2006 Best movie: 'Children of Men" Truly groundbreaking filmmaking that still stands up.
Runner-up: "The Fountain" Visionary and breathtaking. Ages like a visual poem.
Worst movie: "BloodRayne" From the director of 2003 and 2005's worst films!
2007 Best movie: "There Will Be Blood" This movie drank my milkshake.
Runner-up: "No Country for Old Men" The Coens continue to be geniuses.
Worst movie "Epic Movie:" Not a movie.
2008 Best movie "Synecdoche, New York" Charlie Kaufman and Phillip Seymour Hoffman melt your brain.
Runner up: "Waltz with Bashir" Animation can change the world.
Worst movie: "In the Name of the King" From the director of 2003, 2005 and 2006's worst films!
2009 Best movie: "Inglorious Basterds" Tarantino's best by a wide margin.
Runner-up: "A Prophet" A French crime-thriller that owns real estate in my head.
Worst movie: "X-Men: Origins-Wolverine" Should have killed everyone's career it's so bad.
2010 Best movie: "Four Lions" The finest laugh-out-loud comedy about fundamental terrorism ever made.
Runner-up: "Dogtooth" The best Greek movie you've never seen.
Worst movie: "Cop Out" Bruce Willis at his laziest.
2011 Best movie: "Martha Marcy May Marlene" A haunting look at cult programming that introduced the world to Elizabeth Olsen.
Runner-up: "Melancholia" The closest anyone has come to capturing the ephemera of depression onscreen.
Worst movie: "Atlas Shrugged: Part One" I shrugged and avoided Part Two.
2012 Best movie: "Holy Motors" A French fever dream that explodes all cinematic conventions.
Runner-up: "The Cabin in the Woods" A truly groundbreaking horror classic.
Worst movie: "The Devil Inside" Actually ends with an ad for the film's website.
2013 Best movie: "The Great Beauty" Sorrentino creates an Italian take on "Wild Strawberries" and makes one of the best movies ever made.
Runner-up: "her" That feeling when the one you love evolves past you. But as a movie.
Worst movie: "Texas Chainsaw 3D" I don't need severed body parts flying at my face anymore.
2014 Best movie: "Calvary" The best movie on this list that you haven't heard of before.
Runner-up: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" You're either on Wes Anderson's wavelength or you're not.
Worst movie: "Taken 3" Looks like it's directed by someone who has never seen a movie.
2015 Best movie: "Mad Max-Fury Road" There's really no arguing with this.
Runner-up: 'Anomalisa" Such a perfect distillation of heartache and loneliness...but, you know, a cartoon.
Worst movie: "The Entourage Movie" I offer no further explanation.
2016 Best movie: "Silence" Scorsese's unsung masterpiece.
Runner-up: "Green Room" A exercise in unrelenting tension and fear.
Worst movie: "The Disappointments Room" Just try not to laugh inappropriately.
2017 Best movie: "A Ghost Story" The biggest ideas made with the smallest budget.
Runner-up: "Raw" A French horror coming-of-cannibal story. It's beautiful.
Worst movie: "The Space Between Us" Young Adult space romances need to stop.
2018 Best movie: "First Reformed" Ethan Hawke has never been better.
Runner-up: "Thunder Road" Awkwardness as empathy and comedy. Such an undersung gem.
Worst movie: "Super Troopers 2" The opposite of laughter.
2019 Best movie: "Under the Silver Lake" Speaks to my very specific sensibility. Most people will hate this.
Runner-up: "Monos" Child soldiers watch over a cow and a hostage. Unforgettable.
Worst movie: "Beach Bum" I don't ever want to spend another minute with these characters.
2020 Best movie: "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" Breaks your brain and then refuses to help you pick up the pieces.
Runner-up: "First Cow" A lovely and peaceful Western about two men and a cow.
Worst movie: "Jesus Rolls" The worst sequel to "The Big Lebowski" imaginable.
2021 Best movie: "Pig" Nicolas Cage will blow your mind and remind you why he's so damn good at being great.
Runner-up: "Faya Dayi" Just another staggeringly gorgeous Ethiopian drug movie.
Worst movie: "Tom & Jerry" Unbearable and impossible to sit through.
2022 Best movie...so far: "Memoria" Tilda Swinton wandering around Colombia is a mood.
Runner-up...so far: "Nope" Jordan Peele directs the hell out of this creepy UFO flick.
Worst movie: "Jurassic World: Dominion:" Just so inept and free of all entertainment value.
There are so many movies over those years to talk about, but I had to make it difficult for myself. Here's to 25 more years of the Source...that should be enough time for me to really get into them.
