If There Had Been Ten: 2000

The Nominees:

1. Gladiator

2. Traffic

3. Erin Brockovich

4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

5. Chocolat

The Next Five:

6. Almost Famous

7. Billy Elliot

8. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

9. Wonder Boys

10. Cast Away

Possibilities:

11. You Can Count On Me

13. Sunshine

14. U-571

15. Meet the Parents

16. The Contender

17. The Patriot

18. Quills

19. Pollock

20. Before Night Falls 

Commentary: In still one of the most atrocious shockers of the last decade, Almost Famous missed the cut at five, but I have no doubt that it would have easily made it in with ten. Billy Elliot managed a nod for Stephen Daldry, whose movies are beloved by the Academy, if The Reader got in, then Billy Elliot definitely would have gotten in with ten nods. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is another entry in the Coen Bros arsenal, so I refer back to the argument that if A Serious Man could get a nod, then any of their other movies could, and this one was hilarious. The last two spots proved to be trouble, because there weren't a lot of great movies to choose from. Wonder Boys had an all star cast and managed a writing nod, so I went with it. Finally, Cast Away was a big hit, starring the great Tom Hanks, and could have been the blockbuster to get in.