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© St. Petersburg Times, published November 7, 2002
1. Bowling for Columbine -- America's best cinematic muckraker, Michael Moore, takes aim at the nation's passion for gun ownership and its tragic knack for using them badly. Moore isn't always a straight shooter, but his film is a fascinating starting point for debate.
2. Auto Focus -- Greg Kinnear's fine impersonation of Hogan's Heroes' Bob Crane makes tragic the television star's descent into obsessive, video-recorded sex. Willem Dafoe is memorably crude as his accomplice in slime.
3. The Ring -- Director Gore Verbinski shapes a fascinating suspense yarn about a videotape that kills anyone who views it. Smarter than the average horror flick, with arresting visuals and quietly accumulating terror reminiscent of The Sixth Sense.
4. Punch-Drunk Love -- Director Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) shared the best director prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival for shaping Adam Sandler's goofy screen persona into a plot that makes it seem like art.
5. Blue Car -- A high school senior on a downward spiral finding hope, and perhaps more, in the support of her English teacher (David Strathairn). An intelligently performed, emotionally downbeat film from former soap opera actor Karen Moncrieff.