Appreciating Hollywood's delicious fluff

I'd first like to establish I'm not as completely clueless about movies as this column might suggest. I am fully aware that many of the movies on the following top 10 list will be quickly knocked out of contention by high-quality holiday fare released in order for high Oscar recognition. My guess is "Traffic" or "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" will take at least two of these spots by the end of this month. Also because of the unfortunate commercial movie environment in Bloomington, I am unable to include many high quality and very deserving art house or independent films because I never got the chance to see them. I'd like to add "Requiem for a Dream" or "Girlfight" to this list. But because the Kerasotes runs of these movies were nonexistent or extremely limited, I am unable to do so.\nThis is all incredibly unfortunate considering the best movies of 2000 offers slim pickings at best. So consider the following list The Best of 2000 for Beginners. All the movies were enjoyable and worthwhile; but the best is most likely yet to come.\n1. "Almost Famous" \nCameron Crowe's mostly autobiographical story of a 1970s teenager who goes on tour with a rock band on assignment from Rolling Stone deserves commercial success equal to its immense critical praise. It has a unique but timely soundtrack, realistic and often hilarious performances by the entire cast, and a coming of age plot with several more entertaining twists. Please go see this movie. Now.\n2. "Gladiator"\nBy considering how much I loathe classic movies about Rome such as "Spartacus" and "Ben Hur," you can see how good this movie had to be in order to make the top ten. Despite the similar plot and setting, "Gladiator" made the list thanks to the acting skill of Russell Crowe, high quality art direction and cinematography. Plus, the fight scenes are explosive, and not simply because of the power to destroy scenery.\n3. "Unbreakable"\nDirector M. Night Shyamalan's follow-up to "The Sixth Sense" doesn't have the shocking plot twist of its predecessor. But thanks to an effective marketing campaign, which revealed only the iceberg's tip of information, "Unbreakable" surprises with its unique exploration of what it means to be a super hero. It even benefits from the performance of yet another talented kid (in this case, Spencer Treat Clark as Bruce Willis' son.)\n4. "Bounce" \n"Bounce" makes the top 10 list for accomplishing the almost impossible: It's a chick movie minus the calculated overuse of sentimentality. No, this movie is not deep and it isn't going to go down as one of film's all-time classics. But try and convince me you won't set your VCR the first time it's shown on premium cable or that you won't watch it to make yourself feel better on a lonely day.\n5. "American Psycho"\nWhat could be more fun than watching Christian Bale dance to "Hip to be Square" before he hacks a woman to death with an ax as his serial killer character? Disturbingly graphic and funny at times, this movie goes inside the mind of a very original murderer.\nAnd, finally, here are the last five in no particular order:\nErin Brockovich\nNurse Betty\nMission Impossible 2\nHigh Fidelity\nThe Legend of Bagger Vance\n