Here are my favorite films of the year.

1. Spider - Dave Cronenberg's surreal and disturbing thriller is told from the point of view of a schizophrenic man, who comes back from an asylum. He has a fascination with spider webs, hence his nickname. It turns out that he may have killed his mother or perhaps it was a prostitute who looks just like her. Viewers have to make up their mind about what’s real and what’s imagined. Miranda Richardson shines in two diametrically opposed roles (as the mother and a prostitute), and Ralph Fiennes is a revelation in the lead.

2. The 25th Hour - Riveting drama about a soon to be jailed drug dealer who has a party on the last day of his freedom.  He suspects that someone in the group turned him in, and he tries to learn who did it. Ed Norton and Rosario Dawson stand out in the talented multi ethnic cast. Spike Lee's most focused and consistently brilliant film since Do the Right Thing packs a huge emotional punch.

3. The Man Without A Past - Haunting melodrama about a man who loses his memory when he is hit in the head in a mugging.  He becomes a new, better person but the return of his memories threatens his new life. Aki Karismaki's feature is filled with cool, black comedy but it is still surprisingly humanistic.  A best foreign film nominee in last year's Academy Awards. In Finnish with English subtitles.

4. Kill Bill: Volume I - Quentin Tarantino's long awaited comeback film is worthy of all its hype and critical kudos. Uma Thurman plays an embittered assassin who takes revenge against the people who murdered her husband and almost killed her. The hyper violent action scenes are lovingly shot like ballets. Kind of like Charlie's Angels with a brain. The best directed, most stylish film of the year. Tarantino takes the trashy genre material and makes it into high art.

5. American Splendor - Paul Giamatti is wonderful playing an anti- hero clerk who moonlights as an underground comic writer. He becomes an unlikely celebrity but his mental instability threatens his fame. The film combines comic panels with live action, and the real Harvey Pekar invades the film to comment on it. It would make a great double feature with Crumb.

6. Mystic River - Clint Eastwood's bold film about how molestation impacts a small town is one of the year's most heart breaking dramas. The whole ensemble cast is magnificent but Sean Penn and Tim Robbins stand out.

7. Lost in Translation - Subtle and well-developed tale about an older man's platonic relationship with a much younger woman in modern day Japan. The two are brought together in their spouse's absences and fulfill each other's needs in unexpected ways. Director Sofia Coppola proves she inherited some of her dad's instinct for visual brilliance and flair for characterization. One of the best ever films about cultural dislocation. Bill Murray stretches his acting range in his best ever role, and the underrated Scarlett Johansson matches him at every turn.

8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson's final film in the Tolkien trilogy has a Shakespearen splendor, epic battles, gorgeous costumes, and an engaging story line.  Frodo’s adventure builds to a spectacular, breathtaking conclusion. Makes Harry Potter look like a grade school production. A new standard to judge future fantasy films against.

9. City of God - Beautifully shot and ironically titled epic, about a boy who wants to escape a life of crime through photography in the violence-ridden city of Rio de Janeiro. In Portuguese with English sub-titles

10. Big Fish - Tim Burton's gorgeous fantasy film about a dying man who tells tall tales is one of the most imaginative and charming films in a long time. This magical surrealist work is so spellbinding that it may inspire some viewers to become storytellers, novelists, poets or filmmakers.

Documentary

The Power and the Terror: Noam Noam Chomsky in Our Times Times (English language)

Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill: Volume I)

Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini

(American Splendor)

Danny Elfman (Big Fish)

Robert Richardson (Kill Bill: Volume I)

(English language)

Actor

Sean Penn (21 Grams and Mystic River)

(English language)

Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation)

(English language)

Supporting Actor

Tim Robbins (Mystic River)

(English language)

Naomi Watts (21 Grams)

(English language)

Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen)

(English language)

Most Promising Filmmaker

Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation)

Best Avant-Garde/ Experimental Film

Dracula: Pages from A Virgin’s Diary

(English)

Foreign Language Film

Markku Peltola (The Man without a Past)

Monica Belucci (Irreversible)

Rachida Brakni (Chaos)

Supporting Actor in a Foreign

Guillermo Toldedo (The Other Side of the Bed)

Cinematography in a Foreign

Cesar Charlone (City of God)

Most promising performer in Foreign

Clair Bouanich (The Butterfly)

Restored Film or Revival

Modern Times and Ikiru (tie)

Benilde or the Virgin Mother (Shown at the Chicago International Film Festival)

May and Dracula: Pages from A Virgin’s Diary (tie)

Undistributed Film

Battle Royale (shown at Undershorts Asian Trash Film Series)

Favorite Short Film

There, There (Radiohead video from Hail to the Thief)

Best cult/horror/comedy film featuring a character who might be Elvis Bubba Ho-Tep

Further comments from Vito:

Best actor Sean Penn was terrific in Mystic River, and he was even better in 21 Grams. Forget Cruise and Hanks, Penn is the great actor of his generation.

Best actress Scarlett Johansson gave a marvelous, intricate performance in Lost in Translation.

Most disappointing movie, the self-indulgent, sophomoric Masked and Anonymous, in which Rock genius, Bob Dylan, basically played himself ¾ and he did a really lousy job.