Crash (2005) - 3 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: A look at the ways in which race affects the lives of modern day Americans living in LA.

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Ludacris, Thandie Newton, Michael Peña, Ryan Philippe, Shaun Toub, Larenz Tate, Keith David, William Fichtner, Bahar Soomekh, Nona Gaye, Marina Sirtis, Loretta Devine, Tony Danza, Daniel Dae Kim

Best of: Some truly tense moments mixed with some moments that really make you think lead to an ultimately pleasurable experience.

Worst of: Race is a tough topic to handle. The film makes many statements in small ways at the expense of making any larger statement. And, as is always the case when working in snapshots and stereotypes, I'm not sure they always get it right.

Notable: The film had such a small budget that the director's own car and home were used as sets.

Also nominated: Brokeback Mountain

Million Dollar Baby (2004) - 2 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: A grisled old boxing manager reluctantly agrees to train a determined female fighter.

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter, Lucia Rijker, Brian F. O'Byrne, Anthony Mackie, Margo Martindale, Riki Lindhome, Michael Peña

Best of: Actually, very well done on every level, except...

Worst of: The single most depressing ending in film. When the first 3/4 of a movie feels like Rocky, you have to end it like Rocky...not like Schindler's List.

Notable: At 74, Clint Eastwood became the oldest Best Director winner ever.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - 5 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm, Sean Bean, Sala Baker, Bruce Hopkins, John Bach, Paul Norell, Marton Csokas, Lawrence Makoare, Sarah McLeod

Best of: Everything. Also,the awesomeness.

Worst of: Nothing. Why would you bring this up, jerk?

Notable: Widely considered an award for all three parts of the trilogy.

Chicago (2002) - 2 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: Hollywood's most annoying stars sing songs.

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Taye Diggs, Christine Baranski, Lucy Liu, Dominic West, Colm Feore, Jayne Eastwood, Chita Rivera, Susan Misner, Mýa Harrison

Best of: Creatively staged.

Worst of: Renee Zellweger AND Richard Gere in the same movie? If only Nicole Kidman were available, they would have cast the trinity of most punchable stars. Oh, and they sing.

I would have liked it better if: John C. Reilly had simply played every role.

Also nominated: Gangs of New York

A Beautiful Mind (2001) - 3 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: Based on the real life of John Nash, a genius mathematician who suffers from schizophrenia.

Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp, Jason Gray-Stanford, Judd Hirsch

Best of: Strong leading performance from Crowe.

Worst of: Viewers get frustrated right along with the characters as the mental illness wears on.

Notable: Many events from the biography of John Nash were left out of the screenplay, including divorce, homosexual affairs and an arrest.

Gladiator (2000) - 4 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: A warrior living in ancient Rome has everything taken from him before fighting back from his new found station as a slave.

Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Djimon Hounsou, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi, Ralf Möller, Spencer Treat Clark, Tommy Flanagan, Tomas Arana, John Shrapnel, David Schofield, Giannina Facio, Giorgio Cantarini

Best of: Can't beat a set up that establishes a pure evil to fight against. Epic fight scenes. Very well cast.

Worst of: I just want to smack Joaquin Phoenix...I suppose I'm supposed to though.

Notable: Oliver Reed died during filming. It cost over $3 million to add in a CGI version of his character to several scenes.

American Beauty (1999) - 3 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: A midlife crisis in suburban America turns ugly.

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper, Peter Gallagher, Allison Janney, Scott Bakula, Sam Robards, Ara Celi, John Cho

Best of: Spacey and Bening both create lovable, yet despicable characters. Chris Cooper, as always, is wonderful. Perfect score.

Worst of: A decade later, it doesn't stand up as well as I had hoped. The teenage performances and plot lines mostly fall flat.

Notable: "Lester Burnham," Spacey's character, in an anagram for "Humbert learns" - a reference to Lolita.

Also Nominated: The Sixth Sense

Shakespeare in Love (1998) - 2 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: A fictional tale of William Shakespeare finding love while writing Romeo and Juliet.

Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Imelda Staunton, Simon Callow, Mark Williams, Rupert Everett

Best of: Great supporting performances from Rush, Dench and Wilkinson.

Worst of: The script is so proud of itself for squeezing in 3,000 jokes that only English professors understand that it drowns in its cleverness.

Notable: Judi Dench's 8 minutes of screen time was enough to win her an Oscar.

Also nominated: Saving Private Ryan

Titanic (1997) - 4 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: A big ship sinks.

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Danny Nucci, Victor Garber, David Warner, Bernard Hill, Suzy Amis, Jonathan Hyde, Eric Braeden, Bernard Fox, Ioan Gruffudd

Best of: It's beautifully epic. The score is fantastic. One of the few movies that makes me cry.

Worst of: All right, so the forbidden-love plot isn't the most original...so what?

Notable: Adjusting for inflation, the movie cost more to make than the ship.

The English Patient (1996) - 2 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: As a nurse cares for a burn patient at the close of WWII, we learn of the patient's past.

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth, Jürgen Prochnow

Best of: Some beautiful desert cinematography.

Worst of: Most of the characters are thoroughly unlikable and I found myself rooting against the central love affair.

Notable: The original cut was 4 hours and 10 minutes long. The final cut only felt that long.

Also nominated: Fargo.