2002: Movies I've Seen
Submitted by AAA on Sun, 03/31/2002 - 07:04
Tags:
- Top Tier
- 8 Women
- 25th Hour
- About a Boy
- Baran
- Bowling for Columbine (D)
- Far from Heaven
- Late Marriage
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Lovely & Amazing
- Monsoon Wedding
- Punch-Drunk Love
- Roger Dodger
- Spider-Man
- Spirited Away
- Talk to Her
- What Time is it There?
- Y Tu Mama Tambien
- Second Tier
- 24 Hour Party People
- About Schmidt
- Adaptation.
- All or Nothing
- Antanarjuat: The Fast Runner
- Ararat
- Chicago
- Happiness of the Katakuris
- The Hours
- Italian for Beginners
- Kissing Jessica Stein
- Panic Room
- The Pianist
- The Piano Teacher
- Rabbit-Proof Fence
- Sunshine State
- Tuvalu
- Third Tier
- Catch Me if You Can
- The Cat's Meow
- Gangs of New York
- Kandahar
- Lilo & Stitch
- No Such Thing
- Rain
- The Ring
- The Rookie
- Scotland, PA
- Secretary
- Signs
- Tadpole
- Wendigo
- White Oleander
- Fourth Tier
- 13 Conversations About one Thing
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Hollywood Ending
- Human Nature
- Igby Goes Down
- The Importance of Being Earnest
- Minority Report
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding
- Personal Velocity
- Road to Perdition
- The Son's Room
- Unfaithful
- Bottom Tier
- 8 Mile
- Austin Powers in Goldmember
- Death to Smoochy
- Frida
- The Good Girl
- One Hour Photo
- The Scorpion King
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- Undercover Brother
Author Comments:
(D) - documentary
Now a five-tier system, I found the four-tier system a little restricting
Alas, I had high hopes for Death to Smoochy. Early reports are not good.
The problem with Death to Smoochy is that it desperately wants to be mean, but it can't go all the way. On the surface, it is dark and mean, but since it is Hollywood it can't help having a happy ending. I'm pretty sure that at some point it was much darker, and a studio executive intervened. Catherine Keener is quite good, playing a loght version of her character in Being John Malkovich , she almost saves the film.
I meant a "light" version of her character in Being John Malkovich, not "loght".
Woo-hoo! AAA liked Spider-Man!
Correction: loved Spider Man. :)
Well, that's good, too! Are you familiar with any other Sam Raimi films?
The only other film of his that I have seen is The Gift, which I enjoyed, but did not love. A Simple Plan is on my short list of films to see, however.
Cool, he's been one of my favorite directors since before 1990. So far I've gotten to see 6 of his movies in the theater. I think everyone of his movies are worth seeing. Although I haven't seen For Love of the Game because of the Costner association but I'm sure I'll sit down and watch it someday. If you're ever looking for ideas check this list.
Spiderman was so dissapointing. Its special effects were absurd, the screenplay was thin and the acting was shallow, especially by Kirsten Dunst. I hope they get it right with The Fantastic Four and The Hulk. The recent trend of bad adaptations of comic book superheroes (Spidey and X-Men)is not a good sign though.
I'm gonna write a full blown review on this one. I liked it for some of the exact reasons you seem to hate it.
N, would you say that you liked Signs or did NOT like Signs?
I enjoyed the scares and thrills, and I enjoyed the first half of the human interest aspects. The hokum and editing of the final half of the film knocked it down to the third tier. It was highly enjoyable at first, and it even held its tension with the comic relief going full force. The final message and the "revelatory" ending with its constant cutbacks to the previous conversations blew all of the goodwill the film had earned in my mind.
That said, I would recommend it for people just looking for a nice chill or scare.
For whatever reason I didn't really get hung up on the ending too much. It didn't seem to me to me to be as glaring and disjoint as some have intimated. Specifically when did the movie head south for you? I didn't see where the hokum started and the editing got bad.
Boy, not nearly as good a Robin Williams year for you as I would have hoped. I was quite looking forward to both Death to Smoochy (as previously mentioned) and One Hour Photo, but they've both found homes in your bottom tier. Ah well, there's still Insomnia.
it's steaming me that Bowling For Columbine isn't showing in this cowtown. I'm glad you liked it so much. So it stacks up well to Roger and Me?
Hmmm... That's the second extremely high recommendation I've seen for 8 Women on this site. I'll have to try and catch that one when it hits T-Town.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Woo-hoo! AAA is posting reviews again! Good comments, as always, although I'm still looking forward to My Big Fat Greek Wedding if for no other reason than to see what all the fuss is about. And it's always nice to see Northern Exposure alumni getting work.
Mmmmm.... Reviews.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Mmmmmm.....Floor Pie....
Ahh, you saw The Two Towers! Color me green! I don't think I'll get out to see it before 2003, but I'm itching to go. Nice to see it secure a spot in your top tier.
I don't mean to be telling stories outside of school, but The Two Towers also, at the moment, is my favorite film of the year, barely beating out Monsoon Wedding and Far from Heaven.
Really? Well, my, I'm a bit shocked.
I enjoyed Two Towers, but honestly, I favor the first one, and it really doesn't stand a chance up against Far from Heaven on my list. Talking around a bit, however, I'm realizing that my wife and I are among the few who favor the first.
BTW, I'm back from Christmas and hope to start updating pages soon...
I hope Chicago is as good as your placement suggests!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I don't necessarily favor it over the first one (in fact, I just plain don't), but I wasn't as blown away by Far from Heaven. Not to say that I didn't love it (I did), but The Two Towers is at the moment my favorite.
Chicago is a good Hollywood musical, it's got fun performances (give Zeta-Jones the Oscar right now) and imaginative musical numbers, and it has one of the best books in musical history (thanks to the great Kander and Ebb).
Ah, thanks for clearing that up. I'm trying to get excited by Chicago, and believe me, your comments go a long way in helping that, but I confess I saw a few clips yesterday and Zeta Jones just bugged me. Hopefully, context is the detail God's hiding in...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
And Talk to Her scores another fan!
I personally think it is Pedro's best and, from what I've seen so far, the best of 2002. Great film. Even after his last, I was shocked by just *how* great it was.
i'm thrilled you enjoyed!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Go check my top fourteen, you'll be very happy.