The '02 Movie Hierarchy
Submitted by Cosgrove on Thu, 08/05/2004 - 01:37
Tags:
- A
- Punch-Drunk Love (10)
- 25th Hour (2)
- Devils on the Doorstep
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2)
- Gangs of New York
- Spider-Man (3)
- A-
- The Piano Teacher
- Human Nature
- Bowling for Columbine
- Esther Kahn (2)
- Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
- Hell House
- Wendigo (2)
- Signs
- Scratch
- B+
- What Time is it There? (2)
- Y Tu Mama Tambien (2)
- Super Troopers (8-10)
- Songs from the Second Floor
- 8 Women
- Roger Dodger (2)
- Narc
- Dog Soldiers (2)
- Spirited Away
- Uzumaki
- Far from Heaven
- Minority Report
- Blade II
- Femme Fatale (2)
- Metropolis
- Late Marriage
- Time Out
- Kick the Moon
- Jackass: The Movie (2)
- Panic Room
- Nine Queens
- Derrida
- Undisputed
- The Mothman Prophecies
- Full Frontal
- Below
- Big Trouble
- B
- Home Movie
- Frailty
- Adaptation.
- The Believer
- One Hour Photo
- No Such Thing
- Suicide Club (2)
- The Bourne Identity
- The Brotherhood of the Wolf (2)
- The Happiness of the Katakuris
- Insomnia
- 24 Hour Party People
- 'R Xmas
- Die Another Day
- Undercover Brother (2)
- Road to Perdition
- Dagon
- $la$her$ (2)
- Intacto
- Trouble Every Day
- Take Care of My Cat
- Birthday Girl
- Lovely & Amazing
- Chicago
- Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (5)
- B-
- Death to Smoochy
- Interview with the Assassin
- American Nightmare
- Mutant Aliens
- The Transporter
- Dead or Alive: Final
- Equilibrium
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- The New Guy
- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
- Our America
- The Hot Chick
- Welcome to Collinwood
- Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat
- Notorious C.H.O.
- Scarlet Diva
- Harvard Man
- Swimfan
- The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
- C+
- The City of Lost Souls (2)
- Catch Me if You Can
- The Grey Zone
- The Sum of All Fears
- The Isle
- The Attic Expeditions
- Stuart Little 2
- Orange County
- Dogtown and Z-Boys
- Jason X
- The Ring
- Murderous Maids
- The Son's Room
- Vulgar
- Dahmer
- Wasabi
- Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
- ZigZag
- Red Dragon
- Austin Powers in Goldmember
- Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones
- How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
- C
- Monsoon Wedding
- Impostor
- feardotcom (2)
- Porn 'n Chicken
- Storytelling
- Lilo & Stitch
- Resident Evil
- CQ
- Secretary
- About Schmidt
- Like Mike
- Sorority Boys
- Shiri
- Star Trek: Nemesis
- Read My Lips
- Alias Betty
- Reign of Fire
- Girls Can't Swim
- Warm Water Under a Red Bridge
- Gangster No. 1
- Stripped
- Ted Bundy
- C-
- Morvern Callar
- Cherish
- Scooby-Doo
- Stealing Harvard
- The Rules of Attraction
- Freeze Me
- Mr. Deeds
- Men in Black II
- Collateral Damage
- Never Again
- The Good Girl
- Das Experiment
- D+
- Bad Company
- They
- Vampires: Los Muertos
- New Best Friend
- The Salton Sea
- Pumpkin
- D
- The Master of Disguise
- Formula 51
- The Tuxedo
- Dragonfly
- Snow Dogs
- The Santa Clause 2
- Serving Sara
- The Last Man
- Crazy as Hell
- Slackers
- Rollerball
- Blackwoods
- D-
- National Lampoon’s Van Wilder
- The Auteur Theory
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding
- Enough
- Roxanna
- Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Killer Mutant Snowman
- F
- Halloween: Resurrection
- The Adventures of Pluto Nash
- Money Buys Happiness
Author Comments:
Bad first half, awesome second half... so I think, despite popular wisdom, that '02 qualifies as a darn good year. (Films with numbers beside them indicate multiple viewings.)
We are in total agreement about Requiem for a Dream ruling '00 and Mulholland Drive and Memento ruling 2001, but in 2002 I didn't see anything that really excited me. Pretty terrible year. I guess if I had to pick, it'd be Y Tu Mama Tambien and Frailty at the top, and possibly Irreversible. As for '03, well, there are no similarities whatsoever in our tastes - which is fine but too bad after agreeing so completely with the top of your '00 and '01 lists. Thankfully, I suspect that when I get around to seeing Sideways and Before Sunset, our '04 top lists will be almost identical.
RE: '99. Your favorite year... ever? If so, it's mine as well, though it might be tied with 1954.
Any chance you'll one day treat us to a '25 favorite films' list or something similar?
Really? No love for "Punch-Drunk", one of the most gorgeously romantic films I've ever seen (even more so because it's not especially romantic at first glance)? No props for "25th Hour", a haunting and moving expression of human indecision and ambivalence in the face of tragedy? No appreciation for "Gangs of New York", an epic human drama about the sheer pointlessness of human drama when cast against the sweep of history?
'03, on the other hand, I can understand... it was such a scattershot year that any agreement with anyone else almost feels accidental.
And a 25 favorite list would probably be obsolete two days after I created it, since my mind is likely to change on a dime. I will say that Peter Jackson's breathtakingly funny and creative splatcom "Dead Alive" is my favorite full-length film of all time.
Not 'no' love, just less love. And, my tastes have radically changed and expanded since I saw either film. My critical eye has also been tuned since then - a constant problem: maybe I should watch 10 more classics and 30 more 'out there' titles and then start all over again from the very beginning with film criticism and rewatch the ones worth watching and REALLY review them with a wholly different, more pure (primal?) approach to my judgements.
But, not right now: I really need to put amateur film criticism on hold to pursue something that could financially enable the lifestyle I've long desired: screenwriting.
As someone who is also starting to dabble in screenwriting, I can only say: Good luck, mate.
Right back at ya. Just remember that 'It's like Un Chien Andalou with bits of Cocteau' is not an attractive pitch from an unproven writer :-)