2001: Movies Sorted By Tier
Submitted by jim on Tue, 05/25/2004 - 03:02
Tags:
Loved
Amelie
... Two introverted (and yet ironically very attractive) people find each other. Such a basic description hardly does justice to this delightfully light turn from usually-dark director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Like all his movies, this one is visually quirky and arresting. The characters are endearing, the script is lively and it's many characters fully-formed even with minimal screen time, and our star (Audrey Tautou) is wonderful. And it just made me feel good. What more could I ask for?Failan
... I had my doubts about this one during the first act. Choi Min-sik, who is going to vault onto my Favorite Actors list with this and Oldboy, plays a boorish, dim bulb, ineffective, low-level gangster with disgusting personal habits and a crude sense of humor. Cecilia Cheung perfectly plays a kind, innocent Chinese woman with nowhere to go in Korea. They marry without even meeting so she can stay in Korea. What follows is their "relationship", if you can call it that. Given the characters I've described, I imagine you can guess the character arcs. What you probably cannot guess is how it can possibly work under the circumstances. I don't want to say more than that. It's slow, and again, the first act was a bit of a struggle for me, but it's so worth it.The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
... The most magical film experience I've had since I was a kid (since Star Wars perhaps?). Also the first movie I can remember since childhood that I've wanted to see more than once in the theater. I'd pay full price twice.Spirited Away
... I can't be sure if Miyazaki is getting better with age, appealing more to Western audiences, or becoming more mainstream, but I personally think it's that he just keeps getting better. Remarkable, considering what a strong career he's had, that this is my favorite of the four movies of his I've seen (I'll definitely have to seek out the rest). I'm sure I feel this way not only because this is one of the most beautiful and imaginiative animated movies out there, but because Chihiro is Miyazaki's most real and enjoyable young heroine to date (of those I've seen).Really Liked
Bridget Jones's Diary
... Renee Zellweger continues to impress. A fine romantic comedy. While our heroine is beset by embarrassments, the movie never crosses over the line into what I call "cringe humor" territory. She keeps her dignity, and our admiration. Both our cad and our hero are characters, not caricatures. In all, a good cast, and a good cast of characters.Brotherhood of the Wolf
... The best French 18th century costume drama kung-fu voodoo werewolf mystery movie I've ever seen. While I realize that's a tongue-in-cheek empty compliment, and that such a genre train wreck will perhaps have limited appeal, I thought this movie was a ton of fun. A bit talky and I really hope none of the philosophizing is supposed to be taken seriously, but I was throughly entertained for all 2:20. It was ridiculous. I loved it.Frailty
... A good man suddenly has a vision of an angel that tells him his mission is to destroy "demons." He makes his young sons help him. One son thinks Dad's a hero, the other thinks he's a murderer, which makes for some really bizarre family tension. The movie does a great job of giving the impression of bloody violence without actually showing much of any. Too often these days I find myself looking at the clock during movies, but this one kept me pinned to the screen. An auspicious directorial debut for Bill Paxton.Gosford Park
... My wife and I have lately been enjoying "quaint English protocol" movies (my phrase, not hers) and this is no exception. This is meatier than most, and I think we invested about an hour in the first 20 minutes trying to figure out who everybody was (even taking a break to review the DVD "whos who"). It was time well-spent, as it made the rest of the movie even more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. For my money, Altman's best movie since The Player (although I should fully disclose that these two movies are the only Altman movies I have any real affection for). Telling an Agatha Christie movie through the eyes of the servants is a wonderful device, and it's pulled off beautifully here. I love it when a script and a cast come together so well.In The Bedroom
... I know the 2001 Best Actor Oscar basically came down to Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, but for my money Tom Wilkinson beat them both (although if my choice had to lose I'm glad it was to Denzel). He, along with everyone else in this movie, was terrific. I think his performance touched me so because I recognized in him my tendency towards appeasement, the understandable frustration it can cause in my wife, and the anger I feel when by gentler nature works against me.Monsoon Wedding
... The wedding and the stories it brings together is wonderful, but ironically--and somewhat distractingly--the ostensible central couple is less interesting and sympathetic than practically anyone else in the film. The wedding planner and his story? Terrific. The troubled cousin? Touching. The beleaguered, bewildered father who loves his daughters and his family and has to reconcile all his feelings? Perfect. The bride and groom to be? Pale in comparison, and somewhat incomprehensible in their motives. Still, a very good movie with moments of greatness, and the city of Delhi is practically a character in inself. One could make a case for listing it alongside the actors in the cast credits.Monsters, Inc.
... Pixar can do no wrong. Have any other studios started with four pictures of such strength? The thing I liked about Pixar's fourth effort is that they create an entire world that is richly imagined and different from anything I've seen in movies to date. More than any other CGI movie, this movie showcased the type of storytelling computers make possible, as the sets and action sequences would be impossible to build or even hand-animate. Anyway, the voice talent shines, the animation is stunning, the plot is engaging, and it's cute enough to be heartwarming without being sickly sweet. It's a shame this and Shrek were released in the same year and thus forced to compete for the first-even "Animated Feature" Oscar.Moulin Rouge!
... I watched the first 40 minutes of this movie with a look of slack-jawed wonder on my face. It took me awhile to figure out if I was enchanted or aghast. After watching the whole thing, and getting sucked into the love story, I've decided it was enchantment. I bet I'd like it even more the second time around.Mulholland Drive
... The further I get from this movie the more I like it. Right up to the end I really didn't care for it. An hour after it was over I might have listed it as average. Now, the next day, I'm putting it higher. This is a movie that, more than any other movie I can think of, really needs to be considered as a whole. It is rich in subtext, and is widely open to interpretation. For the first 2/3s I was scratching my head over all the Naomi Watts raves, but then it clicked. The weird thing is that I was kinda bored for most of the movie, and it's only in hindsight that I've developed affection for it.The Others
... Comparisons with The Sixth Sense are inevitable. Both movies are modern day ghost stories that build up scares through small moments. Both feature excellent child performances, convincingly distraught mothers, and score serious atmosphere points. The Others was just as scary (perhaps more so), but not as tragic. The Sixth Sense was as much about love as it was about fear, and that, for me, gives it the winning hand. But both are excellent.Shrek
... Completely fun and visually engaging, even on a crappy airline monitor. I'll definitely have to see this one again in a better environment. Between this and Mulan, I think animation is my favorite Eddie Murphy venue.Session 9
... I suspect this horror movie polarizes a la Blair Witch; you'll either get sucked into the atmospherics and end up with growing, gnawing dread that continues to escalate with no release, or you'll be bored to tears by nothing happening. Me, I kept my finger hovering over the mute button in case it got to be too much for me. There are a few moments where unfortunate confluences of actors and dialog strike sour notes, but good lord Danvers Hospital is a great place to film horror, and provides some of the best dreadful digs since the Overlook Hotel. The ending is perhaps a touch predictable in the broad strokes if not the details, and once the blood starts flowing the tension is diffused somewhat, but this one kept me riveted, passing the horror movie litmus test with flying colors.Spy Kids
... I can't wait until my daughter is old enough for this one. From his previous work, I never would have guessed Robert Rodriquez had such a light-hearted and exuberant family movie in him. But now having watched Spy Kids, it seems completely natural. Good messages, role models, action scenes, gadgets, story, pacing, etc. The nicest surprise of 2001.Winged Migration
... I think of all the movies I wish I'd seen on the big screen, this one tops it. Normally I seek out the big effects, big explosions on the big screen, but after seeing this documentary on my tiny home setup and being stunned by the imagery, I'm sure it must have been a magical theatrical release. As close as I imagine I'll get to a birds-eye perspective of migration. My only gripe is with the opening proclamation saying no special effects were used in the filming of the birds, but there are a couple "satellite perspective" shots that are clearly CGI. They are out of place, and particularly distracting given the opening note (even if they're technically in compliance with the opening "no f/x of the birds" claim). Always beautiful to look at and listen to, at times poignant, and even contains moments of humor (where else will you see a crane looking decidedly awkward?).Glad I Saw
15 Minutes
... Smacks you with the media/violence vicious circle too hard, with an overblown ending, but definitely enough good in this movie to recommend. The performances are uniformly good. The plot--twists, holes, and all--is strong. Also, as implausible as the plot seems on first glance, I have no problem envisoning a similar story, with similarly evil/stupid villians and self-serving sensationalist jounalists, unfolding in real life.Artificial Intelligence
... A speculative fiction movie to be proud of (and there ain't that many). The cast is stellar, and the world this movie creates is visually stunning - at times utopian, and at times straight out of a Bosch painting. The images of NYC submerged were eerily poignant - totally familiar and alien at the same time. I was impressed by how much Kubrick there was in this Speilberg movie. Parts just feel like Kubrick. That said, I've never really liked how Kubrick emotionally holds you at arm's length, and I felt a bit of that here. But I'd still happily watch it again. I've heard lots of bad things about the ending, but I had no problem with it.Atlantis
... Not too bad, especially for a Disney movie that was supposed to suck. The girls loved it, and we grown-ups were sufficiently—if lightly—entertained. I even laughed a few times! A bit nonsensical at times, and in important ways. For example, why can't the Atlanteans and/or their gods save themselves? But hey, if that's what it takes to make our heroes heroic, I can let it slide this time.A Beautiful Mind
... This movie must be pretty good because I went into it with the emotional baggage of thinking Fellowship of the Ring was robbed at the Oscars. I still feel that way, but I liked it anyway. For most of the first quarter I was aware of Russell Crowe's performance, which was distracting, but that went away and I really dug the middle 50%. The final quarter was pretty good too but then again I don't object to pat feel-good endings as much as I should. And while there were discrepancies, I didn't find anything to outrage me in Hollywood taking liberties with the facts, which is refreshing for a "based on a true story" movie.Bandits
... I'm not sure why this took such a critical beating. Sure, we've seen characters like these before in similar situations, but that doesn't make this particular iteration less enjoyable. While there were few belly laughs, I found myself chuckling through most of the movie (and their first "sleepover" dinner was hysterical). If you like Willis in general, you'll like him here. Thornton and Blanchett were very good, as usual. And it's probably the least-violent crime spree movie you could ever hope to see.Baran
... I know, as a budding film buff, I should really love Iranian cinema, but so far my few attempts at Iranian films haven't really done it for me. The extensive attention to the details of daily life, and the lengthy time spent establishing a sense of place, allow my lamentably short attention span to wander. Baran managed to suck me in though. It tells the tale of a rather selfish (or at least insensitive) young man that has his gofer position taken at a construction site by the "son" of an injured Afghan worker. He is quite resentful until he realizes the "son" is really a daughter in disguise. His increasing infatuation with her is sad and wonderful to watch. I'm not sure what to make of the ending though, as there is a slow-motion scene of a curtain waving in a door that clearly signified some sort of great transformation (and which flew right over my head). Also, the look on the young man's face suggests to me the ending is somehow satisfying to him, which frankly doesn't seem possible. But perhaps I'm just interpreting his look wrong, or perhaps I'm dealing with some kind of "happy ending culture gap."Behind the Sun
... Set in Brazil, 1910, this is a beautifully shot tale of a generations-old family feud waged over sugarcane land. Each family's code of honor dictates revenge, but in proportion (i.e. a death for a death). It's clear that the fortunes of one family have risen while the other has fallen, so this code of honor is really the only thing keeping the downtrodden family going. It's also clear that this code of honor will die with the patriarchs, so there's a wonderful sense of long-term inevitability to accompany the short-term sense of foreboding. The characters are a bit thin: the overbearing father stripped of everything but honor, the son that questions the need to perpetuate the feud, the beautiful vagabond love interest, etc. but there's a richness to their relationships and interactions. The pacing is also terrific, so I was surprised to find reviews that pegged the movie as slow. For me, I expected the tale to bog down after each flurry of activity, but there was always some fresh development in the story that kept my attention beautifully.The Believer
... A twist on the neo-nazi movie: this one features Ryan Gosling turning in a wonderfully conflicted performance as a Jewish skinhead. While I do think they deserve to both be included on this list, The Believer doesn't share the flaws of American History X. Like Norton's skinhead, Gosling's is disturbingly articulate. Where they differ is that Gosling's rhetoric has chinks and he is flusterable by them, unlike Norton's character who is basically the unopposed intellectual juggernaut of American History X. Also, American History X gives us a pat, easily digestable, Hollywood forumla for producing a skinhead (step 1: raise by prejudiced father, step 2: father dies), The Believer eschews such easy explanations. Indeed, it doesn't really attempt to explain "why" at all, even if we are given some tantalizing flashbacks.Black Hawk Down
... A good-not-great war movie. But I had to list it because it effectively brought home for me the danger and the human cost of our smaller military actions. I guess it's actually not a war movie so much as it is an "armed conflict" movie, but the two are equally lethal and I'm grateful for the reminder.Chopper
... I don't slow down to look at car accidents, but I guess I'm more typical when it comes to having a bit of criminal fascination in me. While I thought the movie was uneven, I couldn't take my eyes off Eric Bana's brilliant portrayal of Mark "Chopper" Read. The violence is gritty and real without being glamorized. It's remarkable that a thug like Read has found such a large stage, and I hate to contribute to that phenomenon with this review, but Bana really is good.Conspiracy
... Thanks to jgandcag for the recommendation on this one. What can I add to his comments? Just put me down for "me too," although perhaps slightly less so.Das Experiment
... Throughout this movie I kept thinking to myself that there's no way the situation would get so ugly so fast. While such thoughts usually keep me from suspending disbelief and enjoying a movie, here it made the whole experience more interesting because I know the famous 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment got ugly quick, before the plug was pulled. I think of myself as cynical, but I guess I'm not. As for the film itself, the performances were good and the tension and violence gradually comes to a boil after a satisfyingly slow and engaging simmer.The Devil's Backbone
... Between this and The Others 2001 was the year of the Hispanic-written/directed thriller, and thank goodness for it. While I'm sure you could write a paper titled "Symbolism of the Spanish Civil War in The Devil's Backbone", and while the movie was as much about the suffering war inflicts on everyone (especially children), the movie stands up well as a straight ghost story. It's not often particularly scary, although I did turn the volume down (but not off) during the excellent kitchen scene (yes, I'm a wuss). Good atmosphere, cinematography, performances, and script, and the ghost is beautifully rendered.Elling
... Apparently in Norway if you're male, only think about women and food, and bang your head against hard objects when you're frustrated that's enough to get you committed to a mental hospital. They must have LOTS of mental hospitals there, or else Norwegian guys are wired differently. That flip observation did cross my mind, but it doesn't reflect negatively on my enjoyment of this gentle "odd couple" tale of two released mental patients trying to find their way. The pace is easy-going and I didn't even realize I was sucked in until the very end, when I found myself waiting with bated breath to hear whether Kjell had gotten good news or bad.Enigma
... I wonder if Kate Winslet will ever play a beautiful woman again? Ever since Titanic (and rat-bastard Cameron's cracks about her weight) she's been taking roles where she's supposed to be (ridiculously) greasy, drab, or frumpy. I for one hope this is an artistic decision on her part rather than the industry's. Anyway, she's good here, as usual, as is everyone else. A well-plotted romance/war/spy/intrigue movie that really should get mired in it's various sub-plots and technical details, but somehow doesn't.Evolution
... Goofy fun. Some of the juvenile humor seems a touch forced at times, but otherwise a pleasant surprise, given the mixed reviews.The Fast Runner
... "Canada's first feature-length fiction film written, produced, directed, and acted by Inuit." The movie sells itself as a continuation of Inuit oral tradition, and I'm not sure that's far off the mark. Shot digitally and transferred to film, you can almost imagine the movie having been made my an omniscient anthropologist/documentarian who managed to somehow capture a tale of tradition, family, lust, and revenge while living among the Inuit. The movie requires considerable investment up front with no promises of an eventual payoff, but hang in there. Not only does the story oh-so-gradually hook you, but you even learn to recognize the different characters through all those heavy winter clothes.Happy Times
... A lesser effort from my favorite director, but still good. There are many elements of this movie that work quite well. The comedy is fairly light and quite accessible (to me, at least, and I rarely get Chinese comedy), our hero is a bumbler but never really crosses the line into oafishness, and we sense, for all his self-centered moments, that he has a good heart. Dong Jie turns in a great performance as the blind stepdaughter, and all her emotions play out in her face perfectly. Unfortunately the whole is a bit less than the sum of its parts, and the movie lacks a consistent emotional tone and feels a bit disjointed. I don't have a problem with the open-endedness of the ending, but I do feel it was rather abrupt. Keep in mind that this movie is marketed in the spirit of "British Coal Mine Dramedies Falsely Advertised to Americans as All-Out Comedies" (only without the coal miners).Intacto
... An intriguing tale about a select group of people with "the gift"--the ability to steal luck from others and use it to their own ends. Interestingly they don't use it to win lotteries or take advantage of the system in conventional ways. Instead they play power games amongst themselves, using normal shlubs as fodder, whose luck they can steal and thus leave vulnerable to all sorts of calamities. It's unclear what anyone gains from winning other than bragging rights, which seems odd given the high penalty for losing. It's kinda like watching a movie about superhero power-brokers where nobody's superpower is readily apparent, and there aren't really any villains. It would all be meaningless if they didn't also manage to work love into the equation, which they do, but not quite effectively enough.Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
... Hey, some Nickleodeanimation that I like! It's young and beyond silly (no helmets needed in outer space, for example), but it's lively, has some nice touches, and most importantly made our whole family laugh: 2-year-old, 6-year-old, and grown-ups alike. The gentle sidekick Carl made me smile. How can you not like a kid who unabashedly wants to go to the petting zoo, even though his peers have moved on? Unlike the Pixar films, I wouldn't recommend it to an adult-only audience, but at least it's truly fun for the whole family, which is more than I can say for the last couple Disney outings.Joy Ride
... I figure a thriller has to primarily deliver on three levels: acting, suspense, and reasonable levels of belief-suspension. Joy Ride delivers. The most impressive thing is that the tension comes despite an incredibly small amount of on-screen gore or violence. The suspense comes from dramatic tension or pursuit, not the shining knife and splash of blood. Everyone is believable enough, and Steve Zahn is completely convincing as the annoying, trouble-seeking, and somehow still (barely) affable older brother. It's hard to innovate in the limited "omniscient indestructible psycho" genre, so there's not much new here, but the execution is quite good.Kissing Jessica Stein
... I think all romantic comedies should include a "bad date montage." In a genre that's pretty hard to get right, that scene at least is almost always a winner. Here is no exception, and the movie's pretty good to boot. Our writer/producer/co-stars are very good, not even counting the credit I automatically extend them for buying back the rights to their project so they can do it the way they want. While I did feel at times that the script was slightly uneven, it is generally strong, and does a nice job of lightly and neurotically exploring many facets of friendship, love, and sex in the big city. Finally, somebody made a Woody Allen movie I like. :-)Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
... I really must be a sucker for sports movies to watch a four-hour semi-musical in a language I don't understand about a sport I don't understand and still dig it. Lagaan is a grain tax placed on poor Indian farmers. There's been no rain, so of course the arrogant sneering British captain doubles Lagaan, ostensibly to balance the books after cutting the farmers a break the previous year, but really does just because he can and because we are supposed to hate him (we do). One thing leads to another, and our villain proposes a bet to our hero: beat us in a cricket match, and no Lagaan for three years. Lose, pay triple Lagaan. It's a colorful exuberant production, and much to my surprise threw in about six musical numbers. We finally have a hero where we can understand why not one, but two beautiful women fall in love with him. While breathtakingly long and quite predictable, the movie rarely drags, and even the hour-long (!) cricket match excites (it did help that I read a brief summary of the rules beforehand). And, just a few days after seeing Korea's most expensive movie, I've now done the same for India. Money talks, I guess.Lantana
... I normally don't go for midlife crisis or suburban angst movies, but this one is so well-written and acted it's irresistable. This one wins the race, beating out American Beauty by a length or two, and The Ice Storm by a country mile.Legally Blonde
... Yet another lightweight, I'm-probably-in-the-minority-for-liking-it comedy for this list, the shakiest of my "recommended" series. But what the heck, my wife and I both enjoyed it a bit, in all its silliness. Witherspoon's character can only be described as "plucky" (okay, I imagine some folks would use the word "annoying" instead, but not me).Musa
... Informally titled "The Warrior", I'm pretty sure this was Korea's most expensive movie at the time. Since it's also my first Korean movie, it's all downhill from here for me. Just kidding. The historical backdrop and plot of this movie is quite interesting: Korean diplomatic envoys on a mission to the Ming dynasty in war-torn China are rebuffed and sent into exile. They rescue a Ming princess (Zhang Ziyi, doing her beautiful petulant thing) from a Yuan/Mongol (the term seemed to be used interchangably in the mediocre subtitles) army division, and spend the rest of the movie trying to protect her and her unfortunate followers and find a way to either complete their diplomatic mission or return to Korea. At times cliched and melodramatic, at times frustrating at all its unexplored angles, at times way too reminiscent of Braveheart or Gladiator, the movie nonetheless managed to keep me lapping at its poor man's Kurosawa/Homer/Ford gumbo-filled trough. The action was just on the wrong side of too choppy for my tastes, but it's impressive occassionally nonetheless, and some of the gore is startling. I'm convinced some unfortunate extra took an actual arrow in the neck for this movie. And if nothing else this film reinforces the lesson that you should NEVER talk affectionately about your wife and/or kids back home if you're doing anything remotely dangerous. Apparently that's a cross-cultural cinematic rule.No Man's Land
... Great execution of a great concept: A Serb and two Bosnians are pinned down in a trench in no man's land. One of the Bosnians is lying on a land mine that will kill them all if he gets up. Variously tense, touching, frustrating and disturbing. Nobody comes off particularly well, but the UN beaurocracy in particular is raked over the coals (although the UN grunts are the most admirable characters). I was tempted to bump this up a tier, but I just didn't have quite the emotional response at the end I should have. I don't know why.Ocean's Eleven
... I wanted to love this movie, but I merely liked it. Still, it's one of the better heist movies in recent memory, and it's filled with actors I enjoy. While it glosses over some (admittedly important) details, in general the heist itself holds together suprisingly well. I'm always surprised by my enjoyment of Matt Damon, but I'm sad to report that Don Cheadle's considerable talents were almost completely wasted. I think what this movie lacked was a villian we could sink our teeth into. Andy Garcia does a fine job with the part he's given, but the character doesn't really do anything to earn our ill will.The Royal Tenenbaums
... It's hard to complain about a good script interestingly presented, but like Rushmore the humor consistently only grazed the mark for me. But I'm sure it's just me, as the script and the performances were quite impressive, and I did really get into the final third. I almost listed this here, but when I looked at the movies already on that list it didn't seem to fit. Allow me to beat you to the, "yeah, it's better" jibe. Another example of personal taste not being a measure of quality. More on that with Andrei Rublev above.Training Day
... I was expecting this to be Denzel's Newmanesque "make-up" Oscar, but the movie was surprisingly good. Many critics seem to find the ending implausible, but I merely found it overblown, and I really didn't have a problem with it. The rest of the movie is a fine play on corruption. Washington's character embodies corruptions end product - lethal, arrogant, delusionally rationalized, and powerfully influential. Ethan Hawke's character comes under Washington's wing, and Hawke does a great job in the role. He has to be conflicted by temptation, relucatant and afraid he's being set up in the face of enormous peer pressure, and stalwart without seeming preachy. The two leads work well together, as does the plot and on-location setting.Vanilla Sky
... Every now and then the nation's critics band together to lambaste a movie and I'm left scratching my head at their unified vitriol. My wife and I both enjoyed this movie (I quite a bit). Very clever, good performances from Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, and yes, even the much-maligned Penelope Cruz (who suffers only by comparison). And the shots of a deserted Times Square (no CGI!) are worth the price of admission alone. I generally like to be entertained first and foremost, but I also like some mental stimulation. This worked on both fronts. I've heard that Cameron Crowe has implored audiences to watch it twice (expecting them to hate it the first time and like it the second) and I've also heard it needs to be approached with an open mind. I'm not sure where all the trepidation comes from, but apparently it was justified given the critical resposne.Y Tu Mamá También
... Impressive; a movie dominated by sex that didn't feel exploitative or titillating. It just seemed real, and not only more frank than I expect in the movies, but more frank than I expect in real life. While sex runs through the whole movie, it's not the raison d'etre here. It's as much about friendship and love and living your life as anything else, and Cuarón manages to make it into a Mexico travelogue at the same time. The leads are excellent, but even characters that are practically extras seem rich, from the women working in the restaurant to the fisherman and his family. Regarding the latter, if Cuarón told me "I bet you $20 I can introduce you to some characters, give them maybe five minutes of screen time, only one of the them will have any significant lines, and then they'll disappear from the movie, their future sketched out in a few lines of voiceover, and you'll care about them", I wouldn't believe him, and I'd be out $20.Could Have Missed
A Knight's Tale
... Just too goofy for me, I'm afraid. But I I have a sneaking suspicion I would have liked it as a teenager. I'm turning curmudgeonly. Regarding the classic rock soundtrack, Helgeland points out that an orchestral score would have been equally anachronistic, since orchestras hadn't been invented yet either. A point I hadn't considered while giggling about it. Perhaps, on a different night, a guilty pleasure.Along Came a Spider
... Morgan Freeman should be in every movie (except Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). What a pro. I'm sure this movie would fall apart if scrutinized too closely, but it holds together quite well on a casual viewing, and even has some nice "oh so that's how they explain that thing that would have bugged me" moments.The Business of Strangers
... Not a bad movie about female office gamesmanship, featuring good performances from Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles. Unfortunately I think this suffered a bit in my eyes by it's proximity to The Company of Men. I'm not saying male office gamesmanship is more interesting, or that men are crueler. I'm just saying it was a much better movie and I couldn't ignore their similarities.The Circle
... I thought this movie did a good job of showing me lives totally unlike my own, but I was never really transported there emotionally. Perhaps I wasn't in the right mood. The opening scene was terrific; the pinched look of concern on the old woman's face upon hearing that her daughter had delivered a baby girl when the ultrasound promised a boy was heartbreaking. I know I should list this somewhere. Everybody says its brilliant (and I'm sure it is - it's certainly courageous). But it only worked for me conceptually and in specific moments. Okay, I'll admit it, it was just too slow for me. Ah well, I'm not the king of schlock for nothing.The Dish
... A charming comedy about a little town swept up in world-changing events. Character development happens almost magically, as it takes very few scenes/lines before we know each individual in the town. It's just good clean easy-going fun, with just enough lightly poignant moments to add a bit of depth.Donnie Darko
... Jake Gyllenhaal turns in a fine performance as the troubled title character. I liked this movie as much for his misfit-ism as the suspense. If this movie were a Twilight Zone episode, it would be a pretty good one. I'm not entirely satisfield with how it wrapped up, but it worked well enough for me.Fulltime Killer
... The trailer for this movie should be narrated by that ubiquitous Trailer Voice Guy, and should go something like this: "In a world where the police are strangely absent, two assassins gun for the heart of a woman, and for each other's lives!" Some of the action is pretty good, and Andy Lau is a gem, so it's too bad it's largely nonsensical, without even the minimal character arcing you'd expect from early John Woo (who Johnny To and Ka-Fai Wai rip off liberally here).Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
... The book is for kids but can easily seduce and immerse adults. The movie is more strictly for kids. An enjoyable adventure, and the look is perfect, but most of the little details that flesh out the characters is missing, leaving us with a fun ride, but no real involvement.Hedwig and the Angry Inch
... AAA sums this movie up perfectly: "a bittersweet musical about a transsexual rock and roller just looking for her other half."* A movie this brually honest has to be listed as a heavyweight. Every characters imperfections and insecurities are exposed in stark relief, and Hedwig's emotional descent followed by dawning self-awareness is handled very well. On the downside, the comedy did nothing for me. This is one of those movies where I recognize how good it is, but only like it a bit.The Last Castle
... Fairly enjoyable, with an adequate performance from Robert Redford and a good one from James Gandolfini, who does very well projecting insecurity while ostensibly being in charge. I enjoyed most of it, but the ending is cripplingly absurd.I sprained my eyebrows from raising them so high.Spoiler: Highlight to viewIn most movies a prisoner is lucky to sneak a sharpened spoon into his sock, and yet these guys manage to build and conceal a 30-foot-tall trebuchet in the prison yard?!K-PAX
... This was worth renting, but I am disconcerted by my inability to identify why I didn't like it more. Kevin Spacey always exudes superior intelligence, so he nestled right into this role. Jeff Bridges, usually excellent, was merely solid. I think this is probably because the script for his role was flat. The movie is a collection of nice moments, but I think it ultimately suffers from being a mishmash - part comedy, part drama, part tear-jerker, part lightweight philosophy. It dabbles in all without excelling at any. Too bad. Still, I liked it better than most critics.The Mexican
... The chemistry between Julia Roberts and James Gandolfini was terrific. I eagerly awaited their return to the screen every time the story switched away from them. But the movie was too long, and could have used a more stringent editing hand. Also the darkness of the final third is unpleasantly incongruent with the tone set by the first two thirds. Nonetheless, the redeeming portions of this movie make it worth checking out as a rental.Pulse
... What if the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are really Loneliness, Existential Angst, Technology, and umm... Poor Lighting? Sorry, only had 75% of a metaphor there. I wouldn't really characterize this as a horror movie—there are no real scares and the pace is glacial—but Kurosawa (the other one) does infuse the whole movie with a sense of uneasiness (and there is that one suicide scene where you see the jumper climb up, jump off, and hit the ground, no cuts - I'm hoping it was just a very clever trick rather than a very dedicated stuntperson). Anyway, a clever allegory, but totally emotionally uninvolving. It's a term paper, filmed as horror, without the scares or cares.Rush Hour 2
... Fans of Jackie Chan and/or Chris Tucker will almost certainly be able to find something to enjoy in this somewhat lackluster movie. A couple of the fight scenes were decent, and I'll somewhat embarrassingly admit to not being annoyed by Tucker, who shares good chemistry with Chan.Samurai Jack
... I know it's really just a series premiere, but they called it a movie and stuck it on DVD, so what the heck, I'll review it here. After watching the premiere episode I I liked it but probably not enough to become a regular devotee of the show. Then I watched the bonus episode which was terrific. Unfortunately, Jack is basically a loner so I doubt the highly enjoyable Scotsman he battles will be a regular (although he's too much fun to not recur occassionally, I'm guessing). The DVD was worth a rent for the entire "endless rope bridge" sequence in that episode.Shallow Hal
... There's Something About Mary manages to overcome the cringe facter with its volume of magnitude of laughs, however crude. Shallow Hal eases the cringe-factor with heart instead (although there are some laughs along the way) and it works pretty well, although I never felt enough at ease for all the cringing. Nice work by Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow.Shaolin Soccer
... Too corny even for me, and I've probably inoculated my taste buds to the flavor of Asian corn more than most (but by no means all). Still, the movie manages to convey a great deal of affection for the martial arts genre, while parodying it at the same time, and that's an admirable balancing act. The kung fu (and CGI) is so absurdly overblown it makes Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon look realistic. These aren't kung fu masters, they're superheros, which makes this movie more akin to Mystery Men than The Matrix (the first one - Revolutions was a superhero movie too).Spy Game
... This movie features a wonderful opening sequence, and is interesting in that it's a thriller that focuses more on the intrigue than the action (although there's a fair amount of the latter). There are stretches when watching Redford and his coworkers try to outmaneuver each others' outmaneuvering is tense and fascinating, and we feel a shared sense of smug superiority along with Redford during his more successful moments. But the flashback/backfill structure tends to sap the tension from Pitt's current plight--an effect that is worsened by the flashback segments not being as tight as the current story (which has its own implausibility problems). And while I thought the movie fell short in exploring means-to-the-end justification, it's quite ambitious for a thriller, and I give it points for that. To sum up: ambitious, at times great, and flawed.Startup.com
... Not a bad documentary about a dot-com flameout that acheived some success along the way. I couldn't help feeling the venture was doomed from the start, but perhaps that's just the hindsight talking. The big problem was that I really felt nothing for our "heros"; I didn't thrill at their successes nor mourn their failures. I also don't really understand why they needed 230+ employees to build a website that processes parking tickets. Finally, I think this documentary would have benefitted from at least a little engagement from the documentarians. Perhaps an occassional interview question so we could figure out what the subjects were thinking rather than 1:40 of fly-on-the-wall observation. I got plenty of "what", but not very much "why".Tape & Waking Life
... Here are two Richard Linklater movies released in the same year. While they are quite different, I liked them about the same, and I saw them on consecutive days. So I've grouped them together for this review. While his movies never particularly excite me, I do admire Linklater for somehow making fairly broadly distributed movies that I wouldn't normally think had a chance of seeing daylight. Linklater is nothing if not creative, resourceful, and unconventional. Waking Life is almost completely plotless; it's a series of philosophical dialogs (or monologues since often our central character just listens) that range from boring to fascinating. The look of the film is striking, as the animation is accomplished by "painting" over live-action digital footage. A bold experiment that is at least partially successful. Tape is similarly bold although it sounds contrived in summary - three actors, one room, adapted from a play, shot using cheap digital video (I'm guessing). But like Waking Life it too mostly works. Well-acted (albeit stagey) and loaded with tantalizing ambiguities.Who Is Cletis Tout?
... Right on the cusp of being good. Even at a trim 92 minutes it felt like it could do with some belt-tightening though, and I would have largely recast the movie. Critical Jim should have been played by Denis Leary rather than Tim Allen, Christian Slater could have been upgraded to somebody else, the only downside being the trimming of the Jack Nicholson line which was good for a quick guffaw. Finally, Denis Farina would have made this movie a lot better had they created a role for him as the gangster's father. Still, it's a better-than-average caper film, but since the bar is lower for such films, that just makes it average overall. Call it average-plus.Should Have Missed
3000 Miles to Graceland
... I'm really at a loss when I have to pick a movie from my local shop's DVD selection that my wife isn't going to also want to watch. Luckily this movie received blisteringly bad reviews and I read most of them so my expectations were in the sub-basement. With my expectations that low, I failed to hate the movie, but it's one of the most gratuitously and pointlessly violent movies I've seen. The one bright spot was that I recently watched The Wild Bunch for the first time so I could see all the places where this movie stole the blood and guts (but not the brains or heart) from that classic. I only failed to hate it because I miraculously found a kernel of desire to see Kurt Russell get the girl and live happily ever after (it's hard to sort through the carnage, but I don't think he kills anybody, making him a relative Mother Teresa in this movie). It's all quite ugly. The trailer makes this look like a heist movie - it's not.Blow
... You'd think a drug dealer's life would be more exciting. Good performances, but a surprisingly unengaging story.Cats & Dogs
... An inferior Spy Kids, more or less, with talking animals. The kids dug it, and it was tolerable for we grown-ups.The Enemy at the Gates
... Good acting, compelling premise, some tense cat-and-mouse sequences, epic backdrop. Disappointingly, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. I think the big weakness of this film was in the pacing, which served to eliminate most of the tension.From Hell
... A stylishly shot, grandiose take on Jack the Ripper and his real identity/motivation. An example of a well-done movie that I didn't particularly care for, although I'm not sure why. I liked all the main performances, but didn't have much compassion for any of the characters, blunting the effect of both the murders and the love story.Ghost World
... I'm not sure why I didn't like this more. While its depiction of teenagehood rings true in a stereotypical sense, it still felt alien to me. The performances were good all around, but unmoving (Buscemi's being the possible exception). For example, I should have felt sympathy for Enid during her emotional crisis, but instead I was detached. I interpret the title as meaning the characters move through the world without really touching it, or each other. Perhaps it succeeded too well in that regard, since it was fairly ghost-like to me too.Heist
... I am David Mamet's chump. He has a singular ability to make movies that sound interesting to me, but ultimately disappoint. The State and Main anomaly aside, you'd think I'd know better by now. The movie's okay, but it's slow, talky, and not nearly as surprising as it thinks it is. Delroy Lindo manages to sneak in an actual performance rather than the dialog recitation that Mamet usually seems to require of his actors.Jeepers Creepers
... About as good as I was expecting, which is to say not very. It's too bad, since the beginning was enticing and the ending was quite bold. Too much supernatural gobbledegook, stupidity to advance the plot, and we see too much of the villian. This last issue is baffling, since the first 30 minutes clearly demonstrate an understanding for the power of off-screen menace.Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
... Not as bad as I'd been led to believe. Some decent set pieces, and Angelina Jolie is as enjoyable as usual. Unfortunately, it's unforgivably slow in too many places, and the driving force to the plot is too hokey even for me.Monster's Ball
... It's to this films credit that I wanted Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton's characters to find some happiness in each other in spite of my having no reasons to like them at all. It's still a mystery to me how this effect was achieved. Not a great movie, but the performances are strong and there are some powerful moments. I have a theory about Billy Bob: I think he's unusual in his effective use of "white space" in his performances. By that I mean he has moments (sometimes entire movies) where he's a blank canvas onto which the viewer can project whatever they want. I imagine for some it doesn't even count as acting, but I find it works pretty well for me.The Mummy Returns
... The double-decker bus chase was pretty darn good, but otherwise I'd say this fell short of the original, which was itself at best a guilty pleasure.The One
... I believe it's a cinematic law that says any movie where a martial arts star plays his own twin or alternate self will suck. This movie actually contains one of the better "actor fighting himself" scenes, but by the time it rolls around the whole thing is a wash. If you weren't tired of bullet time before, this'll put you over the top. Rent Fist of Legend instead.Pearl Harbor
... At exactly 1 minute, 40 seconds into this movie my wife said, "I'm already sick of the epic score." The music was indeed intrusive, but the dialog is what killed this movie. The first third of the movie is awful, the attack is spectacular, and the ending is not entirely unsatisfying. Amusing side note: we could have sworn when one of the nurses gets a running start and leaps into her fiance's arms she is aided by one of those gymnastic springboards. You can't see her feet, but the sound is right, and there's no question that she makes that gymnast preliminary jump onto two-feet before exploding into the guy's arms.Serendipity
... If this were cast differently, it would be completely forgettable. As a Meg Ryan movie it would have been vomitous. Fortunately John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale are both appealing, so they provide a bit of a boost. Eugene Levy, bless him, steals every scene he's in. I can't go so far as to recommend it, but at least I didn't feel completely robbed.Series 7: The Contenders
... Possible explanations for why I didn't care for this movie: [1] Except for maybe two episodes of MTV's The Real World many moons ago, I've never seen a "reality" program. [2] I already think the country is going to hell in a handbasket, but I think we're still pretty far away from a reality-TV compulsory draft. [3] The teenager contender's parents were just too over-the-top. [4] It felt fake.Someone Like You...
... Even more forgettable than French Kiss. Hugh Jackman was the only enjoyable part of this movie.Swordfish
... After a splashy, attention-getting opening (including an impressive camera-array shot) this actioner pretty much fizzles for the entire middle-game before concluding with a decent finale. The cast (Hugh Jackman, John Travolta, Halle Berry) comes off pretty good, but can't redeem the sagging midsection of the movie.The Score
... Norton. DeNiro. Brando (who I don't happen to like, but what the heck, he's a legend). Such an assemblage, such a disappointment. Almost added this to my "Bombs" series, but it wasn't quite bad enough. While the performances are fine (Norton was the standout, while Brando was surprisingly acceptable), the movie is excruciatingly dull. Angela Basset is wasted in a throwaway subplot. The Score itself, when it finally comes, is merely good. It needed to be absolutely fantabulous to redeem the rest. It wasn't.The Tailor of Panama
... I expect to be in the minority on this one, but GAH! I was so unimpressed. Some decent performances, but the first 4/5ths of the movie shoots itself in the foot with the agonizingly slow pacing, while the final 4/5ths shoots itself in the head with implausibility. Posthumously, I read one review that opined that this movie might be "too smart" for many. Please. I may not be the sharpest stick in the eye, but I didn't have to be to keep up with (and not think much of) this movie. Alas.The Wedding Planner
... For the first thirty minutes I thought I might be in for a pleasant surprise. It was endearing enough, with some funny lines. Then in rapidly mires itself in mediocrity.El Sucko Grande
Hannibal
... Ick.Kiss of the Dragon
... The movie opens with Jet Li arriving in France. He is given clues as to his destination, and finally arrives. It must be a meeting with somebody important, as he is frisked by large men, who eye him threateningly. He then gets walked in to meet Tchéky Karyo, who is not only sporting obvious "I'm a bad guy" facial hair, but is punching a bloody unconscious man in the face over, and over, and over, the punchee's head bouncing off the ground, cantelope-like, with each blow. So we of course figure, "bad guy", with Jet Li either being "fellow bad guy" or "undercover cop." As it turns out, Jet Li is neither: he's a cop, but not undercover, and is the cream of the Beijing police crop, sent to assist Karyo's cop (!) in a vaguely defined assignment. Unfortunately he is unable to read the writing so clearly evident on the fourth wall, and proceeds as if Karyo's behavior (and facial hair), were standard operating police procedure. Maybe he figures they do things differently in France (they almost surely do). Anyway, things rapidly go the way you'd expect, with the action not really paying off the debt incurred by the ridiculous plot, paper-thin characters, and gratuitious gore (even if the whole wire-fu thing is thankfully eschewed). The finale has a few glimmers, but is marred by the question "well if he could do THAT why didn't he do that 90 minutes ago?" The movie was almost good enough to be merely disappointing, and I do so go into each Jet Li movie hoping for Hero or Fist of Legend, even though I know the odds are against me, but this one doesn't manage to escape sucking like a Hoover.Made
... Vince Vaughn does a marvelous, marvelous job of playing an annoying character. So marvelous that at 30 minutes in I turned to my wife and said, "if we're still more annoyed than amused at 60 minutes let's turn it off and watch The West Wing " (which we had on tape). We didn't even make it that far; we turned it off at 45 minutes. We might have been able to tough it out if the plot were interesting, but the movie was definitely character-driven rather that plot-driven, much to its detriment.The Man Who Wasn't There
... This movie absolutely rocketed to the bottom of my Coen Bros. list. A dull and heartless excercise in noir-bending, which I imagine has great appeal for folks that like to "get it" (which is cool if you're into that - I loved Shakespeare in Love, after all), but the movie doesn't have anything else to offer beyond beautiful cinematography and some good performances. It can't commit to comedy or tragedy, and it fails at both.Novocaine
... Dammit, David Mamet broke Steve Martin. As if it weren't bad enough that Mamet can burn me again and again with his own movies, now his reach has to extend beyond his own pictures? He must be stopped. This is all a roundabout way of saying Steve Martin delivers a David Mametesque dialog recital here. Add that irritation to a movie in the throes of an identity crisis (am I a black comedy? a thriller? perhaps a mystery?), and you've got a pretty good recipe for disaster. The X-ray superimpositions were pretty cool, but that's about it. Oh! I guess I also liked Helena Bonham-Carter, but her performance here is really just a toothless Fight Club rerun.Planet of the Apes
... Panned here.The Musketeer
... Panned here.
Cloned From:
"El Sucko Grande". I love it.
Very nice list, I can see we agree on most films. Never seen Brotherhood of The Wolf but I can and probably will now.
I like the stream-lined format.
Tallyho
:?)
:-) I believe I picked up that phrase from my Dad.
And thanks again for inspiring the format! I look forward to your Brotherhood of the Wolf review. cmonster couldn't get through it (scroll down to the discussion), so it's by no means a safe bet.
Kiss Of The Dragon. Ouch. stook says put ice-pack on eyes for at least a day and take two tylenol. Get well soon J.
Wasn't that just rediculously bad? And have you seen Once Upon A Time In China, another good Jet Li?
T'ho
:?)
Ah yes, Once Upon a Time in China, another good Li movie, but definitely third on my list, and is then followed by a sea of dreck. I have high hopes for Unleashed though, but that's mostly because I never learn (and because it has Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman in it).
Thanks for the ice pack advice. Unfortunately I watched Cutthroat Island instead, so now I'm on death's door. Is it too late for ice?
Sounds like it could either be good...or incredibly bad.
Woof. I'm thinking only a labotomy could help at this point. Tell me it's just a whim and you didn't intentionally order these films through netflix.
T'ho
:?)
Yeah, it was chance that put those suckers back-to-back. I don't usually monkey with the ordering of my queue much. I add stuff as I find it and let the chips fall where they may. After The Legend I think I'm largely in the clear until the 30s (Paycheck [30], The Punisher [32], and Five Fingers of Death [38]).
Okay, so here's a connundrum for you, way back when I said I'd tape you Duel. Well since then I've seen nary of the little bugger on TV. However...I have seen it twice for rent on video, once for sale on video, and just last night on DVD. Yes I said DVD, it's been released (time for you to yell woohoo), I figure netflix should have or does have it. Happy watching J.
T'ho
:?)
Yup, it's now #3 in my queue; thanks for the thought though!
I'm glad you thought Frailty was 'very good,' even if that means its in the same company as Shrek, Spy Kids, and... *shudder* Moulin Rouge.
I absolutely loved the movie - great premise, great human drama, really well done. I thought the first 'switch ending' was fine but nothing special - almost a throwaway. It might have been a slightly better movie without it, I don't know.
But for me, the second 'switch ending' was the one that made me fall in love with the movie. What did you think of it?
I dug the twists, but mostly because I anticipated their possibility, and liked the ambiguity that created in my mind as I watched the drama/horror play out. So I really liked the movie well before the twists played out. I appreciated that Bill Paxton (Bill Paxton!) did such a great job tweaking my anticipation such that I experienced gore in my mind without there actually being any. I thought the performances were very good, and the pacing excellent.
Hey Jim. Regarding Pulse, I had to check IMDB to see if we'd seen the same film, and sure enough we didn't. I didn't realize the 2006 film was a remake. My take on the 2006 one (which I watched last night, Halloween) was that the premise had the capacity to be very cheesy and the message too obvious. The message was indeed obvious: the last 15 seconds of the film could have been cut, increasing my enjoyment of the whole thing 10-fold. However, the execution of the ghosts and the suspense/horror in general was wonderful. I was genuinely freaked out, and that almost never happens.
However, given your lukewarm reception to the original, I'm guessing you won't bother with the remake. Nor am I suggesting that you watch it - I just thought it was interesting that the difference in execution seems to be so different for the two.
Actually, it wouldn't be the first time I'd preferred the American remake to the Japanese original, at least where the "J-Horror" wave is concerned. Maybe I will check it out, if you liked it, thanks!