best movies of last two years
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 09:13
Tags:
- 1. The Truman Show
- 2. All About My Mother
- 3. The Thin Red Line
- 4. Pleasantville
- 5. The Ice Storm
- 6. Gods and Monsters
- 7. Deconstructing Harry
- 8. Affliction
- 9. Life is Beautiful
- 10. Out of Sight
Excellent lists! One thing I'd note . . . This list seems to be a subset of your "movies of the nineties" list, but All About My Mother and Out of Sight don't appear on the "nineties" list.
Glad to see Out of Sight included though; great movie!
Thank you. I'm glad you liked my list and you're right. It is a subset of my best of the nineties list and "All About My Mother" is at no. 21, written in Spanish. "Out of Sight" is at no. 60 of my list and I only posted the best 50, because I thought all 100 (which is the full list) would be too long.
Have to disagree strongly on PLEASANTVILLE. Sure, it was technically well done, but the ending takes forever and drips with sentimentality. As a wise man once said, sentimentality is what you have when you don't have real feelings. I can see how comedy can lead to sentimentality, as it often does, but it should never be allowed to. For me, a good comedy is utterly ruined by a sentimental ending. Puff, pant, gasp...okay, I've had my rant for today.
"Pleasantville" isn't just another comedy for me and I don't understand how can you look at it that way. Just like "The Truman Show" isn't just another comedy, or "Groundhog Day". It made me cry on several occasions which is something a regular comedy does not do, now is it? And if "Pleasantville" doesn't have real emotions, please tell me which one does so I can see it right away. It's one of the most beautiful, subtle and heart-warming movies in the last decade and in the same time very, very funny. Such movies are pretty rare, I'd say.
Jim!...Hey, Jim!...I'm in trouble over PLEASANTVILLE again.
Pike, I can see you feel strongly about the movie; I don't, and I suggest we just agree to disagree. I'm happy to say I support your opinion that GROUNDHOG DAY is not just another comedy. It is a deeper and more important movie than many who saw it realise. That's why I placed it first on my list of Ten Seriously Funny Movies .
No problem Bertie, I'm always ready to agree on disagrement, but I'm also ready for a discussion if you feel like it. And I'm sorry, but I just have to say that I think that both "The Truman Show" and "Pleasantville" deserve a place on your "seriously funny movies" list.
Hmm...yes, I wussed out somewhat, didn't I. Since my last reply I've been looking at the IMDb's external reviews page for PV, and I have to admit that the weight of opinion seems to be on your side. However, there are others who, like me, were underwhelmed. For example, this guy gives it the thumbs down.
I think that both Brian and you haven't realized that "Pleasantville" offers a mixture of emotions, and you have to put all those funny and serious elements together to be able to fully appreciate the movie. Please, try to see it one more time. Maybe you were in a bad mood or something. It's a movie that can not be disliked.
A little angel just popped up on my right shoulder and said, "Tell Mr Pike you will watch the movie again, because you owe it to both of you, and you might find you shall change your mind. The Great Director above will be pleased by such a reasonable course of action." But then a little demon popped up on my left shoulder and said, "Tell the dope with the fishy name to go peddle his papers [mind you, I'm cleaning this up a bit - b.]. So what if you were hung-over when you saw the damn flick? - why should that interfere with your infallible judgment? Don't even think about wasting more time on...gag... shudder...PLEASANTVILLE". I don't know which advisor was more persuasive; maybe I'll give them a re-match next time I'm in the video store.
Forget about both of them, forget about me, forget about ever seeing "Pleasantville" for the first time. Just enter the video store and ask for the first and last Gary Ross movie. Put it in the bag, don't look at the cover, don't think about what you rented. Just get home, put the tape in the VCR and see this movie for the first time again. Just one little thing... Feel happy before you start to watch it. And just open your eyes for beauty.
Looks like you guys have managed to work this out without me. But why should that stop me from getting in on the fun? :)
In this highly subjective arena, I've found that sentimentality is a particularly sticky issue. A movie that is uplifting and inspiring for some is a saccharine schmaltz-fest for others (It's a Wonderful Life, anyone?). In fact, I really can't think of a more subjective topic in movies. How many times have you seen reviews that hedge with something like, "the movie toys with over-sentimentality at times, but manages to pull it off." Like there's some kind of line drawn in the sand. Sheesh.
I kinda like thinking about this issue because I can't even define personal guidelines that I can use in evauating sentimentality. "I know it when I see it." Ghost is drippy while Truly, Madly, Deeply is brilliant (but I enjoyed them both). Why? Dunno.
Critical opinion seems equally arbitrary on this issue. Consider "happy endings" . . . they make you feel good, but are generally improbable. I'd say most of them "toy with over-sentimentality" but only a few get singled out as sickly-sweet.
As for Pleasantville, I liked it. As did my new favorite reviewer. Even with the syruppy sentimental ending. ;-)
Yes, Jim, you're totally right. Sentimentality is a tricky thing. I'd say that a movie either gets you or doesn't. When it gets you (and I mean really gets you), then you can listen to hundreds of people saying how much you're wrong, or a cry baby or stuff like that, you like it, it somehow sticks in you. And even when you know that there is a lot of things you'd remark as bad in another movie, you don't notice them, or you just ignore them and get carried away in the sweetnest and charm (I'm talking about "Pleasantville" here now) the movie presented. That's just the way it is, and it should be that way.
Jim, you've inspired me with an idea I shouldn't have needed inspiration for, namely, someone is bound to have done a philosophical analysis of the concept of sentimentality. I'll do a bit of research and see what I come up with. Such analyses aim to clarify a concept and remove confusion; they are often very enlightening.
All I've been able to come up with so far is the first paragraph of this page, which is interesting while it lasts. The guy then goes on to talk about sentimentality in religion. I might have to go to actual printed books.
You might have noticed that Bertie's "seriously funny" link above goes to the "owner" version, and appears to allow any old foo' to edit the list. An easy mistake to make when creating a link around here. Fortunately, appearances are deceiving. If you try to change Bertie's list, your changes won't be saved (in theory). I'll try to implement something cleaner soon (like automatically redirecting you to the "normal" screen when you're not the owner).
Cyber-senility. And I'm only in the first blush (well, no, perhaps the second blush) of late youth. I hope you're right, Jim; I hope I'm the only old foo' that can edit my list, because think of the naughty pranks that could be played on me by some of the hooligans that frequent The Listology.