Steve Russell's 2002 Films Seen List (My AIM ID is Filmmaker24FPS -- feel free to msg me if you wanna talk film. Comments are added when I get the time to do so. And sorry for the recent lack of comments. I've been somewhat busy. They should resume shortly when school ends and I have a little more time to do more than hastily jot down the name.) "/"s around a title denotes a previously seen film. "*" in front of a title denotes a film seen on icky television, complete with commercials and, if applicable, incorrect OAR.

Click HERE to see my current Top Ten of 2002

Click HERE to see the 2002 films by rating

Click HERE to see how I rate movies
267. [Oct 12th] The Ring (USA, 2002) / Dir. Gore Verbinski / [B-] -
266. [Oct 12th] The Rules of Attraction (USA, 2002) / Dir. Roger Avary / [B+] -
265. [Oct 12th] Below (USA, 2002) / Dir. David N. Twohy / [C] -
264. [Oct 11th] The Transporter (France, 2002) / Dir. Corey Yuen / [D+] -
263. [Oct 11th] Me Without You (UK, 2002) / Dir. Sandra Goldbacher / [B] -
262. [Oct 9th] Rosetta (Belgium, 1999) / Dir. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne / [B+] -
261. [Oct 7th] Secretary (USA, 2002) / Dir. Steven Shainberg / [B-] -
260. [Oct 6th] Happy End (South Korea, 2000) / Dir. Ji Woo Chung / [B+] -
259. [Oct 4th] Red Dragon (USA, 2002) / Dir. Brett Ratner / [C+] -
258. [Oct 3rd] Turning Gate (South Korea, 2002) / Dir. Hong Sang-soo / [B+] -
257. [Sept 30th] Dead Man (USA, 1995) / Dir. Jim Jarmusch / [A-] -
256. [Sept 29th] Solaris (Soviet Union, 1972) / Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky / [A-] -
255. [Sept 29th] The Wind Will Carry Us (Iran, 2000) / Dir. Abbas Kiarostami / [B] -
254. [Sept 28th] Pumpkin (USA, 2002) / Dir. Anthony Abrams and Adam Larson Broder / [D+] -
253. [Sept 28th] Slap Her, She's French (USA, 2002) / Dir. Melanie Mayron / [D] -
252. [Sept 27th] Ted Bundy (USA, 2002) / Dir. Matthew Bright / [C] -
251. [Sept 27th] Volcano High (South Korea, 2002) / Dir. Kim Tae-jyun / [B] -
250. [Sept 26th] Mostly Martha (Germany, 2001) / Dir. Sandra Nettelbeck / [B] -
249. [Sept 26th] Human Nature (USA, 2002) / Dir. Michel Gondry / [B] -
248. [Sept 25th] Run Ronnie Run! (USA, 2002) / Dir. Troy Miller / [D+] -
247. [Sept 25th] Funny Games (Austria, 1998) / Dir. Michael Haneke / [B+] -
246. [Sept 23rd] Tadpole (USA, 2002) / Dir. Gary Winick / [C+] -
245. [Sept 23rd] 8 femmes (France, 2002) / Dir. François Ozon / [B-] -
244. [Sept 23rd] The Experiment (Germany, 2001) / Dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel / [B] -
243. [Sept 20th] Rabbit-Proof Fence (Australia, 2002) / Dir. Phillip Noyce / [C] -
242. [Sept 20th] Undisputed (USA, 2002) / Dir. Walter Hill / [C+] -
241. [Sept 17th] Irréversible (France, 2002) / Dir. Gaspar Noé / [B+] -
240. [Sept 17th] The Importance of Being Earnest (United States, 2002) / Dir. Oliver Parker / [C+] -
239. [Sept 11th] The Scent of Green Papaya (Vietnam, 1993) / Dir. Tran Anh Hung / [B+] -
238. [Sept 8th] Cyclo (Vietnam, 1995) / Dir. Tran Anh Hung / [A] -
237. [Sept 8th] Heaven (Italy, Germany, 2002) / Dir. Tom Tykwer / [C+] -
236. [Sept 7th] /Bram Stoker's Dracula/ (USA, 1992) / Dir. Francis Ford Coppola / [B+] -
235. [Sept 7th] /Audition/ (Japan, 1999) / Dir. Takashi Miike / [A] -
234. [Sept 6rd] Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Kawajiri Yoshiaki / [C+] -
233. [Sept 6th] Return of the Living Dead (USA, 1985) / Dir. Dan O'Bannon / [C-] -
232. [Sept 3rd] FearDotCom (USA, 2002) / Dir. William Malone / [D] -
231. [Sept 3rd] The Kid Stays in the Picture (USA, 2002) / Dir. Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen / [B+] -
230. [Sept 1st] Dahmer (USA, 2002) / Dir. David Jacobson / [C] -
229. [Aug 31st] /All About Lily Chou-Chou/ (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Shunji Iwai / [A-] - Turns out my prediction that this would be a film that rewards a second viewing was dead-on; fragments came together, characters seemed to expand, and best of all, it wasn't nearly as fucking confusing this time. (A bit of advice for first-time viewers: before you watch the movie, find a review and read the basic plot outline so you'll know who the hell is who and when the hell is when). Iwai's sad film might not be the ultimate peon to brevity (clocking in at a feels-like-it 146 minutes), but there are enough hypnotic moments of beauty and transcendence that the (over)long running time is almost a non-issue. From what I can tell, this is also the true standard for digital photography; hell, I didn't even think it was possible to capture light that blooms and expands like this on DV -- it's nothing less than a revelation.
228. [Aug 29th] The Happiness of the Katakuris (Japan, 2002) / Dir. Takashi Miike / [B-] -
227. [Aug 28th] /Pulp Fiction/ (USA, 1994) / Dir. Quentin Tarantino / [A] -
226. [Aug 28th] Dark Water (Japan, 2002) / Dir. Hideo Nakata / [B-] -
225. [Aug 26th] Bad Guy (South Korea, 2002) / Dir. Kim Ki-duk / [C] -
224. [Aug 26th] The Good Girl (USA, 2002) / Dir. Miguel Arteta / [B-] - Slight recommendation mostly for the acting -- Aniston's best performance ever, with Gyllenhaal, Reilly, and Tim Blake Nelson also delivering typically solid stuff. The movie itself lacks any real point and surfs the locked-in-depressing-suburban-routine-delivered-as-quirky-dark-comedy wave like so many recent indies, and Arteta's direction is without flair of any kind. Wait, why am I recommending this? Oh yeah, the acting.
223. [Aug 26th] Possession (USA, 2002) / Dir. Neil LaBute / [C] - Interesting concept is promptly ruined by some putrid, unnatural writing by LaBute and similarly putrid, unnatural acting by Eckhart. Only Paltrow emerges unscathed, but even her performance is unusually anonymous.
222. [Aug 25th] Take Care of My Cat (South Korea, 2001) / Dir. Jeong Jae-eun / [B-] -
221. [Aug 24th] Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (South Korea, 2002) / Dir. Park Chan-wook / [B-] - Seems to me that Park was trying to say something about the circular nature of violence and revenge -- one act of vengeance begets another -- but the end result is a movie that rides high on potentially potent violence without giving much of it any meaning. Operates on a kind of grim, wordless claustraphia for most of its running time that's definitely effective at giving it an intense and unpredictable edginess; dunno why Park keeps all the emotions so annoyingly distant for a story that remains so close to its characters, though. One brilliantly sad scene, unsettling in its execution: a father looks at a photograph of his family and is perplexed to find that his recently deceased young daughter seems to have vanished from her place in the snapshot; cue next shot in which she's standing in the room, dripping wet from her recent drowning. It's entirely unexpected for one, but the honesty in the way the scene plays out, discarding the typical supernatural elements [fear, horror, anguish] that would regularly dominate such a scene, is even more impressive.
220. [Aug 24th] Simone (USA, 2002) / Dir. Andrew Niccol / [C] -
219. [Aug 22nd] Dead or Alive (Japan, 1999) / Dir. Takashi Miike / [C+] - Terrific, kenetic first fifteen minutes and brilliant final twenty create the bread around the rather tasteless meat in the center. Hmmm, maybe this is a sandwich with meaty bread and doughy meat?
218. [Aug 22nd] The Birdpeople in China (Japan, 1998) / Dir. Takashi Miike / [C] -
217. [Aug 21st] License to Live (Japan, 1998) / Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa / [B] -
216. [Aug 21st] Singin' in the Rain (USA, 1952) / Dir. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly / [A-] -
215. [Aug 20th] /Jackie Brown/ (USA, 1997) / Dir. Quentin Tarantino / [B] -
214. [Aug 19th] Nowhere to Hide (South Korea, 1999) / Dir. Lee Woo-ping / [B+] - Hard to categorize this one, but that's one of its virtues. Rote, formulaic action scenes are flipped on their head, rendered nigh-experimental by Lee's aggressive, inventive direction. At the same time, there's almost nothing here that's original, which Lee acknowledges by staging a bountiful amount of easily-recognizable homage's (I noted at least five: Pickpocket, The Battleship Potemkin, Les Vampires, The Third Man, and Ikiru, and that's not including many less-implicit stylistic similarities to the likes of Peckinpah and Leone). So what makes it feel so original? Well, have you ever seen an Odessa Steps re-creation orchestrated to a cover of a Bee-Gee's song and shot in such extreme slow motion that it reaches a mere 1fps at a couple points? No? What about a fist-fight that first plays out in silhouette, then evolves into a waltz as each combatant attempts unsuccessfully to get the upper-hand? Didn't think so. Excepting the rough slo-mo look that makes an appearance in nearly every sequence involving movement and action, it never fails to consistently surprise on the visual front. Another saving grace is the star of the movie, Park Joong-Hoon, who emits an affable (if grungy) presence whenever he's on-screen. Narratively, though, it's a real mess. The meager plot woefully revolves around typical detective-chasing-bad-guy clichés and there's no indication that Lee had any desire to transcend the stale genre, which would be a problem in, oh, about every other movie I can think of. While the credo "style-over-substance" is typically applied in a negative context, I'm goin' out on a limb here and praising Nowhere to Hide as a penultimate example of a movie that can work on sheer visual hyperkenisis alone. There definitely isn't any thematic heft on display here, but surely I've got to attest to a film whose final fist-fight climax, in all its abstract momentum, moved me more than most melodrama's do at their emotional peaks. This is pure drunk-on-cinema excess at its best.
213. [Aug 16th] Blue Velvet (USA, 1986) / Dir. David Lynch / [B+] - Slightly disappointing, especially after discovering Lynch for the first time with Mulholland Drive and having every single one of my friends tell me, in geeky fervor, that "You simply MUST see Blue Velvet", for it is, I quoth, "Lynch's supreme masterpiece." Okay, so I was broadsided by Eraserhead's blinding brilliance just days after seeing Mulholland Drive, and that one still stands as my second favorite of his. Elephant Man is third, probably. I've heard that Blue Velvet plays MUCH better when projected on film, so if the opportunity ever arises to see it on the big screen, I'll jump on it.
212. [Aug 15th] /Signs/ (USA, 2002) / Dir. M. Night Shyamalan / [B-] -
211. [Aug 14th] /Ichi the Killer/ (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Takashi Miike / [B] - My second time seeing the movie, but only my first seeing it entirely uncut. Not surprisingly, I liked it much more this time around. Not because I'm some sick fuck that takes pleasure in seeing an absolute maximum quotient of depravity (though that also might be the case, let's focus on the movie right now), but more because Miike's scenes of violence are so carefully orchestrated that cutting them not only shaves impact, but also rhythm, grace. Miike's gore operates on the same kind of mechanism that a good, long joke with a two-word punch-line does: there's a knowledge of buildup, and an anticipation of release. You know the entire reason for the existence of the joke is coming soon, and you're processing the joke as it goes along in order to understand why those two words at the end are so damn funny. So, when I saw the cut version of Ichi, I was essentially being told a joke in fractured form thus diminishing the full effect. This isn't to compare directly the effect of laughter with the effect that Miike's scenes of violence produce, but on principle, it works the same way. And whadda ya know -- miraculously, this is also a yakuza-centered movie that actually manages to generate an interesting story to go along with its visuals and violence.
210. [Aug 10th] Failan (South Korea, 2001) / Dir. Song Hae-sung / [B-] -
209. [Aug 9th] My Sassy Girl (South Korea, 2002) / Dir. Kwak Jae-young / [B] -
208. [Aug 9th] XXX (USA, 2002) / Dir. Rob Cohen / [C+] - Liked the first hour or so quite a bit -- full of exuberant, transgressive, over-the-top, even Miike-ish (minus the severed arteries) set pieces punctuated by a nice self-reflexive vibe (Diesel's deconstruction of the artificiality present in his "tests" could easily be Cohen retorting to the jabs at those mistaking the B-movie sensibilities of The Fast and the Furious for bad moviemaking) -- but it pretty much so devolves into yer standard sleek action vehicle by the end. It takes more risks in its than most studio movies do, though, so I've gotta give credit were credit is due. Have to admit, though, that Deisel mock-skateboarding down not just one, but TWO rails with a fucking dinner platter while bullets bounce off the walls around him is about the stupidest thing I've seen in my lifetime, give or take a couple three of those RealTV things where people do things like try to kiss snakes or pet wild animals and act surprised when they get bitten or eaten.
207. [Aug 8th] Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Japan, 1984) / Dir. Hayao Miyazaki / [A-] - I don't think I have much left to say about Miyazaki, whose movies are workman-like in their genius. This is one of his full-blown fantasy epics, and it's easily one of the best fantasy movies ever made, brimming with excitement and imagination.
206. [Aug 6th] Love Letter (Japan, 1995) / Dir. Shunji Iwai / [B-] -
205. [Aug 5th] Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (USA, 2002) / Dir. Jill Sprecher / [B] -
204. [Aug 5th] The Master of Disguise (USA, 2002) / Dir. Perry Andelin Blake / [F] - I feel almost wrong mentioning this here. This is a movie list, afterall, and I'm pretty sure that this isn't a movie. But I have nowhere else to put it, so please forgive me.
203. [Aug 5th] Crossroads (USA, 2002) / Dir. Tamra Davis / [D-] -
202. [Aug 5th] Vulgar (USA, 2001) / Dir. Bryan Johnson / [D-] -
201. [Aug 4th] All About Lily Chou-Chou (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Shunji Iwai / [B+] -
200. [Aug 2nd] /Signs/ (USA, 2002) / Dir. M. Night Shyamalan / [B-] -
199. [Aug 2nd] My Neighbor Totoro (Japan, 1988) / Dir. Hayao Miyazaki / [B+] -
198. [July 30th] Seom (South Korea, 2000) / Dir. Kim Ki-duk / [C-] -
197. [July 30th] Sex and Lucia (Spain, 2001) / Dir. Julio Medem / [B-] -
196. [July 30th] Charisma (Japan, 1999) / Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa / [B] -
195. [July 30th] /Lovely & Amazing/ (USA, 2002) / Dir. Nicole Holofcener / [B-] -
194. [July 28th] Cure (Japan, 1997) / Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa / [A-] -
193. [July 27th] Austin Powers in Goldmember (USA, 2002) / Dir. Jay Roach / [C+] -
192. [July 26th] Spirited Away (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Hayao Miyazaki / [B+] -
191. [July 26th] Read My Lips (France, 2001) / Dir. Jacques Audiard / [B] -
190. [July 25th] What Time Is It There? (Taiwan, 2001) / Dir. Tsai Ming-liang / [A-] -
189. [July 25th] Two or Three Things I Know About Her (France, 1967) / Dir. Jean-Luc Godard / [C] -
188. [July 25th] Landscape in the Mist (Greece, 1988) / Dir. Theo Angelopoulos / [B] -
187. [July 24th] Two Daughters (India, 1961) / Dir. Satyajit Ray / [A-] -
186. [July 24th] Shoeshine (Italy, 1946) / Dir. Vittorio De Sica / [B+] -
185. [July 24th] Underground (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 1995) / Dir. Emir Kusturica / [B] -
184. [July 23rd] Atanarjuat (Canada, 2001) / Dir. Zacharias Kunuk / [B] -
183. [July 23rd] The Harp of Burma (Japan, 1956) / Dir. Kon Ichikawa / [B+] -
182. [July 22nd] Signs (USA, 2002) / Dir. M. Night Shyamalan / [B-] -
181. [July 22nd] Ring 2 (Japan, 1999) / Dir. Hideo Nakata / [C+] -
180. [July 22nd] Uzumaki (Japan, 2000) / Dir. Higuchinsky / [C] -
179. [July 21st] No Such Thing (USA, 2001) / Dir. Hal Hartley / [B+] -
178. [July 20th] Beijing Bicycle (China, 2001) / Dir. Wang Xiaoshuai / [C+] -
177. [July 19th] Lilo and Stitch (USA, 2002) / Dir. Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders / [C+] -
176. [July 19th] Lovely & Amazing (USA, 2002) / Dir. Nicole Holofcener / [B-] -
175. [July 18th] Eight Legged Freaks (USA, 2002) / Dir. Ellory Elkayem / [C] -
174. [July 16th] The Eye (Hong Kong, 2002) / Dir. Danny and Oxide Pang / [C+] -
173. [July 12th] Ring (Japan, 1998) / Dir. Hideo Nakata / [B+] -
172. [July 12th] Road to Perdition (USA, 2002) / Dir. Sam Mendes / [C] -
171. [July 12th] Reign of Fire (USA, 2002) / Dir. Rob Bowman / [C] -
170. [July 11th] Time Out (France, 2001) / Dir. Laurent Cantet / [B+] -
169. [July 11th] Men in Black II (USA, 2002) / Dir. Barry Sonnenfeld / [D+] -
168. [July 11th] Sunshine State (USA, 2002) / Dir. John Sayles / [C+] -
167. [July 10th] Lan Yu (China, 2001) / Dir. Stanley Kwan / [C+] -
166. [July 10th] Ichi the Killer (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Takashi Miike / [B-] -
165. [July 9th] /The Royal Tenenbaums/ (USA, 2001) / Dir. Wes Anderson / [A-] -
164. [July 9th] Happiness (USA, 1998) / Dir. Todd Solondz / [B] -
163. [July 9th] Storytelling (USA, 2002) / Dir. Todd Solondz / [C+] -
162. [July 7th] Visitor Q (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Takashi Miike / [B-] -
161. [July 5th] CQ (USA, 2002) / Dir. Roman Coppola / [C+] -
160. [June 30th] Mr. Deeds (USA, 2002) / Dir. Steven Brill / [D] -
159. [June 25th] /Minority Report/ (USA, 2002) / Dir. Steven Spielberg / [B+] -
158. [June 23rd] Audition (Japan, 1999) / Dir. Takashi Miike / [A] -
157. [June 21st] Minority Report (USA, 2002) / Dir. Steven Spielberg / [B+] -
156. [June 20th] The Piano Teacher (Austria, 2001) / Dir. Michael Haneke / [B+] -
155. [June 20th] Pulse (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa / [B+] -
154. [June 20th] McCabe and Mrs. Miller (USA, 1971) / Dir. Robert Altman / [A] -
153. [June 18th] Millennium Mambo (Taiwan, 2001) / Dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien / [C+] -
152. [June 18th] Why Has Bhodi-Dharma Left For the East? (South Korea, 1989) / Dir. Bae Yong-Kyun / [B+] -
151. [June 18th] The Red and the White (Hungary, 1967) / Dir. Miklós Jancsó / [B] -
150. [June 17th] The Leopard (Italy, 1963) / Dir. Luchino Visconti / [A-] -
149. [June 17th] Sans soleil (France, 1982) / Dir. Chris Marker / [B+] -
148. [June 16th] Late Marriage (Israel, 2001) / Dir. Dover Koshashvili / [B+] -
147. [June 15th] The Bourne Identity (USA, 2002) / Dir. Doug Liman / [B-] -
146. [June 14th] Maryam (USA, 2001) / Dir. Ramin Serry / [C+] -
145. [June 11th] /Bram Stoker's Dracula/ (USA, 1992) / Dir. Francis Ford Coppola / [B+] -
144. [June 9th] /Black Hawk Down/ (USA, 2001) / Dir. Ridley Scott / [B] -
143. [June 5th] Straw Dogs (USA, 1971) / Dir. Sam Peckinpah / [B] -
142. [June 4th] /Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/ (USA, 2001) / Dir. Chris Columbus / [B-] -
141. [June 2nd] The Sum of All Fears (USA, 2002) / Dir. Phil Alden Robinson / [C-] -
140. [June 1st] Undercover Brother (USA, 2002) / Dir. Malcolm D. Lee / [B] -
139. [May 31st] /Training Day/ (USA, 2001) / Dir. Antoine Fuqua / [B+] -
138. [May 31st] Rain (New Zealand, 2002) / Dir. Christine Jeffs / [C+] -
137. [May 31st] Week-End (France, 1967) / Dir. Jean-Luc Godard / [B] -
136. [May 31st] Tokyo Story (Japan, 1953) / Dir. Yasujiro Ozu / [A] -
135. [May 31st] The Life of Oharu (Japan, 1952) / Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi / [B+] -
134. [May 30th] The Big City (India, 1963) / Dir. Satyajit Ray / [B+] -
133. [May 30th] Mouchette (France, 1967) / Dir. Robert Bresson / [B+] -
132. [May 27th] Enough (USA, 2002) / Dir. Michael Apted / [D-] -
131. [May 25th] Meshes of the Afternoon (USA, 1942) / Dir. Maya Deren / [A] -
130. [May 24th] Insomnia (USA, 2002) / Dir. Christopher Nolan / [B-] -
129. [May 21st] Va savoir (France, 2001) / Dir. Jacques Rivette / [A-] -
128. [May 20th] The Cat's Meow (USA, 2002) / Dir. Peter Bogdanovich / [B] -
127. [May 19th] The Salton Sea (USA, 2002) / Dir. Michael Mann / [B] -
126. [May 17th] Ali (USA, 2001) / Dir. Michael Mann / [C+] -
125. [May 17th] /Spider-Man/ (USA, 2002) / Dir. Sam Raimi / [B-] -
124. [May 16th] Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (USA, 2002) / Dir. George Lucas / [D] -
123. [May 15th] Raging Bull (USA, 1980) / Dir. Martin Scorsese / [A] -
122. [May 14th] Wendigo (USA, 2001) / Dir. Larry Fessenden / [C+] -
121. [May 14th] About a Boy (UK, 2002) / Dir. Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz / [B-] -
120. [May 7th] The Son's Room (Italy, 2001) / Dir. Nanni Moretti / [B] -
119. [May 3rd] Spider-Man (USA, 2002) / Dir. Sam Raimi / [B] -
118. [Apr 26th] /Y tu mamá también/ (Mexico, 2001) / Dir. Alfonso Cuarón / [B] -
117. [Apr 25th] Paths of Glory (USA, 1957) / Dir. Stanley Kubrick / [A-] -
116. [Apr 23rd] Schindler's List (USA, 1993) / Dir. Steven Spielberg / [A-] -
115. [Apr 23rd] Yi-Yi (Taiwan, 2000) / Dir. Edward Yang / [B+] -
114. [Apr 21st] A Rumor of Angels (USA, 2001) / Dir. Peter O'Fallon / [B-] -
113. [Apr 21st] Yojimbo (Japan, 1961) / Dir. Akira Kurosawa / [B+] -
112. [Apr 19th] Murder By Numbers (USA, 2002) / Dir. Barbet Schroeder / [C+] -
111. [Apr 19th] The Scorpion King (USA, 2002) / Dir. Chuck Russell / [C+] -
110. [Apr 18th] Birthday Girl (United Kingdom, 2002) / Dir. Jez Butterworth / [C+] -
109. [Apr 17th] George Washington (USA, 2000) / Dir. David Gordon Green / [A-] -
108. [Apr 16th] Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Shohei Imamura / [B] -
107. [Apr 16th] The Sweetest Thing (USA, 2002) / Dir. Roger Kumble / [D-] -
106. [Apr 15th] High Crimes (USA, 2002) / Dir. Carl Franklin / [D] -
105. [Apr 13th] Last Orders (United Kingdom, 2001) / Dir. Frank Schepisi / [B+] -
104. [Apr 13th] The Exterminating Angel (Spain, 1962) / Dir. Luis Bunuel / [B+] -
103. [Apr 13th] Sweet Smell of Success (USA, 1957) / Dir. Alexander Mackendrick / [B+] -
102. [Apr 13th] A Day in the Country (France, 1936) / Dir. Jean Renoir / [B+] -
101. [Apr 12th] Frailty (USA, 2002) / Dir. Bill Paxton / [B-] -
100. [Apr 12th] Changing Lanes (USA, 2002) / Dir. Roger Michell / [B] -
99. [Apr 10th] Sorority Boys (USA, 2002) / Dir. Wallace Wolodarsky / [D] -
98. [Apr 10th] Jason X (USA, 2002) / Dir. James Isaac / [D] -
97. [Apr 9th] /Mulholland Drive/ (USA, 2001) / Dir. David Lynch / [A] -
96. [Apr 9th] Kurosawa (USA, 2002) / Dir. Adam Low / [B] -
95. [Apr 7th] Kissing Jessica Stein (USA, 2002) / Dir. Charles Herman-Wurmfeld / [B] -
94. [Apr 5th] Big Trouble (USA, 2002) / Dir. Barry Sonnenfeld / [C] -
93. [Mar 30th] /The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring/ (USA, 2001) / Dir. Peter Jackson / [A-] - Still have some rather major problems with the film (can't stand Orthanc; some sloppy editing in parts; Lurtz), but I enjoyed it this viewing, my sixth and final theatrical one, as much as the first time I saw it. The Two Towers footage is great -- makes the wait even harder to bear.
92. [Mar 29th] Death to Smoochy (USA, 2002) / Dir. Danny DeVito / [C] -
91. [Mar 29th] Panic Room (USA, 2002) / Dir. David Fincher / [B] -
90. [Mar 27th] The Believer (USA, 2001) / Dir. Henry Bean / [B-] -
89. [Mar 26th] Au hasard, Balthazar (France, 1966) / Dir. Robert Bresson / [A-] -
88. [Mar 26th] /Blade II/ (USA, 2002) / Dir. Guillermo del Toro / [B+] -
87. [Mar 23rd] One Hour Photo (USA, 2002) / Dir. Mark Romanek / [B] -
86. [Mar 23rd] E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (USA, 1982; 2002) / Dir. Steven Spielberg / [B+] -
85. [Mar 22nd] Dragonfly (USA, 2002) / Dir. Tom Shadyac / [D+] -
84. [Mar 22nd] Blade II (USA, 2002) / Dir. Guillermo del Toro / [B+] -
83. [Mar 21st] Queen of the Damned (USA, 2002) / Dir. Michael Rymer / [D] -
82. [Mar 17th] Y tu mamá también (Mexico, 2001) / Dir. Alfonso Cuarón / [B] -
81. [Mar 16th] Ice Age (USA, 2002) / Dir. Chris Wedge / [B-] -
80. [Mar 15th] Resident Evil (USA, 2002) / Dir. Paul Anderson / [C+] -
79. [Mar 15th] Showtime (USA, 2002) / Dir. Tom Dey / [C-] -
78. [Mar 11th] Monsoon Wedding (India, 2001) / Dir. Mira Nair / [B+] -
77. [Mar 10th] 40 Days and 40 Nights (USA, 2002) / Dir. Michael Lehmann / [C+] -
76. [Mar 8th] The Time Machine (USA, 2002) / Dir. Simon Wells / [C] -
75. [Mar 8th] We Were Soldiers (USA, 2002) / Dir. Randall Wallace / [C+] -
74. [Mar 7th] Kandahar (Iran, 2001) / Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf / [B+] -
73. [Mar 3rd] The Man From Elysian Fields (USA, 2002) / Dir. George Hickenlooper / [B] -
72. [Mar 3rd] The Lady and the Duke (France, 2001) / Dir. Eric Rohmer / [C] - Me during the first two minutes: "Hey, that's pretty cool and seamless how he placed actors within old paintings." Me during the remaining two hours: "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn."
71. [Mar 3rd] Crush (UK, 2001) / Dir. John McKay / [C-] -
70. [Mar 2nd] The Business of Fancydancing (USA, 2002) / Dir. Sherman Alexie / [C+] - What you might expect when an often pretentious, didactic writer transfers a freakin' BOOK OF POETRY to the big screen -- nicely written pretense and didacticism. This kind of stuff works on the page, but feels awfully forced as cinema.
69. [Mar 2nd] The Orphan of Anyang (China, 2001) / Dir. Wang Chao / [B-] -
68. [Mar 2nd] Bug (USA, 2002) / Dir. Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay / [B-] - Chaos theory gone blatant. Interesting premise (or gimmick): a bug is squashed by a little kid and the resulting chain of events is detailed meticulously. Fun stuff, until one realizes that the chain is expanded upon ad nauseam for the entire 90 minutes, never settling on a specific character or smaller link of characters, never developing a finite circle of individuals, opting rather to add links to the chain until there's no more room for movie left. Like a Kieslowski piece without subtlety, or a Tykwer without drive. Still, it's funny, never slow, and occasionally clever -- a promising (if sketchy) directorial debut if only for the level of control Manfredi and Hay demonstrate.
67. [Mar 2nd] The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (USA, 2002) / Dir. Peter Care / [B] -
66. [Mar 2nd] Waterboys (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Shinobu Yaguchi / [C] - Gee, talk about the goofy factor being cranked to 11. I could envision it as some kind of Japanese Saturday morning cartoon were it not for the thick homoerotic overtones (in one sequence, a boy places his lips around the shaft-like mouth of an injured dolphin and blows air into into it, causing a thick white goo to gurgle forth from its blowhole -- I mean, what the fuck is that?) and disturbing array of underage kiddy pubic hair peeking out from beneath the upper rim of skimpy speedo's. A conflicted moviewatching experience, because, honestly, what's a guy supposed to think when he doesn't know whether to laugh, cringe, or move for theatrical removal on grounds of child pornography?
65. [Mar 1st] Dogtown and Z-Boys (USA, 2001) / Dir. Stacy Peralta / [B+] -
64. [Mar 1st] The Zookeeper (Czech Republic, 2001) / Dir. Ralph Ziman / [C] -
63. [Mar 1st] Zus & Zo (Netherlands, 2001) / Dir. Paula van der Oest / [C+] -
62. [Mar 1st] How Harry Became a Tree (Ireland, 2001) / Dir. Goran Paskaljevic / [B+] -
61. [Feb 28th] A Song for Martin (Sweden, 2001) / Dir. Bille August / [C] -
60. [Feb 28th] Nine Queens (Argentina, 2001) / Dir. Fabián Bielinsky / [B] -
59. [Feb 28th] Harrison's Flowers (France, 2001) / Dir. Elie Chouraqui / [C+] -
58. [Feb 28th] Un crabe dans la tête (Canada, 2001) / Dir. André Turpin / [B] -
57. [Feb 27th] Festival in Cannes (USA, 2002) / Dir. Henry Jaglom / [C+] -
56. [Feb 26th] /Along Came a Spider/ (USA, 2001) / Dir. Lee Tamahori / [C+] -
55. [Feb 25th] The Fast and the Furious (USA, 2001) / Dir. Rob Cohen / [C-] -
54. [Feb 23rd] Trouble Every Day (France, 2001) / Dir. Claire Denis / [B+] -
53. [Feb 23rd] Italian for Beginners (Denmark, 2001) / Dir. Lone Scherfig / [B+] -
52. [Feb 22th] Brotherhood of the Wolf (France, 2001) / Dir. Christophe Gans / [C+] -
51. [Feb 21th] Le petit soldat (France, 1960) / Dir. Jean Luc-Godard / [A-] -
50. [Feb 20th] Fireworks (Hong Kong, 1997) / Dir. Takeshi Kitano / [C+] -
49. [Feb 19th] Unforgiven (USA, 1992) / Dir. Clint Eastwood / [B+] -
48. [Feb 19th] Fires on the Plain (Japan, 1959) / Dir. Kon Ichikawa / [A-] - I must admit that I'm a sucker for war-movies-as-categorical-horror-movies. Elem Klimov's Come and See is probably the most dominant in this self-prescribed subgenre, but Fires on the Plain isn't to be shrugged off merely because of it's age -- this is one disturbing flick. Ichikawa's direction is dynamic and as Western as Kurosawa's of the same period; the vibrant black and white cinematography is as breathtaking as, say, The Hidden Fortress, another movie that involves traversing a great many sparse plains. The big difference here is that the Japanese folks are eating each other on said plains. Gives Black Hawk Down a run for it's money in the war-movie-as-zombie-movie category (a personal favorite).
47. [Feb 18th] Les Bonnes Femmes (France, 1960) / Dir. Claude Chabrol / [B+] -
46. [Feb 16th] Hart's War (USA, 2002) / Dir. Gregory Hoblit / [C] - Maybe I'm just out of the loop or something, but didn't military procedurals whither as a Hollywood genre about, eh, three years ago? Perhaps I celebrated too soon, because purveyor of implausibility Gregory Hoblit (Fallen, Primal Fear, Frequency) is back with this odd amalgam of Stalag 17-like escape shenanigans and A Few Good Men-like boring courtroom crap, threatening to revitalize the whole damn movement. First 15 minutes are so are surprisingly exciting and uncompromising (when's the last time you saw freshly splattered brain matter in a Bruce Willis movie?), then settles comfortably into routine. Not a terrible movie, persay, just an uninspired and often tedious one.
45. [Feb 16th] Nosferatu, The Vampyre (Germany, 1979) / Dir. Werner Herzog / [B+] - Moody, sonically poetic, and elegiac; bathed in a sensual ivory and crimson palette. Might be the most aesthetically stunning vampire movie I've seen.
44. [Feb 15th] Super Troopers (USA, 2001) / Dir. Broken Lizard / [C+] -
43. [Feb 13th] Blow Out (USA, 1981) / Dir. Brian De Palma / [B+] - Fascinating and entirely successful as a self-reflexive exercise; less successful but still interesting as a conspiracy thriller. (The films De Palma imitates for the crux of his surface story -- Blow Up, The Conversation, etc. -- are certainly better as mysteries.) I loved the opening sequence, which was somewhat disgusting to witness while it unfolded (my first time seeing this film), but neatly obligatory as an antecedent to the massive homage on display that follows. It presupposes (as am I at this moment) that, by 1981, De Palma haters were surely in full-swing scouting, probing for any blasphemous defilement of Hitchcock to leap on. What they got was six minutes of indulgence: the absolute worst imitation-Hitchcock one could possibly imagine; the climactic scream (or anti-scream) in a familiar shower setting with a raised knife is a stupendous bridge between the satirical homage and the reverent, literate one that follows.

If you've seen the aforementioned films, there's not much new here in terms of mystery/thriller/suspense elements. The final scenes are kickers, though, placing total thematic emphasis on previously unexplored (or at least glazed-over) pathos, thus becoming the penultimate reversal of a popular thriller staple: an internal realization of a previously external suspense device -- the red herring. In the final minutes, the crux of the PLOT (the tape which holds the recording of the blow out) is tossed into the water (along with the "story," which has no resolution, no climax of its own) never to be discussed again in the film whereas the links between characters are emphasized. Another fine example of De Palma's predilection for using common techniques but expounding upon them in original -- perhaps revolutionary -- ways.

42. [Feb 12th] Band of Outsiders (France, 1963) / Dir. Jean-Luc Godard / [A] -
41. [Feb 10th] Lancelot of the Lake (France, 1974) / Dir. Robert Bresson / [B] - Probably the first Bresson I've seen that I didn't instantly fall in love with; not surprising, as this seems to be the coldest, the most rigorously impassive of his films. I can't say I enjoyed it much, but it can't be denied that this is a formal and ideological peak for Bresson. [There's no doubt in my mind that I'm forced to look at it from far too superficial a level at this point -- this is the type of film that requires multiple viewings to fully appreciate.] Awash in humility, Bresson barely even allows his actors faces the pleasure of gracing the camera's lens, often filming the feet or the horse instead. This leads to what is, perhaps, the most defiant action sequence I've ever seen; we're entirely denied of visceral pleasure in what might have been (and what has been in other Arthurian cinematic adaptations) the story's key dramatic set-piece: a jousting match. The editing in the sequence is without surprise -- it's methodical, nearly mathematical -- so not only is the action itself excitement-stifling, but the technique used to convey it is as well. My off-the-cuff comments here are laughably insufficient; this is a movie to whose style alone could be devoted pages upon pages of in-depth analysis.
40. [Feb 10th] The Day I Became A Woman (Iran, 2001) / Dir. Marziyeh Meshkini / [B+] - Like many recent Iranian films (especially those of Makhmalbaf's), this one blends realism and naturalism with absurdism. At first, I had some problems with the obviousness of the metaphors until I conceded that it's basically impossible for me (a native American) to watch an Iranian film without finding juxtapositional allegory in nearly every shot. A woman riding a bicycle down Broadway in New York while a man strides beside on horse would merely be surrealism; here, the culture creates allegory. The photography is spare and minimal, emphasizing environmental horizontality that suggests forced complacency (the women in many shots are squished between the seas' horizon line on top and the roads' or sands' on the bottom). Production was supposedly fairly low budget, but the cinematography is serene and gorgeous (also quite homogeneous throughout the three pieces despite different cinematographers). Probably my favorite Iranian film of 2001.
39. [Feb 9th] Les Carabiniers (France, 1963) / Dir. Jean-Luc Godard / [B] - Dense as hell. More to come.
38. [Feb 9th] The Legend of Zu (Hong Kong, 2001) / Dir. Tsui Hark / [B] - Paced like a starving, flame-engulfed cheetah feverishly persuing the first available meal in seven months (let's say it's a large gazelle genetically altered to match its hunters foot-speed -- nothing like a good overcooked metaphor every once and a while, eh?), Hark's nebulous nebula is an anime shot live-action: heavy on brazen spectacle, light on everything else. What spectacle, though. Characters rocket through the air, trailed by an extravagant metoric glow; floating citadels collapse to the ground below; giant, amorphous clouds of evil matter swallow villages whole. Mere pyrotechnic incandescence isn't nearly enough to salvage the film entirely, though; its story remains a perplexing cipher, at once far too expository and far too opaque (a problem I have often with anime), and threads within it are often clipped before they're properly weaved. I was also taken back by the torrent of discordant computer graphics -- at one moment, impressive; at another, straight-to-video quality. The whole thing feels damn deranged, but I can't deny being mostly entertained.
37. [Feb 8th] Made (USA, 2001) / Dir. Jon Favreau / [C+] - Might've enjoyed it more if it wasn't so annoying; I was aggrivated by Vaughn's character, Ricky, but even more infuriuating was his friend Bobby's (Jon Favreau) stoic complacency. I suppose I was projecting what my own response would be to someone of Ricky's nature, but I wanted Bobby to shoot the idiot in the head then beat his lifeless corpse into a misfigured pulp, and that never came to pass. That was, as morbid as it may sound, a crushing disappointment.
36. [Feb 8th] Collateral Damage (USA, 2002) / Dir. Andrew Davis / [C] - Says the Columbian terrorist 'The Wolf' to a vigilante Ah-nold, whose recently killed innocent wife and daughter the title refers to: "What makes you different than me?" Says Ah-nold to the Columbian terrorist, whose previously detonated bomb resulted in the collateral damage: "The difference is, I'm just going to kill you." He could've also added to that, "I also don't have a fetish for prying dude's jaws open and shoving 3-foot long poisonous snakes down their esophagi like you do. But hey, whatever gets you off." The Columbian terrorist could've added, "Well, at least I have some sort of interesting, unique trait, even if it is parenthetically inserted into the movie as a manipulative way of displaying my Plutonian Malevolence. You're just too damn perfect; you're the iconic American Hero, ready to root out all of us Evildoers. Don't you have some sort of hammer and winged helmet you're supposed to be wearing or something?"
35. [Feb 6th] Croupier (United Kingdom, 1998) / Dir. Mike Hodges / [C] - The good: Clive Owen. The bad: Plot holes. Big ones. Stupifying ones. Laughably egregrious twist near the end.
34. [Feb 4th] Baise-moi (France, 2000) / Dir. Virginia Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi / [C+] - It's basically about the paradox of violent American movies and how they subvert eroticism under a mask of gory killing; and it's about how, like, I shouldn't be aroused by this kind of pornography because there's gruesome violence and oppressive sexism attached to it -- or should I, because my presupposed filmwatching id is that of the horny, sexually repressed and misogynistic Male?; and it's also about being controversial because French movies aren't really French anymore unless they break conventions and show a dripping vagina or an erect cock or some dudes head getting blown in in the same screen as a dripping vagina or an erect cock or both. Yeah, it's about a lot of things and it has some decent ideas with regards to the roles we play as moviewatchers; it's too bad that it it's pretty crappily made overall. Oh yeah, it's also about being crappily made because porno's are crappily made and it's got the whole self-reflective nouvelle vague vibe going on and this kind of hard-hitting story needs a kind of gritty, Dogme-esque reality. [In other words, it's the kind of movie that some arthouse critics are forced to love because it presents a blatant ideological excuse for every bad filmmaking trick it uses thus effectively trapping them in a critical corner.]
33. [Feb 4th] Bad Taste (New Zealand, 1987) / Dir. Peter Jackson / [C] - I guess I don't get it -- you mean to tell me that there are actually people who hold this occasionally smirk-inducing but hideously acted and clumsily directed Jackson gore-fest in higher regard than his Heavenly Creatures? Wha?!?!?
32. [Feb 3rd] Sisters (USA, 1973) / Dir. Brian De Palma / [B] - Stunning level of camera coordination actually warrants comparisons to the master of suspense, unlike so many other movies superficially deemed Hitchcockian (the voyeuristic aesthetic on display here doesn't hurt the comparison). Less a Hitch-clone and more a mirror-like, surface disquisition on his technique and an elaboration on De Palma's more cinema-reflexive style. I think the movie kind of falls apart in the third act, but that's just me; mostly really solid stuff here, and I have a feeling I'll like it even more with repeat viewings.
31. [Feb 1st] Slackers (USA, 2002) / Dir. Dewey Nicks / [D] - Two minutes of note -- a scene featuring a soothing, choral, rendition of an awful "Ace of Base" song feels so absurd yet approbatory it might've found itself in Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko had that film taken place in the early 90s rather than the late 80s -- bookended by utter crap. Shit sandwich.
30. [Jan 31th] Monster's Ball (USA, 2001) / Dir. Marc Forster / [B+] -
29. [Jan 28th] My Life to Live (France, 1962) / Dir. Jean-Luc Godard / [A] - Well, I have to see it again before I can take it all in (like most upper-tier Godard) so I'll reserve most of my comments 'till then, but damn, this is some kind of masterpiece. Sad, observant, but entirely humanistic and emotionally involving. Karina is amazing and her character strong willed, proof that French female characters don't have to be waifish or dimwitted for American viewers to fall for them. Me watching her watch Falconetti, both of whose eyes seemed to be filled with the grace of something intangible, was transcendent. Maybe my new favorite Godard. Definitely will be exploring this one more in the future.
28. [Jan 27th] Bully (USA, 2001) / Dir. Larry Clark / [B+] -
27. [Jan 27th] Lantana (Australia, 2001) / Dir. Ray Lawrence / [D+] - I'll be posting a full review here soon for this mostly superficial piece of junk. Stay tuned. *No, it's still not finished. I need to get in the groove of writing full-length reviews again. Been a while since I have, so bear with me.
26. [Jan 27th] The Count of Monte Cristo (USA, 2002) / Dir. Kevin Reynolds / [B] -
25. [Jan 26th] The Mothman Prophecies (USA, 2002) / Dir. Mark Pellington / [C+] - Despite the fact that it becomes the aural and visual close-cousin of a migraine about halfway through (early on, I figured this was intentional as a stylistic relationship to the brain tumor that a character has; I later realized it's mostly because of jarring editing and aggrivating sound effects), I must say that I was involved, albeit finitely, by this rather forgettable exercise in ambiguity. The total lack of subtext kinda castrates the end result, but the surface is rather shiny and neat to look at.
24. [Jan 26th] Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (USA, 2002) / Dir. Steve Oedekerk / [D+] -
23. [Jan 23rd] /Stalker/ (Soviet Union, 1979) / Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky / [A] - Finally, Stalker on DVD. A fitting format for what is maybe the best photographed film of all time. It's in no way flashy, but rather amazingly detailed and textured (structural decrepitude has never looked so gorgeous). I'd say a cinematographer is doing something right when a character standing amidst verdant green shrubbery during a bright, sunny day can take two steps back and suddenly be surrounded by an impenetrable, all-encompassing blackness while he digs narratively into his inner darkness, then walk two feet forward and once again be in the comfort of greenery. Not a camera trick, people, not a special effect; just damn fine cinematography.

Decay is the first thing that springs to mind when someone mentions Stalker; environmental decay, physical decay, and certainly intellectual decay. In one sense, philosophy is alive and thriving throughout the picture; in another, it's utterly dead. The pontification seems to lead each character in circles until they ultimately arrive at a completely spiritual examination of their inner self. Scenes of absolute transcendence highlight this. One in particular, a slow, northward camera move above the surface of shallow water, details rusty, forgotten items resting in the mud -- an image of a Saint, a photograph of a tree, a gun, pennies. Perhaps memories of the three travelers; perhaps their links to God; perhaps the means of their spiritual self-destruction? What do they symbolize? Only you can decide. Now, that might sound like a cheesy endorsement for "Dianetics," but I assure you that unlocking Stalker's mysteries is an entirely subjective and enlightening process. Give it a try.
22. [Jan 22nd] /Black Hawk Down/ (USA, 2001) / Dir. Ridley Scott / [B] - Didn't plan to see it again so soon. Didn't plan for it to leave me with absolutely nothing else to say after a second viewing. Both came to pass. Ah well.
21. [Jan 21st] Divided We Fall (Czech Republic, 2000) / Dir. Jan Hrebejk / [B] -
20. [Jan 18th] Black Hawk Down (USA, 2001) / Dir. Ridley Scott / [B] - Not going to criticize this adaptation on transitional precision or historical grounds - I've never read the book of the same title on which it's based and have little to no knowledge of the actual events that took place in 1993 - but how far off the mark would I be in assuming that the political edge here has been profusely dulled in lieu of a faster-paced but ultimately less substantial story now focused acutely on heroics? In that regard, Ridley has clearly adopted his little brothers penchant for crafting overtly political stories that manage to sidestep politics completely. Politically, visually, dermatologically, this is as black-and-white as war movies get.

It's also viscerally thrilling, for sure, though it doesn't quite achieve the same mixture of pointed, trenchant realism and compositional clarity that Spielberg patented with Saving Private Ryan - an effect Scott was clearly aiming for. Surprisingly for a combat movie, the quiet scenes feel the tensest; a scene featuring a small platoon of misinformed soldiers attempting to navigate their way through the now-deserted streets to the hotspot vibrates with apprehension. Overall well-constructed. Seems as if I should've liked it more; luke-warm response is likely due to an overabundance of archetypal, underdeveloped characters and a slight decent in storytelling precision (read: some melodramatic cliché) during the last quarter.

On another note, I didn't find the movie itself (or Ridley's intentions) racist, as many soapbox critics seem to be proclaiming; the situation is, of course, highly racist, but, come on, no way to sidestep that. All war is about killing off another demographic. In this case, Somalies are black, the American boys are white, but they're both shooting to stay alive, not to purify their race or some other hogwash. Certainly, there are some oppressive shots of black, sweaty fists beating down on Americans, but I'm sure that's a stylistic and dramatic choice on Scott's part and not a signifier of abrasive ethnocentricity. Besides, we're talking a combat film here, folks - a movie where people's thumbs get blown off in graphic detail and crap. Gory, brutal stuff, not the end-all film about America's sketchy third-world relations. Okay, I'm done.
19. [Jan 17th] *Cape Fear (USA, 1962) / Dir. J. Lee Thompson / [B+] - Bleak and bold. Dominant sexually repressed aesthetic with a dirty, iniquitous and heated eroticism boiling under the surface; some darn wicked subversion goin' on here. Oh, and Mitchum as a villian. What more could you ask for?
18. [Jan 16th] Lost and Delirious (Canada, 2001) / Dir. Lea Pool / [C+] -
17. [Jan 16th] Series 7: The Contenders (USA, 2001) / Dir. Daniel Minahan / [C] - Sorry, but I like my misanthropic satires of reality programming to at least attempt to emulate real life; this is so overwrought it could've just as easily been a running sketch on Saturday Night Live -- Will Ferrell would've been hilarious as the sickly suicidal guy. As it is, Series 7 drowns in its own pretense. It's neither shocking nor disturbing, and it only ends up being a mockery of itself.
16. [Jan 15th] Gosford Park (USA, 2001) / Dir. Robert Altman / [B] -
15. [Jan 12th] Charlotte Gray (USA, 2001) / Dir. Gillian Armstrong / [C-] - This movie only works on one level: as a two-hour ode to Cate Blanchett's face. Oh it's a beautiful face indeed, made even more so by the soft, warm lighting and painterly cinematography (her cheeks look neatly airbrushed in many scenes), but every time the camera veered away from a close-up and focused on the hokey, tensionless story instead, I came disturbingly close to catching up on some much needed sleep. It's a shame, really. I mean, the movie had all the trimmings to be a great film: a talented, luminous actress like Cate Blanchett; Gillian Armstrong, who's just great at creating a sense of place and time, behind the camera; striking cinematography; and a story that seems mighty interesting on paper. Bleh -- what a misfire, though.
14. [Jan 12th] Fat Girl (France, 2001) / Dir. Catherine Breillat / [B] -
13. [Jan 12th] The Devil's Backbone (Mexico, 2001) / Dir. Guillermo del Toro / [B+] - Guillermo del Toro's film is less the horror/ghost story that the trailer suggests and more a dark, personal, almost Dickensian children's adventure steeped in an uncertain time and place. The movie is gorgeously photographed and well-acted, bringing to mind this years other superb supernatural tale, The Others. It's such a great treat to be given two old fashioned ghost stories in a single year during a filmic horror climate still populated by movies like Valentine.
12. [Jan 11th] In the Bedroom (USA, 2001) / Dir. Todd Field / [B-] - Powerful performances from all, but the movie failed to draw me in -- either to its characters or its story. Perhaps that's what Field intended -- if the void that is grief can't be cinematically visualized (after all, how can one film the absence of something), instigate emotional distance in the textures of the film; the uneasy, unresolved fades; the long-takes that suggest infinite, suffocating time; the claustrophobic window panes of the house in which Field traps his characters numerous times; the distance between words despite the close physical proximity of two characters. It's all very well done, but I can't say I was surprised or moved by any of it. Maybe that's because I'd read the story, but I'd dare not assume that the power people are feeling during this film stems solely from its two notable shocks. At least I hope not. Better movies about grief: The Sweet Hereafter and Three Colors: Blue.
11. [Jan 11th] Orange County (USA, 2002) / Dir. Jake Kasdan / [B] - Jack Black is officially the funniest person alive in my book. Of course, I probably shouldn't say that, because every time I do it seems like said funny person suffers an untimely death. The movie is like a junior edition of Wonder Boys, but it's consistently funny and pretty smart. Best part: Schuyler Fisk's nose getting bit by that little dog; more surprising than anything in Impostor.
10. [Jan 10th] Suspiria (Italy, 1977) / Dir. Dario Argento / [B] - Love the sets and lighting, but the mood is often killed by Goblin's awkward techno-rock music. Sequences in which they give it a rest or choose a slightly subtler sound, such as the nighttime conversation regarding some heavy breathing, are effectively creepy. The climax is, well, anticlimactic; denouement nonexistent. As disappointing as a mostly cool-ass horror movie can be, I suppose.
09. [Jan 7th] Mr. Arkadin (USA, 1955) / Dir. Orson Welles / [B] - Total B noir with unsurprisingly A-level direction by Welles. Yet another instance in which I curse the name of the studio for tampering with Welles' vision before I could see it.
08. [Jan 6th] Sunrise (USA, 1927) / Dir. F.W. Murnau / [A-] - Some superb sequences (the reconciliation scenes in the city are heartbreaking), but I still regard both Greed and The Crowd as the ultimate in silent marital drama.
07. [Jan 6th] The Elephant Man (USA, 1980) / Dir. David Lynch / [B+] - Wonderfully textured direction by Lynch here; the early scenes are eerie, dank, and downright morose, reflecting just how damn disturbing the very concept of a "Freak Show" is. Ending is haunting and memorable.
06. [Jan 5th] Cannibal Holocaust (Italy, 1979) / Dir. Ruggero Deadato / [B] - The reason Blair Witch Project should never be considered original. This one is infinitely more disturbing even with the subpar acting. The animal killing is tough to watch, though, but makes an interesting statement w/r/t how much easier it is to watch peoples guts and brain matter getting eaten and whatnot.
05. [Jan 5th] Avalon (Japan, 2001) / Dir. Mamoru Oshii / [C-] - Like a mediocre video game cut-scene filmed life-action for 2 hours. It's got some good music and it's occasionally nice to look at, but the dialogue is awful, the acting is worse, and the editing is extremely amateurish.
04. [Jan 4th] /Donnie Darko/ (USA, 2001) / Dir. Richard Kelly / [A-] -
03. [Jan 4th] Impostor (USA, 2002) / Dir. Gary Fleder / [C] -
02. [Jan 2nd] /The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring/ (USA, 2001) / Dir. Peter Jackson / [A-] - The movie gets better with every viewing. I suspect a couple more doses of it will yield a flat A rating.
01. [Jan 1st] *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (USA, 1969) / Dir. George Roy Hill / [B] - Occasionally funny, but lacking any tension whatsoever; Hill's direction actually seems to detest tension -- he awkwardly cuts away just when some could be built. And, I'm sorry, but the Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head interlude is one of the lamest anachronistic song-inclusions I've ever had to endure.

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