2001 Film List

Last Updated: 08/18/04

Total Film Count: 43

• 2001 Theatrical Releases: 31
• Special Editions/Re-Releases: 2
• Short Films: 7
• TV Films: 2
• Direct-to-Video Films: 1

[c]2001 Theatrical Releases[/c]

Film / Grade / MPAA Rating / Director(s) / Date Viewed (Venue & Additional Viewing Info in Parentheses)

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence / / PG-13 / Steven Spielberg / 08/16/01 (CCP)
Amélie (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain) / ¾ / R / Jean-Pierre Jeunet / 01/29/02 (AMCSP)
Atlantis: The Lost Empire / / PG / Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise / 07/03/01 (CVP)

Baby Boy / ¾ / R / John Singleton / 09/05/02 (HBO)
A Beautiful Mind / ¼ / PG-13 / Ron Howard / 01/03/02 (CCP)
Black Hawk Down / / R / Ridley Scott / 01/17/02 (CCP)

The Devil's Backbone (El Espinazo del Diablo) / ¼ / R / Guillermo Del Toro / 06/16/04 (DVD)[RENT]

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within / ¾ / PG-13 / Hironobu Sakaguchi / 07/14/01 (CCSP)

Gosford Park / ½ / R / Robert Altman / 01/26/02 (COBBD)

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone / ¼ / PG / Chris Columbus / 11/21/01 (CCP)

In The Bedroom / ¼ / R / Todd Field / 02/01/02 (AMCSP)
Iris / / R / Richard Eyre / 02/24/02 (AMCAV)

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back / / R / Kevin Smith / 03/05/02 (DVD)
Jurassic Park III / / PG-13 / Joe Johnston / 07/19/01 (CVP)

Kandahar (Safar e Ghandehar) / / NR / Mohsen Makhmalbaf / 03/03/02 (RSB)

Life as a House / ¾ / R / Irwin Winkler / 08/23/03 (DVD)[RENT]
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring / / PG-13 / Peter Jackson / 12/19/01 (CCP)
Lost & Delirious / / R / Léa Pool / 01/08/03 (DVD)[RENT]
Lumumba / ½ / NR / Raoul Peck / 03/07/02 (HBO)[DUB]

Monster's Ball / ¼ / R /Marc Foster / 02/09/02 (AMCSP)
Monsters Inc. / ½ / G / Pete Docter / 11/08/01 (CCP)
Moulin Rouge! / ½ / PG-13 / Baz Luhrmann / 02/28/02 (AMCSP), 07/27/02 (DVD)
The Mummy Returns / ½ / PG-13 / Stephen Sommers / 05/04/01 (RPL)

Planet of the Apes / ¼ / PG-13 / Tim Burton / 07/28/01 (CVP)
Princesa / ½ / NR / Henrique Goldman / 01/04/04 (DVD)[RENT]

The Royal Tenenbaums / ¼ / R / Wes Anderson / 01/31/02 (COBBD)
Rush Hour 2 / ¾ / PG-13 / Brett Ratner / 08/23/01 (CCP)

Shrek / ½ / PG / Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson / 12/27/01 (DVD)
The Son's Room (La Stanza del Figlio) / ¾ / R / Nanni Moretti / 03/09/02 (RSB)
Songcatcher / ¾ / PG-13 / Maggie Greenwald / 07/30/03 (DVD)[RENT]

Training Day / ¼ / R / Antoine Fuqua / 05/04/02 (DVD)


[c]2001 Special Editions/Re-Releases[/c]

Battle Royale: Special Version / ½ / NR / Kinji Fukasaku / 06/19/04 (DVD)[RENT]

Elvis: That's The Way It Is - Special Edition / / PG / Denis Sanders / 01/08/03 (TCM)


[c]2001 Short Films[/c]

Ambush / ½ / NR / John Frankenheimer / 02/28/02 (WEB)

Chosen / / NR / Ang Lee / 02/28/02 (WEB)

The Follow / ½ / Unrated / Wong Kar-Wai / 02/28/02 (WEB)
For the Birds / ½ / G / Ralph Eggleston / 11/08/01 (CCP)

Powder Keg / ½ / NR / Alejandro González Iñárritu / 02/28/02 (WEB)

Star / / NR / Guy Ritchie / 02/28/02 (WEB)

Why I Love ****ing New York / / NR / Kevin Smith / 03/06/02 (WEB)


[c]2001 TV Films[/c]

61* / / TV-MA / Billy Crystal / N/A (HBO)

Samurai Jack: Movie Premiere / ¼ / TV-Y7 / Genndy Tartakovsky / 08/10/01 (CN)



[c]2001 Direct-to-Video Films[/c]

Replicant / / R / Ringo Lam / 01/01/02 (VHS)



Rating System

- Astonishing
¾ - Excellent
½ - Great
¼ - Very Good
- Good
¾ - Above Average
½ - Average
¼ - Below Average
Poor
¾ - Bad
½ - Dreadful
¼ - Horrendous
- Absolute Garbage


Theaters: AMCAV - AMC Aventura 24, Aventura, Florida
AMCSP - AMC Sunset Place 24, South Miami, Florida
CCP - Caribbean Cinemas Plaza las Americas, San Juan, Puerto Rico
CCSP - Caribbean Cinemas San Patricio, San Juan, Puerto Rico
CVP - CineVista Plaza las Americas, San Juan, Puerto Rico
COBBD - Cobb Dolphin 19, Miami, Florida
RPL - Regal Palace 18, Miami, Florida
RSB - Regal South Beach 18, Miami Beach, Florida


Channels: CN - Cartoon Network
HBO - Home Box Office
TCM - Turner Classic Movies


Other Abbreviations: DUB - The dubbed version of a foreign-language film was viewed.
DVD - Film was viewed on DVD.
N/A - Date of viewing not available.
RENT- The DVD viewed was a rental.
VHS - Film was viewed on a crappy VHS tape.
WEB - Film was viewed online.

Snatch
Enemy at the Gates
Mummy Returns
Memento
Shrek
Swordfish
Tomb Raider
Atlantis
Fast and the Furious
A.I.
Final Fantasy
Jurassic Park III


[Edited last by Derek Faber on July 17, 2001 at 02:36 AM]

[Edited last by Derek Faber on July 17, 2001 at 02:37 AM]

[Edited last by Derek Faber on July 17, 2001 at 02:38 AM]

[Edited last by Derek Faber on July 17, 2001 at 02:40 AM]

[Edited last by Derek Faber on July 17, 2001 at 06:52 PM]

I've broken the list into four categories: 2001 qualifiers, non-qualifiers, Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival, and Others.

2001 films to date: 196
Other films: 42
Total: 238

2001 films

13 Ghosts
15 Minutes
3000 Miles To Graceland

The Affair of the Necklace
A.I.
Ali
All Access
Along Came a Spider
Amelie
American Outlaws
American Pie 2
An American Rhapsody
America's Sweethearts
Angel Eyes
The Animal
The Anniversary Party
AntiTrust
Apocalypse Now Redux
Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Baby Boy
Bandits
A Beautiful Mind
Behind Enemy Lines
Big Eden
Big Trouble
Black Knight
Blow
Blow Dry
Bones
Born Romantic
Bread and Tulips
Bride of the Wind
Bridget Jones's Diary
Brother
The Brothers
Bubble Boy

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Cats & Dogs
The Caveman's Valentine
The Center of the World
Chopper
Chunhyang
The Closet
Corky Romano
crazy/beautiful
Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

The Deep End
The Dish
Domestic Disturbance
Don't Say a Word
Double Take
Down To Earth
Dr. Dolittle 2
Driven

Enemy at the Gates
Evolution
Exit Wounds
Extreme Days

Faithless
The Fast and the Furious
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Focus
The Forsaken
Freddy Got Fingered
From Hell

Gangster No. 1
Get Over It
Ghost World
The Glass House
Glitter
The Golden Bowl
Go Tigers!
Grateful Dawg
Greenfingers

Haiku Tunnel
Hannibal
Hardball
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Haunted Castle
Head Over Heels
Heartbreakers
Hearts in Atlantis
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Heist
Himalaya
How High

In the Bedroom
In the Mood for Love

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Jeepers Creepers
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Joe Dirt
Joe Somebody
John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars
Josie and the Pussycats
Joy Ride
Jurassic Park III
Just Visiting

Kate and Leopold
Kingdom Come
Kiss of the Dragon
A Knight's Tale
K-Pax

The Last Castle
Left Behind
Legally Blonde
L.I.E.
Life as a House
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Luzhin Defence

Made
The Majestic
The Man Who Wasn't There
Max Keeble's Big Move
Megiddo: Omega Code 2
Memento
The Mexican
Monkeybone
Monsters, Inc.
Moulin Rouge
Mulholland Drive
The Mummy Returns
The Musketeer
My First Mister

Nico and Dani
Not Another Teen Movie
Novocaine

O
Ocean's 11
On the Line
The One
One Night at McCool's
Original Sin
Osmosis Jones
The Others
Our Lady of the Assassins
Out Cold

Panic
Pearl Harbor
Planet of the Apes
The Pledge
Pootie Tang
The Princess and the Warrior
The Princess Diaries

Rat Race
Recess: School's Out
Riding in Cars with Boys
The Road Home
Rock Star
The Royal Tenenbaums
Rush Hour 2

Save the Last Dance
Saving Silverman
Say It Isn't So
Scary Movie 2
The Score
See Spot Run
Serendipity
Series 7: The Contenders
Sexy Beast
Shallow Hal
The Shipping News
Shrek
Sidewalks of New York
Snatch
Someone Like You
Songcatcher
Soul Survivors
Spring Forward
Spy Game
Spy Kids
Startup.com
Sugar & Spice
Summer Catch
Sweet November
Swordfish

The Tailor of Panama
Texas Rangers
Together
Tomb Raider
Tomcats
Town & Country
Training Day
Two Can Play That Game

Under the Sand

Valentine
Vanilla Sky
The Vertical Ray of the Sun

Waking Life
The Wash
The Wedding Planner
What's the Worst That Could Happen?
The Widow of Saint-Pierre
With a Friend Like Harry

Zoolander

Non-qualifiers

Amores Perros
Before Night Falls
Boys Life 3
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The Gift
The House of Mirth
Malena
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Pollock
Shadow of the Vampire
State and Main
Suzhou River
A Time for Drunken Horses
Traffic
Venus Beauty Institute
Yi Yi
You Can Count On Me

Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival

2001: A Space Odyssey
3 Women
Everyone Says I Love You
Girl on the Bridge
Jesus' Son
The King of Masks
Maryam
Nosferatu
On the Ropes
A Simple Plan
Songs from the Second Floor
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
Such a Long Journey

Others

Ashes of Time
George Washington
High Society
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Iron Monkey
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Mystery of Picasso
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Right Stuff
Sound and Fury
The Wanderers
The Young Girls of Rochefort

------------------
Read my reviews at www.dvdmon.com

Alright here's my list. I'm not actually sure if this is everything, but here goes:

A.I.: A
Spy Kids: A
Memento: A-
In the Mood For Love: A-
The Others: B+
Moulin Rouge: B+
The Fast and the Furious: B+
The Tailor of Panama: B
The Pledge: B
15 Minutes: B
Bridget Jones's Diary: B
The Score: B
Freddy Got Fingered: B
Final Fantasy: B-
American Pie 2: B-
Heartbreakers: B-
Atlantis: B-
Snatch: B-
Enemy at the Gates: B-
Shrek: B-
Ginger Snaps: B-
Angel Eyes: B-
The Mummy Returns: B-
Rush Hour 2: B-
Legally Blonde: C+
The Forsaken: C+
Jurassic Park 3: C+
Planet of the Apes: C+
Swordfish: C+
Monkey Bone: C+
Cats and Dogs: C+
Osmosis Jones: C+
Evolution: C+
crazy/beautiful: C+
Baby Boy: C+
Town and Country: C+
The Animal: C+
Tomb Raider: C
Down to Earth: C
Along Came A Spider: C
Someone Like You: C
Josie and the Pussycats: C
Dr. Dolittle 2: C
Driven: C-
One Night at McCool's: C-
Hannibal: C-
Valentine: C-
The Wedding Planner: C-
Crocodile Dundee in LA: C-
What's the Worst That Could Happen: C-
Exit Wounds: C-
Joe Dirt: D+
Sweet November: D+
Pearl Harbor: D+
Sugar and Spice: D+
Kiss of the Dragon: D+
Head Over Heels: D+
Scary Movie 2: D
Left Behind: D-
America's Sweethearts: D-
Save the Last Dance: F
Tomcats: F
3000 Miles to Graceland: F

Mark

Here's my top ten of 2001 so far.

1st Place - Memento
2nd Place - Der Krieger und die Kaiserin
3rd Place - Mulholland Drive
4th Place - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
5th Place - The Deep End
6th Place - Sexy Beast
7th Place - Moulin Rouge
8th Place - A.I. - Artificial Intelligence
9th Place - Vanilla Sky
10th Place - Made

With Monster's Ball my list should be pretty close to completion. I know I have yet to see nearly everything, but I don't forsee anyithing causing a shift in my current top ten. Also, upon further deliberation (read: second screenings) I untied The Royal Tenenbaums and Amelie, and placed Tenenbaums at the top spot on my list. My goodness, Hackman was so shafted by the Academy. As were everyone else involved with the film. It is such an immaculately-crafted work.

"How long have you been smoking?"
"Since I was 11."
"Well...You should stop!"

Updated with a couple of features and a couple of shorts.

Monkeybone is why I try and see everything in the theater. Maybe, if there was a group of us in the room, there would have been laughter. As it is, it's bad enough to bump Town And Country off the bottom-10 list. ¾

The Independent was the closing film of SF/27, this year's 24-hour sci-fi movie marathon at the Coolidge Corner theater, and its high point (well, other than Happy Accidents ). An extremely funny movie that's been in the can a while - filmed in 2000, released late 2001 in NY/LA because, apparently, they thought they could get Jerry Stiller nominated for best actor, and soon to make its way across the nation's boutique theaters - it's a mockumentary about Corman-esque filmmaker Morty Fineman (Stiller), with a pretty good cast (Janeane Garafolo, Max Perlich) even beore you get to the high-quality nepotism and funny as-themselves camoes (Corman, Ron Howard, others). The end credits demand freeze-framing on DVD as all 426 of Morty's insane movies are listed.

Speaking of SF/27, not only did Miramax send the wrong movie, but they did it twice! And I'd really been looking forward to Light Years Trilogy with Danny Boyle's "Alien Love Triangle", Bryan Singer's "The Last Question", and Gary Fleder's "Impostor, The Shorter And Hopefully Better Version". Would have been a world premiere, too.

More short stuff: Added the Oscar-nominated "For The Birds", which I'd been under the impression was a 2000 movie, and the painful-to-watch "Wave Twisters". Hip-hop dentists in space. Ugh.

Viewed a few films this week:

Black Hawk Down - It's a relentlessly gruelling experience, with the filmmakers not letting you off the hook for a moment. This is visceral filmmaking, Ridley Scott drags us into war on the ground so that you feel the bullets hit the seat next to you. It almost feels documentary-like in its treatment (For me, very reminisant of last year's Traffic in style). Acting was solid all around and for me there was no real stand-out in the cast. This has taken the #4 spot on my Top Films of 2001 list, and was definately deserving of a **** rating.

From Hell - While I have seen a lot of negativity regarding this film, I still went in optimistic as some critics I respect quite liked it. I came out very disappointed, while it had some really nice photography and costume design the story was lacking and was a very predictable and did not offer anything new in this genre of film. I felt Johnny Depp and to a lesser extent Ian Holm did save it from being a complete bomb therefore I am giving this **.

Corky Romano - I was well aware how bad it was meant to be but I decided to go see it anyway. This is nothing short of terrible, it did not get a single laugh out of me, nothing in this was remotely funny. When are people going to realise that pulling stupid faces and falling over everything just isn't funny. The 3 other people in the cinema were finding it incredibly funny, and I tell you now I felt like smacking them up for it . If I could score less than Zero believe me I would.

In the next couple of days i'll be viewing Ali, Rabbit Proof Fence, Hearts in Atalntis, Iris and Behind Enemy Lines. So i'll post some more thoughts in the coming days.

What SOB told me that Center of the World was really good.

Ok, it's not that bad just a little flat to me. Not a lot of solid new ground covered. Add to that the lower quality in general due to the lower budget and you have a decent but not great film.

Watchable enough but I'm glad I missed it at the theater I guess. It rates a 5.5 of 10 and doesn't make my top 30.

Curse of the Jade Scorpion 7.5 of 10
Someone else said that even average Woody is a good film, and I agree. Scorpion is one of Woody's better efforts lately and a lot of fun. Doesn't quite have the great artistic flow to make my top 30, but it sure is a lot of fun. Plenty of good Woody one-liners, a nice score, and a light, fun script. Really a popcorn crime comedy.

Bully 8.5 of 10

From top 10 2001 thread:

I just saw one of the best indy-style murder films of the year, IMHO. It surpassed both The Deep End and In the Bedroom for me, though Bedroom and Deep End had some of the best acting of the year, the ensemble of young actors in Bully were very strong.

But Bully also had a great look, style, and was extremely well-paced. Tension and drama is maintained throughout the film. It's rare that true stories come to screen so well.

This is also "Scared Straight" for parents.

Bully goes to #17 on my list, just ahead of In the Bedroom. I recommend checking it out, it's already out on DVD. Just be ready for nudity, language, drug use, and the thought that your teenager could be running wild. I bet the truth and this film aren't very far apart however.

And O 7.5 of 10
Good film and an interesting bit of translation/interpretation. I liked it but didn't love it. I found the visual style to be a bit run of the mill I guess, which kept it from excelling into the top 30 or higher. I recommend seeing it and others might even love it. For me it just ends up being a "liked".

Sure, you couldn't resist and just had to see it for yourself, didn't you?

~Edwin

Truthfully Edwin, the whole Center of the World thing baffles me. I had heard such awful reviews and controversy and yet also a few top 10 appearances.

Then I see it and find it to be harmless, middle-of-the-road indy filmmaking. Nothing special, nothing bad. Not sure why it encites such polarizing.

Having just seen Bully I can't see anything "controversial" about the sexuality in Center. Go figure.

Films with full theatrical releases (ie. they played for one whole week in a theater) in the US in 2001. Rated out of ***** (five) stars:

A Beautiful Mind ***1/2
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence ***1/2
A Matter of Taste ****
Amelie ***1/2
Amores Perros **1/2
Atlantis: The Lost Empire ***1/2
Audition ***
Black Hawk Down ***1/2
Brigham City ***
Burnt Money ****
Code Unknown ***
Cure ****1/2
Dinner Rush ***1/2
Divided We Fall ***
Djomeh **
Donnie Darko ***
Eureka *****
Everything Put Together *
Evolution *
Faithless **
Fat Girl **1/2
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within **1/2
Focus ***
Ghost World ***
Gohatto ***1/2
Gosford Park ****
Hedwig and the Angry Inch ***
Himalaya ***1/2
Innocence **
In the Bedroom ***
In the Mood for Love *****
Intimacy ****
Iron Monkey ***
Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back *1/2
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade ***1/2
Kandahar ***1/2
La Cienaga ***
Last Resort ***
Legally Blonde ***
L.I.E. ***1/2
Little Otik **
Lumumba ***1/2
Memento ****
Monsters, Inc. ***1/2
Moulin Rouge *1/2
Mulholland Drive ***1/2
No Man's Land ****
Our Lady of the Assassins ***
Our Song ****
Panic ***
Pearl Harbor *1/2
Sexy Beast ***
Shrek ***
Songs from the Second Floor ****1/2
Tape ***
Time and Tide ***
The Bridge ***
The Business of Strangers ***1/2
The Caveman's Valentine ***
The Circle ***
The Closet ***1/2
The Crimson Rivers **1/2
The Day I Became a Woman ****
The Deep End *1/2
The Devil's Backbone ***1/2
The Fast and the Furious ***
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ****
The Man Who Wasn't There ***
The Others ****
The Princess and the Warrior ****
The River ****
The Road Home ****
The Royal Tenenbaums ****
The Taste of Others ****
The Town is Quiet ***
The Vertical Ray of the Sun ***1/2
The Widow of St. Pierre ***1/2
Together ***1/2
Tuvalu ***
Under the Sand **1/2
Va Savoir ***
Vengo ***
Waking Life **1/2
Werckmeister Harmonies ****1/2
With a Friend like Harry ***

Shown in Film Fstival Circuits only:

Face (Kao) ***
Happy Man **
Hotel Splendide ****
Landscape (Krajinka) *1/2
Not Forgotten ****
Peppermint Candy ****1/2
Platform (Zhantai) ***
Seance (Korei) *1/2
Still yet to see:

Monster's Ball
Lantana
Iris
Last Orders
Baran
Behind the Sun
Trouble Every Day


Top 25 Films of 2001:

Masterpiece tier:
1. In the Mood for Love ***** (Wong Kar-Wai)
2. Eureka ***** (Shinji Aoyama)
3. Werckmeister Harmonies ****1/2 (Bela Tarr/Agnes Hranitzky)
4. Songs from the Second Floor ****1/2 (Roy Andersson)
5. Cure ****1/2 (Kiyoshi Kurosawa
6. The River **** (Tsai Ming-Liang)
-------------------------------------------------------------
7. A Matter of Taste **** (Bernard Rapp)
8. The Road Home **** (Zhang Yimou)
9. The Royal Tenenbaums **** (Wes Anderson)
10. Our Song **** (Jim McKay)
11. The Princess and the Warrior **** (Tom Tykwer)
12. Intimacy **** (Patrice Chereau)
13. No Man's Land **** (Danis Tanovic)
14. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring **** (Peter Jackson)
15. The Others **** (Alejandro Amenabar)
16. Burnt Money **** (Marcelo Pineyro)
17. The Day I Became a Woman **** (Marzieh Meshkini)
18. Memento **** (Christopher Nolan)
19. The Taste of Others **** (Agnes Jaoui)
20. Lumumba ***1/2 (Raoul Peck)
21. L.I.E. ***1/2 (Michael Cuesta)
22. Gosford Park ***1/2 (Robert Altman)
23. Mulholland Drive ***1/2 (David Lynch)
24. The Vertical Ray of the Sun ***1/2 (Tran Anh-Hung)
25. Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade ***1/2 (Hiroyuki Okiura)

O (out of four)

Good performances all around and a very interesting adaptation of the Shakespeare story.

~Edwin

Updated with Storytelling, Todd Solondz's direct rebuke to those critics who condemn his films as exploitative freak-shows. An amusing, but somewhat slighter film compared to Happiness, but still worth watching.
Released in an uncensored 'Director's Cut' in Canada.

The Piano Teacher, with a superb Isabelle Huppert as an emotionally and sexually repressed forty-ish virgin, who's only sexual outlet to now has been through souless and mechanical porn videos. Another excellent film from one of my favorite directors, Michael Haneke. Like his other films, this is a clinical and unblinking look at subjects usually avoided in films, but completely facinating.

Metropolis, a beautiful, well-animated anime scored to a Jazz soundtrack. Featuring traditional and digital animation and inspired by the look of the 1927 Metropolis, the film looks amazing and the use of Jazz music (and Ray Charles!) works extremely well. I did find myself slightly confused at a few points, but thoroughly enjoyed the experience regardless. It's just too bad that the film is only recieving a very limited token pre-video release in North America.

Updated with the Oscar-Nominated Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. It's the kind of kids' film I think I would enjoy much more as a short, but it is fitfully entertaining with a fun design sense. I'd put Osmosis Jones ahead of it in the awards derby, but I'm also not nine, and Nickelodeon knows how to amuse nine-year-olds better than anyone else. ½

Updated with Mohsen Makhmalbaf's slightly disappointing Safar e Ghandehar (Kandahar)

Updated with a new short films column after seeing all five of the BMW Films. I also adjusted the star ratings for some of the 2001 films I've seen after much thought.

Added Gosford Park 8.5 of 10
I put some comments in the top 10 of 2001 thread as a new reply. Good film, didn't quite touch me enough to make top 10, but it's sitting at #17 on my list which is still pretty solid.

I've got honestly good films already pushed out of my top 30. Hard to tell if it was a bad year when I've seen so many good films and avoided so many bad/average ones.

[size=]I've updated my list with Abre Los Ojos (not sure if this is 2001 according to Academy criteria but I've included it primarily as a comparison to Vanilla Sky) -- a solid film, 85%; and Bridget Jones's Diary, an average film brought up a notch by a very pleasing performance by Renée Zellweger (75%).[/size]

Trembling Before G-d
A semi-interesting Documentary about Orthodox Homosexuals and Lesbians. Both sides make strong points, I'm not one to judge, so I can't make a true assesment.
Some of the people's stories were nice to listen to, but really weren't great. I wished there was more 'into their lives' a little bit more.
Just felt like I wanted to know them more after wathcing the movie.
RATING=c-

Fat Girl
Not truely as shocking as I thought it was going to be.
Overall, the movie was pretty dull with me.
The older sister character was nice. I really wanted more situations with her.
The best part of the movie for me was the end. Now, I didn't like it for the rape factor. I like it for the fact of the 'decision' of fat girl. Her final words were eerie yet good.

RATING=c-

Saw 3 more, 1 of which may make my top 10 but I haven't quite decided yet.

Blackhawk Down is a fitting tribute to soldiers and the sacrifices they make for us, while accurately portraying the "fog of war" and thankfully showing the enemy to be courageous, intelligent, and tough. But the script suffers from modern Hollywood malaise and laziness. A solid B

A Beautiful Mind has an excellent performance by Jennifer Connelly, and little else to offer. I found Russell Crowe unbelieveable in the role of a scientist who seemingly never excercises and skips meals often, yet could crush my head between his biceps. I was also bothered by a story I knew to be so patently false. The best parts of the film are the relationship between Crowe and Connelly, and yet, just as the character finally turns the corner, she's basically dropped from the latter section of the film. The ending was so completely cliche I had to fight to keep from laughing to loud and spoiling the experience of the crying women in front of me. C

The Son's Room is a quietly powerful family drama that never completely escapes certain tired conventions, and yet, manages to present a fully realistic story of loss. Tangentially similar to In The Bedroom, in that they both deal with families who lose a son, the family of The Son's Room is quite happy and non-dysfunctional. The father is dissatisfied with his psychology practice and the myriad of banal problems he has to listen to everyday, but with his family, he is cheerful and an attentive father. Unlike most families shown in American films, the family communicates with each other, eats together, gets along, etc.

Of course this tableau is cracked by the accidental death of the son. With no one to blame, there is no target for the pain and hurt except to turn inward. Father and Mother drift apart, and become remote from their daughter. And while this clearly causes the daughter more emotional pain, she also has school, friends, and activities to occupy her time, thus she is able to begin a recovery that the Mother and Father cannot. The Father seeks explanations for an accidental event, and begins to project blame onto one of his patients, becoming even more dissatisfied with his work. The Mother discovers that her son had a secret girlfriend, causing her to fixate on a need to meet the girlfriend, to find this other person who loved her son.

The quality of the film lies in the believability of the performances, and the situation the chacters find themselves in. Certain aspects are a bit too cute, particularly the stereotypical problems of the psychology patients, but this does nothing to lessen the emotional responses the film delivers.

[font=]Soul Survivors
I don't know what to make of this film. I'm really confused as to what point it was getting across.
I like the look of the film., but that's pretty much it.
I give it props for a nice try.

RATING=C-

Musketeer
I thought this was a very weak attempt at a musketeer movie.
The whole substance of the movie felt completely wrong.
The only thing this had going for it was the pleasing fighting choreography. The characters were pretty thin and Justin Chambers didn't do that stellar of an acting job.

RATING=C-[/font]

I've updated my list with Black Hawk Down (finally got to see it before it left the theatres), a solid 85%; and Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 (another poor attempt at depicting end-time events from a religious point of view), my worst-rated movie of 2001, at a rotten 40%.

2001 Film List

Last Updated: 3-10-02
Criteria: 2001 US Original Theatrical Release
Number of Films Seen: 25

Films (out of four)
Black Hawk Down
A Beautiful Mind
Memento
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Spy Game
Pearl Harbor
The Fast and the Furious
Enemy at the Gates
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Ocean's Eleven
Along Came a Spider
Antitrust
15 Minutes
The Last Castle
The Pledge
Shrek
Series 7: The Contenders
The Score
Hannibal
Jurassic Park III
Planet of the Apes
Tomb Raider
Blow
The Dish
Apocalypse Now Redux

[font=]Haiku Tunnel
An unfunny 'Office Space' type of comedy.
It has potential, and throws in some funny stuff but fails, even before some of the jokes start.
Plus the Director, who's also the main star of the film, talks to you inbetween scenes. It gets old really fast, and sometimes annoying.

RATING=D

Iris
A great story which really has the performances making the movie. The movie kind of reminded me of the movie "Innocence", from months back.
Dench and Broadbent are terrific, but Winslett is pretty average. I really don't think she deserved a nomination, but I really liked Broadbents performance better in Moulin Rouge than here.

RATING=B[/font]

Updated with Last Orders, a really quite excellent little movie. The only flaw I could find with it was having a hard time reconciling the older versions of the characters (played by some of the UK's finest) with the younger ones; they just didn't seem to match. ½

Here are some rentals I finally got to see, plus I rewatched Sexy Beast and I'll be leaving that as an 8.5 (#20 on my list).

Atlantis - 6
I know the short run times are for kids, but this film was about 30 minutes too short. The story was choppy even by kids film standards and was a real mess. Sure it looked nice at times, but not nearly enough to make it above average.

Zoolander - 5
Half the time I thought there were hilarious parts to this film, but the other half was AWFUL. I mostly liked Ferrell and didn't like Stiller to be honest. Sort of a good idea but the script had big problems too. Split the diff and call it a 5.

Heist - 6
I like Mamat's dialog for the most part, but as a director I'm far from sold. In fact, while I like his overall story and the bits of dialog, he could stand for some script help in creating a good flow and maybe toning down the "hip" dialog. It's stops seeming hip when every person is using it. Then it becomes tedious. De Vito actually came off rather poorly in this one, sounding awkward and flat in delivery. Hackman even had some problems getting through some of this stuff. Too much, Mamat, too much.

Lagaan - 6.5
No threat to Amelie for Best Foreign film (though No Man's Land might be the real competition anyway). It's pleasant enough but rather sophomoric in execution. Much of the dialog is simplistic and delivered in the fashion of a high school play or a Backstreet Boys extended video/mini-film. The story is your standard underdog wins type story with some love interest as well.

As I understand Bollywood this is pretty par for the course. Several musical numbers (good by the way) with flowing, colorful cloth everywhere and a water scene payoff. 1 hour just for one cricket match...not exactly quick pacing.

However, I did enjoy it for what it was and was able to overlook these faults for the basic fun that the film was having. Still I couldn't help thinking that I was really just seeing a musical version of The Mighty Ducks or something.


Still have Last Castle and Hearts in Atlantis to watch. Hopefully I'll be seeing No Man's Land this week too.