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04-01-2002, 12:40 PM
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#211 of 235 
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Member
Location: St. Louis, MO
Join Date: Feb 2000
Local Time: 10:20 AM
Local Date: 07-09-2008
Posts: 10,365
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Here's one that would compete for my Worst Of:
Our Lady Of The Assassins a film that has quite a few good
reviews, but I found to be mostly awful. A writer returns to his home of
Medellin, Columbia where he hasn't been in 30 years and finds basically hell
on Earth. He picks up a teenage boy in a club and they begin a
relationship. The film proceeds from there in ponderous fashion, they take
walks through the streets as the man reminisces about locations from his
childhood and the boy alternates between killing anyone who threatens the
writer even slightly, and avoiding drive-by shootings by gangs that are
after him. Then there are "quiet" moments in restarants, churches or at the
writer's apartment where we hear the writer give banal, nihilistic speeches
on the emptiness of life, the non-existence of God, blah blah.......and then
there's the bizarre supernatural elements, a boy who can predict death,
dream/hallucinatory scenes of ghostly bikers with uzi's blazing.
This thing was a chore to sit through, I couldn't believe some of the
reviews I read. Maybe it's different on film in a theater, but transferred
directly from digvideo kills whatever sort of realism this film was going
for in my mind. It has the look of porn/Mexican TV soap operas/Baise Moi,
ie. overly bright video. It feels exactly like a movie, not the documentary
effect described in some of the reviews (Ebert, Village Voice). While the
naive might be shocked at the cheapness of life presented here, it's hardly
revelatory, similar scenes could be found in dozens of locales around the
world. It might have been better if they'd just dispensed with the awful
script and shot a straight documentary.
The DVD from Paramount is nice video wise, but has burned in subs and not so
much as a trailer.
I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow, and the next day, and the next year, and the year after that. - George Bailey
2002 Sight & Sound Challenge: 312 Last Watched: The Life of Oharu
Last 10 Films Watched:
Ace in the Hole - B+ / Tokyo Twilight - B
Early Spring - B+ / Witness for the Prosecution - B
There Was a Father - A- / The Battle of the River Plate - B
In Bruges - B / My Blueberry Nights - C+
WALL*E - A- / Presto - B+
DVD BEAVER My Collection
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04-03-2002, 01:41 PM
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#212 of 235
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Member
Location: Oh man, what a loser. He's working in a cheese factory in Wisconsin
Join Date: Jul 1999
Local Time: 05:20 AM
Local Date: 07-09-2008
Posts: 3,563
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Just updated my list with a Bottom 10 film (#10 overall): Baise Moi. It had some interesting moments, but overall, it was dead and drab and explicit only for the purpose of being explicit.
The only film I am still waiting on before my list is final is Mulholland Drive. Lynch has always been hot or cold for me so it wouldn't suprise me to love it or hate it.
Bruce
The Mads are calling
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04-03-2002, 03:51 PM
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#213 of 235
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Local Time: 05:20 AM
Local Date: 07-09-2008
Posts: 307
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..
Last edited by L. Anton Dencklau : 01-09-2007 at 02:16 AM.
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04-04-2002, 11:26 AM
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#214 of 235
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Member
Join Date: Nov 1998
Local Time: 05:20 AM
Local Date: 07-09-2008
Posts: 12,185
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I put Donnie Darko in at 7.
For the year so far I could recommend about 40-50 films with a few others as more qualified recommendations. And we had 4 solid "big" films - FOTR, Potter, Shrek and Monsters Inc.
But mostly Summer got thumped by Winter in 2001.
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04-12-2002, 03:27 PM
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#215 of 235
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Member
Location: Oh man, what a loser. He's working in a cheese factory in Wisconsin
Join Date: Jul 1999
Local Time: 05:20 AM
Local Date: 07-09-2008
Posts: 3,563
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The Mads are calling
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04-14-2002, 09:43 PM
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#217 of 235
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Member
Join Date: Nov 1998
Local Time: 05:20 AM
Local Date: 07-09-2008
Posts: 12,185
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You mean the dock gunfight? I agree, pretty poor. I thought most of it was a bit of a boring mess.
I agree on Anniversary Party too in regards to the use of digital video. It can be done in an artful way without drawing so much attention to itself.
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04-16-2002, 01:10 PM
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#218 of 235
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Member
Location: Oh man, what a loser. He's working in a cheese factory in Wisconsin
Join Date: Jul 1999
Local Time: 05:20 AM
Local Date: 07-09-2008
Posts: 3,563
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I've heard good things about The Anniversary Party and I hope to see it. However, it's just another in a long list of films I can't find anywhere here. I wish I had the funds to open a specialty shop, mainly so I can see it go broke in two months and wonder aloud about the lack of film culture 
Bruce
The Mads are calling
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04-25-2002, 03:28 AM
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#220 of 235
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2001
Local Time: 02:20 AM
Local Date: 07-09-2008
Posts: 218
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Just saw The Deep End and The Man Who Wasn't There but my top ten list remains unchanged.
While watching The Deep End, I couldn't help but make comparisons to In the Bedroom and ultimately finding The Deep End to be a weaker film overall. The straight thriller aspects of the film felt cheap (although it was intended to be in the spirit of a "post-war melodrama" according to the interviews on the DVD, which I am, alas, unfamiliar with) and Beau (the son) was too flat of a character for me to even care what happened to him. Tilda Swinton gives an amazing performance (with a very believable American accent), however, and really anchors the film by juggling a dead-body, house chores, a crotchety in-law, ballet, and soccer practice in a way that only a "single mom" can.
I really wanted to like The Man Who Wasn't There but ultimately, I could not connect with the film, unable to grasp what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish. It both hints at an ordinary man who finds himself in an extraordinary situation due to seemingly reasonable decisions (a la Blood Simple) and at the bizarre reality of life when closely scrutenized (crystalized in Freddy Riedenschneider's opening remarks deleted scene) - nevertheless, I was left with a profound sense of loss when I realized how close the Coen brothers had come to making another great film, and really felt that the X-files motif (especially in the third act) further detracted from the film's ability to achieve greatness. The film looks so good in black-and-white, however, that I wouldn't be surprised if it sparked a renaissance in monochromatic cinema, and commendations must be given to Roger Deakins for an amazing use of light and shadow in true noir fashion. Two scenes that left me inspired: the ten different haircuts for 10 year-old boys, and the scene where the two detectives tell Ed that his wife has been arrested.
"Well, you just missed visiting hours for today, but you could see her tomorrow."
The Deep End   (out of 5)
The Man Who Wasn't There |
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05-01-2002, 10:08 AM
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#221 of 235
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Member
Join Date: Mar 1998
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Local Date: 07-09-2008
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Refined & Updated 11/10/02 (Now that I have seen every film from 2001 that I wish to see and have had a little more time to think it over, this is my final completed list for 2001)
01 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
02 Princess and the Warrior
03 Mulholland Dr.
04 Ghost World
05 The Others
06 Josie and the Pussycats 
07 A.I.
08 Moulin Rouge
09 The Road Home
10 Ginger Snaps
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I must go out and buy the DVD so I can view the film again.