2001 Film List - Page 3

Jason Seaver · 03-14-2002, 09:46 AM

Quote:

1 hour just for one cricket match...not exactly quick pacing.

Or a masterstroke of paring it down to essentials.

(I know, I should let the British guys make the cricket jokes...)

Seth Paxton · 03-20-2002, 10:36 PM

Just added 3 more films

Hearts in Atlantis - 6
Man, is King out of ideas or what. Dead Zone meets The Body for this one that feels like King died and people pasted together another story by him from previous work.

Maybe the book is much better than the film to be fair. Nothing terribly wrong, just not exactly a great script nor great pacing. Some scenes sort of lead nowhere completely, lots of stuff not fully pursued to me, and a bit empty on the whole.

Last Castle - 7
A very good, functional action drama. A pretty basic premise but done with enough originality and skill to keep it entertaining. A good popcorn flick. Gandolfini is strong as always.

No Man's Land - 9.5
This is now my #9 film of the year. It's excellent. It has humor, warmth, sorrow, thoughtfulness and politics all equally blended in to one. It has those Catch-22 elements of crazy military rules/situations, but it goes beyond that in search of the loss found in such fruitless wars of hate. Men hating each other who don't know why they do exactly. The film stays honest in it's answers to these situations or lack thereof.

It's close enough to mainstream even by US standards that it can be enjoyed by a wider audience than it's getting, which is too bad. Maybe DVD will help it reach it's full potential of audience.

Seth Paxton · 03-22-2002, 09:52 AM

And a couple more
Training Day - 7
Good film, but not great. Another popcorn action/thriller like Last Castle. Denzel is solid but not the best of the year by any means. I don't think I would have even nominated this role to be honest. I can see how Crowe has been running strong against him lately.

Ethan is actually really solid, on par almost with Denzel I'd say. It's just that these characters aren't really exploring a lot of emotions thanks to a script that is just average.

Joy Ride - 6
Well, I got my $3 worth of entertainment out of it. At times it's predictable, at times the characters do the less than smart thing, but at other moments they at least react reasonably close to what you would expect. Plus, no matter what actions get them into some moments, those moments ARE thrilling and exciting in that fun, popcorn way. No harm in that.

Worth a rent for some thriller fun if you keep your expectations at an average level.

On deck Va Savoir.

Also, just watched Following by Christopher Nolan (Memento). Really solid film, though obvious budget limitations kept it from being as good as Memento. I think the film could benefit from 95 minutes of screen time rather than under 70, color 35mm film, and a better lead actor. But the script and direction are solid. Should please all Memento fans.

JohnS · 03-26-2002, 06:50 AM

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Quite frankly, I didn't think I was going to like this movie that much. I pretty much thought that the cast couldn't carry the movie and I'm also not that big of a shakespeare lover.
I was wrong.
I liked all of the main cast and thought they moved the story along very nicely. I really liked the way it was told from begin to end. I kinda of thought that there was a little too many basketball scenes, but it wasn't too distracting.
The best thing I loved was the cinematography.
Alot of the shots of the camera hovering over, under and across the areas was really terrific.
RATING=B+

Donnie Darko Comments in the best of 2001 list!
RATING=A

Sexy Beast
I liked this movie, only for the fact that Ben Kingsley did a great performance as a tepermental gangster.
The scenes of him throwing a tantraum was funny yet powerful.
The story was nice, but felt like it didn't go anywhere or really drew in my attention untill the last minutes.
RATING=C+

SECOND VIEWING-Zoolander I first gave this movie a D+. But after a second viewing, I have now given it a B+.
I guess the film grew on me. Stiller and Wilson are just great togther.[/font]

Dana Fillhart · 03-26-2002, 11:46 PM

Updated my list with the somewhat-disappointing Haiku Tunnel (low 75%) and the surprisingly-"It doesn't suck!" Antitrust (low 80%).

Matthew Chmiel · 03-30-2002, 02:58 AM

Updated with the amazing Donnie Darko. It is now my #1 film of 2001 making Memento #2.

Seth Paxton · 03-30-2002, 07:10 PM

Saw K-Pax and will be watching Donnie Darko. I'll update both after watching DD.

But K-Pax was "eh" to me, not bad but not great. If you want to see a guy shake up the looney bin watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest instead, a much more honestly thoughtful film.

Brook K · 04-01-2002, 01:42 PM

Avoid 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.

Bill McA · 04-02-2002, 04:06 PM

Updated with the excellent documentary Kurosawa, the awful Exit Wounds (partially filmed in my home town), the mediocre See Spot Run, The Invisible Circus, Just Visiting and Startup.com

Bill McA · 04-10-2002, 10:16 PM

Updated with this year's Oscar winner for Documentary feature, Murder on a Sunday Morning