2003 Film List - Page 18

I agree Nick. I mean it happens throughout the script. I don't even blame the acting because while I saw no great efforts I do think they could have pulled off the challenge of having decent lines.

I mean at every turn the script breaks the hierarchy of knowledge that it just created, ie where the audience knows things that the characters don't, which when used correctly adds tension in good films.

It's like why didn't you just let them find this info out instead of hiding it from them, YOU'RE WRITING IT. It's not like they recorded reality and are trying to fix the tricky spot it put them in.


The Cooler
8 of 10
Sounds like I may be semi-alone on this one since I've seen many less flattering reviews on the film. But there are those people out there who do admit to liking it at least.

I thought it was a very solid film, direction, script, and acting are all pretty good. Maybe its just the idea of what the story is that many people don't like. Me, I bought into that and then enjoyed how it was presented to me. I put more about it in the Cooler thread.

Tripletts of Belleville - (of four)

If the entirety of Tripletts were as good as the first five minutes, this would be one of the greatest animated films ever. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie drags quite often. It's brilliantly done, but just a little too laconic for me (at times). The film has so many brilliant moments, almost everyone centered around the dog.

Adam

Carl Franklin's Out of Time – Denzel Washington plays a cop who is in way over his head in this romantic thriller. For much of its running time, most of the events that happens in this thriller seems plausible until the filmmakers decide the push the realm of believability a little further that it puts the entire film over the edge.

That is too bad as this could have been easily rectified if not for that 3-minute Hollywood ending. Still, it’s a nice diversion.


At Bat: Something's Gotta Give

~Edwin

I gave FvJ a B+ as it delivered exactly what I hoped for. A funny, gory, knock-down drag out between our two beloved characters with everything else being completely superflous as it was in basically every Jason movie excepting the original and all but maybe 3 of the Freddy movies. I could care less about the premise or how they got the characters together, the series has never been a paragon of writing or in many cases, competent filmmaking. The entire draw is the iconic characters. All I needed was for them to get the showdown right, and they definitely did that.

I'm probably the biggest fan of The Cooler on the forum. Its in my top 10. But I love to gamble and I love Vegas, I'm the target audience.

The Triplets of Belleville - Love the visual look of the film and the animation; a fusion of geometric and exaggerated realism. Also love the lack of dialogue. Its told almost completely visually. Other than the song, there might be 5 lines of dialogue, reminding those who may have forgotten that movies don't need words. It has a terrific sense of humor. Simply a delightfully funny and visually impressive film that's strengths lie in its simplicity of character, drawing, story, and conflict. I would agree that the energy of the opening 20-30m flags a bit when the Triplets are re-introduced, but not enough to harm my overall enjoyment. A-

Next Up: Fog Of War or Wonderland

Open Range
7.5 of 10
Great production values, good story idea, strong acting from Duvall as always. Costner and Bennett are decent.

Script is terrible at times, especially as it awkwardly tries to wedge in a romance plot. The last 4 scenes are the exact same exchange between characters. I mean they are actually talking to each other like the scene before didn't even occur. There are other troubled spots too, but the end is the worst. The direction follows suit with some dreadful choices in the area of slow motion, and in general is less than what the story warranted.

Terrific production/design of the main shootout with a much more authentic, interesting, and dramatic unfolding. The film definitely deserves respect in that area.

American Splendor
9.5 of 10
Just a terrific adaptation of a comic style and a personality to the screen. The film utilizes Pekar's love of jazz with a wonderful jazz score (very nice choices on that) and a jazzy/comic style of direction. The film is unafraid to mix the real people with the actors, and not in a gimmicky way but rather in a humanistic character study way. Just great filmmaking to go with an outstanding script. Giamatti continues his work as a strong screen presence not to mention some fine acting. His name belongs in the circle of the years best actors.

Thirteen
8 of 10
I think I liked this film better when it was called Crazy/Beautiful or White Oleander. It's nicely directed, though nothing remarkable either. Script is solid and provides a fair treatment for all the major characters, nothing is glossed over for Hollywood's sake. Still, the main drawback is that it does follow other recent films so closely that it almost becomes pointless artistically speaking. Hunter and Wood are fine though Hunter is much better. I would only consider Hunter for an acting award however.

House of Sand and Fog
9 of 10
A very powerful drama following in the footsteps of Changing Lanes a little bit, except now the battle is over a house and the players are far more innocent. Similar to Changing Lanes each side finds themselves taking actions and/or stands that are reasonable enough and yet are also perpetuating the situation. It's a great story of real life spinning out of control in an honest manner. Kingsley is outstanding as is Connelly. Kingsley got his nomination, but I'd say that without having seen Keaton's effort I just suspect that Connelly was far more deserving. I'll have to see Something's Got to Give before final judgement on that one. Shohreh Aghdashloo at least gets the Supporting nomination, also deserved.

Unlike Changing Lanes this film is slower, more in line with the tone/tempo of something like The Deep End. Deakin's cinematography gives Seabiscuit (Schwartzman) a run for its money, I'm not sure how he missed the nomination. I would swap him for Serra having seen all 5 cinematography nominees now. His composition is well beyond the direction of Perelman.

Horner's score is also very strong, well-deserving of its Oscar nomination. I'm a bit surprised that Perelman didn't get a nomination for the script, just because it plays so honestly. It really earns it's tensions and emotions.

Updated with Lost in Translation (*****/*****) and The Last Samurai (****/*****).

.

Updated with Cold Mountain (¾), which is no threat to my top 10.

In America
10 of 10
A wonderful script that is acted out by 5 terrific performances, including the sisters playing the 2 daughters. Morton got her nom but somehow Paddy Considine didn't get his, yet his character has to deal with more emotional range and got many of the best lines.

The dialog and situations found in the script represent the best of the year to me, in both Adapted and Original, and I would expect it to get the Oscar over Coppola if I didn't think she was going to get it as a make-up award. LiT had better direction but not better writing, IMO.

Much of the script is based on true events though some of how they are woven together is fiction (like the dead son was really Sheridan's dead brother, thus the tribute to him to start the credits). I think this is the biggest reason why the writing is so good.

So while Sophia is up there accepting her writing award I will be wishing it had been Sheridan and his 2 daughters.



Also, I have bumped M&C up from a 9.5 to a 10 on further comparison with the other films I rated as 9, 9.5 and 10.

Updated with the good but not great Big Fish (****/*****).

Edit: Also updated earlier today with the terrific American Splendor (*****/*****).

Updated with Robert Altman & Neve Campbell's intriguing The Company (½); more detail in the blog and alterna-thread.

Updated my list with tons of stuff seen over the past month or so:

In America (**** / ****)

Wonderful, wonderful stuff. A great story with some terrific acting by everyone involved, especially the two Bolger sisters.

Open Range (*** / ****)

The Italian Job (*** / ****)

L'Auberge espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) (**1/2 / ****)

The Triplettes of Belleville (**1/2 / ****)

Anger Management (1/2 / ****)
The less said about this one the better. Borders on unwatchable.

Lowell

Fog Of War: Eleven Lessons From The Life Of Robert S. McNamara

We should think more about killing
Errol Morris does an excellent job of enlivening the material with graphics and symbolic representations (a line of dominoes on a map that ends in Saigon) and Phillip Glass' score is excellent, I just wish it contained a bit more in depth treatments of Vietnam and Cold War geopolitics. McNamara goes off on a number of less interesting tangents, but I can't really fault Morris who could only deal with what McNamara gave him in the interviews. A quibble with Morris is that he sometimes cuts too quickly on McNamara speaking, a second or two of pause would help it sink in more. Still well worth seeing, it may not be riveting 100% of the time, but McNamara makes some powerful statements about the nature and meaning of war in the modern world. A-

Sylvia: is held together by Gwyneth Paltrow's very fine performance. Like the superior Frida, it is the story of a woman trying to find her independent voice while in a relationship with a successful male artist. Unlike Frida, though, it is an entirely conventional biopic. I could sense there would be an opening voiceover as soon as the opening credits began. It also gives you little sense of Sylvia Plath's work. I knew nothing about her writing going in and learned basically nothing about it by the films completion. If I hadn't read a few articles around the time of the movie's release, I'd have really been in the dark. Her seminal work The Bell Jar is only mentioned once by name, we don't find out what it is about or even see her writing it.

The film spends almost all of its running time on the rocky relationship between Sylvia and her husband and Sylvia's depressive emotional state. The script gives Paltrow little range to work with - a couple of happy scenes with the kids - interspersed with a lot of sobbing and faraway looks. It isn't helped by an overwhelming and poorly mixed score that can drown out the dialogue at times. Unless you're a Plath fan, I don't think the movie has a whole lot to offer. C+

Next Up: Wonderland

Updated my list with 4 more movies to bring the total to 54

The Cooler: 3 1/2 Stars out of 4

Monster: 3 1/2 Stars out of 4

Runaway Jury: 3 Stars out of 4

Seabiscuit: 3 Stars out of 4

Wonderland This is really not "a John Holmes film" but rather a whodunit based on the Wonderland murders. Either way its uncompelling. The director uses lots of intercutting, flashbacks, grainy handheld disorientation, etc, but does nothing to make us care about the characters. The actors are pretty much lost in the script. They've all done similar work better in better movies. I should have listened to the reviews on this one and stayed away. C-

Next Up: Runaway Jury, Masked & Anonymous

Updated with the disappointing The Hulk (5.5) and Whale Rider, which I'm debating between 7.5 and 8.0. I enjoyed the movie overall however the beginning half of the movie just sat there for me.

Joel Coen's Intolerable Cruelty: Intolerably wicked and salaciously funny.


At Bat: Blue Car

~Edwin

I agree with Edwin. I did a blind buy and thought the film was great.

Intolerable Cruelty
8 of 10
It had it's flaws and wasn't as tight as their better films, but it was great screwball comedy that continously reminded me of stuff like Philadelphia Story or other Cary Grant films. I really think Clooney is almost on par with Grant, a very similar actor with great comic timing. Coen dialog is just so much fun too. It's a bit more Sonnenfeld than a normal Coen film but its still very solid.



And lucky me, Keystone brought 21 Grams back so I'll finally be able to get that one in.

Blue Car is a smart first film from writer-director Karen Moncrieff as it explores the dangers of displaced affection that can eventually lead to other forms of manipulation and exploitation.


At Bat: The Triplets of Belleville

~Edwin

Updated my list to reflect seeing The Missing. I sat on the fence for a few days trying to decide if I would recommend or not. Finally, I decided I wouldn't; alibeit reluctantly. I felt that while the performances from Blanchett and Jones were wonderful, the movie just felt like a drag once the search began. It just felt streched out. Plus, the mystical stuff didn't work for me. It always looks hokey and fake when done in the movies.

The Missing: 2 1/2 Stars (Out of 4)

Anyone else catch that Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) makes an appearance as a Calvary captain?

21 Grams
9 of 10
Good writing, great acting, but a little too slow overall for my tastes. It felt drug out in many spots and not due to periods of bad acting or anything, just that the overall tones felt played out before the film was willing to move on to the next stage. I found myself getting anxious to move on over and over because the gist of the emotions/drama had already come across adequately.

Pehaps this is just the nature of such films, its hard for me to say. But it forces me to cut back a point. It did end really strong, which helped.

Penn is at the top of his game here. Watts and del Toro are also both great, but Penn is so freakin good at subtle emotions. He leaves you wondering what his guy is all about early on because he doesn't overplay his part, doesn't breakdown into cliche or stereotype to establish his character instantly. He takes his time over the film to play him honestly so that you can't be sure what he is all about early on, but so that you will agree in the end that everything he did in the film made sense once you know who is character truly is (personality-wise, not literally).

Penn also has an odd connection between 21 Grams and Mystic River in where he finds himself toward the end of each film.

His "die alone" speech to the doctor was magnificent, the moment in the film that hit perfection.

Sylvain Chomet's The Triplets of Belleville (France)

For the most part, the film is a visual feast but I was so underwhelmed by its story. In my experience, animated films that don't have a story at its heart, succeeds far better as a film short.


At Bat: Marooned In Iraq

~Edwin

Masked & Anonymous - Bizarre to the point of incoherence. The concept alone is strange; John Goodman and Jessica Lange as shady promoters putting on a benefit show in a chaotic banana republic and the only musician they can dredge up is Bob Dylan playing a down-and-out version of himself. But because it contains virutally every B-list Hollywood star that could be conceivably packed into a movie, it contains multiple scenes from out of nowhere that simply serve to give a "name" face time on-screen. The amateurish direction caters to that by breaking up scenes for constant cutaways to reaction shots to give the names a justification for even appearing.

That said, I did like the first 30-40m for its "to hell with what's going on in the real world, let's put on a show" aesthetic. It contains a fair amount of humor and some hard-boiled dialogue of quality, especially coming from John Goodman. But as the movie continues, the narrative becomes increasingly fractured with additional characters and storylines, but often with little or no explanation as to who the characters actually are. Dylan, Luke Wilson, and a few other characters speak only in pop psychology and fortune cookie-esque cliches. By the time the utterly incomprehensible final 15-20m roll around, the only thing keeping me watching was a morbid desire to see how it ended.

The only time this movie approaches anything approaching outstanding is when Dylan is playing his music. He does several high quality numbers including a great version of Dixie. It leaves me with the feeling that the movie is worth seeing once if only for the music and for its unabashed weirdness. B-

Runaway Jury: Maybe 8-10 years ago I would have liked this movie, but now I simply don't have the patience. Its so completely predictable and formulaic, so utterly banal that any possible pleasure gained from watching the stars or the "thriller" aspects, is lost. There's one scene of worth where you get to watch Hackman and Hoffman go mano y mano, but even that follows predictable lines. C

Next Up: Pieces Of April, Matchstick Men, The Missing

Seabiscuit is the kind of story that Hollywood does well - bigger than life characters, myth-making, and a story with an expansive stage. Everything about the movie is polished and well-rendered, I especially enjoyed the David McCullough narration and William H. Macy's radio sportscaster character. I wished the script engaged in fewer platitudes and "life lessons" but it does do an excellent job of capturing the feel of horse-racing. It is a consistently good movie, never achieving greatness, but harnessing enough emotion to make the 140m runtime worthwhile. B

Next Up: Pieces Of April, Matchstick Men, The Missing

Gary Fleder's Runaway Jury - A film that puts its emphasis on plot machinations than character development. It never leaves a lasting impression.

Edit: Pardon me. It does leave a lasting impression. But not a good one.


At Bat: Marooned In Iraq

~Edwin

Matchstick Men - Failed for me because I figured out what was going to happen very early in the film and spent the bulk of the running time hoping that I was wrong. It has these very pure father/daughter moments between Nic Cage and Alison Lohman that I was really enjoying, they were pushing my "Dad" buttons and had me hooked. Tarnishing that just pissed me off and the ending only made it worse. I liked Cage in the film, and he once again does a very good job of flexing his comedic muscles in his performance, but I can't give this film a passing grade. C-

Next Up: Pieces Of April, My Life Without Me

My Life Without Me I've always liked Sarah Polley as an actress, but I just didn't connect with this movie. The emotions are kept very muted and ultimately see too little of her character or there is too little there to begin with. Its hard to sympathize with a character whose choices are so selfish and potentially harmful to the her children. B-

Pieces Of April I enjoyed the warm-hearted comedy and bitter emotions of this film. I particularly liked the scenes with the neighboring couple (including the sheeiiitt guy from 25th Hour) and Sean Hayes' passive-aggressive oven owner. The ways the family history is revealed during the road trip is also well-executed and emotional. But the boyfriend subplot I thought took away too much from the precious running time with little payoff.

This is the rare film that should have been longer. There is a scene toward the end that hit me like a hammer but everything that follows feels too rushed, too manufactured, too easy. 80 minutes just wasn't enough time for this story. I wanted to see and hear and experience the moments that we only view in a brief still photographic montage. And I would have liked to see the Mother's final decision come from within herself or the family rather than being triggered by an exterior device. I liked it but wished I could have liked it more. B

The Missing Has its grindingly slow moments but I think it ultimately is a good movie. While it never approaches the lyricism or depth of Open Range, it is a satisfying adventure and redemption story. The pacing may be poor, and the photography not as strong as one would like to see in an outdoor western but the strong performances by veteran actors pull us through. And unlike Zachary, I enjoyed the mysticisim angle of the story and felt it added some spice to what is otherwise a fairly formula driven plot. The film also benefits by having a strong, dangerous villain. B

Next Up: School Of Rock, In This World