2003 Film List - Page 19

I've seen
Matrix: Revolutions - - too many words, it should not be a Terry Brooks novel in space!
Capturing the Friedmans - ½ - my, that was well edited, and lookit all the pretty B-roll footage!
City of God - - dammit I've not room on my top ten list!
American Splendor - - why do I discover two of 2k3s best films on the same day, poor top ten...

and now I've seen:
Whale Rider - - an equal of the brilliant Peter Pan, dang I need a best fifteen list now! and what'll happen when I see some of the other big films I missed?!

Adam

Updated with Mystic River (½) and House Of Sand And Fog (½) as I cram for Oscars.

In This World: Michael Winterbottom's latest is a neo-realist film about two refugees attempt to journey from Pakistan to London to being new lives in a country with opportunities to offer. Their journey includes encounters both harrowing (smuggling past border guards, not speaking local languages, packed into trucks and shipping containers) and touching (strangers willing to help, pickup soccer games). Jamal, the younger of the two, is our touchstone. It is his humor and spirit that carries them, and us, along the way. He grows up in this film, his eyes opened to a world of possibilities, both good and bad.

Shot on DV throughout the Middle East, just making the film was an accomplishment. It delights in little moments of pleasure amidst dangerous and uncertain environments. As we grow to know and like the characters, their predicaments becoming increasingly harrowing and life threatening. Here Winterbottom has done his job well. However he also chooses to have a narrator interrupt at times with various bits of info and statistics. These are meant to inform viewers on the plight of refugees, but include digs with no context given, like one that equates the US bombing of Al-Qaida in Afghanistan to the Soviet invasion.

Moments like these detract enough from the film that, while I can and do recommend it, it didn't make my top 10. B+

Next Up: School Of Rock

School Of Rock: In a year that, for me, was very lacking in quality comedies, School of Rock is the best of the pack. The quintessential "feel-good" film, carried by Jack Black's performance but aided by the strong concept and yeomen work in the casting department in assmbling a fine group of kids. The first half of the movie is especially strong, with Black's love of rock & roll combining with the kid's thirst for knowledge to create many warm and hilarious scenes. Its unfortunate that the student-teacher dynamic takes a back seat in the 2nd half to purely formula situations like bringing Black and Joan Cusack together, Sarah Silverman's dastardly villain, and stereotypical American movie parents who don't support or understand their kids.

But it does salvage things by the end, and given how much I laughed and enjoyed myself, it earns a high grade. Not quite top 10, but top 15 or 20. A-

Next Up: Waiting a couple of weeks for Veronica Guerin and Shattered Glass

Veronica Guerin: Pure laziness. Structured like 1,000 other biopics, not a single moment of inspiration or imagination in the entire running time. Shot in a completely plain and conventional "style". Cate Blanchett does what she can, but if the filmmakers are so clearly uninterested in the material, why should I be? The ending is the worst, a drawn-out 5 m slo-mo sequence of information we were already given in the opening moments of the film set to the most banal new age music imaginable. The Secret Lives of Dentists has competition for worst movie of the year. D-

Next Up: Demonlover

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Sounds like a fantastic film Nick, very minamalist.

I was probably a little harsh on ol' Veronica. I just have no patience for the simply average these days.

Demonlover is a difficult film to talk about, it exists mostly on the basis of theme - monolithic, faceless corporations that seek to control us with porn and comics or something like that, a coming apocalypse of amorality? Anyway, if you are fascinated by such things, this is your movie, if you're not, there isn't much of a reason to watch. The characters certainly offer no help. Aside from Gina Gershon's brief turn, I found them uniformly uncompelling. They are cyphers within a coldly unemotional film that is in some ways a conspiracy thriller with no thrills. While I found the bits about the profitability of porn and anime websites making them targets for corporate control interesting, I don't believe the writer has any clue how corporations really operate. C+

Next Up: Shattered Glass

Ditto that.

Still, I'll probably rent it (only a buck anyway) just to watch Cate.

Ok Steve, but you've been warned Celtic Dirge Alert!! Celtic Dirge Alert!! There's nothing like reinforcing that a movie set in Ireland is Irish than a good ole Celtic dirge. And the movie is so enamoured with the idea that it features two different dirges back-to-back.

Yeah, given the reviews, I'm not expecting much with VG (though I do like Celtic dirges). It's mostly a Cate thing.

Brook, I completely agree with the overdose of dirges in VG. It actually had me chuckling a little.

Matchstick Men
8 of 10
I saw this right when the DVD came out but I've been so busy that I forgot to add it.

It's well done, nicely acted by Cage, but the plotline is a bit predictable. Con-men films tend to have certain basic premises to them so I found myself guessing it rather early although I wasn't quite certain till the end. If it wasn't for it following a standard plotline I would consider it much stronger.


I also think I forgot to mention Confidence awhile back, but I give it a 7.5 for similar reasons. Good film, some interesting aspects to it, but a little too plain to warrant a great rating. I could even understand other people being harsher on it.

Tomb Raider 2
2.5 of 10
Well, it was better than the first one, for what that's worth. Still a pretty terrible waste of a great character and solid actress. The direction reeks and the script it utterly pointless most of the time. Not the worst film of the year for me, but it makes the bottom 10 no matter what else I see I predict.


I need to update my list since it doesn't include my latest additions still.

Added a few: Carnage, The Fog of War, Alien Hunter, Dirty Deeds and Consequence

Shattered Glass: An interesting and entertaining look at the New Republic scandal. The film is very good at portraying the innerworkings and office politics of a magazine and how Glass was able to work the system and get away with lying to so many people for so long. Who knew Hayden Christiansen could act? Peter Sarsgaard is strong as well. B+

Next Up: The last big week of 2003 releases - Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Something's Got To Give, & House Of Sand And Fog

Updated with Tokyo Godfathers, which did in fact get a miniscule Oscar-qualifying 2003 release before its miniscule 2004 general release. - ¼

Added the following to my list:

Swimming Pool
21 Grams
Cat in the Hat
Shattered Glass
Something's Gotta Give
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Fog of War

Still working on '03 with 2 more

Texas Chainsaw Massacre - did the creators even see the original film because they completely missed the point. It isn't about Leatherface chasing a hot chick around with a chainsaw. The filmmakers fail to create any sort of atmosphere save for revulsion at yet another crass cash in on an established name. Sort of enjoyed R. Lee Ermey but he has so much more presence than anyone else in the film that he unbalances it. C-

Something's Gotta Give - Occassionally funny, innocuous feel-good romance. At times I felt sorry for Nicholson and Keaton having to work with such poor and cliche material, but their enthusiasm comes right through the screen and won me over to view the film in a somewhat positive light. C+

Next Up: House Of Sand And Fog

The Rundown
6 of 10
It starts off good enough, The Rock is a great screen personality I think and the film showcases him well. The problem is that once it establishes the fun and interesting character dynamics of Rock, Seann W-S, and Walken, the film has nowhere to go with them in the 2nd half and falls into a terribly cliched rut for the ending. Rent it for the actors, don't expect a rewarding narrative however, though the initial premise was good enough for this to have been better.

Runaway Jury
7 of 10
Again, this is a film that features some nice acting moments, especially Hoffman and Weisz with Hackman and Cusak being typically good but with less rewarding roles. It's actually a semi-decent premise if you like Grisham films like The Firm. What makes it a little better than an average thriller is some of the moral issues that are discussed regarding the legal system. However, that's also the letdown here because if they chose to go for something greater than just "thriller" they could have had Oscar material off of this concept. Instead its a semi-tight but not intense thriller that only occassionally touches on the deeper morals underlying the situation.

House Of Sand And Fog: Powerful acting and a gripping conclusion are the highlights of this well-made film. This is another case of Hollywood mis-marketing as it's much more of a character piece/morality tale than conventional thriller. The tension results from the unintended consequences of choices made out of fear, pride, and their insecurities and human weakness. Roger Deakins' cinematography effectively captures the character's self-imprisonment and the doomed atmosphere they inhabit.

My problem with the film was the Ron Eldard character's motivations were a bit murky and set against the powerful performances of the other actors, he doesn't come off as well. I thought this hurt the film in several spots as it lessens the emotional impact of some important scenes. Also director Vadim Perelman seems to have referenced specific Requiem For A Dream shots with Connelly at least 4 times. But in Connelly, Kingsley, and Agdashoo, the film has some of the year's finest acting and a film whose peaks are as emotionally draining as they are memorable. B+

Next Up: Ripley's Game, Case de los Babys

Updated my list with:

Big Fish (***/****)

Casa de los Babys John Sayles' latest, is about a group of mothers waiting to adopt children in an unnamed Latin American country, is yet another demonstration of the depth of his writing talent and the utter ease with which he is able to create characters and weave stories. The interactions of the women in the film are genuine ranging from friendly exchanges, backbiting, humor, and pathos. Also in typical fashion, Sayles vividly integrates the film's locales and the people who live there into his tale in neo-realist fashion giving his work a unique authenticity.

But unlike his previous films, he is unable to deliver his socio-political message in as coherent a fashion. It would seem to be that the well-being of the children in question overwhelms the liberal-philosophical question of whether or not affluent American/Europeans adopting 3rd World children is an act of cultural imperialism. B+

Next Up: Love Actually, Osama

(Meant in fun)

You may want to add a comma - I was briefly wondering how many films Sayles had done on that subject.

Thanks Jason, it's fixed now

Love Actually - mostly enjoyable, fluffy romantic comedy that is too ambitious for its own good. It tries to tell too many stories in 135 minutes so we get vignettes rather than fully developed characters with complete emotional arcs. I would have rather seen 3 really strong romances (or even better, a whole movie about Hugh Grant's prime minister) than 10 amusing, but not-all-together satisfying ones. B

Fassbinder In Hollywood - Hour long documentary whose ostensible theme is whether or not Fassbinder would have made a movie in Hollywood. It is included as an extra on Fantoma's recent DVD release of Fassbinder's 1973 film Martha, but had a brief theatrical release. Contains some interesting and quality material, such as Wim Wender's description of his own struggles to work in Hollywood, and some of his former collaborators speculating on if Fassbinder could have survived in Hollywood, but it doesn't delve particularly deeply. Some of the interviewee's rehash stories they've told before. It also uses too much of its running time in describing the career of Fassbinder associate (and co-director of this film), Ulli Lommel. Also for a film supposedly about Fassbinder's interactions with Hollywood, it strangely omits any mention of his planned film starring Jane Fonda.

Worth seeing for fans, but less interesting than it could have been. B

Next Up: The Last Samurai, Girl With The Pearl Earring

I just added the worst film I've seen in the last 5 years at least...
House of the Dead
0 of 10
Do not rent it, do not watch it on cable, just save your time and don't repeat my awful mistake. It's that bad. While there is some money visible in the film's FX, at least more than a high school student film would have, the film in EVERY OTHER WAY is no better than a second rate corporate training video. Staging, acting, dialog, it's all awful, and not even in a campy way. It's not scary, it's not funny-bad, it's just grating and annoying and so very, very pointless. Worse than 1000 Corpses, worse than Ecks vs Sever (barely), worse than Freddie Got Fingered.

Not even a film, not even a direct to video film, not even a made for TV movie.


Bad Boys 2
3.5 of 10
For much of the film it was somehow able to maintain about a 5 status, lots of problems but also a couple of characters who are pretty darn funny together at times. It was enough to slightly overlook the spirit of meanness running throughout the film, as well as an almost bloodlust by Bay (he puts Verhoeven to shame in claims of exploitation via glorifying violence).

But the last 15 minutes of idiotic script were just too much. It ended up with such a silly resolution scene that all the baggage it had been carrying just came crashing down upon it.

Unlike House of the Dead, some people will get a kick out of some weird combo of Beverly Hill Cop 2 and Scarface, but not me. Just imagine chuckling along to the guy getting chainsawed in Scarface, that's what Bay expects from his audience with this film.

Added:
The Triplets of Belleville
8.5 of 10
Comes in at 24th on the year for me at this point, several spots below Finding Nemo, but worthy of its animated nomination.

The Fog of War
9 of 10
16th on my list, its a stellar documentary. The direction and editing is incredible. Almost perfect documentary making. Great tone, consistent throughout, and the information is organized in such a way as to be easy to follow.

And the DVD image was so crisp that it looked HD at times. I can only imagine how good it looked on film.


Edited - After rewatching Kill Bill Vol 1, I altered the score from 8 to 9 which moved it to #11 on my list. I knocked it for being a bit indulgent the first time around, but on a 2nd look I was more impressed with the imagination and style.

The Last Samurai - Quality battle scenes and a bit of interesting politcal dynamic but the "Tom Cruise learns the ways of the Orient" scenes are rather trite and the attempts at humor poor. Solidly crafted, but always conventional. Definitely watchable, but only shines during the fighting. B

Girl With A Pearl Earring - My favorite thing about it was the look of the film. Many of the shots looked just like paintings from the era. There were moments of electric, moving drama between Amber Johanssen and Colin Firth, unfortunately not enough of them. Too often the film mires itself in manufactured and underveloped conflict and side plots rather than concentrating itself on the two most interesting characters. B-

Next Up: Dracula: Pages From A Virgin's Diary

Brook, I felt the same way with these two. However, I felt the "political dynamic" in The Last Samurai, while interesting, was terribly one-sided. Everyone for the modernization of Japan was portrayed as greedy and conniving while the samurai were depicted as nobility incarnate. As a commentator on the DVD documentary observed, life was indeed better under the samurai - IF you were a samurai. Women were treated as slaves and lower-class men weren't much better off. Hardly a system to be admired. I also thought it was a riot when novice samurai Cruise held his own against the ninjas. Riiiiight. (Not to mention the scene where, on horseback, he throws his sword and dispatches his arch-enemy. I'm not up on the aerodynamics of samurai swords, but...) Cruise's romance with the woman taking care of him was also not credible - however much "honor" was involved with his killing of her husband, he still killed the guy and that's a mighty big hurdle to get over.

As for Girl With a Pearl Earring, all I can say is nice cinematography - looked like a Vermeer painting come to life. Other than that, a pretty forgettable film.

Brook, you mean Scarlett not Amber, right? Or did I miss the joke/reference?

I agree with your assessment of both films as well. Pearl Earring clearly was trying to imply that his artistic influence could be found all around him, or perhaps simply imagining that it was that way, a bit like Kurosawa's Van Gough sequence in Dreams.

Elephant
7.5 of 10
I'm not sure exactly where Van Sant was going with all of this. The strongest emotional aspect comes from its tie to reality, otherwise the film would be mostly a failure I think. The characters are all detached despite an apparent attempt to let us get to know them as real people in the time before the shooting. The acting is pretty terrible and the direction of the scenes is often awkward with characters showing very non-real reactions to situations, generally lacking emotion, shock, fear, or anything. Benny's odd walk around the school toward the end was a perfect example.

The comment from my wife - I really didn't care about anyone that was shot, I had no connection with the film at all.

I was more appreciative of the artistic look of the film, the mood of it, but really it was mostly flat. It also bordered on making its own very sinister implications regarding the motivations of the killers, suggesting both video games and homosexuality as a connection to their behavior.

Plus, I was under the impression that you could not buy firearms online and have them delivered. Perhaps I'm wrong about that, but there has to be a background check at least.

It probably says something about the crowd at Cannes that a slightly anti-American film like Elephant, at least in the fact that it focuses on a negative American image and then seems to blame it partly on violent video games and the ease of purchase of firearms, could beat Von Trier's most Americanized narrative to date. IMO, Dogville dwarfs Elephant in imagination AND philosophical themes, and comparing the acting would be a joke.

It worked in Shakespeare's Richard III, and in one scene no less.

Yes, I meant Scarlett, not sure where the Amber came from.

Last Samurai- I meant dramactically interesting, not necessarily factual. I know it was one-sided, but it did foreshadow the rise of the authoritarian miliatarist government. And yes, the battle action was not particularly realistic, but it is a movie, it should look good as long as it isn't truly ridiculous.

And I didn't think the Samurai were shown as infallible. I think the movie says that there time is past, it was a noble tradition, but Japanese society could not remain locked away from technological advancement. And as in the US, while business, tech, etc was controlled by greedy cabals, robber barons, etc., it's undeniable that virtually everyone benefits.

I think I liked Elephant quite a bit more than you did Seth. I gave it a B+ at the time I saw it because the real footage as seen in Bowling for Columbine was fresh in my mind and seeing a re-enactment is always a bit dramatically unsatisfying when you have reality as reference, but there's something about those DVD ads they keep running in Landmark theaters that has me really wanting to revisit the film. The way the story inevitably builds, along with the ominous score creates a helpless feeling, just as those experiencing the situation were helpless. As for the acting, I think he used all non-actors. I think it adds to the realism of what he was going for, they act like regular high school kids rather than Hollywood airbrushed model types.

I checked on the online firearms thing and it seems to me that you can order guns, even AR-15 assault rifles, online, but you have to have a Federal firearms license to order a complete gun. But to me that implies you could order parts and a kit and assemble it yourself without a license. I can't recall in the movie if the gun came complete or if they assembled it.

http://www.bushmaster.com/welcome.asp

But I do agree with you that Dogville is miles above Elephant. But Von Trier isn't going to win any popularity contests.