2002 Film List - Page 4

Mr. Deeds
2 of 10
I'm a big Sandler fan, but this is a bigger misfire than Little Nicky. Yes the stupid voice is gone. Sandler is back to being his best character - the lovable good guy underdog with a knack for punching someone out. In that regard this could have been just as solid as Happy Gilmore.

BUT...some horrifyingly bad writing for most of the film just ruins it. Real groaner type jokes had me scratching my head right from the start. Even the funny trailer jokes are mostly worse when placed in context. Terrible timing and structure. Worst of all is that in there somewhere was the chance for a great comedy. A lot of wasted talent and story potential.

Updated my list with:

Adaptation. (***1/2 / ****)

While Adaptation isn't a home run in the vein of Being John Malkovich, it's a solid triple. (Okay sorry for the baseball analogy )

Highly original and very funny, Adaptation is marred by a weak third act which sadly drags the movie down. Nevertheless, it's still a really good movie which will probably slip into the bottom of my top 10 list.

Catch Me If You Can (***1/2 / ****)

Who really cares that it's not as serious as some of Spielberg's latest efforts, anytime a movie is as entertaining and funny as this he can go on making movies like this for the rest of his days. Definately one of the best of the year and the 2nd of 2 fantastic movies Spielberg has made this year.

Lowell

Updated with Gangs Of New York, which I enjoyed the heck out of until the end, where Scorcese seems to forget what story he wants to tell. Lands just outside my top 10. ½

Updated with The Pianist, a very uneven film that is sometimes arresting but sometimes distant.

And, gads, I've had enough "based on a true story" to last a lifetime in the last few weeks in Antwone Fisher, Evelyn, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs Of New York(?), The Pianist... Make something up, darn it!

I saw Catch Me If You Can again, no change in my opinion of very good but slightly flawed.

On to the new film, copied from the review thread:

Chicago
10 of 10

This is not Moulin Rouge, a musical I happened to love. However, it carries the same power, the same lust for life, the same energy as that film, albeit in a jazzier stage-like package. As a musical brought to film it's divine, making the most of the unique medium and it's ability to cut between reality and fantasy.

The songs were already top notch as the accolades the stage show received could attest to, but the performances here will still surprise you. Most of all Richard Gere nearly steals the show with 2 of the best sequences as the clever, controlling, fast-on-his-feet defense lawyer. That's not to say the Zeta-Jones, Zellweger, Latifah, and even John C. Reilly don't impress almost as much with their numbers.

A good musical makes you want the next song to start up right after the last one ended. For me, this film did that. Jazzy, sexy, cool, fun, all in the spirit of Fosse of course.

If you like musicals at all, this is a homerun for you. If you normally hate them then this is a maybe. If you liked Moulin Rouge you may or may not like this one so give it a shot. And if you like hot girls in sexy outfits doing sexy dances...definitely the flick for you.

Has to be a front runner for this year's Best Pix Oscar.

Well,
I only have one update.
I'm SO far behind, haven't seen anything new yet.
I'm going to seriously try for Monday, don't know if I will get around to it this week, since I have to leave for Omaha due to my grandmother passing away.

But here's my one update
Happy Times ***1/2

Coming from the same director as "The Road Home", I had very high hopes for this movie.
I really liked this movie all the way through, even the ending, which it may seem like it's a cliffhanger type ending, and somewhat unexplained as to Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
I liked the main character, he's cheap but caring.
The relationship between the main character and the blind girl is great too.

Updated with About Schmidt. ¼

Updated with The Two Towers - a film that succeeds on its own. A visually arresting film that manages to entertain.

~Edwin

Updated with:

Gangs of New York - - Gorgeous to look at, Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a sinfully entertaining performance...and that's about it. Stunningly choppy and meandering for a Scorsese flick.

Nicholas Nickleby
8.5 of 10
The film has a wonderful cast and excellent art direction, which certainly puts you in the environment. But I felt the adaptation was a bit choppy at times. A little hard to follow some of the plot actions (specifically the reasons for some of the actions), like what things were costing the uncle his money. The uncle's failures rarely felt tied to the story though it seemed they were meant to be.

But other than that it's a wonderful escapist tale in the typical over-the-top Dickens' characterizations (is every child dominated by some evil Scrooge type in Dickens' stories? ) Nathan Lane and crew are especially a fun bunch to spend time with.

Broadbent, Plummer and Charlie Hunnam (as the title character) all put in outstanding performances with characters that obviously run on the more one-dimensional side of things.

Copied from the review thread...

About Schmidt
10 of 10
"About Schmidt" is a remarkable triumph of mixed emotions. Few films are able to grab such emotional range with real honesty and without resorting to melodrama, which AS completely avoids. The script is simply outstanding (and I would suspect that the source book must be quite a read as well) and the direction manages to keep up with it and let it flow onto the screen.

Nicholson is in top form, though I don't think his role gave him quite as much juice as Lewis had in GONY, but both men bring out everything that their respective characters have to offer (I see Lewis getting the Oscar still). Not as often mentioned, Kathy Bates is yet again superb in a wacky supporting role (not unlike her surprising efforts to improve The Waterboy) and gives Jack something good to play against.

The film begins a bit dry, though still solid, but once the film's main motif is introduced (an interesting "pen pal") the story really takes off. From that point on the emotions are subtle, yet turbulent, and there is great tension at several critical points which I can honestly say I was not sure how Nicholson's Schmidt was going to react.

The emotional ending is wonderfully earned and left me quite affected as I left the theater. This film played as honest or more so than You Can Count on Me and seems almost a sure thing for a Best Pix nom.

Updated with Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. Overall, a pretty average film. Nothing really to write home about. A film that can easily be relegated to DVD.

~Edwin

Updated with a new addition to my Top Ten, 25th Hour. Excellent flick.

Apparently I saw a 2002 movie months ago without realizing it - Dagon a fun realization of my favorite HP Lovecraft story, The Shadow Over Insmouth. It's fairly by the numbers as horror films go, never close to reaching the heights of Gordon's masterpiece, Re-Animator, but it does so in an entertaining way and of course the Lovecraft imagery puts it over the top with me.

I just wish that someday, someone would attempt a true period Lovecraft film using Lovecraft's singular language.

I have Panic Room waiting at home from Netflix and a ton of stuff at the theater to see if I could get out of the house.

Updated my list with

The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys ***1/2 / ****

Monsoon Wedding ***1/2 /****

Two very entertaining, funny, sad, and well made movies that both land a bit outside my top 10. I hope to see some theatrical releases this weekend too.


Lowell

Made it to the theater for the first time in a few weeks and saw two:

Narc: Pretty good cop story that I thought I had figured out from the beginning, but took some interesting turns and moral questions. Jason Patric and Ray Liotta are very good but the film gets rather clunky in the 3rd act with several characters plowing thru miles of exposition. Much more accomplished than Blood Guts Bullets and Octane, Carnahan has definitely advanced his skills as a filmmaker. B

25th Hour: Instantly became Spike's second best film and a possible candidate for my film of the year. A film of raw emotion and singular power. Unlike Gangs, Spike masterfully tells many stories at once - old friends sticking by each other, a man facing prison, Sept. 11, NYC, America, taking personal responsibility. Politics and morality are also interwoven with economic and social threads. Strong and subtle performances, effective cinematography and score. Basically just gushing here, maybe I'll try something more coherent in the review thread if I get a chance A

Netflix:
Panic Room - not even worth talking about. I'm completely bored by the "Fincher look" and anytime anything remotely interesting happened in the story it was immediately undermined by something stupid. C

Updated with a couple more:

25th Hour is great, landing just a bit outside the top 10. Great performances all around. And, hopefully, this could finally be the movie that makes a star out of Rosario Dawson. ½

Nicholas Nickleby is enjoyable enough, although it shows definite signs of how much it's been cut down and some performances are much more vibrant than others. Mostly good fun, though.

And that's probably just about it... I'll see Narc sometime this week, and Dangerous Mind when it hits Boston, but most of what's left is like eating my vegetables: I know they're getting good reviews, I know they'll figure in the awards races, but I just cannot drag my butt into Chicago, Far From Heaven, or The Hours. I want to have an informed opinion, but I know I'll see Kangaroo Jack before at least one of those.

Dawson's been in a lot of films since "He Got Game", but she still is only 23 years old.





Crawdaddy

Oh, I know... She just seems ready to break out, is all, and has since Josie And The Pussycats. She's got the charisma to be a real movie star as well as a great actress, but she needs a big hit that's worthy of her (I mean, she got stuck with both Men In Black 2 and Pluto Nash last summer! Does her agent hate her or something?).

Updated with Alexander Payne's About Schmidt, which poses no threat to my Top 10 list.

~Edwin

Updated my list with two films that flirted with greatness, but didn't quite make it (The 25th Hour & Adaptation - both 9/10), and the solid Narc (8/10).

Updated with Narc, a great, gritty crime movie. ½

I'm adding
Kissing Jessica Stein
8.5 of 10
This film's score varied quite a bit as I watched it, but toward the end especially it had some heart to the script that made me score it a bit high for an otherwise slightly generic romance flick (despite the lesbian twist it's still mostly standard turf).

I could decide if I liked or hated the incredible Diane Keaton impersonation done by Jennifer Westfeldt. The film at times felt a lot like I was watching Annie Hall 2, the one where we follow Annie after she's left Alvy and tries exploring lesbian relationships to clense herself or something. This film could fall to an 8, which if you are counting at home moves it toward matinee only status.



Adaptation
9.5 of 10
Let me say right off the bat, the only reason it loses the .5 is because of it's own conventions. Even though it is commenting on the silliness of many screenwriting/filmmaking conventions and uses them to make the point, in the end it does still rely on them to move the film forward.

But this was one of the finest films about making/writing a film you could ever want to see. Cage is outstanding, truly amazing in both his portrayals and shows some of the finest range he's ever done, but with the subtle touch that keeps the effort from feeling pushy or cheap. In fact Donald Kaufman gets some of the most heartfelt moments despite being the more colorful character, and Cage nails it in a way that made me believe in these deeper facest to Donald's goofball character.

Having not seen Confessions yet, I'd say this script is a shoe-in for Best Adapted Screenplay. It's probably not even close at this point.

While the knock on the film is that it's too strange and I heard one guy say something to that effect as the audience filed out, much of the time the audience was laughing at parts that required them to be in tune with what Kaufman was doing with the script. Otherwise many of the third act scenes become tense or tragic, rather than the load of laughs the audience got out of seeing a certain brother's handywork in action. So to me that says that while some people just aren't going to get the basic premise period, if you do then this film is far from bizarre.

Unlike BJMalk, this film works with very established conventions and ideas (such as flashbacks, fantasy sequences, writer writing the film as he is in it himself - see The Player or John Candy's Delirious). If Delirious is understandable, then certainly Adaptation is.

Updated with Denzel Washington's Antwone Fisher.

~Edwin