Peter Travers Top 10 Movies of 2001 List (1 Viewer)

[Hubert]

It's really gotten to the point where studios will take one quote that sounds positive from a negative review, and use it even if the review is negative. It's total deception. And he does get quoted quite often in marketing ads and movie commercials.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

As for Black Hawk Down, there is a very interesting front page article yesterday on The Wall Street Journal about the entire film and why its release is now being slated for this year.
~Edwin

 

[Seth Paxton]

As Mark said, Travers would easily have access to many of these films far earlier than the release (more than that standard week that locals usually get).
Jeffrey Wells at Reel.com got a look at Tennenbaums about a month ago himself. His reaction was positive but not as truly great as he'd hoped from reading the script.
As for Travers having a 2nd indy list, it would be new. Although it would not be coming out of left field as we have seen a definate shift in critical thought over the last 3-4 years in which the feeling has grown that indy films almost need their own list since top 10's have grown to be dominated by indy films over the big studio crap. So I think many critics are starting to feel the need to say "here's the top 10 of what YOU might have seen and here's the 10 best films PERIOD".
You would think that would make sense based on the absence of Amelie, Mulholland Drive, Memento, etc.
I've found Travers to be decent, but with a bit too much lean to pop appeal. I don't want an elitist either, just someone who is more of a film lover than movie buff.
The most notable quote I can't think of from Travers lately was his "Scary as hell" for Blair Witch Project (which I agreed with actually ).

 

[VernRB]

That A.I. was listed 9th makes me want to dismiss this critics list as anything valid. While I really like Spielberg, A.I. has to be one of the worst movies he's made in a good 10 years. It was dreadful. But that's just my opinion I guess.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

But that's just my opinion I guess.

I'm glad you qualified that.

~Edwin

 

[Rich Malloy]

Plus, you're dead wrong.

 

[RobertR]

you're dead wrong

Agree with you completely on that one, Al. If anything, having it on his top 10 list adds to Traver's credibility as a critic for me.

 

[Fred McHugh]

I don't know. AI was weak, it had some good parts, but a lot of it made no sense. The flesh fair? huh? but as always we are entitled to out opinion. Heck I really liked the heist (always a norton fan)

 

[Kevin Coleman]

Come on guys be nice to the newbies. How can an opinion be "dead wrong"?
Kevin C.

 

[Tom-G]

But that's just my opinion I guess.

Yep. Care to give some insight as to why you think it was so dreadful? If you do that, I will share my opinion on why I found it be a damn good movie--one of the better films of 2001.

 

[Keith Yatsuhashi]

I loved A.I. It had so many layers to it, so many questions about Kubrick's interpretaions of humanity. It also didn't have any of those stupid throw away quote lines designed to get a cheap laugh that show up in almost every 'event' movie these days. (OT, the 'Can't we all just get along' in POTA makes me cringe). For me, A.I was one of the best pure SF movies I've ever seen, and certainly better than either Hook or 1941.

 

[David Oliver]

This isn't an AI discussion thread. The poster said he didn't like the list because he didn't like AI. Fair enough. I don't think this is the place m to discuss the intricacies of that movie. I liked AI, but didn't think it was great or anything.

 

[Rich Malloy]

True enough! Please direct all A.I. related discussion to this thread (the most recent one):
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...highlight=A.I.
Did I say "dead wrong"? Good.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Al, you kill me.
Well there was yet more word on the Travers list over in the FOTR thread. Someone there said that he does have a 2nd indy list with Memento at the top.
You know, it wouldn't necessarily be that surprising considering the source material and PJ's previous efforts. I mean I think most of us saw that the outcome could go a lot of ways, but one of those ways would be for PJ to totally capture the spirit of one of the greatest adventure stories ever. If he did that then the film would have to be pretty damn awesome, wouldn't it? Maybe he has done it.
Looking at the rest of the list (since this thread is really about that), looks like ALI is going to pull it off as well. Welles at Reel seemed to think this had lots of promise as well, so it's got my interest for sure.
Tenebaums as 3rd is great since I love Anderson (the good one ). But how about Bruckheimer possibly having finally paired himself with appropriate material and then hitting at the perfect national emotional moment with Black Hawk Down.
Sounds like JB is about to earn some respect again (finally).
I wouldn't have Shrek that high, but others do so I can understand. Glad to see Moulin Rouge still getting respect. I think it and Memento COULD have been buried but aren't going to be after all (come AA time). They will at the least get mentions if not nominations.
But if FOTR is THAT good, does that mean nominations for Best Pix and/or Director? Man, I wonder. To me that would be a small upset.

 

[MatS]

Mr. Travers must have really bad memory Memento is the movie of the year

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I'm sorry but I just don't like the idea of having two seperate Top 10 lists. To me, the great thing about Top 10 lists is that it causes your average person to take a look at a film they might have otherwise overlooked like Crouching Tiger or Life is Beautiful. With two seperate lists, the average person probably won't even bother looking at the indie list.
Jeff

 

[VernRB]

"Yep. Care to give some insight as to why you think it was so dreadful? If you do that, I will share my opinion on why I found it be a damn good movie--one of the better films of 2001. "

To be honest I couldn't go into detail since it's been awhile since seeing the movie. That and it's a movie I haven't given much thought too since seeing it. I do remember fighting the urge to fall asleep during the movie. Only other time that happened was when watching Bicentenial man. (A movie far worse than A.I)

I should say I didn't hate the movie- but I wouldn't put it on my top 10 for the year either.

Sorry that wasn't detailed enough for ya'.

 

[Anthony_D]

This isn't an AI discussion thread. The poster said he didn't like the list because he didn't like AI. Fair enough. I don't think this is the place m to discuss the intricacies of that movie. I liked AI, but didn't think it was great or anything.

thank you mister moderator, but we can discuss whatever we choose...i like the way you say "this isn't the thread to discuss AI, yet you throw your opinion in there
A.I. is the best film of the year...no doubt it. It raised questions...philospical questions...about what makes someone 'human.'
it was done with the use of awesome visuals...speilberg is great; he made me care for a character that wasn't human.
Travers listing of LOTR as #1 has me really excited...I loved teh books, can't wait to see the movie! LOTR should kick some serious booty.

 

[BrianShort]

From Link Removed
I also updated my top post
Peter Travers' List
Lord of the Rings Tops Travers' Hollywood Top Ten
Memento Tops Indie List
"Pearl Harbor, about another sneak attack on America was crass exploitation and the year's worst movie"
Hollywood Top Ten:
1. Fellowship of the Ring: "For the first film in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson combines mythic power, personal storytelling and breathless Indiana Jones adventure to create a film that is both intimate, and epic, Damn, he's good."
2. Ali: "Michael Mann and Will Smith transcend biopic cliché's to punch their way to the bruised heart of a hero. Extraordinary."
3. The Royal Tenenbaums: "A Hurting, healing comedy about the wounds inflicted by family; confirms Wes Anderson as a world-class talent."
4. Shrek: "An ogre in love, and a new peak in animation."
5. Vanilla Sky: "Cameron Crowe directs Tom Cruise in a psychosexual thriller that busts more than a few molds."
6. Moulin Rouge: "A musical that pushes so hard it mauls you, but Aussie Baz Luhrmann creates visual wonders."
7. Black Hawk Down - " The script's speechifying can't stop Ridley Scott. The director of 'Gladiator' and 'Hannibal' brings documentary realism to a war film that salutes the soldiers felled in a botched 1993 U.S. operation in Somalia."
8. A Beautiful Mind: "Russell Crowe's searing portrait of a schizophrenic never flinches, even when Ron Howard softens the blow.
9. A.I. - Steven Spielberg tries to finish something Stanley Kubrick started. The result is a sci-fi shambles that true film fans will heatedly discuss for ages.
10. Ocean's Eleven: "Steven Soderbergh turns a B-movie heist into a class-A exercise in coolness.
INDIE TOP TEN
1. Memento: "A thriller that runs in reverse allows director Christpher Nolan, 31, to step forward with the year's most dazzling feat of cinematic originality."
2. Mulholland Drive: "Life is but an L.A. dream for David Lynch, who dreams like no one else."
3. Waking Life: "Richard Linklater's animated riff on the meaning of life goes places that "Shrek" and "Monsters, Inc." never imagined."
4. Ghost World: "Steve Buscemi as a love object for teen misfit Thora Birch is just one reason why this Terry Zwigoff film of Daniel Clowes' underground comic book cuts deep."
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch: "Songs, a sex change and a rock tour de force for writer, director and star John Cameron Mitchell."
6. Sexy Beast: "A blazing Ben Kingsley is scarier than any Soprano-stylish gangster tale."
7.In the Bedroom: "Actor turned director Todd Field brings lyrical grace to a revenge drama powered by brilliant turns by Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson.
8. The Man Who Wasn't There: "The Coen brothers do film noir set in a barber shop and, o brother, did it come out looking good."
9. Gosford Park: "Playing the game of humor and homicide by his own rules, Robert Altman throws a posh party with a cast of Brit legends and serves up a full-course acting feast."
10. Amelie - "A love letter to Paris, movies and luminous new star Audrey Tautou from Jean-Pierre Jeunet."

 

[Craig S]

I hearby withdraw my earlier doubts on the veracity of these lists. The short comments accompanying Moulin Rouge & A.I. accurately echo Travers' full-length reviews of same.
Glad to be proven wrong on this one!