John's 2002 Films In Review


Films To See

1.  Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan)
     - Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.  A dip 
       into the subconscious.  A little girl 
       finds herself lost in a magical relm.
       Like all of Miyazaki's work, a very 
       humanistic tale.  My favorite Miyazaki
       film.  Terribly heartwarming.

2.  Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia)
     - Dreamlike, profound, mesmerizing, and 
       terribly, terribly beautiful.  A single-
       shot, single-take 90-minute film touring 
       the inside of the Hermitage museum in
       St. Petersburg.  Ground-breaking from both 
       a technical and artistic perspective.  
       Amazing. I love this film.

3.  What Time Is It There? (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan)
     - Beautiful, poignant examination of loss.  
       Warning: slow paced, non-linear.

4.  Ichi The Killer [2001] (Takashi Miike, Japan)
     - I may or may not have had a seizure while 
       watching this film.  Surreal, ultraviolent, 
       crazy fun for the sick of heart.

5.  Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg)
     - Hilarious.  Touching.  Memorable.  Another 
       great Spielberg film.	   

6.  Frailty (Bill Paxton)
     - Solid mind-bending psuedo-horror/thriller 
       flick.  Well shot, acted, written, and 
       directed by Bill Paxton ("GAME OVER, MAN!
       GAME OVER!!").

7.  Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)
     - Stylistic, enthralling, and thought provoking.
       (Too many endings.)

8.  Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson)
     - Part 2 of 3 of a good (great?) film.  Looking 
       forward to Part 3.

9.  Phone Booth (J. Schumacher)
     - Short, smart thriller.  Looks like popcorn,
       but tastes even sweeter.

10. The Whale Rider (N. Caro)
     - Magical little family flick.  A little 
       cliched, but the original setting and
       direction makes the cliches sparkle.


Films To Avoid

1.  Femme Fatale (Brian de Palma, USA/France)
     - The first 5 minutes were brilliant and then 
       Rebecca Romijn-Stamos opened her mouth.  
       Shallow and stupid film with horrible 
       performances.

2.  XXX (Rob Cohen)
     - Commercial crap.

3.  Red Dragon (Brett Ratner)
     - Comical bad guy, stupid ending.  A waste of 
       talent.

4.  Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron, Mexico)
     - Uninteresting.

5.  Signs (M. Night Shyamalan)
     - Amusing and suspenseful.  Aliens smart 
       enough to figure out inter-solar system 
       space travel yet dumb enough to be killed 
       by water??  Fuck you.  Gimme my $7.50 back.

6.  Spider-man (Sam Raimi)
     - Willem DaFoe deserves a better role.  His 
       character was idiotic/laughable.  Some special 
       effects were shoddy.  Even Dunst was above 
       her material.

7.  Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (George Lucas)
     - Horrible character writing.  Another 
       disappointment.

8.  The Road To Perdition (Sam Mendes)
     - Unbelievable performances from Tom Hanks and 
       Paul Newman.  Ridiculous ending and muppet-like 
       performance from the ever-amusing Jude Law.

9.  Chicago (Rob Marshall)
     - The dance numbers were swell; the movie was 
       awful.  All glam and no substance.  Gere was 
       bad (miscast?).

10.  The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
     - Brody gave a fine performance, but for christ 
       sake, CUT!  This film dragged on and on and on
       and had absolutely nothing original to say.
       We already know the holocaust was awful.  
       That's why it's called the fucking "holocaust."


Films Worth Mentioning

Dirty Pretty Things (S. Frears)
 - Flawwed, but riveting.  Audrey Tautou and
   newcomer Chiwetel Ejiofor are absolutely 
   fantastic.

Laurel Canyon (Lisa Cholodenko)
 - Decent little character study that stays true
   to its characters.  Lots of sexual tension.
   Bale is good.  Natascha McElhone is very 
   arousing.

Resident Evil (P. Anderson)
 - Fun popcorn flick with a video game feel 
   (probably because it's based on a video game
   ... <ahem>).

Rodger Dodger (Dylan Kidd)
 - Funny and charming commentary on sexual politics.  
   Campbell Scott and Jesse Eisenberg are great.

Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
 - Made me smile from ear to ear.  Non-sensical 
   Sandler comedy/drama about odd love.

Last Order [2001] (Fred Schapisi, UK)
 - A simple and quaint little English picture about 
   family and the passing of time.  Other people have 
   done it better, but still ... a genuine pleasure 
   to watch old masters of the cinema work their 
   magic.

Antwone Fisher (Denzel Washington)
 - Not bad.  Touching.

Visitor Q [2001] (Miike Takashi, Japan)
 - I now need counseling.  Sick, disturbing 
   commentary on the affects of media on family 
   structure and values (among other things).  
   Circus side-show from The Ring Master.

Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes)
 - Great performances and best cinematography of the 
   year.  Unfortunately, the film bored me to tears.

The Happiness of the Katakuris (Miike Takashi, Japan)
 - This is some crazy, crazy, crazy (crazy) shit.

The Hours
 - Cast was great, story was interesting, soundtrack
   was wonderful.  Felt a little heavy-handed at 
   times.

La Marionette (Alain Payet, France)
 - A guilty pleasure.

The Rookie (John Lee Hancock)
 - Good perf by Quaid.  Great family film.

24 Hour Party People (Michael Winterbottom)
 - Fascinating, fun, impulsive film.  Flawed.

Bowling for Columbine
 - Interesting film that raises important questions.
   Unfortunately, the facts are handled irrespon-
   sibly by this "documentary," which results in 
   the creation of glaring fallacies.

Secretary (Steven Shainberg)
 - Sexy, fun, twisted, touching, fresh romantic 
   comedy/drama.  Stupid ending.  Ms. Gyllenhaal 
   kept me very much spellbound.

Talk To Her (Pedro Almodovar, Spain)
 - Moving tale of unrequited and unconditional
   love.  Wonderful performances.  Artificial
   ending.


Looking Forward To In 2003

The Clearing (Pieter Jan Brugge)
Cold Mountain (Anthony Minghella)
The Last Ride (Ron Howard)
Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (P. Jackson)
Marlowe (John Maybury)
X-Men 2 (Bryan Singer)
anything from Miike, Spielberg, or Payet


Random Questions

When is someone going to give Natalie Portman 
a worthwhile role?  And who or what is helping 
Rachel Leigh Cook choose her roles?

Will Chris Cooper ever play the part of a 
character who isn't creepy as shit?  Ditto
on Ray Liotta, but more so.

What the hell is Gary Oldman doing?  I want
more Gary Oldman--preferably screaming and
angry and creepy (give him Cooper and 
Liotta's roles).

How come Speilberg is still a great director
yet Coppola and Lucas are seemingly tapped of
their talent?

Is anyone else in great anticipation of the 
next Bond film since they cast Clive Owen 
in the role of James Bond?

What is Miike on?  Whatever it is, can I buy
some?

Is Denise Richards signed on for any porno-
graphic films in 2003?  If so, can I get 
balcony seats at the premieres?

I could go on, but for everyone's sake, I won't.