Punditries

List of Film Viewed from Best to Worst (2001/2002)

This is the last 50 films - if you want to see a list of all the films, best to worst, click here. Be warned, it might take a minute to download it all.

Igby Goes Down What an amazingly powerful film! Although it seems like yet another teenager-comes-of-age story, this one is brilliantly acted and written. Igby (Kieran Culkin) is an upper-middle-class kid living near New York; he gets bored with school and his overbearing mother and ditches school for New York City, where he hangs out with an assortment of wacky characters. In the process, does he figure out some things about life? Perhaps. Culkin is great and so is the supporting cast that includes Jeff Goldblum, Amanda Peet, Ryan Phillippe, and Susan Surandon. The movie is not upbeat, sometimes intense and not always very pleasant to watch, but it's a knock-out. (Ignore comparisons to the film "Rushmore", another great film; "Igby" is really nothing like it.)

Catch Me If You Can Inspired by a true story: in the mid-60's, a teenager (Leonardo Dicaprio) impersonates an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, passing bad checks all along the way. A dogged FBI agent (Tom Hanks) keeps chasing him. The real star is Steven Spielberg, who makes this breezy, entertaining film seem as effortless to make as to watch.

A Mighty Wind An icon of folk music past has died, and his son decides to put on a concert in New York City reuniting some old folk acts - including The Folksmen and Mitch and Mickey. This is another "mockumentary" from Christopher Guest, in the same form as "Best in Show" and "Waiting For Guffman". Most of the cast look familiar from the previous two films. But the most fun is seeing the three principals from "Spinal Tap" (Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer) playing new music as The Folksman. The icing on the cake is Fred Willard, who pops up as always to provide belly laughs with his outlandish, assinine asides.

The Lawless Heart (British) Bittersweet drama: three men in a small town in England experience new love and new pain trigged by the death of Stuart, a loved one. We see the story of Stuart's brother-in-law, Stuart's boyfriend, and his cousin. Each man's story is told separately, so the same events are repeated each time. This well-acted drama is peppered with occasional humor.

Kira's Reason - A Love Story (Danish with English subtitles) Kira is a disturbed mother of two - she's just been released from a mental hospital and her husband seems to bend over backwards to help her re-integrate into normal life. Just what is Kira's problem? It's not immediately obvious. This Dogme 95 film (hand-held camera, no artificial lighting, etc.) that nonetheless has a less bleak outlook than many other such films. The style gives a terrific intimacy that works well in this story.

Black Hawk Down In the midst of the American hunger relief mission in Solalia in 1993, an American military mission went tragically wrong; a few weeks later the US withdrew. This is a blow-by-blow account (probably with a few cinematic liberties taken) of what happened. It's a brutal, graphic, disturbing film but also very intense.
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Kissing Jessica Stein Jessica, a copy editor in New York City, can't seem to hook up with a guy she likes. On a whim she answers Helen's ad in the personals; should she "experiment" with women? How will Jessica's Jewish family accept this? This is a light, intelligent, but forgettable comedy, a crowd-pleaser that you will probably enjoy if you are hip on girl-girl relationships.
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Panic Room (See Review) Jodie Foster plays a determined woman hiding in a vault/shelter (panic room) in their home trying to keep away from bad guys. A tight suspense thriller directed by David Fincher ("Fight Club").
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Y Tu Mama Tambien (Mexico - In Spanish with English Subtitles) Y Tu Mama Tambien ("And Your Mother, Too") is a road movie concerning two 17-year-old middle-class Mexican guys, Julio and Tenoch - best friends - who somehow go on a road trip with a beautiful "older" woman, Luisa, who teaches the immature, horny boys about life and sex. This film has a nice sweetness to it that is unfortunately nearly ruined by an intrusive narration, which chimes in from time to time with a heavy-handed (and often irrelevant) social commentary about Mexican life. The ending is a little jumbled as well. The sex in this film is fairly explicit, and there is some serious (mostly male) frontal nudity.
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The Piano Teacher (In French with English Subtitles) A lonely, self-hating woman piano teacher (Isabelle Huppert) with some nasty sexual hangups meets a young, handsome student (Benont Magimel) who forces her to confront some of her inner demons. Since it's not a Hollywood film, don't expect a Hollywood story - this is a somber, unsentimental, painfully honest portrayal of an empty woman, and it's certainly not a love story. The film is kinda slow at 130 minutes, but in a way, the pace of the story sort of fits the character. Beware of the graphic violent and sexual nature of this film - it would certainly be NC-17 if rated in the US.

Insomnia A high school girl is beaten to death in a small Alaska town. A veteran LA detective (Al Pacino) and his partner are sent up to help the local cops (including Hilary Swank) figure it out. Unfortunately, Pacino's detective doesn't always play by the rules and it gets him in trouble. Will they catch the bad guy (Robin Williams)? This is a great suspense film with some nice twists - a remake of an equally terrific Norwegian film of the same name - from Chistopher Nolan, director of "Memento".
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Road To Perdition An entertaining story of a mob hit man, Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) working for the local boss (Paul Newman) who basically adopted him as another son. Michael, as seen through the eyes of his young son, gets in some kind of trouble with the boss's real son, a hapless thug, and this leads down a bloody path almost to ruin. Can Michael take care of his son? Can Michael escape another, quirky, hitman played suberbly by Jude Law? For all of this, there's nothing particular profound or original in the story - it's just a well-made, entertaining film.
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13 Conversations About One Thing A decent, intelligent little indy film with a lot of A-list actors (Alan Arkin, Matthew McConaughey, John Turturro). It's a talky contemplation about the consequences of the choices we make in life when s**t happens.

Blood Work Fairly standard crime film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, who doesn't hide his age in his movies and continues to make movies about aging in general. This time Clint plays an aging FBI agent who must "retire" after getting heart disease and a heart transplant. Of course, he can't stay retired for long when trouble looks him up. Beyond the themes about aging and a few semi-interesting twists, this film isn't much beyond entertaining and well-made. Clint Eastwood fans should enjoy.

The Ring Pretty decent horror flick. A video tape exists where, if you watch it the surrealistic short film on it, you die in exactly seven days. The movie starts off looking like a cheap teen horror romp but quickly shows it's much more than that. Rachel (Naomi Watts) is a reporter who starts nosing around into her niece's death. After she watches the tape, she has a week to unravel the mystery before she too dies. It's fairly conventional as a film but well-made and often - creepy. Don't leave the theater at the end til the credits start to roll.

Secretary A slightly disturbed young woman, Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) goes to work for a very quirky lawyer, Mr. Grey (James Spader) who might just have trouble keeping secretaries? In any case, Grey's unorthodox methods for, er, disciplining his secretaries turn out to be perfect for the directionless Lee, who quickly falls in love with her spanking boss. This is an odd type of love story, fairly light in tone but somehow refreshingly honest. Though there is little nudity or simulated on-screen sex, some may be offended by the otherwise graphic sexual scenes.

The Truth About Charlie Regina (Thandie Newton) returns to Paris from vacation to find that Charlie, her husband, is dead, and an odd assortment of characters she's never met will do anything to recover some valuable property he hid away. Who are these people, and who can she trust? This remake of the Cary Grant/Audrie Hepburn classic "Charade" is an almost lighthearted romp through Paris, despite the occasional bloody fights and dead bodies, with fun twists. Mark Wahlberg is charming in the Cary Grant role, but Tim Robbins is terrific as one of the other players.

Empire See this film if A) you hate Denise Richards and/or B) you like to see her get knocked around. In this film, she's a wall street swindler's girlfriend. But the main story concerns Vic (John Leguizamo), a likeable Puerto Rican gangster/drug dealer in New York City trying to figure out his life. He gets a chance to invest in a seemingly legitimate business deal with Jack (Peter Sarsgaard), who is not quite who he seems. The film was obviously put into production before the US economy faltered (well, at least it was shot before 9/11); Jack's too-good-to-be-true business deal would have seemed more plausible in 2000, but today it seems a little unlikely. Anyway, though nothing special, the film is entertaining and Leguizamo gives an engaging performance - so much so that when this drug-dealing murderer gets swindled, the audience cheers when he gets his revenge. So wall street swindlers are worse than drug dealers these days?

The Trials Of Henry Kissinger Documentary: an exploration of the supposed "crimes" of Henry Kissinger while he was National Security Adviser and Secretary of State for Nixon and Ford. The "trial" consists of a bunch of interviews with supposed experts on Kissinger. Though it makes a weak attempt to seem "balanced" (Kissinger himself appears through clips that were not intended for the movie), the film is more of an indictment of Kissinger than a trial. Perhaps the filmmakers did not look harder than Alexander Haig for witnesses to defend Kissinger; Haig unwittingly scores more points for the prosecution than for Kissinger. Still, the film provides disturbing and damning evidence that Kissinger indeed quarterbacked US involvement in some horrible events in Cambodia, Chile, and Indonesia. Is Henry Kissinger, America's most famous foreign policy figure, no better than Slobodan Milosevic?

Maid In Manhattan A slick, crowdpleasing Cinderella story with Jennifer Lopez as a lowly hotel maid and Ralph Fiennes as the rich politician who mistakes her for a society woman - and falls in love. It's a light, predictable, forgettable film with a simple story but it's entertaining and not too mushy. Not a whole lot of effort required for Lopez or Fiennes for their roles (not much chemistry between them either). My favorite part of the film is Lopez's character's little boy and his 70's obsession (and his fascination with Richard Nixon). Stanley Tucci has a nice little supporting role as the overprotective campaign manager/handler.

Phone Booth A New York hot shot publicist (Colin Farrell) thinks he's on top of the world until a nut traps him in a phone booth with a rifle. Farrell is quite good considering he spends most of the film in a phone booth.

Seabiscuit Polished, crowd-pleasing story of Seabiscuit, an underdog race horse who won (and lost) big in the 1930's. Actually the story is more about the people around the horse than about Seabiscuit himself. The book is better.

Late Marriage (Israeli with English subtitles) An Israeli man has hit his 30's without getting married to the "right woman" to satisfy his demanding family. While they are trying to fix him up with younger women, he is secretly seeing a divorced older vixen with a child - not acceptable to his family. Will he choose his family or his lover? This is a simple, heavy-handed story about family conflict that seems dated in western sensibilities, though perhaps this is still a conflict going on in other parts of the world. Beware of the unexpected NC-17 love scene in the middle of this movie that is natural and very well done - just out of place.

Left Side of the Fridge (Canadian - French with English subtitles) A mechanical engineer in Quebec is unemployed and agrees to let his friend film his comic struggle for employment. A mock documentary combined with a mock Michael Moore-style - very funny at times but eventually it kind of drags.

I Love Beijing (Chinese with English subtitles) A cab driver in Beijing gets divorced and cruises around in his cab, hanging out with buddies and picking up women. Not much plot - more on exploring and feeling Beijing.

Taliesin Jones Decent performances can't save this dull story about a kid in Wales who, inspired by his healing piano teacher (Ian Bannen), develops a faith in god and miracles despite the cynicism of friends and family. You keep expecting this film to blossom into something charming and touching, but it just fizzles, with almost no spark or charm. It's really little more than a simple parable about believing in god.

Death To Smoochy Robin Williams and Edward Norton star as rival stars of kids' TV shows. This is a dark satire (from Danny DeVito) that doesn't come near to fulfilling its promising premise, but Norton is great as the innocent, new agey entertainer, and Williams is his usual manic bundle of comic energy as the displaced rival out to get him. Together, Norton and Williams more than make the film worth seeing. There are a few hilarious moments, but most of it is simply amusing.

Undercover Brother The plot is irrelevant: Imagine the "Austin Powers" formula recycled with an inept hero (Undercover Brother) from another time - from "Blaxploitation America" instead of from the "Swinging 60's" - awash in inane references to African-American culture and rapid-fire, stupid jokes about black stereotypes. There are some genuinely funny moments here, but it's low humor, surface level, and fairly predictable. Still, the movie is good as a guilty pleasure, a brain-dead escape for a few laughs at the bargain show.
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Austin Powers In Goldmember (See Review) Easily the weakest of the three Austin Powers films, despite some hilarious stuff here and there, especially in the beginning.
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Signs A parable about a preacher (Mel Gibson) who has lost his faith after the death of his wife. Will the preacher regain his faith? Oh, yeah, and aliens from outerspace are invading the earth, too - but that's just the back story...
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24-Hour Photo Fairly routine thriller about a lonely photo clerk (Robin Williams) who invades the lives of a seemingly-happy model family he idolizes. Williams is OK - one of his serious films where he manages not to crack a smile or tell a joke.

Red Dragon Remake of the book on which "Manhunter" was based - the first chapter in the Hannibal Lecter story. Anthony Hopkins is back of course, but the movie is pretty flat, even ho-hum, despite the appearance of a whole slew of great actors (Emily Watson, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, and Philip Seymour Hoffman). Mildly entertaining at best - worth a look only if you adore seeing Hopkins play Lecter one more time...

Punch-Drunk Love OK, I DON'T like Adam Sandler, I admit it! And this isn't a "serious" role for him - it's a quirky role in a weird art house experimental-type film from Paul Thomas Anderson ("Boogie Nights", "Magnolia"). What's it about? Oh, yes: it's about a loser-type guy (Sandler) who gets in trouble after calling a phone-sex line, tries a scheme to cash in on frequent flyer miles by buying pudding, fights with his sisters, and improbably has a dream romance with his sister's beautiful friend (Emily Watson). It's a surreal-seeming movie, seen through the eyes of its neurotic loser/hero, and often isn't pleasant to watch. Sure, it's something different for Sandler, but simply walking through a movie with a straight face isn't the same as giving a good performance. It's the type of unpleasantly twisted movie that critics love but mainsteam audiences won't dig.

Auto Focus Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) starred in the hit TV show "Hogan's Heros" for a few years, during which his addiction to sex and photographing women escalated along with his stardom. Stuck doing dinner theater on the road after his show went off the air, Crane was murdered in Arizona in the 70's. Did his long-time sleaze buddy John (Willem Dafoe) kill him out of revenge? The film tells us the story of Crane without giving us much insight into the man's life at all. It's like having the script read to you with good visuals. The film is often pretty flat, story is never compelling, and Kinnear's impression of Crane is good but shouldn't be confused with a great performance. Dafoe, however, is perfectly cast as Crane's creepy cohort.

Analyze That Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro are back in the sequel to "Analyze This", in which Crystal plays mobster De Niro's psychotherapist. The original was a sloppy "mob movie" parody that went for cheap laughs first and ignored the story; the new movie is no different. The whole point really is the supposed chemistry between Crystal and De Niro - does it work for you? If it did in the first film, it probably will again. There are a few great laughs here and there, but this one seems like another instantly-forgettable braindead comedy.

The Italian Job Mildly entertaining but completely unimaginative heist/revenge film (a remake) about a gold robbery and a betrayal - starring Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton, and Charlize Theron. There's a lot of glitz and choreography of events (this is one of those movies where nothing ever seems to go wrong in the plan) but not much real excitement. Norton plays a completely forgettable bad guy.

Collateral Damage Arnold Schwarzenegger's long-delayed terrorist film that was to come out just after September 11 would have been awful even then. He plays a fireman who loses his wife and daughter in a terrorist blast (though these terrorists are Columbian) and vows to go to Columbia to hunt down the mastermind. The film is full of shoot-outs and explosions - most of the cliche's we've seen dozens of times - but the story is almost choreographed without making complete sense. Worst of all is Arnold himself, who shows the worst of his wooden acting style in a role that might have been better with some sensitivity; perhaps he's unable to express it.
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Men In Black II Unlike most people, I thought the original was merely "OK" - entertaining and cute but nothing special. The sequel is, by contrast, little more than a rehash of the original, with more cuteness (a talking dog stealing the movie is always a sign of trouble) and much less imagination. The story is a completely forgettable tale of a extraterrestrial witch (Lara Flynn Boyle) on earth searching for some sort of light source, which for some reason the retired Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) is privy to. Jay (Will Smith) is given a love interest (Rosario Dawson) and there's a predictable subplot about re-recruiting Kay back to Men in Black. But otherwise, it seems more like a sequel to the sequel to "Ghostbusters" than anything else.
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Star Trek Nemesis The Star Trek: Next Generation cast is back in a ridiculous story about a clone of Captain Picard who threatens to blow up earth with some dastardly new nuclear weapon. The movie is lifeless, devoid of all creativity, and full of the worst cliches from previous Star Trek movies and TV shows. If you love Star Trek, please stay away and pretend they never made another movie.

The Hunted Filmed in and around Portland, Oregon: a renegade special ops soldier (Benicio Del Toro) slays some hunters in an Oregon forest. Man-of-the-wild Tommy Lee Jones (who trained the soldier to kill) is brought in to help track him down. The movie is flat in just about every respect: boring fight scenes, ho-hum car chase that have been better done hundreds of times, and - worst of all - dull characters who have zero chemistry together. The filmmakers must have realized this clunker wouldn't last long in theaters when they cut it to only 90 minutes - extremely short by action film standards. Very bloody, needlessly so.

The Civil War (not previewed)
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Harry Potter (not previewed)
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Lord Of The Rings (not previewed)
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Changing Lanes (not previewed)
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Clockstoppers (not previewed)
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Frailty (not previewed)
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Gosford Park (not previewed)
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High Crimes (not previewed)
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Ice Age (not previewed)
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National Lampoon's Van Wilder (not previewed)
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The Rookie (not previewed)
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Brotherhood Of The Wolf (not previewed)
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Count Of Monte Cristo (not previewed)
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Mulholland Drive (not previewed)
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The Shipping News (not previewed)
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Training Day (not previewed)
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In The Bedroom (not previewed)
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Monster's Ball (not previewed)
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Monsters, Inc. (not previewed)
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The Time Machine (not previewed)
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We Were Soldiers (not previewed)
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Return To Neverland (not previewed)
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Monsoon Wedding (not previewed)
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Spider-Man (not previewed)
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Star Wars II: Attack Of The Clones (not previewed)
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Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (not previewed)
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Enough (not previewed)
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About A Boy (not previewed)
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Unfaithful (not previewed)
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The New Guy (not previewed)
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Scorpion King (not previewed)
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Crossroads (not previewed)
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Dragonfly (not previewed)
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Super Troopers (not previewed)
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Hart's War (not previewed)
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Queen Of The Damned (not previewed)
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Mothman Prophecies (not previewed)
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Orange County (not previewed)
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Shallow Hal (not previewed)
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Snow Dogs (not previewed)
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I Am Sam (not previewed)
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A Walk To Remember (not previewed)
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Ali (not previewed)
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What Time Is It There? (not previewed) (Taiwan with English Subtitles) A watch vendor falls in love with a beautiful woman who is leaving for Paris. The film is extremely slow; the camera does not move AT ALL (I am not exaggerating), and the takes are usually long. I could stand only a half-hour before walking out. If this is your kind of movie, more power to you.