In the Bedroom d. Todd Field (2001) Spirited Away d. Hayao Miyazaki (2001) About Schmidt d. Alexander Payne (2002) Mystic River d. Clint Eastwood (2003) Kontroll d. Nimrod Antal (2003) Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter . . . and Spring d. Ki-duk Kim (2003) The Return d. Andrei Zvyagintsev (2003) Nobody Knows d. Hirokazu Koreeda (2004) Before Sunset d. Richard Linklater (2004) Grizzly Man d. Wener Herzog (2005) Kontroll only hit the US last year, I believe. In terms of sheer entertainment, I liked School of Rock, Wedding Crashers, the 40-Year-Old Virgin, and whichever Harry Potter movie was directed by the guy who did Y Tu Mama Tambien.
Le fils L'enfant La Meglio gioventù Hable con ella Adaptation Irréversible Der Untergang Tideland In the Mood for Love Requiem for a Dream City of God L'auberge Espagnole Sin City
Here's an interesting review on it: http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/2001/0107/010713.html
GT, what do you think about Jonathan Rosenbaum in general? I have mixed feelings about the guy. When he's on, he writes some of the best criticism around. When he's feeling snarky, I don't care for him at all. (Frankly, regardless of his shortcomings, I like David Denby, who he essentially calls a Philistine in this review. The man has steered me in the direction of some great movies, and that's all I ask of critics with two pages of space in the back of The New Yorker.)
I love him because he never reviews a film without putting it in its historical/aesthetic context. I agree he can be a bit unbearable when he preaches from his ivory tower, but he's also one of the very few film critics that will publish mea culpas to earlier reviews. Dazed & Confused being the clasic example, where he accused Linklater of selling out to Hollywood in the initial review and then followed up with a reevaluation a few years later where he admitted the film went completely over his head.
A lot of excellent movies have been mentioned. I'd add "Maria, Full of Grace" and "Cache." EDIT: Sorry, "Cache" was mentioned.
That was Prisoner of Azkaban. I've never seen any other movie by Cuaron, but I liked what he did there.
That's an extremely good essay -- hard to call it only a review -- that I don't really agree with but was a great read. Actually, I'd like to reread it when I have more time, but it moves me to reiterate a point I've made before: David Denby is the biggest pain in the ass currently writing. So full credit there . . .
I don't get it: what's with all the hate for David Denby? Sure, he's more of a reviewer than a critic, but he fills his role pretty well. Furthermore, he has a pretty solid review of Upton Sinclair's work in the new New Yorker.
Some films others have mentioned that I forgot or things I just thought of: International Thumbs Up For That And All American Beauty Amelie Memento The Man Who Wasn't There Adaptation Unbreakable City of God Entertaining and Sometimes That's Enough Gangs of New York O Brother Where Art Thou Almost Famous Bourne Identity Pirates of the Caribbean Supersize Me Garden State 28 Days Chocolat Schaun of the Dead the Incredibles Robots Mullholland Drive Spirited Away Not Good Actually School of Rock Sin City (sure it looked good) I Would Rather Gouge My Eyes Out Than Watch Again and Wish the Memory Would Leave Me Oh God Make It Stop Star Wars I've been trying to make it through "Grizzly Man" but something keeps coming up. I'm not sure how I feel about "the Royal Tennenbaums".
Just to put out a couple of films that haven't been mentioned multiple times already... Bon Voyage, 2003 and Enigma, 2001. Both are simply-told WWII-era movies about smart people doing smart things, with nothing less than the future of the world at stake. And for Enigma, I'm a big Tom Stoppard fan anyway. About A Boy, 2002. Given the talent in it, this film has no right to be as good as it is. Capturing The Friedmans, 2003. Yikes, is this family creepy. I've gotten into some very strong debates about what really happened in this story. Others: Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World, Bus 174, The Triplets of Belleville, Bad Education, Talk To Her, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, and The Road Home, which was really made in 1999 but not released in the US until 2000. Of course, the best film of the past five years remains Mulholland Dr., David Lynch's massive up-yours to Hollywood packaged as a neat little mystery. Oh yeah, and Swimming Pool. Not brilliant, but Ozon knows casting. No heterosexual man could find that Swimming Pool is on late-night cable television and turn it off.
One film nobody has mentioned and I would have listed previously if it had just a bit more polish is Primer.
I will make a bold prediction that the Coen Bros. next movie will be considered one of the best films of the decade. No Country for Old Men based on the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy will star Javier Bardem and gets the brothers back to the Texas noir/thriller/crime roots of Blood Simple.
Yup. And a great soundtrack too. Them are all good eats...er....films. Not great but in the entertaining category (if you could call "Bus 174" entertaining). It certainly is a mind********. My Jury is still out. All true facts.
Meridian -- how interesting that you pick on those three, because in my mind there are other contemporary films for each of them that are more highly praised, but inferior. Master and Commander's doppelganger is Gladiator, which in my opinion was destroyed by sloppy editing and over-the-top campiness. M&C delivers popcorn action much better. Bus 174: City of God is seen as the Mean Streets of Brazilian cinema, but it suffers under the weight of trying to tie up too many stories in a 2.5-hour plot. Bus 174 is real, it's messy, and it's a lot more compelling. Confessions: Everyone loves Adaptation, but I thought it was just silly, especially the hackneyed chase ending that Kaufmann admits is a hackneyed ending. (Like saying directly, "Hey, I'm selling out here" acquits him of giving viewers a decent script. Screw that.) Confessions is a Hunter Thompson-style, cocaine-fueled ego trip of the highest order, kind of like if Requiem For A Dream was actually entertaining.
Hadn't thought about it that way but I think you're on to something. M&C was definitely cinema adventure of the first order. I even thought they worked towards some realism with sets/costumes/effects which was nice. Not as gritty as a "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" but still effective. "Gladiator" I think bit off more than it could chew, but I still don't dismiss it as much as some. I'd put it in my "entertaining and sometimes that's enough" category though more toward the bottom. "Bus 174" always gets lumped in with "City of God" because of place and some basic themes even though they are not really alike, even outside the obvious documentary v. fictionalized (it's what it is really) retelling. "Bus 174" can't help but be compelling because of what it is. That is not to say it is not put together very well. One could probably dwell on "Bus" for days and not exhaust all the topics of discussion. "Adaptation" is still a hoot, so I'm not going to diss it here. There was something in the performance in "Confessions" that keeps me from embracing it whole heartedly, though I can see why many cotton to it.
I fully expect to get bombarded for this, so bring it, bitches. I love High Fidelity. Love love love it.
The best film of the decade, for me, was LOTR pt1. More character driven than the others. I don't understand the ranking of some films mentioned, like A.I. and Unbreakable, which were pedestrian outings, IMO. I saw Mulholland Drive with no prior information about what to expect. It was kind of a shocker, but well done. Memento was fantastic the first time, but the second viewing reveals some flaws, as the POV has a shift so that the plot works. Finding Nemo was one of the most satisfying animated films I've seen. O, Brother was such a joy! Coens rock. I've seen Almost Famous 3X. Very satisfying. Bourne Identity is a wonderful action flick. Better than most of Ludlum's books. I liked Million Dollar Baby. But Morgan Freeman is our best actor. If you haven't seen Gosford Park...just do it! Have not seen Amores Perros. Nor City of God.
I loved it too, but you gotta admit, the book is 100 times better. Also, I felt that the change of location didn't help either. However, casting Jack Black as Barry? Genius. Utter, utter genius.