December 12, 2001

Top 10 Films of 2001

1. "Y tu mama tambien" (Alfonso Cuaron, Mexico)

2. ''Mulholland Drive'' (David Lynch, USA)

3. "Memento" (Christopher Nolan, USA)

4. "Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" (Peter Jackson, USA)

5. "Gosford Park" (Robert Altman, USA)

6. ''Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain'' (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France)

7. "Moulin Rouge" (Baz Luhrmann, USA)

8. ''Monster's Ball'' (Marc Forster, USA)

9. ''Le Libertin'' (Gabriel Aghion, France)

10. ''Intimacy'' (Patrice Chéreau, UK)


Other great films:

A ma soeur (France)
Angelus (Poland)
Bad Guy (South Korea)
Clement (France)
Desire (Canada)
Dog Days (Austria)
Das Experiment (Germany)
Expulsion From Paradise (Czech Republic)
Fulltime Killer (Hong Kong)
Golden Girl (France)
Iris (UK)
Jalla Jalla (Sweden)
Last Wedding (Canada)
Late Marriage (Israel)
Mariages (Canada)
Mezzo Forte (Japan)
Requiem (Poland)
Roberto Succo (France)
Samsara (India)
Slashers (Canada)
Taurus (Russia)
Treed Murray (Canada)
Uomo in piu (Italy)
Visitor Q (Japan)

Short Top 3:

1. "Film" (Deco Dawson, Canada)

2. "Sister Lulu" (Philip John, UK)

3. "La Riviere" (Michel Houellebecq, France)


Other great shorts:

The Accountant
Stethoscope

Top Music Video:

1. "Weapon Of Choice" (Spike Jonze, Fatboy Slim)

2. "Imitation Of Life" (Garth Jennings, R.E.M.)

3. "Pagan Poetry" (Nick Knight, Bjork)


Other great music videos:

Lady Marmalade
Lapdance

Top Commercial:

"Ghost Town" (E*Trade)


TV Top 3:

1. "24: Season 1" (Fox)

2. "Six Feet Under 1" (HBO)

3. "The Sopranos: Season 3" (HBO)


Other great TV shows:

Phylactere Cola (Canada)

Cartoon Top 3:

1. "For The Birds" (Ralph Eggleston, Pixar)

2. "Strange Invaders" (Cordell Barker, NFB, Canada)

3. "Giver Up Yer aul Sins" (Cathal Gaffney, Ireland)


Weak films of 2001:

15 février 1839 (Canada)
Ali
L'Ange de goudron (Canada)
Artificial Intelligence A.I.
A Beautiful Mind
Between The Moon And Montevideo (Canada)
Black Hawk Down
Les Boys III (Canada)
Varian's War (Canada)

Weak shorts:

Camping With Camus (New Zealand)
Cul-de-sac (Canada)
Ismaël (Canada)
Killing Time (Canada)
Meska sprawa (Poland)
Una Mujer con panuelo (Spain)
Soother (Canada)

Weak cartoons:

Fifty Percent Grey (Ireland)
Stubble Trouble
Posted by at
Labels:

Top Musical of 2001

"Moulin Rouge" (Baz Luhrmann, 20th-Fox)


Posted by at
Labels:

November 11, 2001

Memento (2001) *****

Christopher Nolan's masterpiece.
Posted by at

Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001) *****

The first, and still the best, of Peter Jackson's six Tolkien's adaptations, visually magnificent, constantly entertaining and flawless in every respect.
Posted by at

Gosford Park (2001) *****

One of Robert Altman's greatest films.
Posted by at

Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) ****

Posted by at
Labels: , ,

Y tu mama tambien (2001) *****

Alfonso Cuaron's masterpiece, a daring and exciting political allegory about corruption in contemporary Mexico, loaded with sex and nudity, as well as deep tenderness and compassion for humanity. The twin opening scenes are stunning. They set the tone for the rest of the film, which becomes increasingly politicized as it progresses, using a narration to inform us of disturbing social realities that the main protagonists blissfully ignore. And that's because they are too busy trying to get into the pants of a middle-aged, but stunningly beautiful Maribel Verdu. Here the film offers a brilliant twist. What at first appears as a fulfilment of the young men's conscious sexual fantasies, ultimately focuses on the sexual fantasies of Verdu, as well as the young men's unconscious (and deeply hidden) desires. To put it bluntly, she takes advantage of them, rather than vice versa. And as result, their friendship is over. 
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

Mulholland Drive (2001) *****

Hypnotic, surrealistic and enchanting film about the Hollywood dream and the Los Angeles reality.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

October 10, 2001

Slashers (2001) ****

Posted by at
Labels: , ,

Mezzo Forte (2001) ****


One of the best hentai animé films to come from Japan in recent years, ''Mezzo Forte'' (2001) is a terrifically entertaining action comedy directed by Yasuomi Umetsu (who also directed an equally impressive, but much somber ''Kite''). The good thing about this movie is that it doesn't take itself very seriously, and yet delivers the goods as far as exciting action scenes, sharp dialogues and explicit sex are concerned. The violence is completely over-the-top and incredibly bloody, but with a light and very ironic tone that makes it closer in spirit to Quentin Tarantino than to Martin Scorsese. The often self-deprecating humour is refreshing and original. And the quality of the animation really sets it apart from others of its kind. As one reviewer wrote quite enthusiastically, "a little dangerous, a little naughty, and more than a little fun, Mezzo Forte is, well, freakin' awesome."
Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,

Das Experiment (2001) ****

Posted by at
Labels: , ,

Shrek (2001) ****

Superb animated film about a sympathetic ogre.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

Intimacy (2001) ****

Posted by at
Labels: , ,

Le Libertin (2001) ****

Posted by at
Labels: , ,

Monster's Ball (2001) ****

Posted by at
Labels: ,

Moulin Rouge (2001) ****

Posted by at
Labels: , ,

September 9, 2001

Fulltime Killer (2001) ***

Posted by at
Labels:

Treed Murray (2001) ***

An excellent Canadian film about class struggle on a tree.
Posted by at
Labels:

Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (2001) ***

The first Harry Potter film is an appetizing hint of the glories to come ("Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" and especially "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban").
Posted by at
Labels: ,

Super 8 Stories (2001) ***

Excellent documentary by Emir Kusturica.
Posted by at
Labels:

Enemy At The Gates (2001) ***

Posted by at
Labels: ,

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) ***

Disney's animated feature inspired by Jules Verne's novels.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

L'Anglaise et le Duc (2001) ***

Fascinating historical drama about the French Revolution.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

Donnie Darko (2001) ***

Excellent film, impossible to categorize.
Posted by at

Storytelling (2001) ***


Todd Solondz is a daring filmmaker, a sly provocateur determined to subvert the "politically-correct" codes of discourse. But unlike his first two films, "Welcome to the Dollhouse" (1995) and "Happiness" (1998), which were widely praised and admired, "Storytelling" (2001) got a rather chilly critical reception. And no wonder, because the film dares to tackle in a very un-p.c. way two of the greatest taboos in the American culture: black men having sex with white women, and the Holocaust. It consists of two segments. The first, called "Fiction" is way more sexy than the second, "Non-Fiction". In it, Selma Blair plays a radical white college student who has a deeply humiliating sexual experience with her black literature teacher (Robert Wisdom). By the time he orders her to yell "fuck me hard, nigger", the master-and-slave allusions become so twisted, they literally explode on the screen.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

Forbidden Highway (2001) ***

Posted by at
Labels: ,

Women In Film (2001) ***

Posted by at
Labels: ,

Training Day (2001) ***

Posted by at
Labels: ,

Swordfish (2001) ***

''Swordfish'' is a very entertaining movie, fast-paced, and full of great action scenes and amusing dialogues. To quote Roger Ebert, the film ''looks like the result of a nasty explosion down at the Plot Works. It's skillfully mounted and fitfully intriguing, but weaves such a tangled web that at the end I defy anyone in the audience to explain the exact loyalties and motives of the leading characters. The movie has great action scenes. One involves a horrific explosion that seems frozen in time while the camera circles it. It's a great visual moment.  
Posted by at
Labels: ,

Lovely And Amazing (2001) ***

Directed by Nicole Holofcener, ''Lovely And Amazing'' is an insightful comedy about the relationship between a mother and her three confused daughters. It might sound like yet another annoying and predictable chick flick, but it is so more than that. There are surprising twists and turns in the plot at every point. The film’s highlight is a great (and uncomfortable) scene when one of the daughters, Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer) stands naked in front of her lover, and asks him to subject her body to an honest and brutal criticism. When he forgets about her flabby underarms, she points them out. Roger Ebert, while viewing the film at Telluride, noticed a curious thing about the audience: ''during most nude scenes involving women, men are silent and intent. During this scene, which was not focused on sexuality but on an actual female body, attractive but imperfect, it was the women who leaned forward in rapt attention''. Another sister, Michelle (Catherine Keener) finds a job at a one-hour photo stand, where a fellow employee, a teenage boy (Jake Gyllenhaal), falls in love with her. She also likes him and eventually finds herself in his bedroom. Curiously, the film holds an adult woman to the same standard as an adult man. The teenage boy’s mother calls the police and accuses Michelle of statutory rape. As Ebert writes, ''there is some doubt about what exactly has taken place, but at least "Lovely And Amazing" doesn't repeat the hypocrisy that it's all right for adult women to seduce boys but wrong for adult men to seduce girls''.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

Bully (2001) ***

Directed by Larry Clark (who also made ''Kids'' and ''Another Day In Paradise''), ''Bully'' (2001) is a disturbing and powerful drama about sex, abuse and murder. The lead actresses are Rachel Miner and Bijou Phillips, while Nick Stahl plays the bully of the title. All his victims ultimately gang up on him and murder him in a very vicious way. This is how Roger Ebert describes the film in his review: ''Larry Clark's Bully calls the bluff of movies that pretend to be about murder but are really about entertainment. His film has all the sadness and shabbiness, all the mess and cruelty and thoughtless stupidity of the real thing''. 
Posted by at
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)