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THE TEN BEST OF THE YEAR 2001
1) THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (Disney)
Wes Anderson' s third film proved beyond a shadow of a doubt just how amazing a filmmaker he is. Reteaming with most of the technical collaborators that made his two earlier films "Bottle Rocket" and "Rushmore" the stuff of legendary cinema, Anderson and his crew create another ode to dysfunctional characters that delight in their own shortcomings. Bright, elusive, daringly funny and a bit more dramatically ambitious than his previous efforts, "Tenenbaums" was one of the rare films this year that actually managed to meet all expectations set forth for it. And in getting an Oscar-worthy performance out of the normally bored Gene Hackman, "Tenenbaums" when beyond those expectations. This is a masterful creation, worthy of both our awe and rapture. I couldn' t find a better time at the movies this year.
2) JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK (Dimension)
Kevin Smith' s love letter to his fanbase was easily the funniest, most audacious film of the year. Sly, vulgar, chocked full of cameos that both surprise and delight and written with both an eye for newcomers and those who have stuck by Smith' s side since the debut of "Clerks" back in 1994. "Strike Back" has only delight on its agenda, and the results are flawless. This will be the last live-action film featuring the lovable drug-dealing duo Jay, and his hetero-lifemate Silent Bob. Nevertheless, I couldn' t imagine a more appropriate valentine to the team than this uproarious film.
3) THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR (Sony Pictures Classics)
Though known around the world as the director of the hyper "Run Lola Run," Tom Tykwer' s best movies have been the two smaller, gentler pictures ("Winter Sleepers" is the other) that haven' t attained the success that they deserve. "The Princess And The Warrior" is a sensational love story that demonstrates Tykwer' s masterful control over his own cinema. "Warrior" is passionate filmmaking, detailing the exploits of two lost souls who miraculously find each other. Methodical in its pace, yet rewarding every step of the way, it was tough to get "Warrior" out of my system after viewing it.
4) KISS OF THE DRAGON (20th Century Fox)
"Because the film is European financed and made by Parisians, "Kiss Of The Dragon" doesn' t have to abide by the set of hypocritical rules made by American studios. "Kiss" is free to roam wherever it wants, whether it be into comedy (a showstopping scene involves Li accidentally walking into a karate school, then having to fight them all off), or horrific scenes of brutality (Fonda' s character gets slapped around a little too much). There are no limits placed on the production, and the free-range imaginations of Besson and Li summon up some seriously unique touches. How else can you explain Li' s character being a master of acupuncture, which he uses to incapacitate his enemies with lightning-fast speed?"
"Kiss Of The Dragon" is reminiscent of Besson' s own "The Professional" in that the picture is able to balance comic book with John Woo and never breaks the pace. American productions can' t seem to handle this type of baggage without getting desperate in the end. Having never been a big fan of Li' s before, "Kiss" was a pleasure to watch. I finally see that glow in the actor that the rest of the world has been raving about for the last decade. "Kiss" is brisk, breezy, and uproarious fun, and a film that should not be missed."
5) SOUND AND FURY (Next Wave)
This documentary on one deaf family and their opposition to the youngest daughter receiving a Cochlear implant that would enable the girl to hear was a powderkeg of feelings and revelations. Opening my eyes to the deaf world as a spirited, workable place of living was one thing. But to dig deep into an extremely touchy subject that has viable arguments for both sides is both brave and enthralling filmmaking. This movie opens minds and hearts.
6) TOGETHER (IFC Films)
Lukas Moodysson' s richly rewarding saga of a mid-1970s Swedish commune provided the character interaction that I was craving for toward the end of this year. A nice slice of life from an untapped subject matter. Couple this with goalpost usage of ABBA' s "SOS" to set the mood, and little else could go wrong. Openly passionate, unwaveringly honest and a featuring a troupe of actors willing to go to the places Moodysson needs to tell his story, "Together" sated everything a good film needs to succeed.
7) POOTIE TANG (Paramount)
Easily the most misunderstood film of the year, yet one of the most original. "Pootie Tang" is the type of carefree, wildly ambitious comedy that polarizes audiences into two factions: those who get it, and those who don' t. Well, being a fan of the HBO/Chris Rock Show appearances from this wild character, I was ready for his feature debut. I wasn' t disappointed. Hilarious, bizarre and blissfully interested only in laughs, "Pootie Tang" is as heavenly as an 80 minute, studio butchered, poorly released film can get. Credit this to Louis CK, the brilliant standup comedian who invented and directed this film, and to "Pootie Tang" himself, Lance Crouther. In a perfect world, Crouther would receive awards for this gloriously committed performance. As it stands, I think there are about three of us in the world who view this sure-to-be cult classic as a true comedic triumph. Sa Da Tay!
8) ENEMY AT THE GATES (Paramount)
Jean-Jacques Annaud' s taut WWII thriller boiled unlike any other suspense picture this year. Boosted by sharp lead performances by Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes and Ed Harris, the actors create a carefully strung together web of paranoia and hidden desires. Though not a respectable historical piece, "Enemy" should be looked at more as a splendidly made suspense thriller. The Battle Of Leningrad backdrop helps to lend some perspective to this horribly disfigured true story, but I felt then what I feel now, that "Enemy At The Gates" is a remarkably fun, tense and breathless film that showcases cinema in its most pure form of entertainment.
9) THE ROAD HOME (Sony Pictures Classics)
While slowly built and performed, "The Road Home" is such a heartbreaking motion picture of unrequited love that I can' t help but place it amongst the best of the year. Directed by Zhang Yimou and starring the luminescent Zhang Ziyi, "Road Home" was founded and rendered completely on an emotional level. Neither concerned with story or pace, the film chose instead to lead with its heart. To find a way into the emotional core of the audience, without resorting to saccharine tricks or overtly easy-on-the-eyes talent. Often bittersweet, "Road Home" doesn' t need much more to seal the feeling of the piece than to focus on the face of Ms. Ziyi. Even more than the blockbuster "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," this is the young actress' s true breakthrough role. To carry a whole movie on her basic reactions to puppy love... well, that is daring for both the filmmakers and the actress. Yet they pull it off, and the results will make you cry, swoon and run home to hug your nearest loved one.
10) THE GIFT (Paramount Classics)
"The Gift" would make a perfect book. It' s one of those kinds of stories that you pick up in a drug store on a whim and take it home to read under the covers during a thunderstorm. It' s southern gothic with the proper twists and turns to rival any whodunit in years. Directed by renown horror/comedy helmer Sam Raimi, "The Gift" is eerily similar to his 1998 masterpiece "A Simple Plan". Take a remote location, insert a murder, unleash an troupe of actors all itching to break out of their stereotypical roles, and take the time needed to slow roast the plot developments. Voila! You have another immaculate tale of betrayal, death, and deep seeded fears of the unknown."
Just missed the cut : BLOW, MADE, FREDDY GOT FINGERED, BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY, SPY KIDS, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, VANILLA SKY, I AM SAM, THE WIDOW OF ST. PIERRE, PANIC, OCEAN'S 11, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, JURASSIC PARK 3, THE CLAIM, HEIST
<u>THE TEN WORST OF THE YEAR 2001</u>
1)NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE (Sony)
I received the most hate mail of my term as a critic for this film. Readers derided my original review as too passionate, too personal to take seriously. I can' t help it. When cinema get this bad, I lose my mind. Why this junk gets a wide release, when better satire like "Wet Hot American Summer" barely makes it into theaters is beyond me. Vile, worthless cinema, created by fools and executed by amateurs, "Teen Movie" just doesn' t have the sense to know what to do with itself. Thankfully, this inexpensive film was somewhat lost amidst the holiday blockbusters. Yet, with video and cable on the horizon, this film will haunt my very existence for years to come.
2) 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND (Warner Brothers)
"Scraping the very bottom of the creative barrel, "3000 Miles To Graceland" is - to put it candidly - the worst American motion picture to come along in the last decade. A trashy, faux-stylish actioner with a lump of coal in it' s heart and a peanut for a brain, "Graceland" just isn' t worth the attempt. It' s a disgusting buffet of egotistical actors, a director without any trace of capability, and a script that would' ve been considered dated back in 1990."
3) BRIDE OF THE WIND (Paramount Classics)
In hindsight, it seems kind of funny, as "Bride" asks the audience to sit and watch a film about Alma Mahler, a mediocre composer, promiscuous lover and anti-Semite. I wasn' t the only one who found it hard to hold interest in this biography. Though carefully mounted, this soap-opera-with-poison-inside really had some nerve to ask people to sympathize with such a loathsome person.
4) TOMCATS (Sony)
This wretched comedy makes it hard to be a man in America. Hateful to women, to thinking people and to testicles (don' t ask) everywhere, it' s only a matter of time before "Tomcats" becomes the hastily deleted credit from everybody' s filmography. I learned later that the film was written by a former porn screenwriter. Even with that established, there is still just no excuse for how appalling this "comedy" really is.
5) AMERICAN OUTLAWS (Warner Brothers)
"These types of "rock and roll" westerns annoy me to no end simply because all this time, money, and effort went into bastardizing what I consider to be a very valuable genre. Director Les Mayfield really has no respect for the intricacies of the genre, instead focusing in on just the clichés: the whorehouses, the bank shoot-outs, the dead mother, the faithful Native American sidekick (Good. Lord.), the noble outlaw, and the evil lawmen. He is wasting people' s time with this nonsense. I' m not looking for another brooding, dark oater with Clint Eastwood. Even a comedy would' ve been just fine. But Mayfield instead creates a film of zero pleasures. He misses the greatest opportunity to resuscitate the dead western genre, and instead seals up the crypt for another decade."
6) THE MUSKETEER (Universal)
"It' s really bad enough to make yet another film from Alexandre Dumas' s classic novel "The Three Musketeers." It' s even worse to veer wildly from the source material, losing the story of the Musketeers, and feature choreography from the "legendary" (aren' t they all recently?) fight master Xiong Xin Xin. The easy logic would be to just stand back and wonder why. Why bastardize a classic so much when very little effort in translating the book could' ve produced an entertaining film? But that kind of thinking will drive you insane."
7) HEAD OVER HEELS (Universal)
"In 1997, director Mark Waters set forth into the cinematic world the sensible and quirky "The House Of Yes". Now in 2001, Waters has the star of his new film sitting on the toilet while four models stand behind a shower curtain making "PU" faces. Hitting rock bottom, Waters' s "Head Over Heels" is the kind of picture that can stop a filmmaking career. It' s recklessly awful and shamefully complacent. What happened to the texture that Waters brought to his earlier work? I don' t know. Obviously trying for that Staff Of Ra-sized discovery of the perfect blend of homespun wackiness and painfully labored Hollywood romance, "Head Over Heels" finds itself veering wildly into bodily fluid humor and truckloads of visual innuendoes that test the film' s rickety PG-13 rating."
"To be nice, I'll just say that Waters should go back to his indie roots and stay there. In all honesty, "Head Over Heels" is instantly forgettable, however for 80 long minutes in a theater "Heels" sure doesn' t feel like it' s ever going to end."
8) THE FORSAKEN (Screen Gems)
A vampire flick without any bite. This laughably poor attempt at gothic mood doesn' t help its case any by hiring a group of WB actors to spit out the lines. The murky "Forsaken" is nothing more than the luckiest B-movie to actually see movie screens in some time. Don' t waste your time.
9) BEHIND ENEMY LINES (20th Century Fox)
"Though not based on fact, "Behind Enemy Lines" has moments of reality interspersed throughout. I' m convinced Moore was looking for a little credibility with this debut, but the episodes that could possibly be construed as "real life" battle moments are quickly pissed away by his need to use heaps and heaps of special effects to sell this lukewarm tale of survival. It' s like a Gap commercial gone to war. Honestly, how seriously can you take a film that has the celebrated comic actor Owen Wilson sliding across the mud or ice with guns blazing in super-slo-mo? Or the liberal use of "bullet-time" that Moore implements to sell the explosions? It came to a point in the film where, if Wilson was to bend back, Neo-style, to dodge bullets (or tanks, or missiles, or everything else he isn' t magically hurt by), I wouldn' t have flinched. Moore has shaped the film as if I should have a Playstation 2 controller in my hand. He is making a video game, not a film. And why he would want to abuse cinema like this really disturbs me."
10) SOUL SURVIVORS (Artisan)
Held from release for a year or so, then cut from an R rating to a milder, ambiguous PG-13, is it really any wonder that this horror/thriller doesn' t work at all? Talented actors like Luke Wilson, Casey Affleck, Angela Featherstone and Eliza Dushku get lost in the constant studio rethinking that unravels what might have been a nice little chiller for the summer. Anyone who harbors the thought that wonderboy Wes Bentley ("American Beauty") has acting talent should take a look at this film. Ouch! Actually, that might be the only point of interest left in this mess of a picture.
Just missed the cut : SUMMER CATCH, GEORGE WASHINGTON, BABY BOY, CHOPPER, THE MUMMY RETURNS, FROM HELL, THE ONE, JOE SOMEBODY, BUBBLE BOY, AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS, EXIT WOUNDS, TIME AND TIDE, MONKEY BONE, HOW HIGH, VALENTINE
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