BEST OF 2002

GANGS OF NEW YORK – Mating Scorsese’s operatic tale of tribal warfare in Civil War era Manhattan. Maybe the last film of its kind: grand, epic, and shot on non-virtual sets. Scorsese creates a kind of prequel to his Mafia Trilogy focusing on the colorful Irish gangs of the period and, in the process, gives us his greatest individual character since Travis Bickle; Bill “the Butcher” Cutting. A beautiful, brutal masterpiece; often unfocused but always fascinating.

SOLARIS – A remake that’s better than the original. Hypnotic, subtle, and thought provoking. George Clooney gives his best dramatic performance in Steven Soderbergh’s meditation on love and loss. A film of intellect, beauty and economy, Solaris doesn’t pander to anybody and will surely be ignored for it. But, man… it’s good!

THE NINE QUEENS – Fabian Bielinsky’s debut film reads like an Argentinian David Mamet con-game caper. Unlike Mamet though, The Nine Queens takes place on the planet Earth. The characters are believable, the directing style is confident but unassuming, and the plot twists all actually make sense. A clever and thoroughly entertaining film with some wonderful performances by Ricardo Darin and Gaston Pauls. Another of the series of great Latin American films to come up in the past couple of years.

ABOUT SCHMIDT – Who’d have thought that “Dear Ndugu,” would turn out to be the funniest line of the year? A funny and touching character study of an aging Midwestern shlub searching for the meaning of life. Jack Nicholson gives one of the best performances of his career in Alexander Payne’s luxuriously-paced follow up to Election.

ADAPTATION – Neither comedy nor drama, Spike Jonze’s second film is – more than anything else – a meditation on the creative process. Or is it the world’s shortest screen-writing class? I’m not really sure. But this bizarre little film is utterly original and completely unpredictable. With the best Nick Cage performance in years, Adaptation is a post-modern treat I’m dying to see again. And if, like me, you’ve always wanted to see Meryl Streep trip on hallucinogens, this is your chance.

INSOMNIA – Another remake; this time of a film I happen to love. Well it works just as well in this version. What’s more Christopher Nolan even made some improvements adding both ambiguity to the story and clarity to the ideas. Robin Williams does some of his best work as a very reasonable killer and Al Pacino is outstanding as the morally challenged cop trying to catch him. The ending was a bit contrived, but almost inescapable.

FRAILTY – The best Stephen King movie, Stephen King had nothing to do with. Bill Paxton’s confident directorial debut is a serial killer film, a horror film and a super-hero film wrapped in a tight film noire package.  It all works amazingly well. Paxton’s performance as the loving father/homicidal demon slayer is among his most subtle and Matthew McConnehey continues to do good supporting work. This smart and unusual thriller also contains one of the best process (inside car) shots in movie history.

Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN – I wish my Spanish were better so I could appreciate the obviously sharp dialogue. Regardless, this road / coming-of-age movie by Mexican director Carlos Cuaron is a real gem. Energetically told, wonderfully acted, and utterly unpredictable, this film also happens to have some genuinely erotic moments. All in all, Mama is the kind of movie Hollywood should have been making in the ‘80’s instead of Porky’s.

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS – Weaker than Fellowship, Peter Jackson still pulls off a hell of a movie. This is a darker (literally) installment and the darkness of the film itself is a bit oppressive; I missed the scope, variety and magic of Fellowship. The story, this time is split into three parallel lines of action, so the momentum often gets lost, but the brilliant Gollum alone is worth the price of admission. And, if that’s not enough, Helms Deep is the grandest single battle scene in movie history. One more to go.

GANGSTER #1 – This stylish British gangster flick at times feels like an homage to Performance. But Paul Bettany’s turn as the brutal, style-obsessed thug is utterly brilliant. This is the arrival of a major actor; a perfect example of a single performance elevating the entire film to a higher level. Oh yeah, and there’s also the most brutal torture sequence since Reservoir Dogs. See it with someone you love.

SIGNS – Another genre bender from M. Night Shamalayan. This time Bruce Will… I mean Mel Gibson and family fight off an alien invasion. Sure there’s enough holes in the plot to strain spaghetti, but the pace and the performances are dead-on and the movie has some genuine scares. Shamalayan has an uncanny ability to make big stories intimate and his mastery of film suspense is often breath taking.

SPIDER MAN – OK, this has obviously been a weak year for film. But Sam Raimi’s Spider Man is so assuredly told and so faithful to the comics, I just couldn’t resist it. Sure the CGI stuff is weak, but the story is intimate and involving and the actors do nice character work. This is the most sincere comic book adaptation since Superman 1 in ’76.

24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE – Freakishly entertaining and often hilarious take on the Manchester music scene of the 80’s and ‘90s. See it.

FAR FROM HEAVEN – Surprisingly funny and insightful take on the repression of the 1950’s suburbia. Beautifully shot, wonderfully acted by all, and stylistically reminiscent of the era without being beholden to it.

THE BELIEVER – Audacious and challenging. If you’re not offended by some of it, you’re not paying attention. But all in all, a monumental film about the modern Jewish experience.

THE PIANIST – An amazingly engaging film. This low-key story of survival brilliantly captures the period and the horror of the Holocaust without resorting to cheap pathos. Adrien Brody is phenomenal.

                                               

SHOULD HAVE BEENS

MINORITY REPORT – Another ‘serious’ sci-fi flick from Steven Spielberg is way stronger than A.I.. In fact, after the first 20 minutes I thought that this may be one of the best films I’ve ever seen. But by the time it was all over, I was sure it wasn’t. Once again, Spielberg’s desire to end on a high note betrays him, the film and the audience. Like AI, the film’s final act feels like a tacked-on cop out, virtually negating the accomplishment of what preceded.

ROAD TO PERDITION – Frankly a disappointing adaptation of a brilliant graphic novel, Sam Mendes’ film is still quite effective. Beautifully shot by Conrad Hall and nicely acted by the entire cast, Road to Perdition is, nonetheless, bogged down by the clichés of the gangster genre. If they stuck closer to the source material it would have been a classic.

STAR WARS II – Technical brilliance abounds as George Lucas goes fully digital. That, unfortunately, also pertains to the acting, script and pacing. If you suspected that Lucas forgot how to work with actors this installment removes all doubt. The effects and the action sequences rock; everything else stinks to high heaven. Except Yoda, of course.

PANIC ROOM – Not a bad film so much as a mediocre one. Thus, a huge step backwards for director David Fincher.

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE – The mass hypnosis that seemed to affect the entire critical community has finally worn off. This is a massive stinker unworthy of all involved. Even Adam Sandler.

SCOOBY DOO – Who’d have thought this would suck?