Hustler of Culture
My top ten films of the year. They’ll be posted at filmcritic.com at some point. Mind you, it’s only a list of what I’ve seen. I can’t speak to it otherwise. Okay? Here goes…
1. Sunshine State
2. Monsoon Wedding
3. Y Tu Mama Tambien
4. Far From Heaven
5. Bowling for Columbine
6. Frida
7. The Emperors Club
8. Minority Report
9. Standing in the Shadows of Motown
10. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
To fufill my critical responsibilities at filmcritic.com, I have to divise a Top Ten Films of 2002 List. No categories, no explanation, just a list.
Wanna help?
Town Without Pity (1961): A great way to tie a bow around a film that doesn’t have much going for it is to title it after a popular song and then play that song endlessly.
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001): Getting pregnant can be the best thing that happens to you especially if you’re pretty damn smart already.
The Eminem vehicle 8 Mile has debuted at #1, raking in $54.5 million at the box office this weekend. I remember thinking vaguely to myself when I first saw the trailer, Eminem is going to evade our criticisms once again and make a good movie. Or maybe I just wanted him too because we’re fellow Southeast Michigan boys and I’ll see any movie set in Detroit.
I’m glad, actually. Reading Frank Rich’s cover story about Enimen in last week’s New York Times magazine confirmed that 8 Mile is really just Saturday Night Fever or Coal Miner’s Daughter with hip hop as the musical form of escape. And I really really like those kind of movies.
In my newest review for Film Critic.com, one reader wrote in to tell me I was talking about “Character-driven” films in my first paragraph. In retrospect, I probably should have known that.
Twentieth Century Fox has delayed the November 15th release of the movie Phone Booth because of its vague resemblance to the recent sniper attacks in Washington D.C.
I’m pretty disappointed since the Phone Booth trailer rocked (and like a bunch of cowards, Apple Trailers seemed to have pulled it) and reminded me more of Miracle Mile, an overlooked Cold War gem in which Anthony Edwards (post-Top Gun, pre-Northern Exposure) idly picks up a ringing pay phone and hears that Russia has launched a nuclear missile that’s heading right for Los Angeles.
I suppose this makes sense from a financial standpoint. After all, who wants their film blacklisted by the headlines? But if Fox or any other studio had a wit of marketing creativity, they’d use Phone Booth’s sudden relevance (Colin Farrell plays a New York wheeler-dealer who answers a phone booth call. On the other end is Kiefer Sutherland, a sniper who will kill Farrell if he tells anyone what’s going on) to their advantage. How about news stories about the psychological profile of a sniper, a tie-in with America’s Most Wanted?
Alas, no. Fox is only saying the movie will be released at some point but doesn’t say when (via DT).
My review of Rules of Attraction is up at Filmcritic.com. I worried after the screening that I was just grouchy and everyone else would love it. At least Roger Ebert agrees with me.
It’s an ok review. It’s been years since I wrote film reviews (thank you, Chris Null, for overlooking that) and I think I’m tentative and prissy with the format. I found myself using the word “artistic” at least four times in the last piece with makes me sound like a third-rate Clement Greenberg instead of, well, me. Hopefully, I’ll grow into it. And forgive myself before then. Hopefully.
DVD Easter Eggs lists (pretty comprehensively) hidden features on your favorite movies, “Easter Egg” being slang for a feature that only reveals itself when you run your mouse over it.
Did you know that oddly placed owl on the main menu of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone will lead you to a whole other menu of options in you click on it? I found that out yesterday.
Sleepers (1996): Mess with your kids and they will mess with you.