(2002) dir. Martin Scorsese
viewed: 12/28/02 at AMC 1000 Van Ness, SF, CA
Scorsese’s overblown, lugubrious epic was pretty disappointing for me> Not that it was an abysmal film or anything, just not nearly as strong a film as I would have hoped. I am having a hard time articulating exactly what the biggest problems [...]
Archive of entries posted on December 2002
Gangs of New York
The Princess and the Warrior
(2000) dir. Tom Tykwer
viewed: 12/25/02
Tom Tykwer’s follow-up to his energetic 1998 hit film, Run Lola Run, explores similar broad themes to its predecessor, such as love and fate, but does so at a much slower pace. Run Lola Run was fun but potentially gimmicky with it’s pounding disco beat and nearly constant movement. [...]
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(2002) dir. Peter Jackson
viewed: 12/21/02 at Selma Theater, Selma, CA
This, the second installment of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movie series, seems stronger than its predecessor. The narrative is handled more capably throughout, with even the battle sequences seeming to have more narrative cohesion. Largely, the film is visually stunning. [...]
Human Nature
(2001) dir. Michel Gondry
viewed: 12/18/02
Human Nature is a high-concept comedy with some intellectual trappings. It is also broad comedy with a significant reliance on slap-stick and physical humor. Its split-personality approach seems analagous to its themes about the conflict between animal instinct and civilization and its codes.
Written by Charlie Kaufman of Being John [...]
Reign of Fire
(2002) dir. Rob Bowman
viewed: 12/11/02
This movie looked ridiculous, almost to an amusing degree. I can enjoy bad films as much as the next guy. Maybe I enjoy them ironically, but I can enjoy them.
Directed by Rob Bowman, whose previous directing work included lots of television science fiction and The X-Files (1998) movie, Reign of [...]
Hands on a Hard Body
(1997) dir. S.R. Bindler
viewed: 12/07/02
I had been interested to see this documentary when it came through the Roxie a couple of years ago (or whenever it was) and had since heard good things about it from a couple of different people. It is about a Survivor-like contest at a Longview, TX Nissan dealership in which [...]
All Quiet on the Western Front
(1930) dir. Lewis Milestone
viewed: 12/03/02
Most of the films that I have been seeing lately are very recent. In fact, the oldest film that I had seen this year only dated back to the 1960’s up til this point. I was interested in seeing Lewis Milestone’s All Quiet on the Western Front as I [...]
The Lord of the Rings
(1978) dir. Ralph Bakshi
viewed: 12/23/02
It’s hard to believe that I hadn’t watched a single film on VHS all year until I borrowed this video from my nephew. The moment that the movie started, I remembered why I have switched over to DVD so permanently. This video was an old one, so it suffered from quality [...]
Live Nude Girls Unite!
(2000) dir. Vicky Funari, Julia Query
viewed: 11/26/02
This documentary about the unionization of the Lusty Lady strip club in San Francisco interested me from the local angle. It’s a story that I had followed in the local media, and though I have never been inside the place (I have never been in a strip club ever, [...]
Bottle Rocket
(1996) dir. Wes Anderson
viewed: 11/23/02
I never caught Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket when it first came out. It was originally released in 1996 in the midst of a spate of American “independent” films, of which, for me, it was lost among the others. I meant for some time to finally see it, particularly after [...]
