Master List

ArpHagenbach · 12-15-2003, 06:12 PM

Movies I saw this year in the theater, ranked one to four stars:

Ikiru **
Days of Heaven ****
Lost in La Mancha **1/2
The Son ***1/2
Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary ***
Spirited Away ****
Rivers and Tides ***
Kedma **
City Of God *
In The Mirror of Maya Deren ***
Chaos ***
Le Circle Rouge ***
Spy Kids 2 ***
This So Called Disaster w/o
Deux w/o
No One’s Ark **
Hukkle ***
Dolls ***
Marion Bridge w/o
Blissfully Yours ****
Shadow Kill **1/2
Abouna ***
Ken Park ***
Aro Tolbukin **
Defense d’Aimer *
Remake w/o
Killed By Lightning **1/2
The Skywalk is Gone ****
Le Chat A Deux Tetes ***1/2
The Tracker w/o
The Phantom Museum ***
John Garfield **
After Many a Summer Dies w/o
A Swan: Hybrid
Woman of Water **1/2
La Trilogie ***
Un Couple Epatant **1/2
Cavale ***
Apres la Vie **
La Cage **1/2
Cowards Bend The Knee ***
Home ***
Noi Albinoi **1/2
Earthquake **
Deadly Outlaw: Rekka w/o
Heaven’s Crossroad **1/2
Tan de Repente ***
Love Torn in a Dream ****
2084 ***
The Battle of 10 Million **
The Secret Lives of Dentists ***
The Stone Reader *
Demonlover ***1/2
L’Ambassade **1/2
Remembrances of Things to Come ***1/2
La Vie Nouvelle *
Till Human Voices Wake Us *
Daredevil 1/2*
Brief Crossing *
Psyche ***
Twice a Man ****
Ming Green ****
Himself as Herself ***
Through a Lens Brightly:
Mark Turbyfill ***
The Illiac Passion **
Bliss ****
Galaxie (exerpt) ***
Political Portraits ****
Sorrows ****
Amor ****
The Hedge Theater ***
My Hand Outstretched:
Winged Dialogue ***
Spider ****
Chaos *
Hao Bihn **1/2
Irreversible *
The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant ****
The River’s Edge **1/2
Final Destination 2 **1/2
Sans Soleil ****
Laurel Canyon 1/2*
Satan’s Brew ***
The Good Thief **/12
Ten **
Full Time Killer *
Platform ***
Willard ***
Infernal Affairs **1/2
Japon **1/2
Flying Leathernecks ***
Colorado (aka Run For Cover) **1/2
The Lusty Men ***1/2
Swain ***
Eros, o baslieus **1/2
Genius **1/2
Dreamcatcher **
Wild Berries *
Black Tape *
View From The Top zero
Raising Victor Vargas **1/2
Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 pm ***
Lili Marleena **1/2
Rebel Without a Cause ***1/2
Unknown Pleasures ***1/2
Stevie *
Muhammad Ali ***
The Man Without a past **1/2
Sunrise ****
Better Luck Tomorrow **
Brakhage progam AFA ***
Cowards bend the Knee ***
Marooned In Iraq *
The Fierce One ***
The Swing **1/2
My Brother Silk Road **1/2
The Last Stop ***
A Decade Under The Influence **
Identity *1/2
X2 **1/2
Spellbound ***
Kairat ****
The Adopted Son ***
Jylama ***
In Praise of Love ****
Cinemania **
Dracula: Pages From a Virgin’s ***
Diary
Man Follows Birds ***1/2
Man On The Train 1/2*
The Matrix Reloaded *
Revenge ***
Killer ***
Incubus **
Capturing the Friedmans ***
Ichi The Killer ***
Remembrances of Things to Come ***1/2
Collette **
Du Cote a la Cote ***
Vampire Killers *
Garmento 1/2*
Whale Rider **1/2
The Weather Underground ***
The Hulk **
Dumb and Dumberer *
Hollywood Homicide *1/2
The Legend of Suriyothai **1/2
Friday Night **
28 Days Later ***
Oporto of My Childhood ***
Human Weapon ***
Hell’s Highway **1/2
Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle ***
Northfork 1/2*
Madame Sata ***
The Housekeeper **
Legally Bonde 2 *
Dirty Pretty Things ***
Camp ***
Garage Days *
The Embalmer **
An Injury to One ***1/2
Nouvelle Vague ****
Mondays in the Sun ***
The Secret Lives of Dentists ***1/2
Chinatown *****
Freddy vs. Jason *1/2
Sunset Boulevard ***
Johnny Guitar ***1/2
American Splendor **
Winged Migration **
Stoked **1/2
Venus Boyz *
The Medallion zero
Satyricon ****
Freaky Friday ***
Jeepers Creepers 2 *
Pirates of the Caribbean ***
Pickpocket ****
Le Proces de Jeanne d’Arc *****
L’Argent *****
Lancelot Du Lac ****
Matchstick Men *
Carnages **1/2
Lost In Translation **
Cabin Fever *
Once Upon a Time In Mexico *
Late Autumn ****
Anything Else *
To Be and to Have ***
Flowers of Shanghai *****
My Life Without Me zero
Elephant ****
Duplex ***
Mystic River ***1/2
School of Rock ***
Au Hasard Balthazar *****
Kill Bill ***
In My Skin **

NYFF

S21 ***
A Thousand Months ***
Dogville ***1/2
Mansion By The Lake w/o
Pornography *1/2
Crimson Gold ***
Young Adam *
The Flower of Evil **1/2
Elephant ****
Good Morning, Night **
The Fog Of War ***1/2
Free Radicals w/o
Bright Leaves ***
Goodbye, Dragon Inn ****
Distant ***
Stalingrad **
PTU ***
The Barbarian Invasions **1/2
21 Grams *

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ***
Runaway Jury *
Alien ***1/2
Eyes Without a Face ***
Shattered Glass **1/2
The Matrix Revolutions *
Intolerable Cruelty **1/2
Father And Son ***
The Triplets of Belleville ***1/2
My Architect ***
Second Circle ***
Big Fish *
Gothika *1/2
The Cat In The Hat zero
The Missing *1/2
The Last Samurai *
Charlotte Sometimes ***
Sans Soleil ****
La Jetee ****
House of Sand and Fog **
The Company *
LOTR: The Return of the King ****
Mona Lisa Smile 1/2*
Girl With a Pearl Earring *
Stuck On You ***
Pistol Opera ***
Cold Mountain **1/2
Power Trip **
Millennium Mambo ***1/2

**Johann** · 12-16-2003, 01:00 PM

Wow. I'm impressed with what you have seen this year, Arp.

The jealousy meter is off the charts. La Jetee? Sans Soleil? Satyricon? Chinatown? Au hazard Balthazar?
Where are you seeing these films?

You have a degree of cinematic taste, but some of your ratings boggle the mind. Such as:

Ikiru (2 stars)
City of God (1 star)
Irreversible (1 star)
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (1 star)
Kiarostami's 10 (2 stars)
The Matrix Reloaded (1 star)
The Battle of Ten Million (2 stars)
Kaos (1 star)
Hulk (2 stars)
Winged Migration (2 stars)
The Man Without A Past (2.5 stars)
Marooned in Iraq (1 star)
A Decade Under The Influence (2 stars)

Tell me more about the Brakhage program. I would also like to hear your thoughts on:

Days of Heaven
In The Mirror of Maya Deren
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
In Praise of Love
Nouvelle Vague
Rebel Without a Cause
Pickpocket (great Bresson film)
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Flowers of Shanghai
and
The Triplettes of Belleville

ArpHagenbach · 12-16-2003, 01:24 PM

Where are you seeing these films?

New York City, mostly. La Jetee and Sans Soleil are making rounds at rep theaters right now.

You have a degree of cinematic taste,

My "degree" scorches you to the earth!

City of God (1 star)

Derivative and dull. With LOST IN TRANSLATION and AMERICAN SPLENDOR, the most over rated movie of the year.

Irreversible (1 star)

Hateful. I could run my home movies backward and graphically ass rape myself on camera - but to what end? The ending is ludicrously overwrought.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (1 star)

A mess.

Kiarostami's 10 (2 stars)

I'm a big fan of AK, but two viewings of this one leave me cold - aside from the stunning first episode.

The Matrix Reloaded (1 star)

Please. An ugly, pretentious digi swamp.

The Battle of Ten Million (2 stars)

I usually love Marker, but this didn't do it for me.

Kaos (1 star)

Tedious.

Hulk (2 stars)

Ludicrous.

Winged Migration (2 stars)

It gave me an Enya migraine. Funniest voice over of the year!

The Man Without A Past (2.5 stars)

Enjoyable, but minor.

Marooned in Iraq (1 star)

Morooned in a boring movie.

A Decade Under The Influence (2 stars)

Baby boomer nostalgia drives me up the wall. Non stop platitude and greatest hit-ism.

Lemme think about the other stuff. My dog is whinning to go out.

ARP

**Johann** · 12-16-2003, 01:29 PM

Scorches me to the earth?
I doubt that very much. If you're being serious prove it by posting more. Otherwise I have to assume you have your head in the clouds...

The rest of your comments made my day. Haven't laughed that hard in about ten years.

If I met you Arp, I'd buy you a beer. I gotta get my ass to New York pronto. The film scene there is mind-blowing. Vancouver is great, but I'm speechless with Arp's list.

There is no Enya in Winged Migration. Who started that rumour?

ArpHagenbach · 12-16-2003, 03:17 PM

Posting MORE? What, 200+ films with ranking isn't enough? Jeez, friggin Canadians!

I don't drink, actually, but would accept a hot chocolate, carrot juice, or fizzy water type beverage.

Days of Heaven

A deteriorated print played at MOMA over the summer. Everything was slightly pink, but Malick's genius is still overwhelming on the big screen.

In The Mirror of Maya Deren

Decent bio, nothing to turn backflips over. Good archival material, though - rad voodoo shit.

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

Fassbinder's apocalyptic masterpiece - so cunty, so vacuum-packed. Screened as part of a travelling retro.

In Praise of Love

Godard = God + retarded and I love it.

Nouvelle Vague

Stunning and weird. God bless the Film Society of Lincoln Center for screening it. And what's this I hear about a full Godard retro organized by James Quant at the Cinematheque Ontario???

Rebel Without a Cause

Bend over, Jimmy D: you know you want it.

Pickpocket (great Bresson film)

Lots of Bresson in NYC this year and they all kick ass. This was the first of his films I saw and loved.

The Passion of Joan of Arc

Minimalist insanity.

Flowers of Shanghai

One of the greatests films ever made, inexhaustibly rich.

The Triplettes of Belleville

Bruno, the dog, is so clearly the best supporting actor of the year.

FYI, Triplets was constantly mentioned during the voting meeting of the New York Film Critics Circle, of which I'm a member. First Film, Foreign Film, Best Film, director, etc.

Yes, I am a pro. Which explains the wealth of crap movies on my list. Sometimes, believe it or not, it's like a real job...

**Johann** · 12-29-2003, 02:19 PM

Anybody can post their "rankings" to movies.

They're worth nothing if not backed up. I'll just look at the list and say "so what". Throw me a frickin' bone here...

Petra von Kant- "cunty"? please explain.
I understand "vacuum-packed", but I'm floundering with "cunty".

I think James Dean was in love with Brando. (just a hunch)

Amen on Triplettes. Bruno indeed deserves some recognition. His gums flapping in the wind is etched in my mind. I'm still grinning over that film.

I haven't heard about the Godard retro in Ontario, but if it happens, it'll play here. Just like the Ozu retro in NY- it's coming here next month, and you can bet I'll be there.
The manager of the PC told me that our programming is almost a direct reflection of the New Yorker listings. If it plays in New York (i.e on tour) it'll come to Vancouver.

**tabuno** · 12-29-2003, 07:57 PM

The huge list of ArpHagenbach's while impressive, leaves questions about taste in mind...

Movies that a number of people would have rated lower:

Spy Kids 2 ***
Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle ***
Freaky Friday ***
Stuck On You ***

Movies that a number of people would have rated a lot higher:

Whale Rider **1/2
American Splendor **
Matchstick Men *
Lost In Translation **
Once Upon a Time In Mexico *
The Missing *1/2
Mona Lisa Smile 1/2*
Cold Mountain **1/2

Any explanation on how you enjoy movies?

**pmw** · 12-30-2003, 01:27 AM

Movies that a number of people would have rated lower:

Spy Kids 2 ***
Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle ***
Freaky Friday ***
Stuck On You ***

Movies that a number of people would have rated a lot higher:

Whale Rider **1/2
American Splendor **
Matchstick Men *
Lost In Translation **
Once Upon a Time In Mexico *
The Missing *1/2
Mona Lisa Smile 1/2*
Cold Mountain **1/2

Id agree with Arp on most of these actually...
A little kitschy fun does a lot more for me than a half-baked art film. Havent seen Mona Lisa Smile yet.

**oscar jubis** · 12-30-2003, 01:36 AM

What's important is to hail the poster's willingness to sample from the whole menu of cinema's offerings. He may be the only member who's seen personal faves like Blissfully Yours(****) from Thailand and Aro Tohlbukin(**), a Hungary/Mexico co-production about a real life merchant-marine-turned-serial-killer.
I also appreciate his reserving top ratings for true masterpieces like Flowers of Shanghai and films by Bresson. I do struggle to comprehend absurdly low ratings for a few movies like Marooned in Iraq, Stevie, 21 Grams, and Kurosawa's Ikiru. But this is not an exact science and my opinion is of no more value than anyone else's.

**tabuno** · 12-30-2003, 02:04 AM

I haven't heard anything except "half-baked art films" in regards to:

Whale Rider **1/2
American Splendor **
Matchstick Men *
Lost In Translation **
Once Upon a Time In Mexico *
The Missing *1/2
Mona Lisa Smile 1/2*
Cold Mountain **1/2

I would imagine a large number of movies critics would differ on the idea "half-baked art films" as well as the actors, actresses, producers, directors that worked on these films. Not a very convincing comment to me.

**tabuno** · 12-30-2003, 02:16 AM

And in regards to "A little kitschy fun" which translated from the Webster's New World Dictionary to mean "art of a pretentious, but shallow kind, calculated to have popular appeal such as represented by the following:

Spy Kids 2 ***
Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle ***
Freaky Friday ***
Stuck On You ***

I personally think the popular audience could have done better with:

Finding Nemo
Holes
Lara Croft - Cradle of Life
Seabiscuit
Uptown Girls

These movies have a comedy-drama component that includes a sensitive human element that other more shallow movies lack (though Freaky Friday was on my above average list).

ArpHagenbach · 12-31-2003, 08:27 PM

Charlieï¿½s Angels Full Throttle ***

Cinema as pure remix. Tarantino remixes grindhouse and people think it's genius. McG remixes TV culture and people front. Diaz in white fur riding a fucking mechanical yak? Brilliant.

Freaky Friday ***

Come on, did you actually see this or just front based on what you think it would be like? Acted with rare verve for this type of comedy, and quite nicely written.

Stuck On You ***

This shit is amazing - one of the year's funniest and warmest screenplays. Cher is god.

Whale Rider **1/2

Cute, but too middle brow for my taste. I'm happy it did well, but could it have been more formulaic?

American Splendor **

Obnoxious Ivy league brats co-opting edgy, outsider art. Fuck this movie. The "documentary" scenes were like a Gap ad directed by an art school poseur.

Matchstick Men *

I hate Riddly Scott's cynicism. This movie has a heart of stone.

Lost In Translation **

Bored rich white girl all adrift in the land of the kooky inscrutable Other! The most expensive Marc Jacobs campagin ever. Little more.

Once Upon a Time In Mexico *

Sloppy filmmaking.

The Missing *1/2

Morally grotesque.

Mona Lisa Smile 1/2*

Feminism for dummies. Retarded.

Cold Mountain **1/2

First hour is a complete mess. The second half is an improvement.

FYI, **1/2 is a decent rating in my book.

ArpHagenbach · 12-31-2003, 08:30 PM

Marooned in Iraq

I don't think it's a bad movie perse, it just bored me. What can I say?

Stevie

This one creeped me out. The filmmaker implicates himself in the exploitation of the subject, but only the glibest terms.

21 Grams

Emotional pornography, and it looked like they were faking it. The aggresive achronology masks an inability to craft strong narrative. I saw stone faced and totally unmoved.

and Kurosawa's Ikiru.

Ok, Kurosawa's a master. So what? The first rule of cinephillia: question the classics on your own terms.

**pmw** · 01-01-2004, 10:43 AM

Originally posted by ArpHagenbach
and Kurosawa's Ikiru.

Ok, Kurosawa's a master. So what? The first rule of cinephillia: question the classics on your own terms.

Dear Akira,
more mechanical yacks yo.

Ive got to see Freaky Friday. The original titilated/haunted me as a child.
P