#28 - #39
Coffee and Cigarettes
Directed & written by Jim Jarmusch, R
Breezy and entertaining chit-chat episodes illustrating that strange space that exists between us when we don’t, quite, understand each other. Watch different versions of the same conversation as people lie, exaggerate, laugh at things that aren’t funny, and become entirely new creatures, just to combat awkwardness.
Garden State
Directed & written by Zach Braff, R
Critics of the film (like Ruthless Reviews) worry, with reason, that the future of American independent film is to type itself as quirky and sugary. “Garden State” represents this fear, especially as its final act descends into the purgatory of self-help. But it is such a goofy good time, of weird, sad people behaving weirdly to stave off the melancholy, and it can only draw audiences toward the arthouse instead of away from it.
Fahrenheit 9/11
Directed & written by Michael Moore, R
Muckraker Moore (thankfully) subverts some of his sandpaper personality for a sad, almost elegiac rallying cry for Americans who feel they’ve suffered enough lies and condescending self-righteousness. We’ve seen many of these images before, but not in this order, and usually we only see them in support of the powerful.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, PG
The best of the “Harry Potter” films is, coincidentally, the one with the murkiest plot. But it’s the best because the connection between child-like, special effects-driven fantasy and morality-questioning adolescent angst has finally been made; the first is only a playing field and testing ground for the latter. The movie is also great to look at, and with director Alfonso Cuaron, considerable art has been leant to the craft. Oscar nominee for Visual Effects and Score.
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Directed by Mike Hodges, R
Badass Welshman Clive Owen was up for an Oscar for Mike Nichols’s “Closer.” But to see him in his native element—remorselessly dispensing violence and indecipherable British slang in a London slum—this is the place to look. The moral uncertainty of the criminal is exemplified by Owen’s character, a man who seems unconvinced that anything at all—memory, his instincts, his impressions—could be real.
The Incredibles
Directed & written by Brad Bird, PG
Deplorable doses of Nazism aside—come on, admit it—this is loud, silly, and popular animation at its most smile-worthy. Every second on the screen looked fantastic and I was either laughing or being impressed at regular intervals. I wish I could be esoteric enough to call “The Incredibles” trite and claim that it didn’t work on me, but I can’t. Oscar winner for Animated Feature and Sound Effects Editing, nominated for Original Screenplay and Sound.
Directed by Mark Waters, PG13
Lindsey Lohan may have a future of bad bubblegum pop, one weekend movies, and tabloid covers ahead of her, but at least she can look back at her pairing with author Rosalind Wiseman and screenwriter-actress Tina Fey and see that her powers were used for good as well as for evil. The other world of “Mean Girls” is, of course, an exaggerated girl world, a place so often ignored, misunderstood, or exoticized by a film industry that wants to attract the biggest ticket-buyers (boys aged 14-25).
Moolaade
Directed & written by Ousmane Sembene, NR
The other world of “Moolaade” is a small village in Muslim Africa, where the collision of technology and tradition comes out in a days-long feud over female circumcision. In a direct, occasionally clumsy film filled with life and details, a pair of wives offer protection to a group of girls who flee from the procedure.
Napoleon Dynamite
Directed & co-written by Jared Hess, PG
Oh, I didn’t want to put this movie on this list. But when you find yourself saying “gah!” and “I’m the only one here who knows the illegal moves the government teaches its ninjas!” you know you’ve witnessed the emergence of someone who will take his place in the pop culture pantheon next to Wayne & Garth and Bill & Ted. The world of “Napoleon Dynamite” is a beautifully realized dork-dom, full of empty spaces, awkward pauses, and things that stopped being trendy years ago. But just wait for the day when spluttering “idiot!” won’t get you a laugh anymore.
Ocean’s Twelve
Directed by Stephen Soderbergh, PG13
Vastly entertaining and ultra-glossy celebration of the world of men with men, sharply dressed, drinking, smoking, gambling, behaving badly, and having a great time. And they steal things. A low-talking piece of wish fulfillment, in which the girl is won over by a grand, sacrificial gesture, and not by all that messy conversation crap.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Directed & written by Kerry Conran, PG
A movie that, let’s face it, doesn’t really have much going for it besides the superlative visuals and winsome spirit—but what breathtaking visuals, and what a lighthearted, jovial mood. Imagine if “Lord of the Rings” had been as bouncy. Then all the elves and halflings could have said every stupid thing put into their mouths and we would have smiled instead of rolling our eyes.
Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall…and Spring
Directed & written by Ki-duk Kim, R
The smallest of all the other worlds on this list is the lake where the Master lives his entire life—or does he? As the young monk leaves, comes back, leaves, and comes back again, and as babies mimic the seasons, we begin to wonder whose story it is we’re watching, as the boy is broken into the man he is meant to be.
Show #16 - #27
Place #9 - #15
Win #1 - #8
Introduction