I didn't think I had seen many films this year, but then I remembered all the festival stuff.

My 2002 movie list. Complete with an addendum of the best short films of 2002.

55. The Big Weird Normal (Silver Lake Film Festival)

One of the worst movies I've ever seen. Somebody wanted to make a "weird movie". But it just stunk. At least the first two-thirds. I fell asleep and then walked out. I had no where else to go I was in a strange city. They shot it in 35MM. That made me angry.

54. Cowboy Bebop (Austin Film Festival)

Another movie I went to because I didn't want to go back to the apartment that had adopted me for the duration of the festival. I was feeling guilty about sleeping on their couch. Thatıs where their TV is, and that's an important place. I fell asleep a few times in the theater, but kept waking up to loud machine gun fire. Upon leaving, I heard a very geeky looking group begin a discussion of all the things they noticed after watching it a second time. No one mentioned anything about noticing the plot.

53. Lava (Austin Film Festival)

A complete, disgusting, glorification of violence and death in the name of trying to be cool. Real crap. I think the director should be forced to sit in a room and watch what someone dying is really like. It could have gone one way, but it was obvious they dismissed it. I hated this movie.

52. The Emperor's Club (Austin Film Festival)

I forgive Kevin Kline for doing this because he looked like he was genuinely having fun. I, however, was not.

51. The Weight of Water (Austin Film Festival)

I thought this was going to be good. I did. Sean Penn and Sarah Polley and Elizabeth Hurley. A naked Elizabeth Hurley, even. She spent most of the film sucking on things and running them across her lips as she looked seductively at Sean Penn. Which, on paper, well, it's gold. But it sucked. The movie couldn't decide what it was. The contemporary storyline seemed there just to fluff the film into a feature. Maybe the book was better. I can honestly say I'll never find out.

50. Revolution #9 (Florida Film Festival)

They sold it as a gritty and more realistic A Beautiful Mind. Really. The director actually stood up and said this before the movie started. It was not. Always nice to see Adrienne Shelley doing something. I'm worried that somehow she's getting shorter, though.

49. Teddy Bears Picnic (Dahlonega Film Festival)

Heard bad things about it, but I wanted to see what Harry Shearer could do with the whole improvised movie thing. Most of the actors seemed to be looking around and waiting for something interesting to happen. They may have just been looking for Christopher Guest to walk on set and kick Harry Shearer off. But he didn't show. I think there was one good laugh. I think. I was very disappointed.

48. The Truth About Charlie

Oh, man, this thing didnıt make any sense. My only hope is that Demme started making one picture and then the studio intervened and fucked it up. But Tim Robbins looks cool in a suit. I want to be Tim Robbins. There. I've admitted that.

47. Naqoyqatsi

This felt so derivative and overtold. I didnıt fall asleep, but I did start bobbing for apples. The film didn't say anything he didn't already say in the first two films.

46. Love and Support (Long Island Film Festival)

Sort of a Something Wild type of road flick except with two guys. Joe Furey of News Radio fame wrote, directed and starred, and I think that was two things too many. Has some amazingly big laughs, but Furey doesn't have any presence on screen. And the music sucked. And so did the opening credits. They looked like they were in some wacky greeting card font. It bugged me and I couldn't let it go.

45. Blade 2

This is what happens when I decide to just walk to a movie theater and see whatever is starting next. The first two acts are new; the last act is all borrowed from the first film. Vampires are cool, though. Why don't they make an Angel feature?

44. Star Wars: Attack of the Clones

The scenes with Annakin and Princess Whats-her-face are some of the absolute worst writing and acting and directing I've seen in a long time. The Obi Wan story line was interesting and fun, but that's it. I can't believe it's gotten this bad. I like how they kept blocking Jar-Jar Binks from being seen clearly in the opening scene of the movie. But then he came back. I sigh, heavily.

43. Alma Mater (Austin Film Festival)

I wanted to like this because the filmmakers were nice and I sat next to them at a dinner. I'm sad to say I didn't. Very play-ish dialogue, the actors seemed imprisoned by the script. They use the Kennedy assassination as a big, epic, plot device innocence shattered, that sort of thing. Didn't work for me.

42. Jackass

Jon Bloom took me to see this as a birthday gift. At the time it seemed more like it was a gift for him and not me. But I liked it. And you did to.

41. Autofocus

Great acting, but a big disappointment. The story seemed so poorly fleshed out. Five minutes into the movie and he's Hogan, already. They should have spent more time focusing on his early life and creating a much bigger fall. I didn't care that he turned into a dirty bird. Surprised that Paul Schroeder would direct a film with such a bad story.

40. Washington Heights (Austin Film Festival)

A good film, but needs to be cut down. The acting is great and the dialogue is natural, but it just takes too long to find a rhythm. There is this one shot of a blimp over the Bronx at sunset that makes the entire movie worth seeing. I want a 60 minute loop of that shot.

39. Champion Blues (Cucalorus Film Festival)

What the execution of this documentary lacked, it made up with one of the most interesting people every shot on film, or video, to be both specific and geeky. The portrait of a once famous R&B singer that still works it in the lounges of LA, well into her 80's. The best thing about this movie: every fucking keyboardist they interviewed was wearing a Sea Captain's hat. The second best: when I asked the director about it, she had no idea what I was talking about and seemed annoyed that that was my only question.

38. Dirt (Florida Film Festival)

A sweet, quirky film about two brothers dealing with their mother's death. Well written and well acted. The score annoyed me. But Puddy in it and that makes anything good.

37. Blue Vinyl (Rhode Island Film Festival)

I liked this film, but am pissed that they had my film open for it. Not many people going to see a documentary about the cancer and pain that the vinyl industry creates seemed too thrilled about watching a short film about a guy with nowhere to go on Thanksgiving.

36. Monster's Ball

I got more excited about Angela Bassett calling Halle Berry a 'whore to the white man' for taking the part, than I could about the actual film. I dunno. Not bad, not great, I guess it was sort of good.

35. Mule Skinner Blues (Silver Lake Film Festival)

A great, sort of low budget Errol Morris-type doc about a trailer park in Florida. The only thing that bugged me is that the characters were so hungry to be on film, they looked like they would do anything for the directors. It felt a little exploitative.

34. Minority Report

With all the cool stuff and gizmos and all that, the thing I most remember is how Spielberg let the lens flare for a really long time in this low shot of Tom Cruise by the lake towards the end. The bad thing about that scene is that it's when Cruise is figuring out the plot that should have been figured out about 20 minutes earlier. I love lens flare.

33. The Days of Nick Drake (Dahlonega Film Festival)

I hoped this would be better. It just became a kind of glamorous music video for some of his tracks. The interviews told you nothing that the liner notes to the box set hadn't already. I have to admit, though. Itıs not a bad thing to sit in the dark and look at beautiful, rainy English landscapes in wonderfully shot 35MM all with Nick Drake tunes guiding you through it.

32. The Kid Stays in the Picture

This was a movie I went to see at a regular movie theater while I was at the mostly disappointing Silver Lake Film Festival. I wanted to make sure I didn't leave LA without seeing something good. I liked it. The voice over is all so subjective, you know itıs mostly crap, but it's still fun. There's a Robert Mitchum documentary in the works, and I'm sure it will blow this one out of the water. After all, he was just doing a Mitchum impersonation for most of his life.

31. The Last Kiss (Florida Film Festival)

Great stylized film about how stupid 30 year old men can be. Especially Italian men. The camera was a little too choreographed for me, but the acting and writing was first rate. Ending was a little too pat.

30. Spirited Away

Really, beautiful and lovely. Supremely well told. It pulled me in and took me where it wanted to go. Poor Disney. If they can't match it, they buy it. I'm surprised this wasn't a huge hit. I'm assuming the marketing sucked.

29. Rare Birds (Florida Film Festival)

A lovely, fun surprising film from Canada that will probably go right to cable. Very Local Hero, sweet, smart and sad. William Hurt is fantastic. Maybe he did that ABC Aldrich Ames thing to support making this small film. Maybe, but probably not.

28. Signs

I like Shama-lama-Ding-Dong. I liked this movie. The ending wrapped things up a little too quickly for me, but it's good stuff.

27. Reign of Fire

Such a great surprise. Great cross genre action film that doesn't think you're stupid. Matthew McConneghy is so buff he seems to have trouble moving. Christian Bale is just buff. The characters are surprisingly well written. Notice how all the apocalypse, post- apocalypse stuff is coming out again? Bad times are brewing.

26. The Bourne Identity

This is why I sometimes just walk to a movie theater and see whatever is playing next. I don't think I would have seen this otherwise. Well, well done and really quite fun.

25. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

I was let down. The amazing performance of the CGI Gollem will begin debate of opening CGI performance categories at the Oscars. Most of this debate will be after 2am, while drunk, but it will be sincere, just the same. I think Jackson should have pulled you into the fantasy world more, make you forget where you are and what you are. It never clicked for me. I enjoyed it, but not like the first.

24. Lost in La Mancha (Austin Film Festival)

Just a wonderful, realistic documentary portrait of how hard it is to make a film. When things start going wrong, it's funny; then things really start going wrong and itıs almost too painful to watch. Amazing to watch how Terry Gilliam creates chaos on set in order to be creative. It's the chaos he didnıt create that fucks everything up.

23. Vengo (Cucalorus Film Festival)

A wonderful, lyrical film about Gypsies in Spain and how their lives are inseparable from the music they create and love. Beautifully done and a camera that patiently finds its shot. I had no idea what the movie was going to be like and I was pleasantly surprised.

22. Mai's America (Florida Film Festival)

I can't believe they actually send exchange students to live with people like the first family Mai is sent to. Wonderful, documentary storytelling. Mai is so surprisingly insightful and wise; it's scary, at times. Great flick.

21. Roger Dodger (Austin Film Festival)

I loved this. For the most part. I liked the long lens, the camera searching around for Roger in all the scenes things in the foreground, clouding him, hiding him, etc. But I hated the forced zoom lens action. If you're going to do that, with so heavily affected a zoom, don't rehearse with the camera operator and let him or her actually find the shot. The writing and acting was beyond great, and using two cameras for the heavy dialogue scenes allowed for a lot of great overlapping dialogue without making the cuts odd. Isabella Rosselini hasnıt been this sexy in a long time. And Elizabeth Berkley showed up at the screening. She's the sexiest robot I've ever seen. She looks just like the one in Metropolis, but with less emotion.

20. Secretary

Really, really well done. Turns an S/M story into a sweet love tale. I want to be James Spader. There. I've finally admitted it.

19. The Royal Tenenbaums

The second time I saw this, I liked it more. The first time I was left wanting. I don't know. What bugged me most is that the Owen Wilson character seemed so poorly fleshed out I thought it odd with him co-writing it. I'm probably just jealous. I want to be Wes Andersen, Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson, depending on whom he's dating at the time.

18. Benjamin Smoke (Cucalorus Film Festival)

I think this is airing on Sundance this month. Great, wonderful film. Jem Cohen is normally a bit too stylized for me, but his co-direction with Pete Sillen is wonderful. And I'm not just saying that because Sillen is my meal ticket, right now. Always nice to see a feature documentary that was shot and projected in 16MM. It's beautiful and subtle. The time-lapse stuff of Smoke doing the most basic, mundane things, is some of the saddest, most beautiful stuff I've seen on film.

17. Spiderman

Great. Made me giggly and goose pimply. I don't know why people said bad things about Willem Defoe. And itıs always lovely to see the old neighborhood, without having to actually go back to the old neighborhood. I loved that Sam Raimi was using the same cutting style he was using in Dark Man, but now had the budget to make it look really, really good. I want to be both Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire.

16. Insomnia

Well done and well told, but I think it stumbled some in the third act. Martin Donavan better be a fucking huge star by 2004 or Iıll get very, very upset.

15. Raw Deal: A Question of Consent (Florida Film Festival)

I don't know if this movie will ever, ever get screened, but if you can watch it do it. Artisan picked it up after Sundance and then decided to shelve it. They sued the Florida Film Festival to try and prevent them from screening it. An incredibly bizarre documentary about an "alleged" rape of a stripper/hooker hired to dance at a frat house in Florida. The really bizarre thing is that the rape is all on videotape. The really, really bizarre thing is that the videotape is the majority of the film. The tape became evidence and as a result, it became public domain according to Florida law. Absolutely chilling and surprisingly well told from both sides of the incident. The filmmaker needed a security escort out of the theater. I can't begin to explain it properly. Try and find it and watch it and get back to me. Maybe Marc can flex some muscle at the office and get a copy.

14. The Man Who Wasn't There

Goddamn this is good stuff. I felt like I smoked five packs of Luckies by the time it was over. They make it all look so easy. Why isn't Millerıs Crossing on DVD, yet?

13. Storytelling

I love Solendz. I thought this was fantastic. Really painful, wonderful stuff. Great opening credits. Why donıt people care about opening credits anymore?

12. Talk to Her

Man, oh man that Almodovar is good. Smooth and controlled, but the story flows naturally and effortlessly itıs like he's just watching it unfurl before him. But that's what weıre doing. And that blurring of lines is a good thing.

11. About a Boy

The best Hornby adaptation ever. I was so worried about the Weitz brothers getting a hold of this, but they did such a wonderful job. They're in the big leagues now. Maybe I could direct Amercian Pie 3 for them.

10. Catch Me if You Can

Again, I can't say enough about the illusion of effortless storytelling. This is one of the best-told films I've seen in years. Spielberg is a master, when he wants to be. The acting was spectacular, the Saul Bass inspired opening credits by Kuntzel and Deygas completely set the tone for the entire film. Thank god somebody cares about opening credits. I needed something to make me smile and it did just that.

9. Iles Flottantes (Florida Film Festival)

Great film from the Netherlands. Three women in their 30s (the floating islands) just wonderfully done. I feel cheesy comparing it to a Sex and the City type of scenario, but it sort of applies, except these characters have twenty times the depth, and twenty times the soul. A first time filmmaker from Rotterdam. Really, really great. Great conflicted characters the good and the bad and theyıre all doing both. Very real. And all their apartments looked like pictures from an Ikea catalogue.

8. The Good Girl

One of the best bits of overall acting at every level of a film that Iıve seen in a long time. All well done. Jake Gyllenhaalıs unfolding character is so well written and acted that erasing of layers from deep and brooding to immature and unstable. Jennifer Anniston more than impressed me. Every character is fleshed out and real. Another one that made me jealous.

7. Bowling for Columbine

I think this is one of the most important movies made in the past ten years. Most complain it's just preaching to the choir, but you've got to think it will make some people think about things they wouldn't have otherwise. see things they wouldn't otherwise. And I think Heston got what he deserved. Moore's self-righteousness annoyed me at times, but it's not like I'm ever going to have to hang out with the guy.

6. Punch Drunk Love

This movie was almost ruined for me by the people sitting next to me. They kept laughing in some bizarre Pavlovian instinct: Adam Sandler on screen? I will laugh. At one point, the boyfriend turned to his girlfriend and said, "Oh, now I get it. He's a retard." Even with all that, I thought it was a fantastic film. And an inspired use of the flip-side to Sandler's man-boy thing the violence and immaturity of that type of person. Really, really lovely. Made me sigh a few times. Made me jealous.

5. Monsoon Wedding

Such a great film. Nair is so good at capturing the subtle politics of family not just the frustrations, but the masked expressions of love, the shared jokes, the private moments. Truly beautiful. And really great storytelling, as well. It made me want to eat flowers.

4. Julietta (Silver Lake Film Festival)

Such a wonderful film. I donıt know if this ever got distribution, but it should. The story of a girl in Berlin that ends up falling in love with an EMT worker that nursed her while she was passed out on bad acid. The conflict? He raped her while she was passed out and spends most of the film trying to decide if he should tell her or not. It inspires such pained conflicting feelings good people doing bad things, and vice-versa. It rips you up. Really, amazingly done. And at the end you don't know which way is up.

3. Morvern Callar

Who the fuck needs dialogue to tell a story? I don't think a word is said for eight or nine minutes, but you understand the situation perfectly. The opening reminded me a little of Little Odessa. Lynne Ramsey's direction takes you in and brings you down into Morvern's world so quickly and effortlessly, that you're seeing her character eye to eye within five minutes. All without dialogue. Samantha Morton is just unbelievably great. And the use of sound design for when Morvern is listening to her walkman that illusion of isolation by putting the headphones in it's so well done. Alwin Kuchler's cinematography made me squirm, it was so good. It defines finding the moment finding what should be the focus and doing it so damn subtlety. Really, really made me jealous. Thanks to Dan for letting me know about this one.

2. The Son's Room

Another film where silence tells more than the dialogue. Italian director Nanni Moretti stars, writes and directs this absolute masterpiece of subtlety and tragedy. I'm always amazed by directors that have the balls to be completely over the top or completely subtle. The risks are so severe if they stray from the mark at all. And Moretti doesn't. Not an inch. The last ten minutes the last shot is one of the saddest, natural and well-choreographed executions of loss and distance ever captured on film. I cried and then I was jealous. Then I did both again. Really, first rate.

1. Unknown Soldier (working title) (Cucalorus Film Festival)

I hope this finds distribution. All throughout my week in Wilmington, the festival guys kept talking to me about this film; 'wait till you see Unknown Soldier' bring some Kleenex, etc. Some of the guys actually passed out boxes of Kleenex before the film started. Crofton and I took one and laughed as we took it. We had no idea what we were in for. It's an amazingly personal documentary in casual style of Ross McElwee. It's a local, Wilmington filmmaker evidently the cut we watched was just an early one, but it was spectacular. The filmmaker goes on a search to learn about the father he never met - he died in Vietnam, not one-week before he was supposed to go home. The director begins at home, talking with his mother (their marriage was less than 2 years old when the father died). The surprise of this film is the incredible love story of his mother and his late father. Instead of a schmaltzy search for his father, it becomes an incredible celebration of the two years of love his mother and father shared. A relationship that never entered the lows the memories and moments all burn so damn bright, itıs inspiring. Nothing I say can adequately describe how wonderful this film is. I'm assuming they will change the title since there is already a Vietnam doc of the same name. I keep searching the internet to find out what's happening with it. It's absolutely glorious. Another one that Marc should flex muscle to track down.

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Since most of my time at festivals was spent nervously checking out the competition, I have to mention my Favorite Short Films of 2002.

These are in ALPHABETICAL order. I wouldnıt dare rank them. Some of these people buy me beers.

Ablution (Dahlonega Film Festival)

A fantastic, time-lapse black and white experimental piece shot in 16MM. I can't remember the filmmakerıs name, but it's spectacular the film, not the name.

Blink (Austin Film Festival)

Funny, cute and amazingly well done. This CGI short by Damian Griffen is reminiscent of classic Looney Tunes stuff. Smart enough for adults, goofy enough for kids. The really amazing thing about this, is that Damian did all the animation and rendering himself. Took three years for three minutes. My stars.

Boris (Florida Film Festival)

The level of character development that Francesca Galesi achieves in this short film is staggering. Really, beautiful. I'm sure there will be a feature version soon.

Dog (Florida Film Festival)

An incredibly powerful short by British director Suzie Templeton. So sad, so real. Puppets and claymation. A father and son are tormented by the death of the mother. The family dog is dying as well, and is in obvious pain. One night the father can take no more, and he puts the animal out of its misery but the son is secretly watching from the window. The next day, the father explains to his son that the dog has died, but not to worry because he isn't suffering anymore. The boy says, "Just like mommy?", and the father says, "Yes, just like mommy". Wow.

Neo-Noir (Austin Film Festival, and soon to be Sundance)

Damn Chase Palmer and his beautifully orchestrated camera moves. Really great, classic noir short. Some of it shot over at Union Pool in Williamsburg. Chase is also really tall. Damn him.

P.E. (Florida Film Festival)

A bunch of seventh grade girls decide they have to take down their P.E. teacher by any means necessary. Incredibly funny. And the P.E. teacher is played by Dave "Gruber" Allen of Freaks and Geeks.

Running with Scissors (Austin Film Festival)

Great, comic short about the horrors that can ensue when you cheat on your hairdresser. Director Ron Faris keeps it sweet and funny.

Sophie (Austin Film Festival)

This film took my breath away. Helen H. Lee has the balls to not have any real explicit dialogue for the first 6 minutes in a 25 minute film! Amazing. It will suck the happiness right out of you, and you will let it go willingly.

The Terms (Florida Film Festival)

Directed by Johnny O'Reilly. Man. Ireland is depressing.

Vessel Wrestling (Florida Film Festival)

Weird claymation stuff from Lisa Yu. I think itıs on Sundance or IFC now. Youıll know it when you see it. And you should.

Some of my flicks are up on others 2001 list, but I didn't see them until January, 2002. But they were theater flicks. So there.

2002 LISTS
dan
kevin
jeremy
alex
sujan
dave n.
sarah f.
juhi
genna
shawn
chris larry
mitch
chris m.
donovan
marc
jim

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