totemrepublic
12-04-2001, 08:18 PM
Here are Traver's lists for best films of the year (most of these are current releases)... any comments are welcome!
Hollywood Top Ten:
1. Fellowship of the Ring: "For the first film in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson combines mythic power, personal storytelling and breathless Indiana Jones adventure to create a film that is both intimate, and epic, Damn, he's good."
2. Ali: "Michael Mann and Will Smith transcend biopic cliché's to punch their way to the bruised heart of a hero. Extraordinary."
3. The Royal Tenenbaums: "A Hurting, healing comedy about the wounds inflicted by family; confirms Wes Anderson as a world-class talent."
4. Shrek: "An ogre in love, and a new peak in animation."
5. Vanilla Sky: "Cameron Crowe directs Tom Cruise in a psychosexual thriller that busts more than a few molds."
6. Moulin Rouge: "A musical that pushes so hard it mauls you, but Aussie Baz Luhrmann creates visual wonders."
7. Black Hawk Down - " The script's speechifying can't stop Ridley Scott. The director of 'Gladiator' and 'Hannibal' brings documentary realism to a war film that salutes the soldiers felled in a botched 1993 U.S. operation in Somalia."
8. A Beautiful Mind: "Russell Crowe's searing portrait of a schizophrenic never flinches, even when Ron Howard softens the blow.
9. A.I. - Steven Spielberg tries to finish something Stanley Kubrick started. The result is a sci-fi shambles that true film fans will heatedly discuss for ages.
10. Ocean's Eleven: "Steven Soderbergh turns a B-movie heist into a class-A exercise in coolness.
INDIE TOP TEN
1. Memento: "A thriller that runs in reverse allows director Christpher Nolan, 31, to step forward with the year's most dazzling feat of cinematic originality."
2. Mulholland Drive: "Life is but an L.A. dream for David Lynch, who dreams like no one else."
3. Waking Life: "Richard Linklater's animated riff on the meaning of life goes places that "Shrek" and "Monsters, Inc." never imagined."
4. Ghost World: "Steve Buscemi as a love object for teen misfit Thora Birch is just one reason why this Terry Zwigoff film of Daniel Clowes' underground comic book cuts deep."
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch: "Songs, a sex change and a rock tour de force for writer, director and star John Cameron Mitchell."
6. Sexy Beast: "A blazing Ben Kingsley is scarier than any Soprano-stylish gangster tale."
7.In the Bedroom: "Actor turned director Todd Field brings lyrical grace to a revenge drama powered by brilliant turns by Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson.
8. The Man Who Wasn't There: "The Coen brothers do film noir set in a barber shop and, o brother, did it come out looking good."
9. Gosford Park: "Playing the game of humor and homicide by his own rules, Robert Altman throws a posh party with a cast of Brit legends and serves up a full-course acting feast."
10. Amelie - "A love letter to Paris, movies and luminous new star Audrey Tautou from Jean-Pierre Jeunet."
Hollywood Top Ten:
1. Fellowship of the Ring: "For the first film in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson combines mythic power, personal storytelling and breathless Indiana Jones adventure to create a film that is both intimate, and epic, Damn, he's good."
2. Ali: "Michael Mann and Will Smith transcend biopic cliché's to punch their way to the bruised heart of a hero. Extraordinary."
3. The Royal Tenenbaums: "A Hurting, healing comedy about the wounds inflicted by family; confirms Wes Anderson as a world-class talent."
4. Shrek: "An ogre in love, and a new peak in animation."
5. Vanilla Sky: "Cameron Crowe directs Tom Cruise in a psychosexual thriller that busts more than a few molds."
6. Moulin Rouge: "A musical that pushes so hard it mauls you, but Aussie Baz Luhrmann creates visual wonders."
7. Black Hawk Down - " The script's speechifying can't stop Ridley Scott. The director of 'Gladiator' and 'Hannibal' brings documentary realism to a war film that salutes the soldiers felled in a botched 1993 U.S. operation in Somalia."
8. A Beautiful Mind: "Russell Crowe's searing portrait of a schizophrenic never flinches, even when Ron Howard softens the blow.
9. A.I. - Steven Spielberg tries to finish something Stanley Kubrick started. The result is a sci-fi shambles that true film fans will heatedly discuss for ages.
10. Ocean's Eleven: "Steven Soderbergh turns a B-movie heist into a class-A exercise in coolness.
INDIE TOP TEN
1. Memento: "A thriller that runs in reverse allows director Christpher Nolan, 31, to step forward with the year's most dazzling feat of cinematic originality."
2. Mulholland Drive: "Life is but an L.A. dream for David Lynch, who dreams like no one else."
3. Waking Life: "Richard Linklater's animated riff on the meaning of life goes places that "Shrek" and "Monsters, Inc." never imagined."
4. Ghost World: "Steve Buscemi as a love object for teen misfit Thora Birch is just one reason why this Terry Zwigoff film of Daniel Clowes' underground comic book cuts deep."
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch: "Songs, a sex change and a rock tour de force for writer, director and star John Cameron Mitchell."
6. Sexy Beast: "A blazing Ben Kingsley is scarier than any Soprano-stylish gangster tale."
7.In the Bedroom: "Actor turned director Todd Field brings lyrical grace to a revenge drama powered by brilliant turns by Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson.
8. The Man Who Wasn't There: "The Coen brothers do film noir set in a barber shop and, o brother, did it come out looking good."
9. Gosford Park: "Playing the game of humor and homicide by his own rules, Robert Altman throws a posh party with a cast of Brit legends and serves up a full-course acting feast."
10. Amelie - "A love letter to Paris, movies and luminous new star Audrey Tautou from Jean-Pierre Jeunet."