35 From 2: My Favorite Films From 2002

  Over in southern France, Englishman Frank Martin is a super skilled driver for those who "need a ride" under circumstances that are most likely not very legal. However, to acquire of his services, you must abide by his three rules.
 Okay, lemme stop there, because there was something that I hadn't noticed until now while I was typing this....
  Of the four most famous "driver" themed crime thrillers (The Driver, Drive, Baby Driver, and this one), in all of them, the driver in question always has a set of rules that the client must always agree to if they wish to get from point A to point B. Not that I have a particular point by pointing this out, it's just a trope for this kind of film that that never came to my attention until now. 
Anyways,  of all those driving flix that I mentioned, The Transporter may be the least in quality when it comes to plot or originality, but it does make up for it in the fun and crazy fight scenes of this high octane thrill-ride to help solidify Jason Statham's role as an action film badd-ass.
 As is the norm for this particular brand of film, it was made with absolutely no intention of leaving any kind of mark the hierarchy of cinema history, but it does surpass the speed limit on its path towards satisfying "popcorn entertainment".
  For me, any enjoyment that I derive from The Transporter comes from being able to grab a big bucketful of popcorn, throw some M&Ms to melt over it, sit back on my big marshmellowy chestnut colored Lazy Boy chair, and just enjoy the over the blacktop ride of Mach 6.7 mayhem.

Okay, we all know by know that hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned.
So how can you tell whether a woman is truly in love with you or if she's just a remarkably incessant psychopath?
Well, if her infatuation is based on love, true love,
then she is after your heart.
If her infatuation is based on murderous madness,
then, she is after your heart, your lungs, your limbs, etc.
Separately.
The fact that this movie has been promoted as a horror film,
makes it easy to guess which category May fits into.

  Niklas is a high school teenager who lives in Seden and wakes up one day to discover that he is invisible to all the other kids in school. And not just because of his lack of popularity or his love for poetry.
 The boy's a ghost. And his spirit is still wandering around here on Earth instead of frolicking up in the silver lined clouds of Heaven. And thus, the intangible stage is set for a tale of mystery and redemption from beyond the "other side".



  The Invisible (or Den Osynlige, in its original Swedish title) is yet another fine example of a "foreign" film that hit it huge overseas, both critically and commercially, but went largely ignored here in the United States because Hollywood decided to produce an inferior remake instead. And of course, in this remake (also called The Invisible, BTW), they eliminated most of the distinctive elements of the original and replaced it with the standard tricks that are supposed to help make the movie a success at the box office.
Which, surprise, surprise, it wasn't.
Gotta love those formula flicks, huh?

The depiction of the quest for power among the lower ranks of society during the burgeoning years of the Four Corners of the Big Apple.
To be honest, while I liked this tale of the struggles of the original gangstas of New York, back when the grit in the hearts of it's denizens was just as grimey as the mud on it's horse-trodden streets,
at the end of the day, I don't think this is one of Martin Scorcese's best films.
The characteristics of charisma and chemistry that tend to shoot out of most of Scorcese's films seem to be quite lacking in this movie, despite a stellar cast that includes Leonardo DeCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day Lewis.
But still, I include it on my year's favorites, because it's enjoyable none the less, particularly when compared to the standard fare that occupies most theatre screens today.

Samuel L. Jackson is an angry tired black man who just wants to know....
"Will somebody please get these motherf#ckin' Afflecks offa these motherf#ckin' lanes!?"

How do you get a former priest whose lost his faith to "open his eyes" and believe again?
Try sending down an alien or two to start forming big ol' circles in his crops.



I really liked the theme of a man-of-faith who has lost his faith that provided the personality conflict of the Mel Gibson's character.
For my standards, I found the first part of this flick almost matched The Sixth Sense in terms of building up the creep factor.
However, once the guilt-ridden veterinarian (played by M. Knight) announced that he had an alien in his kitchen, and then just drove off (...uhmnnn...whut....?),
it kinda began showing "signs" of the kind of rushed, crumbling logic that we could expect to dominate Shyamalan's future films.
Still, in the end, for me, the majority of this movie makes for an over-all solid down-to-Earth alien thriller.
 Not to mention, that it's always cool to see Joaquin Phoenix in a role that depicts him as a normal person, as opposed to the alien life-form that he has appeared to have evolved into. Nowadays, he often seems more frightening than the extra-terrestrials of this or any other sci-fi-horror film.

Take E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,
make Elliot more ethnic and change him into a girl,
then take E.T. himself and make him alot more bad-@ss, but still cute,
and then transform the whole thing into a cartoon,
and there you go.
You've got this movie.

I've had my fair share of nights where, no matter how many sheep I count, I just can't get to sleep.
So, what I end up doing, is , late at night, I sit behind my computer, log onto this site, and spend massive amounts of time into the wee hours of the morning, making up lists and posting 'em here for your pleasure.
So, along with a movie directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and an out of character Robin Williams, I guess that we can all thank insomnia for that.

  Directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Al Pacino (in a leather jacket that I think we’ve seen him wear a hundred times), Hilary Swank, and Robin Williams, Insomnia is a movie that takes its film title literally with a plot that is basically about a lack of sleep. Luckily , it’s based off of a book, which is lucky because, let’s be honest, as a sales pitch for a movie, probably would have made any movie producer listening to the pitch fall a sleep.

What do you do when the werewolves begin to attack systematically and in packs?
Send in the troops.
And then just sit back, and enjoy, as the bullets, blood, big booms and British accents fly.

Up to this point in time, Robin Williams had a career where if he wasn't playing the zany, manic comedic lead,
then he was the caring soul with humorous heart of gold (Awakenings, Good Will Hunting).
But in 2002, the "can't stand still" comedian was determined to show that he had a dark side. A very dark side.
This was the year when "Mork" appeared not just in one film, but two where he portrayed a more antagonistic type of character. Instead of murdering 'em with laughter, his roles were now murdering 'em with....well, y'know ....murder.

  Steven Spielberg, Tom, Leonardo Dicaprio combine their heavy weight super star talents to tell a based on a real-life story of a teenage kid in the 1960's, ran across the country, swindling his was through various careers and a lot of money, desperately hoping that maybe it'll help him bring back together the family that broke the household and hid heart.

A secretary finds that the responsibilities of her duties and her relationship with her boss have evolved (though some may say "devolved") from a brand spanking new job into just a spanking job.
Ahem.
Now, while I found this movie engagingly quirky and for the most part, kinda sexy,
it really would've been higher on my list if only (and this is definitely a spoiler alert!!) the lead character, at one point of the movie, wouldn't have taken a dump in her wedding dress.
Call me a stiff shirt, but in my opinion, I don't think that's very romantic.
Like, at all.

  After successfully building up a career as one of the world's greatest actresses (a couse that she starting cementing at 12 years old with her iconic role in Taxi Driver), Jodie Foster began the New Millenium by going the more commercial route. Which didn't really hurt her "acting street cred" all that much since for these mainstream movies she did a pretty good job picking the right roles and production team for them (don't get me, like any other actor, she did have a misstep here and there, but they weren't any where near the amount that really could derail an accomplished thespian's longstanding career... Robert Deniro, I'm looking in your general direction...). 
  Panic Room is an excellent example of this. Sure, it wasn't gonna win her any substantial awards or nuthin', but it really is a high quality top-notch thriller.   In it, she teams up with Kristin Stewart (way before any the Twilight films came along and left a bad taste in everyone's mouths, with the exception of twinklin' tweeners who made that franchise such a monster because of their love vampires that sparkle and sweep their victims away) and play a mother daughter team who take on a trio of tough thugging thieves (a corn-rolled Jared Leto, the usually lazy-eyed Forest Whitaker, and the rarely seen hatless Dwight Yoakum) who have broken into her newly acquired fancy-shmancy home in search for some hidden loot.
 Seeking safety in the panic room, she ends up utilizing the house's highly gentrified security system in a manner that turns the tables on the thieves. Thus, what should've been a simple in-and-out caper for them, instead becomes the longest night that this truimvirate of terror have ever experienced on the job.

Colin Farrell plays Stu Shepard, a smooth-talking, self-serving, fast-track publicist who, in the dominating age of the cell phone, ends up getting stuck in a phone booth (which is lucky for this movie, since that's the title of this flick). Not because the booth door is jammed, but because there's a sniper with the scope's red dot resting firmly right between his eyes. communicating thru the land-line, the assassin begins a barrage of questioning targeted straight at immorality of Stu'S heart.
Soon surrounded with the police (unaware of the reality of Stu's situation) and by the consequences of his life's decisions, outwitting the intelligent psychopath on the other end of the line is his only way out.

Mission Impossible meets Blade Runner with a dash of the Bourne Identity & maybe just a hint of The Fugitive.
And as a sci-fi adventure flick with a lead role by Tom Cruise and directed by Steven Spielberg, how can you go wrong?

Adaptation is an adaptation of a book (The Orchid Thief....which in my opinion would've been just as good a title for the movie, if not better) in which the viewer is subjected to just one, but two Nicolas Cages. For the price of one.
Don't know if that's a good thing or not,
but there you go.

For those of you who haven't seen this movie, you can probably figure out what the plot is about just by the title.
Actually, when you really think about it, the title of the flick sorta defeats the whole purpose of these description boxes.
Anyways,
besides being about a boy, there's also enough of the uber-gorgeous Rachel Weisz in the film to help qualify it as one of my favorites of '02.

  When I first became aware of the Harry Potter books, I must admit that I completely dismissed them simply because, from what I had heard, they were a really big hit with the tweener audience. Therefore these English stories about some geeky "spectacled" kid from across the pond who carried around a wand because he was some kind of a witch or something  was something that I obviously just assumed would have absolutely no appeal to me, particularly as an adult.  And several years had passed wherein I had been under this mindset. Then came one day when I was babysitting my niece, who just so happened to be a fan of the Potter books. At one point, we were watching TV together and as I surfed through the channels lookin' for something that would (hopefully) appease both our tastes in entertainment viewing, I came upon one that was showing the film adaptation of The Prisoner of Azkaban. My niece turned to me and excitedly said, "Oh, leave it here, leave it here!". So, being the dutiful uncle that I was, I did, with the feeling of anticipation that I would not in any way find any kind of enjoyment from watching this. But I stayed by my niece's side and decided to "endure" it for her sake. 
 And, of course, as the fate like to weave her web of irony, to my surprise, not only did I find The Prisoner of Azkaban to be pretty enjoyable, but also,a  rather compelling and interesting tale.  I was rather surprised and drawn in at the Intellectual approach that the story had towards the idea of a secret civilization of wizards living amongst us mere "mudbloods" and the manner in which all the various creatures of classic mythological lore were presented,
 In other words, I had just fallen down the rabbit hole that was this universally massive and successful franchise. From here on end, I was what they called a die-hard "Pothead" (that's the name I heard that they affectionately put on the hardcore fans of this series, but I will confess that I was a sort of a mild version of the other kind of pothead before this life-changing event that brought me my niece closer together). I watched the other films that preceded Azkaban, and then and went out and purchased all the book. Not to mention, that I watched all the later films on the weekends that they debuted. 

Kids, this movie isn't just another example of yet another underrated Val Kilmer performance, but more importantly, it's also a good example of why you should always say no to drugs.
In the plot of The Salton Sea, the villain snorted so much coke, that his nose completely disintegrated away.
Or, to paraphrase a semi-famous quote,
"There's a reason why drugs are called 'dope'". Take it from someone who nose.

Jack decides it's time to step away from the more spotlight movies and start flexing some acting muscles to remind everyone that he's not just the joltin' Jackster that Hollywood has decided to iconicly cement him into.
Jack plays a role of which we're not accustomed to seeing him in. A man who after a lifetime made up of a reliable yet indifferent job, a dutiful wife who makes him sandwiches for lunch and a family that has just simply moved on, now finds himself alone and purposeless.
And thus begins a journey for identity and meaning in which, hopefully, the end result will be some tidbits of inner-discovery that will help to ease the last-leg phase of a meandering life that is, basically, about Schmidt.

There's a strange phenomenon occurring on a space station orbiting the planet of Solaris.
To try and figure out what exactly this phenomenon is, psychologist Dr. Chris Kelvin takes a trip onboard to investigate. And what he finds is that the Solaris space crew is not alone. Each member, including himself, is accompanied on the space station with memories. "Living", walking, talking, and most dangerous of all, tortured, memories.



This millenial update of 1972's Solaris may not be as good as the first version, but let's be honest here, despite Steven Soderbergh being at the helm and Soderbergh's claim to try and stick closer to its source material, this version stood almost no chance of replicating the masterpiece status that is Tarkovsky's.
However, in the end, as a stand alone work, it's still holds up a solid modern science fiction film, and as a remake, it comes off as a more streamlined version that effectively updates the theme of it's original.

 In an "amazing" set of circumstances, mild mannered Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider, which result in eggheaded teen developing an "amazing" set of super-powers which grant him the proportionate abilities of the eight-legged arachnid. (such as super-strength, agility, the ability to walk up walls and other vertical surfaces).
  It's a fantastical situation which eventually leads into a story where the young webslinging teen-ager truly learns that "with great power comes great responsibility".
 As a self-professed hardcore comic book nerd who is more often than not disappointed with Hollywood's handling of most of Marvel and DC's superheroes when they are adapted onto the silver screen, I must admit that I was rather pleased with Sony Picture's first initial effort at trying to do what Tim Burton was able to pull off with the Batman: Introduce the webhead as a serious legitimate property for a big budget film franchise.
 One of the things that usually bugs (pun unintentional) me about comic book-based movies is that the changes made in the character's universe for the sake of fitting into the live action format of a film are usually so off, that oft-times it strays away too far from the character's unique feel that helped to separate the comic book version from that of all other superheroes.
 Spider-Man's debut featured adaptations in the wallcrawler's world that showed that not only did Sam Raimi and crew understand the character's particular premise, but also, respected it as well.

The story of the rise and fall of the Manchester Music scene of the 80's, including the famous Hacienda dance club and the small indie record label Factory Records (which supposedly was named after all the "factory closing" signs that hung around all of Manchester at the time...and probably served as an ironic sign of things to come for the record label).
I think that one of the main reasons I have such a soft spot in my heart for 24 Hour Party People may be because this is the film that introduced me to alot of my favorite "shoegazer" bands. Like The Smiths, Happy Mondays, Stone Roses and Ride. This movie was kind of like the beginning of my own personal British Invasion.
Actually, now that I think about it, with the inclusion of other films from over the pond like About A Boy, Chamber Of Secrets, Dog Soldiers, 28 Days and finally, this movie,
2002 has proven to be quite the year of British cinema for me.

Y'know, the concept of zombies has gotten bogged down with the campiness that has overtaken this horror sub-genre over the years, that the horror aspect seems to have been practically filtered out. And though alot of this may be due to the logistic of being able to easily escape these stumbling monstrocities, the fact is, if anyone reading this actually saw a zombie, they'd still be scared to the point of shittin' out their own skeletons. If at least by the idea that they have born witness to something as "death-defying" as an entity of the "undead".
This movie attempts to address these issues by respectfully replacing the idea of rising from the dead more akin to being infected with a rabid mind-devolving plague. And IMO, that's enough to turn the concept of a zombie into a more reality like creature that's pretty damn scary. Especially when added to the fact that they can now move fast enough to actually catch you.

 The Two Towers is the second chapter in a film franchise that is based off of what is probably the most famous fantasy novel series ever published, the Lord of the Rings. And despite being a fan of the genre, it's one that I've never read (I meant to, but just never got around to it). Because of this, I must admit I felt a bit lost throughout certain plot elements than ran throughout this trilogy. But, in the end, it didn't really matter all that much since there was enough in this thickly layered tale of wizards, faeries, hobbits and bug-eyed emo moppets to allow a non-fan such as myself to loosely fill in the blanks and make at least, an over-all blanketed sense out of the whole damn thing.
   In this installment, the grand epic tale of how to get rid of a ring of tremendous evil power and influence continues (something that I'm sure most divorcees can relate to). In this second chapter to the Jackson film series, scattered members of the Fellowship find themselves in various depths of Middle-Earth, but all with equally dangerous levels of peril on the paths of their journey, thanks to the minions of Sauron, who has virtually taken control of the mystic realm.



  This was one of the first sword & sorcery genre flicks that received the same kind of accolades that is usually reserved for more Academy Award targeted projects and featured a whole boatload of cool effects and stunning art direction, at the high level of which, IMO, should always be expected from films of this genre. The fact that this movie made it only up to #11 on this list is a testament to the amount of quality movies released for this year. I'm sure that on any other year this film would've easily made the top spot of this list, let alone my top ten.

After starting out strong in the 1980's with ground breaking films centered around racially themed social issues, Spike Lee is one of those director who's "fire" seems to have pretty much fizzled out. And although he continues to crank out work that doesn't get as much attention as the early stages of his career, he does pepper in every once in a while a piece of cinema that reminds us why Siskel and Ebert once regarded him as one of the most upcoming talents behind the camera.
The 25th Hour is one those reminders.



Featuring a kick-ass talent pool of thespian craftsmen like Ed Norton, Barry Pepper, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Rosario Dawson and Brian Cox,
it's a day's long journey through a man final 24 hours of freedom before entering the prison system.
And even though the main plot point is about a man trying to make amends for his breaks in the law that he must now pay social debts for, the movie also includes a subplot revolving around the 9-11 after effects, the first fiction based film to do so since the Big Apple first suffered the attacks.

A story of overcast themes as three working class families, each stuck in the small world of the same housing estate, travel through the ups and downs that come from a life that consists of simply trying to get by. Suffering the stagnant blues that come from living in the grey world of blue collars, when crisis arises, it is only through the pooling their deeply hidden emotional resources give each family a chance to rise above the low bar that has been set for them.

Tom Ripley is a crime novel character whom I never heard of until the film adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley from 1999. After hearing that there was series of books based on this guy, I looked up the movie versions to give 'em a looksee. And I gotta say, this final installment of the cinematic series, Ripley's Game, is definitely my favorite of the bunch.
Labeled as a "dapper sociopath", Tom is a man who enjoys his creature comforts and does not mind attaining them through the use of dangerous scams and even murder. By the time of this story, he has amassed a body count of a serial killer and a lavish life of leisure. However, despite a conscience filled to the brim with amorality, Ripley finds himself acting the role of vengeful hero.
Brilliantly portrayed by John Malkovich, who dominates the persona of the character better than any other actor who played the role, this is a game that finds viewers rooting for a mass murderer before TV's Dexter made such a thing vogue.

For me, this is kind of like a "The Matrix Unloaded".
A very stunningly stylish movie that features action sequences that any martial arts or straight-up action flick would be proud to call it's own. And even tho the story, like The Matrix, seems like it can lose it's audience every couple of turns and again, it does have a more solid and linear structure, making it is possible for the viewer to get back onto understanding it's premise.
And I liked that since Equilibrium did not have the big budget that it's computer themed bigger succeeding cousin had, that it came up with a concept called "Gun Kata", to allow for the insane bullet hails that make these types of gun-toting movies the kind that could cause even the hardiest NRA member to bust his own cap.

With movie franchises becoming the booming business of corporate cinema, it was no surprise that after many years, super-spy and assassin extraordinaire Jason Bourne finally came to life on the big screen.
Waking up one day with no memory of he is, a mysterious man find himself on a fisherman's ship, on his person are some wounds and a few clues clues of his past.
Soon, he comes across a name that might be his and some kind of shadow conspiracy to have him killed. He also realizes that he's trained for combat at a very high level. But can his abilities keep him alive long enough so that he can discover just what exactly is his born identity?
Directed by Doug Liman and portrayed by Mr. Matt Damon, this film series succeeded in bringing the character, originally set in the eighties, up to date and up to speed.

A martial arts movie with beautifully colored fighting themes, an actual purpose in it's plot-line and more arrows than some metaphor that would contain a point about many more arrows that any situation would ever deem necessary.
An epic kung-fu flick that is way more poetic than this or any other description of Hero could ever hope to be.

For me, watching this Brazilian-based film feels almost exactly like watching a documentary. One frighteningly all-too real scene involves a young (incredibly young) kid gang member who is cornered by a much older gang leader from another troupe and then is asked to choose between getting shot in the hand or in the foot. In my opinion, it is a scene that holds more power, depth and context than most movies contain in their entirety. An incredibly eye-opening and moving picture that reveals the true grit of violence, hopelessness and poverty of the South American slums that lie behind tourist paradises such as Rio de Janeiro and the like.

Based off of a graphic novel of the same name, Road To Perdition is a quality film that addresses an area of the mobster life that rarely gets any notice from most movies from this genre: the relationship of a gangster with his kid(s) when the child is at the age in which the the parent's influence is most strongest and begins to crystalize in the kid's identity. Just this one aspect of the mafia lifestyle is enough to open a new set of ideas for future movies plotlines that focus on those in the world of organized crime.
Tom Hanks wanders out of his standard role to play an assasin who, along with his only survivng son, is on the run from the crime syndicate which he formerly called home. A life and death experience which reveals that there's a difference between the blood that is spilled for a mob-family and the blood that is shared between a real family.

A P.T. Anderson effort that delves into how an unforseeable strength & driving force can result when two souls take the jump into the unfamiliar territory that is the map of the human heart. A map whose directions seem only to reveal themselves on a need to know basis. But wait...!
It stars Adam Sandler? Who puts the effort of actually acting in it?
And in the end, does a good job?
To the point, that it becomes the very first movie starring the waterboy that I not only ended up actually enjoying, but also, now come to regard as one of my favorite romance films ever?
Okay,
verily, the seventh seal hath been broken.

An island heritage that is already desperately trying to hold onto it's own identity, finds itself even more challenged when a little girl tries desperately to fit into it in a manner that would break one if it's fundamental "rules". For, in order to triumph, she must dispel the ages old belief that to achieve the mantle of a chieftain, one must be a male.



And in the process, she ends up making both that old tradition and a pack of whales, her b#tchez.
Yay for Girl Power!