For further background on the year in film please refer to the Some Other Movies From 2001 entry.
The following things happened in 2001:
- America Online and Time Warner merged to form AOL Time Warner.
- Wikipedia was launched.
- The U.S. and Britain bombed Iraq repeatedly.
- Pop singer Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash.
- 2,977 people died as a consequence of the September 11 attacks.
- The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in response to 9/11.
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was established.
- Apple introduced the iPod.
- The People's Republic of China joined the World Trade Organization.
Underlined entries were viewed on Netflix.
Linked entries can be viewed in their entirety on YouTube.
Some Good Ones
1. Save the Last Dance
Julia Stiles - an actress I often find irritating - stars as a white high school student dropped into the ghetto after the death of her mother. My chief complaint is that the high school students act way more mature than would be the case, and the "gangsta friend's" subplot is one of the most predictable things ever. As early 2000s dance movies go, I think 2003's Honey works better.
Fun Fact: Thomas Carter, the director of this movie, also directed Coach Carter, a really underrated film.
2. Don't Say a Word
Michael Douglas stars as a psychiatrist extorted into revealing a patient's secret. Sean Bean is in it... and guess how the movie ends for him? Not well, my friends, not well. It's professionally made but it seems to be missing something.
Sad Fact: This movie hit theaters right after 9/11. Shots of the World Trade Center were removed from it just before its release.
3. Joy Ride
Paul Walker and Steve Zahn prank call the wrong guy on a CB radio. The weird thing about this movie is that it feels like it's about to end halfway through. Then, for whatever reason, they continue their drive without notifying the police, and of course the crazy truck driver shows up again.
4. The Score
It's interesting to see director Frank Oz attempt something darker, but this movie really falls apart toward the end. It was Marlon Brando's last film, and seeing Brando (the elder Corleone) and De Niro (the younger Corleone) onscreen together is cool. Edward Norton pulls up the rear as a newcomer with an idea for a new heist.
The Score gets bogged down in its own details. The first half hour is solid, but then you start to wonder why we need to know that much about the access codes, and why so many shots of De Niro's character mapping the sewer system were necessary. This, and the way De Niro tricks Norton's character at the end is just stupid. Why wouldn't he have checked the bag? Why would he have thought De Niro was so easy to outsmart?
To make matters even worse, that's the shittiest happy ending ever. At some point a person as smart as Norton's character is going to find De Niro and exact revenge, or he's going to get caught and tell everyone that De Niro has the scepter. And where's Marlon Brando in that ending? Are we supposed to assume that he got his money, too?
5. Manic
This movie needed more Don Cheadle. Joseph Gordon Levitt is good in this look at life in a juvenile detention facility, but yeah, more Don Cheadle would have helped. Definitely worth watching, but given that Scum explored similar subject matter with more depth I'd describe this movie as simply "Good" rather than "Excellent."
Fun Fact: That argument about superheroes is amusing in retrospect. Three of the people engaged in it would go on to play superhero sidekicks later on. Don Cheadle would play War Machine in Iron Man 2, Joseph Gordon Levitt would play Robin in The Dark Knight Rises and Elden Henson would play Foggy Nelson in Netflix's Daredevil.
Pretentious Enough for Ya?
1. Waking Life
A young guy walks around listening to various people lecture on the nature of the self, human experience and perception. Oh, and there's a lot of stuff about dreams. I was not at all surprised to learn that Richard Linklater directed it.
And no, I'm not trying to dismiss Waking Life. It's worth seeing. I loved the soundtrack, and it scores serious points for referencing Philip K. Dick's V.A.L.I.S. trilogy. Linklater would go on to direct the film adaptation of A Scanner Darkly five years later, and his affinity for PKD-style paranoia is also evident in this movie.
2. Mulholland Drive
Hey, it's Laura Herring, last seen in 1990's The Forbidden Dance!
Besides her, Naomi Watts is in this one starring as... an aspiring actress? A jilted lover? A figment of someone's imagination? I figment of her own imagination? David Lynch directed, so you can probably guess how deliberately stupefying it all is.
At least it's not long. That's something, right?
Some Bad Ones
1. Thir13en Ghosts
All that money spent on makeup and other effects, only to squander it on an uninteresting story populated by uninteresting characters. Tony Shalhoub stars as a father of two inheriting a haunted house, with Matthew "Scooby-Doo" Lillard as a psychic.
2. Original Sin
I'd like to find the director of this film and tell him to go fuck himself. What a nonsensical two hours. I get why Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas purchased a ticket for this train wreck, but damn, this movie is full of the most anachronistic behavior ever captured on film. Would people at that time have done half those things? Made those kinds of choices? Hell no.
Depressing Fact: Original Sin is a remake of the Francois Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid. I'm sure the original of this Original Sin is much better.
3. Spy Game
Yawn. Robert Redford making phone calls. Robert Redford sending faxes. Even with Tony Scott directing it's not exactly a thrill ride. This might have been a good movie if they'd focused on Brad Pitt's character instead of Redford's - there's a moral ambiguity to his character's story that's more compelling. - but as it is the framing narrative adds nothing to the movie.
Fun Fact: Brad Pitt passed on The Bourne Identity to do this film. Good news for Matt Damon?
4. The One
Evil, multiverse-hopping Jet Li versus non-evil, non-multiverse hopping Jet Li. It's silly fun in the beginning, but by the end it makes almost no sense. Hong Kong director James Wong would go on to direct Dragonball: Evolution, so you know what you're in for here.
5. Evolution
When you think about it this Ivan Reitman-directed comedy isn't all that different from Ghostbusters. Bumbling scientists in an out-of-the-way college stumble on a new scientific phenomena, tests are conducted, the government intervenes, and bumbling scientists are called in to set things right. It's just that Evolution, unlike Ghostbusters, just isn't funny. David Duchovny and Orlando Jones do their best with the script, but even so most of the jokes fail to land.
6. Enemy at the Gates
Jude Law and Ed Harris star as two snipers hunting each other through the ruins of Stalingrad. This movie reminds you how much better genuinely Russian or German movies on similar subject matter are. And even if Stalingrad and Come and See didn't exist, there's also movies like Saving Private Ryan, which do a much better job of framing a large conflict in human terms.
So Bad It's Not Bad
1. Devil's Prey
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with murderous Satanists standing in for murderous rednecks. And let me tell you that nothing - and I mean nothing - demonstrates your commitment to the craft of acting like mouthing some of the lines in this movie. "We're going to have a fucking great time or a great time fucking!" And this isn't to imply that anyone in this movie a great actor or actress - they're atrocious - but I admire their commitment nonetheless.
"Die in hell, motherfuckers!!" Wouldn't that be a desirable outcome for Satanists?
Not Sure What's Going On Here, Not Sure If I Care
1. Swordfish
Studio Executive: "Hey, this script is terrible. How can we keep people from noticing?"
Yes Man: "Uh, how about casting John Travolta as the bad guy? And rising star Hugh Jackman as the hero? And we'll have Halle Berry running around half naked for most of the movie? Oh, and don't forget explosions! We'll have a lot of those!"
Studio Executive: "Works for me."
...and to add insult to injury, this movie has the audacity to compare itself to Dog Day Afternoon, and to then to imply that it's somehow better for having a morally ambiguous conclusion. No, John Travolta. I don't think so.
Fun Fact: Both Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry appeared in this movie between X-Men and X2. Berry would win the Oscar for Best Actress the same year for Monster's Ball.
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