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Movie Reviews
by Lee Tistaert

2001 Reviews Archive

Film Title
 (click for full review)

Score

 Comments
John Q B I don't think I'd be far off if I were to predict some possibilities of yet another nomination in his name (Washington) next year.
Super Troopers B+ Hell of a fun time if you're searching for some good laughs on a Friday or Saturday night.
Storytelling B+ A showcase of Solondz's writing/directing skills, despite it being heavily controversial, as well as the acting.
Collateral Damage B- Lacks what made True Lies such a great treat. Collateral Damage is a somewhat cheesy yet mildly enjoyable film with decent twists. The film is more in the league of The 6th Day where there isn't a great deal of action, as the majority of the film surrounds the point of the story; revenge. The film lacks a significant comic relief element that allowed True Lies and Eraser to be great popcorn flicks. While it does have its share of chuckles here and there, the story takes over those areas, but its cheesy execution doesn't help.
The Mothman Prophecies B+ Lacks the intense after effect Blair Witch had on me for weeks after it opened, Mothman still deserves credit for attempting the road of psychological horror and passing the test. The film reminded me a bit of Joy Ride and always had me thinking about the events to come. While a solid achievement, Mothman doesn't live up to some of my favorite horror films as of recently; Session 9 and Blair Witch.
The Count of Monte Cristo B Pure entertainment. It makes up for what 2001's Musketeer lacked. Here, the actors are actually trying and pulling off solid performances, the direction and cinematography is noteworthy along with an overall enjoyable premise. A movie that has you leaving the theater happy.
Kung Pow!: Enter the Fist NG
(No Grade)		 I know the majority of you will shake your head in disapproval, but I haven't laughed this hard since Mystery Science Theater 3000. This movie can't be given a grade to because there's really nothing to critique besides its humor, which had me rolling down the aisle laughing constantly. Kung Pow plays like MST3000 and the filmmakers altered a bunch of elements to allow it to be stupid but downright hysterical. Being that I saw MST3000 on video, it's been a long time since I've laughed this hard in theaters. Go at your own risk, but if you liked MST3000 you should enjoy Kung Pow.
Amelie A Held me close to its story all the way through. Here's a film that is almost flawless; the acting, direction and screenplay is right on target allowing everything to sparkle.
Brotherhood of the Wolf B- This film carries some truly impressive moments but ruins the effect by forcing the viewer to endure it's unnecessarily long sitting time. It attempts to travel the road of Crouching Tiger... but fails with the lack of charm and the magical feeling one first got when seeing the Ang Lee flick on the big-screen. I give credit for the sometimes-awesome visionary look the director achieved with Brotherhood, but the movie was too much of a bore to get really involved in the story.
A Beautiful Mind A Ron Howard creates a thriller type of biography that rarely doesn't entertain in any scene with a spectacular performance by Russell Crowe. Packed with plenty of good one-liners and jokes to keep the laughs and giggles coming out of us, A Beautiful Mind is an excellent achievement coming from great talent.
Orange County A- The trailer pretty much promised me that I would have a fun time in the theater, but I myself did not expect to crack up hysterically at the consistent rate I was.
In the Bedroom A This movie is powerful and performed to perfection.
Black Hawk Down A Takes the audience front row into a nightmare world none of us would want to experience for ourselves. It's intense, well acted, well directed and definitely has some of those Bruckheimer touches you see in all his flicks.
The Shipping News B+ It's whether or not you find the characters' situations interesting or not that will drive your interest into wanting to know either what happens next or asking an usher the way to the exit out of boredom.
The Devil's Backbone B While it didn't meet my expectations, it ended up being a fairly good ghost story with one particular image from a particular scene that is likely to not to leave my memory for some time.
The Majestic B A nice little holiday movie. Despite being two and a half hours, the story had me engaged and the questions it prompts you with had me thinking. Add that in with two very good performances by Jim Carrey and Martin Landau and you've got a well done film. While nowhere near as good as the classic Shawshank Redemption (same director), Majestic's a good movie despite its trailer revealing way too much.
Lord of the Rings A It vibrates with magic and energy and strong performances among the leads, some very cool special effects, moments of perfectly evil tones, and an adventure that is worth your three hour sitting time.
The Royal Tenenbaums A Easily one of the best pictures of 2001. It's fun, it's funny but it also has a good story attached and top notch acting across the board. Hopefully this will not get over-looked come Golden Globe/Oscar time.
Not Another Teen Movie B It didn't exactly meet my expectations but I had an overall enjoyable time. The film's got a batch of really good jokes but a batch of jokes that flat out miss the mark as well. Some gags make you shudder with frustration out of its stupidity while others work like a charm.
Vanilla Sky B+ It's been said before but I've gotta say it: this is one of the strangest movies of the year. I admired the film for several reasons. For one, the chemistry between Cruise, Cruz and Diaz sparked, the story was a confusing puzzle worth trying to figure out and given that I'm a big Cameron Crowe fan I do have to give him credit for taking a risk, as this is obviously risky territory.
Ocean's 11 A Quite possibly the coolest movie I've seen all year and the most fun I've had at the movies this year.
Behind Enemy Lines B+ Behind Enemy Lines takes a little over ten minutes to start its engine and once it's running the action rarely stops. If that's your thing, then you should enjoy the flick.
Spy Game B+ I was always taken in by the different scenarios and enjoyed the fine acting jobs by both Redford and Pitt. Solid Saturday night entertainment.
Life as a House A I was always absorbed into the movie, interested in what the characters would do next and how the conflicts would be resolved.
Mulholland Drive A What I liked about Mulholland Drive is what I like about any Shyamalan thriller or anything related; it's ability to make you think and not just simply sit back, relax and enjoy.
Harry Potter A Pure magical. The acting is on par, the visual effects are good enough to please (some are a little too CGI), the magical essence on screen rubs off on the audience and the running time moves along at a very friendly pace for a two and a half hour flick. I have never read any of the Harry Potter books, but the film is bound to become a classic.
L.I.E. B+ It's one of those stories where you kind of shake your head in shame because you have this teenager who you can see has potential but is unfortunate enough that his mother is no longer with him (passed away), and the father he is left with barely pays any attention to him and yells at the son even when he is not acting as a proper father. For the most part I was taken in by the events that took place; most of the acting was good, it has its disturbing tones to it, wasn't superb material by any means and was no American Beauty or anything, but definitely worth an hour and forty five minutes in the theater if you're looking for an art-house film to catch.
Shallow Hal A- It's a slightly toned down version of what you'd typically expect from the Farrelly Brothers. Sure, it pokes fun at large people but it's got a heart behind it all and the Farrelly's mean well even when they are having fun with the material. It has its share of good laughs but also comes off sweet-natured as well. A very enjoyable comedy to catch with a packed crowd.
Heist B+ David Mamet is a man of twists and surprises in his line of work. And this movie works well because with every character being a thief and good at lying, you aren't sure who to trust and aren't positively sure of each person's actual intentions which allows it be very pleasurable to find out the outcomes to each scenario. Add that in with a good number of laughs, some very cool dialogue that you can't help but repeat walking out the door and you have one intelligent and entertaining heist flick.
Monsters, Inc. B+ It's no Shrek or Toy Story 2, but it supplies some laughs and an overall enjoyable time.
The One B It's no Kiss of the Dragon, but it's got its share of fun and cheer-able moments.
K-PAX A K-PAX is so thought provoking that if you leave the theater without discussing with anyone your views or opinions you most likely were watching the wrong movie.
From Hell A I loved it. It's dark, it's creepy, it's haunting, it's visually awesome, well acted, well directed, suspenseful and one hell of a view on one of life's biggest myths.
Bandits B+ It's downright fun. That's all it is. Watching Willis and Thornton together on screen is the most enjoyable duo I've seen since Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan sounded off in Rush Hour 2. While it's 5 - 10 min's longer than it should be, Bandits is pure entertainment.
Training Day B While I was fairly hyped to see this, it turned out to be a good movie-going experience but nothing special. Denzel gives a great performance which elevates the film, but other than that it didn't seem to carry any special ingredients that we haven't been offered before.
Hearts in Atlantis B+ While depressing on many levels, I found myself very engaged in the story. Anthony Hopkins seems as though he purposely toned down his performance to allow Anton Yelchin, the real star of this film to shine bright. While you may feel that more should be explained, Atlantis ends up being a very well made drama.
Joy Ride B+ Unlike Jeepers Creepers, which was a basic insult to the horror genre, Joy Ride accomplishes what it sets out to do: scare, bring up a few laughs and keep you on the edge of your seat for the majority of the time.
Don't Say a Word B- A pure cliché thriller. It's not necessarily a bad movie, it just has nothing new to offer to the thriller/suspense genre. I enjoyed myself, but it didn't require much from you like other great flicks in its league.
Zoolander A- Watching Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson as two rather dimwitted supermodels can definitely fulfill your night if you're in the mood for some stupid fun.
Hardball B A pure formula drama. It's your typical Mighty Ducks or Karate Kid movie. Walking in you pretty much know what's going to happen (how it ends, etc), you know some of the formula moments that may take place, but despite all the above it's done well and I think that's the only thing that matters. A film that pulls your heart strings.
The Musketeer D+ Like Tomb Raider, this is one of the few movies I've seen in theaters where I needed a soda and popcorn just to get some sort of distraction from the cheesiness and bad elements in making this film.
Jeepers Creepers C It really bugs me when when a film with such a great idea that could be done well starts with a bang and loses that effect nearly 40 minutes in.
Wet Hot American Summer B A toned down version of American Pie. It creates some big laughs and while not as sweet natured as Pie, it's more of a just plain fun comedy.
Curse of the Jade Scorpion B+ Regardless of how his trailers usually come off, Woody Allen just doesn't seem to ever fail. The one-liners are good, Allen's humor is pretty solid most of the time and it ends up being a satisfying time at the movies.
The Deep End B- A relatively well done thriller. I found its beginning segments hooking, but as the story advanced my care on the events dropped. But thanks to some strong performances, they were at least enough to elevate the flick from an "average" grade.
Ghost World A You really know when a film's done well when you want to keep watching the characters' lives for even more time. Watching Birch and Buscemi on-screen was very pleasurable to sit through, and with many laughs and an intelligent premise you just can't get enough. Definitely one of the best films of 2001.
Jay & Silent Bob A- A movie for the true Kevin Smith fans. But if you're not in the group, don't worry, because if you found South Park to be a crude but funny adventure you are likely to enjoy this as well.