Tuesday, January 31, 2017

10 Off My Head: Siri Says 2001

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Hey guys, remember 2001? What a boring year, am I right? Nothing happened in 2001 that we're still shuddering through the after-pains of at all. Nothing that shook the very foundation of our democracy and planted fear and horror in the American heart, undermining our faith in our institutions and our leaders so deeply that a decade and a half later we've very nearly turned against all the values we once held dear, or anything. Nope, nothing like that. But some movies came out! And that's why we're here today. I asked my telephone to give me a number between 1 and 100 and the minx said "ONE!" this morning! Made me think of this, quite frankly...

... and that seems about right. Today's Mood, y'all! Anyway let's just go with it. At first glance The Movies of 2001 seemed kind of barren (it wasn't the best year for studio movies) but then I started looking at the low-budget and foreign films and shocker, it started getting good. So good in fact that I can't contain it to just five films like usual, I just can't. So instead here are...

My 10 Favorite Movies of 2001

(dir. David Lynch)
-- released on October 19th, 2001 --

(dir. Richard Kelly)
-- released on October 26th, 2001 -- 

(dir. Wes Anderson)
-- released on December 14th, 2001 --

(dir. Michael Haneke)
-- released on September 5th, 2001 -- 

(dir. Terry Zwigoff)
-- released on September 21st, 2001 -- 

(dir. Guillermo Del Toro)
-- released on April 20th, 2001 -- 

(dir. Baz Luhrmann)
-- released on June 1st, 2001 -- 

(dir. Alejandro Amenábar)
-- released on August 10th, 2001 --
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(dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
-- released on July 20th, 2001 -- 

(dir. John Cameron Mitchell)
-- released on 2001 -- 

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Runners-up:  Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (dir. Peter Jackson), Gosford Park (dir. Robert Altman), Memento (dir. Nolan), Amelie (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet), A.I: Artificial Intelligence (dir. Spielberg), Bubble Boy (dir. Blair Hayes), Jeepers Creepers (dir. Salva), Monsters Inc. (dir. Pete Docter)...

... Das Experiment (dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel), The Happiness of the Katakuris (dir. Takashi Miike), Kairo (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa), Lovely & Amazing (dir. Holofcener), Wet Hot American Summer (dir. Wain), Storytelling (dir. Solondz), Session 9 (dir. Brad Anderson)

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 What are your favorite movies of 2001?
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6 comments:

Pierce said...

Monsters, Inc. Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius and Shrek - good year for animation. Anyone for Purple Phlurp?
Donnie Darko - Strange but enjoyable movie
Amelie - sublime French film. One of my favorites
Royal Tenenbaums - The only movie I like Gwyneth Paltrow in
Bridget Jones’s Diary - A treasure to be seen again and again
Legally Blonde - A delightful movie
Gosford Park - Robert Altman. Enough said.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch - Better than the stage production I saw the same year.
Iris - Judy Dench looked like Iris Murdoch, and this is a great performance. I was thrilled Jim Broadbent won the Oscar!

Roark said...

My top 5 are

Mulholland Drive
The Man Who Wasn't There
The Fellowship of the Rings
What Time Is It There
The Royal Tenenbaums

I don't count Spirited Away as a 2001 film due to its 2002 US theatrical release.
If we're going by 2001 festival or international play, I would throw in that and Y Tu Mama Tambien

Jason Adams said...

Yeah I decided not to sweat release date stuff too much for this series -- if I use it for one year I'll just have to make sure when I get to the other year I don't use it again. There were a couple of these movies whose dates were all over the map.

Tom M said...

Wow, say what you will about Nicole Kidman (whom I usually enjoy) but seeing the one/two punch of "Moulin Rouge" and "The Others" reminded me why she is seen as a movie star despite years of wildly experimental choices. Man, that's two stone-cold, big screen classic movies and wildly divergent but amazing performances in a single year.

joel65913 said...

This is a thin year for me, I struggled for the minimum five.

Gosford Park
Ocean's 11
Legally Blonde
Memento
Lantana

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately the print of “The Others” I saw was projected improperly masked and so it became the story of Nicole Kidman and her family being terrified around an old house by roving gangs of boom mikes. Definitely odd.

- matthew davis