Best Films of 2001- A Very Good Year

We are continuing our look at the best films which are celebrating milestone anniversaries this year, with a look at the films we consider to be the ten best of 2001.

This was an amazing year for film as there were many acclaimed films from either established directors, such as "Mullholland Drive" (dir. David Lynch) or up and coming filmmaking stars of international cinema, such as "The Piano Teacher" (France. dir-Michael Haneke) and "Fat Girl" (France dir-Catherine Brelliat).

Along with these three titles the following titles were considered, but did not make our list, including "Amelie," "Black Hawk Down," "A Beatiful Mind," "Y Tu Mama Tambien?," "Frality" and "Waking Life," from one of my favorite directors Richard Linklater.

So, here is our list:

1. A.I. (Steven Spielberg)

2. In the Bedroom (Todd Field)

3. Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)

4. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)

5. Storytelling (Todd Solodnz)

6. Spirited Away (Japan. Hayao Miyazaki)

7. Ali (Michael Mann)

8. Monster's Ball (Marc Foster)

9. No Man's Land (Bosnia. Danis Tanovic)

10. The Believer (Henry Bean)

Things We Learned on Twitter Today: Michele Bachmann Headline-Maker

I've been a fan of Suzy Khimm, a great liberal reporter, since she wrote an excellent profile of Virginia's crazed right-wing maniac attorney Ken Cuccinelli, who looks like a grown-up Pinocchio doll, in the December 2010 issue of "Mother Jones."

This afternoon, Khimm tweeted the following:

"Daily Beast's most popular articles today: 1) Is Michele Bachmann submissive? 2)Queen of the Cougars."

We didn't want to put a photo of Bachmann up, since she does look like a professional female wrestler. And, ironically, her state of Minnesota elected a pro wrestler, Jesse Ventura, for governor.

(These headlines are in reference to Bachmann's 'performance' during the Republican debate in Ames, Iowa, last night. I didn't watch, but I gather her heated exchanges with Tim Pawlenty were very amusing. Pawlenty took over after Ventrua's term expired as governor of Minnesota.)

So, instead, we went with this image of a gorgreous Wyoming chainsaw cougar. We tried to find a cougar from Colorado, but I guess we will have to find one somewhere on the net some other time.

And, we thought that since Bachmann apparently wants to turn back the clock on social progress, we'd include an image of a Tupperware party. Perhaps, if elected president (of course, that will mean many of us on the center-left will get one-way plane tickets from Expedia to Costa Rica), she will also segregate schools again.

SIDEBAR: I saw a bumper sticker in Roanoke, Va., which I'm surprised even an ardent Republican would put on his or her vehicle: it is an image of George W. Bush with the line- "Do You Miss Me Yet?," well let me just give you the short answer, NO!

Quote of the Day- Henrik Ibsen

Today's quote of the day comes from the great, classic Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. A production of his famous play "A Doll House" will be performed by L.A. Theatre Works from Sept. 22-25 on the UCLA campus with Calista Flockhart (from tv's "Ally Macbeal) and JoBeth Williams in the cast.

Here is his quip:

"A minority may be a right, but a majority is always wrong."

SIDEBAR: Wow, as a former journalist, the rapid decline of the print medium is quite a chilling and depressing one. The Raleigh, NC, alt weekly "Independent Weekly" reported that Durham, NC's daily newspaper "The Herald-Sun" laid off seven newsroom employees, a third of the paper's staff, which also leaves fewer than 20 people in the editorial department.

The paper which was drawn into the Duke University lacrosse scandal in 2006 (acording to Wikipedia) has seen its circulation dwindle from 50,000 to 25,000 (according to "Indy Weekly"). Additionally Wikipedia disclosed that "The Herald-Sun" laid off 81 employees during its first round of lay-offs in 2005. All the staff that was laid off in Durham, NC, as well as reporters from around the country who have lost their jobs due to these seismic changes in the industry have my deepest sympathies.

Last Ten Films I've Seen- Che Guevara and a Donkey

Here are the last ten films I've seen (actually as of Monday at 6:00 p.m.). Most of these are new films, and I saw six of the films in theatres.

"Submarine" opens at the delightful a/perature Cinema in Winston-Salem, NC, on
Aug. 12 (wow! That would be tomorrow). "Buck" opens at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., on Aug. 26.

Even though the IMDB counts "Che," the four and a half hour epic film about the Argentinian revolutionary figure Che Guevara, as two films, I count it as one here. I have read the 800-page plus biographer by Jon Lee Anderson, who was an advisor to the film, about irregardless of how one feels about Che's politics or his brutal violence, the story is quite a telling one.

The first part of "Che" deals with his succesful venture into Cuba which lead to the leadership of Fidel Castro. The second part focuses on Che's failed mission that lead to his own execution in Bolivia.

It is interesting that one of the films on this list focuses on guerillas, and the one ("Rise of the Planet of the Apes") examines gorillas!

John Cazale was a great character actor who died way too young at age 49. He is the subject of Richard Shepard's documentary which gives fairly good insight into the life of an actor who appeared in "The Godfater" films, "The Conversation," "Dog Day Afternoon" (pictured here with Al Pacino) and "The Deer Hunter."

Here is the list of films:

1. "Buck" (doc. 2011. Dir- Cindy Meehl) ***1/2 stars (out of ****)

2. "Submarine" (UK. 2010 Dir-Richard Ayoade) ***1/2

3. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011. Dir-Rupert Wyatt) ***

4. "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (doc. 2010. Dir-Alex Gibney) ***

5. "Che" (Parts One and Two) (USA/Spain/France. In Spanish. 2008. Dir- Steven Soderbergh) ***

6. "Jackasss the Movie" (2002. Dir-Jeff Tremaine) *

7. "Horrible Bosses" (2011. Dir- Seth Gordon) **

8. "Crazy, Stupid, Love" (2011. Dirs. Glen Ficarra and John Requa) **1/2

9. "The Hangerover 2" (2011. Dir- Todd Phillips) **1/2

10. "I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale" (doc. 2009. Dir-Richard Shepard)

PS- The donkey, which was a reference to the awful "Jackass The Movie" is from Turkey.

SIDEBAR: I jokingly said that tonight's Republican Party Debate from Ames, Iowa, which is going on as off this writing, would be broadcast on Comedy Central while I updating my Facebook status. Amazingly enough, or perhaps not, a Republican friend of mine agreed with me. Comedy Central is/was actually broadcasting three consecutive reruns of "Futurama" against the Republican debate.

Program Reminder- Antiques Roadshow

Though I listen to NPR so much that Scott Simon should perhaps invite me over to breakfast at his neighborhood I-HOP or that I should win a free trip to St.Paul, Minn., to meet Garrison Keillor even though "A Prarie Home Companion" is one of the few shows I don't listen to, I neglect PBS.

I feel a bit guilty about that, so I that I would mention that "Antiques Roadshow" is on tonight at 8:00 p.m., eastern time. Perhaps, we can all find out how much a given Swiss cuckoo clock is worth.

According to what we gathered from the show's web site, tonight's episode will either be from Grand Rapids, Mich., or Louisville, Ky.

Quote of the Week- R.Crumb

One of our heroes R. Crumb, the creator of "Mr. Happy" and "Fritz the Cat," is heading down under to speak at Sydney Opera House in Australia on Aug. 21, which is a long, long way from here in Goldsboro, NC (I am actually in a different town in the Tarheel State, but all of us are experiencing near 100-degree heat!).

Here is his quote:

"When I come against the real world, I just vacillate."

In our last entry on our other blog, we mentioned Safe Haven for Cats in Raleigh, NC. The no-kill cat shelter has an ad in the current pet issue of "Independent Weekly" which can give a ten-dollar discount of spaying and neutering. The shelter's phone number is 919-872-1128_the picture of the tuxedo cat in the ad looks amazingly like our beloved family cat Godzilla (not his real name) who turned seven last week.

THE WHOOPS DEPT- this entry was meant for the other blog!

Quote of the Week- John Waters

We must profess that while we love John Waters, we are not sure what to make of his early films from the 1970s. Though I have yet to see his most-famous film "Pink Flamingos," which was made in that era, I've been told that I would probably enjoy watching "Midnight Express" again, more (I'm a Turkish-American).

While we were fully aware that he partnered with the late cult film actor Divine
(1945-1988), we were unaware that another deceased underground figure Cookie Mueller (1949-1989) also appeared in many Waters films, which have mostly been filmed in the director's native Baltimore. "Serial Mom" with Kathleen Turner is actually my personal favorite. Amazingly enough, a movie about a suburban mom who turns out to be a serial killer is also among the most mainstream films Waters has ever made!

Here is our quote, which we truly agree with in every way, if it were only realistically possible:

"True success is figuring out your life and career so you never have to be around jerks."