Beltmann

Yes! Wow, I'd forgotten that movie--but it was a terrific little story. I'll also second the kind words for Spanish Prisoner and Secret Lives of Dentists. (I really, really liked aspects of both Roger Dodger and Off the Map, but neither strikes me as a great whole.)

I agree that the Democrats' plan does not do enough to control costs, but tort reform is no answer. While I'm not opposed to tort reform--if we can find savings there without undermining patients' rights, let's do it--it is wrong for Republicans to focus on that as a silver bullet. Consider this: “It’s really just a distraction,” said Tom Baker, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and author of “The Medical Malpractice Myth.” “If you were to eliminate medical malpractice liability, even forgetting the negative consequences that would have for safety, accountability, and

I understand this point, but what it suggests is that the current model is unsustainable--which is why real reform is so desperately needed. The rising costs of health care are stifling small businesses across the country. Reform is an economic need at least as much as a medical one.

Losing the digital files is a major concern. I am now rather vigilant about using DVDRs to back up the files, which are also stored on an external hard drive. I need to know they are stored safely where a computer meltdown will not eat them up. I've been vigilant ever since my computer crashed two years ago; fortunatately I didn't permanently lose very much because most had either been backed up, or ripped from physical CDs, or purchased via eMusic. It was time-consuming, but I was able to re-rip all the missing CDs, and re-download everything from eMusic. That's one major advantage of eM

All of those missed my list by thismuch. Nice call, especially, on Broken Wings. That movie really got to me. Glad to see you include Lukas Moodysson (I went with Lilja 4-ever, but what I really wanted to include was Fucking Amal [show Me Love], which I saw in 2000 but technically was released in the U.S. in '99). What happened to Moodysson? Six years ago I would have cited him as one of the most exciting filmmakers alive, but since then, not so much...

Thanks, Dude, for sharing those memories. I enjoyed reading that.

It's also the bible of many school administrators--it's one of the latest shiny, trendy things to worship and mine for half-assed initiatives.

Huh. Some of my favorite books are listed in here: Great Expectations, A Separate Peace, Beloved... I can't say I "hated" Moby-Dick--its artistic merits strike me as self-evident--but I never warmed to it. That was tough to get through. I suppose it's a great book written for other people. I liked pretty much everything I was assigned in high school or college, to one degree or another. But I do remember one that I hated: Middlemarch. It's the only book in school I never actually finished. Couldn't take it.

Seconded.

Traffic just missed my list--it would have been number 6 on my 2000 list. I went with Requiem for a Dream instead. At the time, I preferred Traffic, but Requiem has held up better, I think.

Same here. Wilco was on my radar before YHF, but it was that album that made me a Wilco geek. It has been in regular rotation ever since I bought it. It's one of those rare records that simply never wears out for me. I am always hoping that the next Wilco record will be like YHF--not in the sense that I want them to revive that particular sound, but in the sense that whatever new sound they try I will love it as profoundly as I love YHF.

That's a good post, and it articulates how I felt about Max, too. Naysayers might reply that this particular arc is not portrayed with enough concrete dramatic signposts, and so therefore remains a vague and lazy arc. I'd say that what Jonze does is the opposite of lazy: Instead of relying on well-worn dramatic conventions--the easy route--he instead telegraphs this emotional and psychological arc through a wealth of minor, subtle, acute observations that accumulate into something large and coherent. He makes it hard on himself but pulls it off--which is partially why I found it so powerful

Here's a preliminary list, based mostly on whim. Allowed myself 5 feature titles per year, which wasn't perfect--some years, it was hard to narrow it down, while other years it was hard to find five worthy candidates. I also threw in one short film per year, mainly for sport. Alphabetically: 2000 Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Streets / Nabil Ayouch / Morocco The Circle / Jafar Panahi / Iran The Day I Became a Woman / Marziah Meshkini / Iran The Gleaners and I / Agnes Varda / France Requiem for a Dream / Darren Aronofsky / USA Short film: The Heart of the World / Guy Maddin / Canada 2001

Ouch, man. I do that all the time. Can't help it.

That's one of the things I most loved about The Aviator, too. It's really one of Scorsese's most under-appreciated movies. Strangely, my experience with The Departed was the opposite of yours. I liked it upon first viewing, but felt it was minor Scorsese. But when I watched it again on DVD, and was free to pay attention to things separate from story (since I already knew the plot), my appreciation only grew. It might not be Taxi Driver, but it's a damn good Scorsese movie. (I don't know what effect this had on my experience, but I had seen the original source film Infernal Affairs sever

Thanks for the kind words! I'm just a high school English teacher. My primary area is American Literature for honors sophomores, but I also handle the journalism class. Sometimes I teach Ancient and Modern Mythology and sometimes a course called Humanities (which is the study of modern painting, music, and film from a humanistic standpoint). Next semester I will teach a brand-new course that I proposed called Film as Social Criticism. Feel free to audit the class. Some of the complaints about WTWTA remind me of how the Impressionists were initially received: Their work was widely crit

No, I'm not missing that. (I mean, come on: Do you really think I don't recognize the value of character development and sturdy narrative?) What you're missing is that I'm rejecting your premise as too narrow. Certainly your premise applies to movies that choose to emphasize traditional narrative (nearly all mainstream movies, I'd say), but my argument is that there is no such thing as a standardized, one-size-fits-all rubric when it comes to judging art, and that it's unfair to apply such a rubric to movies when it doesn't really apply. For example, if I used your rubric to judge, say, St

The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love. It's growing on me fast.

Saw this last night, and my first impression is that A Serious Man is one of their stronger works, but I want to think about it some more. I enjoyed it immensely, but it remains slightly enigmatic. I saw the movie with a friend, and afterwards we had a good discussion about the act-of-God ending, but the more fruitful conversation revolved around this question: The movie is clearly about Larry, but why is his son emphasized in a way that his daughter is not? And why is Uncle Arthur emphasized in a way that the wife, Judith, is not? [MINOR SPOILER ALER] I pointed out that the opening seque

I also enjoyed Up a great deal; I really didn't mean to denigrate it above. The opening sequence is one of the greatest sequences of the year, but after that the movie settles into the by-now familiar Pixar mode--which means that it's masterful, but masterful in expected ways. I suppose that's one reason why I preferred WTWTA: Jonze's movie feels equally brilliant, but for trickier, more singular reasons.

Handshake Drugs, probably. Poor Places -> Spiders I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Via Chicago Misunderstood Typical choices, all. One I've never heard live (I don't think), but would love to hear: "We're Just Friends."

It's true that Max doesn't experience an epiphany at any point. I suppose my only response is, Thank God for that. As Max was running home, I consciously envisioned what I wanted to happen next, and was astonished when Jonze's images matched up nearly perfectly with my hopes for the final moments. In other words, what you disliked about the movie is precisely what I most cherished about it. Instead of leading to some kind of hard-won yet conventional "lesson," Jonze has a different goal in mind. He instead strings together small observations, minor psychological turns, and the beginnings

Even if that well-known book is beloved precisely for being unconventional? I'd say Jonze's first responsibility is to stay true to the spirit of the book--and I would argue that he does, brilliantly--not cater to the expectations of viewers who just want another Ice Age. Don't we have enough Ice Ages and Shreks and Madagascars? Why isn't there room for a children's movie that tries to do something unique and special, even if that means a more limited audience? I resist with every fiber of my movie-loving soul the notion that "conventional expectations" ought to be the driving standard by

I would argue that the creatures do help tell a story, just one that works differently from standard-issue plot mechanics. The creatures are integral to the story of Max's psychological arc, which is tangible and readily understandable. And I think criticizing the movie for choosing to emphasize psychological turmoil rather than conventional plotting is rather like trying to shove the movie into a box where it doesn't belong. I recognize that Jonze's approach might turn off some viewers, especially those looking for the bright highs of, say, Pixar. But for me, his approach is what makes t

Nice call! I love, love Matilda. I actually saw that twice in the theater, and that was before I had any kids.