("*"=theaters; "/ /"=repeat)

1. /Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)/* - A- [I am fully aware that it is a masterpiece, but feel sadly unable to engage with the emotional threads of the story, which I am way-too-used-to after 3 viewings this summer. Cool to see such amazing images on the big screen though.]

2. Thieves Like Us (Robert Altman, 1974) - B+ [Thoroughly brilliant (loved to see Altman's dispassionate contrast with Bonnie & Clyde, for example), but, while it is a reflexive, wounding piece of work, it is inescapably familiar, and it didn't grab me to the extent that Road to Perdition did in the territory of applying a new emotional texture to a worn genre. But I really do feel like I have to see it again, so whateva man.]

3. A Wedding (Robert Altman, 1978) - B- [Cohesive enough, sure, and there are some wonderfully discomforting moments, but most of those moments feel derived from misanthropy bordering on desperation.]

Brewster McCloud (Robert Altman, 1970) - C- [Never comes together; sort of like a film Werner Herzog would make were Herzog about 14 years old. Basically a spectacularly misguided film with a few amusing moments.]

4. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) - A+ [As if I could sum up its remarkable power in a sentence or two. By now I'm convinced that Wilder used black and white every bit as expressively as any other American filmmaker, from Griffith to Chaplin to frickin' Welles.]

5. All I Desire (Douglas Sirk, 1953) - B [A brilliant deconstruction of the way women were controlled and moved like chess pieces, and in a sense, still are. I only wish gender politics were a little more lyrical in and of themselves.]

8. Battle Hymn (Douglas Sirk, 1957) - B- [Somehow, it's a movie with disturbing racial cliches that becomes an allegory about American egocentrism; at it's best, it's truly haunting, but it's got too much dead space, and the contrast between its message and surface makes it something beyond difficult. I'd like to see it again though.]

The Tarnished Angels (Douglas Sirk, 1958) - A- [Kind of interesting to see what appears to be Sirk's most emotionally raw picture after his most (necessarily) fake one. Hudson and Stack here are even more gripping than they were in Written on the Wind, even if WOTW is the better film overall. The flight sequences are friggin' SPECTACULAR. REPEAT: SPECTACULAR.]

9. Orchestra Rehearsal (Federico Fellini, 1978) - C [Too fussy to be sufficiently chaotic for the political metaphor at hand.]

Femme Fatale (Brian De Palma, 2002)* - A- [That whole Napoleon striptease thing is close to being the best scene of the year in a movie of self-justifying genius (also loved the way everything was wrapped up). Could be a masterpiece with repeat viewings... what are all those goddamn bad reviews about?]

Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967) - A+ [Woah...]

Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954) - A+ [Starting to sound a bit like Keanu tonight, aren't I? The most important thing in life is showing up... Seriously though, I mean, now I finally understand why deep psychological insight is so important in the realm of westerns, as there is so much love and loyalty saturated within JG, only to be governed by the laws of fate, i.e. Foolish Vulnerability.]

10. The Grey Zone (Tim Blake Nelson, 2001)* - A- [Not exactly Schindler's List, but never means to be. Such a morally absurd atmosphere develops here that if the holocaust never happened and Bunuel made this we'd be talking about black comedy. The most transcendent scenes, surprisingly, are the ones that take place near the end; those that go beyond mere torment. You'll probably get what I'm talking about.]

Frida (Julie Taymor, 2002)* - C+ [A technically dazzling exercise in superficial myth worship. Could be a sitcom if it weren't so damn well staged by Taymor, who deserves an awful lot of credit.]

8 Mile (Curtis Hanson, 2002)* - B [Okay, so some of the writing is subpar, some of the acting is too, and some of it drags, and some of it is ideologically (no pun intended) shady. So fucking what? Hanson is such a skilled director at evoking the emotional atmosphere of a community and he is 8 Mile's greatest strength, giving it the emotional immediacy it needs to make its fierce cry of redirected youthful rage so invigorating.]

11. The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder, 1945) - B [Kind of interesting to have this right after 8 Mile, because like that film, it's a genre piece (in this case, the alcoholism noir) that carries itself purely out of directorial bravado and modern (or, em, 1945) relevance. However, while 8 Mile was scattered, challenging, and occasionally just plain wrong, The Lost Weekend is technically spotless but thoroughly unidirectional. 8 Mile is better.]

13. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) - A [Had somewhat less trouble engaging with it after I read an essay clarifying that attitude and the living conditions surrounding that attitude are what is most important to reflect on philosophically in an Ozu picture. Indeed, few films have had me staring as intently at the expressions of the many characters in TS (the performances are remarkable). These attitudes are simple yet established with unparalleled insight. By the end, I was just plain savoring the poetry of the images and the bonds and barriers of age and knowledge Ozu seems to know like a God.]

15. /Gerry (Gus Van Sant, 2003)/* - A [You know when you see a movie a second time, and it doesn't affect you that much, 'cause you knew everything that was gonna happen beforehand? Well, this wasn't one of those.]

17. Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973) - B [One of the most blatantly masturbatory movies I've seen (8 1/2 is too, but, ya know, in the good sense). Still entertaining enough to recommend though.]

/Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)/* - B [Just plain didn't hold up. Couldn't connect to it this time other than as an intellectual exercise, even if it is a pretty good intellectual exercise.]

Roger Dodger (Dylan Kidd, 2002)* - B [Pretty damn sharp, especially compared with how contrived something like Igby Goes Down felt. I liked Campbell Scott as Hamlet and the Mamet fool but here he's just great, adding real soul to a role that could have just as easily come off as one note. Cinematography is atmospheric, to say the least.]

18. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986) - A [Kicks mighty ass, even if it doesn't quite equal Mulholland Drive, which is more free to express itself without the confines of a narrative in my opinion.]

19. Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971) - A- [For a while I was worried that this was just some weird-ass contemplative drag racing movie, but it evolved into a brilliant examination of self-definition: everyone in the film is pure lifestyle and feels empty when that lifestyle is given little gratification. The girl is the obvious metaphor for the dream they're all aspiring for, and the ending was a little contrived, but the film's still ingenious in its use of genre to illustrate the American conflict between futility and fakeness of individuality.]

20. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Chris Columbus, 2002)* - B- [A disappointment, especially considering how much I liked the first. There's fun stuff here (NOT RUPERT GRINT, THOUGH) but the pace is too deliberate and the sense of discovery not quite high enough.]

Stalag 17 (Billy Wilder, 1953) - B+ [Gets bogged down in cynicism somewhere in the third act, but it's Wilder, which means it's really entertaining anyway, and if it isn't politically relevant, at least it sort of has the illusion of being so.]

23. Interview with the Assassin (Neil Burger, 2002)* - B+ [More than just a little clever "is he faking it" mockumentary; a potent examination of modern offhand voyeurism, first and foremost. Always engaging and sometimes just plain stunning, and attribute the latter to Raymond Barry's genuinely anguished performance and the surprisingly articulate video work.]

'R Xmas (Abel Ferrara, 2001) - B [Oft so hazily understated and redundant that it becomes a little unengaging, but, for the most part, it glows with a warm, lyrical humanity that's all too rare in modern filmmaking.]

24. Celine & Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette, 1974) - A- [A great, dream-like journey, no doubt, but it gave me a headache.]

Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938) - A [Sure, it's silly and the plot makes no sense, but Hawks is kinda like Wilder meets Renoir - imbuing piling idiosyncrasies and constant cynical irony with real purpose and poetry. Not quite as funny as His Girl Friday, but it's still a sight to behold.]

A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956) - A [Not as deeply numbing as Au Hasard Balthazar, which should be attributed to the fact that everyone has a first Bresson experience. Powerful, especially considering the ending seems like it should be inconsquential [hint: the movie is... self-explanatory].

Die Another Day (Lee Tamahori, 2002)* - B- [Consistently fun (some of the setpieces [i.e. those funky lasers] and one-liners are classics) for a movie with the narrative weight of a video game.]

27. The Quiet American (Philip Noyce, 2002)* - B [What it surprisingly lacks in liveliness it just manages to squeeze by and compensate for with the typically moody Doyle photography, typically adequately naive Fraser, and typically great Caine. And the girl who plays his lover is very good too, or at least exceedingly photogenic.]

28. Solaris (Steven Soderbergh, 2002)* - A- [Tarkovsky may have been the better poet, but Soderbergh is the better musician.]

29. Rabbit-Proof Fence (Philip Noyce, 2002)* - B- [Kind of like The Fast Runner meets Gerry, and considering how spectacularly gripping those two films made their elemental material, this one certainly pales in comparison.]

Talk to Her (Pedro Almodovar, 2002)* - A [Holy shit this is amazing. Can't even quite get across how deeply I connected to its sense of separation and psychological contrast. The finale with the dancers practically made me cry.]

30. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies, 1988) - A+ [So personal and impressionistic in its beauty, I think it etched its own special place into my heart. This is as good as it gets -- filmmaking that allows you to breathe and makes you want to do more.]