December 7, 2003

The lists. 2003. 12/7.

newsweek.jpg American Splendor tops Newsweek's top ten list. Brief annotations. Numbers 9 and 10 are the mild but pleasant surprises: Stephen Frears's Dirty Pretty Things and Denys Arcand's The Barbarian Invasions. Another pleasant surprise: a second list, "Top 5 Docs," topped by Bus 174.

While we're poking around in Newsweek, we might as well note:

  • David Ansen writes on Cold Mountain, The Last Samurai, The Return of the King and the defining image of the holiday season at the movies, "the grave, grandiose spectacle of troops rushing into battle... What the makers of these three martially minded holiday epics couldn't have foreseen was that their images of war and destruction would be fraught with a daily-headline resonance."
  • Ansen also reviews In America, and briefly, Big Fish.
  • Cathleen McGuigan, almost as briefly, profiles Albert Finney.
  • And it's Ansen again, this time on Something's Gotta Give.

    • Speaking of which, while we're on a roll here, Jack Nicholson got the newsweekly profile treatment in Time last week by Lev Grossman while Richard Schickel took a look at the recent spate of movies revealing "old movie pals nakedly enjoying elder sex. The theory is swell, even inviting to those of us not yet confined to our chimney corners. But alas, the films in question are smirky and joyless."



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    Posted by dwhudson at December 7, 2003 11:08 AM

    Comments

    A valid point from Schickel, particularly in light of the Paris Hilton video. The relationship between sexuality and images is evolving, bursting past the Puritanical trappings. Which leads me to believe that John Waters' prediction that we'll see penetration in Hollywood films isn't too far off. Although this may be at the expense of frank sexual discussion. (Amazing to believe that there was a time in which Carnal Knowledge or even The Seven Year Itch were considered risque.)

    Posted by: Ed at December 7, 2003 3:01 PM