Linda's Best of 2002

My Faves of the Year:

Far From Heaven - Simply gorgeous, with a heartbreaking performance by Julianne Moore
Blue Gate Crossing - A film fest gem about teenage friendship and love
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - The adventure continues...
About a Boy - Funny, real, and surprisingly touching
Frailty - Made me gnaw my paw off in anxiety
Spirited Away - Charming and lovely animation from master Hayao Miyazaki
La Cienaga - Oh, the humanity!
The Hours - Probably the most emotionally draining of the year
Happiness of the Katakuris - Simply put, it made me laugh my ass off
Kissing Jessica Stein - A romantic comedy so funny I snorted... several times!
Y Tu Mamá También (And Your Mother Too) - The sexiest movie of the year is too much fun to leave off my list

An exquisite and moving tribute to 1950s melodramas, Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven gets Linda's vote for best movie of 2002.

Worst romantic dialogue:

From Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones...

Anakin Skywalker: I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth. [starts fingering Padme's arm]

Best romantic dialogue:

From Punch-Drunk Love...

Barry Egan: You are so beautiful. I love you so much I want to smash your face in with a sledgehammer.
Lena Leonard: I love you so much I want to rip out your eyeballs and suck on them and then punch you in the nuts.

Best argument for CGI animation:

Gollum from LOTR: The Two Towers. Every time Gollum was on screen, I wanted to burst into tears; he was so loathsome and pathetic and pitiful. He was three-dimensional in more ways than one, and totally stole the movie.

Worst argument for CGI animation:

Dobby from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Why must CGI characters refer to themselves in the 3rd person (see also Jar-Jar Binks)? The detail was so painstaking, that Dobby just looked fake. Plus I wanted to give him a good swift kick, sending him flying across Harry's bedroom, and hopefully splatting against the wall that he kept banging his head against.

My new favorite acting family:

Funny, smart, and sexy siblings Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Guilty pleasures:

Blue Crush
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Crossroads (ahem)

Hobbit? Or popular singer featured in the closing ceremony of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics? Discuss.

Best movie that is trapped in distribution limbo:

The Safety of Objects

Best movie featuring a naked man running for miles across Arctic ice floes:

The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat)

Most fun film event:

The packed-to-the-rafters screening of BBC2's saucy and fun Tipping the Velvet at the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Let's just say that the few boys in the audience crossed their legs for the long evening, as both restrooms at the swank Cinerama were overtaken by boisterous and lively women.

Let's just call them Mr. and Ms. Hottie McHotterson:

Marton Csokas in Rain
Monica Bellucci in Brotherhood of the Wolf

Best use of a song in a film:

Caetano Veloso singing "Cucurrucucú Paloma" in Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her (Hable con ella). The characters watching him sing in the film were rapt in silence, as was the entire audience in the movie theater.

Best soundtrack, but in an unfortunately disappointing movie:

24 Hour Party People

Made me re-evaluate going anywhere alone ever again:

From Frailty: "Dad told us that there were moments in everyone's life where they could just suddenly disappear without anyone knowing where they went or why. He said those were the moments when God's Hands could reach out and take you. According to Dad, nothing, not even a camera, could catch us. We were invisible when we were God's Hands."
- said by young Fenton, before he and his little brother help their dad (Bill Paxton) snatch their latest victim in broad daylight in a busy store parking lot.

I just know I'm going to end up renting it as soon as possible... the curiosity is killing me:

The Country Bears

Movie I'm most salivating over for 2003:

Hero, a historical action epic directed by Zhang Yimou, starring Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, and Zhang Ziyi. I haven't been this excited since In the Mood for Love!

More Moviepie Best of 2002 Lists:

Eric | Frankie | Linda| Tim | Vickie

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