Traffic (2000)

4/5

Steven Soderbergh's Traffic weaves an intricate, spellbinding tale that is nearly impossible to take your eyes off of for its entire 2.5 hour running time. The plotting is impeccable, keeping you engaged whether detailing the intricacies of drug consumption or the complex involvement of governments on drug trafficking. The stories, as penned by Stephen Gaghan, are eye-opening and richly-textured. We are thrust into a collection of environments so authentic that we cannot help but take the events that pass as reality. We become involved and complicit; we end up shaken and unclean. Every person has a little bit of good in them and a little bit of bad in them, making decisions equal parts wrong and equal parts right. There are heart-breaking scenes in here, made all the more powerful thanks to superb acting, that combine with profound and provocative ideas to bring home a very specific message: the war on drugs is a lost cause. The film ends on a solemn, haunting note, showing us characters continuing to fight a battle that will never end and will only take more lives. Everything feels so overwhelming, and we are all so helpless to effect change.

But despite my high praise, the movie also fails on a number of levels. Honestly, I hated the editing. The pacing was practically non-existent, with innumerable superfluous scenes cut together haphazardly. (Not that the movie was boring per se, just that there was about 30 minutes of extra footage meandering throughout its nonlinear storyline.) The editing was almost as bad as some of Soderbergh's directing decisions. Really? Blue, orange, and red? That's your big contribution to the story? I'm not saying it's not a well-directed movie from other standpoints, just that the colors were a bit too in-your-face for me. It was about as subtle as a sledgehammer. But Soderbergh still somehow manages to fill our minds and our hearts to their breaking point, giving us a timely and timeless story that is both absorbing and poignant. And also unforgettable.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181865/

The Family Man (2000)

4/5

The Family Man feels like a modern reworking of Capra's It's A Wonderful Life with a sprinkle of Dickens's A Christmas Carol. The story follows money-hungry CEO Jack Campbell (Cage) working on a multi-billion dollar merger on Christmas Eve. He has even set up an emergency meeting on Christmas Day that he expects all his employees to come in for. He unexpectedly gets a call from Kate (Leoni), an old girlfriend he was thinking about marrying before he left her at the airport for a competitive internship in London, but decides to refrain from calling her back. On his way back to his bachelor pad in an NYC high-rise, a mysterious man (Cheadle) offers him a glimpse of the life he could have led, as a family man in Jersey married to Kate with two kids.

There is nothing particularly spectacular about the technical aspects in this film. The cinematography and editing are competent enough to fade into the background and be forgotten. The acting, on the other hand, was something special. Simple performances for relatively simple characters, but full of genuine emotion. You can easily see the hurt and happiness on their faces. You sympathize with them (even if you're not a fan of Nicolas Cage). When you're watching this movie, you are completely enveloped in it. And there is nothing more you want than for them to be happy. It's far from a perfect movie. There are plenty of plot inconsistencies, unclear motivations, and ambiguous backstories, but they matter about as much as the lighting. The Family Man is about the Christmas season and the holiday spirit, and it is pleasantly delightful.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218967/

Final Destination (2000)

2/5

Final Destination is about a boy (Sawa) who can see the future. He gets off a flight to France because of a premonition, along with about five other people, and as soon as the plane takes off, it explodes. When his best friend (who had also gotten off the plane) dies in a freak accident soon after, he realizes that Death is "tying up loose ends." The boy and the few others he saved try to fend off all the possible ways that Death might reclaim them, but Death has a few unexpected surprises for them. If that doesn't sound exciting to you, I don't know what will!

This movie is a thrill rush--a poorly-acted, poorly-written, poorly-filmed thrill rush. Still, I have to admit, I don't really regret watching it. I loved seeing the build-up to the freak accidents. But even better than that was how the filmmakers tricked you into thinking someone would die in one way only to have them die in a completely unexpected alternate manner. The ludicrous nature of the deaths was also often hilarious. If you're anything like me, I'm sure you'd enjoy this movie, so don't turn it off if it comes on TV.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195714/

Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (2000)

3/5

Agnès Varda, the biggest female director of the French New Wave, continues to make movies that still have the feel of French New Wave in them. It was clearly low-budget and exceedingly self-referential, and lacked a traditional story arc. The movie is a free-form documentary about gleaners. Yes, the topic is a bit unconventional and is perhaps one of the film's biggest detractors. After all, what do I care about gleaners? But it has some extremely insightful relationships to lots of different things. The movie has no central objective or goal; it is exploratory in nature. That makes it extremely interesting and surprising, but also hinders it. I felt there was a lot of repetition, and despite its 80-minute running time, the movie feels like it takes forever because of the lack of organization. However, there are some very nice compositions and provocative ideas sprinkled randomly throughout the movie. Bottom line: interesting, but why am I watching this? For an excellent free-form documentary that is much more inventive, creative, and fun, I wholeheartedly recommend Orson Welles's F for Fake.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0247380/

Sexy Beast (2000)

2/5

Sexy Beast is an intriguing film for many reasons. It is brave stylistically, its characters are off-the-wall, and the plot construction is bizarre. These three elements only work half the time; the other half you're left confused. The actors give it their all, though, and Ben Kingsley gives an entirely frightening performance. You laugh and shiver at the same time. It's quite possibly the darkest comedy I've ever seen (although not exactly the most effective one). There are numerous audio problems throughout. The tension often deflates for no real reason; the scene just ends. For a crime movie, there is surprisingly little crime. It spends too much time attempting to make its characters unique to the point that they become caricatures.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0203119/

Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)

4/5

Ordinary Decent Criminal is a very entertaining crime flick. Kevin Spacey plays a gangster who is also a family man. The characters are all pretty unique and interesting, and Spacey's acting is surprisingly distinct from his other roles. The movie takes on a Heat-esque theme as a cop takes on the job of tracking him down, finally resorting to the same tactics Spacey's character used. There are some very clever heist scenes that make you want to be a criminal yourself because of how fun it looks. It leaves you with the feeling, why didn't I think of that? I could be a millionaire by now.

The negatives. I thought a lot of the music choices were odd and didn't fit the mood very well. Also, the accents take a little while to get used to. Some of the dialogue and plot had nothing to do with the overall movie, even though they had the potential to make it very interesting. It's not particularly ground-breaking or innovative as far as crime movies go, but what it does, it does well. So, some unexplored avenues, some heavy accents, and some awkward music. Otherwise, a very entertaining, very clever movie that I would recommend if you like Kevin Spacey or Irish accents.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160611/