From: Eric Baker
To: Adam Kempenaar, Sam Hallgren
Subject: The Rest of the List
4. Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese) - Had I seen the movie before I started my list, this movie would probably be tenth and not fourth, but I have to include it somewhere in here just because of how great it looks. Set design and costumes are rarely enough to make me recommend a picture, and in all honesty, it's probably Daniel Day-Lewis's performance that towers above all others, but what a great picture to look at. If Day-Lewis doesn't at least get nominated for an Oscar I'll be shocked.
3. Adaptation (Spike Jonze) - I think Charlie Kaufman might be the most talented screenwriter working today, even though, as David Edelstein points out, he failed to adapt the material. I still don't know how I feel about the movie, but I plan to see 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.' And you can say this about Jonze: at a time when studios are scrambling to scoop up directors of successful MTV videos, partially based on the trail blazed by Jonze, he has never stooped to the quick-cut style editing that is used so often by these auteurs in lieu of actual picture composition.
2. About a Boy (Chris and Paul Weitz) - Excellent all around, the role Hugh Grant was born to play, and Toni Collette is magnifique. I echo everything you guys said, but I was most surprised by the steady directing job of the Weitz brothers, whose previous experience to that point was the first 'American Pie' movie, which, while funny, is completely different material than Hornby. [Editor's note: Let's not forget the horrific 'Down to Earth.'] They've now catapulted to 'Meet the Fokkers,' due out this year, so maybe they're the next big thing.
1. Punch-Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson) - How boring is this? All of us sitting in front of our computers for days and can't find a different movie to praise. I could have, of course, being last guy on the totem pole, but I really thought it was the best movie I saw this year. What surprised me was Adam's listing of 'Punch-Drunk' this high, since he thought 'Boogie Nights' and possibly 'Magnolia' were superior films. He even included 'Boogie Nights' on his list of top 10 movies from the last quarter century, which set off quite a lot of internal arguing when we were trying to put our master list together. Nevertheless, it is a superior movie, probably the best performance Adam Sandler will ever give, and brilliant use of music by Anderson.
I don't think anything really surprised me in your lists, guys, except maybe that both of you included 'The Bourne Identity.' I knew Adam liked it, but I didn't know how much, and I guess I don't really chat much with Sam. I didn't buy Matt Damon as an action hero, partially because of the sped-up fight sequences that I thought made the movie seem cartoonish-goofy, sort of like a 'Under Siege 2' but with a better script. I realize that is my problem, not the movie's, I just hope Damon is not planning a future as an action star, and with a quick click to Imdb.com I see his next big project is a Farrelly Brothers movie, so I have nothing to worry about.
On a humorous note, I received several reactions after the 'Daily Iowan' finally published my review of 'The Two Towers.' Granted, it's not great, but all the email I got was negative: one guy sent me a virus, and another gave me the basic "You're an idiot! Did you even read the book?" treatment. The moral of the story, as Adam has often pointed out, it's good to know people are reading your stuff, no matter how repulsed their reaction.
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