February 2003 Film Viewing Log

The list of films I saw, in reverse chronological order.

 
FEBRUARY
 
Feb 28 The Transporter (2002, France/USA, D: Corey Yuen) 3.25 / 5 [infl]
Completely ludicrous, but that's exactly its charm, the movie cheerfully obliterating the line between clever and stupid, between kill and overkill. Yuen appears to be the perfect choice for breathing life into these often humourless Luc Besson productions. His film is fleet-footed where something like Kiss Of The Dragon is leaden; it invites us to go along for the ride rather than turn us away with the kind of overwrought seriousness that these flimsy action-film stories can seldom withstand. I shouldn't have expected anything less from the man who brought us Women On The Run.
 
Feb 25 Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002, USA, Chris Columbus) 2.75 / 5
Feb 23 Blood Brothers (1973, Hong Kong, D: Chang Cheh) 3.5 / 5 [dvd]
Feb 22 The Ladykiller Of Rome [aka L'Assassino] (1961, Italy, D: Elio Petri) 3 / 5 [zzz]
Hot Blood (1956, USA, D: Nicholas Ray) 3 / 5
Feb 20 Run For Cover (1955, USA, D: Nicholas Ray) 3 / 5
Bigger Than Life (1956, USA, D: Nicholas Ray) 4.5 / 5
Feb 19 Gambling, Gods & LSD (2003, Canada, D: Peter Mettler) 3.75 / 5
Feb 17 The Ring (2002, USA, D: Gore Verbinski) 3.25 / 5
Feb 15 Mala Noche (1985, USA, Gus Van Sant) 2.75 / 5
Ballad Of The Skeletons (1996, short, USA, D: Gus Van Sant) 2.5 / 5 [r]
Junior (1988, short, USA, D: Gus Van Sant) 2.75 / 5
My New Friend (1988, short, USA, D: Gus Van Sant) 2.75 / 5
On Dangerous Ground (1951, USA, D: Nicholas Ray) 3.75 / 5
The Invisible Man (1933, USA, James Whale) 3.25 / 5
Feb 14 The Lusty Men (1952, USA, D: Nicholas Ray) 3.5 / 5
Feb 13 A Woman's Secret (1949, USA, D: Nicholas Ray) 2.5 / 5
Feb 11 Bloody Sunday (2002, UK/Ireland, D: Paul Greengrass) 3 / 5
Born To Be Bad (1950, USA, D: Nicholas Ray) 3 / 5
Feb 10 Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind (2002, USA, D: George Clooney) 3.75 / 5
Feb 8 Flying Leathernecks (1951, USA, D: Nicholas Ray) 2.75 / 5
Johnny Guitar (1954, USA, D: Nicholas Ray) 4.25 / 5
Horse Feathers (1932, USA, D: Norman Z. McLeod) 3.25 / 5
Feb 7 They Live By Night (1949, USA, Nicholas Ray) 3.25 / 5
Feb 6 The Wedding (1972, Poland, D: Andrzej Wajda) 2.75 / 5
No Regrets For Our Youth (1946, Japan, D: Akira Kurosawa) 3.5 / 5
Feb 3 Standing In The Shadows Of Motown (2002, USA, D: Paul Justman) 3 / 5
The Last Waltz (1978, USA, D: Martin Scorsese) 3.75 / 5
 
January 2003


Notes: If the feature film listed is less than four years old, the year that accompanies it is the year of its release in Toronto. If the feature is older or if it has not been released in Toronto, the year listed is derived from the IMDB. In the latter case, the year is preceded by the characters 'nr'. TV movies are listed by year of first broadcast and are preceded by the characters 'tv'. Years for short films are retrieved from wherever I can find information.

Legend:
tv = I saw the movie on television
video = I saw the movie on videotape
dvd = I saw the movie on dvd
ld = I saw the movie on laserdisc
infl = I saw the movie on a plane
net = I saw the movie streamed on the internet
vp = I saw the movie projected from a video source
qba = print/video quality below average
r = repeat viewing -- I had previously seen the movie sometime in my adult life
pre = pre-release viewing -- I saw the movie in advance of its release to Toronto theatres
tiff = I saw the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival
fest = I saw the movie at one of Toronto's many small film festivals
ot = I saw the movie outside of Toronto
orig = I saw the original-language version
dub = I saw the English-dubbed version
tntv = tentative grade; I was considerably distracted during the screening or missed significant sections of the film
zzz = I slept through a considerable portion of the film, so take my grade with a grain of salt

Confused by my idiosyncratic 5-star rating system? Here's an explanation.

My Scale What It Means Letter Grade 4-Star Scale Pro/Mixed/Con
5 / 5 All-time great A+ 4 Pro
4.5 / 5 One of the year's best A
4.25 / 5 Damn good A- 3.5
4 / 5 Very good B+
3.75 / 5 Quite good
3.5 / 5 Good B 3
3.25 / 5 Decent
3 / 5 Ok B- 2.5 Mixed
2.75 / 5 Almost, but not quite C+
2.5 / 5 Has its moments C 2 Con
2 / 5 Not good C- 1.5
1.5 / 5 Very bad D 1
1 / 5 Dire F 0

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