January 2003 Film Viewing Log

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

 
JANUARY
 
Jan 31 Ran (1985, Japan, D: Akira Kurosawa) 3.25 / 5 [zzz]
Jan 30 Ring (1998, Japan, Hideo Nakata) 3.5 / 5 [video]
Jan 29 Dersu Uzala (1974, Japan/Soviet Union, D: Akira Kurosawa) 3.5 / 5
Jan 26 Ikiru (1952, Japan, Akira Kurosawa) 3.75 / 5
Jan 25 Ashes And Diamonds (1958, Poland, Andrzej Wajda) 3.75 / 5
Kanal (1957, Poland, D: Andrzej Wajda) 3.5 / 5
Jan 25 Babes In Arms (1939, USA, D: Busby Berkeley) 3.5 / 5
Jan 24 The Magic Blade (1976, Hong Kong, D: Chu Yuan) 3.75 / 5 [dvd]
Jan 23 Blackboards (2003, Iran, D: Samira Makhmalbaf) 3.25 / 5
Jan 19 Ararat (2002, Canada, D: Atom Egoyan) 2.5 / 5
The Warriors (1979, USA, D: Walter Hill) 3.5 / 5
Jan 18 Frida (2002, USA, D: Julie Taymor) 3 / 5
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002, Australia, D: Phillip Noyce] 3 / 5
Jan 17 Metropolis (1927, 2001 restored version, Germany, D: Fritz Lang) 4.5 / 5
Jan 15 Kaante (2002, India, D: Sanjay Gupta) 2 / 5
Jan 14 Devils On The Doorstep (nr-2000, short version, China, Jiang Wen) 3.75 / 5 [video]
Jan 13 Chicago (2002, USA, D: Rob Marshall) 3.75 / 5
Jan 12 Rain (nr-2001, New Zealand, D: Christine Jeffs) 3 / 5 [video]
Dead Or Alive: Final (nr-2002, Japan, D: Takashi Miike) 2.5 / 5 [video]
Jan 11 Talk To Her (2002, Spain, D: Pedro Almodovar) 4.25 / 5
Jan 10 8 Mile (2002, USA, D: Curtis Hanson) 3 / 5
Jan 9 Sex And Lucia (2002, Spain/France, D: Julio Medem) 3.5 / 5
Jackass: The Movie (2002, USA, D: Jeff Tremaine) 3.25 / 5
Jan 8 Naqoyqatsi (2002, USA, D: Godfrey Reggio) 2.5 / 5
Narc (2003, USA, D: Joe Carnahan) 2.75 / 5 [pre]
Jan 7 The Sleepy Time Gal (nr-2001, USA, D: Christopher Münch) 2 / 5 [dvd]
Jan 6 Igby Goes Down (2002, USA, D: Burr Steers) 1.5 / 5
Jan 5 Esther Kahn (nr-2000, short version, UK/France, D: Arnaud Desplechin) 3 / 5 [video]
Auto Focus (2002, USA, D: Paul Schrader) 3.25 / 5
Jan 4 Punch-Drunk Love (2002, USA, D: Paul Thomas Anderson) 3.5 / 5
Comedian (2002, USA, D: Christian Charles) 2.75 / 5
Jan 1 Femme Fatale (2002, USA/France, D: Brian De Palma) 2 / 5
 
2002


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

film home