I was thinking about the films I've seen and liked recently & thought it might be time to address that particular passion.         Tonight is the broadcast of the 58th Golden Globe Awards which is likely the best place for me to begin this reappraisal of films viewed over the last year, but also an examination of my film viewing habits, likes, dislikes, guilty pleasures and just movie buff stuff in general. The Oscars will be awarded in another month or so, while many of the other entities bestowing kudos & awards have already either announced their selections & winners or are about to. Here are just a few examples of what we are referring to, some of them very well known film industry related organizations, others some of the more recent arrivals, but opinions aplenty: Moviezone's Top 10 of 2000 Independent Spirit Awards L.A. Film Critics Awards N.Y. Film Critics Circle Awards boucoup awards/fest items from IMDB and yours truly is going to leave it at that, 'cause we both know every daily, weekly, monthly & all flavors of on-line pubs have their list of Best o'the Year, or Top 10, 15, 25 etc out there by now. This morning while out for coffee & walking the poochster I picked up the Jan/Feb edition of Film Comment magazine, & they have published a "Critics Poll" of the Top 20 films of the last year, from the top to bottom as follows: an underlined title indicates one I have viewed Beau travail The Wind Will Carry Us Yi Yi The House of Mirth Time Regained Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Almost Famous Dancer in the Dark You Can Count On Me Wonder Boys Humanite' Ratcatcher George Washington Gohatto/Taboo Croupier Traffic Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Human Resources The Color of Paradise now this is by no means all of the films I've watched this year, both in the cinema & at home on video, and I'll likely get into a good more detail in future installments of this little vanity piece, but at this time, as this is largely introductory & sort of an effort to "break the ice", I want to focus here on one I have seen recently, that has received a large amount of laudatory attention, deservedly so, and one that many of you, wherever you live, ought to be able to see in your local multiplex, & that is Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic". It has taken me a little while, but I think I've now become a definite fan of Soderbergh's work. I recall how unimpressed I was by Sex, Lies & Videotape, wondering what all the noise & hubbub was about, later liked the experiment of Kafka, then appreciated King of the Hill very much, and then haven't paid much attention until I saw The Limey on DVD (altho had all the best intentions of catching it in the theatres, just never made it...) and well, I had to acknowledge that Mr. Soderbergh's got it going here. I haven't seen Erin Brockovich (altho some future evening, will be host to someone who wants to watch it and will end up doing so), well, 'cause I am not J. Roberts biggest fan (am sure she's a very nice person...), but have looked forward to Traffic, saw it two weeks ago, and will likely see it again soon, 'cause it is damn fine filmaking. I am not going to analyze it, break it down scene by scene or attempt any kind of critical examination of it, but instead simply say that it is extremely well-crafted, has an excellent cast of actors, (of which I'll single out B. Del Toro & Erika Christensen for their superior work) and simply say that you would be doing yourself a serious disservice by missing out on viewing this film. In the issue of Film Comment mentioned earlier, is an interview w/S. Soderbergh which I may share w/you in a future post here ('cause we got a scanner now...) but for the moment I will point you in the direction of this '99 article on Soderbergh, this mention of the AFI's recognition of his accomplishments this year. Why will I be seeing Traffic again? Well, it's something that I enjoy doing w/any film I like very much, to view again and perhaps more critically, sometimes discovering something I missed first time around, sometimes that 2nd or 3rd (yah, sometimes) viewing allows me to better appreciate the craftsmanship involved in disguising the "seams" of a particular film. If you care to share your opinion, pass along a link, or just say howdy, drop me a line. Going to leave you with two final items here, this brief overview of '00 from Spectator Online & a look at some of the features coming in '01 from the L.A. Times. Sunday, 1.21.01 ~ ~ ~

relevant linkage i'm not going to include all the film links i'm aware of here, obvious ones like IMDB & Atom films, well, I am sure many of you are already aware of them... MRQE IndieWire Flick Filosopher 6 degrees Jeeem's Cine Pad Oh, the humanity... Film Festivals.com Combustible Celluloid guerilla-film.com hollywood bitchslap About Film Film Threat 24 frames per second Corona Productions AFI online British Film Institute On-line Film Critics reel life review deep focus goes great w/popcorn other folks faves, guilty pleasures & the like... Jim Jarmusch's guilty pleasures 'summa Terry Gilliam's favourites Martin Scorsese's guilty pleasures