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October 8, 2005

Terry Teachout's leaving...

....crisis magazine. He has written the film review column for the past seven years. He's leaving to work on a biography of Louis Armstrong and a new column on the arts in America for the Saturday Wall Street Journal. But he is also leaving because "American filmmakers are now making so few movies worth seeing."

His last column is a series of excerpts of his reviews of what he believes to be the 15 best American films of the past seven years. Here's his list (in alphabetical order):

1. The Apostle (1997) written and directed by Robert Duvall
2. Barbershop (2002) directed by Tim Story
3. Election (1999), co-written and directed by Alexander Payne
4. Ghost World (2000), co-written and directed by Terry Zwigoff
5. High Fidelity (2000), directed by Stephen Frears
6. The Incredibles (2004), written and directed by Brad Bird
7. The Last Days of Disco (1998), written and directed by Whit Stillman
8. Lost in Translation (2003), written and directed by Sofia Coppola
9. Next Stop Wonderland (1998), co-written and directed by Brad Anderson
10. Out of Sight (1998), directed by Steven Soderbergh
11. Panic (2000), written and directed by Henry Bromell
12. The Sixth Sense (1999), written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan
13. Spellbound (2002), directed by Jeffrey Blitz
14. The Station Agent (2003), written and directed by Thomas McCarthy
15. You Can Count on Me (2000), written and directed by Kenneth Loneragan

He would add the following 5 foreign films to his 15 Best list:

1. Bright Young Things
2. Croupier
3. The Dreamlife of Angels
4. Look at Me
5. Topsy-Turvy

He gave "honorable mentions" to About Schmidt, Being John Malkovich, The Cooler, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Garden State, Guinevere, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Lilo & Stitch, The Limey, Lovely and Amazing, Magnolia, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Pi, Ripley's Game, The Secret Lives of Dentists, Sideways, Sunshine State, Talk to Her, The Tao of Steve, The Whole Nine Yards, and Three Kings.

Interesting list.....

Posted by MamaT at October 8, 2005 11:25 PM

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Comments

I concur wholeheartedly with his inclusion of The Last Days of Disco and The Apostle on the top list, as well as The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Magnolia.

I would have included The Passion of the Christ and The Royal Tennebaums on the honorable list (and Rushmore if its within 7 years, I dig the Wes Anderson quirky thing). I would also stick one of the LeBute movies on, The Shape of Things or even Possesion, which is very un-Lebute like.

Oh, and The Big Lebowski. I'm for any movie that can work in German nhilists.

Posted by: Kenny at October 10, 2005 12:07 PM

You know, Kenny, the thing I always liked about Teachout was that he wasn't a snob about movies. Take Out of Sight for example. I think that a lot of people couldn't get past Jennifer Lopez. But it was a good movie, and he wasn't so stuck on "film" that he couldn't see it. Ditto Lilo and Stitch. He treated it as a movie, not just a "kid show."

Smock and I were both fans of Eternal Sunshine and Lost in Translation. I haven't seen The Aquatic Life but I want to. My son didn't like it AT ALL, but I still want to see it.

Posted by: MamaT at October 10, 2005 8:21 PM

wes anderson rocks - and he's from TEXAS.

i'm happy with the list. i was especially happy to see lost in translation on his list and being john malkavich, and eternal sunshine given honorable mention.

oh, and barbershop ? fabulous! "yo daddy may notta had a whole lotta money -- oh, but he was rich cuz he invested in people."

Posted by: smockmomma at October 12, 2005 12:28 AM

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