Umney's Alley - The Movie Log for 2005

A Year in Film: 2005

2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | Essays/Reviews

What follows are my OCD attempts to list and rate every movie I watch in any given year. (I've done the same for my year's reading in the book log.) Given that I watch some relatively obscure films, I've set it up so that the film title links to the IMDb page for the film so you can get more information easily.

Starting in 2009, I began assigning out star ratings (out of five stars) to films I've watched. Five stars is equivalent to an A, 4½ to an A-/B+, four to a B, and so on.

12-31	King Kong (2005)	Worth every single minute of the running time. I loved the character development that Jackson allowed himself, but more than the human characters, it's Kong who makes the story so wonderful. In capturing his facial expressions, in allowing him to truly "act", they make the story not just abou a beast, but about something more powerful, and it makes the gradual plot progression all the more heartbreaking. And, oh yeah, there's a scene with a GIANT MONKEY FIGHTING DINOSAURS. The action is wondeful, the visuals astonishing, and the emotions pitch-perfect. I really loved it, and it's high on my list for the year.
12-30	Millions	Not just a good family movie, but a great movie in its own right. What could have been a boring re-tread of the classic "kids with money" story becomes something funny, touching, and even thoughtfully moral. Boyle's direction elevates it to the level of the magical, with saints, visions, and criminals all moving in the same space. It's wonderfully funny, thoughtful, and even touching. A truly wonderful movie--one of the best I've seen in a while.
12-30	Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist	A fascinating film on its own right, much less when comparing it with Exorcist: The Beginning. Schrader uses the structure of a horror film to explore evil and the human condition, and does so thoughtfully, intelligently, and devoutly. No wonder it couldn't get released. It's a moving film, with a lot of interesting ideas, and the final confrontation is riveting. Well worth finding it. (If you would like to read a lengthy piece I wrote comparing the two films, you can find it in today's thoughts entry, located here. Enjoy it.)
12-29	The Producers (2005)	No, Lane and Broderick aren't Mostel and Wilder. But that didn't make this any less infectiously funny, especially as the increasingly hysterical dance numbers filled the screen. And, while he may not be Zero, Nathan Lane is absolutely wonderful as Bialystock. It may drag a little towards the end, but I forgive it for how much I enjoyed the whole thing. It won't replace the original, but it's a worthy companion piece, and pretty damn entertaining.
12-29	Exorcist: The Beginning	I was mainly interested in this because of the bizarre series of circumstances (read more here) which created it, as well as a comparison for the original version by Paul Schrader. But, while I expected it to be bad, I sure as hell didn't expect this horrible, horrible, ghastly mess. From terrible direction to hilariously awful CGI (those hyenas are breathtakingly fake) to ridiculous excess, this is a misbegotten film in every way possible. I can't imagine that Schrader's version can be anything other than massively better.
12-27	Memoirs of a Geisha	Not bad, actually. I had some problems with the accents (I know that it would never be released, but the movie would have been so much better in Japanese with subtitles) and some character development that I assume got left in the book, but the movie was interesting enough, and absolutely stunningly beautiful to watch. So, even when I got bored, especially by the end, I had the visuals to carry me. Otherwise, not bad, but it never comes to life enough to be a truly great movie. I'm curious as to how the book is, though.
12-13	Night Moves	Interesting, low-key existentialist noir. It's less interesting for the story itself--which, while involving enough, in Hackman's words, kind of "falls in on [him]"--than for the complex characters and the exploration of Hackman's moral culpability and helplessness. It certainly is an effort to turn the detective genre on its ear, and it works nicely, particularly the grim ending, when the helper becomes the biggest danger of all. Quite good.
12-11	Rosemary's Baby	A weird, unsettling, creepy little movie. I think that some of its impact may have been dulled by knowing where it was going, but Polanski piles on the atmosphere and tension so well that it hardly matters. Farrow is amazing, conveying love and paranoia equally well...and those dream sequences are astonishing. Holds up very well--still nicely creepy.
12-10	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Saw it with Dad and Ness, who wanted to catch it on the IMAX. I think, as I rewatched it, that I liked Azkaban more overall--by having a simpler plot, it could have more of a character focus. It also bugged me, upon rewatching this one, how blatantly obvious the reveal of the villain was ahead of time. Still, it's a good movie--the second best of the set, and a very good time. Not nearly enough Rickman, though...but that study hall scene is wonderful.
12-10	The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion...	Good, but not great. I felt like it a lot like I did the first couple of Harry Potter movies--that is, they were perfectly decent adaptations, but as films, they never took off and soared the way that, say, the Lord of the Rings films did. That's not saying this is comparable to the first two Potter movies, which I find execrable; this is far better than those, with some solid execution overall. But it never really comes to life--it feels like simply a collection of set-pieces, more than anything, and often like a movie that has far less budget than it does.
12-9	Syriana	It's incredibly dense and complex, to a level which may be off-putting to some people (for example, Maria hated it because she felt lost/got frustrated). I don't blame them, but I followed it, and was very, very impressed. It's a powerful, scathing, bleak look at the oil industry, power, and the decisions made by those who control these things. The plot is sprawling, and the characters complex, but all that only reinforces the harsh realism. It will bomb--it's too smart, too intricate, to do well--but it's probably among the top three films I've seen this year, and one of the most thought-provoking, as well as the most unsettling. It'll profoundly disturb you with its grim (and all-too-real) look at the oil industry and our country.
12-7	The Ice Harvest	Another victim of bad marketing. The ads make it look like a dark comedy; it is, in fact, a very dark noir with heavy violence, but a morbid, grim (and hilarious) sense of humor running through it. I actually liked it a lot--I loved the performances (esp. Platt's scene-stealing and oddly moving turn), and I'm a sucker for noir, especially when they're this well done and entertaining, and yet true to the bleak existentialism of actual noir. Anyways, in English: really good, if not what I expected. Violent, twisty, bitterly hilarious, and all around great.
12-5	We Don't Live Here Anymore	To be fair, only watched an hour or so of it, but that was mainly because I was incredibly bored and fairly uninterested in it. There's not enough emotion, not enough hatred and vitriol to truly engage someone. It's like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? without any of that film's scathing humor and devastating truth. As always, Ebert puts it better than I ever could: "These people are such whiners." They're not bad enough to be interesting, and not good enough to care about; they're just there, and ultimately forgettable.
12-3	What's Eating Gilbert Grape	I really liked it a lot. What I loved it for was its quiet, small-town feeling. No, nothing really happens, and that makes it all the better of a movie, allowing it to explore the characters, to understand their lives, and to allow the outstanding acting (particularly Depp (shock), Cates, and DiCaprio) to carry the story. Yeah, I might have liked some catharsis with my ending...but to not have much of one fit the movie all the better. A really wonderful movie.
11-27	Flight of the Phoenix (2004)	Nothing horrible, but nothing great, either. Some review I read said there was "a twist to die for"; the only twist I could come up with was the complete lack of one. The story is remarkably straightforward, so much so that the enjoyment of the film suffers a bit. It's not actively bad; it's an okay way to kill a Sunday afternoon, but it's nothing to seek out.
11-23	Walk the Line	A decent-to-good biopic elevated by two stellar performances. Yes, Phoenix is excellent in this, but it's really Witherspoon who steals the movie, equalling or surpassing him in every scene. As for the movie? It's far better than Ray; although it suffers from some of the same problems (why does every biopic have to focus on addiction, even when that's the least interesting thing about the person), it has a much better core: the love story between Cash and Carter, which Phoenix and Witherspoon bring to beautiful, touching, moving life.
11-20	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	On the IMAX. Quite, quite good. Easily the most cinematic of the movies to date--it's nice to see someone realize, like Cuaron did in Azkaban, that you should make a good movie first, and still keep true to the spirit of the book, even if that means making changes. The whole thing just works, with at least four riveting sequences (if you've read the book, you know all four), and a scene-stealing performance by Gleeson as Mad-Eye. My only complaint? If you have Gary Oldman in a movie, have him do more than talk out of a fireplace. Otherwise, the best (possibly second best, after Azkaban) Potter film yet, & a good movie in its own right.
11-19	Witness	Good, but not great. To me, it felt like three different movies--a thriller, a culture clash, and a love story--and the three never fully meshed. I think it's mostly the fault of the thriller, which starts off quite good and becomes jarringly bad by the end. It's not bad, but it's not as good as it should be, mainly because of the jarring shifts in tone.
11-19	Pride and Prejudice (2005)	Actually, I quite enjoyed it. Not as much as Maria, but it's not as much my type of movie as hers. That being said, it's wonderfully filmed, with dozens of long, sweeping takes (which never fail to impress me), great acting throughout, perfect casting, and beautiful scenery. It's actually a pretty good little movie, and I'm as suprised as you are to be typing that.
11-19	Suicide Club	It starts off interestingly enough--almost a teenaged, self-harming variation on the outstanding film Cure--but it really begins to fall apart during a surreal, excessive sequence in a bowling alley, and never really pulls itself back together. The ending--or lack thereof--is especially disappointing, because it seems like there are some interesting ideas in here, but they never coalesce into a point. It's an intriguing movie that desparately needed to focus itself a little better, although it does have more than its share of unsettling sequences.
11-15	Serpico	One thing I've come to realize and appreciate about many 70s films is the way that they are willing to sacrifice curtness for richer, fuller character development. It's a nice thing to see, movies driven by real characters, and the added length only aids this detailed picture. This fits into that mold perfectly, detailing the life of one honest policeman in a very corrupt system. It's realistic to a fault and uncompromising in its view of the costs of morality in an immoral system. An excellent movie, anchored by Pacino's great performance.
11-13	Capote	A good movie made outstanding by Hoffman's powerful, no-holds-barred performance. He doesn't just mimic Capote--he channels him, bringing the doubt, the ego, and the doubt all onto the screen with him. The movie itself is compelling, showing us the moral confusion of a man who slowly loses his human connection in identifying with murderers, but it's Hoffman's movie all the way. It's him that brings out the pain and sense of loss that truly makes the film so moving. An excellent, if unsettling and disturbing, film.
11-13	Rome	Finally gave up about halfway through the season. It's not awful, but to paraphrase the Harlan Ellison book I'm reading, the key element in telling a story is having be about real, genuine human beings, and Rome completely fails at that. It's good at historical re-creation, but none of the characters (save Titus Pullo) are even remotely interesting, or believable as anything more than simple walking HISTORICAL FIGURES (TM), making the show unbelievably dull. For the first time, I just didn't care about an HBO series that I watched.
11-11	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang	A complete treat. It was absolutely hilarious, with a witty, winkingly ironic narration, side-splitting dialogue, solid performances, and a clever enough plot to keep you involved. It's nothing too serious, but in an age of over-blown self-important action flicks, it's nice to see something with a sense of humor about itself, and a real sense of fun to it. Definitely one of the more enjoyable movies I've gotten to watch this year.
11-10	MirrorMask	Beautiful and breathtaking. It's definitely, in every way, a Gaiman and McKean film, with all of the brilliant wit and stunning visual sense that you would expect. Story-wise...well, I guess it's closer to Alice in Wonderland than anything else, but, honestly, while the story is pretty compelling, that's not why you see it. You see it for the incredible, beautiful visual style that McKean brings to it, and to lose yourself in this wondrous fantasy creation.
11-9	Spanking the Monkey	Mom always said, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything." Okay. I won't.
11-7	Extras	A very, very funny HBO/BBC series about the lives of two "background artists"--that is, movie extras. It's peppered with hilarious celebrity cameos (it's hard to say whether Kate Winslet, Ben Stiller, or Patrick Stewart had the best), but it's anchored by Gervais and Jensen, whose funny banter and brilliant delivery really make the show. I'm just sad that it wasn't more than six episodes, because I really, really liked it.
11-6	Good night, and good luck.	Part docudrama, part elegy for the sad state of broadcast journalism, and part historical re-enactment, this manages to transcend all of that and become a compelling, powerful film. I'm aware that it does little more than immerse you in Murrow's news world, that it doesn't truly pick apart the characters. It doesn't need to. When you have a story this powerful, this completely riveting, letting the characters' actions speak for themselves is more than sufficient. It's a sobering, thoughtful film, and I loved the easy rhythm of it, the way it truly let you be an observer in the newsroom. A thoroughly excellent piece of filmmaking.
11-5	Garden State	Well, this will put me in an apparently very small minority. I really, really, really didn't like this movie in the least. I thought it was overly cutesy, contrived, uninvolving, unbelievable, and finally just...well, just bad. It's just so self-conscious, precocious, and ultimately more than a little pretentious. I know a lot of people like it. Good for them. I really, really didn't, and was really disappointed, considering how much I had heard good about it.
11-5	Saw II	I needed something to do in the Boro while my wife shopped, and since much of what I want to see in theaters my wife is interested in, I satisfied my morbid curiosity and saw this. And, you know...it was okay. Not nearly as hilarious as the first one, but probably a better movie. The plotting was a lot more clever, and the big twist not nearly as moronic. The acting was better (if still over-the-top), and the traps...well, they were pretty unsettling, particularly if you hate needles. Silly, but entertaining. It's exactly what I expected, but a little better.
11-4	Jarhead	An excellent, beautifully filmed character-piece. This is not a film about politics--it's a film about one man in one given situation. I don't know how realistic it is, but I've heard it to be very so, and I admire the way the movie sidesteps action cliches to simply show the long, dull life of military action. It's not making a statement, it's not selling anything--it's just telling a story, and doing so in an excellent way, with great performances throughout and beautiful cinematography, especially during the stunning oil field sequences.
10-30	Pennies from Heaven	A relentlessly, brutally bleak take on the musical. It's very much, in fact, the anti-musical, contrasting the grim real world with the sunny take on life presented in musicals and Depression-era songs. It's well made, there's no doubt about it, and the musical numbers are dazzling, particularly Walken's show-stealing appearance. But, as a whole, the unrelentingly hopeless atmosphere makes it a hard movie to take, and impossible to enjoy, even as it makes it an admirable, intelligent, and well-made movie.
10-28	Julius Caesar (1970)	Watched this with my classes as an intro to the Shakespeare play. It's a decent enough adaptation overall, but Jason Robards, as Brutus, is so singularly terrible in it that he sinks the movie from average to terrible single-handedly. As always, Ebert puts it best: "We begin to suspect...that Robards' mind has been captured by a computer from another planet and that the movie is an alien plot to drain the soul from mighty Shakespeare."
10-26	The Music Man (1962)	Figured I should watch this, since I'll be in the stage version of it at school. It was enjoyable enough, although I'm not sold on it entirely--the story doesn't make much sense in big parts, for one thing...still, it's fun, the music is infectious (as someone who's been singing it for days can tell you), and Robert Preston is great to watch.
10-25	Team America: World Police	Finally saw this, and it was very, very funny. I don't know if I liked it more as a dead-on spoof of action movies or as a brutally funny mocking of all sides of the political field, but either way, it's hilarious. It's worth seeing for the songs alone--as always, Parker and Stone have a brilliant ear for music, and the songs on this one are a real treat (the Pearl Harbor song may be my favorite, although the one after the credits is pretty great). And, let me just say that the panthers are my favorite part of the movie. Silly, but more than entertaining.
10-23	Tightrope	Pretty mediocre. I guess at the time, it was interesting to see Eastwood stretch his persona (the scene where he hints at having had gay sex is still pretty odd to see), but that's about all this has going for it. I think the progression of time may have dulled its impact, or maybe it's just the generic thriller his somewhat interesting character is stuck in.
10-18	The Salton Sea	As usual, Roger Ebert does a much better review of this movie than I ever could, but the key line from it is this: "The Salton Sea is all pieces and no coherent whole." That's exactly right, although when some of the pieces are so bizarrely captivating (mainly, I'm thinking of D'Onofrio's Pooh Bear, and his bizarre JFK assasination re-creation starring pigeons), it's hard to not find the movie interesting. It doesn't ever go anywhere, but there are some great bits along the way, even if they add up to a big load of nothing by the end. Oh well.
10-14	Animal Factory	I liked it more than I liked Trees Lounge, although it has little more story than the first one--a fact which was my major complaint with that movie. I think the performances are stronger here (particularly Defoe and Rourke, and a surprisingly good one from Tom Arnold, of all people), and there's enough fascination with the world of prison being presented in such a low-key, believable way to keep the movie involving. It's more of a character study than a story, but it has good characters and solid acting. I liked it quite a bit.
10-13	Naked	An interesting, if uneven, character exploration by Mike Leigh. The greatest thing about it is Thewlis, hands down--he's galvanizing throughout, and the fact that he ad-libbed most of his performance only makes it all the more impressive. The sad thing is that the movie suffers when he's not in it, particularly when it's focusing on the baffling and unnecessary character of Sebastian. Still, Thewlis is in most of it, and he alone elevates it to a must-see, solely for his brilliant, scathing, painful, and intelligent performance.
10-13	Boyz N The Hood	Much better than I expected, and much less dated as well, apart from a remarkably bad synthesizer musical score. The acting throughout is excellent, most notably by Fishburne, although it's also kind of sad to see how good Gooding used to be. As much as it's a movie about growing up in the worst areas of LA, it's more fascinating as a story about a father doing his best by his son. A very, very good movie that more than lives up to its reputation.
10-12	Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were- Rabbit	For pure entertainment's sake, there are few things that have made me happier than Wallace and Gromit, and it's great to see them make the big-screen transition so effortlessly. The gags fly constantly, the claymation is done lovingly, and the story is more than entertaining. I laughed throughout, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. And, is it me, or is Gromit more expressive than many actors these days? A complete joy, and a real treat.
10-12	Malcolm X	Powerful and surprisingly even-handed. The film doesn't just tell you about Malcolm X--it lets you see what it was like to live his life, realizing that each and every detail contributed something to the person he became. It's a fascinating movie, one whose length is necessary (there's very little wasted time in the film), and it's made all the more impressive by Washington's outstanding performance, no matter what the period of Malcolm's life. An outstanding film, and a very intelligent, educational one at that.
10-11	The Longest Yard (1974)	Proof that a film can be a completely formula-driven story and still be a great movie. Of course, there's no way it would be made in the same way today, with Reynolds being misogynistic, the racism up-front, and the violence brutal and un-Hollywood...but I think that's all part of why I enjoyed it so much, was because of its unapologetic nature. Very, very good--far better than I expected it to be, to be honest.
10-11	Tucker: The Man and His Dream	It certainly wasn't a bad movie. It was stylish as anything, the acting was great all around, particularly by Landau, and the story itself is a compelling one, made more so by Coppola's obvious identification with Tucker himself. But I just couldn't like it as much as I wanted to, and I think that Roger Ebert hit on a lot of the reasons in his review. Not a bad movie, just not as good as it could have been, and should have been.
10-10	The World According to Garp	I wasn't all that impressed, to be honest. There's some solid acting throughout, I guess, and the story is interesting, but it's not very well tied together. I don't remember much about the book, but I remember that it all flowed and connected, and I don't get that impression from the movie. Still, nothing bad; I just wasn't as impressed as so many seem to have been.
10-10	Titus	Like nothing I've ever seen. The play is considered Shakespeare's worst, with its incredible level of graphic violence and almost amoral universe, but Taymor's stunning execution, with its brilliant visual style, a compelling blend of time periods, and great performances throughout (particularly Cumming and Lennix), elevates it to a level of art. It's a unique, one of a kind movie, and as such, it's definitely not for all tastes, whether because of the gore, the language, or the artsiness. But, to me, it was stunning, if only as an experience.
10-7	Run Ronnie Run	Very, very funny stuff from the creators of Mr. Show. Apparently, David and Bob weren't that fond of their movie--even disowned it--but I laughed throughout, greatly enjoying it. There are some hilarious sequences, and some brilliant cameos, especially those by Mandy Patinkin, Jack Black, and Scott Thompson. Well worth checking out.
10-5	The Girl in the Café	It starts off as a really wonderful portrayal of two lonely people who meet and form a bond. And that part of the movie is wonderful throughout, due largely to the great acting (esp. Nighy, who plays "shy" as well as he does "cocky"). But, as the movie progresses, the writers change their fully-realized characters into walking, talking, preaching propaganda mouthpieces. Is their point good? Sure, no question...but it doesn't fit the characters, or the movie. SUCH a good start, which makes the collapse all the more disappointing.
10-5	The English Patient	I was surprised, given its reputation, as to how accessible and approachable the movie was. Although it's a massive epic love story, David Lean style, it's well-made, and never full of itself, like I've felt some of Minghella's work to be. I can't say I loved it--it dragged, towards the end--but I admired it, and I can see why so many people love it so much. I still think Fargo was a better movie, but this is the kind of movie Oscar loves.
10-4	Wait Until Dark	A really great thriller. I can't imagine this as a Broadway hit, but it's a hell of a movie. The film's climax is the stuff of legend, but I have to say that I was riveted, even knowing some of the details...and enough good things can't be said about Alan Arkin. Who knew that such a nice-seeming man could play such a terrifying sociopath? It's a heck of a thriller, through and through, anchored by great performances by Hepburn and especially Arkin.
10-4	A History of Violence	Remarkable. It's marketed as a thriller, and there are definitely those aspects, but it's much more fascinating as a drama--to see what effect the thriller aspects have on the life of an ordinary man. It's also deceptively simple; if you only see the story, you're missing the fascinating, thought-provoking, and disturbing ideas lurking everywhere just beneath the surface. There's not a scene that doesn't bring up some new idea, but, to the film's credit, it only spurs the discussion; it doesn't bring any answers. (Honestly, for a far, far better review than I'm capable of giving, see this excellent one from the Nashville Scene.)
10-3	Serenity	Everything I was hoping for and more. It's not just a continuation of the television series (although it is, and a damned good one at that); it's also just an excellent movie in its own right. It's a great, old-fashioned sci-fi space opera, with all the fun, excitement, and drama that implies. And there's much more--a great sense of humor, wonderful characters, true horror, and some truly heartbreaking moments (more so if you've seen the show) that are handled perfectly (as opposed, say, to The Matrix Revolutions). It's designed for the fan, but easily accessible to the novice. Whichever you are, go see it--it's well worth the trip.
9-24	Sweet and Lowdown	Enjoyable enough comedy from Allen. It's got style to spare, effortlessly capturing the feel and look of the 1930s, not to mention its superb jazz score. And Penn does a great job playing a great musician/lousy person. But it's Samantha Morton, who never speaks a word, who really elevates the movie to something magical, and the movie suffers with her departure. Still, it's very enjoyable, and quite convincing--I know that I, for one, bought into Emmet Ray being a real person until I read otherwise.
9-24	Flightplan	It's enjoyable enough, I suppose. The plot, thankfully, at least comes together in a logical (if ridiculously convoluted) way, unlike, say, The Forgotten. But it suffers in one major way: it cannot compare, in any way, to the well-oiled, taut thrill machine that was Red Eye. It may have a stronger plot, but it doesn't have the latter film's tension, performances, or Cillian Murphy. It's decent entertainment that doesn't fall apart, but nothing great.
9-24	Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	Remarkable and powerful. It's definitely NOT Oldboy--it's nowhere near as stylish, and the plot is far more low key. That being said, the more realistic nature of the movie makes its message all the more clear, and allows the power of the story to come through even stronger. Making it even more devastating: whereas Oldboy was about two people who almost deserved their fates, Mr. Vengeance is about good people who find themselves, step by inexorable step, deeply steeped in blood. A must-see movie.
9-23	Corpse Bride	I enjoyed it pretty well, although I didn't find it as vibrant and enjoyable as Nightmare Before Christmas. Still, there's plenty to enjoy here, with the same wonderful attention to detail, and the same penchant for ghoulishly funny visual gags, as well as a stunning cast of voice actors (Depp may get top billing, but it's Finney and Lee who steal the show). Although the somewhat lackluster story keeps it from soaring, it's still a wonderfully good time.
9-21	2046	I love the way Wong Kar-Wai makes films, and this is no exception. It is a bit slower than your usual movie, and a little less plot-driven/more thematically propelled...but the emotional depth and power it brings on that front makes the movie all the more wonderful. I didn't like it as much as I liked its predecessor (In the Mood for Love), but I found it even more visually beautiful, and admired its fascinating mixing and repeating of the story. It's a wonderful movie, although I would seriously say that it's not for all tastes.
9-19	Lord of War	A vicious, brutally honest, bleakly hilarious movie, and one of the best movies I've seen this year. It opens with a brilliant credits sequence, and only improves from there, juggling morbid humor and deadly serious reality effortlessly. It's a little sprawling at times, and could use some tuning (it criminally underuses Ian Holm), but between Cage's excellent performance and the film's powerful and unsettling message, it's a great film, made all the better by the humor and sheer entertainment it brings. An excellent movie.
9-18	Man with the Screaming Brain	It's everything I hoped for from a movie written by, directed by, and starring the inimitable and wonderful Bruce Campbell. It's just what you expect: campy dialogue and plot, great physical comedy from Bruce, and a good sense of humor throughout. It's nothing that will be honored at the award shows, but it's one of the better times I've had with a movie lately, and worth watching for Campbell and the scene-stealing Ted Raimi. Quite fun.
9-17	Constantine	There are any number of major problems with this: mediocre special effects, abandoning what sounded like a pretty great comic book, and some extremely lazy plotting (I don't remember the last time I saw a movie so blatantly resolve itself with a deus ex machina--or should I say diabolus ex machina?). But those could still have left an okay movie. What really tanks this is Keanu Reeves, whose uninspired, flat, lifeless acting completely kills what should be a fascinating character, and removes all involvement in the movie.
9-16	Red Eye	Movie #2 in a drive-in double feature. Until it gets off the plane, this is as about a rock-solid, pitch-perfect thriller as I've seen in years. There are no wasted moments, no wrong steps--just an engrossing psychological duel between two people, both of whom are acted brilliantly by the cast (particularly Murphy, who is even better here than he was in Batman Begins). After the plane, though, the movie loses some credibility and becomes a little less good; still, it's not bad enough to tank it--just not up to the high standard of the first hour.
9-16	Just Like Heaven	The first movie in a drive-in double feature. It's a decent enough romantic comedy that I liked less and less toward the end, as the relatively reasonable and realistic behavior gave way to over-the-top antics and some forced plot points. Still, it's likable enough, although, as much as I love Mark Ruffalo, he's far more suited to heavy drama than romantic comedies.
9-11	The Constant Gardener	Outstanding, although I think the ads do it a disservice; they make it look like a thriller, which it is not. It's a character-driven drama about a man (Fiennes, whose quiet intensity is excellent) whose grief leads him to complete his wife's work in uncovering the darker side to the African relief effort. That character-driven aspect is what makes it so realistic, and makes the truth lying in wait so painfully grim, heartless, and all too believable, up to the realistic and painful ending. An excellent film, with conscience and power to spare.
9-10	The Clearing	Until its ending, this is a fine, character-driven thriller, anchored by a palpable tension throughout its running time, and three excellent performances in the parts of Redford, Defoe, and Mirren. Until, as I said, the ending, when the movie reveals that the cards its been holding back are...blank. There's nothing more disappointing than a movie without an ending, and its more so when what led up to it is so strong in every way.
9-10	The Brothers Grimm	It's an unholy mess, the acting is uproariously absurd, and there's more imagination in any given frame than most whole movies this year. In other words, it's a Gilliam movie, through and through, with all the weaknesses and strengths that implies. And, although it's far from his best (mostly it's hampered by the script), even weak Gilliam is a treat to see on the big screen, and better than a lot of what's out there now.
9-8	The Masque of the Red Death (1964)	With my English classes, who were underwhelmed by the 1964 effects/production values. Me? I was pleasantly surprised. It deviates far from the story, but does so in an imaginative and clever way, and I particularly like the shift in the identity of the Red Death. An interesting take on the classic story, anchored by Vincent Price's deliciously evil performance and some jaw-droppingly beautiful cinematography by Nicolas Roeg (!).
9-4	The Odd Couple	As much as I love Matthau and Lemmon separately, they have this certain wonderful chemistry together, and I don't think I've ever seen it better than in this movie. This is a wonderfully hilarious movie, made richer by the undercurrent of melancholy that keeps it anchored, and even adds some richness onto the comedy. Just great.
9-4	Crimes and Misde- meanors	Absolutely (and surprisingly) outstanding. What I expected was a light Woody Allen comedy, and there is some of that in here. But what this really gives a viewer is a complex, thought-provoking, philosophical exploration of morality, society, and the very nature of God, all masked in the guise of a drama/comedy. The answers aren't always clear, or comforting...and yet, that makes the movie all the more satisfying--the way it refuses to dumb itself down for its audience. An excellent film in every way.
9-3	Empire Falls	Thoroughly mediocre, with dashes of crappy throughout. It's got a cast to die for, but ultimately there's just not much here. No character depth, some awkward writing, a meandering plot that goes nowhere, and a payoff...no, wait. They forgot that part. All in all, it's pretty disappointing, especially coming from HBO.
9-3	Harold and Maude	Finally got around to seeing this, and I have to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's not just the streak of black humor that runs throughout the movie; as much as I enjoyed that, what made the movie so good was the way it overcame that, moving from a gleefully morbid obsession with death to seeing the happiness out of life. Yes, that's a story you've seen told, but not often with such wit and originality. A very funny, very sweet movie.
8-31	The Bad News Bears (1976)	It takes seeing a movie like this--with its unapologetic honesty, its gleefully and deeply flawed hero, and its wonderfully crass sense of humor--to truly understand how sad the state of modern "family" movies has gotten. And, I have to say that I was surprised at the very end, but in a good way. To me, the ending was just the movie being true to itself. And what is that self? Do yourself a favor and read Ebert's excellent take on this. It makes a whole lot of sense, and I think he uncovers part of what makes this such a great movie.
8-30	Victor/ Victoria	I only got to watch one movie today (due in no small part to spending way too much time on this), but I picked one that I enjoyed pretty well. It's a remarkably clever, greatly entertaining movie, one that--despite being made in 1982--has all the air of a classic 50s/60s musical about it, with a sense of fun and humor that's absent from many modern movies. What's more, it has a surprisingly big heart, with a remarkably modern attitude towards sexuality. I enjoyed it far more than I expected, and laughed quite a bit.
8-28	The Aristocrats	A quick note, if you're thinking about seeing this: this is among the most profane, raunchy movies I've ever seen. And, mostly, it's hilarious. What emerges is not just comics' renditions of an infamous joke, but also a testament to the way comedy isn't just about the material, but the telling...and in all that, there's a horrifying, disgusting, incredibly funny joke told more ways than I can count, most of them quite good (I was a BIG fan of the South Park, cards, mime, Kevin Pollak's Walken, and Jason Alexander versions.)
8-28	November	Earlier, I posted a review of this that simply read "Suck suckity suck suck." Pretty much, I stand by that review. This is just an incredibly mediocre indie drama that has all sorts of neat ideas (it thinks), but no idea how a) to execute them, b) make them coherent, or c) make them interesting or involving. Every once in a while, it seemed like a good movie was buried deep in there, but then it turned out to just be bad. Oh well.
8-27	La Strada	When I first watched this, I liked it pretty well, although I was a bit lost as to exactly how it merited its classic status. Then, I watched Martin Scorsese's introduction, and in his brilliant and informative way, he made the whole thing very clear. I'm still not as blown away as I expected to be, but I enjoyed the movie, and admired lots about it.
8-25	The Muppets' Wizard of Oz	We watched about 10 minutes of this, then realized how horribly it sucked. That made me awfully sad, given my deep and abiding affection towards the Muppets. Still, I taped it for one reason: to see Quentin Tarantino's scene, in which he tried to tell Kermit how to stage a girl on girl fight. So I fast-forwarded to that. It was pretty funny. The rest...ugh.
8-25	Love Liza	Somewhere in this, there's a good movie trying to get out. There are signs of it throughout: good acting, some poignant scenes. But the genuine human drama of a man grieving for his wife is lost amidst his bizarrely tacked on need to sniff gas to escape the pain, and the way that spins into coverups, distracting from the heart of the story.
8-25	Murder on the Orient Express	Fun stuff, due in no small part to the incredible cast, but most particularly the always enjoyable Albert Finney, who makes Poirot a complete joy to watch, bringing a good sense of fun into the movie. The plot...well, it's complicated to the point of absurdity. But when it's this enjoyable to watch, quibbling over details just ruins the fun.
8-25	Roman Holiday	A wonderful little movie, made more so by an ending that I actually was a little suprised by. It's nice to see something that plays against the Hollywood formula every once in a while. But, of course, what really makes this one soar is Hepburn, whose charm, smile, and grace are captivating in every frame. Worthy of its classic status, if only for her.
8-21	Six Feet Under	It's not often that I cry, much less at a television show. But this show's final episode, which concluded with a 10 minute sequence of such stunning beauty, grace, and power that words geniunely cannot do it justice in any way whatsoever, has done the trick. A wonderful show draws to a close with a powerful, deeply moving, wonderful final episode, and while I am saddened by the loss, I am happy with the perfection of its ending.
8-21	The 40 Year-Old Virgin	A genuinely hilarious and unexpectedly sweet little movie. I expected--and was not disappointed--a movie that would make me laugh uproariously, and I did, throughout it. Carrell is a riot to watch, but the entire cast brings just as much fun to the table. What I didn't expect, but loved, was the suprising emotion and care it brought with it, and its genuine affection for its characters. Rather than reducing them to props, each had their own story to tell. Very funny, but also suprisingly insightful. (Oh, and very R-rated.)
8-20	All the Real Girls	To me, this was a movie easier to admire than really like. I was impressed by the laconic film-making, with the naturalistic acting, and the laidback pacing. And yet, all those things, while making it more believable, made it a little hard to get into. It's a little slow, to put it mildly. Still, I thought it was a well-made movie; just not necessarily "enjoyable".
8-18	Firefly: The Complete Series	What a great show. I finished up the last two of the fourteen episodes tonight, and now I have to find ways to kill time till the movie. It's just another one of Fox's crimes against television that such a sharply-written, witty, exciting, and involving series got shuffled around and mixed up until it got cancelled because they couldn't think of anything else bad to do to it. It's a great show, full of fully realized characters, emotional story arcs, and a great sense of humor, as well as a nice fusion of the sci-fi and western genres.
8-13	The Devil's Rejects	I find myself sharply divided. I can't deny that it has some major flaws...and yet, it's also a disturbing, gutsy, "anything goes" horror movie, and it's nice to see something that defies most rules come out of Hollywood. It's also a compelling film, and more complicated than it seems--watch the way Zombie shifts sympathies back and forth so much that no one can come out gleefully enjoying the horror, that everyone gets to experience terror from the victim's view, not just the killer's. No, it's got some problems, but it's a hell of a ride (and a far better film than its predecessor), and a fascinating experience.
8-5	March of the Penguins	While I greatly enjoyed it, and found it completely fascinating and even oddly moving, I'm not quite sure what has made this the phenomenon that it is. It's certainly good, and the scenery and cinematography is beautiful...but in the end, it's just another nature documentary. A good one, yes, and one that minimizes the "Awwww" moments in favor of simply telling an interesting tale...but it's just a documentary. Still, I liked it quite a bit.
7-22	The Big Lebowski	At LebowskiFest. It doesn't matter how many times I've seen it, I love it every time. It just makes me laugh...and even knowing the story, I love the performances and the pitch-perfect delivery of brilliant dialogue. It's just a great comedy, and even if the crowd this year was more lackluster than last year's, it was still nice to be in a crowd of fans.
7-18	Path to War	A compelling and sobering docu-drama. I'm aware that it soft-pedals on LBJ a little bit, but that doesn't detract from this fascinating depiction of the Johnson presidency as the ideals of the "Great Society" slowly gave way to the national nightmare of Vietnam. It's a tragic story, especially with Gambon's outstanding performance as LBJ reminding you of the administration's noble intentions, and the pain of failing so badly. It's a thought-provoking and powerful film (more so, thanks to many eerie parallels with our current situation).
7-15	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Apart from the disastrous effort to give Wonka a backstory, this was pretty great. Burton's visual style has rarely been on such great display, and his sense for detail made the movie a joy to behold (especially on the IMAX, where the little things are easily seen). The script is mostly well done, and though it's missing the heart of the first film, it makes up for it by capturing more of the book's morbid humor. And Depp...well, he's certainly entertaining, if a tad bit creepy. Quite enjoyable, and what I needed to shake my bad mood.
7-10	Citizen Kane	Also on the big screen. Although it's not the emotional joy that Casablanca is, it more than makes up for it with its brilliant visual style and filmmaking craft. It's The Aviator to Casablanca's Sideways; that is, the former is better made, but the latter is the one I enjoyed more. But it's still a brilliant film; the visuals are beautiful (especially being able to see the detail on the big screen), and the plot, as always, remains fascinating.
7-10	Casablanca	On the big screen at the Belcourt. I had never seen this before, and I loved every second of it. It's perfectly written, brilliantly delivered, and moving in all the right parts. It's one of those classics whose reason for having that status is clear in every frame. It's funny, poignant, and, in the words of my friend Ryan, "a perfect picture". Excellent.
7-9	Bewitched	A misbegotten, incoherent movie, made at least tolerable by the comic genius of Will Ferrell (particularly in one scene involving his missing dog) and a brilliant cameo by Steve Carrell. Mostly, though, it's baffling and simply unfunny. Here's my basic thought: if a movie makes Michael Caine uninteresting, it has some serious problems. It gets credit for having a creative take on remaking a TV show, but otherwise, it fails pretty badly.
7-4	Howl's Moving Castle	Another marvel from the man who brought you Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. It proves yet again that, inch for inch, nobody packs more imagination and creativity into any given frame of animation than Miyazaki (his only close American competition is the geniuses at Pixar). The story is a bit cluttered, but that never matters--you can always follow the action, even if some of the motives become a bit fuzzy. But it's in the wonderful animation, with all its marvels, that the movie truly succeeds. Wonderful, wonderful.
7-4	The Man Without a Past	I dunno. It was nothing horrible, by any stretch of the imagination. I liked its good-natured spirit, its low-key sense of humor (and it's a good sense--parts are quite funny), and its lackadaisical sense of adventure. I guess, while I liked all that, I can't say that I got too into it. I don't mind plotless movies, and I like character driven stuff, but this one never pulled me in. Still, it's not bad, just a little too slow and aimless, I guess.
7-1	War of the Worlds	Nobody does a pure popcorn pic like Spielberg, and this one is right up there with his best. Yes, it falls apart as it closes, but the ending can't help but be a little anti-climactic (although Spielberg's overreaching for a happy ending hurts it a bit extra), but the brilliant use of effects (and the wise choices to keep much offscreen), excellently tense setpieces, and beautiful visuals keep this engrossing (and the tension levels extremely high). It's very well done, and minor flaws aside, as good a popcorn pic as I've seen in years.
7-1	Mister Roberts	Yes, it's a little predictable, but when the script is well-written, the cast is uniformly strong, the humor sharp, and everything works, there's not much to complain about. Fonda is excellent with his mix of humor, world-weariness, and compassion, but (no surprise) it's Lemmon who walks away with every scene he appears in. Very, very good in every way.
6-29	Land of the Dead	Out-frigging-standing. If you're one of the people who wonders why Romero is considered such a king of modern horror, look no further than this brilliant film, which brings the master back to the genre he created. As he's always done, Romero spins biting social commentary with morbid humor, stellar camerawork, and copious amounts of gore to create a completely unique and excellent horror film. Absolutely fantastic, and it makes me giddy to think of Romero's hopes of this being the first movie in a new trilogy...
6-25	Wake Up, Ron Burgundy!	Basically an alternate version of Anchorman compiled from alternate takes and leftove footage. It's surprisingly funny, although never as good as what made it into the actual film. Still, this cast can't help but be fairly hilarious, particularly the brilliant Steve Carrell. And it's well worth watching just for the fake commentary track, involving a third executive producer who doesn't seem to have been involved at all. Fun stuff.
6-25	Plaza Suite	I probably would have liked this more if it had been what I expected. Given that the two snippets I read about it called it one of Simon's funniest plays, I expected, gosh, I don't know, a comedy. Instead you get a mostly grim, pessimistic look at the ways that love declines over the years (exception: the last segment is pretty hilarious). Still, I think it was actually very good; it just was so different that it was hard to appreciate.
6-20	Ocean's Twelve	A lot of people didn't seem to like this very much, but I enjoyed it. No, it's not even close to the sharp, tight plotting of the first one, but there's a sense of fun that I enjoyed in this one's relaxation. True, the goofing off becomes a bit evident as the movie goes on, and it all eventually wears out its welcome a little bit, but it's still fun to watch.
6-20	The Witches of Eastwick	An incoherent, jumbled mess of a movie. The tone is wildly inconsistent--it jumps from comedy to seduction to drama to horror and back again so often that it's clear they had no idea what they wanted to make. And the plot...it's as if huge sections of the script are missing somewhere. And yet, somehow it's consistently watchable. Why? Because--no shocker here--Jack Nicholson is so damn good in it, and ridiculously entertaining.
6-19	The Birds	At the drive/walk-in at the Belcourt. This holds up extremely well, by any standards. It's a bit slow to get moving, but that slowness only makes the eventual payoff all the more jarring. It's an extremely creepy and unsettling little film; the effects are still solid, but it's the still shots of birds perched everywhere that make the film truly chilling. A very effective horror film from the master of suspense, and one that merits its reputation.
6-17	Batman Begins	Saw this on the IMAX, and, oh my, how outstanding it was. They finally realized what the other Batmans have been missing--not just a story, but they've been missing BATMAN, choosing instead to focus on celebrity villains and goofy action. But this one is fantastic, focusing on psychologically deep and interesting characters all around, creating a well-structured plot, and grounding itself in the characters instead of gimmick casting. The acting is uniformly great (particularly Caine as Alfred), the visuals stunningly great (particularly some of the "fear" shots)...in every way, this is not just the best comic book movie I have seen, but a really great movie. Everything I hoped it would be and more.
6-15	Darkness (Unrated cut)	Apparently, when this was released, it was brutally edited by about fifteen minutes to a PG version for a theatrical release. I haven't seen that, but this version of the movie (which easily merits an R, inspiring wonder at the idea of a PG version) is actually not too bad at all. Sure, it borrows liberally from other horror movies (the plot is The Shining with a dash of Lovecraft), but who doesn't anymore? The point is, this is mostly pretty satisfyingly creepy, with an emphasis on mood over action, and a very nicely done last ten minutes of truly unsettling stuff. (Note: it also makes great horror use of the surround sound.)
6-12	The Deer Hunter	I'm sure this will prompt some angry e-mails from my film geek friends (and I welcome them--I would love an explanation) , but I just didn't get it. It seems like there's a point in there somewhere, and yes, there are some brilliant scenes. But the film is simply too long and bloated to be effective. It drags on and on, and by the time we start to see what it's trying to be all about, we're too lost in the excess length of the film. I can admire what it was going for, but I don't think it accomplished it as well as it would have liked.
6-12	Jennifer Eight	Technically, it's very well made, I suppose; it's full of gorgeous camerawork and some good use of locations, especially during a couple of sequences set in a school for the blind. And, yes, it has some good acting, most notably by Malkovich, who single-handedly makes the movie about three times more interesting. It's just that the plot isn't too great, especially as it peters out towards the end. Still, I've definitely seen worse thrillers.
6-11	Kingdom of Heaven	A far better historical epic than I expected, mostly thanks to Ridley Scott's amazing direction. (Increasingly, I think Scott may be the best action director working today; not as entertainment, but as conveying the brutal, chaotic nature of warfare.) It's a fascinating look at a conflict of cultures and religion, as well as the hellish realties of war. It's not flawless--the romance is tacked on, and Bloom is still lacking the gravity needed to carry a movie--but it's definitely far above average, and much better than Gladiator.
6-11	Night Shift	Enjoyable enough early 80s comedy. Given the subject matter (two regular guys start running their own prostitution ring out of the morgue), it's notable how it never devolves into crass or exploitation comedy, choosing to stay just simply funny, light-hearted, and consistently enjoyable. I can't think that'd happen these days. It's a fun movie, apparently launching Michael Keaton's career (and he is quite funny in it, I have to say).
6-8	Super Size Me	As mentioned, watched this with my Family and Consumer Science class. The end result: 1st period was apathetic, 4th period really enjoyed it. Overall, as movie that I've shown to classes go, this one's pretty enjoyable for them.
6-5	Hopscotch	Enjoyable little comic adventure about a disgruntled CIA man who decides to write his memoirs in order to humiliate his boss. It's slight, and more entertaining than plausible, but it's very fun to watch, due in no small part to Matthau, who, as always, is hilarious in every possible way. It's nothing groundbreaking, but a lot of fun, and quite good.
6-5	Super Size Me	Watched this in preparation for teaching it this week in Family and Consumer Science. I figured this time I needed to make a study guide to keep them on task. Let me say, though, that although I like this movie, if I had the choice as to what movie I had watched the most times this year, it sure wouldn't be this one.
6-4	Haute Tension	Until the last ten minutes, this is a pretty solid, quite intense thriller. It's closer, in fact, than anything I've seen in years to capturing the amoral, incomprehensible terror of the original Texas Chainsaw. No, it doesn't meet that film's standards, but it's pretty dang good--until the last ten minutes. Then, the film introduces a mind-blowingly FUCKING MORONIC TWIST, and expects you to buy it. How bad is the twist? It ruined the entire movie for me by being so hilariously bad, completely illogical, and just stupid. Do yourself a favor; if you see it, quit after the greenhouse. You'll be a lot happier, trust me.
5-22	Deadwood	The second season, in which--and, oh, how this borders on blasphemy--The Sopranos loses its crown as the best show on TV. With a dazzling cast of actors, a fully realized, fascinating set of characters, believable, gripping plots, powerful emotions, and a great sense of humor, Deadwood proves that HBO is the best reason to own a television anymore. For the last half of this season, Deadwood became not only the best television I have ever seen, but among the best material I have watched. Outstanding.
5-21	Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith	The short version: for the first time since this whole "new trilogy" began, I left the theater feeling like I'd actually seen a Star Wars movie. In other words, although it certainly had some major problems, I liked it very much. The longer version of my take on it (and I warn you, it's quite a bit longer) is up here, if you're curious.
5-14	Oldboy	A truly unsettling film about vengeance and the way the spattering blood can end up covering everyone involved. The plot--involving a strange imprisonment and an even stranger release--is compelling, and every new reveal only involves you all the more. The violence, while extreme, fits the film, and the brutally twisted (in both the "complicated" and the "sick" senses) plot elevates a revenge film into a modern tragedy. And the style...oh, the style. It's not easy, but it's an incredible accomplishment.
5-6	Alfie (1966)	Although the moralizing gets a little heavy-handed towards the end, Michael Caine makes this movie absolutely great. He single-handedly creates a fully-realized, fascinating character, and charts his growth and changes over several years of life, culminating in a grim, if believable, series of realizations. I can't imagine how toned down the American remake must be; this wasn't obscene, but definitely bleak. Very good, though.
5-6	Scotland, PA	Watched it with my kids for a movie version of Macbeth. Forgot that the language was a little rougher than I recalled, but still better than showing them Polanski's version. They seemed to enjoy it pretty well; I thought it was a lot better and funnier than I remembered it being. A good example of how to properly modernize Shakespeare.
5-4	The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra	A fairly entertaining homage/spoof of old B-horror and monster movies. Mostly, it's pretty great--the dialogue is hilarious, and the costuming, camerawork, and acting are all so spot-on as to be mistakable for the original thing. My only gripe is that, even at 90 minutes, it's a bit overlong, and the joke wears a bit thin by the end. Still, some of the jokes are sharp enough to break the routine, and it's mostly pretty fun.
5-1	House of Sand and Fog	Ended up watching the last 45 minutes or so, mainly out of curiosity, since I couldn't remember how it ended (well, the details of it, anyways). Overwrought and a little absurd, but well acted, I suppose.
4-30	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Once you get past how different it is from the book (mainly, it's more plot-intensive, and its characters are a little more developed), you can enjoy it for what it is--a fun, absurd film. Sure, I had some gripes (Ford is very underused, and they never explained towels...), but overall, I laughed a lot and enjoyed some of the more creative touches, especially with the Improbability Drive. And let me just say how great Alan Rickman is as the hilariously depressed Marvin. Your mileage may vary, but I really enjoyed it.
4-23	A Bronx Tale	A very good character study, and a strong directorial debut for De Niro, whose love of New York shines through clearly throughout the film. The movie does a great job of evoking its era, and its story, depicting a boy's relationships with both his father and the local mob boss, is well told, with all of the characters being fully realized, fascinating individuals--not flat stereotypes, or symbols of their lifestyles, but complete, interesting characters who truly care for the boy in their own ways. This is a very, very good film.
4-22	Spider- man 2	Watched this with my kids as a reward (in lieu of them having to do a midterm) for having absolutely no missing or late work. I enjoyed it even more the second time through. The pacing seems tighter, knowing where the story is going, and all the various elements combine to make a great thematic impact. And, once again, the greatness of Molina as Doc Ock can't be understated. Easily one of the best comic book movies ever.
4-14	Freaked	Not really as funny as I had hoped, although it had some pretty great parts...honestly, tho, the one part I had seen before (involving a flashback by a hammer) was the funniest part of the movie (but it was still pretty hilarious, even the second time around). No, it certainly wasn't very good, and I can't bring myself to recommend it...but can you make yourself completely hate a movie that casts Mr. T as the bearded lady? I think not.
4-12	Klute	An interesting film, although not completely successful. As a thriller, it's a bit lackluster, never very involving until the very end, during a chillingly compelling taped conversation. As a character study, it's far better, although ultimately a bit meandering and slightly overlong for the movie. It's quite good, overall, just a bit unfocused for its own good.
4-2	Sin City	This is to film noir what Kill Bill was to grindhouse kung-fu flicks: a stellar, lovingly done homage with the material and style cranked beyond 11. Sin City takes all the noir archetypes and spins them into an insanely stylish world, full of complicated tales and lots (and lots) of violence. The acting is great, the humor grim, the villains scary (particularly Elijah Wood, of all people, turning in a terrifying performance as an evil Harry Potter lookalike), but it's the dazzling visual style that makes this so stunning. A great movie.
4-2	Spartan	An excellent thriller, made all the more so by Mamet's latest trend of stripping down his movies and his dialogue to their bare essentials. Outstanding performances, some well-done action sequences, and a nicely twisty plot that continues to swerve past when you think its done, culminating in a thoughtfully bleak ending. Very, very good.
3-31	The Statement	Sadly, this was pretty mediocre to bad in most ways. As a thriller, it failed almost entirely, aiming for paranoia and ending up with incoherence and silliness. Sad, when a movie that's apparently based on some factual events can't be any more convincing. Unsurprisingly, the best thing about the movie is Michael Caine, whose portrayal of a once evil man struggling for redemption in his faith belongs in a much, much better movie.
3-27	Carnivàle	This was a great pay-off for an outstanding season of this show, as the slow, deliberate domino placement of season one gave way to their rapid falling, and plot thread after plot thread came together. And the finale...wow. Absolutely incredible, and everything a finale should be: satisfying, answering questions, while opening the door for the show to continue in a whole new way. A great show, and this season only confirms it, blowing the already good first season out of the water. Please, please let there be a season three...
3-27	The Transporter	Enjoyable enough, even if it gets less so the further into it you get. The opening car chase is great, and at that point, the main character is fascinating. Sadly, as the "plot" (and I use that word loosely) gets rolling, the movie loses coherence and becomes more generic, though a couple of bits (a fight between two steel doors and one involving some spilled oil) are quite sharp. Not a bad way to kill an hour and a half, but nothing great here.
3-25	The Big Bounce	Nobody will ever argue that this is a great movie, or anything close to it...but (sorry, BH) I quite enjoyed it. It's definitely lackadaisical (how I've longed to use that word), with the plot almost an afterthought, but watching a great cast have fun (particularly Wilson, using his slacker charm and great comic timing for maximum effect), and bring that fun with them into the movie made for a pretty relaxing little movie vacation. No, it's not great--it's just too meandering--but there were definitely worse ways to spend 88 minutes.
3-25	Owning Mahowny	An outstanding drama about obsession, gambling, and an industry that encourages both. There are several superb aspects to this: the way every character is fully realized, the eerie parallels it draws between the banking world and the gambling industry, and much more. But what truly anchors the film, what makes it so powerful, is Philip Seymour Hoffman's understated, concentrated, magnificent performance as a man who knows his own obsessions, but is powerless to fight them, try though he might. An excellent film.
3-25	People I Know	Wow. This is easily one of the most horrifyingly, shockingly awful movies in recent years. The first 30 minutes or so is unbelievably bad, and the last hour is Citizen Kane compared to the first part; still, compared to, say, watching cows defecate on a lawn, I'd rather watch the cows. Between Pacino's horrifying accent, terrifyingly bad camerawork (the last shot is laughable), an incoherent story, and a hilariously funny attempt to wring paranoid drama out of it, this is just complete and utter shit. Incredibly, jaw-droppingly terrible.
3-25	To Have and Have Not	A pretty fun little adventure story, even if it does seem a bit like Casablanca lite. Bogart and Bacall pretty much carry the movie, their charisma helping the movie when the simple plot begins to slow. It's nothing revolutionary, but I quite enjoyed it throughout. (Better than I ever expected a movie written by Faulkner based on Hemingway could possibly be...)
3-24	Dial M for Murder	Quite good for about the first hour, then a bit of a decline as it all becomes a bit of a stretch to believe. The first hour, tho, in which the caper is planned, committed, and reworked is great watching, and incredibly tense. It's just watching everyone make incredible leaps in logic to work it out that's a bit of a letdown. It also doesn't help that A) its stage play roots are pretty obvious, and B) MY FREAKING DVR CUT OUT THE LAST TWO MINUTES OF THE MOVIE. Not that I'm bitter...
3-24	Talk to Her	It's definitely unique, and actually surprisingly good, although in the wrong hands, this could have either been unintentionally hilarious or absolutely horrifyingly offensive. Instead, it's a nice drama about loneliness, connections (or the inability to make them), friendship, and the difficulties of love and communication. It's definitely unique, and the silent film sequence is...um...well, it's something; and yet, in spite of the oddities, at its core it's a nice drama about people, and a good one at that.
3-24	Auto Focus	As a biopic, I'm sure it has some major shortcomings and inaccuracies, but as a depiction of a man's battle with his own weaknesses/addiction, and his struggle for happiness in the midst of it, it's outstanding. Kinnear is compelling as Crane, playing a man who is convinced of his own goodness, and unable to understand the effects his addiction has on others. The film becomes a bit heavy-handed towards the end, but Kinnear and Defoe make it into the powerful examination of humanity that it is.
3-23	Flirting with Disaster	Um...not really sure if I liked it or not. At times, it was hilarious; at others, shrill and annoying. I will say it was incredibly unique, and joyously anarchic, with no Hollywood ending. I don't really know what's rubbed me the wrong way about it...too much Stiller over the years, maybe? Not bad, I guess...just something I didn't like that I can't quite place.
3-20	A Mighty Wind	This was pretty funny, but what kept it from being as hilarious as, say, Guffman was the fact that, while Guest has always been fond of his characters, this time he likes them so much that he lets them off the hook a bit. And, yeah, this may dampen some of the humor...but it makes up for it by bringing a nice emotional element to the movie (mainly around Mitch and Mickey), culminating in a satisfying, even sadly moving ending. You know, with its great sense of humor and emotional depth, I just really enjoyed it.
3-17	The Hard Word	My streak of good movies comes to an end. I may be a sucker for heist movies, but I also know mediocrity when I see it, and let me tell you: a couple of good heist setpieces does not a movie make. Although the heists themselves are nicely done, the movie's pretty dull throughout, and the plot is incredibly generic. It's not awful, but it's certainly not good.
3-16	2010	It's not the masterpiece that 2001 is, but if every movie were judged by that film, that'd be a pretty harsh standard. No, it's not as magnificent or hauntingly enigmatic, but it's still a satisfying, interesting, and intelligent piece of sci-fi, even if it is more mainstream. The effects hold up pretty well for the most part (the computers don't, but they never do, do they?), and the plot is fascinating. It's a surprisingly decent continuation. (For a more in-depth review that I completely agree with, see Ebert's excellent thoughts.)
3-13	All the President's Men	One of my movie rules is that if you know the entire story/ending of a movie, and it still keeps you engrossed and even surprises you, that's the mark of a good movie. This is one of those. Even if you know the whole story, this is a compelling portrayal of two men's search for truth, and its low-key approach helps make it all the more convincingly real. What's more, the movie gives even a modern viewer a sense of how shocking all of this was. A great motion picture about one of the most important events in our history.
3-13	Strangers on a Train	It's Hitchcock at the top of his game--what else do you need to know? It's a taut thriller, with an absolutely chilling performance by Walker as the murderous psychopath. Add to that a script laced with double entendres and a lot of psychosexual/homosexual issues in the head of the villain, and you have a fascinating killer about what could have been the birth of a serial killer. A phenomenally good thriller, with some brilliant visuals (again, duh--it's Hitchcock!), and far deeper and creepier than I'm sure people of the time realized.
3-12	The Verdict	Outstanding character study in the guise of a solid courtroom drama, and it works on both levels. The court case is compelling, and manages to be fascinating not only on its own level, but as an examination of justice in our society. But the movie is truly about Paul Newman's character, a man seeking his own redemption at whatever cost, and it is his performance that makes this such a superb film. Excellent drama, with a low-key enough approach to make everything believable, and top-notch performances throughout.
3-12	Defending Your Life	A brilliant idea, wonderfully done, and frequently hilarious--this is a great comedy. The notion of looking back over your life is nothing new, but Brooks brings his own wonderful neuroses to it, as well as hilarious touches and details that you really feel as if he's constructed this whole world. And, what's better, it's really funny (my personal favorite sequences are the past lives and the montage of bad decisions). It's also nice to have a comedy that doesn't feel the need to talk down to its audience. Great, great fun.
3-12	Caddyshack	No, I had never watched this until today, and I don't know that I was missing all that much. It's more a collection of funny performances than anything coherent...and yet, Murray, Chase, and Dangerfield really are damned funny to watch (Murray and Chase's scene together is fantastic), even while the movie itself isn't that satisfying. Entertaining, sometimes funny, but nothing great, other than watching some funny people have fun .
3-9	Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst	A compelling documentary, more because of the subject matter than anything about the film itself. If you know me, you know I'm incredibly fascinated by Patty Hearst, and this doc does a good job of telling the story of the SLA (although by interviewing its members today, it becomes almost an elegy for the moment when a hippie's dream became a militant, press-hogging nightmare) and of the truly surreal story that spun around them and their unwilling (?) helper Hearst. A great portrait of a truly bizarre time in our history.
3-6	Gallipoli	Maybe I just didn't get it. The reviews all say that this immerses you in the characters' lives, getting you attached so that you feel the reality of war when it comes. But to me, it was just dull and uninvolving, and heavy-handed at the end. Is it overrated, or just can't compare to masterpieces like Private Ryan? Who knows. But I was quite bored with it.
3-5	Deadwood	Just finished the first season, and I am blown away. This is easily one of HBO's strongest shows to date, with a incredibly richly drawn cast of characters, all of whom are equally fascinating and compelling. Of the secondary characters, I was most intrigued by Dourif's town doctor/conscience, but, obviously, it's Al Swearengen who anchors the show, as the best character on TV since Tony Soprano. This is an amazing show--full of humor, drama, and a searing look at at American exploration. An incredible show in every way.
3-5	The Merchant of Venice	I think most of my problems with this came from the play itself, not the fairly good film adaptation. It's a notoriously difficult play, not just for its anti-Semitism, but also for its tough jumbling of dark drama and light farce. The movie doesn't always work--the comedy never seems to fit--but Pacino elevates it, bringing a power, depth, and gravity to Shylock that almost makes the play The Tragedy of Shylock more than a light comedy.
3-1	The Good Thief	First off, you should know by now how much I loves me a heist movie. Second, this is completely an exercise in cool, and it works extremely well. Third, and most importantly, it features a hell of a performance by Nick Nolte, who makes Bob charismatic, entertaining, and completely believable. A great, enjoyable, fun, fascinating, beautifully shot movie.
3-1	Once Upon a Time in America	It's very, very good, but I wouldn't call it a gangster film. It's more of a film about men, friendships, the American Dream, and time that happens to be a gangster film. If you try to view it as a gangster movie, it's too long and dull; but if you look at it the way it was intended, as a study in humanity, in the effects of time, in the costs of friendship, or as an epic vision, it works incredibly. No, it's not too long--it's exactly right, in that its scope allows it to paint everything beautifully, and to create a singularly powerful experience.
2-27	Ray	Better than I had heard, tho I can see where the criticisms come from. As a movie, it's pretty average, but--and this has been said so many times--it's worth watching just for Jamie Foxx, who is so amazingly good that you forget you're watching an actor work. It's him, and him alone, that moves the picture into something more than a standard biopic.
2-20	Lost in America	Pretty entertaining, although it's more amusing than laugh-out-loud funny. A lot of the humor comes through mainly by virtue of Brooks' performance, and his ability to read a line in perfect comic outrage; other situations are funny because of the situation, but hard to laugh at. All in all, I liked it a lot; an ending would have been nice, tho.
2-19	Something's Gotta Give	I actually liked this pretty well, tho I feel it was a bit mis-marketed; it's far more of a romantic drama than a comedy, although some parts are pretty funny. It's much more of a gentle meditation on romance as you get older, and Keaton and Nicholson could not be more perfect for their parts. It's a tad long, but given that the length allows for more depth and more truth to the characters, I'm willing to forgive that. A really great romantic movie, made truly wonderful by Nicholson and Keaton's joyous performances.
2-17	The Rules of Attraction	Relentlessly, viciously bleak, this is a hard movie to like. I think Ebert put it best: he said it's "a skillfully made movie about reprehensible people"...yet, there may be more to it. There is an elusive moral core to it, something deeper that exposes the vicious nihilism for the emptiness it is. I think, in fact, this review (scroll down) does a good job of exposing that, and also made me appreciate the movie a lot more...it's certainly not an easy watch, but that hardly makes it any less fascinating.
2-17	Romeo + Juliet	Been watching this for the past couple of weeks with my class. It's much better than I remembered it being, although the acting ranges from outstanding (Postlethwaite) to atrocious (Danes), and the modernization and direction can sometimes just be insanely over-the-top, as in the opening sequence. Still, it works quite well, for the most part, and I have to say that I enjoyed it much more than I remembered doing.
2-16	Kung Fu Hustle	If you don't take it seriously--and you're not meant to--this is a BLAST. Sure, it's goofy as anything; sure, the plot makes no sense; yes, not only does it heavily feature CGI work, it revels and enjoys it...but I laughed throughout, and the fights are jaw-droppingly staged. It's basically a live-action martial arts cartoon, with all the enjoyment that implies.
2-13	Garage Days	There's nothing special here, but it didn't make it any less likeable. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in affection for its characters, good sense of humor, enjoyable over-the-top direction, and a really wonderful ending that counteracts some of the formula. Nothing that will win any awards, but I really liked it a lot for what it was.
2-11	Frantic	Full disclosure: for about the last half hour, the drowsy TheraFlu I took was starting to kick in, so I was fighting sleep...still, as a whole, the movie didn't impress me much. The setup is great, and for a while it's really gripping, but it just falls apart. It's basically interesting enough to keep you watching, but not enough to be good.
2-11	Gattaca	I really liked this movie for its ideas, more than anything. The performances are adequate, and the story's pretty involving--that is, until the last 15 minutes, when the whodunit falls apart, and the movie becomes awful (the beach scene is particularly bad). Still, for its interesting ideas about nature compared to nurture, it's well worth a watch.
2-8	Max	It's not a bad movie, per se, just a deeply flawed one. While the idea of exploring Hitler's psychology before his rise to power is a great one, and the idea of using art to do so even better, the movie suffers from some awkward writing (for instance, Cusack's dialogue is horribly anachronistic) and a few too many background characters that only serve as distractions. Still, the ideas of the movie make it an interesting, if uneven, watch.
2-8	The Life and Death of Peter Sellers	Remarkably excellent. Nice to see that HBO doesn't just outclass TV on their shows, but also their movies. This is so far beyond the typical biopic, preferring true storytelling and an immersive perspective to simple biography. Add to this an inventive script, nice direction, and most of all, an absolutely amazing performance by Geoffrey Rush (who plays almost every character in the movie, in a way), and you have a really great movie.
2-5	Being There	Completely outstanding. It's similar to Forrest Gump, except where Gump played its character for cheap nostalgia, this uses it as a platform for scathing commentary on a society that embraces platitudes as substance. Also, where Gump went for melodrama, Being There goes for hilarious--if extremely subtle--humor. Finally, it does feature the always incredible Peter Sellers, who manages to take a character with no substance and bring him to fully realized, moving, humorous life. A wonderful, funny, and intelligent film.
2-4	Before and After	It's a compelling idea--what a family does to protect their own--and yet, somehow, it got lost in creation. Throughout, the characters seem to be on the verge of realizations, and yet they never do, and the film's conclusion only muddies things further. It's interesting, until you realize that no one knew what the point was, and then it's just frustrating.
2-3	Napoleon Dynamite	It's not really all that great--it's more a series of bits than a movie, and the laughs are kind of stretched thin. And yet...those laughs that do come are hilarious...and it's goofy/dumb spirit is kind of endearing, in spite of itself. I can't say I liked it, because it wasn't good enough to really like...but, to quote Jim Ridley of the Nashville Scene, "I can't bring myself to hate a movie with such a deeply held appreciation of tater tots." (Besides, something this harmless and empty was completely what I needed, after the events of today.)
2-2	Shattered Glass	What really makes this movie work is how insanely involving the story is. It's completely compelling to watch someone completely fool one of the most important, professional publications in the world, and you can't help but get into it. Christensen turns out to be able to act (!), and does a great job with his sniveling, whiny, ingratiating depiction of Glass, but it's Sarsgaard who really gives the movie its moral center. A fascinating film.
1-30	Blood Work	Meh. It's a middling version of a really great book. Eastwood is perfect for the role--in fact, he's so perfect, it makes the rest of the movie disappointing. What could have become a great revisiting of his past becomes a "going through the motions" adaptation. (It doesn't help that they changed the ending in an incredibly unsatisfying way.)
1-29	Confidence	If you know me at all, you know I'm a sucker for con movies, and this is a pretty good one. Nothing you haven't seen before, but there is a really great cast (including Dustin Hoffman having a blast) and, of course, a nicely planned con that, even tho I guessed part of it, still had some surprises left. A solid, enjoyable bit of entertainment.
1-28	Million Dollar Baby	All in all, a superb film, anchored by beautiful, deep, funny, heartfelt performances by Eastwood, Swank, and Freeman. The story itself is simple but honest--it goes places few "boxing" movies would ever go, and its final act is heartbreaking, even as you see that it's the perfectly natural thing for these people to do. What makes the movie so good, tho, is not the story, but the characters--these vibrant, beautifully performed, stunning human characters, who bring the movie its great sense of humor, and, more importantly, its heart.
1-26	Riding the Bullet	Made it through about fifteen minutes of this. A: it was truly, amazingly horrible in that fifteen minutes. (Some quick scanning of the rest of the movie offered no hope for change.) B: in showing it on USA, the FCC deemed it necessary to cut out every third word. If it had been good--and it certainly wasn't--I still wouldn't have finished it.
1-26	Solaris (2002)	I actually liked it quite a bit. Yes, it's very slow; yes, my friend Ryan would probably cite it as proof of Soderbergh's pretentious nature. But I enjoyed the thoughtfulness of it, the way it used sci-fi only as a jumping off point for its examination of human nature, of loss, of grief, and so forth. The visuals were stunning, the cast nicely subdued, and the script deeply thoughtful, without signs of any compromise in quality to make a "Hollywood movie". Is it slow? Yes--but I liked it for its beauty, its quiet, and its perceptions.
1-25	The Forgotten	It all starts off promising enough--a nice job of building paranoia, a few great jump scenes, and a great hook for a story. It was particularly interesting as a look at government paranoia in this post 9/11 world...and then, slowly, inevitably, it all falls apart. The eerieness dissolves, leaving a fairly insensible mess behind. Very disappointing.
1-25	The Machinist	It's certainly not awful--Bale does a typically excellent job, and there are a few scenes that are truly mesmerizing (the carnival ride). It's just that the story is incredibly familiar...I feel as though I've seen this story a million times. (I think I would have liked it more as a drama than a thriller. Maybe if I watch it knowing the conclusion, I can see it that way...)
1-17	The Aviator	An absolutely amazing film. As I explained to Maria, this kind of thing is why Scorsese is so highly regarded. It's beautifully crafted, perfectly paced, and contains some of the best acting of the year (by Leo, no less). It's a haunting, nightmarish version of the American dream, and it all builds, even through an almost happy ending, to a chilling last scene. A movie fan's movie, and my current pick for the best film of the year.
1-16	Beyond the Sea	In which Kevin Spacey returns to form. As a biography, it's average--it hits all the important points, and tries to jazz things up with musical numbers and an odd framing device. But make no mistake: the movie's more about Spacey than Darin, and it's Spacey's dazzling performance that makes the movie such fun to watch. You can tell he loves doing it, and it makes it a joy to watch him work, for the first time in a while.
1-16	A Very Long Engagement	I really enjoyed this quite a bit, although it is a drastic change from the whimsy of Amelie. It's still filled with Jeunet's typically gorgeous visuals, but rather than unbridled joy, this is a darker, more emotional tale of loss and the horrors of war. At times, all the subplots get a bit tangled, but the movie works at all times, and each subplot is treated with the same dignity of the main story. It's a beautiful movie, both emotionally and visually.
1-14	RKO 281	Quite mediocre. Despite a good cast and a compelling story, it just never gets off the ground in any way. The acting is bland (save for Malkovich, who is great as always), the script horribly written and prone to speeches, and all the drama seems sucked out of what is a fascinating story. Go watch the great documentary this was based on instead.
1-13	Super Size Me	Watched this again with the kids in my Family and Consumer Science class. I still enjoyed it, even the second time through, and the DVD has a really great selection of extra features ("The Smoking Fry" is quite disturbing). Educational and entertaining.
1-9	Broken Lizard's Club Dread	As a parody of slasher flicks, it's not really consistently funny enough; as a slasher film, it's just not scary enough. And yet, I liked its spirit...although the laughs were only intermittent, I'd rather watch this a hundred times over than Meet the Fockers again.
1-9	Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events	Really, really hilarious--in some ways, even better than the books. It does a great job of blending the first three books together seamlessly, and brings out the gleefully morbid sense of humor to an even greater degree. Add in a hysterical performance by Carrey, a couple of wonderful cameos, and a gleefully over-the-top nature that fits the story perfectly, and you have a great adaptation. A really fun time at the movies.
1-7	Meet the Fockers	As a goal trip with the kids at work, and at least that meant I didn't pay for it. I laughed all of once, and it didn't even live up to my low expectations (I didn't like the first one, either). Mainly it just made me sad for Hoffman and De Niro (although, my friend Adam rightly points out that De Niro has lost rights to sympathy since he can't say no to anything).
1-5	Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines	Well, it's not as good as my dad made it out to be. But it was better than I expected. The story is creative in parts, and even has a couple of surprises that extend the mythology of the series, but the self-parody never really meshes with the rest of the movie, and the big ending just falls flat. It was okay--nothing brilliant, but not an awful way to kill two hours.
1-2	Finding Neverland	Pretty good overall, if a bit overdone/heavy-handed in parts. Depp is good, like always, but it's really Freddie Highmore who makes the picture come to life. Plus, Dustin Hoffman takes what could essentially have been a cameo, and has a blast with it. All in all, pretty standard Miramax Oscar bait, but that didn't make it any less good or enjoyable.
1-1	The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou	I really enjoyed it, tho I think it was my least favorite Anderson movie to date. Usually his movies are whimsical with an undercurrent of melancholy; this was the opposite. And yet, that worked for it, allowing some far more emotional moments, even though it dampened some of his usual fun spirit. Still, some beautiful moments, hilarious bits, and Anderson's typically wonderful, understated, implied emotions made me really like this one. (To be fair, Maria thought it was "boring as hell." Sigh.)

e-mail me at
clydeumney@gmail.com

page updated:
September 29, 2009