Oscar Nominees 2005
They were released this morning so here they are. How many best pictures have you seen? I have count two so far, Sideways and The Aviator.
IMDb bottom 100
Pete over at APCB, the initials to the best named blog, ever, lists the movies he’s seen that are in IMDb’s bottom 100. I’ll do the same, but I find it a little bit unfair to try to match a professional blow by blow.
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Bats — And I found this one interstingly hilarious.
Iron Eagle II
Jaws 3D — They used the 3D gimmick as an excuse to send a shark at you.
Tarzan, the Ape man
Jaws, The Revenge — Must be a shark thing.
Hercules, in New York — Saw during a bout of insomnia. Who knew that Arnie with a dubbed vocals could be so funny? Why not his own?
As you can see, I like watching quality films! Although, honestly, I have partially seen plenty of the others on the list, but these are the ones I actually sat through.
House of Flying Daggars
All movies in the end are love stories none more so than House of Flying Daggars. With that title, you would expect a return to Kung Fu theatre. To wit, “Damn! Those house of house of flying daggar dudes rank right up there with five deadly venoms!” Alas, it is not happening. I was bored to tears by this movie. The last time someone throwing side kicks up some dude’s head put me to sleep, David Carridine was walking on rice paper. I think the art house kung fu flick is now dead. Bring back Bruce Lee. More martial less art!
2 of 5 stars.
White Noise
If I can save you money by convincing you that White Noise is a bad movie, then I have done my job. The movie was predictable from the start. In fact, before it was even released, I had predicted the ending. Unfortunately for me, I saw it in the theatres and had my suspicions confirmed. It had the feel of the Serpent and the Rainbow movie. It presented the EVP, electro-video phenomenon, as something real, just as the Serpent and the Rainbow presented zombies/voodoo as real. I was just not buying it.
2 of 5 stars.
Meet the Fokkers
When I saw the commercials for this movie last year, I thought, “Why would anyone want to see a mediocre sequel to a mediocre commedy?” Imagine to my chagrin that it took top honors at the box office with $47 million and a total haul of $162 million. Meet the Fokkers is a mediocre sequel to a mediocre original film. Ben Stiller is not funny in it. Babs is funny thing. Robert Dinero has reached a new low in his career. I have already forgotten that I have seen it.
2 of 5 stars.
The Aviator
Although it is the new year, the last film I saw was The Aviator. Since it was rather good, I should put it onto my year end best of movies list. Leonardo DiCaprio proves that he can act by portraying the obsessive-compulsive Howard Hughes. Not only did this guy make movies, but also designed, built and flew his own planes. Amazing. Are there still anybody like this nowadays.
4 of 5 stars.
The Flight of the Phoenix
Went and saw this today. As an action flick it was pretty mediocre. Not much to say about it. I will not remember this movie next year. Catch it on HBO this summer.
3 of 5 stars.
Don’t cry for me, pilipinas!
Not all movies I have seen were big-budget, studio, summer, super-blockbusters. I have seen a few small indie films this year, the latest of which is Imelda, the documentary about the ex-first lady of the Philippines. I sat through it in the local art house cinema, The Charles. While somewhat interesting, I don’t get the point of the film. Were we supposed to sympathize with her plight? Was she an accomplice to the destruction of the Philippines? Was she misunderstood? The director did not get a point about Imelda across in the film. It unspooled like an autobiography that was too even handed. It stated the facts, presented the history, but didn’t filter her story through her life. I wish she made me feel something for Imelda, but I didn’t and left the theatre ambivilant about both her and the film
3 of 5 stars.
So called best movies of the year…
… As determined by me.
So 2005 draws closer, and to say good bye to 2004, I turn to the tired cliche of a year end list. This list is a list of the highest ranking movies that I saw (and blogged about) from this year. It is incomplete for the year because I had started this blog back in May. My ranking system was n number of stars out of 5, so to compile a best-of list, I chose those movies with 4 or 5 stars. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here they are.
- The Day After Tomorrow – Admittedly, this doesn’t deserve the high ranking I gave it, but I’m just going to post it by the numbers. I originally gave it 4 stars, but believe that it should be demoted to 3. As the year wore on, my taste got better. I promise.
- Spiderman 2 — The best of the summer blockbusters. Hands down.
- Hero — Kung fu theatre was never as gorgeous as this.
- The Incredibles — The best movie this year. I loved the design of everything in this movie. I am slowly getting to be a sucker for mid-century modern.
- Sideways — A critical darling of the traditional movie critics. Good. Not that great, but I can appreciate the finer things in life.
- Catwoman — Panned by everyone except me. 5 of 5 stars! It was so bad it was good. This movie will be the Showgirls of 2004.
- Wicker Park — Underappreciated by many. It got mixed reviews. I loved it.
There you have 7 movies that I rated 4 or 5 out of 5 stars. I would’ve liked to keep this as a top 5 list, but I didn’t want to shortchange any of my reviews.