Things we watch in the cinema or on tape, DVD, and streaming
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.
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.
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.
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.
… 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.
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.
It is getting harder to write a post when I know my writing skills are lacking. Is anyone really reading? I’ll continue on, because I am trying to better my writing skills. In this post, I will share my thoughts on two recent films, Closer and Ocean’s 12. I am remiss that I didn’t share my thoughts on Closer the past week, because I saw it last weekend. Ocean’s 12 I saw yesterday.
Closer. This was originally a play and it felt like one. Lots of dialogue and witty reparte between the characters. Each of them, I did not like. Yet, the movie kept me interested because I wanted to find out what happens to each. Who ends up with whom? The breakthrought performance was turned in by Clive Owen, but his character was a schmuck. Unlikeable and arrogant, his character ends up being the only winner. Julia Roberts has got some acting chops and it is likely that she has gained some fans for her acting rather than her supposed looks. Jude Law is Jude Law, a pretty boy. I did not understand his character’s motivation in sleeping around. It was as if the writer meant for the audience to not root for him. In the end his redemption was never to be because of Natalie Portman’s character. Was the audience supposed to find her attractive? I hated her in this. Many will write about the graphic portrayal of sex amonst adults that this film was about, and it was the most frank depiction of sex outside of a porno. This film could be thought of as an intellectual porno for the mind without the graphic display of nude bodies fucking.
Ocean’s 12. What was the heist in this? There wasn’t one, because the main heist was used as a backdrop to a contest between thieves. I found it rediculouse with its plot twists around plot twists. I still don’t understand what happened. In the first Ocean’s flick, it was about the thieves. In this one, the band of thieves is giving short play and it is about the skullduggery and back stabbing of the bad guys. Is there no honor amongst thieves? Frankly, there are huge holes in the plot. Why, for instance, do they continue with the job when they already know the outcome. This was a mediocre sequel to an already mediocre remake.
In summary: Closer – 3 of 5 stars. Ocean’s 12 – 2 of 5 stars.
Check in later as soon I shall write my end of year lists.
This has been going around the blogosphere. Saw it here from a link at APCB. Since I like movies, a lot, I’ll bore you with my experiences with these cult movies. Bold items are the ones I have seen.
1 This Is Spinal Tap: Funny, funny movie. As many great quotes as any. “This goes to 11.”
2 The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Saw it when I was a young’un. Three times. Participated in the fun. But now it is just ridiculous.
3 Freaks: Alex Winters. ‘Nuff said.
4 Harold And Maude
5 Pink Flamingos: John Waters is a local legend in Baltimore. Grossest scene ever. I could take it or leave it.
6 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Scares me too much.
7 Repo Man: The movie soundtrack was all the rave when I was a youn punk. “You find one in every car.”
8 Scarface: Going to the U at the tail end of the 80s. This was a classic to watch.
9 Blade Runner: This is the movie which all sci-fi movies derive from. Classic.
10 The Shawshank Redemption
11 Five Deadly Venoms: Kung fu theatre rulez! They should bring it back for lazy saturdays.
12 Plan 9 From Outer Space
13 Brazil: Prescient. We are all going to die via paperwork.
14 Eraserhead
15 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
16 The Warriors: Why aren’t the gangs of today like this. Baseball furies.
17 Dazed And Confused: “I love high school girls. The older I get. They stay the same age.”
18 Hard-Boiled
19 Evil Dead II
20 The Mack
21 Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure: The Alamo’s basement!
22 Un Chien Andalou
23 Akira: I still don’t get it.
24 The Toxic Avenger
25 Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory: Oompa-Loompas! Ahh HBO in the summer at OC.
26 Stranger Than Paradise
27 Dawn Of The Dead: The original is still the best of the zombie flicks.
28 The Wiz
29 Clerks
30 The Harder They Come
31 Slap Shot
32 Re-Animator: The head that gives head.
33 Grey Gardens
34 The Big Lebowski: I’m the dude.
35 Withnail and I
36 Showgirls
37 A Bucket Of Bood
38 They Live: Rowdy Roddy Piper taking out alien invaders. What else do you need. “I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I’m all out of bubblegum.”
39 The Best Of Everything
40 Barbarella
41 Heathers: The young Jack Nickelson.
42 Rushmore: Bittersweet. Loved it.
43 The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension: Saw this when I was younger, I don’t remember much, but it must have been fun. As was all movies when I was a kid.
44 Love Streams
45 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
46 Aguirre, The Wrath of God
47 Walking And Talking Nicole Holofcener
48 The Decline Of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years
49 Friday
50 Faces of Death, Vol. 1
51 Monty Python and the Holy Grail : Funnier than the number 1 movie on this list. It gets funnier everytime.
52 A Clockwork Orange: Ultraviolence and a little of the old in-n-out, too.
53 Mommie Dearest
54 The Princess Bride: Good but not great IMHO.
55 Swingers: My movie. Defines the nineties for me. I saw a weekday matinee. Several business men, some college kids, and I. I think I was the only one laughing throughout the movie. Classic.
56 UHF
57 Valley of the Dolls
58 Fight Club: I shall follow the first rule of the fight club.
59 Dead Alive (aka Braindead)
60 Better Off Dead
61 Donnie Darko
Caught the latest Alexander Payne movie, Sideways. You can sum this movie up in one sentence, “Swingers for the over 40 crowd.” You heard that right. Swingers. Instead of hapless actors roaming around LA looking for fun, you have a mid-40’s oenophile looking for the next bottle of pinot noir. It has the same loose, enjoyable feel. It has the same mopey main character. Can he find love? Or at least some hapiness with his life? This movie follows his journey through a week when he treats his best friend to the Napa valley before his wedding. I liked it, but was a bit too long. Surely, this film will be a critical darling.
4 of 5 stars.
The Incredibles has been receiving a lot of good reviews. They are justly deserved. I caught a Thursday night showing with not many people in the audience, and I think I want to see it again with lots of people having fun. As I watched it, it dawned on me that this movie is for a more mature audience rather than little kids. The PG rating it received is a good indication of it being a little more serious than the average animated cartoon. If this had been a live action flick, it would’ve been rated PG-13. People die. Even though they are cartoons, it was still shocking to realize that the creators had the balls to show people die (both good and bad).
I also liked the modern style. I am geeked on modern style, and this flick had plenty of it. Also, the score was awesome. Lots of 50s retro touches to it. I think this was probably fun to make as much as it was to see.
4 of 5.
