Quixotic Quest Update: January

broderic on February 3, 2005

I guess if I had made it a new year’s resolution that I should clue you into how well I have kept up in my quest to read at least 3 books a month. I read 2.5 books last month.

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Finally finished a book that has been sitting on my nightstand for over a year. The first part was boring and a chore to get through as compared with the later half. I guess that’s why it took me so long to get involved in it. The second half, while he’s on the life raft was extremely interesting. It had me devouring page after page. But then, the coda. What a shock. It ruined the book for me. I just spent a few days breezing through the book enjoying it, and to throw that change up to explain it all just was dismaying. C+

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. I read this while it snowed outside. For twelve hours, I was loving it, and still had not finished it. What a tome! What a story! The best Potter book so far, and it makes me contemplate pre-ordering the next one. A-

The Emerging Democratic Majority by Ruy Texeiria and John Judis. Disappointing and depressing. Disappointing because it is a tough read. Depressing because I think their premise is way off base. Look at this past presidential elections. I am only partway through so this is a preliminary grade. B-

House of Flying Daggars

broderic on January 16, 2005

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

broderic on January 12, 2005

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

broderic on January 5, 2005

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.

Quixotic Quest

broderic on January 2, 2005

Around October 2003 I had pledged to myself to read a book a week in order to get back into the groove of reading. I had spent lots of time reading stuff online and watching a lot of TV, but not much time reading any books. Therefore at that time I wanted to read more novels, some non-fiction and a few technical books. Unfortunately, I only read a handful of books within that year, and I stopped altogether around the summer of 2004. For a new year’s resolution, I want to read 3 books a month. That’s 3 times 12 equaling 36 books for the year. It don’t matter what genre, but I need to read a little more fiction. I would also like to reduce the number of non-fiction I read and limit my technical book reading. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in comments.

The first book for this is The Life of Pi. This has been on my bedside table since last year. I figure that I should try to finish it. Hopefully, I will be done within the week.

The Aviator

broderic on January 1, 2005

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.

Darkness

broderic on December 30, 2004

There was nothing really scary about this film. Except for the fact that I went and saw it. What a crock! So it wasn’t scary. If you saw every Twilight Zone episode, you would’ve seen this one.

2 fo 5 stars.

The Flight of the Phoenix

broderic on December 29, 2004

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!

broderic on December 24, 2004

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…

broderic on December 23, 2004

… 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.