Movie List 2008

broderic on December 28, 2008

I always compile this list before the end of the year. While looking over my posts of the movies I saw in the theatre, I was surprised that I had a lot of 2 stars even from the ones that were “good.” (I’m looking at you Dark Knight.) I’m also surprised that I saw very few movies. A rough estimate is about 60 this year whereas last year was probably around . I still a few reviews to post, but those films are just average or below. So here’s my list of 4+ star films.

Click the link to read my review. Post your own list.

I’ve also noticed that my list is getting shorter. Either I am becoming a better judge of movies or I am becoming more finicky.

My Year In Film 2008

broderic on January 23, 2008

Twenty-two days into 2008 and I have seen many interesting movies. I would like to catalog them into some kind of coherent statement of my movie viewing experience. Besides my movie reviews, I’m going to list some of the other films watched for which I don’t plan on writing a full blown review . Consider it a film diary. Another metric for me to base my life around.

Anyway onto the movies.

IN THEATRE:
There Will Be Blood
27 Dresses
Cloverfield
Rebecca
Atonement
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

DVD:
Show Me Love (aka Fucking Åmål)
In Between Days
Stardust
Malena
Can This Be Love

TCM:
Cat People
The Talk of the Town
Indiscreet
Face in the Crowd

List: Movies, Best of 2006

broderic on December 9, 2006

This year sucked in movies. Or I have become more cynical when watching the shite in the theaters. Honestly, it is a combination of the two.

Hollywood has become more conservative in their approach to making movies. They need to make an impact with the “boffo b.o.” of the opening week. They mistakenly believe that this is where they can make their money, therefore they’re producing more movies that attempt to do that. They pay their actors exorbitant fee. They splash flashy CG on the screen. They plumb the depths of the lowest common denominator. Yet, they forget to tell their stories well. I believe the old adage that says there are only four typical story plotlines, therefore it’s imperative that the film-makers be judicious in how they unfold their story onscreen. I think Hollywood forgets that too often.

Indy films are not any better. They have mimicked their more prosperous competitor and lost their.

When will the magic return to cinema?

These are the films I believe to be the best I saw this year.

4 stars

That’s it. The others were mediocre — some fun and a pleasure to watch while others were not bad, but not good as well. Then I saw plenty of other junk. That is for another post…

Movie Reviews 2005

broderic on December 28, 2005

Well, the conclusion of a year always brings about list making. I, for one, love to make lists. This one, unlike last year’s is shorter. It seems that my tastes were more discriminating. Or else movies sucked this past year.

I went through a lot of my previous posts for this so enjoy.

5 stars: NONE!!!

4 stars:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith.

Wow! I also rated a lot more movies low. No wonder the movie box office receipts were off this year. Lots of sucky product was released. Hopefully, this year is better

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.