2005 Film List (1 Viewer)

[Edwin Pereyra]

Howl's Moving Castle - Hayao Miyazagi is still doing the best hand-drawn animated work there is these days. The visuals are very striking and leave a very lasting impression. Where the film falls short is in its final act, where Miyazagi can't seem to put all of his creations - characters and subplots, into one cohesive ending.

:star: :star: :star: (out of four)


Next up: The highly anticipated The Best Of Youth from Italy.

~Edwin

 

[Brook K]

I'm almost halfway through and enjoying every minute of it. Unfortunately disc 2 hasn't shippped from Netflix so I'll be waiting several days to finish. :frowning:

DVD looks great too.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

.

 

[teapot2001]

Ummm, Edwin, did you ever open your room's window?

~T

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Updated with Marco Tullio Giordana’s The Best of Youth (Italy).

~Edwin

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Brook, hurry up and finish it. You won't be disappointed.

~Edwin

 

[Brook K]

As soon as I get my hands on the disc I will. It's number #1 on my list and in stock. I have 4 discs in transit back to them with none on the way. Given their current policy of screwing me by shipping discs from Tacoma, Portland, and LA instead of the location 2 miles from my house, I may not see the rest until Friday or later.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

I made sure I got both discs as I didn't want to wait that long to be able to finish it. It's a good thing both were in stock.

Netflix opened a distribution center in my city a little over a month ago. I am now getting most of my discs from this location. Shipping discs from other locations have dropped to a minimum - 1 every 2 to 3 weeks. Since I was grandfathered in on the 4 at a time plan, I can watch 16 films in a month or more if I wanted to. That averages to less than $1.50 per movie. No one can beat that.

I'm just hoping they don't start shipping my discs elsewhere to curtail my borrowing.

~Edwin

 

[Brook K]

I have (or had) the same deal, grandfathered 4 plus local distribution center. But I've definitely noticed the pinch of their "limitation practices" the last couple of months.

Actually I was trying to set it up so I'd get both discs at the same time, but they skipped over a couple of other movies that were in stock according to my queue and shipped me disc 1 of Best of Youth.

Back to some reviews:

Up and Down - This drama tackles racism and family ties in it's picture of contemporary Czech society. Not unlike Crash or a number of other films, it follows the "large cast of interconnected characters" structure. Basically broken into halves, one part concerns a couple who purchase a black market muslim baby from human smugglers. The second half of the cast revolves around a family reuniting due to the patriarch's brain tumor and life-threatening operation. Complicating matters is the fact that years ago, the father left his wife to move in and start a family with his son's girlfriend.

Up and Down's best features are the cast and how the script sets up the characters. They create people we want to know and follow through a film without the crutch of stars and recognizable faces. The man who's baby-mad wife spends their savings to adopt "a black baby" is particularly good in a stirring scene where he bodily protects the child at the cost of losing his soccer-thug best friend. On the other side an uncomfortable family reunion becomes even more uncomfortable when the bitter, jilted wife launches into a diatribe about how being the only white person in her apartment complex makes her feel like a refugee in her own country.

While it does use a not-too-subtle brush in it's Czech Republic where the soccer club is racist (not to say such characters don't exist), the educated folks are progressive, and the authorities choose the path of least resistance, the film does paint a portrait of a country struggling with newfound multi-culturalism. It does meander in spots and get a little silly in others as it tries to juggle all the story threads and characters. Up and Down doesn't reach the heights of director Jan Hrebejk's previous Divided We Fall but for the most part is well made and directed. The story even survives the moments when the "interconnection" kicks in. What it can't overcome is a "cute" coda that lets the audience off the hook. A disappointing end to an otherwise good film. - B-

In Her Shoes - I found this film about two sisters finding love and purpose in their lives to be far better than I thought it could be. It's enthusiastic cast (Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz, Shirley Maclaine) and an entertaining script that tugs the heartstrings while never becoming cloying, make for an emotional, endearing movie experience. - B

 

[Brook K]

Disc 2 is shipping today. I just hope it's shipping from here rather than from the West coast.

Domino - Keira Knightly bundle of attitude and sex appeal turns a mediocre action vehicle into an enjoyable romp. I can take or leave director Tony Scott's spastic editing style and use of every lense and filter type imaginable, but it never gets in the way of the impression Knightly makes onscreen. Plus as a former 90210 addict, I found the stunt casting of Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green to be a good deal of fun. (even if Ziering's best line got deleted from the film). - B

Saw 2 - Subpar sequel to the ok original film makes use of the usual horror template of a group of disparate characters thrown together to be picked off one-by-one. Also successfully follows the bad horror movie mode of giving us characters so irritating one roots for them to die so the movie will end quicker. Neither the script nor the actors give the police and Jigsaw killer roles enough personality to stifle the yawns as scenarios we are all too familiar with play out in their mind-numbing interactions. Only a minor twist and some splatter save this from being truely horrid. - C-

Next Up: Part 2 of The Best of Youth, Tropical Malady, The Bad News Bears

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Why even bother?

I wrote earlier: That averages to less than $1.50 per movie. No one can beat that (deal).

To most consumers, those economies of scale will speak louder and resonate further than Jake Gyllenhaal and any other Hollywood symbol saying, "The only way to enjoy the movies is in the theaters".

~Edwin

 

[Adam_S]

I got that beat Edwin

I'm trialing both Netflix and Blockbuster over spring break, I expect I'll get a dozen - fifteen films watched for free. might even keep netflix for an extra month cause there's a lot of movies I want to see (damn queueing and rating is addictive!).

 

[Adam_S]

A history of Violence - :star::star::star::star:

A tight and incredible stunner from David Cronenberg, a delicious crowd pleaser of a film that also makes you think. Just brilliant all the way around. Perfect construction, excellent production values in every way and awesome performances.

History of Violence opens on two men leaving a hotel. Little things, the way the camera holds, the way they carry themselves, the way they talk and act all let you know they're violent men performing violent acts with detached prejudice. This leads us into our first act of violence, and we cut away to Tom Stall, small town family man, small business owner, he runs a mom and pop cafe in one of those backroad small Iowa towns that are probably an hour from an interstate, where the main drag is a piece of state highway with a 20 mile an hour speed limit through the town limits. "Stop and stay a while will ya"--our two violent men, low on cash and inhibitions, decide to to just that.

Tom stops them, and his life (or is it lives) begin to come unwrapped as the things he values most, his family, his identity, his normality are put in mortal danger. How would you react? How does violence change a person? How does violence make a person safe? How does water seep in throught a tight roof via insidious channels until every pore and cell is penetrated--infected? What can you do? Who are you? What if you're wrong.

Perfect film, the very best of the year, and I did NOT expect to be saying that again for 2005.

Wow.

Adam

 

[Adam_S]

Pretty Persuasion - :star:1/2

I was not impressed, the writer of the screenplay is apparently in love with his ability to write. I really disliked the style of the dialogue. I disliked the main character (though Wood's performance fascinated me, hence the high rating) and the crudity of the effect. No where near the level of Mean Girls or Election in filmmaking/artistic skill or entertainment value.

 

[Adam_S]

Hitch - :star::star::star::star:

What is it about 2005 being such a great year for memorable, brilliant comedies? Damn. I can't think of another recent year that's been this damn good.

I adored this film, it was charming and perfect. Very clever and well done, the script was brilliant and it looks awesome. Will Smith is probably the best star currently working, imo.

Excellent film I expected to only enjoy and ended up having my socks knocked off, last film in this genre to do that was Jerry Maguire (which I saw last summer for the first time). But this is definitely up there with High Fidelity, and Sleepless in Seattle as GREAT modern romantic comedies.

Adam

 

[Adam_S]

El Crimen Perfecto - :star::star::star:1/2

This is a really good little comedy film, it dances a fine bit of entertainment, it's cheesy but not nearly as goofy as Iglesia's Accion Mutante or la Comunidad. However it doesn't quite rise to the absurd heights of perfection he reached with 800 Balas and La Comunidad.

Actually my biggest response is that I want to see this remade as a vehicle for Tom Cruise, or Christian Bale, or Guillermo del Toro, in that order, taking a light hand you could tighten up a few things here and there, tone down some of the silliness and rachet up some of the bite and it'd be a huge success here.

Love Rafael's opening monologue.

in brief. Rafael is a ladies man, he's got it all together and knows what he wants and how to get it. Nothing too huge, nothing flash in the pan, he's patient, he's got long range modest plans and he's happy and good at what he does.

Rafael works in a department store selling women clothes, all but one of his underlings are gorgeous, knockout girls who he getsin bed whenever he puts his mind to it, often treating to them to an 'illicit' night on the department store.

Unfortunately for Rafael, he didn't get the floor manager position, and things keep going wrong with his rival (and new boss) hating him, an accidental death and a serious bit of blackmail start to throw his life completely out of control.

Well made and fun, good production values and a very well written script. and Iglesia likes using nudity instead of shooting around it, so that's always a plus (but it doesn't have the jaw-dropping effect it had in 800 balas).

Adam

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Updated with David Cronenberg's A History Of Violence


Next up: The Squid and the Whale

~Edwin

 

[Brook K]

I enjoyed The Perfect Crime quite a bit too. I need to check out some more of Igleisia's films.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) - Tommy Lee Jones directed and stars in this film that won him the best actor award at Cannes. Jones plays a ranch foreman who undertakes a quest to return the body of his friend Melquiades Estrada to the friend's home in Mexico after he is killed by a border patrol agent (Barry Pepper). Scripted by the writer of 21 Grams & Amores Perros the first section of the movie features a similar intercut narrative as we jump back and forth between the present and the past when Estrada was still alive.

This early section of the film presents a slice of life view of the small Texas town that provides the setting. We are introduced to the violent-tempered Pepper and his bored wife, the relationship between the town sherrif and the federal border patrol, the local waitress who is sleeping with both the sherrif and Jones, and Jones relationship with Estrada. This section offers a number of powerful dramatic and acting moments; indeed the women of the film create characters as strong and well-drawn as Jones himself. The dusty, hardscrabble landscape of south Texas and Mexico is a character unto itself; providing a picturesque backdrop as well as the sort of interesting rural environments one might find in a John Sayles film.

The 2nd part of the film is narratively straightforward as Jones kidnaps Pepper, brutally forcing him to confront his guilt over killing Estrada, and heads to Mexico to bury his friend. There is a Peckinpah-like mix of dark comedy and graphic violence to this material as the pair have a number of encounters along the way. While this section sets off a Searchers type scenario with 2 men who have an uneasy relationship forced to spend large amounts of time together, it also is where the film's seams show. Jones disappears from the film for extended periods and is completely withdrawn when present. Pepper's character comes to the fore at precisely the times we would most want to watch Jones. Still, given how little we get a chance to see this sort of serious adult drama in American film, it is certainly worth a look. - B+

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Updated with Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale


Next Up: Lodge Kerrigan's Keane

~Edwin

 

[Brook K]

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio - A warm hearted story of a woman keeping her family together and supporting her alcoholic husband through her intelligence, creativity and strength. Julianne Moore's sincere and empathic performance turns this into a story of genuine warmth rather than something corny or sappy. She looks even better in contrast to Woody Harrelson's broader, stereotypical take on the husband character. - B+

Tropical Malady - This Thai film takes an experimental, almost avant-garde approach to telling its story of a man who falls in love with a male soldier. We see their relationship develop in the first section of the film. The soldier then takes the man into the jungle and the film changes from modern love story to the depiction of a Thai myth involving spirits and shape-changing Tigers (I think).

The problem I had wasn't the film's mysterious transformation which occurs quite artfully, but with everything that came before. These characters just didn't hold my attention. I couldn't get interested in their relationship or any of their sparsely drawn activities. By the time the film changes, I had tuned it out and was in "waiting for it to end" mode. The change brings intriguging story elements that had me wishing I knew more about Thai mythology/folklore. This section is also far more interesting stylistically but I could never fully engage what I was seeing. - C+