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Member
Join Date: Feb 1999
Local Time: 09:51 AM
Local Date: 12-02-2008
Posts: 1,919
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Latest Update:23January2005:30Films Seen (Average Score:84.7%)
5 Most Recent Films (with reviews, if present)
The Manchurian Candidate, seen at home on DVD, 22 Jan 2005
Shaun of the Dead, seen at home on DVD, 22 Jan 2005
Million Dollar Baby, seen at AMC Clifton Commons, Clifton NJ, 15 Jan 2005
Ocean's Twelve, seen at Loews Theatres Wayne, Wayne NJ, 31 Dec 2004
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, seen at Loews East Hanover, East Hanover NJ, 23 Dec 2004
By ranking
| # | Title | Rating |
|---|
1( ) | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | | | 2() | Ying xiong (Hero) | | | 3() | The Incredibles | | | 4() | Shi mian mai fu (House of Flying Daggers) | | | 5() | The Bourne Supremacy | | | 6() | The Village | | | 7() | The Polar Express: IMAX 3-D | | | 8() | The Polar Express | | | 9() | Spider-Man 2 | | | 10() | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | | | 11() | The Butterfly Effect | | | 12() | Million Dollar Baby | | | 13() | Collateral | | | 14() | Siu lam juk kau (Shaolin Soccer) | | | 15() | Kill Bill: Volume 2 | | | 16() | Shrek 2 | | | 17() | The Terminal | | | 18() | The Grudge | | | 19() | Fahrenheit 9/11 | | | 20() | Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | | | 21() | The Manchurian Candidate | | | 22() | Meet the Fockers | | | 23() | National Treasure | | | 24() | Shaun of the Dead | | | 25() | Troy | | | 26() | Barbershop 2: Back in Business | | | 27() | Hellboy | | | 28() | Ocean's Twelve | | | 29() | Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story | | | 30() | The Day After Tomorrow | |
By Date Seen
| # | Year | Title | Feature Type | Date Seen |
|---|
| 1 | 2004 | The Manchurian Candidate | Full-length Film | 22 Jan 2005 | | 2 | 2004 | Shaun of the Dead | Full-length Film | 22 Jan 2005 | | 3 | 2004 | Million Dollar Baby | Full-length Film | 15 Jan 2005 | | 4 | 2004 | Ocean's Twelve | Full-length Film | 31 Dec 2004 | | 5 | 2004 | Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | Full-length Film | 23 Dec 2004 | | 6 | 2004 | Meet the Fockers | Full-length Film | 12 Dec 2004 | | 7 | 2004 | Shi mian mai fu (House of Flying Daggers) | Full-length Film | 11 Dec 2004 | | 8 | 2004 | The Polar Express: IMAX 3-D | Full-length Film | 04 Dec 2004 | | 9 | 2004 | The Polar Express | Full-length Film | 25 Nov 2004 | | 10 | 2004 | The Grudge | Full-length Film | 21 Nov 2004 | | 11 | 2004 | National Treasure | Full-length Film | 20 Nov 2004 | | 12 | 2004 | The Incredibles | Full-length Film | 07 Nov 2004 | | 13 | 2003 | Ying xiong (Hero) | Full-length Film | 28 Aug 2004 | | 14 | 2004 | Collateral | Full-length Film | 08 Aug 2004 | | 15 | 2004 | The Village | Full-length Film | 07 Aug 2004 | | 16 | 2004 | The Bourne Supremacy | Full-length Film | 31 Jul 2004 | | 17 | 2004 | Shrek 2 | Full-length Film | 24 Jul 2004 | | 18 | 2004 | Spider-Man 2 | Full-length Film | 01 Jul 2004 | | 19 | 2004 | Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story | Full-length Film | 27 Jun 2004 | | 20 | 2004 | Fahrenheit 9/11 | Full-length Film | 26 Jun 2004 | | 21 | 2004 | The Terminal | Full-length Film | 26 Jun 2004 | | 22 | 2004 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Full-length Film | 04 Jun 2004 | | 23 | 2004 | The Day After Tomorrow | Full-length Film | 28 May 2004 | | 24 | 2004 | Troy | Full-length Film | 14 May 2004 | | 25 | 2004 | Kill Bill: Volume 2 | Full-length Film | 16 Apr 2004 | | 26 | 2004 | Hellboy | Full-length Film | 09 Apr 2004 | | 27 | 2003 | Siu lam juk kau (Shaolin Soccer) | Full-length Film | 03 Apr 2004 | | 28 | 2004 | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Full-length Film | 19 Mar 2004 | | 29 | 2004 | The Butterfly Effect | Full-length Film | 10 Feb 2004 | | 30 | 2004 | Barbershop 2: Back in Business | Full-length Film | 07 Feb 2004 |
Top 15 greatest film moments of 2004:
Top 15 funniest lines/moments of 2004 films:
Previous Reviews (Click to reveal)
Meet the Fockers, seen at AMC Clifton Commons, Clifton NJ, 12 Dec 2004
Shi mian mai fu (House of Flying Daggers), seen at United Artist Theatres, 13th St./Union Square, Manhattan NY, 11 Dec 2004
The Polar Express: IMAX 3-D, seen at Regal Channelside 9 & Imax, Tampa FL, 04 Dec 2004
The Polar Express, seen at AMC Clifton Commons, Clifton NJ, 25 Nov 2004
The Grudge, seen at AMC Clifton Commons, Clifton NJ, 21 Nov 2004
National Treasure, seen at AMC Clifton Commons, Clifton NJ, 20 Nov 2004
The Incredibles, seen at AMC Clifton Commons, Clifton NJ, 07 Nov 2004
Ying xiong (Hero), seen at AMC Clifton Commons, Clifton NJ, 28 Aug 2004
Collateral, seen at Loews Plaza 8 Theatre, Secaucus NJ, 08 Aug 2004
Very solid film with a very Mann-ly direction style (sorry, bad pun  ). This is definitely an actor-showcase film, and Cruise and Foxx certainly do not disappoint. The story is fairly straightforward, and Mann plays it that way throughout. He does try a little too hard at times to convince the viewer that Foxx's Max has no other alternative than to remain under Cruise's Vincent, but there were a few choices here and there that strained believability, and some too-obvious narrowing of options. Still, the story's execution was handled very well, and its style -- gritty, almost noir-ish -- is a welcome change from the typical next-scene-must-top-the-previous action movie (okay, it kind-of hearkens back to 80's action films). 85%, a thumbs-up, and my recommendation to see it.
The Village, seen at Regal Cinemas Hadley, South Plainfield NJ, 07 Aug 2004
A wonderful -- if unusual -- entry from Shyamalan -- which, by the way, is both its blessing and its curse. This is, above all things, a human drama, and on that level it works extremely well, especially in Shyamalan's hands. The horror aspects, which were (as one would expect) played up in the trailers and commercials, are important but secondary to the human element of the story. And that is what I mean by "its curse." Due to Shyamalan's reputation, the primary story is likely to be overlooked in favor of the horror elements or the expectation of a twist. Unfortunately, the story develops a certain handling of language from its primary characters that at best is awkward and mostly can be off-putting, and with one paying attention to other elements, the purpose of this tactic could easily be overlooked, and worse, it can be considered a significant weakness. Additionally, the story is of a type that's either like-it-or-hate-it.
Fortunately (for me), I was on the "like it" camp -- it affected me a good deal. Byrce Howard's portrayal of blind Ivy Walker is a terrific rookie performance, one well worth remembering in my opinion. All the big-name actors also turn in strong performances -- in fact, the only weak acting point is (once more) Shyamalan and his too-wooden expository that also felt too close to Deus-ex in the loose-end explanations ("planes diverted", e.g.).
The cinematography is fantastic -- it sets up the mood and setting very well. Acting, as I mentioned, is solid, and the direction is superb. I give the film a 90% -- if the horror elements had felt less contrived I probably would have given it a 95% and a shot at #1 for the year.
(Additional note: For the first time in several years I was successful in keeping 100% away from anything resembling a plot point or other type of spoiler for the film -- I was subscribed to the Village Discussion Thread here but when reviews started popping up and responses to them appeared, I tuned out. I'm very glad I did, and now, after writing the above review, I'm taking my time to catch up on that thread and other reviews).
The Bourne Supremacy, seen at Loews Plaza 8 Theatre, Secaucus NJ, 31 Jul 2004
Shrek 2, seen at White Marlin Mall Theater, West Ocean City MD, 24 Jul 2004
Spider-Man 2, seen at Loews East Hanover, East Hanover NJ, 01 Jul 2004
A fantastic film, definitely one of the rarer sequels better than the original. I enjoyed nearly every part of the film, although Raimi still needs to better handle the slower points of the film -- like the first, when it gets slow, it does drag.
I liked Mary Jane's character a LOT more in this one, and I liked Maguire's Peter Parker even more as well. One thing I liked a great deal was a certain piece of information given to Mary Jane's character in the latter part of the film -- I can't explain why I loved it without ruining certain things for those who've not seen it yet, but I'll just say that IT'S ABOUT FRIGGIN' TIME something like this happens in comic book adaptation. On the other end of the spectrum, though, we have the Osborne Jr. character, who SHOULD have been able to deduce certain things, but remains stubbornly set upon his path -- this irritates me to no end, ESPECIALLY with the last few minutes of the film.
The rest of the film was a real joy ride. The subway scene evoked a few tears from me (as it did with my sister, who lives 3000 miles away from me and saw it with her 2 boys a day before I did). I liked the metaphor between Parker's psychological state to his abilities, but I think it got a little heavy-handed with the psychologist scene. And I most enjoyed the supporting cast -- they truly shine alongside Maguire in this film.
Special effects were *mostly* oustanding -- Doc Oc's arms were extremely well-done. Movement through the skyscrapers, while *far* superior to the first one, still had some problems here and there, as did some of the scenes of the bad guy grabbing Peter's aunt and jumping around the buildings.
Overall I give it a 90%, and a very high recommendation to see it, more than once if you can.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, seen at Regal Cinemas Hadley, South Plainfield NJ, 27 Jun 2004
Decent, fun flick, with Ben Stiller in an atypical Stiller role (as as the "bad guy") but very typical Stiller comedy. While I don't think I ever felt a ROFL moment, the film was full of good chuckles and mindless popcorn fun throughout. Maybe not worth a full price viewing, but definitely worth a matinee. 80%.
Fahrenheit 9/11, seen at Loews Cineplex, New Brunswick NJ, 26 Jun 2004
Pretty good documentary from Moore, a bit better than Bowling for Columbine but still a little too much on the Moore-ness, if that makes any sense. The film makes a very strong case connecting the dots between the Bush family and the bin Ladin/royal Saudi families, but it gets mired in too much off-the-main-point seriousness with the Iraq material. Several times I laughed -- most of the time along with a moderate-sized but "into it" audience, but a couple times I laughed when nobody else did (like when Moore played some of the music of Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" when he was showing the paper detailing Bush's National Guard service dates). I also found the film straying too much from the topic of its title, and would've wanted more (a lot more) dealing with the Patriot Act and its effect on civil liberties, as well as other matters that arose within our government from the 9/11 attacks.
One other note -- a technical one -- I found the video sources, blown up to film grade presentation, to be sometimes distracting.
Overall, I give the film an 80% (B-) (the same grade I gave BFC, but I think it's slightly better), and applaud Moore's tireless effort to bring to the screen the heavy subject matter that many others wouldn't dare touch, but I still wish for him to review his script material a little more thoroughly to make it tighter and try to stay on the mark of the subject.
The Terminal, seen at Loews Cineplex, New Brunswick NJ, 26 Jun 2004
While this one's not quite as good as Catch Me If You Can, it still is a quite enjoyable trip. Tom Hanks plays a pretty believable Russian from the "country" (at least I don't think it's a real country in real life) of Krakozia, a land thrown into war while Hanks' character, Navorski, is traveling to the US; while en-route, the US withdraws official recognition of Krakozia, which places Navorski in a bureaucratic no-man's-land: trapped within a New York international terminal. Stanley Tucci plays Dixon, a cross-all-T's-dot-all-I's stiff bureaucrat who is irritated with Navorski's status, and tries several tricks -- within the bounds of the law, always within those bounds -- to get Navorski to leave his terminal. When Navorski's innocence precludes him from doing what Dixon wants, Dixon uses his authority to make Navorski's stay as uncomfortable as he can.
I thoroughly enjoyed Hanks' portrayal -- especially his evolution of English -- and I did enjoy Zeta-Jones' acting, but I found just about the entire supporting cast one-dimensional, the only bright spot being officer Torres (Zoe Saldana). Spielberg doesn't hold back on the schmaltz, and, while the score didn't force it too much, many moments (mostly in the third act) were a little bit bash-you-over-the-head-ish. Still, Spielberg's direction is very solid even if he doesn't break through the Spielbergian mold he's trapped himself within, and the results are worthy of my recommendation to see it. 85%.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, seen at Regal Cinemas Hadley, South Plainfield NJ, 04 Jun 2004
I truly enjoyed this film, overall better than the previous two, but I do not feel the same about the direction given by Cuaron (comparing to Columbus) that many others feel. I think Cuaron gave two things to this film that push it to its status with me: One, he was able to elicit a greater range of acting ability from the primary actors than Columbus did (a (legitimate) argument can be made that because the children are getting older they are able to do better). The second is a better ability to bring out the soul of the books over Columbus -- part of this is due to Cuaron's directorial style, and part is due to a much superior editing skill. I also feel Cuaron's style hurt the film in a few places: One was the opening scene with the Dursleys -- the rawness of it was out of place, in my opinion (it worked for the rest of the film, though). Two, the muted colors hurt the film wherever the characters were in their uniforms -- things should've been more vibrant in certain scenes (e.g., the introduction to Buckbeak, the interior of Hogwarts, and *definitely* the outdoor Hogsmeade scenes, all should've been much more colorful). Three, no director (Columbus or Cuaron) STILL has yet to bring out the clues to the mystery enough that an observant watcher can properly guess the crux of the mystery (this one, like the others, the book was followed too closely to a T, and as such Hermione's actions seem too contrived, even with Ron's multiple "Where'd SHE come from?" comments). And lastly, Cuaron committed a major faux pas in changing the layout of the primary landmarks. Big no-no, even if it is visually more compelling -- too much has already been established on the layout of the first films to change these things.
These complaints, though, are MINOR. In so many ways Cuaron *nails* this story. I felt the same wonder and joy in this film with Harry's first ride with Buckbeak that I felt with Harry's introduction to Diagon Alley (from the first film) -- pure film magic. The scene of Harry (with Sirius) at the lake with the dementors -- EXACTLY as I envisioned it in the book, just perfect. The bridge talk with Lupin, beautiful. Loved the weeping willow and the birds (and the changing seasons used as indicators of time's passing). The Leaky Cauldron, while a little too raw for my liking, was directed brilliantly -- lots of moving camera action.
Overall I give this film a 90%, and definitely has a chance to make my top 10 for the year. Highly recommended, too.
The Day After Tomorrow, seen at Loews East Hanover, East Hanover NJ, 28 May 2004
What a cheesy disaster flick. There was very little that was memorable, save the f/x (and unfortunately every single one of them you'd already seen in the different previews). I'm not going to bother getting into the storyline; I'll just jump right to the atrocious aspects: The science, while plausible in a general sense, is laughable as it is portrayed in the movie (the overall ice-age-from-global-warming *could* happen -- in decades, certainly not in days), plus the whole bit with the super-cold, freeze-you-instantly-in-your-tracks ranges from a gross misrepresentation of physics to outright fantasy (which, by the way, I don't mind ... IF the film didn't try to suggest some scientific merit within the context of the film itself). On top of all of that, there is the bash-over-the-head political message -- horribly, atrociously handled, and I even *agree* with the message! That ought to tell you something: If I, as somebody who can accept any political "message" put in a film whether left, right, or otherwise, have a serious problem with this ... perhaps the best thing one can do is RUN AWAY FROM THIS FILM!
I give the film as high a rating as I do because not all of it is a loss. The effects, as I mentioned, are spectacular, especially the LA twisters. The characters are wholly one-dimensional (and oftentimes traits are introduced that lead nowhere, e.g. Sam Hall's I-got-an-F-because-I-memorized-all-the-formulas-and-didn't-need-to-write-them-down brilliance doesn't have a payoff), but some are endearing, such as the homeless man and dog (I'm happy they kept the manifestations of the tables-turned-on-the-rich-and-poor to a minimum with the main characters, but they did go overboard with the whole third-world-is-now-the-first-world bit), and Bilbo -- er, I mean, Terry at the weather station. Sam does prove to be resourceful, and Laura (Emmy Rossum) is certainly easy on the eyes. Unfortunately, too much of the teen interaction made the film feel like The Day After Dawson's Creek (ugh). Overall I give the film a 75%, but I will probably revisit this review later, and it has the high likelihood of dropping to 70% or even 65%.
Troy, seen at Loews East Hanover, East Hanover NJ, 14 May 2004
Kill Bill: Volume 2, seen at Loews East Hanover, East Hanover NJ, 16 Apr 2004
Hellboy, seen at AMC Clifton Commons, Clifton NJ, 09 Apr 2004
Siu lam juk kau (Shaolin Soccer), seen at AMC Empire 25, 42nd St., Manhattan NY, 03 Apr 2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, seen at Loews East Hanover, East Hanover NJ, 19 Mar 2004
The Butterfly Effect, seen at Other (Non-theatrical), 10 Feb 2004
I was actually VERY impressed with the story -- both premise AND execution. It is an extremely dark tale about a boy who has occassional blackouts, and the ability he discovers later in life to change his entire reality by going back into his past during those blackouts and altering events from the way they originally unfolded.
What amazed me was the multiple layers this story worked on, and how tight it was. First it works as a straight-up horror/thriller -- brought by the same crew that did Final Destination 2 (which I enjoyed a good deal); the writers keep upping the ante as the film goes, making you wonder just how it will end. The story also works as allegories on several fronts: Kutcher's Evan can be viewed as Christ-like (not just for the one effect he produced for his prison-mate in one scene, but also for his sacrifice to save the woman and baby...which he was actually ready to live with, until he saw the pain his mother was in), and he can be viewed as the ultimate tragic hero, for the supreme sacrifice (greater, I believe, than saving the woman and baby) of eternal love to save all the people he knew. For me, that last one really hit me hard, especially with the writers making it the last trip he makes, implying it IS the ultimate sacrifice.
This film is worth seeing again, and I highly, HIGHLY recommend it. It does have its flaws (outside of some minor continuity errors, which thankfully don't interfere with the premise for the most part): Kutcher and Smart both give pretty good performances, but they (and everybody else in the cast, for that matter) could've been cast with any other actor and it likely would have been just as effective. It does drag in spots, and could have been trimmed a little here and a little there to push its running time down to a better-managed 100 minutes (instead of the 113 time listed). And -- this isn't really a complaint from me but I should note it because of its potential to turn off a few people -- it does contain a great amount of very disturbing material, including pedophaelia/incest, blowing up people, beating the hell out of people, stabbing people, and frying a dog. I'm actually surprised at the level of violence contained in the film, either implied or explicitly shown. Still, it's the story and direction that really gripped me, and I think it's worth dealing with the darker aspects to have a chance at truly enjoying this film.
90%, and a chance at my Top 10 of 2004.
Barbershop 2: Back in Business, seen at Regal Cinemas Hadley, South Plainfield NJ, 07 Feb 2004
The weakest part of this sequel is that it flows far too similarly to the first one -- the writers and director Sullivan basically took the framework from the first and applied it cookie-cutter style to the second one, deviating very little from the style and flow of the original.
Having said that, the style IS wonderful to behold -- the banter between the players is vibrant as it is wholesome, the dialogue believable as it stretches the definition of outrageous. Ice Cube remains the center calm over the maelstrom of activity about his barber shop, and it's indeed a lot of fun listening to the jabs going back and forth between the different characters -- both toward each other and toward our culture in general.
As mentioned above, the direction falls into formulaic at this point, but the dialogue keeps the film well away from stale. I'd give it a solid 85% if it weren't for the predictiveness of it, as it is, I can only give it an 80%. Still a definite watch, and I'll likely pick it up on DVD when it comes out.
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DVDs (24 Feb 2006): Discs - 2579, Titles - 1688 (Avg. 17 Titles/Month) • Films I\'ve Seen: 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001
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