2005 Film List - Page 4

Last Updated: 04/13/06
Criterion Used: Oscar Eligibility
Number of Films Seen: 24

The top ten so far:

1. Good Night, and Good Luck.
2. A History of Violence
3. Batman Begins
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5. In Her Shoes
6. The World's Fastest Indian
7. Lords of Dogtown
8. Syriana
9. Crash
10. Capote

Best of the rest, in order: Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead, North Country, Downfall, Cinderella Man, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Two For The Money, The Ice Harvest, Sin City, Walk The Line, Howl's Moving Castle, The 40-Year Old Virgin, Left of the Dial, The Perfect Man

Rob

Last Updated: 01/29/06

Latest Seen:



Total Film Count: 54

• 2005 Theatrical Releases: 27
• Pre-2005 Theatrical Releases: 27

[c]2005 Theatrical Releases[/c]

Film / Star Rating / MPAA Rating / Director(s) / Date Viewed (Venue & Additional Viewing Info in Parentheses)

Batman Begins / / PG-13 / Christopher Nolan / 06/15/05 (RKVS)
Bride & Prejudice / ½ / PG-13 / Gurinder Chadha / 09/26/05 (RENT)
Brokeback Mountain / ½ / R / Ang Lee / 12/24/05 (RKSV)

Capote / ¾ / R / Bennett Miller / 01/20/06 (RKVS)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe / ¼ / PG / 12/09/05 (RKVS)
Crash / / R / Paul Haggis / 09/26/05 (RENT)

Downfall (Der Untergang) / / R / Oliver Hirschbiegel / 10/12/05 (RENT)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire / ¾ / PG-13 / Mike Newell / 11/18/05 (RKVS)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy / / PG / Garth Jennings / 10/02/05 (DVD)

King Kong / / PG-13 / Peter Jackson / 12/14/05 (RKVS)

March of the Penguins / / G / Luc Jacquet / 07/30/05 (RKSV)
Memoirs of a Geisha / ¾ / PG-13 / Rob Marshall / 12/29/05 (RKSV)
Munich / ½ / R / Steven Spielberg / 12/23/05 (RKSV)

The New World / ½ / PG-13 / Terrence Malick / 01/29/06 (RKVS)

Red Eye / ¾ / PG-13 / Wes Craven / 08/24/05 (AMCSP)
Robots / / PG / Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha / 03/17/05 (COBBD)

Serenity / ¾ / PG-13 / Joss Whedon / 09/30/05 (COBBD)
Sin City / ¼ / R / Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino / 04/01/05 (RKVS)
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants / / PG / Ken Kwapis / 01/18/06 (DVD)
Sky High / / PG / Mike Mitchell / 07/31/05 (RKSV)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith / / PG-13 / George Lucas / 05/19/05 (RKVS), 12/03/05 (DVD)
Syriana / ¼ / R / Stephen Gaghan / 12/12/05 (RKVS)

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride / ¼ / PG / Tim Burton, Mike Johnson / 9/23/05 (RKVS)

The Upside of Anger / ½ / R / Mike Binder / 04/06/05 (RKVS)

Walk the Line / / PG-13 / James Mangold / 12/08/05 (RKVS)
War of the Worlds / ½ / PG-13 / Steven Spielberg / 07/01/05 (RKVS)
Wedding Crashers / ¾ / R / David Dobkin / 08/02/05 (RKSV)


[c]Pre-2005 Theatrical Releases[/c]

Alfie (1966) / ¾ / PG / Lewis Gilbert / 08/08/05 (TCM)
Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (2004) / / PG-13 / Joel Schumacher / 02/05/05 (COBBD)

A Few Good Men (1992) / ¾ / R / Rob Reiner / 06/25/05 (TCM)

The Children's Hour (1961) / / NR / William Wyler / 07/27/05 (TCM)
The Cooler (2003) / / R / Wayne Kramer / 09/29/05 (RENT)

Dark Water (Honogurai mizu no soko kara) (2002) / ¾ / PG-13 / Hideo Nakata / 10/21/05 (RENT)

Girl With a Pearl Earring (2003) / ½ / PG-13 / Peter Webber / 09/29/05 (RENT)
The Great Mouse Detective (1986) / ¼ / G / Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, Dave Michener, John Musker / 11/12/05 (DVD)

Hotel Rwanda (2004) / ¼ / PG-13 / Terry George / 01/07/05 (AMCSP)
House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu) (2004) / ½ / PG-13 / Zhang Yimou / 01/14/05 (COBBD)

I Capture The Castle (2003) / ¾ / R / Tim Fywell / 10/02/05 (RENT)
Inuyasha: The Movie - Affections Touching Across Time (Inuyasha - Toki wo koeru omoi) (2004) / / NR / Toshiya Shinohara / 08/19/05 (DVD)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) / / NR / Robert Hamer / 06/09/05 (TCM)

Million Dollar Baby (2004) / ½ / PG-13 / Clint Eastwood / 01/24/05 (AMCSP)
Mona Lisa Smile (2003) / / PG-13 / Mike Newell / 10/05/05 (RENT)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974) / / PG / Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones / 09/17/05 (DVD)

Robin and Marian (1976) / / NR / Richard Lester / 07/27/05 (TCM)
Rocky (1975) / ½ / PG / John G. Avildsen / 11/05/05 (DVD)

Shampoo (1975) / ¾ / R / Hal Ashby / 07/10/05 (TCM)
Sherlock, Jr. (1924) / / NR / Buster Keaton / 06/26/05 (TCM)
Soldier's Girl (2003) / / R / Frank Pierson / 09/24/05 (RENT)
Splendor in the Grass (1961) / / NR / Elia Kazan / 07/10/05 (TCM)
Stargate (1994) / / PG-13 / Roland Emmerich / 08/17/05 (DVD)
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) / ½ / NR / Buster Keaton, Charles Reisner / 06/26/05 (TCM)

Veronica Guerin (2003) / / R / Joel Schumacher / 10/09/05 (RENT)

Wimbledon (2004) / / PG-13 / Richard Loncraine / 09/28/05 (RENT)
The Woodsman (2004) / ¾ / R / Nicole Kassell / 10/03/05 (RENT)
__________________________________________________ __________


Rating System

- Astonishing
¾ - Excellent
½ - Great
¼ - Very Good
- Good
¾ - Above Average
½ - Average
¼ - Below Average
Poor
¾ - Bad
½ - Dreadful
¼ - Horrendous
- Absolute Garbage


Theaters

AMCSP - AMC Sunset Place 24, South Miami, FL
AMCTC - AMC Kendall Town & Country 10, Miami, FL
CIN - Cinemark 20 at Festival Bay, Orlando, FL
COBBD - Cobb Dolphin 19, Miami, FL
LUC - Loews Universal Cineplex, Orlando, FL
RKVS - Regal Kendall Stadium 16, Miami, FL
RSB - Regal South Beach 18, Miami Beach, FL
UAF - United Artists Movies at The Falls 12, Miami, FL


Channels

A&E - Arts & Entertainment
ABC - ABC
HBO - Home Box Office
IC - International Channel
TCM - Turner Classic Movies
SCIFI - Sci-Fi Channel

Other Codes

DUB - Dubbed version of a foreign language film.
DVD - Viewed on a purchased DVD.
RENT - Viewed on a rented DVD.
WEB - Viewed online.

updated my list with Herbie, mr and mrs smith, war of the worlds and howls moving castle

War of the Worlds

All year I've waited for a film to captivate me and leave me enthralled. Now I can rest easy, at least until I see this again. Scenes of mass destruction and carnage that are the best effects I have possibly ever seen. There are flaws, but sometimes a movie makes such a profound impression that one is willing to overlook them. Excellent film. (A-)

Steven Spielberg's War Of The Worlds


At Bat: Fantastic Four

~Edwin

Tim Story's Fantastic Four

~Edwin

White Noise
5.5 of 10
Semi-interesting thriller that starts off with some good creeps and starts and then devolves into a silly ghost action film.

Wedding Crashers
7 of 10
A very funny film bookended by 20 minutes on either side that isn't nearly as funny, even dull at times.

Be Cool
2.5 of 10
A pretty poorly directed sequel with a script that while creative in combining characters and churning out the same formula in a different variation, often also feels forced along.

Still the films major flaw has to be the direction which just ruins scenes, misses comedic beats badly (cut on a good blow, don't just linger around till people stop laughing) and settles for takes that aren't always the best reading I suspect.

I could see the makings of a fun, albiet formula, sequal. The actors for the most part are cast well and even deliver when possible. It just needs to be shot and cut totally differently, period.

It's possible that the editor was also to blame for many of the problems as well. Looking at Kahn's work over the last 15 or so years you see a lot of failures, some of which I recall being specifically poor editing/direction (Evolution for one). Maybe the guy doesn't cut comedy well.

But then Gray only has the Italian Job remake as a truly solid film (Friday is iffy to me and had a lot to do with the cast as well).


Anyway, they threw 2nd rate production talent at this sequel and got what you would expect from that.

Monster-In-Law -
35mm
08/02/2005

I couldn't find the official thread in a search so here's a quick review.

This film is a charming family comedy, Jane Fonda is in top comedy form very reminescent of the inspired lunacy of Nine to Five, and Jennifer Lopez does a fine job of matching her nut for nut. If there's a major disapointment to the film it's that it's really dull before Fonda comes on screen, and I'm still trying to figure out how Lopez was paying for a minimum $2500 a month Venice beach front 'apartment' on a dogwalker and temp salary. The other problem is the bland male lead is really bland, but luckily he's thrown out of the picture completely. Wanda Sykes is hilarious, but the cuts to her are occasionally very sitcomish--she never rises to Dolly Parton level. Very funny to see with an audience and it works very well at what it does, the second mother in law addition at the end is inspired. Sure it's a bit cheesy at the end, but you gotta have some cheese to get to the happy ending and any other ending than a happy one would be pretty idiotic filmmaking for this project.

Finally got around to updating my list

July
3-Iron - B
Batman Begins - B-
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - B-
The Girl from Monday - B+
Hustle & Flow - B+
Me and You and Everyone We Know - B

August
The Aristocrats - B
The Devil's Rejects - A-
Grizzly Man - A-
Layer Cake - B-
Wedding Crashers - B

I've only seen 21 2005 films so far. Grizzly Man is the best of what I've seen.

I planned on seeing Saraband and 5x2 last night as well, but after Grizzly Man (at a different theater) my car wouldn't start and the rest of my evening was eaten up dealing with it.

The 40 Year Old Virgin
8.5 of 10
There are a few truly great belly laugh moments in the film, but on the whole this is not pure raunchy comedy. The pace of the humor is more in line with Swingers or Office Space, with an additional comparison of the lead character in those films. Carrell is a nice guy rather than a cartoonish idiot. He is not blatently out of touch and stupid as such a premise might normally play it, going as far as having him teach others lessons during the story.

It is this likability and his own ability to help himself and others that makes this film so good. It lends itself to repeat viewings and warm feelings about the hero, but without sacrificing some of those outrageously funny quotes/moments the keep the water cooler recommendations going.

Wedding Crashers goes much further with the slapstick, but Carrell's Virgin is the character you end up liking more.

Updated my list with the best film of 2005 (to date), Fernando Meirelles' brilliant The Constant Gardener (10/10). It doesn't get much better than this, folks.

Updated my List with:

The Constant Gardener
Transporter 2
Red Eye
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
What Is It?
2001 Maniacs
Valiant
Four Brothers
The Skeleton Key
Fantastic Four.

9/5 - 211 Films Viewed in 2005

* Ratings are from 1/2 to 4 complete stars.

* Broken down into Theatrical viewings, Personal collection viewings, and Rental viewings. = 2005's rental/thearical view w/ subsequent purchase.

2005 Films (33 Theatre Trips)

The 40 Year Old Virgin
The Amityville Horror (2005)
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Batman Begins
Be Cool
Boogeyman
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Constantine
Cursed
Devils Rejects, The 1/2
Elektra
Fantastic Four x 2 1/2
Four Brothers
Hide and Seek 1/2
High Tension
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, The 1/2
Hotel Rwanda
House of Wax 1/2
Hustle and Flow 1/2
Jacket, The 1/2
Kung Fu Hustle 1/2
Land of the Dead
March of the Penguins 1/2
Million Dollar Baby
Red Eye 1/2
Ring Two 1/2
Robots
Sin City
Sky High
Star Wars: Episode 3 -ROTS x 2
War of the Worlds


Personal DVD Library Viewings

Airplane
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Anchorman 1/2
Antz
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Assault on Precinct 13
Bambi
Boondock Saints
A Bronx Tale
Bruce Almighty
Carrie (Remake)
Casablanca
Cube
Donnie Brasco
Fight Club
Freaked 1/2
Frequency
Full Metal Jacket 1/2
Glengarry Glen Ross 1/2
Hackers
Hide and Seek
Hostage
House of 1,000 Corpses
House of Flying Daggers
Ice Age
I Heart Huckabees
It's Pat: The Movie 1/2
Ladder 49
Legally Blonde
Meet the Fockers
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Million Dollar Baby
Napoleon Dynamite
Phenomenon
Punch Drunk Love
Rebel Without a Cause
Repossessed
Reservoir Dogs
Riki Oh
SLC Punk!
Shaft (2001)
Shark Tale star:
Shaun of the Dead
The Siege
Suspiria
Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War
A Time to Kill
The Village 1/2
Volcano High
Whatever Happened to Spider Baby?
White Noise

2005 Rentals (2005 and Older)

Fuhrer Ex 1/2
Warriors of Heaven and Earth
The Ladykillers 1/2
Two Brothers
Spartan 1/2
To End All Wars
Employee of the Month
Hysteria: Def Leppard Story
Isola 1/2
Story of the Weeping Camel
Pauly Shore Is Dead
The Motorcycle Diaries
Death 4 Told 1/2
Primer
Lemony Snickets
Finding Neverland 1/2
The Final Cut
The Jackhammer Massacre 1/2
The Life Aquatic w/ Steve Zissou
The Royal Tenenbaums
Zatoichi 1/2
Deathsport 1/2
The Messanger
A Night at the Opera
Drunken Master
Mean Machine 1/2
The Last Horror Show
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead 1/2
Maria, Full of Grace 1/2
Girlfight 1/2
Necronomicon
Married to the Mob 1/2
Open Water
TipToes 1/2
Street Fighter
Goodbye, Lenin! 1/2
Pet Cematary 1/2
Raging Bull
Taxi Driver 1/2
The Good Son
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Boys Don't Cry 1/2
The Core
Raising Cain
Under Suspicion
Saw 1/2
Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life"
Return of the Living Dead Part 2
Cellular
1941
Phone 1/2
Human Nature
Don't Be A Menace.. 1/2
Alphaville
Pumpkinhead
Battle of Shaker Heights
Legally Blonde 2 1/2
Plan 9 From Outer Space 1/4
The Bogus Witch Project
Shiri
It Came From Outer Space
Baron Blood
A Tale of Two Sisters 1/2
Cube: Zero 1/2
Dog Day Afternoon
A Year and 1/2 in the Life of Metallica 1
A Year and 1/2 in the Life of Metallica 2
The Dentist
S.F.W.
The Stars of Star Wars
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait Revisited
Election 1/2
The Warriors
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Closer 1/2
Malevolence
Them!
Bullitt
The Doom Generation
When Worlds Collide
Alive (Yoshihara)
Angels w/ Dirty Faces
Disturbing Behavior
Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse
War of the Worlds (1952)
Earth vs the Flying Saucers
Zombie 2
Seed of Chucky
The Woodsman
Monkey Business
Madhouse
8 Mile
East of Eden
Domestic Disturbance
"H" 1/2
A Love Song for Bobby Long
The Green Butchers
Ichi 1
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie
MST3K: The Movie
Prozac Nation
Audition (Miike)
American Graffiti
On the Waterfront
Fat Albert
Sexy Beast
A Streetcard Named Desire
The Big Store 1/2
Ichi the Killer
Laurel Canyon
Boyz N The Hood
Waking Life
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes 1/2
Darkness
Downfall
Rollerball
Meatballs
Saints and Soldiers
Layer Cake 1/2
Hide and Creep
The Gold Rush
Mom and Dad Save the World
Ong Bak 1/2
Sword of Doom 1/2
Oxygen

Red Eye
8 of 10
This thriller with Craven's horror sensibilities reminded me quite a bit of Hitchcock's mistaken identity/man out of place spy thrillers. It's not scary but the way in which the film is shot and how scenes are played out is very similar to standard horror methods. These techniques really enhance the spy thriller genre a spark I think. Certainly you will at least think of JL Curtis or Neve Campbell in Halloween and the Scream films when you see McAdams in action.

The film is tight and well-paced, the characters are smart and resourceful, and the plot line plays out as plausible during the film. Craven gives in to a bit of corny humor with a hotel clerk during the film, but otherwise this is meat without the fluff.

You want a popcorn film that you can take your brain to, this is your film.

Added:

August
The Upside of Anger - B+

September
The Constant Gardener - B
Crash - F
Downfall - B+
Inside Deep Throat - B-
Kontroll - B-
Kungfu Hustle - B
Look at Me - B+
Nobody Knows - B+

Greatest Game Ever Played -
09/22/2005
35mm

A very solid return to form for Disney Live Action, this film has more in common with the period pieces of the late fifties and early sixties than with recent remake happy modern headachers (some have been good of those though). It's nice to have an original (it's an adaptation but it's original in the sense that its not a remake of another Disney film) Disney Live Action film again, and this is very well made, it has it's moments of cheesyness, but overall it is very well crafted and quite enjoyable. This doesn't play for kids or for teens or for adults. There is no joke per demographic quota here. This film plays for everyone, grandparents will enjoy it everybit as much as their grandchildren. Shia LeBeouf, who was very good in Holes, is a real suprise here, disapearing into the role and turning in a very subdued and controlled performance--there is no Disney kid mugging in this.

How his Eddie becomes his caddy is quite nice. Eddie has an older brother who can't caddy so the younger brother insists on making good for his older brother. It's a very nice moment in the film. The kids presence in the film reads more like Spanky of the little rascals than anything else and his presence injects some much needed levity and the audience eats his character up.

The plot is problematic as it juggles dueling bios and the many golf games. Parental problems are skirted at and the 'there's always a girl' character is handled VERY well. The film is somewhat exciting to watch and the editing of the golf matches and the pace of the film from the US Open onwards is exceptionally well done at wrapping you up in the film and carrying you through.

This is an very enjoyable everyone film, I especially recommend it for multiple generational families to see together.

There are some problematics with the film, there's not much in the terms of connecting emotionally to a character arc (it's no Chariots of Fire). There's several moments that are relatively groaner cheesy, there's a silly 'wise old pro/golf mechanic' character that was tired when the Mighty Ducks used it, there's a somewhat ludicrous train-in-one-morning scene when Ouiman finds himself in the US Open (luckily this is handled silently and is shot beautifully so it is very forgiveable but still the fact of it and how it is used is silly). There is some almost farcical use of CGI that's fun, but a bit offputting. There's a repetition to how the scores are displayed to the audience that gets very tiresome. There's giant screencovering titles to tell you if you're in Boston or London. The score is bombastic and offputting and at times early in the film draws you out of the film (and it sounds like James Horner, ALOT, but surprisingly he didn't score it). There are only a handful of anachronisms in types of speech and a few at the beginning in types of thinking.

Dispite all that, the film won me over and I'll give it a hearty recommendation to my family.

Adam

In Her Shoes -
09/29/2005

Caught a preview screening of this last week.

In Her Shoes, directed by Curtis Hansen, is the best 2005 film I've seen this year. Although it is being marketed more along the lines of a chick flick, this is actually one of the finest mixtures of comedy and drama seen in several years. In Her Shoes is a film about family; Maggie (Cameron Diaz) and her sister Rose (Toni Collette) and their estranged grandmother (Shirley MacLaine). Rose is a workaholic lawyer who rarely has time for romance, so she's burned hard when something finally floats her way, Maggie is charming, shiftless and nearly illiterate. The girls were raised by their father after their mothers death when they were still young, the mother was a bit on the crazy side, and their father and grandmother had a falling out over how to care for her. The father cut off the grandmother and the girls had no idea she still existed until Maggie comes across something special. It's a hard movie to describe or even sell, but the film is very honest and works so well that it takes your breath away. The performances are outstanding, Cameron Diaz and Toni Collete are excellent in the dual lead roles and Shirley MacLaine lights up her sections of the movie. There is a great deal to be found here and I believe it'll reward multiple viewings. Quite simply this is storytelling on the highest level.


-----------------------
Serenity -
09/30/2005

Very different from In Her Shoes, but Serenity is also one of the best films of the year. The story is about River Tam, a girl on the run from the repressive Alliance government. She's hiding with her brother on the smuggling ship Serenity, captained by Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds. They've managed to keep a low profile for eight months, but River is about to be discovered, and the serious hunting of her is about to begin. River is a psychic of sorts, she was being conditioned by the government into a human weapon, but she has been traumatized by secrets and knowledge noone should have to bear alone--unstable only begins to describe her.

The film begins by showing the crew of Serenity pulling a job, heisting the payroll of a corrupt company. In the middle of this job, Reavers attack. Reavers are the remnants of rabid men, driven to cannibalism and aggressive predatory insanity by the rigours of space, or so it is said. River's brother Simon decides the Reavers make it too dangerous for her to stay on the ship, so he wants off, except at the next planet they are discovered.

The performances are excellent, the script is very good, and the action well plotted out. In fact there is too much action, causing the genre to take a leading role instead of remaining as a background to character development. However the central story is quite strong and the characters, relationships, and moral centre of the film is so exceptionally well done that it makes Serenity the finest character-based science fiction film yet made.*

Adam


*not including Charlie Kaufman's brilliant work, which is more contemporary fantasy than the typical future milieau of Scifi.

Good Night, and Good Luck -
10/06/2005

This is a remarkable and unique movie, if Edward R. Murrow were to make a film it would probably be something akin to this tone. The film is nothing at all like documentary, nor is it a gut-grabbing drama, rather it is very straightforward journalism--hard hitting, polished, clear, concise--and fabulously effective. That doesn't really make it a great movie, though, and the lack of dramatization at times feels disapointing. This is not the film sold in the trailer, the trailer dramatizes the concept, something the film resolutely refuses to do. The film presents the facts, lets you see the events as they play out, it doesn't attempt to rally and galvanize the audience with a false sense of wrapping things up neatly with heroic journalism.

David Straithern is phenomenal. There wasn't a single moment in the film I was aware of him as an actor, all I saw was Murrow. Clooney is good in the very basic Fred Friendly role, but he's still Clooney, so that's how you think of him. I want to see the film again just for watching Straithern and listen to that voice and listen to those unbelievably terse and effective speeches.

Good Night, and Good Luck, opens with an inspired jazz number that beautifully cuts you into the world and period of the film, this fantastic sequence leads directly into the first half of Murrow's stunning speech at the industry's 1958 salure to him. The film then drifts back into the past, just before they decide to perform a See it Now on the airforceman unjustly removed from the armed forces by mccarthyism. It follows the story through the end of McCarthy and then closes with an equally effective bookend. Throughout the film are sprinkled lyric interludes of 1950s song, these act as score surrogates for some of the montages passing the time away (there is no score). Most are effective, some of them only illicited a 'come on already' reasponse from me. There is an extraneous plot involving Robert Downey Jr that has a parallel to the plot of the film but it doesn't belong in this movie except as really nothing more than filler.


Well done at every level and very different from every other film I've seen this year.

Weatherman -

This is an off-kilter movie virtually impossible to pigeonhole or describe. Roughly, Nicholas Cage is a weatherman whose career is going up but his family life is in the shitter. The film alternates between daring outrageous laughs and painful awkwardness. The biggest problem is that Nicholas Cage's character is a first class asshole for the first hour of the film. He's perhaps realistic, and the dialgoue is certainl realistic, filled with awkward pauses and phrases and misunderstandings but that doesn't make it good.

There's a chance for a good movie in this, but it's too haphazard to dig out. The movie delights in being off-kilter though, and its refusal to be anything easy while also trying for something more is kinda reminescent of seventies filmmaking.

I love the overall message of the film (which the writer conveniently bangs you on the head with), as it is explicitly stated in the closing narration, but it took too long to get there, so we feel Cage has only made the first three baby steps on his journey even though he has gone much further.

It's a hard film, It's charming enough that I like it, awkward enough I feel frustrated and just so damn happy with itself that I can't bring myself to judge it too harshly.

A History of Violence
8.5 of 10
It's not quite classic Cronenberg, but it certainly begins with his quirky touch. As it moves on it becomes a bit more mainstream than you would expect yet continues to drop in moments of intensity that fit well with his work.

Viggo begins with what I thought was a weak effort, but by the end of the film I was pretty impressed by the range. Not great, but good. Maria Bello is on par with her other efforts, with Payback and The Cooler coming to mind first.

However the reason you go see this film is 100% to see William Hurt and Ed Harris give knockout performances. The trailers and clips don't lie when it comes to what you can expect out of Harris. Very intense. However Hurt's turn later in the film might come as a bit of a surprise and is out of character with a lot of his other work.

Both actors steal the show, raising a potboiler plot to a higher level with sheer acting force.

Good Night, and Good Luck
9 of 10
A wonderful film and proof that Clooney is truly a legit director (following Confessions of a Dangerous Mind). His visual style and choices throughout the film are perfect. He appropriately frames and structures the films around Murrow segments and bits of jazz music interludes.

Strathairn is outstanding as Murrow, Clooney is fairly strong as Fred Friendly. The supporting cast is all typically good, most notably Langella.

My only complaint is the thinness of the script. Clooney and Heslov struggled to flesh out the film in some areas, especially the attempt to center around a theme of TV journalism vs TV entertainment and sales. The structures are there, they simply aren't realized fully enough to push this into the range of Oscar-caliber emotional powerhouse (Network or All the President's Men or even a similar documentary-like Quiz Show all out-perform this film).

Land of the Dead
5.5 of 10
There is plenty to like here, especially the general story idea. Lots of gore abounds and the acting is sufficient for the characatures that inhabit films such as this. The problem is just that it jumps and stops in an unsteady fashion and occassional falls into a bad moment that reminded me of Beyond Thunderdome.

Like that film the situation and social message is there and creative, but they just don't have it honed to finely paced machine that great films do. Too many parts feel tacked on and incomplete. It's a fun film and great for October, but it pales in comparision to recent hits like the Dawn remake or Shaun of the Dead.

Crash
9.5 of 10
This is an outstanding directorial effort from Haggis in which multiple storylines interact to tell a set of moral tales centered around racial tensions. The characters are interesting, though often over-the-top racist to a fault. The strength generally comes from some of the interesting story twists that place characters in unique emotional dilemmas which challege their beliefs on race.

The only problem I had with the film was the slightly manipulative aspect of the racial attitudes. There was rarely a gray area in the thinking of the characters. Haggis says this was because the reality was to not pull punches and find out what the characters really were like when they weren't being polite, but I simply can't agree with that.

The film goes beyond simply seeking the truth and instead seeks the truth of only the most extreme thinking and behaving character types, and that hurts it a little bit.

It still remains one of the top dramas of the year and a contender for Oscar considerations this winter.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang -
10/27/2005

No, no. You don't get it. This isn't good cop, bad cop. This is fag and New Yorker.
I have not laughed so hard in a long, long time. Best movie of the year so far for me. It has it's flaws, but the film embraces them with a tongue in cheek silliness that makes it all the better. There is a ghostly vein of Monty Python to that aspect. The use of LA is utterly inspired. The chemistry between Kilmer and Downey is utterly brilliant. Shane Black's script and direction are very sure at carrying you through the absurd convultions that are almost too hard to follow (as if you care anyway, you just need to get the jist and go with the flow and things will work themselves out. ).

And it has what is quite possibly one of the best final lines in a long, long, long time.

Adam

Updated with Pride and Prejudice ( ) and Zathura ( )

Pride and Prejudice is based from Jane Austen's famed and beloved book. The first time director has a sure hand at preducing some marvelously beautiful shots and layering the dialogue over and on top of one another. There is a spirit to the movie that is quite nice. The acting is all around good. Keira Knightly outshining everyone but Judi Dence, and Knightly has her best scene when she goes toe to toe with the legend. unfortunately the younger sisters (including Jena Malone) are so loud and abnoxious and bouncy that you'd think they're four years old

I've never read the book nor seen the famed miniseries.

I don't like the story. I know where its going I know what's going to happen, I'm bored out of my mind for the first twenty minutes that I fall asleep in defense. The tone towards the basis of the story just infuriates me, the only time I've ever liked the buying and selling and treatment of women in this era was Polanski's Tess which played the tragic and empathetic rather than as part of the grand old time.

I adore the love between Elizabeth and Mr. Darby, I just don't like anything else about the story.

Capote -

missed the first few minutes.

This film is very performance centric but pretty dull if you're familiar with the Clutter story. I've both read and seen In Cold Blood and the film made me want to read and rewatch those.

I just find the story of the Clutters much more compelling than I find the story of Capote's struggle to write it. I imagine this film may work better for those that aren't familiar with In Cold Blood.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is astonishing, and the guy that plays Perry should take home a nomination for his outstanding work as well. I liked Harper Lee and kinda wanted to see more of her.

I'm astonished the film is rated R, in the seventies this would have been PG.

Very good film.

------
Wallace and Gromit the Curse of hte Were Rabbit -

I enjoyed the film, but didn't have the benefit of a really enthusiastic audience. The penguin cartoon reallykills the stage for the feature. I often felt as though the film was happily chuggily along through the story points like one of Wallace's inventions, but it never had the whimsical charm and effervescent grace of Corpse Bride. I wasn't surprised by a single moment in the film, and didn't like the Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

Good film, quirky and off kilter, though the best bits are in the very beginning (through the Vicar being attacked) and the plane chase, pretty much everything else was only so-so for me.

They work better in shorts.

--------------
Howl's Moving Castle (dubbed) -

I liked the film better a second time. I really like Christian Bale as Howl, he is excellent, Bacall is quite good too. I don't like the different voice actors for sophie, I prefer the Japanese use of one actor. Overall I think I would prefer to watch the original Japanese, though the dub is perfectly acceptable.

This would be a perfect movie if they had a better final 90 seconds, instead of a visit to cheesy-ville.

Adam

In Theaters 2005

Hitch
½


Fever Pitch
½


The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy



Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith



The Longest Yard
½


Batman Begins



War Of The Worlds
½


Fantastic Four



Broken Flowers



Serenity
½


Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
*Seeing Soon*


King Kong
*Seeing Soon*


Munich
*Seeing Soon*

Jarhead -

Jarhead is a story about Jarheads in the first Gulf War. It's about the pointlessness of their training, their missions and their lives. The Suck is a continuation of a modern existence devoid of context but full of content and as the Suck eliminates the content all that is left is nothing. One of the hardest things about Camus' The Stranger is the concept that their is no meaning to the deaths at all, and the hardest thing about Jarhead is that within the context of their lives there is no meaning. Life has no meaning, death has no meaning, identity has no meaning, there is only hydrating and we scramble to find any sort of connection out of the entropy they're stuck in. As the Jarheads hydrate and consume bottle of water after of bottle of water I'm reminded of the inane homogenization, indoctrination and brianwashing our modern consumption-oriented society demands we undergo to 'survive.'

Heh.

It's a good film, I found it very interesting, I wasn't compelled, but the performances are excellent, and the cinematography is unbelievably stunning. This is the best shot film I've seen all year, hands down.

Adam

Added:

September
Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride - B

October
A History of Violence - B+
Ring 2 - D
Serenity - B
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - B+

November
Good Night, and Good Luck - B+
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - B-
Melinda and Melinda - C+
Millions - C+
Rize! - B-

I guess its just about only Adam, Brook and I for the most part, but that's cool. I've been really lame when it comes to HTF participation lately, so I'm trying to get back on track.

I missed Corpse Bride and Serenity and I really wanted to see those. I might get a $1 show before the DVD releases.

Capote is one I'm trying to work up to, basically because my expectations match Adam's review. I wasn't paying much attention to KK, Bang Bang but Adam's got me planning to see it now. Jarhead was already high on my radar to see.


What I have added

Wallace and Gromit
9 of 10
I agree that in some ways its a tad lighter than Lion King or something, but I think its a lot stronger than Chicken Run for example. It's a pretty tight story, its loaded with more W&G goodness (crazy contraptions, Gromit always saving the day), and ends with a nice action sequence (using "planes"). For me it delivered exactly what this type of work should, minus a faint hint of real "importance" (thus the 1 point drop).

I agree that the Penguin short was only blah. I liked the Penguins more in Madagascar, where they and the monkeys were about the only really great humor in the whole film.

Inside Deep Throat
9 of 10
A remarkably strong documentary that in my mind represents the genre at its very best. It makes statements, yet also seems transparent. It tells reality as a story without coming off as contrived or forced. It has lots of depth that I didn't expect. And best of all it has a visual style and flow that makes the film just roll along.

It even makes the minor pornographic scenes used appear as interesting observations rather than lurid exploitation. The film presents so much beyond just a simple examination of pornography and the uptight value system that this film ran headfirst into.

One of my favorite recent documentaries. Far superior to something like Super Size Me or F9-11.

Fever Pitch
3.5 of 10
Didn't expect much and the film didn't let me down. This film is structured a little like Singles, and it clearly indicates the metaphor its making between the man-woman relationship and the fan-team relationship of the Red Sox. In the hands of Crowe it could have been both funny and yet poignant and insightful. More than just a crap formula comedy.

Instead its more proof that the Farrelly brothers have either lost it, or perhaps never really had it all that much.

It also compares poorly to Mean Girls, the film written by Fallon's news partner Tina Fey, and one that could have been just as basic and formula but instead went for more than that with its writing. You look at this and Taxi (I've only watched parts so far - ugh) and then Mean Girls and think "you left for THIS?" He should stick closer to Fey in the future IMO.

Holy Lola - & Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -

Holy Lola is Bertrand Tervernier's (Coup de Tourchon) latest film. It is the story of a French couple in Cambodia to adopt an orphan. The only problem is that its virtually impossible for the French to adopt a legitimate orphan (rather than a 'trafficked,' kidnapped, child) because the orphanages focusa all preference to American adopters that pay a minimum of 20,000 to agencies to get a child. Americans are completely unseen throughout the film and are barely mentioned except at the beginning to explain why it is the orphanages filled with children have none available to the desperate french couples with a tenth the money.

The couple goes on a heartbreaking search before they luck into the titular Holy Lola (her full name, named after the orphanage) but their troubles aren't over yet as they have to navigate the red tape and vast amounts of bribes necessary to get the legally required signatures. The film gets a little bit repetitive at the constant downbeat of corruption, but the moments when humanity comes through shine out very nicely in contrast.

This isn't an overtly judgemental film, the only thing it condemns is lasting effects of the the war that tore apart Laos Cambodian and Vietnam (1/3 of Cambodians died, more of the Hmong).

In my opinion the film is worth seeing (and seeing a second time) for the real marraige shown. An american film would deem it necessary to dramatize the 'dynamic of the marraige' by introducing explosive disagreements kinky fancy lit erotic (but visually unrevealing) sex scenes, the threat of divorce, a major separation and probably one to five different affairs. Instead we have a beautiful and complex and incredibly real relationship that is matter-of-fact in its strength, love, and dependence. Also the ache of these people in their need for a child is heart rending and as Lola begins to complete them and fill the gap missing in their lives the film takes on beautifully poetic moments and feel.

A very good film, a bit long and repetitive and frustrating at times, but the film is supposed to leave you with those impressions of beaurocracy. :shrug:

Adam