2007: Movies Sorted By Tier
Submitted by jim on Mon, 02/26/2007 - 12:21
Tags:
Loved
- 28 Weeks Later ... The first 10 minutes, by itself, may very well be the best horror movie ever and Fresnadillo never takes his heel off your throat. I watched this one solely due to lbangs' review, and he was right on the money.
- The Bourne Ultimatum ... Everything that was great about The Bourne Supremacy, but more so. Between this and the 28 Weeks Later review above I may be playing fast and loose with the hyperbole (I should never write tired), but I'd put the three Bourne movies up against any other action/spy franchise any time, any where. You can even pick your favorite three out of the 100 Bond movies if you want.
- Death Proof ... Now that he has a few movies under his belt, it is impossible to decide if this movie is a homage to the movies Tarantino loves, or a homage to his own movies. Perhaps the two ideas are inextricable. I don't just mean the little touches like the Kill Bill ringtone, it's the whole feel of the movie. Characters are jawing in a diner and it feels like Reservoir Dogs, and you can easily identify when the movie goes all Kill Bill on yo' ass. Interestingly, what the movie doesn't feel like is a crappy B-movie (well, except maybe the final scene, which is fun nonetheless). It feels like a Tarantino movie, and a good one at that. Is there any other kind? Oh right, Jackie Brown. Why didn't I like that, again? I must rewatch, perhaps I'll set myself straight. Once again, nobody scores a movie like Tarantino, and he really delivers on the car chase. P.S. Pretty funny to have the little Sky High reunion, with both Kurt Russell and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the cast. Coincidence?
- Four Months, Three Weeks, and Two Days ... A day in 1980s communist Romania, the story of an abortion. Brutal, devastating, and quite simply Anamaria Marinca acts the hell out of it. Hang in there through the slow start. Reminds me a bit of Lars von Trier, but better.
- Into the Wild ... It's hard to say why I was so taken this one. It runs the gamut of emotions, often simultaniously, in layers, and even in contradiction to each other. Emelie Hirsch's Chris McCandless was wonderfully done. Impossible not to admire and even envy at the same time as his selfishness nags at you. Your heart breaks for his parents, even though they may have been awful at times. But haven't we all? There's nothing harder, and in the end you just hope with all your heart that the breaks go your way. Sometimes they don't. Can't imagine.
- The Orphanage ... I can see why Guillermo Del Toro wanted to produce this. Reminicent of Pan's Labyrinth in many ways, but with more of a horror slant than a fantasy slant. Totally engrossing, creepy, and even touching. I've read some comments knocking this for not being scary enough, which makes me quite the wuss for watching parts of it through my fingers. It's true that it's not particularly gory, so if that's what floats your boat I can see where you'd be dissapointed.
- Ratatouille ... Hot damn, Brad Bird is the real deal. He's three-for-three as writer/director: The Iron Giant (masterpiece), The Incredibles (possibly Pixar's best, certainly top 3), and now this. If it's been faulted anywhere it is for its lack of hilarity, and it's true that the movie is more sweet, warm, and charming than outright funny, but this is not a fault (and it has plenty of funny moments, and the lead-in short, Lifted, has belly-laughs to burn). As usual for Pixar, everything is top notch, from the sumptious animation (who would have imagined CGI food that looked edible?) to the excellent voice casting. I liked the movie even more after watching a bunch of the "making of" features posted on YouTube. Anyway, as long as I'm gushing about Bird, one of the things I really love about him is that his movies have great endings. A very rich experience, I bet I could watch this one over and over and keep noticing new things. The more I think about it, the more I like it (heck, when I walked out of the theater I merely really liked it, and now I'm smitten). Rumor has it Bird is going to direct a live action movie next, can't wait for that!
- Sicko ... Michael Moore's best movie, I think. Pure propaganda, or course. More editorial than documentary, but I do so enjoy his editorials. "Enjoy" is perhaps not the right word here, as it's really phenomenally depressing stuff. I'm sure all the socialistic love made certain large segments of our population apoplectic, but really, can anyone sane say with a straight face that the US has a good healthcare system? The bottom line is that other countries don't have these horror stories, they live longer, and they haven't bankrupted themselves doing it. You know you got worries when people laugh with relief, "oh no, it's not like the US here..."
- Stardust ... I remember back in the day when fantasy movies were pretty much guaranteed stinkers, but not lately, that's for sure. Has any other decade done the swords & sorcery genre so proud? I thought, watching the previews, that this movie was going to hearken back to the bad old days, but I was very happy to be wrong. Dark, quirky, and funny. Really nice job capturing the feel of Gaiman's writing. Great casting of Pfeiffer (looks like she's making a full-time job of the villain role these days) and De Niro (elevates the movie upon entrance). Has all the makings of being The Princess Bride of a new generation. All it needs now is a cult following.
- There Will Be Blood ... I can't believe the milkshake was slurped up by No Country for Old Men. I can't believe I have to totally reevaluate my opinion of PT Anderson after hating Magnolia so mightily. I can't believe how thoroughly Daniel Day Lewis disappears into his roles, especially this one. I can't believe Paul Dano holds his own against's DDL's fantastic performance (although I shouldn't be surprised, after his work in Little Miss Sunshine). I can't believe I liked this so much; when I think about the movie it should have been dull and yet it was completely captivating. Finally, the music! Unbelievable.
Really Liked
- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead ... Grim, and the whole cast does a fantastic job. Hard to go wrong with a good script and a great cast firing on all cylinders. Almost great (I can't say what it's missing, but something).
- Breach ... Takes its time in the telling, completely devoid of action, and yet still a riveting spy drama. Chris Cooper and Laura Linney lived up to my high expectation, and Ryan Phillippe exceeded my low expectations. Congrats to all involved for not turning this into a Bond or Bourne movie. Don't get me wrong, I love those movies, but this is a different beast, and the better for the appropriate handling of the material.
- Enchanted ... Whole family totally dug it. This year's Sky High. It's too cute to be subversive, but it's still fun to watch Disney send themselves up in this manner. Amy Adams (princess) and James Marsden (prince) are perfect.
- Gone Baby Gone ... Wow, really nice work from the Affleck family, Ben behind the camera and Casey in front of it. Reminded me strongly of a Clint Eastwood-directed movie (definitely a compliment). Great ending.
- The Great Debaters ... An underdog sports movie in academic clothes. Pushes all the right buttons. Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker don't get a ton of screen time together, but it's fun when they do, and the whole cast does quite well.
- Hairspray ... I was kinda indifferent to the dancing, which you'd think would be a fatal flaw in a musical, but the film and the cast are so fun and energetic you barely notice (and I dug the music mightily). John Travolta and Christopher Walken turn in great supporting performances. Michelle Pfeiffer, yet another villain. Not that I'm complaining, she's awfully good at it. Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, and Queen Latifah were also great, really making something special out of pretty small roles.
- Hot Fuzz ... The Shaun of the Dead guys return, proving they are masters of sending up a genre by pretty much playing it straight. I think Scream was the last movie to do it so well (work as a genre movie, and as a parody of the very same genre). Lots of fun. Not quite as much as Shaun, but close enough.
- I Am Legend ... I haven't read the book, so the changes and the ending are not a source of outrage for me. And while the CGI creatures seem to be getting slammed, I thought they looked pretty darn good, sufficiently weird and threatening. I even got into Smith's character a bit: his loneliness, his relationship with his dog and those mannikins, his little rituals and his commitment to his work. It all added up to distinguishing this from the pack of zombie movies. Three very good (one great!) zombie movies this year. That's gotta make 2007 the best zombie year ever.
- Juno ... If I had rated this immediately after seeing it I would have knocked it down a notch, but my wife and I have gotten so much conversational mileage out of it, and it has risen in my (our) estimation as a result. I have to ding it for being--and there's no other way to describe it even though I don't care for the expression--too self-consciously quirky. I spent some time trying to decide what that meant, and I think it's mostly that I was so aware of the quirkiness (similar to Ghost World and Napoleon Dynamite, although not nearly as damagingly). I felt similarly about the soundtrack: it was great, but I was very aware of it (probably intentional in both cases, I'll concede). Then again, I think of something like Cold Comfort Farm, which is also self-consciously quirky in a different way, and yet I loved it. It's all a question of viewer buy-in, I suppose. Anyway, enough of that. THE CAST ROCKED. Really great stuff from all involved, especially Ellen Page, although I almost don't want to single her out because everybody else is stellar as well. As for how the movie handles teen pregnancy, it's very interesting. I think about whether I'd want my 10-year-old daughter to watch it. On the one hand, our heroine is totally cool, the most centered, self-possessed kid imaginable. The unprotected sex is a mistake, obviously, but it's all on her terms. On the other hand, she does get pregnant at 16, but she's so solid that except for a bit of lip service paid to people talking about her behind her back, being pregnant in high school really doesn't seem like a big problem. And hey, maybe it doesn't have to be if your parents are as cool as JK Simmons and Alison Janney, and if finding potential adoptive parents is just a matter of leafing through the Penny Saver, and if you're a preternaturally well-adjusted teen, but that's not my understanding of how it generally goes (never having been a pregnant teen myself).
- Knocked Up ... I really didn't expect to care for this, but the movie has a heart, and it makes all the difference.
- The Lookout ... It's no longer fresh in my mind, so I don't have much to say. I think my expectations were a bit too high, but I still really liked it.
- Michael Clayton ... Impressive how gripping this movie is, especially when I consider that I didn't really care about any of the characters emotionally. Usually that's a deal-breaker for me. And can I say the cast did a great job, feeling that way? Because I want to say the cast did a great job.
- Planet Terror ... Not sure why, I like Tarantino and Rodriguez, but I wasn't really psyched for the Grindhouse movies. This one beat expectations, trashy fun without riddling me with guilt. I can see watching this at a drive-in, if such places existed any more (and if I ever went to a drive-in as a kid, I can't remember it, but I can still imagine seeing this at one).
- [REC] ... The lost footage from 28 Days Later, the Blair Witch edition. Not without flaws (did we need to break for interviews in a 75 minute movie?), and our heroine is pretty annoying, but the final 15 minutes or so is great horror.
- Son of Rambow ... This one won me over slowly with its light charm. I wasn't entirely taken with it at the beginning, although I did think it got little bits of childhood just right, but I hung in there and was surprised to find myself fully invested by the end. It's got a good heart, I liked the twist with the French kid, and my early assessment of "cute, but it's no Stand by Me is unfair on a couple levels. Perhaps it's not quite as strong, but it's in the ballpark, and I'll allow that I'm not the same person that I was in 1986.
- The Visitor ... Succeeds in large part because Haaz Sleiman makes his Tarek so incredibly likable. This is especially fortunate because I found myself slow to warm up to Richard Jenkins' professor (probably intentional on the filmmaker's part, and I got there eventually). I thought of any number of ways for the movie to tie things up in a more cliched fashion, and while such an ending might have been sweeter, it wouldn't have been as satisfying.
- The Water Horse ... A tall tale well told. Has kinda that same easy, leisurely pace you get with a lot of movies from this neck of the woods, but it grabs you. Nice work from the whole cast, the captain in particular I thought was a subtly layered character, perfectly portrayed (impressive mix of proud, jovial, and insecure). Really good creature effects.
- Zodiac ... David Fincher plays it straight (no cameras flying through coffee pot handles here) and boy, it really works. It all clicks, the script and the director, but especially the cast. I need my sleep, the kids go to bed late, so the runtime almost scared me away, but I'm glad it didn't. Gripping and engaging, and worth the lost hour.
Glad I Saw
- 3:10 to Yuma ... I enjoyed this, nicely shot and pretty interesting, and with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale you have just about as much potential onscreen intensity as humanly possible, but boy, some MAJOR problems keep this much farther from greatness than it should be. The ending? Unbelievably unbelievable. I'll have to remember that nobody who sketches can be all bad. Fer cryin' out loud. I suppose I should be grateful they didn't also have Christian Bale survive, but they must have been sorely tempted to wheel in the defibrillator and bring him back. And you know you've got problems when I feel sorry for the real embodiment of pure evil in the movie, Charlie Prince (nice work from Ben Foster). There are lots of ways he should have died, but gunned down for his loyalty wasn't one of them. I suppose that, in a way, is its own kind of genius, and if this had been HIS movie I would have applauded it, but the way the movie was set up his death was clearly supposed to be a triumphant moment, so it didn't really work. Finally--and I hate to get all vague on you--but even throughout the rest of the movie there was just something missing. Something about Bale's character that just didn't quite work for me, but I can't pin down what it is.
- American Gangster ... Very watchable, strong cast, but I feel like I've seen it all before. At this point, I probably have seen it all before, or at least most of it, but I shouldn't FEEL like I've seen it all before.
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ... I'll have to give this one another watch. I didn't even realize it had hooked me until the assassination actually occurs. Then I knew. And I really liked what followed, all the way to the end.
- Beowulf ... I'm not really sure why Robert Zemeckis is so enamored of this dead-eyed animation style. Grendel (fantastic) is really the only character that benefits from the treatment. I did enjoy some of the wrinkles Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery introduced into the story.
- Death at a Funeral ... Pretty uneven, but worth it for the always-great Peter Dinklage and some very funny stuff in the final quarter.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ... The weakest book produces the weakest movie. To be fair, both the book and the movie are pretty transitional, setting up terrific sixth and seventh installments. Well, the books were terrific installments, anyway. Remains to be seen what the movies have in store, but at the moment I'm not very happy Yates is directing the The Half-Blood Prince after seeing the job he did here. There's just not much here to enjoy. The dialog is uninspiring, the characters are a bit flat and drab, the action is sparse, etc. Somehow Yates made it hard to care about these characters, or to even hate the bad guys! At least Yates' chapter isn't the first to not get Dumbledore right, none of the movies have really done that character justice (Richard Harris was better than Michael Gambon, but I still say James Cromwell would have been the money choice). It watches like a checklist of plot points. The bright spots: Imelda Staunton looks nothing like my image of Umbridge, and yet she is PERFECT. And Gary Oldman again turns in some enjoyable work. That's about all that's worth mentioning. Dang, now I'm all depressed again that Yates is doing another. Hopefully he'll rise to the occasion (and the material). Either way, they can make this outing up to me by bringing Alfonso Cuarón back for The Deathly Hallows. Update: rewatched in August, 2009 and liked it quite a bit better. Must have been cranky that day.
- The Jane Austen Book Club ... Impossible not to be jealous of the lone guy in the book club populated with such quality women/actresses. Of course, he's likeable too, so nobody loses. Particularly liked Maria Bello and Emily Blunt. No real surprises there.
- Lars and the Real Girl ... Really impressive, how they managed to make such a sweet, chaste movie about a guy and a sex doll. You can't help but like the way the community rallies around Lars. Pure fantasy of course, but it's a pleasant fantasy to think folks would be so accommodating.
- Live Free or Die Hard ... Except for The Bourne Ultimatum, which hit it out of the park, there were quite a few letdowns among the crop of summer blockbusters (see below). This one manages to stand out from the pack, happily. It's not great--there won't be another great Die Hard movie until they figure out a way to bring Alan Rickman back (it was all a dream? long lost twin brother?)--but Timothy Olyphant makes a good effort at filling the big evil shoes. Couldn't stop seeing him as Sheriff Seth Bullock, but that's my problem. Cyril Raffaelli should have been in it more (loved Willis's "hamster" line).
- The Mist ... Quite good, surprisingly. The psychology of the characters felt slightly off early, but the stupidity and nastiness on display through the middle works well. I wouldn't say it was scary (no jumping, no watching through my fingers, not even close), but it was gripping. I STRONGLY regret not renting the bonus disc instead, as it's the one with the black-and-white cut, which I'm betting is scarier (and the CGI monsters probably look better, not that these were bad, but those subtle moments where they are too shiny or too weightless do detract). Would have had a awesome 50s sci-fi/horror feel, I bet. Unfortunately, I didn't like it quite well enough to rent it again. As for the polarizing ending, I have to come down on the "it sucked" side. I like what they were shooting for, but it just felt contrived, which sucked all the impact right out of it.
- Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium ... No wonder this got panned, it's waaaaay too sweet and cutesy. But my kids loved it, and I got sucked in (and not because my kids loved it). A movie about death for the kiddies, what's not to like?
- Mongol ... Pretty good quasi-historical epic/love story, enhanced by the setting. It's a shame so much of this story has been lost to history.
- No Country for Old Men ... Grappled with writing this up. I'm still trying to figure out how I felt about the movie. True powerhouse performances delivering great dialog, but the ending is so damn arty and rather deflating. Yeah, yeah, that's the point, loose ends are cool, I know. I don't feel like I'm a guy who needs every loose end tied off. I just think the act of creating this great, flawed, interesting, smart narrator character and then killing him offscreen, by Mexicans we are only vaguely aware of, without knowing which of his fatal flaws (if any) brought about his demise is just jerking us around while trying to pass for clever or subversive or whatever it is the Coens do when they pull stuff like this. By all means, subvert if it's going to make the movie better, but what they ended up with here was 3/4 greatness, and then the balloon pops. So I saw the movie, but didn't read the book. A buddy of mine, much smarter than me, read the book but didn't see the movie. Our assessments match up almost eerily: "Cormac had one of the greatest crime thrillers you could ever read going -- truly one for all time. Good guy, albeit with some flaws since he is a real person, finds some criminals' money, and decides to keep it, and they chase him all over the place, and it's the greatest fucking adventure ever. [snip] but instead of having him get away, or even get killed at the end because of something he did wrong, let's go ahead and kill him off in the middle, and then make the rest of the book essentially about how Satan Himself walks the earth slaughtering everyone, usually for no reason at all except that he is basically Satan who likes to kill people. I really cannot remember a book that I found as disappointing, in the sense that it had epic greatness in its grasp and then became almost cartoonish in its Evil Is Here character."
- Reign Over Me ... I have the buttons that this movie pushes, so it worked for me even if it felt like perhaps they leaned on them a bit hard at times. Really nice work from the cast.
- Rogue ... Fun little killer crocodile thriller. Takes itself more seriously than Lake Placid and is therefore not as funny, but it's the better for it. Feels like a real movie rather than a guilty pleasure (although I should probably feel more guilt than I do). The scenery is terrific, and they do a pretty nice job making some characters a bit annoying, but not too annoying.
- Run Fatboy Run ... Lightweight charm. You wonder how our hero is going to possibly redeem himself in our eyes after the opening scene, but if anybody can pull it off it's Simon Pegg.
- The Simpsons Movie ... If you liked the show 10 years ago (around when we killed the cable and I stopped watching it), you'll like the movie. I think perhaps they struggled with the length, as I laughed a lot more in the first 30 minutes than in the rest. Not sure if the writers got tired, or if I did.
- Timecrimes ... It's hard to get past what seems like quite a bit of idiocy on the part of our hero early on, not to mention the perennial problem of how this whole chain of events got kicked off in the first place, but if you think of the universe more as all possible timelines unfolding simultaneously, with the McGuffin here simply collapsing a few of those into one concurrent wrinkle it's easier to swallow. The free will implications here are fun. Not great, but a fine puzzle/thriller combo.
- Waitress ... Pie diners?! There are PIE DINERS?! How have I gone through life without encountering one of these? I feel deprived. As for the movie, cute and quirky, I liked it.
Guilty Pleasures
- Fracture ... C'mon, Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins, how could I resist? Not too bad, I thought I knew where the murder weapon was, but I was wrong. Like too many master criminal movies, the scheme relies too heavily on a couple preposterous assumptions, but I tried not to let that bother me too much.
- The Game Plan ... Okay, okay, I didn't hate it. And fine, I also found stuff to enjoy in The Pacifier. Sigh. How about this: if The Rock and Vin Diesel ever appear in the SAME kid's movie, I'll vow to hate that one, okay?
- Ghost Rider ... Ooooh, the guilt. What can I say? Don't watch it on my recommendation, or I'll never be able to look you in the eye again.
- Mr. Brooks ... There's something inherenty goofy about William Hurt hamming it up as Kevin Costner's murderous alter ego, and it's in not being able to take him seriously that he becomes a serial killer you can root for, kinda.
- Next ... Preposterous, poorly acted (even from actors I love), but still much more fun than I thought it would be. Works better conceptually than lots of time travel stories, and I really like the way they make his maneuvering through the future more explicit as the movie goes on. You appreciate how our hero is able to dodge an avalanche, for example, by watching that guy empty his clip at our hero. It's not that he sees it and consciously reacts, it's more like he moves through all possible futures and unconsciously discards the unfavorable ones (of course, sitting in the barber chair, and seeing all possible haircuts before him, how did Cage end up with that haircut?). Nice way of thinking about how the universe works. Then again, my wife's one-word assessment as the credit's rolled? "SUCKED."
- Vacancy ... Not a bad little thriller, actually, but the ending is pretty frickin' lame, and the Kate Beckinsale character is a problem: too annoyingly passive-aggressive with hubby, and too annoyingly passive as far as their survival goes. When she finally acts, it makes it that much more unbelievable. Still, while it's no Kontroll, for his first Hollywood outing Nimród Antal could have done worse.
Could Have Missed
- 30 Days of Night ... Interesting concept, but it would have been greatly improved by a bit of dark humor and more interesting characters.
- Dan in Real Life ... Watchable, but forgettable.
- Disturbia ... Entertaining, but still somehow forgettable, thriller.
- Evan Almighty ... Man, my six-year-old burst into uncontrollable laughter when the dam broke and people made a mad dash for the ark. Not sure if I should be worried about that. Uneven, but fun (to varying degrees) for the whole family, and I do enjoy Steve Carell.
- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ... I wouldn't have thought I'd lump this in with the latest Spider-man installment. Perhaps it's all about the expectations. Spidey fell well short, and this was about what I was expecting. Like the first one, not great by any means, but not totally awful, and family-safe, which is a plus. I have watched many movies with my kids that have been less entertaining, believe me.
- Meet the Robinsons ... Pretty late in the movie comes a truly memorable vision of the apocalypse. Sadly everything leading up to it is unengagingly weird. Reminiscent of a lesser Jimmy Neutron which, while enjoyable, didn't set a particularly high bar.
- National Treasure: Book of Secrets ... My whole family liked the first one, but this was a lackluster sequel, at best.
- Ocean's Thirteen ... Had a nice evening planned, this movie, and a new brownie recipe. A bit of a disappointment on both fronts. The brownies were too cakey, not fudgy enough. Come to think of it, the same could be said of the movie. It wasn't particularly engaging, although it was enough to keep me around to the end. I think I have to credit Pacino for that, as he was dislikeable enough that you have to root for his comeuppance. Still, a big step up from the second one, where my ticket just felt like subsidizing the vacation of the rich and famous.
- Shooter ... I learned a bit about how hard it is to shoot somebody from a mile or more away, but that was the most interesting part, I'm afraid. Admittedly, the movie fell a notch or two in my estimation when it was revealed our hero's name was "Bob Lee Swagger", and I don't know if I ever completely recovered. I actually had to rewind and turn on the subtitles to make sure: "is his last name Swagger? Really?" It's not quite as bad as if they'd made his last name "Badass", I suppose.
- Spider-Man 3 ... Corny even for a Raimi movie. Like Darkman corny, but without the wink and the nod. What's really surprising though is the poor pacing. And it goes completely off the rails with the combover hair/gothic hipster schtick. Who thought THAT was a good idea?! Thank goodness for J.K. Simmons and Bruce Campbell. The strength of the series (particularly chapter 2) makes this palatable for completist purposes, but it's a pretty weak entry.
- Sunshine ... Probably the best of the movies from this year that missed the cut for me. Even so, for a movie about a manned mission to the sun, of all places (if ever a mission cried out for a robot crew, this was it, for any number of good reasons), this movie takes itself VERY seriously. Too seriously for me. I was so heavily aware of how seriously this movie wanted to be taken. It's not the trying that turned me off, it was the trying too hard. The music, the somber and/or earnest and/or driven crewmembers, the old science v. religion conflict, etc.
Should Have Missed
- Death Sentence ... Starts strong, goes off the rails, precipitously so when Bacon shaves his head.
- The Last Mimzy ... Felt like some kind of propaganda film for a bizarre religion where innocence leads to enlightenment through alien contact or something. Not Scientology, exactly (I guess), but something like that. That's not why I didn't enjoy it (I don't really think it was a propaganda film), the thought just struck me. I didn't like it because it just seemed like weird alien pseudo-science-magic mumbo jumbo with little emotional heft.
- Mr. Woodcock ... Starts strong, goes off the rails, precipitously so at the corn eating contest.
El Sucko Grande
- Alvin and the Chipmunks ... I couldn't convince my kids that they'd rather see National Treasure 2. Slept through a pretty good chunk of it, But what I saw was pretty awful.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ... I don't think I've ever used the word "craptacular", which is great, because I can use it for the first time here. Craptacular. I mean, it's not really a neologism I care for, but it's the perfect word to describe this movie. I used to kinda like the second movie, but now that it's the bridge to this stinker, I'm going to just pretend movies two and three don't exist, and go back to enjoying the first one as a standalone.
- Shoot 'em Up ... Gun porn, just throw the actors into a room and have 'em go at it. Who needs plot or characters or even really much of a script? Or even a decent name for our hero, "Mr. Smith". I mean, I wasn't expecting much along those lines, but there's a certain minimum required, and this movie doesn't even try for it. I suppose there's something to be said for this movie insofar as it casts the inanity of 95% of action movies in stark relief, and makes you feel bad for not hating those too, but I can't imagine that would be a source of pride for the filmmakers. Makes Sin City look deep (on the bright side, I feel less guilty about having enjoyed that one now). I watched the whole thing, for which I blame Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti. What the hell were they doing here? 7.2 on IMDb. Unbelievable. I didn't really watch this movie, I rubbernecked it (something I never do on the road, by the way).
- Transformers ... Could have been a by-the-numbers actioner featuring bland CGI robots beating the crap out of each other while the human characters we can theoretically relate to cower and/or gape, but then the robots speak, and the only gaping/cowering worth mentioning is done by the audience, at the dialogue. Yikes, even now I shudder at the recollection. The actors are game, way to hang in there, guys. I suppose it's not without its moments, but they are few and far between. Also, I may have had a Transformer as a kid, but as a toy they made no real impression on me. Are there really enough people out there with nostalgia over these things that you can pander to that built-in market? Oof, looking at the numbers, I guess there is. Or maybe it's a Micheal Bay thing. I keep watching his movies even though The Rock was so long ago now, so I guess I'm part of the problem. Oh, speaking of the toys, it is amusing to imagine the actual toys having as many moving parts as their CGI counterparts. And shouldn't that cube have been a LOT heavier in its condensed form?
- Underdog ... What can I say, my six-year-old was home sick and this was what she wanted to watch. Even Transformers, another blatant ass-kiss to my generation's childhood, wasn't as bad a mail-in job as this. At least that one the studios were suckering us into going ourselves, this one suckers us into bringing our kids. But hey, my daughter liked it, so that's something. Gotta look on the bright side.
Unranked
- Eastern Promises ... I liked it less that I should have, given how good it was. I feel like I owe this one a rewatch before placing it. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, I just feel like I should have liked it more. I think, but am not sure, that this one was better than A History of Violence.
Unfinished
- Music and Lyrics ... Static direction, flat script, and a cast clearly mailing it in had me shutting this off around 25 minutes in. Hugh Grant is usually fun no matter what, but here he's clearly on autopilot.
Cloned From:
hey, just wondering, do you mind me using your old system of ranking (loved, really liked el sucko grade) though you've added a few since, just checking its ok if i carry on using it, i cloned it without asking and feel kinda bad about it. cus realised your lists are only ones phrased like that, if you want me to change, i of course will.
Go right ahead, I'm glad you like my ranking system!
I'm glad you caught and enjoyed Breach!
Good stuffs!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Me too! More often than not my rare theatrical outings are spent on F/X-driven throwaways (see 300). I really should fix that problem one of these days. Breach was certainly a step in the right direction.
Excellent! I hope to catch Ratatouille soon!
I'll take your advice about Ghost Rider, though... ;)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
:-) Perfect. I have no doubt you'll like Ratatouille, the only question is how much. Same for Ghost Rider, just substitute "like" for "hate".
Well, you were right. I enjoyed the new Pixar film, but not nearly as much as you did. :)
I'll still keep my distance from Ghost Rider - I didn't even dig the comic book when I was a kid!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Re: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I want to tell you how much I enjoyed the latest Harry Potter... but until I do I have four little words for you:
Longest book, shortest movie.
"Longest book, shortest movie".
You say that like that's a good thing. :-)
Actually, I see that both LBangs and AJDaGreat (who said the same thing in his review) also liked the movie, so I'm looking like the minority report.
But please, do tell me how much you enjoyed HP5!
I hope I'm not turning manic but it seems that I have a lot to write about Order of the Phoenix. But until paper puts out the pen...
I was looking for an example of a drawing by George Cruikshank (one of Dickens' illustrators) that looked like the Dursleys. [image search: Cruikshank Dickens Nickleby] The #7 result spit out by google came from listology. Someday all of my reference material will be self.
Somebody has to find a role for Sean Bean in the next two HP movies.
You may want Cromwell for Dumbledore, I want Serkis for Grawp.
On second thought, I do hope I'm turning manic. There are an awful lot of dishes in the sink.
Sean Bean, good call. But which role? All the meaty ones are taken, so he'd have to usurp someone. He would have been a good Sirius, but Oldman did a nice job on that one. James Potter, maybe? Not much for him to do, though.
Heck, maybe slather on the makeup and have him play Dumbledore. I think he'd do a better job hitting the right notes than Gambon is.
28 Weeks Later? Yay!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
the combover hair/gothic hipster schtick. Who thought THAT was a good idea?!
I did. Laughed my arse off. It was awesome.
Well, I more meant who on the production team thought it was a good idea, but I'm glad you liked it. Still, who knew the darkness within could be so irredeemably goofy?
...but then the robots speak, and the only gaping/cowering worth mentioning is done by the audience, at the dialogue. Yikes, even now I shudder at the recollection.
Four words: "What's crackin', li'l bitches?"
I had to rewind it back a couple times, to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
any plans to watch Death Proof ?
haha well theres my answer :)
:-) Yup, sure glad I caught that one. Did you like it as well?
After reading your review, I grew bold and ventured to my local IMAX theater for I Am Legend. I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed most of it! I've never read the book, so I don't know how the endings are different, but I did think the film's ending was horribly lame. However, it didn't quite erase how much I enjoyed the rest of it. Thanks!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Wow, glad you still keep up with these lists of mine! I would have thought you and everybody else would have given me up as the marginalized Listology participant I've become. :-)
I'd certainly agree that the ending does not live up to the rest of the movie. When I referred to not being outraged by it, it was just in reference to deviations from the book, not its merits in itself. Definitely the weakest part of the movie.
The way they should have ended it: They should have cut to the credits as she was driving along the tree-lined VT road. Or, at most, as she was pulling up to the gate, leaving a question as to whether anyone was still alive inside. Still, I'm a sucker for happy endings, so I'm not sure I would have liked that better, but I probably would have respected it more. Actually, the main reason I don't like the ending is not because it's too feel-good, but because there's no way that wall would hold, having watching how clever, relentless, strong, fast, numerous, etc. the NYC zombies were. Maybe VT zombies have grown soft from the country living.
Anyway, glad my recommendation (mostly) panned out for you!
Of course I keep up with your lists! I love to read them; they even inspire me to try stuff outside my radar at times!
I think the ending of the movie just relied too much on convenient coincidences for me to buy it. I not sure it should have aimed at the specific ending it did. I wonder how the book wraps it up...
I'll have to find out.
I was extremely impressed with the film up to the finish of the dog scenario. Enjoying that was a very nice surprise! :)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Ah, the dog scenario, great scene!
I read that the book is more ambiguous: the hero is actually cast as a bit of a terrorist holdout. There's a legitimate zombie (vampire?) society forming, and he's the fly in the ointment. Something like that.
Eastern Promises was definitely better than A History of Violence.
One thing i really disliked about Death Sentence was the forced emotional ques with the same song every time
I am soooo glad you loved Into the Wild, and you nailed what I found so unique about it - it embraces so many contradictions and refuses to settle for easy resolutions. It drudges up strong reactions and conviction, even when they all conflict. I didn't expect such open-minded, embracing work from Penn, but.... wow!
The Bourne Ultimatum is sitting beside my DVD player as I type! :)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Thanks!
I gotta say, if you look at my top tier for this year I owe you big, as Into the Wild, 28 Weeks Later, and Death Proof are all movies I might have skipped if you hadn't been so high on them, so thanks for that too!
Hopefully Bourne #3 will work out for you. I think in general I like that series more than you do, although I know you thought #2 was better than #1, so hopefully it keeps moving in the right direction.
I'm glad you enjoyed so many of my charting films.
Now, I need to follow your excellent example - I should stop slacking and get some reviews on the site!
I have high hopes for the third Bourne...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
28 Weeks Later should have been a 10-minute short film. :)
:-) Didn't care for the rest, eh?
It just wasn't nearly as good as the first ten minutes.
Jim,
Was the version of Death Proof that you watched the one that was part of Grindhouse or the separate film?
The separate film. I had Grindhouse in my Netflix queue, but then they removed it and put the separate movies in there instead. I think that became the only way to get them from Netflix, at least at the time.
Good to know. I was just going to tell you that the standalone version was a smidge better than the combined version. For example, Butterfly's dance was completely cut out of the theatrical Grindhouse. I really liked that part of the standalone movie when I saw it. In the theater when they cut that and he kills them later you were left thinking that something strange may have happened during the dance. With the inclusion of the dance you see that he she delivered on the promise and being the sadistic *bleep* that he is he still kills them anyway.
Interesting, I didn't know that! Does seem the better choice.
Wasn't Shoot 'em Up just abysmal?
Oh my yes. Very disappointing, given the cast.
Given the cast _and_ the general premise. I mean when I read about it and saw that it was going to be a film that bought into every action trope and amplified it I thought "Now there's a movie that could be fun." It was so far from fun. Some of the plot points were just mean and ugly. Mother of newborn is shot to death in some craphole building. Monica Bellucci is breast feeding some weirdo in a brothel. That's not fun. If they would've taken the over-the-top premise and given it a completely different plot now _that_ movie could've been fun.
In Fracture where did you think the murder weapon was? I thought for sure it was going to be part of that contraption he designed.
Yeah, me too, that must have been intentional on the filmmaker's part. Neat trick.
ah, i agree that its a nice idea that the whole town would rally around and help lars in lars and the real girl but for me it went too far (hopsital stuff, they wouldn't use beds and transport and equipment) when that happened i had too question it. i know i'm being cynical, but i couldn't get past it. I also wanted the film to be a little darker than the almost sickly sweet it went into. However i was always with the character of lars due to gosling's amazing performance. Also Paul Schneider & Emily Mortimer were very good in their roles.
oh well just dropping in my thoughts, later !
Your cynicism is justified! Still, I bought into the fantasy. Sickly sweet works for me a little too often for me to be taken seriously, I'm afraid.
Not sure why, I like Tarantino and Rodriguez, but I wasn't really psyched for the Grindhouse movies.
I wasn't very much buffed into seeing them either. I read about the Dead Proof's plot and I thought it was dumb and annoying, and I thought Rodriguez was just going to mess it up like with Sin City. I was among the few ones that didn't like that.
But then people/critics showered it with praise, and then I downright had to see Dead Proof. And it blow me away... at how good I was at predicting. I didn't like the astated development, the people in it, nothing was even a bit of interesting. It's the Tarantino movie I gave the worst grade.
So I though Planet Terror was going to be much of the same, and hadn't seen that one that time. And half a year later I had nothing to do so I put on the Rodriguez movie and it knocks me on the pavement... at how good I was at pred.... no I'm kidding, the movie was fantastic!
As the watching progressed I was thinking to myself: "there must be something, there must be something (that's going to ruin the movie)". But no, it was an ultimate delight start to finish (ok, maybe the "guard rape part" was somewhat... yeah), with such insanely overwritten plot, fabulous (b?) actors, unsurpassable mood and many other what-nots.
Basically it was really something of an experience.
Jim, did you stop maintaining your I Feel So Used site, or is it just in a new location I can't find?
Either way, getting redirected to that "Where the Hell is Matt?" video was totally worth it.
"I Feel So Used" was a casualty of the move, I'm afraid. My new host doesn't have ColdFusion installed (the programming language IFSU and Listology are written in), so I'd have to rewrite it from scratch. Shoot me an e-mail off list if you want me to send you an extract of your IFSU data.