Films Seen in 2005
Submitted by icubaji on Tue, 03/15/2005 - 09:50
Tags:
- The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. B - Imaginative and droll, but not as good as Rushmore/Tenenbaums
- Napoleon Dynamite. A - Friendlier version of Welcome to the Dollhouse
- In Good Company. F - Please fire me
- Fear and Trembling. A - Whimsical, masochistic, twisted, and hilarious
- Shark Tale. A - Even if the plot was mediocre, the jokes and pop culture references were great
- Sideways. C - Pretentious meandering flick with hints of strawberry cliches and oaky lameness
- Million Dollar Baby. A - Poignant, violent, and sweet; what more could you ask for?
- Donnie Darko, Director's Cut. A - Cult classic still as bizarre but much more accessible especially with the commentary
- Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring. A - Lyrical storyline and lovely imagery
- Vanity Fair. D - Stick to Bollywood with an English slants rather than the other way around
- The Canary. B - Heavy-handed view of palestine via typical iranian storytelling (children, metaphors, striking images)
- Hamoon. C - Atypical Iranian film with grating Felliniesque dream sequences and uninteresting characters
- Maria Full of Grace. B - Glorified after-school special but with realistic plot and good acting
- Battle of Algiers. B – Jarring but realistic
- The Grudge. D - Liked it better the first time I saw it when it was called The Ring
- Wimbeldon. C - meh
- You Got Served. B - Good dance sequences but I liked it better the first time I saw it when it was called Bring It On
- The Motorcycle Diaries. B - Road trip movie of a hisotrical figure with scenery so beautiful it makes me want to get a ticket and go.
- Dodgeball. D - Might have worked as a half-hour short, but feature length underdogs-fighting-to-win-children's-sport just didn't cut it.
- Monseiur Ibrahim. C - Teenaged Jewish boy befriends older Muslim man and several French hookers with the cliched hearts of gold; could have been so much better.
- Big Fish. C - Much as I like Tim Burton and Ewan McGregor, this was just a string of not-so-tall-tales with no real substance or lesson.
- The Yes Men. B - Fearless activists impersonate WTO members in international conferences with hilarious speeches and shocking behavior; more hands-on but less serious than Farenheit 9/11.
- Manhattan. B - Woody Allen doing that thing he does in portraying the fast-talking, free-thinking, radical New Yorkers.
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. A - I saw this one year ago today and the second viewing of Charlie Kaufman's maze of wonders is even better than the first.
- Eurotrip. D - The things we watch while waiting for the laundry to be done; only funny scene was the slo-mo kung-fu robot fight.
- The Big Tease. D - Silly story of an underdog Scottish hairdresser trying to make it big in the L.A. Platinum Scissors Competition; only thing saving it from an F was Craig Ferguson's accent.
- Closer. C - Shallow examination of the tangled webs we weave when first we practice to decieve; plus, Clive Owen.
- Sin City. C - Stylish, shocking, and stunning in all of its over-the-top, graphically violent, film noir glory (how many mutilations can one movie hold?); fascinating at first, then repetitive gore. Can't say I know anyone to whom I recommend it.
- Control Room. B - A vivid, eye-opening documentary of the people and events linked to Al-Jazeera's control room during 2 months of the Iraqi war.
- Lavendar Hill Mob. B - Alec Guiness = Genuine Class - especially when he plays the upright, meticulous, genteel, nerdy mob boss.
- Rabbit Proof Fence. A - A true account of the harrowing journey three "half-caste" Aboriginal orphans made across Australia to return home.
- Solaris. C - More like Snorealis.
- Taste of Cherry. A - Slow-moving, thoughtful Iranian movie about a man contemplating, and looking for someone to assist him in, suicide.
- Hotel Rwanda. A
- House of Flying Daggers. A - Swords and ballet, flying sleeves and daggers, love triangles and beautiful scenery.
- Assassination of Richard Nixon. B Based on a true story, Sean Penn does a good impression of a browbeaten Lundegaardesque (Fargo) shlub who just can't stand The Man bringing him down.
- Life and Death of Peter Sellers. C - I'll stick to the real Sellers material even though I do like Geoffery Rush.
- Bad Education. A - Gordian, graphic, and Gael Garcia = interesting mix.
- Goodbye Lenin. C
- Word Wars. B Documentary on the quixotic world of Scrabble competitions.
- Burn to Shine. A - Cool compilation of DC rock performers (Q and not U, Bob Mould, The Evens, etc.) performing in a house that will be burned down and demolished.
- The Russains Are Coming. C - Don't know how this won some Oscars, but it wasn't nearly as amazing as 'Dr. Strangelove'.
- Kontroll. A - Brilliant and innovative drama of the lives of the Hungarian underground metro ticket inspectors; funny, dramatic, and clever with a pulsing, throbbing soundtrack.
- National Treasure. C - Adult version of School House Rock without the catchy tunes.
- Batman Begins. B - Darker, better installment that explains the history behind the 'hero'.
- Dirty Pretty Things. C - Good beginning but then slipped into the contrived.
- Veer Zara. B - Interesting take on the youth of Indo-Pak not holding their ancestor's grudges but dang, that's a long flick.
- Kung-fu Hustle. A - Loved it in all its hi-yah, slap-sticky, outrageous, over-the-top, silly, cartoony goodness.
- Rashoman. A
- Metropolis. B
- Born into Brothels. A
- A Very Long Engagement. B
- Devdas. C
- Lolita. B
- Broken Flowers. B - Lost in Translation in middle America.
- Macbeth. A/B - Ian and Judi are brilliant in this film version of their RSC stage production but I don't think I could sit through another viewing anytime soon.
- Taming of the Shrew. C - John Cleese was excellent in his role but everyone else was not.
- Layer Cake. B - British gangster movie with a little bit of "Lock Stock" and a little bit of "Sexy Beast".
- Born Into Brothels. A - Child photographers use the streets of an Indian red light district as their amazing canvas.
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. C - Although I only saw 4 of the 6 installments, even Alec Guiness's melodious voice could not convince me to sit through the rest of the plodding plot.
- Crash. A - Despite the cliches (yes, we are all complicated and have a little bit of bad and a little bit of good in us - but mostly bad), it was an arresting, disturbing, upsetting film about relations: race, gender, political, you name it.
- Mighty Aphrodite. C - Not one of Woody Allen's best attempts.
- Throne of Blood. A - Great take on "MacBeth" but I still like the "Scotland, PA" version best.
- Superman. D - I had no idea how horrible this movie was until I heard Margot Kidder's voice-over poetry.
- Triplets of Belleville. A - Despite some of the gross frog-cuisine scenes, quite enjoyable.
- Fog of War. A - Educational and eye-opening.
- Central Station. A
Cloned From:
"Shark Tale. A - even if the plot was mediocre, the jokes and pop culture references were great " - i have to say i totally agree. this was a highlight of 2004, noe of the best animations..ever. i loved the "food chain" scene and the sit-down. ("Its Oscar time!").
The Life Aqautic: lol if you stay here on listology for more than..2 secands you'll know i'm a huge Wes Anderson fan. i personally think this was his best, maybe not story wise but it was the funniest and is my favourite. Have you seen his first movie "Bottle Rocket"? it's just that you didn't mention it on your list.
re: Shark Tale - haha, the sit down scene was hilarious! i also loved the barage of famous, inspiring movie line quotes that oscar screams out and accidentally includes "you had me at hello!"
re: Life Aquatic: yay, i love wes too. although i enjoy dark and dry movies, i find the wes/owen combo to be funnier. i have seen "bottle rocket," just not in 2005. :)
i must disagree. this was no way near his best. rushmore is by far his most personal and challenging film to date. i agree this made me laugh alot more than other wes anderson films, i put it down to a new writing partner. but it was quite immature at times. especially when they all go deep beneath the sea, and each see somesought of 'wonderful' sea ceature. the reaction shots looked like something out of a disney film. you cannot topple the moment in rusmore when Max Fischer has his moment of reconciliation and 'the wind' by cat stevens starts to play. a magical moment in modern day movies......subtlety some directors cannot achieve.
yuo make some good points here and i am a huge anderson fan so alot of thought went into my choice of Life Aqautic being my favourite but its always going to be close.
Wow, you wrote the Maria Full of Grace review I wish I'd thought of! So succinct, and right on the money. I'm jealous!
heh, thanks, jim! :D
I wish I knew what an 'After School Special' was. Wikipedia tells me it was a type of show in the 70s scheduled just after teens got out of school. From the rest of the brief article, I inferred that the episodes probably concerned high school life and its social problems and moral dilemmas. Can someone else explain it better?
You've probably seen parodies of after-school specials at some point. You know... Sandy and Sheila were the best of friends all through middle school, but when they get to 9th grade, Sandy falls into the bad crowd, starts to smoke and drink and do drugs. Sheila thinks about joining Sandy because she wants to be popular, but ultimately she realizes that she doesn't want to do drugs, she wants to stay clean and stay close to her family. So she tells Sandy this, and they have a fight, but in the end, Sheila lives happily ever after. Basically a melodramatic morality play for teenagers.
Sounds delightful. That reminds me about the hilarious part in The Kid Stays in the Picture (the movie, though I bet it's in the book as well) when bigshot Hollywood producer Robert Evans produces an insipid singalong with beautiful people of all types singing some horrible song about being 'high on life' or not needing drugs to be cool or something. In the 70s. Hilariously awful.
Thanks for the help!
That's an excellent example of an after school special. From drugs to teen pregnancies to abusive parents - the specials were aimed at teaching children/teens how to cope with the ills of the world in neat little half hour packages. 3:00 p.m., set up characters, commercial break, portay problem, word from our sponsers, happy resolution, roll credits. For a scathing parody, check out the short-lived series "Strangers with Candy" starring Amy Sedaris.
great comments with the movies! your comments on sideways had me laughing out loud
heh heh, thx! funny what snarkiness gets you. :)
"Stylish, shocking and stunning" gets a C? Hmmm, glad I never had a professor who graded like you! :-)
I know, right? I should give it a higher grade just for the innovation and shock value. But . . . it's hard to explain. I have a pretty liberal view when it comes to a lot of things, but this was just not something that I expected and my concerns are that children will flock to see the 'comic book' movie and come out with nightmares. The grade is not so much for the style, but for the goriness. Hmm, maybe I should give it a higher grade even though I think it deserves an NC-17 or unrated rating.
Re: #57 The Taming of the Shrew
I absolutely agree with you about Cleese. If the warder of my brain hasn't fallen down on the job I think that John Cleese's performance showed how Katherine might actually come to be attracted to (even love) Petruccio. That is something I wouldn't and couldn't have seen until I saw it. I admit that it was a long time ago but I thought everyone else was good to excellent in their thankless roles which paled in comparison to the two leads...
And all of the roles are thankless in The Taming of the Shrew. Nobody is particularly admirable, likeable, tolerable, desireable or just plain -able. Because of the material the part of Katherine must be played by an excellent actor in order to make the play palatable to modern audiences. I think that Shylock* in The Merchant of Venice puts the same kind of demand on an actor... (but I might defer to bertie's considerable judgement.)
...now that I think back on it I have a dim recollection of an actor who was annoyingly out of their depth. So I defer to your considerable judgement.
* Of course Katherine was a forerunner to Shylock while the Jew would have been a "forerunner" to the Shrew.
Thx for your comments! Cleese did such a great job of making the convoluted, tongue-twisting, double-entendre Shakespearian language seem natural and flowing and funny. The others came off either as a bit robotic or else as if they were in some speed-reading competition to show off their skills with the words. I agree with you that the roles are thankless, but I just didn't buy Katherine's turn, nor did I like the actor who played Lucentio. And now I'm off to school myself via bertie's material. :)