seen in 2005
Submitted by taryn on Wed, 01/05/2005 - 08:27
Tags:
- OCTOBER
- bewitched - despite support from jason schwartzman and stephen colbert, this movie couldn't be saved. maybe you have to be a bigger fan of the original or something, but i just didn't get into it.
- wallace & gromit: the curse of the were-rabbit - i've never seen the first wallace & gromit so i wasn't sure what to expect but it was great--and a lot more saucy than i expected! also, the 20-minute short from the madagascar penguins made me want to see that as well.
- monster-in-law - while i think j. lo makes a better actress than singer, you can get the gist of this flick from the preview. save yourself the time.
- batman begins - i had totally written off the batman series after the last two stinkers, but christopher nolan resurrected it successfully. the outstanding cast includes the always amazing gary oldman, linus roache who i loved in pandaemonium, liam neeson, morgan freeman, and michael kane. cillian murphy played the aptly named scarecrow (freaky!) i thought murphy looked familiar but wasn't expecting him to have been in girl with the pearl earring or cold mountain. hope his star continues to rise!
- twitches - a cute disney movie for every little girl who wishes they had a long-lost twin and also had magical powers. i watched it with a five-year-old so i do have an excuse!
- SEPTEMBER
- corpse bride - woohoo! was able to catch a sneak preview last night and it was AMAZING of course. can't wait to go again!
- AUGUST
- broken flowers
- must love dogs
- march of the penguins
- charlie and the chocolate factory - 3x
- JULY
- alfie
- life aquatic with steve zissou
- horse whisperer
- in good company - lame, lame, lame. an attempt at a non-traditional ending but a poor one at that.
- JUNE
- howl's moving castle - neat anim(e?)tion fantasy with christian bale, samantha morton, and billy crystal on lead voices. it ran a tad long but i enjoyed it overall. you can't overthink it though because it doesn't all make logical sense my advice, though, is just to suspend any questions and enjoy the ride.Spoiler: Highlight to viewlike why does sophie's curse to look like a 90 year old woman sometimes go away leaving her with a young face/voice and gray hair and then go back to wrinkles and aging voice in the next scene?
- mr. blandings builds his dream house - a cary grant flick that may have been the precursor to the money pit. not sure why this one drags--maybe because it's been copied so much?--but it's definitely funnier in the beginning before they start to build. (my favorite part of this dvd was actually an extra feature cartoon called "house of tomorrow" with a narrator who gave me a wicked flashback.)
- mr. and mrs. smith - it was a little predictable but i found this to be entertaining for an action flick... i especially liked the strange soundtrack juxtaposition, and of course the leads aren't too tough on the eyes either.
- lagaan - great bollywood flick, and i did learn a lot about the game of cricket, but beware. it's over 3 hours long!
- red - forcing a friend to watch my fave flick...
- frida - always loved her work but knew little about her... great cast, great effects; don't have much to say except i'm not sure why it took me so long to see it.
- i, robot - what does will smith have against other life-forms anyway? jk. liked this movie except for the sucky ambiguous ending.
- lords of dogtown - you think i would miss a skateboarding movie? twas entertaining, but the best part was tony hawk's cameo!
- MAY
- because of winn-dixie - again, i wouldn't have watched this unless i was captive in a tin can above the ocean but i do admit i teared up in places and dave matthews' appearance was a surprise.
- hitch - wouldn't have purposely seen this again but when they played it on the plane to hawaii, i didn't complain.
- hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - my friend chaz is loyal to the BBC version but i've never seen it. i did read the book though and thought this flick was highly amusing.
- APRIL
- blue cinema shorts - a collection of antique porn shorts from silents on, shown after lecture by a harvard curator
- sin city - pretty gruesome but artful and cool at the same time.
- the philadelphia story - inspired me to buy a cary grant dvd collection
- the incredibles - so cute and author sarah vowell from npr's "this american life" plays the daughter. also love the fashion designer's character!
- animation show 2005 - many of these were a bit dark but it's cool to see the variety of animation that's out there now.
- bride and prejudice - has the musical quality of grease only it's set in india.
- MARCH
- hitch - saw in nowheresville pennsylvania with my friend deanna. will smith is a guilty pleasure of mine, but i wouldn't necessarily recommend it.
- FEBRUARY
- win a date with tad hamilton - so bad. talk about a lazy saturday night.
- taxi - jimmy fallon was so much better on SNL. can anyone guess what will happen to him now? (and i hate to say it, but in what universe would queen latifah get that guy?!)
- before sunset - another bargain... amazing, of course. but now i need to get before sunrise too.
- garden state - picked this up in the VHS bargain bin and i'm glad i did. it was even better on the second watch.
- mildred pierce - i can see why this is a classic... i predicted the entire storyline! still, joan crawford is understandably recognized for her role--"veda" needed to be slapped around a little more, in my opinion. my favorite line was of course eve arden's (principal mcgee from grease!): "leave something on me--i might catch cold."
- JANUARY
- james and the giant peach - i have no idea why i've never seen this before! i knew that burton was involved but i had no idea jack skellington made an appearance as a pirate, or that susan sarandon voiced miss spider! in all, it was well done but not quite on par with "nightmare before christmas"--especially music-wise because we have randy newman instead of danny elfman. (oddly, i kept thinking the bugs from "a bug's life" looked eerily similar to these, and randy newman did the music for that movie too.)
- young adam - a total disappointment, despite ewan mcgregor's trademark full frontal scene. a horrendously bad film with lots of confusing/raw sex and no redemption whatsoever. it was released in 2002 but may have been made before he was famous. that's the only excuse i can offer... what was he thinking?!!
- in the realms of the unreal - amazing documentary about the life of recluse and janitor, henry darger. it was discovered just before he died that he'd written a 15,000 page novel about a group of sisters, single space typed--complete with hundreds of accompanying doublesided, 12 foot long watercolor paintings/collages as illustrations. director jessica yu had only 3 pictures of the actual man and a total of 4 people to interview (his landlord, 2 neighbors and a grown-up altar boy from the church he attended daily) and yet she creates the most rich homage to this mysterious man, even going so far as to bring his artwork to life digitally. highly recommend!!
- gypsy 83 - finally... a goth coming of age story! sara rue (of TV's "less than perfect" fame) and kett turton (i guess he played mitch in "saved!" but i can't remember him--need a re-watch) play 25 and 18 year olds from ohio on their way to nyc for a stevie nicks tribute night. i've never known there was a goth connection there but i guess it makes sense... this movie isn't for everyone (gay themes and a rest-stop sex scene) but as a former goth from rural america, i found it pretty amusing and true to life. nicks didn't approve the rights to her music but thank god the cure and bauhaus did!
- manchurian candidate (update) - i started watching this on pay-per-view at a hotel and it blacked out in the middle, so i just rented the DVD to catch the second half. i've never seen the original but it was interesting to hear the filmmakers talk in the bonus features about how they took it in new directions. i've seen a bunch of other movies with liev schreiber in them but he didn't demand my attention until this--i hope he goes on to do good stuff.
- eternal sunshine of the spotless mind - for some reason this film escaped my radar (jim carrey's fault perhaps?) but a couple of friends were wise enough to recommend it to my attention. with the exception of jim i thought it was an outstanding cast and i admit he did an alright job of holding his own... (but when he screws his face up to cry i swear it looks like just another "dumb & dumber" moment to me.) but the real win for this movie is obviously the screenplay. i don't love kaufman unconditionally but i do sing hallelujahs that original people like him exist in hollywood. the concept of erasing painful memories appeals to everyone who's human and it's stunning the way he carries out the what-ifs.
- a very long engagement - i adore the jeunet and tatou but i have to warn other sensitive viewers like me that the parts of this film are intensely bloody (esp. the beginning). i know, it's a war movie but i wasn't quite prepared to see all that i did. that being said it was a wonderful story, amazingly filmed and acted and absolutely worthwhile. a special treat is jodie foster's screentime--who knew she spoke such great french?!
- finding neverland - johnny depp has amazing instincts when it comes to selecting films. how many films can you describe as both a sweet family film and an amazingly complex story of love and the creative process? i've never even seen or read peter pan (!) and i thoroughly enjoyed this lushly filmed tribute.
Are there tenets of the goth lifestyle? If yes, what are they? If no, then what defines a goth lifestyle?
Well, as with any subculture, I think people just find themselves drawn in and settle into a particular facet... but if you really want a site that speaks in generalities, this one is decent.
James and the Giant Peach is one of those weird movies that seems to have disappeared off the face for no reason whatsoever. I never hear about or see it, ever, but it did decent box office (for 1996) and was a critical hit.
I totally agree about Young Adam; it was confusing. And OK, I understand that the "working class" is supposed to have had their collective soul sucked away by the drudgery and hopelessness of their lives, but could someone in this movie have just a touch of vitality?
And Mildred Pierce? Joan Crawford needed to do even more slapping! Nevertheless, I liked it a lot...
Johnny Waco
Wow, so glad you liked Lagaan! It's one of those movies where it's hard to imagine anybody not liking it once they've seen it, but is impossible to sell: "it's a musical, almost four hours long, and is predominantly about taxes and cricket." Ooo yeah baby, sign me up. :-)
it's funny you should say that--good point... My friend actually had to leave her DVD with me and I think I had it for a couple of months before i finally broke down and watched it. And I still had no idea what I was getting into, I just wanted to return it!
How does Corpse Bride compare to Nightmare Before Xmas?
Well, I love Nightmare but I think it's almost like comparing apples and oranges. This has a dark edge to it, but it's really more of a lighthearted fairytale--a love story and almost slapstick comedy at times.
I will say the music in this one was still entertaining but not nearly as catchy as the Nightmare refrains. And it's not really long enough to get attached to the characters as much as you do Jack & Sally--but there are some memorable minor characters in Corpse Bride that I hope Burton returns to someday!
Hooray for reviews! I have Batman Begins here right now, which will hopefully do me better than The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which put me to sleep inside of 45 minutes. It was a two-day rental, but nothing in the first 45 compelled me to keep it.