Happy New Year/Kwanzaa/Hannukah/Christmas ...
Some new years resolutions ....
1. Write more
2. Do more art
3. Volunteer especially in mentoring and teaching ...
Seeing the parents was nice this weekend also saw three movies and willing to do an early top 10 list (incomplete)
I saw three this weekend
the first and by far the best and the #1 movie I have seen this year is "Walk the Line" ... ****1/2 ... this is an amazing biopic about June Carter and Johnny Cash and has amazing performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon .. see it Now!
The second movie I saw was King Kong ... Having seen bits of this I had monster expectations .. This one was lots of fun and very bloated. The movie was better as a sum of parts then as a whole ***1/2 (#8 of the year?) ... The special effects were awesome especially Serkis as King Kong and the rest of Skull Island ...
I also saw the Chronic .. Chronicles of Narnia ... It was very weird having a main character and [spoiler] chief weenie [/spoiler] as my namesake Edmund ....
The movie had nice effects and good acting but didn't really gel for me .. I give it a marginal thumbs up but **1/2 .. Lucy was well portrayed but the whole thing felt much too disney.
Without further adieu an incomplete top 10 ....
1) Walk the Line .. no doubt about it....
2) A History of Violence ... ****1/2 ... This one was very good and surprised me .. great acting by Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen among others .. the one movie I don't want to say much about ... if you have seen you can e-mail me though...
3) The Corporation (2003) .. ****1/2 ... This movie devasted me .. .Just a fascinating story of the power of the corporation and its medical diagnosis ... Psychopath ... Only concerned with Shareholder Equity and Profits ... although not technically a 2005 release I saw it this year ...
4) SavingFace ... ****1/4 ... Although this is officially a 2004 release .. the release was very limited .. a wonderful love story about two Chinese lesbians who grew up in Flushing, Queens .. there is a lot here about family too ... WELL worth seeing ...
5) Batman Begins ... **** ... I forgot about this one .. the best of the Batmans since Tim Burton directed them ... I really liked this one ... I probably liked War of the World better save the ending ... I loved the darkness in this one .. Christian Bale really worked ... Katie Holmes less so.
3, 4 undeserved by what I have seenof 2005 releases ... I hope there are movies I haven't seen that belong here ...
6) Jarhead ....**** .... The most existential war movie ever ... I loved the thoughtfulness of this .. I will pretty much see anything Sam Mendes does ...
7) The 40-Year Old Virgin ... **** ... Without any doubt the funniest movie I saw all year ... and lots and lots of heart ... Steve Carell is amazing in this one ... His relationship with Catherine Keener is beyond sweet....
8) The War of the Worlds ... **** .. . For the ending alone lost half a star ... This movie spellbound me and was a better scare fest then the more critically loved King Kong ... Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning are very good as was the creature designed ..> V.V. good (maybe 3rd best of the year) without ending .. this really should be a 6-7 pick ... I have not seen some movies that might belong here like Syriana, Brokeback Mountain, Munich and Cinderella Man
9) Sin City ... The most visually inventive movie of the year ... **** ... Mickey Rourke's best performance ever ... Very interesting movie to watch ...
10) In Her Shoes ... This may well be too high .. ***1/2 ... I really enjoyed this movie .. This was definitely one I saw with my wife's consent but I really enjoyed it ...
11) .. Star Wars 3/6: Sith .... ***1/2 ... Wow do I want to give spoilers on this one... I will just say outside the lines that this was my favorite of the 2nd trilogy .. It is nearly as good as Jedi ... Also one of the worst love stories ever .. ... Harry Potter 4 might take this spot ...
12) Fever Pitch ... ***1/2 ... A fun Drew Barrymore movie ... an odd retelling of the Nick Hornby though .. I enjoyed it but if you really want to understand the psychology of a sports fan read the book "Fever Pitch" by Nick Hornby about the horrors and joys of rooting for Arsenal Soccer Football in N. London ...
First Honorable Mention ...
13) Kung Fu Hustle ***1/2 .. Just a lot of fun .. I enjoyed Shaolin Soccer more but well worth seeing ... Stephen Chow is a joy to watch ... Just a fun movie ...
Highest expectations not quite met ....
14) King Kong ... ***1/4 .. not sure it belongs on the top 10 at all .. .Kong was one of the great special effects creations ever and it probably deserves technical awards along with "War" ... Way too long at 3 hours 20 minutes ... [spoiler] Why did the ship take an hour ... Not sure if I bought the romances either ... Had huge expectations and was disappointed ... [/spoiler]
An Honorable Mention to ....
15) Murderball ... ***1/4 ... This was a lot of fun .. I loved the hardcore Wheelchair rugby players ... Well worth watching ..
I also liked .... .
16) (to give 10 movies) Hitch .. *** .. This doens't really belong on a top 10 list at all but it was fun ... I enjoyed it ...
Please give comments and tell me more movies to put on the list ...
ecq
Yep now the list is even longer ... Haven't seen Wedding Crashers, or Penguins either
And yes .. there really is nothing about writing here ... Feels weird to write so little in December after so much in November ...
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