1. The Aviator -- 1/7 A+
2. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle -- 1/8 A-
3. Anchorman: Unrated -- 1/9 A
4. Comedian -- 1/10 B
5. Napoleon Dynamite -- 1/11 B
6. Resident Evil: Apocalypse -- 1/11 C
7. The Terminal -- 1/12 A+

This was one of my favorite movies of the year. The sad thing though is that this was criminally underrated/missed by a lot of people this year, which led to it's low box office total. Hanks here gives one of his best performances, and Spielberg is top notch. The set is also a marvel to look at. I placed this number 6 on my Top 10 list of 2004.

I agree about The Terminal. I think it is a lot more subversive than most people give it credit for.

This is not the story about a man struggling to come to America to live "a better life" he's just trying to fufill a quick promise then jet home. On the way he learns about the ups and downs of materialism under the corporate lights of the airport mall. He learns to get ahead in the US he must define himself based on what he aquires. It's no wonder that when he's leaving the airport all the shopkeepers try to give him goods... status symbols... to show their love.

I agree with you on a few things. I did think the acting was very good (well, impressive for unknown actors). It's not easy to pull off a role like that, and he did a good job of doing so. And yeah, I guess when you boil a movie down to the bone, it doesn't sound so good. I was just really dissapointed after all the great hype, and it was just a little too weird for my tastes. I did find a few things funny, though.

Day 6: Tupac: Resurrection - A-

I love Tupac, and all the documentaries about him, and this one was no different. I watched it in the movie theatres, and this was the first time I've seen it since then. I enjoyed it just as much

1/12 - Anchorman Uncut - A+

The funniest movie produced since Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Uncut version didn't add much but I'm looking forward to watching the bonus film.

1. Troy
2. Anchorman: Uncut
3. Intolerable Cruelty
4. Matchstick Men

Since last Thursday. I might not make it, but oh well. I'll still try.

01. 01/07/05: Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000) A
02. 01/08/05: Vertical Ray of the Sun (Anh Hung Tran, 2000) B
03. 01/08/05: Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) A+
04. 01/09/05: Sleeper (Woody Allen, 1973) B-
05. 01/09/05: Key Largo (John Huston, 1948) B+
06. 01/09/05: Out Cold (Brendan & Emmett Malloy, 2001) C-
07. 01/10/05: Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931) D+
08. 01/11/05: Just Married (Shawn Levy, 2003) C-
09. 01/11/05: Battleship Potemkin (Sergei M. Eisenstein & Grigori Aleksandrov, 1925) B+
10. 01/12/05: Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, et al, 1980) A
11. 01/12/05: The Good Girl (Miguel Arteta, 2002) C

the former is hilarious, the latter is absolutely mediocre. another one of those "it's just there" kinda movies. and l hated the ending.

1. The Aviator (2004) -- 1/7 A+
2. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) -- 1/8 A-
3. Anchorman: Unrated (2004) -- 1/9 A
4. Comedian (2002) -- 1/10 B
5. Napoleon Dynamite (2004) -- 1/11 B
6. Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) -- 1/11 C
7. The Terminal (2004) -- 1/12 A+
8. Superman: The Movie (1978) -- 1/13 A+

Forget Batman and Spider-Man, this is still the best superhero movie, not to mention my favorite movie. Even though some things might be outdated, most of the things in the movie hold up well, yes even some of the special effects from 1978. However, the best part of the movie is the musical score. The "Superman Theme" is still my favorite of John Williams' scores. Also, the movie has a kind of innocence that only Spider-Man 2 has been able to capture since, which makes the film stand out on it's own. It's not too dark, and not too campy. It's perfect entertainment.

Harold and Kumar- B-

2005-01-04 Mean Girls (6/10)
2005-01-05 Cop Land: Director's Cut (8/10)
2005-01-06 Hellboy (6/10)
2005-01-07 Super Size Me (7/10)
2005-01-08 Wimbledon (7/10)
2005-01-09 King Arthur: Director's Cut (3/10)
2005-01-10 Dodgeball (6/10)
2005-01-11 Top Gun (8/10)
2005-01-12 Catwoman (1/10)
2005-01-13 Long Time Dead (4/10)

Relatively unknown little brit horror flick about eight teenagers accidentally summoning Sjinn - no not the cute funny Robin Williams Version: a fire demon who starts killing them one by one in the tradition of Final Destination. It is pretty boring and nor particulary scary.

01. Fallen B
02. Cowboy Bebob C+
03. The Warriors A
04. School of Rock C
05. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Remake) D
06. The Rounders C-

07. Secret Window - omglolroofle F, weird that King came up with something this uninspired, or they just adapted it horribly

01. 01.01.2005 - Open Water. (2004) d. Chris Kentis. Grade: F
02. 01.01.2005 - Sideways. (2004) d. Alexander Payne. Grade: A
03. 01.01.2005 - King Arthur. (2004) d. Antoine Fuqua. Grade: C
04. 01.02.2005 - The Manchurian Canidate. (2004) d. Jonathan Demme. Grade: B
05. 01.02.2005 - Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2. (2004) d. Mamoru Oshii. Grade: B-
06. 01.03.2005 - De-Lovely. (2004) d. Irwin Winkler. Grade: C-
07. 01.05.2005 - Notorious C.H.O. (2002) d. Lorene Machado. Grade: D+
08. 01.08.2005 - Million Dollar Baby. (2004) d. Clint Eastwood. Grade: A+
09. 01.08.2005 - Code 46. (2003) d. Michael Winterbottom. Grade: D+
10. 01.09.2005 - The Door in the Floor. (2004) d. Tod Williams. Grade: C+
11. 01.09.2005 - House of Flying Daggers. (2004) d. Zhang Yimou. Grade: B+
12. 01.10.2005 - Vampires: The Turning. (2005) d. Marty Weiss. Grade: F
13. 01.10.2005 - The Prophesy. (1995) d. Gregory Widen. Grade: D+
14. 01.11.2005 - Napoleon Dynamite. (2004) d. Jared Hess. Grade: B
15. 01.12.2005 - Bamboozled. (2000) d. Spike Lee. Grade: B-

Bamboozled is an interesting film, and we could spend 30 topics trying to discuss everything it has to say. It's a film that is very much shaped by your prejudices (which everybody has) and unique knowledge about how the world works and plays with them.

The film is about a black television writer Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) who, in order to get fired by his white "wigger" boss, reinvents a modern day minstrel show, complete with black actors (Savion Glover, Tommy Davidson) in blackface, acting like morons. The problem is, the network and the audience buys it, black and white, make it the #1 television show. Only then does it begin to play on Pierre and especially his assistant (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and the "revolutionary", dangerous but endlessly ignorant and stupid Mau-Maus (who are led by Mos Def).

To me, Bamboozled is more of an open critisism of the African American community, and Lee's opinion seems to be that they are purposly still selling themselves out by appearing as non-threatening objects of ridicule. Not just on television, in music (which is addressed here), advertising. And while there are plenty of stupid, racist white people in the movie, the focus really is on the self-degridation.

It is very much a satire in the same vien as Network. It doesn't always work. Lee seems to believe (in my view) that in order to make the satire more hard hitting that the characters need to have really defined personality traits and be pretty one dimensional, but in a way it backfires because when the characters shift perspective at the end you are left with a "huh?". Also the digital video quality leaves a lot to be desired when compared to other Lee Joints and the soundtrack, while cool, is often mixed so heavy in the scene that it starts to compete with the dialog (see opening sequence especially).

Wayans himself is an incredibly annoying lead character who takes his character's persona waaaaay too far. Jada Pinkett-Smith delivers the best performance, even though a few more scenes with her would have been cool because her emotional responses seem to be a little jagged and manic.

More or less, like any Lee film, people just need to see it. Not his best, but definately not his worst.

Beware the corn.

Children of the Corn, eh?

Think I saw it, but if I did, was too long ago to remember it.

Cold Mountain- A (SNUBBED BY THE ACADEMY!)

1. 01-07-2005: Troy (2004). Grade: 9.5/10 - A
2. 01-08-2005: White Noise (2005). Grade: 8.1/10 - B+
3. 01-08-2005: Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004). Grade: 8.3/10 - B+
4. 01-08-2005: Open Water (2004). Grade: 5.5/10 - C-
5. 01-09-2005: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003). Grade: 9.4/10 - A
6. 01-09-2005: Mindhunters (2005). Grade: 9.5/10 - A
7. 01-09-2005: Face/Off (1997). Grade: 9.7/10 - A+
8. 01-09-2005: Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004). Grade: 8.4/10 - B+
9. 01-10-2005: Cruel Intentions (1999). Grade: 9.3/10 - A
10. 01-10-2005: Reindeer Games (2000). Grade: 4.2/10 - D-
11. 01-11-2005: Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Grade: 6.2/10 - C
12. 01-12-2005: Paparazzi (2004). Grade: 7.3/10 - B-
13. 01-13-2005: Not Without My Daughter (1991). Grade: 8.0/10 - B+

It's a very interesting movie. For all who haven't heard of it, here's the link. It's about an american woman who marries an Iranian guy, and they have a child. Then, one day, the man wants to go visit his family in Iran for two weeks, but his wife was too scared to go. He swears that he would never do anything to put their lives in jeopardy, so they agree to go. He lied. His actual intentions are to live there, and they don't like it because of how Muslims treat their women in Iran. Now, she and her daughter are trying to escape. I haven't finished it yet, I've only seen about half of it.

So far, I like a few things and I don't like a few things. The bad; racism. It's obviously going to be a big part of this movie, and I don't know how life is like in Iran or for muslims and their customs, but they portray America as a "luxurious" country. First of all, I know we're rich and all. But, they only show how one man and his family live, and they were pretty rich. They don't show how so many people suffer in America each and every day. Other than that, I'm enjoying the movie so far. It's a very interesting story, and the way the husband begins to change to prove to be a loyal muslim is very interesting. I'll get back to you all on how I like the whole movie tomorrow, but so far so good.

01. 01/07/05: Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000) A
02. 01/08/05: Vertical Ray of the Sun (Anh Hung Tran, 2000) B
03. 01/08/05: Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) A+
04. 01/09/05: Sleeper (Woody Allen, 1973) B-
05. 01/09/05: Key Largo (John Huston, 1948) B+
06. 01/09/05: Out Cold (Brendan & Emmett Malloy, 2001) C-
07. 01/10/05: Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931) D+
08. 01/11/05: Just Married (Shawn Levy, 2003) C-
09. 01/11/05: Battleship Potemkin (Sergei M. Eisenstein & Grigori Aleksandrov, 1925) B+
10. 01/12/05: Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, et al, 1980) A
11. 01/12/05: The Good Girl (Miguel Arteta, 2002) C
12. 01/13/05: Castle in the Sky (Hayao Miyazaki, 1986) A

what can l say? l'm growing really fond of this guy; he's 2 for 2 in the wonderful animated department. loved it.

1. The Aviator (2004) -- 1/7 A+
2. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) -- 1/8 A-
3. Anchorman: Unrated (2004) -- 1/9 A
4. Comedian (2002) -- 1/10 B
5. Napoleon Dynamite (2004) -- 1/11 B
6. Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) -- 1/11 C
7. The Terminal (2004) -- 1/12 A+
8. Superman: The Movie (1978) -- 1/13 A+
9. The Villiage -- 1/13 B-

I had the same problem with this movie as I did with Saw, the ending is too clever for it's own good. However, unlike Saw the movie is watchable because of the performances (With the exception of Adrien Brody, but at least his part is off and on).

I want to discuss the film but I also don't want to ruin the twist...

Do you think the "reveal" was a bit too early in the film, thus ruining any suspense for the audience when Ivy entered the woods?

You are right it was.

It should have been snubbed even more than it was

May I ask if you've some of Hayao's other stuff? I've seen everything except Nausicaa and Porko Rosso and I personally think Castle in the Sky is his weakest, I still like it though. I'd give it a B+.
BTW, I'm getting Maria Full of Grace, Stepford Wives and Manchurian Candidate from Netflix tomorrow so I shall watch em tomorrow evening. \:D/

nope..other than Spirited Away...which is why l said growing...havent seen enough to say for sure yet...:wink:

Maria Full of Grace = :2up:

No, I don't think the reveal was too early into the film. I think the reveal comes about an hour in when Howard's (Great performance) and Hurt's character are talking to one another right outside of a shack (Which contains something that is a clue.......for those who haven't seen it). I think the key is the shock of it. For me at least, the shock happens once we see a car, and that comes about 30 minutes later. And since the film is 108 minutes long, the reveal IMO doesn't come too quickly.

(Actually, now as I am thinking about it, and now actually rewatching the movie, I think the movie is better than a lot of people gave it credit for. I think I will change my grade sometime in the future, probably once I buy it.............only $14.99 at Circuit City which isn't bad at all.)

Well... Rent Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro. What a great triple feature. \:D/

1. 1/7/05: Troy (2004, Wolfgang Petersen) - B
2. 1/7/05: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003, Ki-duk Kim) - A-
3. 1/8/05: Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (2004, Danny Leiner) - B
4. 1/9/05: Akira (1988, Katsuhiro Ôtomo) - C
5. 1/9/05: Being John Malkovich (1999, Spike Jonze) - A
6. 1/9/05: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002, George Lucas) - B
7. 1/9/05: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004, Alexander Witt) - B+
8. 1/10/05: Cruel Intentions (1999, Roger Kumble) - A
9. 1/11/05: Infernal Affairs (2002, Wai Keung Lau & Siu Fai Mak) - B+
10. 1/11/05: Before Sunrise (1995, Richard Linklater) - A
11. 1/11/05: Before Sunset (2004, Richard Linklater) - A
12. 1/13/05: The Lion King (1994, Rober Allers and Rob Minkoff) - A

...and rightfully so...