Chicken Little - D-

Worst CGI ever for me. Just awful.

War of the Worlds - B+

Never realized before how damn good Tom Cruise is in this movie. It's hard as hell to play a character like that, with all the "Get in, or you're gonna die" and "Rachel! Rachel!" lines, but he pulls it off spectactularily. Fanning is also right up with him too of course, in fact almost everyone in this does a fine job at it. In terms of this type of movie, it's among the higher notches I've ever seen. I would've liked to see both of Cruise and Fanning get at least a little attention in the awards race, the fact that he got nominated for a Razzie proves that is the most worthless and most idiotic award show ever. IMO, they were actually better than the team of Watts and Black from King Kong.

SOUTHERN BELLES - 6/10 (B-)

It was almost a 6/10 (C+) but by the end I decided to go with the B-. It's a nice little movie, but mostly because of Anna Faris, who is cute and pretty funny in it. Without her it wouldn't have been as good. It's definitely worth seeing for any fan of hers. I think her character, Belle, was a lesbian too. They never say it in so many words but I think it becomes quite clear. I didn't like the character Justin Chambers played either, who was the love interest for Bell. He was just not very charming. There were quite a few little things about him that turned me off, but the biggest was that he took Bell hunting for their first "date." He was really into hunting, and I have no interest in guys who are. I don't even know what this character saw in him.

Anyway, I'll buy it eventually when I see it cheap because of Anna.

Guizi lai le (Devils on the Doorstep) - A-

Probably the best black comedy China has ever produced, even though it's understandably banned from being released domestically. The humor and satire were so vibrant.

Forgot to post....

I saw a private screening of "Kalamazoo?" last week.

I doubt it'll make any waves at the box office, but it was cute.

I'd give it a B.

THE DYING GAUL - 8/10 (A-)

WOW! One of the biggest surprises of the year for me! A very wicked and haunting film and one of the best of 2005. Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Campbell Scott give great performances. I loved it! It was going to be an 8/10 (B+) but by the end I had to give it an A-.

I definitely recommend this underseen and underrated gem.

Really now?

I thought it was all good and fine up until the point when people started getting on computers. Then it veered off and went into inexplicable territory.

I honestly think it's one of last year's worst films.

Rivers and Tides - B-

Interesting pictures of nature are pretty much ruined by the narration. I found Andy too pretentious and often annoying. Very distracting. I would have preferred less focus on his self indulgence. Then again, it IS his film.

I was surprised. I found it really good until the computer part, then it was still interesting, but what really did it for me was the finale, which I found shocking and great and didn't even see the movie going in that direction. It was wicked.


Last night/this morning (watched half before bed and finished the rest this morning):

CAPOTE (2005)

“Capote” is an interesting movie but not a great one. Philip Seymour Hoffman might have done a respectable job at imitating Truman Capote but I wasn't in love with his performance and it isn't one of my favorites of the year. With Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain” I felt there was so much lingering beneath the surface and his performance will stay with me for a long time to come. But Hoffman's won't take long for me to forget. Truman Capote was also an annoying human being who was in love with himself and didn't seem to really care about anyone other than him, including his partner/companion Jack (Bruce Greenwood) or his best friend and confidante Harper Lee (Catherine Keener). They all seem like they're just there as an accessory to compliment him and not actually as equals. He’s always so consumed with himself and doesn’t appear to care much about their feelings. It’s like they’re there to be supportive of him but he can’t be bothered to be truly supportive of them. And then at the parties he always had to be the center of attention. I found it extremely difficult to give one ounce about him. At most I guess I would say I admire Hoffman’s performance, but I just don’t have it in me to love it. It really was nothing special to me.

The wonderful Catherine Keener isn’t given too much to do as her character is just there to shadow Capote. I don’t mind that she got a supporting actress nomination for her role though, but I feel it’s more because the Academy felt they owed her for all of her overlooked performances in the past than that they were actually amazed by this particular performance. She certainly has given much better, more award-worthy performances. I won’t deny that I did really like her as Harper Lee though and when she was on screen she offered up a certain presence that held my interest.

I was hoping this wouldn’t be the case, but I must say I find “Capote” and Hoffman’s performance to be overrated. He really didn’t blow me away and his performance felt so empty and more like showy acting than a natural performance. It didn’t feel real. It doesn’t help that Truman Capote must have been one of the most aggravating people ever (even if he was a talented writer), but Hoffman’s performance still just felt truly lifeless to me.

“Capote” is worth a look but in my opinion, nothing more than that.

Grade: 7/10 (B-)

Inside Man A-
it would have been perfect if they had expanded Jodie Foster's character a little more, plus i automatically get interested in any film that says "a Spike Lee joint"

Arlington Road A

Unbelievably timely film to watch right now. I can't believe that bombing scene was presented. In addition, I find the film almost like government propaganda in one respect and suspicious of it at the same time.

SHOW ME - 7/10 ( B )

16 Blocks - C-

The Pink Panther- B+

DEAR WENDY - 7/10 (B-)

I'll admit I liked it, and the first half was a B, but the second half goes downhill and is just quite silly. There's really no reason for the conflict to have happened towards the end as this could have been handled in a much less dramatic and over-the-top fashion. There are too many hilarious things, like the senile grandmother all of a sudden pulling a sawed-off shotgun out of her purse and blowing the cop away. Then it was so damn cheesy when the crimpled character is saying, "I can walk! I can walk!" and then the cops blow him away. At this exact moment I couldn't help but think that Lars Von Trier was trying to show how cold and heartless us Americans are and that we'd shoot a crimple who can now walk (even though he did just shoot a cop). It came off as too laughable. Lars should really have this take place in his own country because he doesn't know shit about America. It seems he's trying to say we're all gun crazy and literally in love with our guns, and that may be true for some crazy gun-obsessed people but most people aren't like that.

That being said, I really liked the first half, and I did enjoy Jamie Bell's performance. I also liked Alison Pill and Michael Angarano in it.

This is no DOGVILLE, which was great and that at least could be seen as how people in general can take advantage of those with less power.

Last night I watched:

MASTERS OF HORROR: John Carpenter's CIGARETTE BURNS - 8/10 (B+)

I absolutely loved it! It was so creepy and fascinating. I was into the mystery all the way and wanted to know what the hell this legendary evil film was all about. Like the main character, it's hard not to be curious. It was really interesting hearing what other characters he encountered had to say about it, which just made me all the more curious, but also creeped out. It didn't really have to show the actual film (just glimpses of it) in order to scare us because using our imagination does the job just fine. In fact, I doubt it would have been as scary if we got to see it all (ala the killer video in The Ring).

Anyway, I loved this one and my rating is almost an A-. I watched it before bed and was afraid it would give me nightmares. It didn't though, but it was still a compelling and freaky watch.

Cecil B. Demented - B+




"Demented forever!!!"

Android I wish I could agree with you on Cecil B Demented. Whew, what a disaster.

Victor/Victoria- C

Lifeless movie, and only 2 or 3 laughs in the whole enterprise.

I loved that movie. It was so fun and hilarious. I gave it the same rating.


MASTERS OF HORROR: DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE - 8/10 (A-)

And I thought CIGARETTE BURNS was great! DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE was surprisingly even better. I didn't think it would be as for awhile I found it only alright, but it got better and better and by the end I really loved it. This was quite wicked and it ends up ending surprisingly different than I would have expected. I really liked the main character too.

*****SPOILERS*****I was surprised the baby actually ended up getting killed. It was really unfortunate, but in the end on a whole it makes Dreams In The Witch House better. Where the story ends up is what made this such a great episode.*****END SPOILERS*****

Anyway, highly recommended! I don't know how many copies my video store got but if they got a few then I'll be buying this previously viewed from them. It's nice having both episodes on one disc. As far as I know in stores you can only buy them separately. On the one I got from the video store it has both episodes but no features, and the ones in stores have one episode and then a bunch of special features for that episode. I wouldn't mind owning them each separately but it gets to be spendy that way.

This is a great idea for a show and I'm so glad it was a hit for Showtime and we're getting another season. I hope it lasts for quite awhile and just gets to be bigger and bigger, but I wouldn't want the quality to diminish. I'd like to see these end up in the top 50 rentals and I hope they do great in sales too.



I forgot to mention that last night I also watched LOGGERHEADS, which I'd give a 7/10 ( B ).

Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns C+

Eh... Carpenter's direction is still very nice (though it's weird to see a film that he didn't shoot scope) and the story is intriguing, but the script is really, really bad.

The Island- B+

great movie, such a shame it did so horrible at the BO

The Family Stone- A

beautiful and touching movie

Garden State

The only Natalie Portman film that I can really recommend. Very touching movie and Zach Braff is great.

A

Enternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

It would of worked better if they didn't up together, everything up until then was fantastic.

A-

Last night it was about 2 AM and I was going to go to bed. I thought maybe I'd see if something was on TV to watch for a half hour or something though first, since I wasn't quite tired enough to sleep. So I turn the TV on and WISHMASTER: THE PROPHECY FULFILLED was coming on Sci-fi. I started to watch it and ended up getting interested in it so I watched the whole thing, which didn't end until 4:00. It was so annoying because there was a million commercials. I'm serious, there would be like 6 minutes of the movie and then 5 minutes of commercials. I got so tired before it had even been on a half hour that I almost shut it off quite a few times (I really wanted to) but I kept pushing myself to stay up and finish it. I figured since I already started I may as well finish it and this way I wouldn't have to pay to rent it. I ended up enjoying it though. It was the best of the series that I've seen, which isn't saying much. But it was entertaining. 6/10 (B-) from me.


Today:

A SOUND OF THUNDER - 7/10 (B-)

Not nearly as terrible as it's made out to be. Sure, the special effects suck but it's pretty entertaining. Ed Burns was really sexy too. With such a big budget they should have just given this a wide release. It might have done 30 Million at the Box Office, and would have done quite well on DVD. Even THE CAVE got one, and that sucked. I know WB only had to release it and didn't actually have to pay for this movie to be made, so they weren't losing anything, but it still could have done better.