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After over a month of not seeing a movie in theaters, I caught 3 over the 4th of July weekend. The last movie I saw before that was Iron Man. On the 4th, I went to see Wall-E and then theater hopped to see The Incredible Hulk. Loved Wall-E! It was surprisingly dark and gloomy in the first half, which I really liked. There was also a point at the end where for a second I was like… if it ends like this, it will be the darkest animated movie I’ve ever seen. But of course, given that it’s Disney and Pixar, it ends happily. It may not be as high energy and silly as something like Kung Fu Panda, but it demonstrates mood and emotion perfectly and using robots no less.

Hulk was entertaining. They kept the thinking to a minimal and had lots of action. I could of used more character development, but not in the way of the other Hulk movie. It was fun, but I’d like to see the director’s cut with more of the meaty scenes back in.

The day after I saw Wanted. It was also very entertaining. The over the top action was unique and the style was fresh. The movie tried to make a point about taking control of your life, but didn’t translate it well in the actual movie. In ways it reminded me of Fight Club in that it tried to convey a message, except Fight Club did it better. In the end it’s just a high octane action flick.

Had a bit of overtime last week. They gave me some extra projects to work on. Extra work sucks, but the overtime pay is worth it, even if it’s only an extra 6 hours. It’ll help pay off that iPhone.

Playstation 3 is $499 now, which was very tempting to me. There’s also a 5 free blu ray movies offer, that sweetens the deal. But I figured hey, I don’t have to get it now the $499 will be permanent. Not so fast, it seems they are clearing out all the 60 gb PS3’s for $499, and then introducing a 80 gb PS3 at the $599 price again. So even more tempting to get it now while the price is low. But alas, I’m still not sold on it.

I saw the Harry Potter movie for a 2nd time today with a friend. And I got the book yesterday. It came on time, but I didn’t read it right away. I read the first 4 chapters today, and so far so good. The movie is good too, especially the climax, much better than the book was. The 5th book was probably the most boring book, but proved to be one of the more exciting movies. Same thing happened with the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Book dragged, movie excited. I played a bit of the video game too heh. It’s okay, alot of running around and pointless errands. Back to the book now.

Teaser trailer for Spidey 3. Topher Grace is Venom. Also appearing, Sandman and Green Goblin part 2. I’m excited but it’s still a year away.

Also the Transformers movie is filming and there have been some shots of the cars being used. Finally an image of one of the robots. Behold, Bumblebee….

…. wah.

Saw the new trailer for Pirates of the Carribean 2, and it looks great. Johnny Depp is awesome and it looks like a lot of fun. It didn’t seem like much when I saw the first trailer, but this one got my attention. Kraken!

There’s also a new Superman Returns trailer. Looks more interesting, but I still don’t know.

MI:3 this weekend, I’ll probably see it, even though Tom Cruise is a freak. Looks like good fun. Will be interesting to see how the creator of Lost and Alias will handle a movie like this.

At the end of each year, I like to look back at all the great moments and not so great moments. I spend a lot of time watching movies, and I like to make lists. So here is a list of the movies I saw that were released in 2005, ranked in order top being 1. I know there are a lot of great movies that I didn’t get a chance to see yet. There have also been a lot of good films I saw this year which were actually older releases like Oldboy which would easily make it near the top. Nevertheless here are the 2005 releases:

1. Munich - It’s hard to decide between the movies that were truly pure entertainment and the ones that bring up important topics and are technically and artistically excellent as the “best”. For the #1 slot I chose Steven Spielberg’s Munich. I think it’s an important topic to shed light on, an event that many people may not know much about. It’s also an important theme that relates to what’s going on in the world now, about how political retaliation and violence only increases as more is put forth. It’s also Spielberg’s best work since Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. It also doesn’t feel like a Spielberg movie. Sentimental bookends that typically come with Spielberg’s films are not here. The performances by all the actors are very well done. There’s not a moment in the film that doesn’t feel real.

2. Sin City - Robert Rodriguez has a knack for making films real cheaply and very quickly. I’m surprised Sin City was made so well. There was no screenplay or storyboards done, everyone just got copies of the graphic novels, and everything was filmed shot for shot. This was the film of the year for bringing something new. Visually it was like nothing I’ve seen before.

3. Batman Begins - This one truly surprised me. After a bunch of lame Batman movies, not much was expected. Sure a promising director was at the helm, but I didn’t know if he could pull it off. Suffice to say, he did. It was a whole new perspective on the caped crusader, and it was darker and more serious than before. I was almost tempted to put this movie at the top of my list.

4. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - If you read my posts lately, you know how much I’ve been praising Chan-wook Park in a run of films I’ve seen from him. Oldboy is truly a masterpiece and a defining Korean film to me. Lady Vengeance isn’t as good as that was, but it is very good in its own right. The violence is toned down from his other revenge movies, but the style is turned up. It has a good non-linear structure and a wonderful performance by the lead actress.

5. King Kong - Pure popcorn entertainment. Very excellent actions scenes when involving Kong and T-rex. The CG during the dinosaur stampede was a bit iffy. Jack Black’s performance was on and off, usually didn’t feel right. Naomi Watts was incredible and her interactions with Kong are amazing. Overall, the film was too long. Too much character development on minor characters, would’ve put it higher if it wasn’t for that.

6. Hustle & Flow

7. Good Night, and Good Luck

8. A History of Violence

9. Serenity - It really isn’t that great a movie overall, but being a Firefly and Joss Whedon fan it goes high on my list.

10. Crash

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Cinderella Man
War of the Worlds
Jarhead
North Country
Syrianna
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The 40-Year Old Virgin
Wedding Crashers
The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Unleashed (Danny the Dog)
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Constantine
Corpse Bride
Hostage
Coach Carter
Madagascar
The Island
Sahara
Fantastic Four
Flightplan
The Longest Yard
The Brothers Grimm
The Ringer
Robots
Doom - A movie that has to do a first person shooter sequence to remind everyone it was a video game.
Alone in the Dark - Uwe Boll, please quit making 40 million dollar student films. However, I will say that his films are good for making fun of.

Four years ago, video game maker Square created a feature film called Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It was the first real attempt by anyone to create an entirely computer generated movie and make it look photo realistic. Square formed a movie studio called Square Pictures and poured in hundreds of millions of dollars to create the visual masterpiece. Unfortunately, the movie failed in theaters and the company was in danger. Many say the failure was due to a bland story line, or the departure from the fantasy setting for science fiction, or just simply not being animated enough. Square Pictures was shut down shortly after completing their work on the Animatrix short, Final Flight of the Osiris. Years later Square has recovered with successful releases and a merger with another game company Enix. Now, years after their previous blunder and with the momentum of recent success, Square Enix has released another feature film. This time directly tied to a video game, Final Fantasy VII.
… continue reading this entry.

http://www.movies.co.jp/sayuri/

Japanese trailer for an American made film based on an American written novel about the life of a Japanese geisha with mostly Chinese cast speaking English. I have never read the book, but I hear it’s good. Spielberg wanted to make this film awhile back, but now Rob Marshall (Chicago) is at the reigns. The lead actresses are Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh. Although they are decent actors, they are probably the least Japanese looking ones you could find. But I suppose most Americans don’t know the difference, and they just need lead actors that people will recognize. Another thing is the majority of the film is shot in Los Angeles. What’s funny is, if you ever been to the Huntington Library in Pasadena, you will recognize their Japanese garden in the movie.

With this cast and crew, I know the Japanese essence will be lost somewhere. After all, it’s a story seen through the eyes of Westerners and retold for a Western audience. I am curious how Zhang Ziyi’s acting in English will be. She’s been in a couple American films and has had a total of 4 lines.

This movie was incredible. When I first heard who was directing it and who was in it, first thing I thought was it will certainly be better than the Schumacher films. Then when I saw the trailer for it, I thought it looks good, should be a good flick. But when I saw it, I was pleasantly surprised. I’m still amazed how well made it was. Not since Spider-man had I seen a movie put so much time into the development of the characters and do it so well. You can almost think of this movie as a character study with elements of action. This movie is probably the best I have seen all year, and from what I see in the future, it will probably be the best movie of the year. Christopher Nolan has done an incredible job at bringing Batman back to life and take it seriously. Highly recommended, please go see it.

Just wanted to give equal time to the other movies I saw this year, particularly the ones I wish I hadn’t. I’m usually good at avoiding the movies that are bad, but some reason or another I catch a few I regret.

Catwoman. From the moment I saw Halle Berry’s apparent costume on the Internet, to the moment the trailer first appeared, to when I sat down in the theaters to see it, I had been dreading this movie. Why did I see it? It was mostly against my will. I had really low expectations, and it just missed hitting it. It was terrible, but since I expected such agonizing pain, it wasn’t all that bad. I still don’t recommend it to anyone. In fact it would be wise to avoid it like the plague. The plot was idiotic, character development was null, the editing was atrocious especially during action sequences, but this is expected when you can’t get a good looking shot from an incapable director with someone incapable of doing the stunts. Maybe I’m too harsh, but that’s how I’ll leave it.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Speaking of bad editing, this movie had it loads full, for the same reasons as above. Most of the action you can’t make out anyway from rapid editing and blur effects. I really didn’t mind this movie though. If you are fans of this sort of thing, I’m sure you will enjoy it. There were some problems with plot holes, and believability, and I disliked how they turned it into a silly action flick and forgot about the zombies and horror.

Warriors of Heaven and Earth. Most people haven’t even heard of this. It’s a chinese movie about a group of warriors who must escort some sacred item to the Emperor. It looked really cool from the trailers, like some kind of epic Lord of the Rings style war drama. But it was incredibly slow and boring. Even the action sequences made me ask when it would be over. I barely knew what was going on throughout the first half, and the end was unfulfilling. Visually the movie presented itself well, the costumes and locations and cinematography were well done. The weakness was in the story.

House of Flying Daggers. I do not regret seeing this movie. I was not bad at all. My only gripe was how the story was told. It was all about a melodramatic love triangle, while behind it, some political conflict as the basis of the story goes unresolved and ignored by the end. Visually Zhang Yimou’s film does a great job, but it’s not as visually impressive as Hero which I enjoy much more despite its political propaganda message.

Speaking of Hero, I didn’t mention it for 2004 because I actually saw it years before. Same goes with Shaolin Soccer. Both are great movies and highly recommended. However a 2004 film I did enjoy was New Police Story. It’s a Jackie Chan film but a little different. It’s not a typical action comedy that he usually does. And it’s not like his other high energy ’supercop’ type movies. This one is much more serious than we’re used to. He spends a good 30% of the film crying or being very emotional. It’s still a cop movie, and you can’t have a Jackie Chan movie without some action and stunts. However I did find the choreographed kung fu scenes a bit distracting to the realism of the story. Another great martial arts movie I saw came out of Thailand, although in 2003, I didn’t see it until 2004. Ong Bak has all the crazy stunts we’re used to from Jackie Chan’s early days, and powerful fight scenes that Jean Claude Van Damme wish he could do. I believe the lead actor, Tony Jaa, is our new Jackie Chan.

Passion of the Christ, a very powerful film and watchable even if you aren’t of the faith. However, I don’t find this an easy movie to watch again and again.

Fahrenheit 9/11, box office record setting documentary about the Bush administration during the events of 9/11. Very eye opening about many details of our government. Although some of the points implied by Michael Moore seem a bit stretched.

The Bourne Supremacy, lives up to the style and energy of the first movie. But really isn’t any more special or worse in that sense. Decent action, but still unanswered questions as expected.

Mean Girls. I was pretty impressed with this movie. You don’t see me watching these type of movies much, but it had excellent writing and I’ll admit I enjoyed it. Very funny, and not mindless. I recommend it. I dare you men to see it!

However the other “chick flick” I was forced to see: Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. I didn’t like it, it was incredibly predictable and so lame.

Blade Trinity. I barely enjoyed it because I love these type of flicks. But this is easily the weakest of the trilogy. It’s not cool when Ryan Reynolds steals the show from Blade. The end fight sequence wasn’t awe inspiring.

Around the World in 80 Days. Despite it’s colorfulness and quirky characters, It’s a wild ride that you’ll regret in the end. Yet another Jackie Chan American movie to stink.

2004 was a pretty slow year for movies in my opinion. A few leap out at me, but there was no big star that I adore. Maybe it’s because there was no Lord of the Rings movie this year :P.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Michel Gondry the director comes from doing alot of fantastic music videos for the White Stripes and Bjork among others. He has a knack for doing practical effects through editing. No fancy computer work. And it carries over to this film. Everything was done practically with no CG. The movie is thoughtful and a mind trip. Charlie Kauffman scripts tend to be ingeniously insane. And it was nice seeing Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey basically switching their typical role types. Highly recommended for those who have no seen it. I didn’t get a chance to see this in the theaters, but I bought it as a blind buy on DVD and don’t regret it at all.

I’m a big fan of Michael Mann movies, Heat and the Insider being a couple of my favorites. Mann does a great job of visualizing a realistic Los Angeles, and presents not an action movie, but a drama that gets into the characters’ heads and has action elements to progress the plot. Tom Cruise was awesome as the bad guy, but Jamie Foxx here really shows his stuff. I think this is his breakout role, and Ray being the film that secures himself into being a serious actor. Only regret of this movie is the ending. It turns into a Terminator-style thriller chase, and ends kind of anticlimatically. But I still recommend it as it is one of my favorites of the year.

I don’t know what else I can say about Pixar, but they have been nearly perfect. I admit I thought this one wasn’t going to up to par with the rest of them, but it was awesome. Their next movie, Cars, is giving me doubts though. The Incredibles was a no brainer. Best animated movie of the year.

Okay I’m gonna stop using pictures now just to run through other stuff quickly.

The other big animation movie was Shrek 2. I liked it a lot. Really funny. But the Livin’ la Vida Loca bit was dated. But gotta keep in mind they start work on these movies years ahead of time.

The big blockbuster of the year was Spider-man 2. I was not disappointed. It exceeded my expectations. Director Sam Raimi made one of the best comic adaptations ever. While it has all the pretty effects and action you come to expect from comic heros, the movie itself is really about the characters, and the movie spends a lot of time getting that across.

Hellboy. Probably the 2nd best comic adaptation of the year. This is a comic that has a premise that may sound silly, and characters that may seem silly. But the film takes itself very seriously and this world of Hellboy seems very believeable. I enjoyed it so much I bought the DVD and then bought the director’s cut DVD.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban didn’t have a big effect on the box office as its predecessors. But it wasn’t because the movie was bad. This installment takes a darker turn and it works out pretty well. However I found this film to be less memorable than the others. Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, because I did.

Kill Bill vol. 2. A lot of people expected another blood fest and didn’t get it. They then decided this one wasn’t as good as the first. But I think this one was better than the first. Perhaps because I savor the dialogue more than the action in between, and this volume had more of it. I really love both volumes together and would rather view them together as one movie.

more to come…