I know what I did over break, Watch Flicks...
Anyway, I didn't too much this break: Except for my trip to NYC, I spent most of my time playing on my computer and on Xanga, and watching movies. So here's a list of the movies I saw at the threaters and DVDs I rented.
- At the Theaters
- The Last Samurai ****ｽ--Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe. I've already written plenty on this. If you haven't read them, go to Jan. 4-6. It took three days to write about it!
- Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ****--This was pretty exciting and enjoyable, but I had to make sure I reviewed the previous two stories before I went, otherwise it would have been far to confusing. I was sad to see Golom die.
He was so precious... And I got the feeling that Jackson didn't want the movie to end. It seemed like that it wouldn't. First Aragon is crowned king and they provide a panoramic scene from above. Great shot to end the movie... then they cut to the Shire... Okay, I guess it was about the Hobbits so they had to go. Nice ending... But no, they have to make one more visit to the Elves, where not only Bilbo Baggins, but Frodo too is going to the sea with the elves. Sad but perhaps fitting ending... Fade out... Fade in, back to the Shire where Sam has kids, balh, blah, blah... I'm sitting there thinking, will you end it already?* = Didn't like it.
** = Just ok. Wouldn't recommend it.
*** = I enjoyed it... once.
**** = I'd see it again if it aired on TV.
***** = A personal Classic. I'd buy it.
From Blockbusters - League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ***--Sean Connery. Critics panned it, but I enjoyed it. What do they know. See Jan.6 entry...
- The Mothman Prophesies ***--Richard Gere. I rented this movie cuz as I was watching a trailer before LOTR, a guy sitting behind me says the trailer reminded him of the Mothman Prophesies... Well, it turned out the guy didn't know what the $hit he was talking about. A moth-like creature appearing in different manifestations--light, shadow, sound--appears to people when disaster is about to strike, and it appears to Gere in a town in West VA called Pleasant Point. Perhaps because I had low expectations, I enjoyed it. And I like Laura Linney, in a platonic kind of way.
- Dragonfly ***--Kevin Costner. Another flick panned by the experts, and perhaps with good reason, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Costner loses his wife, but she tries to communicate a message to him through people who are on the threshold of death. The ending caught me off guard, which is a good thing to be sure.
- A Clockwork Orange (1971) ****--Malcolm McDowell. A classic movie I had never seen. It's about a violent, arrogant young man, Alex, in London who is caught and sent to prison for 14 years for murder--I guess a person's life isn't worth much in England. He is released early if he willingly submits to a new treatment that will condition him to abhor violence and sex. The general message is one of anti-violence, but there is also a strong undertone of distrust in the government: Immoral treatments, police brutality, and the final scene of Alex with the Minister of the Interior cozing up to him in Alex's hospital bed for publicity photos reminded me of the phrase "politics make for strange bedfellows."
- Better Luck Tomorrow ***ｽ--A movie about young Asian Americans. It sorta reminded me of my early NLUTE days, except we weren't as violent... although I knew many who were: Drugs, parties, figuring out how to deal with being Asian in a white world, studying hard to get into college... Except I was more like Han, an in-school drop-out... These young Asians had many problems all the while trying to meet the expectations placed on them by parents, Asian culture and the scoiety at large (model minority began as a white concept). It was kinda scary to think that some things haven't changed.
- Terminator 3 **ｽ--Ahnole Schwartzeneggar. I saw it because I thought I was obliged to. Actually, it was more involved than T-2.
- Freaky Friday ***--Jamie Lee Curtis. Another movie I liked. Although it was corney, as these kinds of movies are, Jamie Lee acting like a punk 17 year-old was funny to watch.
- X-Men 2 ***--Patrick Stewart, Halle Barry. I'm a Marvel guy. Anything they put out--Spiderman, Daredevil, Hulk--I will watch. Of course, I am looking less at the movie than I am comparing it to the comic book: Is this a "true" representation of the comic? Anyway, it was better than the X-1, but that's probalby because, X-1 was mostly trying to set up the characters for everyone--see my powers, I can shoot rays from my eye, and control the weather, and unsheath titanium claws from my knuckles... Can't wait for The Punisher.
- Italian Job **ｽ--Mark Wahlberg. Ok flick, but predictable, something I hate. The chase seen through LA gives it the ｽ star.
- Hollywood Homocide **--Harrison Ford. All too predictable. Ford playing a homocide detective free lancing as a real estate agent provided a few chuckles and saved it from being terrible...
- S.W.A.T. ***--Sam Jackson, Collin Farrell. I went to Blockbuster when it first came out and it was not on the shelf so I got a rain check and saw it for free. I have to remember to go on the first weekend it comes out. Probably better than the original TV show, and Jackson will make any movie watchable.
- Bruce Almighty ***--Jim Carrey--I didn't see any on the shelf so I thought I could get another rain check but the store clerk "helpfully" went through the return bin and found me a copy... I'm not a Carrey fan but this was funny enough, especially the dog using the can. And like Jackson, Morgan Freeman will add class to any film he's in.
- Winged Migration **ｽ--Daffy Duck, Donald Duck, and a cast of thousands... It was sorta interesting but after the first 15 minutes, I was bored of watching birds fly north to breed then south in search of food. I like documentaries, and watch Discovery Channel frequently, but they tried to be too artsy fartsy. There were a couple of birds that piqued my interest--in strictly a zoological way--but the lack of narration or supplemental info left me wondering what I was watching. Actually the "Making of" segment was more interesting than the feature, as they showed th process of raising these birds and then transporting them to Vietnam or Africa to fly and film them "on location". In this sense, it was more of a movie than a documentary, since these man-raised birds were actually actors in a story of migration.
- Scary Movie * --Waylon Bros. Man this movie sucked major. It was crass and the jokes weren't even close to being funny. A parody? I think it was an "In Living Color" skit gone amuck, nothing more. What a waste of money.
- Man in the Iron Mask *ｽ --Leo Di Caprio. I mentioned earlier about the criticism that Tom Cruise was too modern for Last Samurai. Well this movie has it beat. You have King Louis XIV and the four Muskateers played by an extremely talented but culturally diverse cast. A modern American youth as Louis, Aremis by old-school upper-crust British actor Jeremy Irons, Athos played by the intense or intensely soft-spoken John Malkovich, Porthos by the gregarious French actor Gerard Depardieu, and the brooding Irishman Gabriel Byrne as D'Artagnan. This ensemble was laughable. But I give it ｽ star more than Scary Movie because the story is a good one. But it's hard to go wrong with a story by Alex Dumas: Three Muskateers, Count of Monte Cristo. For my money, the movies from the 70s with Richard Chamberlain--I think he was in 3M (1974), CMC (1975), and Man in the Iron Mask (1978)--were much better and far more enjoyable... for a TV movie...
Japanese Flicks Later... - Suicide Club
- Warm Water Under Red Bridge
- The Sea is Watching
- Millenium Actress
- Voice of a Distant Star
- Onmyoji
That's it for now.
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