Terra Nomad

As alluded to in my previous post, I saw the movie Closer on Friday and again on Sunday. Some friends wanted to see it and certainly didn't mind seeing it again.

Should you see it? Yes.

Unless one of the following describes you, you should see it:
You find Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman or Clive Owen too annoying to watch
Frank, sexual dialogue offends you
Movies without guns or explosions bore you

It is a movie about these four people loving and hurting each other. It's a movie about truth, forgiveness, trust, sex, infidelity, and ridiculously beautiful, yet flawed people. There are some scenes that are black & white. Not that they are filmed that way, but everything in the scene aside from the skin of the actors is either black, white or silver. Visually, the movie seems like a bunch of gallery quality photographs put together to form a plot.

Damien Rice does at least two songs on the soundtrack, including "The Blower's Daughter" that opens and closes the film. The sweet misery that his voice and lyrics convey are a perfect fit.

I saw Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason last weekend. It was as funny as the first one, so if you liked it, go see the sequel. How's that for obvious?

There was a preview for In Good Company with Topher Grace, Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson. I didn't think I would like it when I read the synopsis, but seeing the preview has changed my mind. It sounded like some wacky comedy with a bad premise, but it turns out it's serious and by the same guy who directed 'About a Boy', Paul Weitz, who was also a screenwriter on Antz (please ignore his involvement with the American Pie movies).


And now my revised list of top ten - now eleven - movies of the year:

Before Sunset
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Garden State
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hidalgo
Incredibles, The
King Arthur
Motorcycle Diaries, The
Sideways
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Troy

We saw this last night and I have to say that it was the best animated movie I have seen since Finding Nemo. It was funny as hell, poked fun at the superhero genre in a way only true fans could appreciate, and asserted the talent of Jason Lee. This can go in his top three along with Almost Famous and Chasing Amy.

This was also the first time I saw the trailer for Revenge of the Sith, which you can see on starwars.com on Monday. The theater started clapping as soon as the Lucasfilms logo came on the screen, and one of my friends called us all geeks, which is fine by me.

that Jude Law is in no less than six movies this year?

The rest of this year brings us:

November 5, 2004
The Incredibles

November 19, 2004
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

November 24, 2004
Alexander

December 3, 2004
Closer

December 17, 2004
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

December 22, 2004
Flight of the Phoenix

And looking far into future:

April 15, 2005
In her Shoes - based on Jennifer Weiner's book - starring Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette

May 6, 2005
Monster In Law - Michael Vartan and JLo, which I probably need to see due to Vartan's hottness

May 20, 2005
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
look for the trailer on tv the evening of November 4 and on starwars.com on November 8th

June 17, 2005
Batman Begins - Christian Bale

July 1, 2005
Fantastic Four - Why is Jessica (low IQ) Alba in this?

July 15, 2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Depp is Wonka, but I think Nicholas Cage would have been a better bet

July 29, 2005
The Dukes of Hazzard - Cast: Johnny Knoxville (Luke Duke), Seann William Scott (Bo Duke), Jessica Simpson (Daisy Duke), Burt Reynolds (Boss Hogg), Willie Nelson (Uncle Jesse)

August 12, 2005
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo

Summer 2005
The Green Hornet - directed by Kevin Smith - Jake Gyllenhaal (not to be confused with the Green Lantern or the Green Arrow, even though they both have a movie in the works as well)
Jurassic Park IV - Goldblum and Attenborough are confirmed to return, can we have Sam Neill and Vince Vaughn, too?

September 30, 2005
Curious George - Will Ferrell (The Man in the Yellow Hat)

November 18, 2005
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• James Bond 21 - supposedly Brosnan's last - My vote is for Orlando Bloom or Rupert Everett to replace him.

December 25, 2005
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

TBA 2005
• Hannibal the Conqueror - Vin Diesel
• Iron Man - yet another super hero flick - we're up to at least 10 this year
• Memoirs of a Geisha - please let 2005 finally be the year we get to see this on the big screen

May 5, 2006
• X3: X-Men 3

TBA 2006
• Che - Benicio Del Toro as Guevara, Benjamin Bratt
• Pirates of the Caribbean 2
• Superman - directed by Bryan Singer
• Untitled Alexander the Great Project - Leonardo DiCaprio (in talks to play Alexander the Great), Nicole Kidman (Olympia) - not to confused with Collin Farrell's 2004 Alexander
• Fletch Won - Director: Kevin Smith (up before this will be The Green Hornet; his next project after this will be the sci-fi epic, 'Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers') and what about Clerks: Sell Out?

May 4, 2007
• Spider-Man 3

TBA 2007
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• War of the Worlds

Many good summer movies are coming out. The next five weeks bring us:

Troy 5/14 (today!!)
Shrek 2 5/21
The Day After Tomorrow 5/28
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 6/4
The Stepford Wives 6/11

Then, July 2nd we get
Spiderman 2 and
Before Sunset, a sequel to Before Sunrise, with Hawke and Delpy both reprising their roles.

July 9th,
King Arthur starring Keira Knightley and Clive Owen
and Anchorman with Will Ferrell

July 23rd
The Bourne Supremacy, a sequel to the Bourne Identity
and Catwoman with Halle Berry (I'm not too sure about this one)

July 30th
M Night Shyamalan's The Village opens, but I will NOT be seeing it. Too scary and I did not care for Sixth Sense or Unbreakable.


And looking forward to fall and winter:

Sept 17th
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

November 5th
Alexander (as in 'the Great') starring Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins, Rosario Dawson, Angelina Jolie, Jared Leto and Val Kilmer. Directed by Oliver Stone
and The Incredibles, which could be good. It's about a superhero family that is living undercover but gets called back into service.

December 3rd
Closer starring Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Clive Owen, Julia Roberts. A movie about adultery.

December 17th
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events starring Jim Carrey

I have two accounts on the Hollywood Stock Exchange, one regular one and one just for Survivor Warrants. It's a simulated stock exchange for movies and stars. They also have options, like for the Oscars and for Survivor. You start with 2 million dollars and can reset your account back to it if you lose it all. My regular account has about 3.4 million dollars in it right now.

"Everyone's A Kid At Christmas" - Stevie Wonder

"That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart" - Aimee Mann

"Parents Just Don't Understand" - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

"Swing Low Sweet Chariot" - George Jones

"Worlds They Rise and Fall" - The Incredible String Band

"Landslide" (LIVE) - Fleetwood Mac

"My City of Ruins" - Bruce Springsteen

"High" - The Cure

"Let My Love Open The Door (E.Cola Mix)" - Peter Townshend

"Jersey Girl" - Bruce Springsteen

"Wandering" - Ben Folds

"Let's Stay Together" - Al Green

I want the lyrics to the Aimee Mann song, but alas, it has not yet been released and I can't find them anywhere online :-(

And the movie is funny, yet very sappy.

Check this article out.

It's about Kevin Smith and how this movie is different from his previous ones.

I saw Return of The King again on Friday (that makes 3 times now) and there is one scene that's bothering me. It's when Elrond and Aragorn are speaking in the tent. The first time I saw it, there were at least four lines spoken in elvish, and they had subtitles. The last two were:

Elrond: I give hope to the Dunedain.
Aragorn: And I have kept none for myself.

which I copied from IMDB's quotes page and put at the top of my blog becasue I liked them so much. Then, the second time I saw it, at the same theater, there were still four lines in elvish, but no subtitles. My niece said she didn't remember there being subtitles the first time she saw it.

Now, the third time at a different theater, there were only two lines in elvish, but they had subtitles and they were:

Elrond: I bring hope to men.
Aragorn: And I have not kept any.

I am not 100% sure of Aragorn's phrasing the last time, but the point is that the scene has been different every time! I liked it the most the first time I saw it.

Netflix finally reinstated all of my ratings after I called them to complain about them losing 14,000 or so. Their phone number (which is nowhere to be found on the site ) is 1-888-NETFLIX. I had to convince the rep that they had indeed lost them. The funny thing is that now it says I have rated like 26,000 movies, which is funny because they only have 15,000 titles. I had emailed them 4 times in the past month about it, but I guess it takes a phone call to get anything done. I read a bunch of complaints about them changing your availability for certain movies if you rent too many the month before. I don't really have that problem since I don't rent a lot of new releases.

I finally got Java to work on my computer. I was having compilation problems when I would call another class. It turns out I had to add ";." to the end of my class path in my settings. All those problems for want of a semi-colon and period!

Now I am behind in my class, but am catching up today (yay)

I have a sneaking suspicion that all these Java installs have screwed up my Internet Explorer.

I have to write a paper on a political resistance for my Politics class. I chose Anti-Globalization. It's a hard thing to actually define, but there is tons of info on the web about it.

I saw 'Cold Mountain' last night. I completely understand why Jude Law was nominated for Best Actor and Renee Zellweger for Supporting Actress. There's a lot of violence, which I expect in a Civil War movie. That I could have done without.

Check out this trailer for Kevin Smith's upcoming movie, Jersey Girl.

Alex and Emma - see previous post, not the best, but passable with a few great moments
Anger Management - forgettable, not that funny, I forgot Marissa Tomei was even in it
Bruce Almighty - Funny, but predictable
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle - Utter sludge. Stay Away. This movie kills brain cells!
Daredevil - I liked it, but could have done without Jennifer Garner.
Deliver Us from Eva - Gabrielle Union does a good job as always. A typical RC though.
Down with Love - If you can stand Rene Zellwegger, it's worth it to see Ewan MacGregor, David Hyde Pierce and Sarah Paulson
Elf - See 11-15 post. Funny, but thin story.
A Guy Thing - Another baaad RC. I expected better from Jason Lee and Selma Blair
Just Married - Funny, even though most of the jokes were in the preview
The Lizzie McGuire Movie - Bad, unless you want some fleeting glimpses of Rome, don't bother.
Old School - Hilarious. You couldn't ask for a better frat comedy
Once Upon a Time in Mexico - Too bloody, but crawling with hotties Depp and Banderas. Hayek was hardly in it.
Scary Movie 3 - Forgettable, barely funny, I'm glad it's the last one.
The School of Rock - Great characters but the end was wrapped up way too neatly
View from the Top - Not bad, Ruffalo does well
What a Girl Wants - Eye Candy only (London and Colin Firth), don't watch it for the story.


My top 10 of the year
Beyond Borders
Finding Nemo
Holes
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Love Actually
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Thirteen
Under the Tuscan Sun
X-Men 2

They're in alphabetical order, since it's hard to rank them against each other when they are in such different genres. Not much else to say about them, just see them if you haven't.

Testosterone Blur. I put no less than 25 movies that came out this year in this category. Testosterone, because you watch the movie to get it coarsing through your body, and Blur because they are all becoming the same in my eyes. Whether it's Owen Wilson, Bruce Willis or Martin Lawrence on the screen, and whether it's Tommy Lee Jones, Nicholas Cage or John Travolta chasing him, I just don't care anymore! Not that I ever did care that much. TV and Movies, and now even books have become overrun with spies, criminals, policemen, secret agents and regular guys-next-door that can suddenly shoot accurately and dodge even the fastest bullet. This year's movies in this category include, but are not limited to: 2 Fast 2 Furious, Bad Boys II, Basic, Biker Boyz, Bulletproof Monk, Confidence, Cradle 2 the Grave, Dogville, Hollywood Homicide, Hulk, The Hunted, The Italian Job, Kill Bill, A Man Apart, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, The Medallion, National Security, Out of Time, The Recruit, The Rundown, S.W.A.T., Tears of the Sun and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. 'Bleh' to all of them

Not to be outdone, women have their own crappy movie genre, the Trite Romantic Comedy. Now, I watch and enjoy many RC's, but this year some just went over the top. The prime example of this is How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Try not to see the end of this movie coming after seeing the preview. A guy and girl seperately make bets about falling in love. Then they meet and date and move in together. I preface this next part by saying I have not seen the movie. Gee, do you think they will find out about the bets by the end of the movie? Do you think they will break up, be sad and then realize they really did love each other? Do you think there will be a heart-swelling, tear-inducing climax where one of them confesses everything to the other and they cheerfully push it all aside and say they love them back? While some movies are less obvious about this pattern than others, movies in this category include: Anything Else, From Justin to Kelly, Gigli, How to Deal , How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Love Don't Cost a Thing, My Boss's Daughter, and Something's Gotta Give. Apprehensively, I didn't include Alex & Emma. A friend had free tickets and I wasn't put off by the preview, so I saw it. It was formulaic, but there was some genius in the storytelling parts of the movie and Kate Hudson played several characters well. Instead of seeing one of these TRC's, see Love & Sex with Famke Janssen and Jon Favreau. It wasn't a big hit, but it is truly funny, boasts a hilarious David Schwimmer cameo, and shows that love ain't all hearts and flowers.

I can't decide whether or not I want to see The Last Samurai, The Life of David Gale, A Mighty Wind and Paycheck. I will probably end up renting all of them at some point, though I didn't have the urge to see them in the theater.

Ones that I'm sure I will rent are: All the Real Girls, The Battle of Shaker Heights, Big Fish, Brother Bear, The Cat in the Hat, Duplex, House of Sand and Fog, It's All About Love, Luther, My Life Without Me, Owning Mahowny, Pieces of April, The Shape of Things, Shattered Glass, Sinbad, Timeline, and Underworld.

Next Post: The movies I actually did see!

A Review

I know I have never seen a movie this good, and I doubt I ever will again. The Witch-King is the scariest character I can recall in a movie. The many stories are interwoven expertly and even though the end isn't cut and dried, it completes the best trilogy ever. And that's from a die hard Star Wars fan who has never read Tolkien.

Merry Christmas, for another hour or so. We watched Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on DVD after exchanging presents. I forgot so much of it. I only saw it once in the theater, so I bought both 1 & 2 on DVD (widescreen) on Tuesday. I know there will be a box set of special editions, but I couldn't wait. I need to see Return of the King before the weekend is over. I think I am babysitting for New Year's Eve. I don't think I have ever gone out, I think I've always been at home and had people over.

A picture of Hayden Christensen as Anakin in Episode 3

Still a year and a half away!

I saw both of these movies this week.

Elf was funny, but I thought they could have done more. James Caan was a pretty thin character, but Will Ferrell was really funny. In fact, they should have thought of another reason for him to come to NYC. Mary Steenbergen did a good job as his father's wife and Zoey DeChanel played his love interest as innocent and believable.

I had never seen Alien before, I had only seen Alien 3 and I have been told that's the worst one. So, when they rereleased it in the theatre, I saw it. Now, I hate horror movies, and this is supposedly the scariest movie ever. While I'm sure I've been desensitized to the Alien after seeing it all these years, but I still don't think it was all that scary. I did really like the movie, though. The cast was really good and I can't wait to see Aliens.

These look promising, but I haven't really seen previews for them, so they might suck.

Along Came Polly January 16th, 2004
Premise: A man who's afraid of risk (Stiller), but makes a living analyzing risk ends up getting involved in a risky romance (Aniston) after his new wife (Messing) cheats on him, which turns his stable life upside-down. Sense a theme? (Hoffman plays Stiller's best friend; Baldwin plays his boss; Brown plays a sky-diving, bungee-jumping "adrenaline junkie" seeking a life insurance policy; Silpa plays the director of a play who comes into conflict with Hoffman's character; Azaria plays a French scuba instructor who flirts with Messing's character while she and Stiller's character are on their honeymoon; Michele Lee plays Stiller's mother and Dishy plays her husband.)

The Butterfly Effect January 23rd, 2004
Premise: A young man (Kutcher) struggling with the psychological effects of sublimated childhood memories devises a technique of traveling back in time to inhabit his childhood body, but he finds that every trip back has unintended results on his present self, leading him to travel back again and again, trying to repair the damage that he's only making worse and worse...

Hidalgo March 5th, 2004
Premise: Set in 1890, this is the story of a Pony Express courier (Mortensen) who travels to Saudi Arabia to compete with his horse, Hidalgo, in a dangerous race for a massive contest prize, in an adventure that sends the pair around the world... (Omar Sharif plays an Arabian sheik; Robinson plays the sheik's daughter who helps Hopkins during the race; Mensah plays her bodyguard, an Abyssinian slave)

The Prince and Me March 12th, 2004
Premise: Paige (Stiles), a free-spirited American college student (and motorcycling enthusiast) starting her education at an Indiana university, meets and falls in love with one of her classmates, but what she doesn't know is that he's actually a Danish prince, Frederick (Mably), spending his "gap year" (before having to perform his princely duties) by hiding in America disguised as a regular guy (Richardson plays his mother, the Queen).

Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!!! March 19th, 2004
Premise: When a hot young actor, Tad Hamilton (Duhamel) agrees to participate in a "win a date" contest to promote his new movie, his world is turned upside-down when he finds himself falling in love with the winner, a grocery store checkout girl from West Virginia named Rosalie (Bosworth). Showing up in her hometown to profess his love, Tad unwittingly inspires Rosalee's longtime best friend (Grace), who works with her as a bagger at the Piggly Wiggly, to also admit his love for her, putting Rosalee in the middle of a very unexpected romantic triangle... who will she pick? The best friend who's always been there for her, or the guy whose face decorates the walls of millions of girls' bedrooms? (Nathan Lane plays Tad's agent.)