Twin Pines Mall

We’re off to Baltimore then to Matt’s place in Edewood.  I imagine there will be some intersting pictures posted here on Monday.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, here are the two greatest cats ever to live:

My first post about my favorite movies of the year included a “…and some that sucked”, so here I am, fulfilling that promise.

First I’d lke to list a few movies that would probably be in the running for worst movie if I had seen them, but only those movies which I had a remote chance of seeing (so not something like I Know Who Killed Me, there’s simply no chance of me watching that).

(my memory was jogged using Wikipedia’s entry for 2007 in film.)

Primeval             Epic Movie        Hannibal Rising(gave up after 15 minutes)
The Reaping        Dead Silence     Perfect Stranger
Delta Farce        Captivity          The Comebacks
AvP: Requiem

And now, in no particular order, the worst 5 movies of the year:

I actually liked the first one, so on top of being an awful, awful film, it had the dissapointment factor.  Sure, I have no business liking the first installment, but I melikes horror movies, and I thought it as good.  The sequel though, wow, uttery pointless, taking everything bad about the first installment and amplifying it.

See above.

Zzzzzzz.  Even Matt and Crystal, both of whom were excited about this movie, thought it sucked.  Bad CGI, overly complicated story, a non-ending (apparently the book’s ending was way better and would have actually worked as a great cliff-hanger ending).  An example of how not to make a fantasy film.

A decent cast in a -wait for it- incredibly overviolent movie.  I didn’t think I could ever say that about a movie, but this one did it.  It’s violence and killing for absolutely no reason at all, to the point where even I thought they needed to tone it down.  Bad story too, trying to by like Tarantino but missing the point completely.

I’m in the minority of people who like Nic Cage.  I also love comic book movies.  Yet this had a kind of negative synergy.  Wes Bently (the creepy kid from American Beauty) should get a Razzie for his performence.  Though I don’t even think he should be blamed, because it’s clearly just an awful script.  In the world of comic book movie, this makes Daredevil look like Spider-Man 2.

Agree?  Disagree? Let me know below.

OKay, I’m back with #5-#1. Remember, this is just a frst version of this list, to be finalized once I see those movies I listed before.

5. 300 - Maybe this is the most quotable movie of the year.  I still can’t find my socks from the night we saw this.  THIS IS SPARTA!  Nothing more to say.

4.No Country for Old Men - Javier Bardem is the boogey-man.  It took me a day or two after seeing this film to realize how much I liked it.  The three main characters don’t share a frame of screen time, yet they have a stronger connection that you see in many films.  I went into this one blind, so every twist and turn got me, and I love that about a movie.  Also, J.B. haunts my dreams.

3. Knocked Up - It’s about time Seth Rogen got the lead role in a movie.  I loved this one, just as much as I loved The 40-Year-Old Virgin.  Judd Apatow is awesome, I’ve loved him since Freaks and Geeks and I hope he keeps putting out movies like this.  Knocked Up isn’t just a silly comedy, it balances a sweet story with all types of humor, from silly puns to down right nastiness, and everythign fits perfectly.

2.  Across the Universe - I’d say I have a barely-above-average love for the Beatles, and a pretty strong dislike for musicals, but I LOVED THIS MOVIE.  It’s cheesy and overblown and predictable and f’ing great at being those things.  The two-disc soundtrack for this movie is a permanent fixture in my car’s CD wallet.  Sure I may be a bit of a wuss for admitting this, but the romantic story presented in this film got to me and I was on board from the very first song.  If I were gay, I’d call Jim Sturgess.  Eddie Izzard makes a weird cameo, and I think that’s a bit of an understatement.  Bono is the walrus.  T.V. Carpio is wonderful.  I don’t know if I can say this is my favorite musical (Moulin Rouge is just, like, whoa), but it’s easily a contender.

1. Into the Wild - It’d be a crime if five years from now Emile Hirsch isn’t an A-list star.  He and Sean Penn take the story of Chris McCandless, who on paper seems to me like a self-righteous moron, and made me care about his journey, and understand why he did what he did.  Easily the best cinematograohy of the year (though the trippiest would have to go to Across the Universe).  This is a true-atory that I knew the ins and outs of before going into it, but that didn’t matter.  it’s all in the presentation and everyone involve with this film pulled it off.  As an added bonus, Crystal and I saw this at an advance screening with an Emile Hirsch Q&A afterwards.  There weren’t any big revelations or anything, but he did seem pretty excitd about his upcoming Speed Racer directed by the Wachowski siblings, which so far looks like it’ll take home next years trippiest cinematography award.

So it’s that time of year again, for me to pretend you care what movies I liked. I do need to state that there are some 2007 movies I have not yet seen, so this list won’t actually be “final” for a few months.

Movies I haven’t seen that I think have a chance to make it to the top 10:

Eastern Promises
There Will Be Blood
Sunshine
Ratatouille
Michael Clayton
American Gangster

Now, on with part one of the first version of my 2007 list:

10. Zodiac - This movie was LONG. And it felt long. But it had more than enough story to justify it. Robert Downey Jr. is great (can’t wait for Iron Man), a standout in an overall great cast (except for maybe Chloe Sevigny). Is it Fincher’s finest film? No, that would be Fight Club. Then Se7en. But then definitely this. This film was not generally well-received, I think people were expecting a serial killer movie, and what they got is far from that, but rather the story of those affected by the killer, and how you don’t have to be hunted down to have your life ripped apart.

9. The Bourne Ultimatum - A solid action flick, but Greengrass has got to calm his hand a bit. Theres shaky-cam, and then there’s the Bourne sequels. Matt Damon is awesome once again as Jason Bourne, or David Webb, and seeing the end of this chapter of his life (his story is far from over) was thrilling, fullfilling, and um, chilling? I do remember seeing snow at some point in the movie.

8. Grindhouse - This needed to be seen in a crowded theater late at night. It’s a shame that so few saw it that way, becuase it was AWESOME seeing it with an enthusiastic crowd opening weekend. Planet Terror was great, Death Proof was okay, but Tarantino and Rodriguez set out to create a grindhouse experience for a new generation and they succeeded admirably.

7. Breach - Yeah, this came out this year. Chris Cooper is awesome, he’s very unsettling in this film. It was tense even though I knew the ending to this true-story, and that is a rare thing. Plus I live near DC now, so it was cool seeing stuff I knew in a movie.

6. Walk Hard - The most quotable movie of the year, too bad noone will understand my refeences. This movied bombed hard, so undeservedly. “You don’t want any of this shit!” “Ain’t nothin’ terrible gonna happen today.” It was funny people! It effectively ends the Walk the Line/Ray-style music biopic brilliantly. Can’ wait for this DVD.

Tomorrow: #1-5 (all of course are subject to change once I see those listed up top)