My 2005 in Film, Part Final
Jan. 11th, 2006 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thewayneFor my final installment of the films that I saw in 2005, I'll be talking about the following:
Serenity, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Corpse Bride, Legend of Zorro, Zathura, Walk The Line, Harry Potter/Goblet of Fire, Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, Harold & Maude, Danger Diabolik, Kung Fu Dragons, Fun With Dick & Jane.
Serenity (x2) What can you say? It was just all-around a very good movie. I think a telling point was a comment/discussion on one of Orson Scott Card's forums that revolved around "what is the best science fiction movie that you've seen recently?" Most films suggested were shot down as not really being SF, they were more conventional films and genres re-cast as SF. It's easy to dismiss Serenity and Firefly as 'Western In Space', but it's a lot more than that. And while I can't say that I was a huge fan of the show (yes, I've watched the DVD episodes in the correct order), I thoroughly enjoyed Serenity. I'll probably re-watch the episodes in the not-too-distant future.
Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit Man, I love Wallace & Gromit! I've enjoyed their shorts for years, Nick Parks and Aardman beat the pants off Spielberg and Lucas any day of the week as far as I'm concerned. Great story, as usual, and lots of humor and hidden things throughout the film. I don't know if it's been released on DVD yet, but I'm definitely going to get a copy.
Corpse Bride (x2) Tim Burton at perhaps his puppeting best. Great music, as always, from Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman, including Elfman singing (not for the first time). Very good story and the inspiration for Russet's costume for our wedding reception: it isn't often that a bride gets to use the same wedding dress twice in the same year. Another film that I want the DVD for.
Legend of Zorro Bleh. Just not as good as the original. Lots of problems in this film, particularly amusing was the fact that all Confederate soldiers in 1850(?!) are experts at fighting with cavalry sabers. And apparently early forms of nitroglycerine, though susceptible to shock detonation, didn't have a problem with heat.
Zathura Also bleh. Nothing more than a science fiction remake of Jumanji. Robin Williams is a lot more funny than Spaceman Spiff, or whatever his name is (I really can't be bothered to look up the info on IMDB).
Walk The Line I liked this. I'm sort of a closet country music fan, specifically the older 1950's stuff such as Johnny Cash and particularly Marty Robbins. After the movie I called my parents at 10:30pm and commanded them to go forth and see it. They finally saw it last Saturday and quite liked it. Phoenix and Witherspoon do their own singing, and they have got pipes!
Harry Potter/Goblet of Fire (x2) Book 4 finally makes it to the silver screen. Pretty good adaptation of the book, but the problem of too much material to fit into a 2something hour movie is getting bad and will be getting worse. There were two things that bothered me a bit. First, the first Tri-Wizard feat: the dragons. The book had Harry practicing the summoning spell to prepare, in the movie it's a last minute "I think I'll summon my broom!" Disappointing. And I was very disappointed in the maze, the final feat. They could have done so much more with it rather than just having it shift and grab people. It was cool seeing the pensieve in action, and the flashback sequences were pretty cool. I almost laughed out loud in the theatre when the villain was unmasked in court in a flashback – one of my fav songs is by Was, Not Was and is called Fire Island Baby. It's better known as "Hello, Dad! I'M IN JAIL! SAY HI TO MOM – FROM JAIL!" It's a very fun little song, and Russet and I got a good laugh out of it.
Chronicles of Narnia I liked this, but not as much as Russ. She's read the entire series several times (and also pulled up a bunch of fic on it), so she is much more familiar with it than I, I've only read the first book and really don't remember anything of it. I'm sure we'll be getting the DVD of it when it's released.
King Kong Hmmm. Overall, I liked it. Screw the physicists who talk about the Square Law and such – it's a movie and it makes no attempt to explain how or why Kong was so big, so it doesn't apply here. There's been a lot of discussion as to which is better, Jackson's or the original. I think both have their good and bad points. I think Jackson did a pretty good job of it. I was thoroughly impressed, but perhaps not quite as blown away as I had been anticipating. Adrian Brody was great, as was the Fay Wray replacement whose name eludes me for the moment. Black was, well, mostly Black. I think he did a good performance, I just don't know if I think the role was all that good of a role.
Harold & Maude (dvd) This is an old movie from the late 70's exploring the relationship between a man in his early 20's who doesn't really fit in society and a woman who is about to turn 80. They have a great series of adventures and it was quite an entertaining movie. The ending was slightly telegraphed to me, but in a nicely subtle way. I liked it. There's some interesting trivia on it on IMDB, and the male lead, Bud Cort, was recently seen in The Life Aquatic. He also has an interesting entry on IMDB.
Danger Diabolik (dvd) This is a Italian/French action film from the late 60's, I don't remember if it was in English or just dubbed. Very hokey. Diablik is an amazing and infamous thief, the film details attempts to stop/capture him. There are some physics in here that just make you go "wait a minute here!", but that's the way it is. Stars John Philip Law who started his career in The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! and followed it up with Barbarella and Golden Voyage of Sinbad. The source material was a very long running Italian comic book, the movie was produced by Dino De Laurentis. It's kinda hokey by today's standards. Almost forgot – it also features Terry-Thomas, always fun to see him in a film!
Kung Fu Dragons (dvd) This is a bad movie. Bad kung fu. Just don't bother. It was an impulse buy for me at Bookman's, which is where I plan on taking it to in the next couple of days.
Fun With Dick & Jane My last film of the year. I'm not a big fan of Jim Carry, but this was pretty funny. I like seeing people best known as comedians doing light drama. I'd really like to see the original with George Segal and Jane Fonda and show it to Russet, unfortunately my source for obscure movies on tape (i.e. Bear) doesn't have a copy. Maybe I'll rent it some day.
Serenity, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Corpse Bride, Legend of Zorro, Zathura, Walk The Line, Harry Potter/Goblet of Fire, Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, Harold & Maude, Danger Diabolik, Kung Fu Dragons, Fun With Dick & Jane.
Serenity (x2) What can you say? It was just all-around a very good movie. I think a telling point was a comment/discussion on one of Orson Scott Card's forums that revolved around "what is the best science fiction movie that you've seen recently?" Most films suggested were shot down as not really being SF, they were more conventional films and genres re-cast as SF. It's easy to dismiss Serenity and Firefly as 'Western In Space', but it's a lot more than that. And while I can't say that I was a huge fan of the show (yes, I've watched the DVD episodes in the correct order), I thoroughly enjoyed Serenity. I'll probably re-watch the episodes in the not-too-distant future.
Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit Man, I love Wallace & Gromit! I've enjoyed their shorts for years, Nick Parks and Aardman beat the pants off Spielberg and Lucas any day of the week as far as I'm concerned. Great story, as usual, and lots of humor and hidden things throughout the film. I don't know if it's been released on DVD yet, but I'm definitely going to get a copy.
Corpse Bride (x2) Tim Burton at perhaps his puppeting best. Great music, as always, from Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman, including Elfman singing (not for the first time). Very good story and the inspiration for Russet's costume for our wedding reception: it isn't often that a bride gets to use the same wedding dress twice in the same year. Another film that I want the DVD for.
Legend of Zorro Bleh. Just not as good as the original. Lots of problems in this film, particularly amusing was the fact that all Confederate soldiers in 1850(?!) are experts at fighting with cavalry sabers. And apparently early forms of nitroglycerine, though susceptible to shock detonation, didn't have a problem with heat.
Zathura Also bleh. Nothing more than a science fiction remake of Jumanji. Robin Williams is a lot more funny than Spaceman Spiff, or whatever his name is (I really can't be bothered to look up the info on IMDB).
Walk The Line I liked this. I'm sort of a closet country music fan, specifically the older 1950's stuff such as Johnny Cash and particularly Marty Robbins. After the movie I called my parents at 10:30pm and commanded them to go forth and see it. They finally saw it last Saturday and quite liked it. Phoenix and Witherspoon do their own singing, and they have got pipes!
Harry Potter/Goblet of Fire (x2) Book 4 finally makes it to the silver screen. Pretty good adaptation of the book, but the problem of too much material to fit into a 2something hour movie is getting bad and will be getting worse. There were two things that bothered me a bit. First, the first Tri-Wizard feat: the dragons. The book had Harry practicing the summoning spell to prepare, in the movie it's a last minute "I think I'll summon my broom!" Disappointing. And I was very disappointed in the maze, the final feat. They could have done so much more with it rather than just having it shift and grab people. It was cool seeing the pensieve in action, and the flashback sequences were pretty cool. I almost laughed out loud in the theatre when the villain was unmasked in court in a flashback – one of my fav songs is by Was, Not Was and is called Fire Island Baby. It's better known as "Hello, Dad! I'M IN JAIL! SAY HI TO MOM – FROM JAIL!" It's a very fun little song, and Russet and I got a good laugh out of it.
Chronicles of Narnia I liked this, but not as much as Russ. She's read the entire series several times (and also pulled up a bunch of fic on it), so she is much more familiar with it than I, I've only read the first book and really don't remember anything of it. I'm sure we'll be getting the DVD of it when it's released.
King Kong Hmmm. Overall, I liked it. Screw the physicists who talk about the Square Law and such – it's a movie and it makes no attempt to explain how or why Kong was so big, so it doesn't apply here. There's been a lot of discussion as to which is better, Jackson's or the original. I think both have their good and bad points. I think Jackson did a pretty good job of it. I was thoroughly impressed, but perhaps not quite as blown away as I had been anticipating. Adrian Brody was great, as was the Fay Wray replacement whose name eludes me for the moment. Black was, well, mostly Black. I think he did a good performance, I just don't know if I think the role was all that good of a role.
Harold & Maude (dvd) This is an old movie from the late 70's exploring the relationship between a man in his early 20's who doesn't really fit in society and a woman who is about to turn 80. They have a great series of adventures and it was quite an entertaining movie. The ending was slightly telegraphed to me, but in a nicely subtle way. I liked it. There's some interesting trivia on it on IMDB, and the male lead, Bud Cort, was recently seen in The Life Aquatic. He also has an interesting entry on IMDB.
Danger Diabolik (dvd) This is a Italian/French action film from the late 60's, I don't remember if it was in English or just dubbed. Very hokey. Diablik is an amazing and infamous thief, the film details attempts to stop/capture him. There are some physics in here that just make you go "wait a minute here!", but that's the way it is. Stars John Philip Law who started his career in The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! and followed it up with Barbarella and Golden Voyage of Sinbad. The source material was a very long running Italian comic book, the movie was produced by Dino De Laurentis. It's kinda hokey by today's standards. Almost forgot – it also features Terry-Thomas, always fun to see him in a film!
Kung Fu Dragons (dvd) This is a bad movie. Bad kung fu. Just don't bother. It was an impulse buy for me at Bookman's, which is where I plan on taking it to in the next couple of days.
Fun With Dick & Jane My last film of the year. I'm not a big fan of Jim Carry, but this was pretty funny. I like seeing people best known as comedians doing light drama. I'd really like to see the original with George Segal and Jane Fonda and show it to Russet, unfortunately my source for obscure movies on tape (i.e. Bear) doesn't have a copy. Maybe I'll rent it some day.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-12 07:07 am (UTC)I saw this when I was eleven. Ick, I disliked it immensely. Way too large of an age gap for me. It squicks me liek woah.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-12 07:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-12 11:49 pm (UTC)Now that I can on board with. Very true.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-12 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-12 04:18 pm (UTC)Of those on the list
Date: 2006-01-12 03:56 pm (UTC)Re: Of those on the list
Date: 2006-01-12 04:28 pm (UTC)