| Corpse Bride
2005
- Tim Burton, Mike Johnson
Tim Burton had pretty much lost me with his last
several films (Charlie and the…, Big Fish, and
Planet of the Apes - need I say more?), which were - in
my opinion - crap…that is, until Corpse Bride which I am happy to
announce lives up to the promise of what Burton does best (or at
least DID best before his work more-or-less turned to crap), which
is to give us delightful, campy, gothic fairy tales full of whimsy
and offbeat charm. Corpse Bride lives up to his best films like
Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Ed wood.
Now let's hope that he can maintain the course!
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
1958
- Richard Brooks
Lord of War
2005
- Andrew Niccol
Your basic Hollywood mainstream piece of fodder,
completely over-hyped, because it deals with non-traditional themes
and does it unapologetically. Nicolas Cage plays a global arms dealer,
and spends the entire movie one step ahead of the Interpol agent
played by Ethan Hawke, keeps his profession a secret from his wife,
and is seemingly unsympathetic to the effects of his business to
people around the world. And we're somehow supposed to care about
him. There is no pathos, the dialogue is trite, and if there was
any sort of message, it was lost on me. I cannot even recommend
this movie as a rental…there are too many other great DVDs to rent.
Skip it.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
2005
- Steve Box, Nick Park
Yes, yes, yes, yes…this was on the top of my list
for movie that I most wanted to see from last year, and it did not
disappoint! Already a huge fan of Wallace & Gromit, and Aardman
Animation and Nick Park in general, I was wary because their last
full-length outing (Chicken Run) left a LOT to be desired.
The previous three :30 minute W&G features were spectacular works,
so I was nervous that perhaps feature length just wasn't their forte.
It is. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is
everything you could ever want: Great animation, amazing characters,
solid story, funny, charming, playful, and ultimately - completely
entertaining from the opening to the end credits.
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Sucker Free City
2004
- Spike Lee
L'Auberge Espagnole
2002
- Cédric Klapisch
Dirty Pretty Things
2002
- Stephen Frears
Heights
2004
- Chris Terrio
Naked
1993
- Mike Leigh
Nine Lives
2005
- Rodrigo Garcia
One of the more lauded films going into this years
Oscars, I was genuinely excited when the film finally arrived. I
was looking forward to watching what appeared a remarkable set of
character study vignettes, each one a glimpse into a different set
of people each with their own set of conflicts and issues. As one
would expect, some stories are stronger than others, but overall,
most of the vignette seemed like theywere exercises from a masters
screenwriting class. The approach was interesting certainly, and
several of the performances were quite strong, but this is not a
film that really needs to be seen more than once> I would contend
that it would be great to study for someone working on a play or
a short film.
Domino
2005
- Tony Scott
Great style, flashy music video editing, fascinating
color palette, and let's face it: Keira Knightley is just plain
hot, especially when she's playing naughty. I enjoyed the non-stop
in your face visual assault of the film, but at the end of the day,
Tony Scott is (still) a high-budget blockbuster hack. He understands
what Hollywood wants, and knows what people like to spend their
dollars on in the theater, but was not a movie that needed to ever
be made. Domino is a joy ride of sorts, and as much as
it wants to be in the league of films like Pulp Fiction
or Kill Bill, it is little more than candy for a generation
of kids with ADD, game consoles, and their MTV.
Cluny Brown
1946
- Ernst Lubitsch
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