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Quote:

One I did watch was Elizabethtown. Can someone tell me what the point of this movie was?

To watch pretty people flirting to pop music.

I don't think either of them are pretty.

So.

Elizabethtown came out in 2005, and I didnt think it was that bad. The people werent portrayed as hillbillies, they had no guns, buck-teeth, rednecks, beer, or idiotic accents. They were, I thought, portrayed as chattery family oriented people.
Borry

I don't think they were portrayed as that...But, I live here and you live in California.

hahah

didn't see many films this year


the ones I liked were

x men 3
v fort vendetta probly hte best of the year

black dahlia

Saw King Kong, thot it was nearly the worst movie ever made. :puke: So awful that I want to forget I saw it.

Saw The Queen, liked it.

Saw POTC2, liked it very much. (Not enough Captain Jack, though.)

Saw Pride and Prejudice, it was almost as bad as King Kong.

Bits of Cars: cute.

Over the Hedge: cute.

Open Season: cute.

Pretty much my movie year.

Don't get out much. Most of the above I saw on DVD.

I'm embarrassed to say that the only movies I saw in the theatres were The Prestige and Eragon. Many of the others I either watched on DVD or I'm still in the reserve queue for them.

The Prestige was excellent, if you don't mind a huge suspension of disbelief.

Trivia note: The Fountain was filmed in Montréal, and a piece of the set is now a fixture in my brother's house.


Sorry I don't have much more to contribute; I'll try to do better in 2007!

V for Vendetta - Loved this. Will own.

Pirates II - Fun, but kinda forgettable. Would watch it on TV if it came on and if I watched TV.

Ice Age II - First movie I took my now-fiance to. Couldn't stop giggling at Scrat.

Jackass II - Alternating raucous laughter with cringing. Took my mother to this. She mostly loved it.

Over the Hedge - Too much fun. Hammy the squirrel is brilliant.

Narnia - Need to see this again, but loved it for the memories it evoked.

Underworld: Evolution - More skin-tight leather on a hot leading lady. Fun fluff.

Silent Hill - Worth seeing if you enjoy extremely disturbing images.

Da Vinci Code - Fun fluff. Enjoyable, if anything, for watching the responses of conservative religious types. "Ya know it kinda does look like a woman."

X-Men Last Stand - More fun fluff.

Nacho Libre - Hit and miss. But when it hits, it definitely hits.

Clerks II - Such a throwback to the 90's "Stuff, like, sucks 'n stuff" generation I grew up in. Enjoyable for that alone.

Beerfest - Unabashed sophomoric humor. Wanna see it again, if anything for the delightfully awful german accents.

yovargas wrote:

there was a The Butterfly Effect 2?

Straight to video.

Quote:

After that it's hard to say, particularly because I've seen all of these (except LMS) only once and the ones that made the biggest impression I think I'd have to see again to know how I really feel about them.

I know how you feel. Much as I love movies and organization, numbered lists are hard for me because while some films make a big impression, I don't really want to commit until I've seen it at least twice. Preferably months apart for maximum effect. For instance, I really liked SNAKES ON A PLANE in the theatre, but was rather bored by it on video. Not to say it's horrible, but I'm glad to have not put it at the top of any list. Most of my favorites were seen early on in the year, and I own 7 of them on DVD, but I still question my placements. That's how it goes, I guess. Man, I don't know how some professional critics can be so sure what their top films are, at least enough to refer back to it. I'll probably look back at this list and go, "what the hell, I liked this one way more than that one!" or something. The only true critic is time.

Dawnnamira wrote:

Glory Road (What was the point of this one?)

I didn't mind it, but it's not engaging enough to stay with you afterwards. However, the sports drama has never been a favorite of mine.

yovargas wrote:

To watch pretty people flirting to pop music.

FAIL!

Jude wrote:

I'm embarrassed to say that the only movies I saw in the theatres were The Prestige and Eragon. Many of the others I either watched on DVD or I'm still in the reserve queue for them.

Nothing to be embarrassed about. I don't get to read many books or listen to a lot of albums. Everyone's attention goes somewhere.

Quote:

Trivia note: The Fountain was filmed in Montréal, and a piece of the set is now a fixture in my brother's house.

Extremely cool! Can you get pictures?

Wolfgangbos wrote:

Jackass II - Alternating raucous laughter with cringing. Took my mother to this. She mostly loved it.

Wolfgangbos wrote:

Silent Hill - Worth seeing if you enjoy extremely disturbing images.

Agreed. It was really fantastic-looking, which is why my hopes came crashing down by the end when all the explanations came out. What a disappointment. I wanted something that would blow me away. I was so hooked almost right from the beginning! And for nothing. But those nurses were (pardon the french) fucking awesome. Would like to see it again sometime.




*E*

I didn't see many movies this year. Madison's theater is sort of . . . wee.

Movies I recall seeing this year, in no particular order:


Tristan and Isolde. Saw this with *E*. Aesthetically, gorgeous movie and all of Isolde's costumes can come home with me. They took some liberties with the story, but I think I enjoyed it for the most part.

Beowulf and Grendel. We watched this at the end of the year in my Old English class. It was hilarious, especially since we had spent half of the semester translating Beowulf. I don't think it was supposed to be nearly as funny as it was though, which probably means it was bad. My favourite line ever remains Beowulf's very first one, in a Scottish accent -- "Ah'm Beowulf." Also, American witch/Grendel? Not in any way OTP material.

POTC 2. This movie was good times. Not as good as the first one, but still really enjoyable. Norrington turned into an awesome character. (I'd love to see Jack Davenport cast as Jonathan Strange, but that's a different story.) The three person duel was brilliant, and I did like the bit with the wheel. I think they went a little overboard with the SFX, though. Some random detours, too. Too much Keira Knightly. Not enough Jack and Norrington.

The Da Vinci Code. Pretty visuals, bad everything else. (Except Paul Bettany, who is never bad. And Ian McKellen, ditto.)

Night in the Museum. I thought some of it was a bit trite and Ben Stiller will never be one of my favourite actors, but I enjoyed the musuem characters. Wish that sort of thing really happened.

Dreamgirls. I've been looking forward to this since it came out, as I saw the show when I was wee. It didn't dissapoint me. In fact, as far as movie musicals go these days, it was downright excellent. Jennifer Hudson has got some voice, and Eddie Murphy can actualy act. The new songs were good, although I missed some of the material they took out. They tried a little too hard to make everything into a number within the story, which didn't always work.

The Illusionist. Loved it. Well executed, very nice visuals, wonderfully acted. Edward Norton was excellent.

Notes on a Scandal. Saw this just the other day and thought it was really excellent. Blanchett and Dench are both terrific actresses and they continued to be so in this. (My sentence construction at 3am? Not so terrific.) I liked the concept -- that it wasn't about the media circus, or even so much about Blanchett's relationship with the student (althought that was also interesting), but about Dench's exceedingly twisted inner world. Creepy, creepy character. Great movie.

The Prestige. Probably my favourite movie this year. Loved it, absolutely. Bale was brilliant, and Jackman was also great. (Also, was nice to see Rebecca Hall.) The plot was intriguing. The visuals were wonderful. And the plot twist at the end? WOW. I really hope to get this on DVD. Their relationship was so bizarre and fascinating, and it poses some interesting questions. It made me think, both about general things and about the plot. It wasn't one of those movies where everything is neatly laid out for you, which was nice.

I may have seen others, but those are the ones that stuck out apparently, so I'll just stick with that.

A work in progress...

My personal choices for award-worthy films from 2006.

Best Motion Picture of the Year

EIGHT BELOW
CHILDREN OF MEN
CLERKS II
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
HARD CANDY

Honorable mention: ROCKY BALBOA

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Clive Owen - CHILDREN OF MEN
Patrick Wilson - HARD CANDY
Greg Kinnear - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Sylvester Stallone - ROCKY BALBOA
Bruce Willis - 16 BLOCKS

Honorable mention: Ashton Kutcher - THE GUARDIAN, Will Smith - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, Paul Walker - EIGHT BELOW

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Ellen Page - HARD CANDY
Jessica Biel - THE ILLUSIONIST
Helen Mirren - THE QUEEN
Ivana Baquero - PAN’S LABYRINTH

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Paul Dano - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Steve Carell - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jude Law - THE HOLIDAY
Michael Caine - CHILDREN OF MEN
Peter Mullan - CHILDREN OF MEN

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Claire-Hope Ashitey - CHILDREN OF MEN
Rosario Dawson - CLERKS II
Abigail Breslin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Lucy Liu - LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN
Frances McDorman - FRIENDS WITH MONEY

Best Achievement in Directing

CHILDREN OF MEN
EIGHT BELOW
HARD CANDY
HOSTEL
TAKE THE LEAD

Honorable mention: UNITED 93, JACKASS NUMBER TWO

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

CLERKS II
HARD CANDY
ROCKY BALBOA
THE QUEEN
PAN’S LABYRINTH

Honorable mention: UNITED 93, BON COP BAD COP, LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or
Published

CHILDREN OF MEN

Best Achievement in Cinematography

CHILDREN OF MEN
THE ILLUSIONIST
PAN’S LABYRINTH

Best Achievement in Art Direction

CASINO ROYALE
BEOWULF AND GRENDEL
THE PINK PANTHER
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
CHILDREN OF MEN

Best Achievement in Costume Design

TRISTAN AND ISOLDE
DREAMGIRLS

Best Achievement in Sound

CHILDREN OF MEN
HOSTEL

Best Achievement in Editing

CHILDREN OF MEN
TAKE THE LEAD
UNITED 93
DEJA VU

Best Achievement in Sound Editing



Best Achievement in Visual Effects

CHILDREN OF MEN
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2: DEAD MAN’S CHEST

Best Achievement in Makeup

SILENT HILL
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
SAW 3
PAN’S LABYRINTH

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures Original Song



Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original
Score

EIGHT BELOW
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
PAN’S LABYRINTH

Best Documentary, Features



Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

PAN’S LABYRINTH

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

OPEN SEASON
HOODWINKED

Honorary Award

The animal trainers for their work in EIGHT BELOW




*E*

MaidenOfTheShieldarm wrote:

(I'd love to see Jack Davenport cast as Jonathan Strange, but that's a different story.)

I have to interupt to say I thought the exact same thing. Hope it happens someday.