Ho, ho, ho. And since I’m another year older, here’s another list. Merry Christmas, especially to our friends and co-bloggers overseas.
1. Thank You For Smoking: Maybe I didn’t get the joke, but a thoroughly libertarian take on personal behavior and societal haranguing of rights and responsibilities. Aaron Eckhart blasts off as a tobacco lobbyist, struggling with his work relationship with that filthy industry responsible for murder – nope, just kidding, this isn’t a Clooney/Damon film. Eckhart loves his job, loves his kids and loves his friends – in fact he believes in his work. The ultimate lobbyist, Eckhart becomes a national media star as the guy everyone loves to hate – but can’t. He becomes the target of anti-smoking terrorists, a journalist with a rather Tiger Woods-like approach to getting stories and a government willing to prance down the primrose path. Eckhart has quietly established himself as a force.
2. The Departed: Scorcese’s True Grit, if you will. The film features the best of his work, though we’ve seen it all before. The double-crosses, the snitches, the little twists and turns, the cuts here and there – and all much better in Goodfellas and Casino. But it remains effective, this time focusing on the cops as much as the crooks. Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t as out-of-place as he was in The Aviator, playing more to his youthful type. Matt Damon plays the same character he always plays – a role I’m not sure he’s even figured out. Solid appearances from Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg, who earned a Supporting Actor nom.
3. Holiday Inn: Remarkable choreography and charisma galore as Fred Astaire takes on Bing Crosby in a battle for the girl. The song and dance is unrivaled, and neither is the talent. Hollywood at its golden best. Would sit through 20 showings of Holiday Inn than one of Chicago.
4. Spider-Man 3: How the mighty fell. Peter Parker’s growth gets stunted as Spider-Man bawls a total of three times – big sopping, Tobey Maguire tears at that. If he can fight off the alien, deal with the murder of his uncle, the resident insecurities of youth and battle the big sand dude, he should take being dumped better. Hard to tell if it was the script and emotionally manipulative direction of Sam Raimi, or if Kirsten Dunst and Maguire decided to peg the unlikability meter for shits and giggles. But have no fear, James Franco steals it in his best role of the series, playing the faithful best friend and the sadistic, vengeful enemy all at once. Franco almost became Spider-Man – oh what could have been.
5. Elf: Probably Will Ferrell’s best acting work, director Jon Favereau hits all the right notes with the Christmas spirit (thank God he went for Gimble’s rather than Macy’s) and keeps it together with Ferrell, who holds it together by refusing to look down his nose at his character. James Caan plays the Christmas curmudgeon (he’s on the naughty list afterall) and Mary Steenburgen matches on-screen charm and looks with Zooey Deschanel, who should dump the geek-girl look and stick with the blonde hair.
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Finished our annual viewing of “Band of Brothers,” last night. Never fails to inspire appreciation for what these guys did for the world.
I saw “Thank You For Smoking” with my brother a while back. At the end, we looked at each other and said, “What a smart movie!”
I can’t recall having that reaction to any other movie made in my adult life.
Loved “Thank You For Smoking”!
Here’s my list:
1. Scary Movie 2: I watched it mainly for the great opening scenes, with James Woods in a hysterical rip-off of The Exorcist. Some funny moments, but too many lame gross-out gags. And for the last time, Hollywood, David Cross is NOT funny. Ever.
2. Slither: I love horror comedies, and this is one of the best. Genuinely creepy and gross, and unlike many recent horror movies, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Nathan Fillion reminds me once again why he’s the most underappreciated actor working in Hollywood today. And by the way, I’m Bill Pardy.
3. Thirst: utterly fantastic and creepy Korean horror flick about a priest who gets turned into a vampire. Since American vampire movies have officially gone metrosexual, it was a relief to see a vampire flick that still delivers the goods. Plenty of blood, steamy sex scenes, and Catholic guilt to go around.
4. The Taking of Pelham 123 (the remake): not as well-made as the original, but better than I expected. Denzel is very good (as is James Gandolfini as the Rudy Giuliani-like mayor), and the dialogue is lively and amusing. On the other hand, Travolta tries way too hard as the villain, and the ending is a letdown.
5. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: quite possibly the dumbest movie ever made, and even worse, it’s boring. The action scenes aren’t any fun because we know all the main characters (good and bad) are going to survive them, so there’s no tension, and the CGI is terrible. It’s established early on that the Joes have an entire well-trained army at their disposal, so why, with the entire city of Paris at stake, would they only send in two rookies who have never used Accelerator Suits before and make everyone else sit around on their asses? Who’s running these military operations, Obama?
Bataan & Born on the Fourth of July — Getting ready for the Geoff Tate/American Soldier interview with at least an attempt at sampling the cinematic spectrum beforehand. Hard to believe Oliver Stone and Hollywood used to be able to make even semi-decent anti-war movies.
Blade Runner (original version) — I know Scott and Ford hated the narration, but can never figure out what the problem is with the biggest reason I can think of for boosting its noir appeal, at least the grizzled ex-cop angle.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? — Ahhhh, for the days when Zemeckis and animation worked so well.
Gran Torino — Nail in the coffin for my not watching the Academy Awards for the foreseeable future.
“Elf” has a great first act, a mediocre second act, and really no clue what they want to do in the third. It has the potential to be a great movie, but it ends up kind of fizzling out. I agree that it is Will Farrel’s best acting gig, Bob Newhart is great, but that Zooey Deshanel chick always puts me off somehow.
“Spiderman 3″ isn’t nearly as bad as everyone said, but then “Spiderman 1″ wasn’t nearly as good as everyone said. The standard for the series is S-2, and this one was definitely beneath that, and overcrowded with stuff, but there’s some super-cool scenes just the same.
“GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra” wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone says either, though I’ll be the first to admit it descends into Aneid-styled sillyness at the end. It’s basically a standard-80s bug dumb popcorn flick, with a needlessly overblown 21st-century budget. And major characters *do* die in the course of the film, or have you forgotten Storm Shadow?
Spoiler alerts, please.
GI Joe was a big dumb action film – nothing wrong with that. As a fan of big dumb action flicks, I was more burned by the rather cartoony and phoney special effects. Nothing in the film felt real. If I’m going to spend two hours in a world like that, I’d much rather have a controller in my hand than a remote.
“…but that Zooey Deshanel chick always puts me off somehow.”
Yeah – she’s easy on the eyes and all, but beyond that I’m not really sure why we’re supposed to like her in Elf. She’s always reminded me of that artsy chick in your English lit class that’s really interesting and sexy in a mysterious way, until you actually spend time with her and find out she’s not really mysterious, just miserable.
Ten bucks says they bring back Storm Shadow in the sequel, Bot. There won’t be anyone for Snake Eyes to fight otherwise.
And I will say three good things about the GI Joe movie: (a)Arnold Vosloo was very good as Zartan, and by far the only bad guy who was remotely scary, (b)it was pretty cool to see the Acceleration Suits in live-action, and (c)Baroness and Scarlett were great eye candy.
I agree whole-heartedly with C., especially Rachel Nichols. My god, watch that spandex stretch.
Last 5 top 5:
Taken
3 Godfathers
New Moon: Twilight… I like vampire flicks… though I’m on Team Victoria — I want that red-headed vamp to get Bella. Bigger budget helped though the score was better in the first — loves me some Carter Burwell music.
Bourne Identity… pre-shaky cam; much better than the last two.
The Dark Knight.
Really liked Bourne Identity. I would have liked it more had they went with the alternate ending, of Brian Cox recruiting Bourne back into assassin duties in reaction to 9-11.
My no. 6 movie would have been 3 Godfathers, caught it on TCM a few nights back. I have as much fun watching Ward Bond as I do the Duke.
Was “Bourne Identity” the first one? I liked the first one, but never saw a need to see any of the sequels. Am I missing anything there?
It was the first one.
Floyd & JohnFN, isn’t “3 Godfathers” wonderful? I would love for TCM to produce a documentary about Ward Bond. They could do a day, week or month dedicated to him. I just love it when I’m watching a movie and he appears. It’s like seeing and old friend. He and the Duke had great chemistry.
Ward Bond may be the greatest character actor of all time. He has 269 listed credits and the unofficial holder for most appearances in the AFI 100. He was also the most staunch anti-communist in Hollywood, one reason why he’s never recalled. He died at the peak of his career.
No much of a “Holiday Inn” fan, but like “White Christmas” much better.
Just watched “Gran Torino” for the second time a few days ago. Haunting movie. Lots of scenes, though they may be quiet, sticks with me for days after. A requiem for an old school view of manhood. I’m sure its alive and well, somewhere… but not in medialand.
“The Old Fashioned Way” because sometimes you just have to take in a W.C. Fields movie. I appreciate him more every year.
“Oprah’s Christmas With the Obamas” one of the funniest pieces of fiction in awhile. Mr. wonderful is so full of himself yet strangely charmless. Michelle is doing standard first lady schtick. Oprah making what is the standard White House holiday “people’s house” smarm sound like it has never EVER happened before, that this is new ground being dug.
I will give them credit, though: A couple of times they showed photos around the white house with various presidents, and Bush II was shown a couple of times, and treated with respect. No digs, no eye rolls, no “end of an error” hints, nothing. I didn’t stick around to the end because I found I really didn’t care.
TV seems a bit slow on the Xmas classics this year.
I think “It’s a Gift” is my favorite Fields movie. It’s hard to surpass “The Bank Dick” mind you. Gift just has so many great bits. “Closed on account of molasses” is a one of a kind joke that I don’t expect could ever be replicated.
You’re a brave, brave man for watching Oprah and the Obama clan, Mr. S. Sounds like another love-fest for the ‘unprecedented’ first couple.
TCW… I can’t wait until he’s “unPresidented”.
Good one, Floyd!
Just checked Netflix records. I really don’t watch a lot of movies. You have to go back to Halloween for the last thing I saw that wasn’t a TV show.
1. Nosferatu – hated it. Didn’t finish watching it (which has only happened three or four times ever). I thought it was boring, not scary. So sue me.
2. The Wonderful/Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl – Fascinating. I don’t believe her denials of her association with top Nazis. But I don’t believe that she bought into anything like the Final Solution. She comes across as a “useful idiot.” I ended up feeling pity, but pity mixed with contempt.
3. Monster Camp – Documentary about Live Action Role-Players in the Pacific Northwest. Pretty good, but “Darkon” was better.
4. Ivanhoe (1982) – I had actually wanted to watch the movie from the 50s, and almost sent it back unwatched. Glad I didn’t, because this was a fantastic production. Very true to the novel (one of my boyhood favorites) and with good production values and fine actors.
5. Toy Story 2 – Finally got around to it. I don’t usually watch sequels, but I’d heard good things and they were true. Very moving in places and just as good as the original movie. I should have learned not to doubt Pixar by now.
Of course, you’d know all this if you were my Netflix friend. (I’m gonna keep bringing this up until it stops being pathetic and turns the corner to funny.)
Now that I think about it, the 1982 Ivanhoe was a made-for-TV movie, so not sure that counts.
Jake… dude you are overqualified.
R3 — whatever makes the wife “happy”.
Mike… we’ll just assume you were drunk after darts and mistook it for the 1950s Ivanhoe. Credit given.
I remember that version, Mike! I was still crushing on Anthony Andrews from “Brideshead Revisited”.
@ JohnFN – I never heard of the “Acceleration Suits” before the movie. They weren’t in the cartoons, nor in the comics up to the point I stopped reading ‘em. When were they introduced?
@ JimmyC – Nah, Stormshadow will have someone to fight. There’s never been any shortage of Ninjas in the Joe-verse. I mean, Scarlet was one, Quick Kick, Jinx, Cobra Commander’s one-legged son. I’m just hoping they introduce the Crimson Guard, because I just love Tomax and Xamot.
@ Jake – Yes. She is a lot like most of my college girlfriends now that you mention it.
@ Floyd – RE: Twilight – I’m sorry, your picture led me to believe you were a dude [Evil Grin Duck & Run]
Never heard of the acceleration suits as a kid, so I imagine it was dreamed up for the flick. I felt they were rather obtrusive and an excuse to spend more money on CGI.
Well, the last five films I watched were all Three Stooges shorts, so I don’t know if I’m qualified to comment in this thread.
Last 5 top 5:
1. McClintock – our first time seeing it and my husband and I are still talking about it.
2. D.O.A – not my first viewing or the last but what a great film noir. Edmond O’Brien is so underrated.
3. 3 Godfathers – not my first or last viewing. Must have watched it this past weekend along with other Threedonians.
4. Petrified Forest – Bogie is the star of the month on TCM.
5. The Great O’Malley – another Bogie flick but the movie stars Pat O’Brien. Nice, little obscure drama.
I’m not much on new movies but I have seen Gran Torino and Mr. S is right…it IS haunting. A really thought provoking movie that left me unable to get to sleep after seeing it.
Also saw the documentary about Leni Riefenstahl Mike referred to. I don’t believe her either and I think ‘useful idiot’ is appropriate. But what an innovative film maker! Just consider how influential she was in the techniques she developed!
O’Brien is my favorite actor. If you haven’t seen it, watch him steal the show from Lee Marvin, Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.”
Did he play the newspaper editor, JohnFN?
Why yes he did. The one with the beard, the booming voice and the severe alcoholism. His speech on the floor before the state convention summed up the small-town newspaper man.
O’Brien is so good in Liberty Valance that it took me at least two viewings to connect him with the name in the credits. In the viewings hence I’ve seen more of his films. Just another in a long, long list of great actors who are now seemingly forgotten.
I’d heard about Triumph of the Will, but only in this documentary had I seen any of it. You also see the way she shot the Olympic Games. She pioneered techniques that are still standards for covering sports.
Some of the funniest parts of the documentary showed her literally yelling at the film’s director. Questioning his intelligence for the way he framed scenes and such. And she had a point, too.
Love the big fight scene in McClintock.
Mike – though I only saw that documentary about Leni R. once it made a huge impression on me. I do remember the scene you mentioned. What an eye she had for film. Not a bad looker in her day either…for a fascist sympathizer that is.
JimmyC – “I’m not gonna hit him…like hell I’m not.”
@ JohnFN – oh, I misunderstood you. The way you said you got to see the accelerator suits “In live action” made it sound like you’d seen them in some other form before.
Mostly, it made me want to see a decent film version of “Starship Troopers.”
My haste to comment got the best of me. Speaking of “Starship Troopers,” there was a Casper Van Dien sighting during the series finale of “Monk.”
On Leni R., some magazine nailed it: “She had a great taste in photography and a poor taste in patrons.”
Of course, “Useful Idee-ot” works better.
Last five (watched for the first time)
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Kinda meaningless to me
- I Confess
Rather put off by a priest who doesn’t pray
- Cool Hand Luke
Dunno if it’s pro- or anti-establishment
- The Hustler
It’s at this point that I realised the only 3 Paul Newman movies I’ve seen are all about what a loser he is
- Drag Me to Hell
Meh
Bogie was kind of a loser, too. His most famous two roles – “Maltese Falcon” and “Casablanca” – are all about how he heroicly fails to get the girl.
Bogie didn’t fail to get the girl… he gave up the girl… they both wanted him bad… and ditto for Bogie
Whatever, ‘Bot. Bogart is underrated as an actor. As a man he was far from perfect but one heckuva sailor. He had many flaws, like many of us, but survived abusive, morphine-addicted parents and rose from the depths of B-movies to star in a few of the great film noir of Warner Bros. He was smart, tough and vulnerable even if he showed poor judgment at times.
I’m not one of those people who thinks one must like the classics because other people deem them to be classic. But calling Bogie a loser…c’mon. If you think Casablanca and the Maltese Falcon are about a loser losing the girl you’ve missed the point.
Let’s just say this is yet another topic we’ll agree to disagree on – in a friendly way! That’s why they make more than one kind of movie because we all have different tastes, right?
RE: Elf – Forgive my pedantry, but it’s “Gimbels” (rather a nice store if your memory goes back far enough).
Watched ARMY OF DARKNESS last night.
Corny -and funny- as HELL! (Chord of Death!)
I’ve been dying to get over here…taking an unforced break (hee!) from grading…
This is a list I can contribute to! Your other one (Best films this year) embarrasses me by exposing the next-to-nothing I’ve seen in theaters. Very not like me.
Anywayyyyyy…I discovered a gem on TCM (quel surprise): “One Foot in Heaven”. Frederic March is a Methodist pastor and Martha Scott plays his long-suffering wife. The movie follows them through the early part of the 20th century as they travel from parish to parish, each rectory more of a disaster than the last.
March is fantastic as a minister firm in the doctrine of his church — but not so unbending that he can’t be persuaded that such things as talkies, for example, are a delight and NOT the devil. He’s compassionate but not a saint. He’s a wonderful pastor who truly loves his varied flocks.
Wish it was on DVD. Worth catching when they show it again some day. Worth renting to congregations.