The Big Miscellaneous

The Year in Film

So, a quick round up of the movies I saw this year.  And the grand total was……

200!
Exactly, at least by my count.  There were 26 that I saw in theaters (or were at least 2006 releases), and 171 that I saw at home, for a total of 197.  But I saw three of them twice:  Mission: Impossible 2, The Wrong Guy and Final Destination 3.

So what were the best films I saw in theaters?  The list may surprise you, but that’s only because my theatrical viewing was limited to lesser fare.

1) The Departed
2) The Prestige
3) Casino Royale

If I were to include any movie I saw in theaters this year, I would also have included Munich and Good Night & Good Luck, two 2005 Best Pictures nominees that I didn’t get around to until 2006.

What were the worst movies I saw in theaters?  Well, for lesser fare, they really were not that bad.  Certainly not as bad as last year’s XXX: State of the Union anyway.

26. Night at the Museum
27. Lady in the Water

Neither was God-awful, but I’d never even think about watching them again.

As to the home viewing experience, I saw a lot of movies, and a lot of classics including The Bicycle Thief, Hotel Rwanda, Downfall, Potemkin, and nearly fifty Best Picture winners.  Because any list of the best of the year would be cut-throat, inane and bound to cause some name-calling, I prefer to just stick to the five movies that totally blew me away this year.

1. City of God
2. Breaking Away
3. Peggy Sue Got Married
4. Sunset Boulevard
5. Network

With the exception of Peggy Sue, I had never seen any of these before.  And even Peggy Sue was so long ago that I didn’t remember most of it, and the magic and humor hit me like a storm.  Now, for the bottom of the barrel:

167.  Tom Jones
168.  Private Benjamin
169.  The Avengers
170.  Garage Days
171.  Howling 3
172.  Night Train to Terror
173.  Drive-in Massacre

By the way, that’s the Best Picture winning Tom Jones, and yes, it does suck.  We finish off our year with the random Miscie Awards:

Most watched actor: Clint Eastwood, having seen all of the Dirty Harry and Man With Out a Name films.
Most boring film: Chariots of Fire – It makes Lawrence of Arabia look positively exciting.
Most forgettable: Over the Hedge – I barely remembered it driving home.
Most depressing (on purpose): Hotel Rwanda – But very uplifting, too.  It’s kinda odd.
Most depressing (accidentally): Wolf Creek
Movie that made me cry three times: Peggy Sue Got Married
Best Performance: Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line
Best Best Picture: The Godfather
Worst Best Picture: Tom Jones
Biggest Disappointment (New release): Lady in the Water
Biggest Disappointment (pre-2006): Puddle Cruiser

And then, of course, there's the movies...

Confidence - It seems like I saw this so long ago, I barely remember it.  That's not a good thing.  I do remember that it works alright, especially considering that it's fighting an upfill battle.  It's a movie about a con, and all movies about cons end up with a big con on the audience.  Even knowing that, I didn't figure it all out, so it's got to be a least a little good, right?  Grade = 6.

Gothika - Matthieu Kassovitz's insane asylum horror flick is not as good as it should be, and neither are the actors, but I do give it props for being hard to solve.  I was pretty sure I knew who the bad guy was, but I was wrong.  Like Confidence then, this one gets extra points for makingme feel stupid.  Grade = 6.

L'auberge Espagnole - Not funny per se, but certainly amiable.  I wasn't such a big fan of the absence of Audrey Tatou also which was an especially big turn-off.  Really, it's okay.  There's just very little to it, and therefore, very little to recommend it.  Grade = 5.

Easy Rider - Having never seen it before, I certainly wasn't expecting much.  There's an attitude and a style to the film that I was anticipating not caring much for.  That said, I did like it.  It rambled, in fact, I thought it rambled a lot, but it was generally watchable.  It also boasted a good soundtrack and some good performances.  I believe it probably is very important film for the generation.  It's just not my generation.  Grade = 7.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - An extremely guilty pleasure.  Having recently succumbed to the album that inspired it, I felt compelled to visit this certain-to-be-bad musical.  And it is bad, inherently.    But I can also give it plenty of faint praise: It's got good Beatles tunes, Frampton is fun to watch, nobody is taking this seriously, it looks pretty neat, and it's funny, albeit in an awkward sort of way.  Plus, it's about 3,184 times better than Tommy, which is especially important given how much it should have been worse.  Grade = 8 (for enjoyment only, on pure quality it's a 4).

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - I really enjoyed it.  I liked the performances alot (especially Depp, naturally), the visuals were delicious, the humor was right up my alley, and it felt a lot more right to me than the Gene Wilder classic.  The only two things that bothered me were the belabored ending, which is just not as good as it should be, and the new Oompa Loompa songs.  Actually, I like the songs just fine, but I'm concerned that they messed with the now classic original tunes without offering up anything as memorable.  Or maybe that's just me, worried about how other people are going to take it, worried that they might be upset with my main man, Mr. Danny Elfman.  I've always been a little protective of him.  Grade = 9.

To Live and Die in LA - The only truly negative thing about this film is its total lack of sympathetic characters.  It's a very dark action movie (with a wonderfully unexpected ending by the way) about a hot-tempered secret service agent (an decidedly un-CSI William Peterson)  ruthlessly tracking down an artistic and semi-suave counterfeiter (a subdued and wonderful Willem Defoe).  I really, really liked this movie, to the point where I stayed up much later than anticipated watching the DVD extras.  It's particularly gritty and unflattering, but that really just makes it more in tune with current cop films than with those of 1985.  Grade = 9.

And a date too...

I went on a date this wekend, the first one in two years, and quite frankly, I think I saw the single best date movie to come in that whole time frame:

Hitch - It is a chick flick, but it's told from a guy's perspective, so it works really well for either sex.  Will Smith is a "Date Doctor" who helps single men get the girl of their dreams.  He's in love with an investigative reporter, and is finding out that his rules don't necessarily apply all the time.  In the meantime, he also helps Kevin James, a nerdy and clueless accountant, get on the good side of a semi-celebrity.  I don't actually remember anything in the movie that was funny, but I do remember laughing.  So, it's fairly forgettable, but it's also definitely sweet and lovey.

Hot off the presses....

This just in from the AP:

On the Hollywood news front, director Joe Dante and Warner Brothers Pictures announced in a press conference today that all copies of the classic 1984 horror/comedy Gremlins are going to be collected and destroyed, saying the film will be "heretofore deleted from any and all film collections."  According to Bob Winchesterville, spokesman for Warner "A recent copyright infringement recently resurfaced with the film that we are unable to negotiate around. Because of a cease-and-desist order from Judge Robert VanGurden of Provo, it is now illegal to own, purchase or distribute any copy of said film."  Dante added "Well, there's that, and the fact that Gremlins is the only good film I've ever made in my career.  Consequently, instead of dragging down the rest of my oeuvre in comparisons, I decided to just eliminate the constant."  Winchesterville and Carpenter continued to squabble for the next fifteen minutes or so on whether Gremlins was actually any good to begin with, with Winchesterville calling it "possibility the most over-rated film in Hollywood history."

The cease-and-desist order came from Bab's Wig and Office Supply Emporium, which made the famous hairdo for the the evil gremlin, Stripe.  Anyone who owns a copy of the film is asked to throw the copy away, being sure to mutilate it first.  Based on this news, Hollywood is now speculating on whether director Joel Schumacher will follow suit, should he be able actually find a quality film in his oeuvre.

Hot off the presses....

This just in from the AP:

On the Hollywood news front, director Joe Dante and Warner Brothers Pictures announced in a press conference today that all copies of the classic 1984 horror/comedy Gremlins are going to be collected and destroyed, saying the film will be "heretofore deleted from any and all film collections."  According to Bob Winchesterville, spokesman for Warner "A recent copyright infringement recently resurfaced with the film that we are unable to negotiate around. Because of a cease-and-desist order from Judge Robert VanGurden of Provo, it is now illegal to own, purchase or distribute any copy of said film."  Dante added "Well, there's that, and the fact that Gremlins is the only good film I've ever made in my career.  Consequently, instead of dragging down the rest of my oeuvre in comparisons, I decided to just eliminate the constant."  Winchesterville and Carpenter continued to squabble for the next fifteen minutes or so on whether Gremlins was actually any good to begin with, with Winchesterville calling it "possibility the most over-rated film in Hollywood history."

The cease-and-desist order came from Bab's Wig and Office Supply Emporium, which made the famous hairdo for the the evil gremlin, Stripe.  Anyone who owns a copy of the film is asked to throw the copy away, being sure to mutilate it first.  Based on this news, Hollywood is now speculating on whether director Joel Schumacher will follow suit, should he be able actually find a quality film in his oeuvre.

Of course, the nominations are out...

You can see the noms here: CLICK ME!

The other noms are here:  NO, CLICK ME!

The pre-2004 Century+ in Review

This is on JM's suggestion the previous comment.  Okay, the best Pre-2004 Movie list was whittled down to 5:
Adaptation
Blow-Up
In America
Mystic River
Spellbound

All are excellent films that really spoke to me (which is why films like Grapes of Wrath and To Kill a Mockingbird were omitted) to bring a suprising upset: Blow-Up.  Really, I thought all five were stupendous, but there was something about Blow-Up which was ridculously aggravating, and wonderfully great.

The Worst:
(I specifically refused to include Lawrence of Arabia because it is a great movie.  Therefore, I focus this list on films that both didn't speak to me and sucked, pre-2004).

The nominees are:
Slaughter High
Soul Survivors: The Final Cut
Tommy
Way Out West.

As SH didn't aim for anything noble, that leaves the other three, which I found to be really terrible.  And although Soul Survivors was easily the worst made film of the year, it was Tommy that destroyed several years worth of hopes and dreams.  So, out of pity if nothing else: Tommy.

In addition, let me add two other movies that were in the running for worst film just so that you may be warned:  Van Helsing and the Village also seriously sucked.  Van Helsing can theoretically be forgiven, because Stephen Sommers is a hack anyway.  But Shyamalan?  Somebody should spank him.

2004 in review

So, every year leaves me less than impressed.  But this year?  Hoo boy, am I aching.  So, instead of a listing of my favorite movies, here are general lists of my faves, as well as the winners for all other categories:

Favorite movies (in no particular order):

Spider-Man 2 - Great action, great character development, great story.  This movie is simply great.

Shaun of the Dead - Hilarious! It lags a little in the second half, but it's still one of the most original, refreshing films of the year.

Anchorman - Just darn funny.

The Incredibles - I love Pixar, and this is my type of Pixar movie all the way.

Garden State - Sometimes sappy, but generally good hearted film with great acting and directing.

Best Movie I probably like, but haven't seen yet:

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - Wes Anderson is just a great director.

Worst Movie:

Alien vs. Predator - Aaaah!!! Kill Me!!!!

Movies I like more than I should:

I, Robot - Maybe I was expecting to hate it, but I didn't.  In fact, I was pretty darn impressed.

Movies that are good, but I can't whole heartedly stand behind:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Not equal to the sum of it's parts.  The effects are great, and it is funny, but Kaufman is an inherently hard person to really grasp.

Movie that I really wish I understood, but I didn't:

Primer - What happened?  My senses tell me there is something really interesting happening here, but I don't know what it was.

Spielberg's next....

Despite the rumor mill having been churning recently with the anticipation of the casting of Julia Roberts and Charlize Theron, the real winner appears to be Shannon Tweed. Shannon Tweed has officially signed on to star in Steven Speilberg's next film, according to just released AP reports. Tweed will join the already cast Jeff Speakman, Eric Roberts and Jamie Pressley for the planned 2005 release Illicit Heat. The film will cast Tweed as Diane, the wife of a cop involved in an illicit affair with a man who may be the serial killer her husband is looking for. Pressley will play Jenny, Diane's nubile babysitter.

If my opinion matters, and it doesn't....

JM suggested I make note of this, so here goes.

I was very underwhelmed by last year's movies, and I have managed to bring together a pretty mediocre list of my favorites. The top six are in order, and the last three are alternates in case I think of some I liked better.

1) Identity - James Mangold throws a slew of suspicious characters into a motel and butchers them one by one. The setting is near perfect and the answer, which becomes more and more elusive as the movie progresses, is one of my favorite twist endings ever.
2) Spellbound - I just posted my review.
3) American Splendor - Smart, pessimistic and funny as hell. Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis are great, but the truth is better than the fiction in this film which is half-dramatic documentary, half- comedy and all heart.
4) [Reserved for Big Fish] - I have only seen a bootlegged version of this film, and I enjoyed it plenty. But when I see it the way it was meant to be seen, I am planning on liking it all the way to #4.
5) Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - An exciting, beautiful, and well-made sci-fi epic. The fight scene at the end is one of the most riveting I have ever seen, but I hate, hate, hate everything after Mount Doom. Had it ended with Frodo being whisked away in the talons of an eagle, it might have been #2.
6) X2 - I really liked X-Men, and I really liked X2. This is a definitive superhero flick, with emotion, action, humanity, fear and more super powers than you can shake a stick at.*
7) Down With Love - It's freaking hilarious. Zellweger is certainly fun, but its Hyde-Pierce and McGregor that are to die for. And it had my second favorite ending of the year, after Identity.

Runners-up:
In America - Super sweet. One of the few films that made me cry without realizing it.
Finding Nemo - Like a fish out of water story, where the fish is rarely out of water. It is really good, but I will always be a sucker for Monsters Inc.
The Italian Job - I love Charlize Theron and Edward Norton. And whenever either of them are on screen, I am enraptured. It's also a pretty darn cool action film.

*For the record, people look at you really strangely when they see you waving a stick at the screen. Trust me on this.

ROTK, Peter Weir sweep Oscars

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King took home 11 Oscars during the 4-hour telecast. Afterwards, Academy president Frank Pierson also rewarded Peter Jackson with his house in Los Angeles as well as Peirson's own wife and children. Sean Penn felt particularly generous and gave Jackson his Best Actor award. President Bush awarded Jackson with Preferred-Trade status, and first dibs on the rights to rebuild Iraq. John Kerry and John Edwards both backed out of the Presidential Race, giving their support to Jackson. And, not to be outdone, God himself appeared at Madonna's post-Oscar party to award Jackson the gift of immortality, the cure for Cancer and seven third-world countries (which were all dressed up to look like New Zealand). Shortly afterward, Peter Weir tearfully grabbed a broom and proceeded to sweep the auditorium.

The League of Electronic Gentlemen

This is some pretty interesting news. New Line Cinema has teamed with Nintendo for an upcoming film. It's kind of like LXG, except with Nintendo characters. The movie, which will mix computer animated characters with live backgrounds, has been described as such: It will be like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. This multi-million dollar film will have Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, Metroid [from Metroid] and Q-Bert joining forces to battle an unholy alliance between King Koopa and the Kogo Shuko [from Double Dragon]. There will also be scenes from games like Frogger, Tetris, Pole Position and Duck Hunt." McG has signed to direct, and the voice cast (so far) consists of Stephen Baldwin, Mark Curry, Posh Spice, David Hasselhoff, Pauly Shore and Dame Judi Dench.

2/12/04

The Conversation - Gene Hackman finds himself caught up in a possible murder-to-be. Paranoia follows. Not necessarily memorable, but decent. #2 in the run of four movies Coppola made that were worth watching.

Jonesin' for #4

The fourth Indiana Jones film has been indefinitely delayed. Frank Darabont, director of "The Shawshank Redemption" was kicked out of the ILM studios after George Lucas felt his script for Indiana Jones 4, entitled Indiana Jones and His Exciting Adventure, was not the direction Lucas was going for.
The script dealt with Indiana Jones' wrongful imprisonment on Death Row, and was apparently very Capra-esque. Lucas was also reportedly upset over the suggested character design for the love interest that Darabont had included with his draft. Darabont has denied that he suggested any character designs, but says he may have accidentally included some of his doodlings in the draft.
George Lucas had this to say: "I appreciate several things about Darabont's draft, but the overall feel was not very...relevant. Frankie had left out the action sequences, intending instead to show how years spent in prison could rot the very soul of a man, including one as strong as Indiana Jones. I decided that although Frankie's script would be great for a different movie, the next Indiana Jones would have to be more violent. I want to see Indy blow up some Nazis." Lucas' friend Peter Clopper, however, was less kind to Mr. Darabont, calling him a "Hollywood suck-machine."

But I bet Jared Leto is in it....

David Fincher, director of Fight Club, Panic Room and Lock Up (although John Flynn later claimed full directing credit) has been batting about the idea of doing a skateboarding film, and I must say that it is about time. I have only one concern about this film regarding a report I read in Hotdog Magazine. David, I hope you are listening. DO NOT MAKE GLEAMING THE CUBE 2! I cannot stress that enough.
First of all Gleaming the Cube is too well respected in certain circles. Trust me, you don't want to upset the folks at the GTC forum and you do not want to make the same mistakes Lucas did with The Phantom Menace. I loved those characters, too. But now look at it. Lucas’ dream is languishing. So leave Brian, Bobby and Jamie alone.
Second, you’ve already done a film where a main character does not exist. Doing GTC2 would require Tony Hawk’s character to return from the dead. (And given the built in fan-base, you’ll want him in this.) I recommend casting Tony Hawk as a living character regardless of how you choose to shoot this film.
Third and most importantly (and I am sure this has been brought to your attention), Mark McCacklin owns the rights to Gleaming the Cube 2. As I'm sure you know, Mr. McCracklin has already blocked production on several lucrative sequels including The Coca-Cola Kid 2, Milo and Otis and Friends and, most notably, Who Else is Harry Crumb?. (I know some people don’t respect John Candy’s legacy as much as I, but the man was a thespian and his loss was tragic.) McCarklin holds the rights and Universal will have to pay a small fortune to get them.
So, Mr. Fincher, please make your skateboarding movie. I even have a title for you: Skate Board (It has to be two words, or the reference won't work). OK, I admit, the title is not golden. However, if the main skateboard shoots fire, the name will not matter and I guarantee you box-office jazz. – Some data gathered by Stan Lee.

Harbinger Hits DVD!!

When critics and fan-sites offer up the opinion that DVDs are the epitome of film viewing, they often refer to the crisp, clean picture or the plethora of special features that may come with. For me, DVD is about these things, but more. For a film like Harbinger, which has not only not seen the light of day in nearly three decades, but also has been forgotten due to that extreme neglect, DVD releases have provided the break it has been sorely lacking. It seems DVD’s most important aspect, after all, is its lack of film.
For those unfamiliar with what happened let me fill you in. This 1974 release used effects that were not only too hard for most to comprehend at the time, but many that I believe would be too difficult now. The film dealt with relational horror, and it did so without the use of major star power in front of or behind the camera. Unfortunately, it came with a priceless price tag. The first day that any theaters were carrying the film, an injunction arrived from Robert Borger, the attorney for Favor Book Co., halting the continued showing of the film.
What had apparently transpired was that the film was based upon the novel The Harbinger Effects by J. Arthur Grade. The manuscript had been written by Grade in 1951 and sold for a few hundred dollars to Tarten Books . The only stipulation Grade had asked for was that no films were ever to be made from the book. Nobody gave a thought to it when they signed the contract. Grade died two months later, this having been the last of three novels by the author. When Tarten Books was bought out by the Favor Book Company a few months later, the book would have been included, had the lone copy not been stolen by Press Agent Jonas Kurven. Favor Books never got the copy of the book, despite seeing its name printed clearly on their manifest. The rumor mill stated that Kurven held onto the book for years, then pitched it when he thought all would be forgotten. Favor Books remembered the name, however, and got the injunction. Harbinger was shown in theaters for a single day. By court order, Favor received every copy and marketing item from the film and never relinquished the rights.
According to a source at Carpe Diem Distribution, however, they have been given the exclusive rights to release the film on DVD. Favor Books has been floundering in recent years and needs the push. As to the contract: a court case last year determined that a DVD release would not compromise the contract, as DVD does not use film, and the wording clearly stated “film”. (Contrary to videotape, which they did rule to be “film.”) The contract is no longer an issue.
On January 13 of next year, Harbinger will be released on DVD. Jonas Kurven, who was blacklisted as a result of his stunt, has emerged and will provide commentary, although he also stated that he will not address the issue of how the effects were achieved. The DVD is also expected to have some deleted scenes, additional commentary by cinematographer Franklin Kooley, a behind-the-scenes featurette and the ABC news story on the scandal.

Koepp the Fire Burning

David Koepp's new project for Miramax, entitled The Woky Experiment, finally has its teaser site up. The film involves a zoo animal who grows intellectually superior to man just in time to witness an infestation of ghosts in a nearby lion's cage. Word on the street has it that the film is plenty scary. Needless to say, David Koepp's directing ability is the shining beacon in an otherwise mostly bereft list of good Hollywood directors.

Herr Schindler has a first name...

There is no better way to kick off the Film Trends category than with the news from January 27th. I agree with what David Faustino said in Newsday: "There is no event more exciting than the Oscar nominations. Not the awards ceremony itself, not Christmas, and not the birth of my glorious baby daughter." Maybe he was misquoted, but the sentiment is there. The awards have always been an exciting time for people who, like me, live their lives through the various pains and successes of their imaginary celluloid counterparts. However, my excitment quickly turned negative upon my noticing that one category had a horrifying miscarriage of justice. The nominees for Musical Editing were: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Seabiscuit, American Splendor, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Lost In Translation. Shortly after the nominations were announced and posted, some reporters were clamoring about how Master and Commander (long thought to be the clear nomination) had been skipped for a film like Seabiscuit. Most baffling to me was that when later asked about the clearly negligent nomination, the representatives denied such a nod had occurred and have since removed it's listing from the website. Apparently, the Academy(of Lies) doesn't have the guts to stand behind their nominations. I suppose it is their award to rescind, but what is to become of the trust of the people. If they can change nominees like this, I don't know that I can trust them anymore. I suppose, when all is said and done, I will still watch the ceremony this year. But I guarantee I will certainly be a little hesitant about trusting their judgement. Liars.