| movie | more info. | rating (out of 10) | comments | |
| the madness of king george (1994) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | watched b/c rupert graves has a bit part. fairly muddled period ensemble w/ the usual insane person pathos, but has some good acting from the nigel hawthorne as king george III and helen mirren as his wife. | |
| madonna: truth or dare (1991) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | i have much more respect for madonna now after seeing how much dancing, singing, and sweating she had to do on her tour. i have a feeling she's chilled out a lot since then, but it's impossible for me not to be impressed at all the crazy stuff she's done. entertaining, particularly with madonna's blunt and oftentimes obnoxious personality, although it tended to feel a little long. the clips from her shows were great. | |
| mame (1974) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | entertaining, but quite vapid. lucille ball is competent, and bea arthur steals a few scenes, but in general this movie is just mediocre fluff without much character development. even herman's score isn't particularly memorable, with the exception of "if he walked into my life". | |
| the manchurian candidate (2004) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | good. the leads were all good, as was the cinematography and direction, even though the overall feel was overly familiar. | |
| the man who knew too much (1956) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | the 2nd hitchcock i've seen. wasn't very good, but i guess for the time it was pretty thrilling. | |
| la marche de l'empereur (march of the penguins) (2005) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | good cinematography, but rather too straightforward. not enough detail to be really engrossing. | |
| the matchmaker (1997) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | watched this again just for janeane, who i idolize. fairly insipid, but janeane still manages to throw in some of her acerbic yet charming wit. | |
| the matrix (1999) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | excellent special effects, of course, and mildly interesting premise, but has horrible dialogue and an almost offensive amount of predictability. | |
| the matrix reloaded (2003) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | yeah, it was cheesy and the fight scenes were def. not as good as the first one, but it was a fun ride. | |
| the matrix revolutions (2003) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | yeah, this was bad, but it wasn't -that- bad. andy and i were generally amused and we had fun making fun of how everyone whispers. also, is it just me or is it kind of weird that the dyke dies and none of the three main couples are interracial? | |
| maurice (1987) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | watched the bonus materials. the interview w/ the director is so-so, but the interviews w/ the three principal actors are very entertaining. the deleted scenes are variable and mostly nonessential, w/ the exception of the subplot involving "dickie" who is gorgeous and nicely portrayed. watched again from the second half and this adaptation is ideal. this movie is really two movies in one. the first half jumps around too much and isn't very interesting. on the other hand the second half is simply amazing. but then this is from the point of view of a gay romantic sap, so i don't know what straight audiences would make of it. i thought the elements added to the movie that were not present in the book worked extremely well and that overall it was a very faithful adaptation of the book. the acting was excellent as well: ben kingsley was hilarious, and hugh grant was fine also, but the real kudos should go to the lesser-known james wilby and rupert graves (mmm mmm mmm). |
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| ma vie en rose (1997) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | fantastic acting, story. real emotions. creative and successful blend of realism and surrealistic elements. definitely recommended. | |
| meet me in st. louis (1944) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | nice old musical but didn't have much of a plot. still, worth seeing judy garland sing "the trolley song" and "have yourself a merry little christmas". | |
| memento (2000) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | although the main premise is fairly implausible and there are some plot holes, this is a nicely-done, incredibly twisty little flick. guy pearce looks good and acts well, as does the rest of the cast. | |
| millenium actress (sennen joyu chiyoko) (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | had some interesting ways he plays w/ time and transitions b/t one scene to another, but overall the story was kind of straightforward in the way that melodramatic asian films can be. | |
| the miracle of morgan's creek (1944) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | another enjoyable preston sturges flick. this one tackles what at the time was a sensitive topic, an unwanted pregnancy. the big highlight here is the repartee between the precocious younger sister and the father. | |
| the mirror crack'd (1992) (tv) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | enjoyable with some very funny bits, although not the most memorable. | |
| miss marple: sleeping murder (1987) (tv) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | based on an agatha christie novel. fun, although not particularly memorable. | |
| mona lisa (1986) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | a similar feel to -the crying game-, but less focused. bob hoskins nicely creates a sympathetic character. | |
| monkey business (1931) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | overrated classic. i find the marx brothers to individually be incredibly annoying, although as a whole their madcap antics are funny. | |
| mon oncle (1958) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | fun flick, although completely episodic. the scenes with the kids reminds me of ozu's -good morning-, wistfully nostalgic. | |
| monsters, inc. (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | creative caper better than toy story 2, but not by much. when are we going to get something a little less fluffy from disney? oh, right. never. | |
| monty python's the meaning of life (1983) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | some parts are hilarious (e.g. sperm song), but in general there was a little too much toilet humour for me. -the holy grail- is more of a classic and -the life of brian- is more coherent. | |
| moulin rouge! (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | highly enjoyable and some virtuosic film-making. some truly classic moments (such as all the on-top-of-the-elephant scenes) and some good acting from nicole kidman. like all of luhrmann's films, a definite crowd-pleaser with no cheap shots. | |
| mulan (1998) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | one of the better non-computer animated disney films in recent memory. | |
| music of the heart (1999) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | cheesy. fizzles out during the second half. uneven. cute kids, though. | |
| my beautiful laundrette (1985) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | gritty and atmospheric, but not incredibly memorable aside from being one of the earliest gay films. daniel day-lewis is pretty hot, though. | |
| my big fat greek wedding (2002) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | has a low-budget feel. the romance is perfunctory but mildly entertaining, as is the movie in general. definitely not worth the hype. | |
| my dog skip (2000) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | the kid actor (frankie muniz) was really good, although the story was pretty shallow. a mildly entertaining story, though. | |
| my favorite broadway - the love songs (2001) | entry at amazon.com | 6 | had some really terrible stuff (e.g. nathan lane, marin mazzie) and some really good stuff. not bad if you keep your finger on the fast forward button. | |
| my neighbor totoro (1988) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | cute, esp. mei. does a great job of catching the hyperness and fun of kids, but in the end the whole story feels arbitrary. | |
| my sassy girl (yeopgijeogin geunyeo) (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | the main characters are pretty annoying and the plot is predictable as are all korean movies, but overall it wasn't bad. | |
| mystery men (1999) | entry at imdb.com | 4 | thought there were some clever things about the movie and i laughed during most of it, but in general i didn't think it was that great. janeane garofolo definitely caused the movie's pace to pick up, though, although her characters tend to be rather similar. | |
| nausicaa: valley of the winds (kaze no tani no naushika) (1984) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | the plot was quite similar to princess mononoke, but miyazaki's endless imagination still impresses. | |
| never been kissed (1999) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | pretty dumb even as high school movies go, but drew barrymore is cute and michael vartan is mmm mmm mmm ... | |
| new york minute (2004/i) | entry at imdb.com | 4 | not quite as bad as some other crap i've watched, but pretty bad. ashley is way hotter than MK though! i still don't get why eugene levy is everywhere these days though. | |
| nico and dani (2000) (krampack) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | quite well done actually. has a nice, non-judgmental tone. | |
| noises off! (1992) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | the mother of all farces. it's easy to see how much better this would work onstage. despite a starry cast (inc. christopher reeve and carol burnett), this is mostly lackluster acting and the timing is generally rushed. | |
| notorious c.h.o. (2002) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | not bad, but the first one was much better. the preachiness at the end is off-putting, and some of the humour is unnecessarily graphic relying more on shock value. | |
| a nous la liberte (1931) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | a bit of a jumble. mostly slapstick humour. not really that memorable. | |
| nurse betty (2000) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | would've liked this better if the movie hadn't included the two hitmen. the psychology of the main character and her interactions w/ the others around her as they try to make sense of her insanity is fascinating and effective, but the two criminals are only interesting b/c the older one becomes attracted to betty and are o/w just an annoying distraction. | |
| ohayo (good morning) (1959) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | great movie about two boys who go on a silent strike to get their parents to buy them a tv and how their actions affect the community they live in. a great look at japanese society. isamu is my new hero. | |
| oliver twist (1948) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | atmospheric. pretty good. | |
| on the town (1949) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | pretty standard movie musical actually. some nice moments, but not my fav. | |
| pal joey (1957) | entry at imdb.com | 3 | ecchhh. kim novak, unlike her performance in vertigo, is terrible here. sinatra is slightly better, but mostly just when he sings. the story stinks. | |
| pee-wee's big adventure (1985) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | surprisngly good. fun, although a bit dated. pee-wee was much less annoying than i feared, and almost lovable. this is one of those movies that has a lot of gags that somehow become repeatable, albeit dumb, in-jokes. | |
| persuasion (1995/i) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | this is one of jane austen's lesser books, and so it's no surprise the movie is a bit boring. the two main leads are a little lifeless and the story is a bit rushed; if i hadn't just read the book i think i would've been a little lost. | |
| the phantom of the opera (2004) | entry at imdb.com | 4 | echhh. this movie makes me strongly forget i ever liked any part of this show. terrible acting and adaptation and mediocre singing. | |
| pillow talk (1959) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | enjoyable but fluffy. doris day is kind of annoying but rock hudson is cute. | |
| pocahontas ii: journey to a new world (1998) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | pretty ridiculous direct to video sequel. the slapstick humour among the three animals get wearisome quickly and the songs and even judy kunn's singing are completely unmemorable. the rehashing of old scenes and characters is irritating but once the story moves to england the interest picks up, although the story remains only mildly interesting. the actress who plays pocahontas reads her lines much more woodenly than she did in the original. it would have been interesting if the story had pursued the conflict between the new and the old loves when john smith appears. bit of trivia: the actor who plays john smith is the younger brother of mel gibson, who played john smith in the original. | |
| porco rosso (1992) (kurenai no buta) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | working my way through the miyazaki canon. as usual, miyazaki's obsession with flying and his anti-war preachiness feel overly familiar, but his animation is still thrilling and his characters are still completely endearing. this one, with a wonderfully improbable story about a pig pilot and his adventures, has jumped near the top of my list of favorites and makes me want to go back and re-watch the others. and although i know winnie isn't a fan of american dubbed voices, michael keaton does a great job as porco. i've ordered the 6-disc chinese set that winnie has (legit release i think, w/ 2 movies on each disc), which, having come out several years ago, lacks the american voices and extras of the more recent disney 2-disc releases, but will still be great. oh, and david ogden stiers continues to amaze me. he's done cogsworth and the narrator in beauty and the beast and the governor in pocahontas, and here he plays a wacky grandfather. | |
| possession (2002) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | pretty boring. gwyneth doesn't get to do much, nor does jennifer ehle. | |
| pride and prejudice (1995) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | bought the DVDs, and enjoyed it as much as the first time. such an excellent adaptation. colin firth is so hot. a very faithful adaptation of one of my favorite books of all time. jennifer ehle is great, and the rest of the supporting cast generally has the right amount of annoyingness (with the exception of lydia who i wanted to strangle). |
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| primary colors (1998) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | rented mostly to see emma thompson, who was uninteresting here. travolta's pretty good, as is "newcomer" adriane lester, but the story was fairly boring and way too long. | |
| the princess diaries (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 4 | all around irritating, with the exception of the best friend. julie andrews turns in an okay performance in an unmemorable role. | |
| princess mononoke (1997) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | engrossing movie and animation, great pacing, great background, epic scale. veered dangerously close to being just another -ferngully-, esp. with some particularly silly lines of dialogue. the ending (last five minutes) was rather a let down, though, which makes me almost want to give it an 8 even though it's almost a 9, even though ashitaka = sexy. | |
| the producers (1968) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | enjoyable, but not particularly noteworthy. | |
| psycho (1960) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | good (esp. the first half) and a classic w/ good acting, but def. not worth the #25 best movie of all time slot on imdb. | |
| punch-drunk love (2002) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | adam sandler does quite well in this flick about a man, slightly mental, who takes his life into his own hands. very good, although again, it doesn't quite transcend the genre of crazy man or romantic comedy. the score was memorable and really added to the movie. | |
| putting it together: a musical review (2000) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | i'm a huge fan of sondheim and have seen pretty much everything of his, and i have to say this is one of the worst collections i've ever seen. carol burnett is the highlight here, and i disagree with critics who say that she doesn't carry the dramatic moments as well as the comedic. george hearn is stiff; pinchot is not a singer; henshall is irritatingly aggressive; and barrowman is talented but way too generic. the set design is simply terrible, looking both cheap and gaudy, and the direction aims for the absolute lowest level, which if you know anything about sondheim you know is completely at odds with the material. there are a few moments near the end that are redeeming, but in general you should avoid this one unless you're (like me) such a devotee you have to see everything, even the bad stuff. | |
| reality bites (1994) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | started off having potential to be cool, but quickly fizzles out. janeane garofalo is awesome, though. i want her babies. | |
| rear window (1954) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | i'm surprised this is so high on imdb's highest-ranked, as it doesn't strike me as being a particularly crowd-pleasing flick. good atmosphere and some nice moments, but didn't really gel for me. | |
| render: spanning time with ani difranco (2002) | entry at amazon.com | 7 | if you're looking for a concert DVD, skip this and pick up trust instead. but if you're looking for insight into the force known as ani difranco, then this is a great overview. along w/ some great live performances (my fav being a lovely version of "overlap" w/ a guest guitarist), there's lots of backstage, home-y footage, inc. a nice sequence where we see the song "slide" take shape and another where we see her mixing a song for a live recording. a real draw to this DVD is getting to see ani in many of her non-songwriting aspects, including her political interests, her role as producer and record label head, and her just plain goofiness. the DVD also includes a track from each artist on her label at the time. yes, a lot of the camera work is clearly amateur, but it helps add to the overall experience w/ its immediacy and friendliness, combining to give you a great picture of ani as a person. prob. not for casual fans, but a lot of good content. p.s. what's w/ the overreaction to the pot-smoking scene? she's not doing crack for pete's sake! | |
| rivers and tides (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | this movie focuses on andy goldsworthy, a scottish "environmental" artist currently in his late-40's. it follows him through what must be at least a few years of his work. goldsworthy's works are aesthetically satisfying if not particularly novel. rather too much of the documentary is spent with goldsworthy spouting cliches about his art and his role as artist, etc., but the works are really what's worth seeing (despite some fairly trite, mostly pseudo-chinese music). one particularly memorable piece was a chain of leaves snaking their way down a river. so even though the documentary itself isn't must see, it certainly fills a niche. | |
| a room with a view (1985) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | 4/05: this movie, of course, looks great, but the actual story and character development is pretty thin. maggie smith is very memorable here (and won a golden globe for her performance), as is judi dench in a smaller role. 2000ish?: entertaining and although helena bonham carter is engaging and rupert graves and julian sands are cute, the story's pretty flaccid. the story reminded me of a really pale imitation of kate chopin's great -the awakening-. |
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| rushmore (1998) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | quirky characters and a nice anti-hero and a lot of great bits, but doesn't quite all add up. | |
| the red violin (1998) | entry at imdb.com | 4 | not as good the second time around. didn't like it for the same reasons as before. creative, but shallow, with the exception of the section set in vienna which was an engaging story at least and the section set in communist china which was moving. | |
| REM: parallel (1995) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | an entertaining collection of music videos and random interlude footage from -automatic for the people- and -monster- ... i think the version i saw was the one that had the uncensored version of "nightswimming". | |
| run lola run (1998) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | now a classic. highly entertaining, although has an MTV-like quality about it. the love story is dubious at best, but the desperation of a basic race against time is palpable and the presentation is quite creative. worth seeing. | |
| sabrina (1954) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | despite the fact humphrey bogart is a little old, this is still a very cute movie. audrey hepburn conveys uncertainty and awkwardness, but also shows her loveliness and her natural poise. the ending was rather abrupt. | |
| sense and sensibility (1995) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | emma thompson did a great job of adapting the rather dull novel, adding a lot of humour and emotion. the acting in general isn't fantastically great, but emma thompson, as usual, is quite good. her somewhat realistc (some would say cynical) outlook reminds me of janeane garofolo in one of my fav. movies, the truth about cats and dogs. | |
| seven brides for seven brothers (1954) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | i love this movie. i was confused about the two different formats for this edition, though. in the making of documentary they said that the studio made two different cuts which may even have different takes. one version was for the new widescreen screens at the time that not every movie theater had, and the other was for the old-size movie screens. i assumed the movie that i was familiar with from the VHS would be on disc 1, but having rented this disc i'm pretty sure that that version is on the bonus materials disc (disc 2) and the previously unreleased version is on the first disc (which i guess is in widescreen). either way this is a great movie musical classic. | |
| 7 up/14 up | entry at imdb.com | 8 | started recently. follows 14 or so british children and takes a snapshot every 7 years of their lives. watched the first two and were immediately captivated and wanted to see the rest (49 up was released a few years ago), although i kind of want to hold off b/c it's a bit painful actually to see the years fly by in such quick succession. it has a richness of real life that, although it may be imitated well in film and literature (and extremely well in before sunset) isn't so deeply true. i highly recommend that series as well. apparently also there's a US version started in 1991. | |
| shakespeare in love (1998) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | enjoyable. cute and clever use of shakespearean devices (perhaps a bit too clever) and very well put-together, but quite a bit of the comedy tends to be predictable and overly repetitious and the drama tends to be a little superficial. | |
| shaolin soccer (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | fun, fairly brainless flick. surprisingly the romantic angle was one of the most memorable parts of this movie. would've been cool to see that girl kicking ass more. | |
| shrek 2 | entry at imdb.com | 6 | i don't really remember much about the first one, but this one was def. overrated. the story was flimsy, the characterization was lackluster, and despite great animation and a great cast the movie in total was pretty missable. | |
| singin' in the rain (1952) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | good, but pretty shallow. this is the kind of fluffy musical that's enjoyable, but makes me go running back to sondheim. | |
| sister act (1992) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | good fun. whoopi goldberg and maggie smith are great. | |
| sleepless in seattle (1993) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | about as okay as i remembered. the only thing really carrying this movie is meg ryan's charm, tom hank's likeability, and some heavy doses of hollywood manipulation. | |
| sliding doors (1998) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | well presented and put together, although drags in some places. the
format, while somewhat gimmicky, works well and the plot, while
somewhat overdone, is also generally done well. the script is
certainly better than the average hollywood tripe (e.g. -notting
hill-, -you've got mail-), but the fact gerry is so detestable and
james is such a doll makes it irritating to watch helen (gwyneth
paltrow) being so indecisive and dense. although on the surface this is just another romantic comedy, i found myself enjoying this movie the 2nd time as much as the first. the "gimmick" works very well and is very well thought out. gwyneth paltrow is quite good and the ending is a surprise and really adds to the whole film. |
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| sneakers (1992) | entry at imdb.com | 4 | way worse than i remembered. to modern-day audiences the plot seems threadbare and the action mostly unbelievable. memorable performance by poitier though. | |
| snow falling on cedars (1999) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | entertaining, although rather slow and the symbolism tends to lack subtlety. acting above par and although not interesting as a murder mystery, does a really great job of capturing the emotions behind the movement of japanese-americans to camps during WWII. | |
| soapdish (1991) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | despite a promising cast, a pretty shallow comedy with just a bunch of people running around and screaming at each other. some funny bits, but not enough to make it much worth seeing. maybe it'd be more enjoyable for people who like watching soap operas. | |
| some like it hot (1959) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | another overrated classic: entertaining, but not a must-see. the action isn't that memorable, but the comedy and romance aren't bad. the most memorable moments are marilyn singing "i wanna be loved by you" and the classic ending line. | |
| sommarnattens leende (1955) (smiles of a summer night) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | very hard to get the sondheim adaptation of this out of my head, but i enjoyed bergman's darker characterization. | |
| songcatcher (2000) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | fairly blah movie that tries to weave traditional american music with a story of a schoolteacher researching them. pat carroll (the voice of the sea witch in the little mermaid) is great, though, and the music is generally well done. | |
| sons of the desert (1933) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | laurel and hardy flick. andy found a great L&H collection. this was the longest of the bunch (a bit more than an hour) but still packed with gags (including a scene where laurel sneaks bites out of fruit from a bowl at ollie's house only to find out that they were made of wax). hadn't seen any L&H before, and they're classics that are still funny today and def. worth watching. particular favorite moment was in "another fine mess" in which laurel and hardy somehow find themselves pretending to own a mansion, with ollie pretending to be the millionaire owner and laurel forced to pretend to be both the butler and the maid. | |
| south park: bigger, longer & uncut (1999) | entry at
imdb.com new york times article: "Loosening a Strict Film Rating for 'South Park'". |
8 | surprisingly funny and clever. the songs are memorable, and the plot actually entertaining, with a lot of funny asides. | |
| spider-man (2002) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | good entertaining fluff, if that's what you want. | |
| spider-man 2 (2004) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | much, much better than the average summer fare and the average superhero fare. fun, but doesn't quite transcend the genre. | |
| spider-man: the new animated series (2003) | entry at amazon.com | 7 | i remember hearing about this when it came out, but i've just now gotten around to watching disk 1. mtv put out this series (which only lasted 1 season) to sort of follow spidey in the time between the first and 2nd movies. as a result pretty much all of the episodes are standalone adventures against a new baddie. they were gearing it more towards teens than kids and recruited some interesting voices: neil patrick harris as spidey (who is distractingly recognizable), lisa loeb as mary jane (she actually does really well -- when's the last time she put out an album?), and ian ziering who i vaguely remember as being a bad guy on 90210. they also got rob zombie, eve, and virginia madsen in on it. the animation was the big point of contention for a lot of people, as it's prob. one of the first series to almost completely rely on CGI. as you'd expect, generally the people movement looks stiff and video game-y, but you get used to it, and the fight scenes and web-slinging action are pretty good. all in all not a bad way to spend an evening or two if you really liked the movies. | |
| spike & mike's cutting edge classics (2004) | entry at amazon.com | 4 | a fair number were instant fast forwards, and quite a few were utterly pointless. however, there were a few that were mind-bogglingly good. worth a quick perusal. | |
| spirited away (2001) | entry at
imdb.com official site: has some movie clips. |
8 | fun and whimsical alice in wonderland-esque movie with colorful characters and scenes, although like miyazaki's other films i found myself a little disconcerted by some of his lack of continuity or explanation. miyazaki really has a strong sense of what it's like to be a kid, which really comes through in his films. | |
| spy kids (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | surprisingly entertaining. the best things about this movie are the wacky gadgets and monsters and definitely the natural references to hispanic culture. | |
| sullivan's travels (1941) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | good comedy but the last half hour when the plot becomes suddenly serious is what makes this one worth seeing. | |
| the sum of us (1994) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | clearly based on a stage play, but still enjoyable. the main characters (a gay son and his father) are convincing and likeable. | |
| summer holiday (1963) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | apparently this guy is like the british elvis, except he's still alive and he didn't wear white suits. really weird to hear an american-like musical w/ british people in it, but quite a few of the songs are catchy (like the title song and "bachelor boy") while quite a few just sound like west side story wannabes. the love story is completely bogus, as is the plot, and it gets to be a little long, but the clothes, the supporting band the shadows, and some cute british guys (not really inc. cliff richards imo) make it worth seeing. | |
| star wars: episode i: the phantom menace (1999) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | felt a little slick, but was still very entertaining. the battle scene was excellently done, the new characters were interesting, the pacing was good. it was ambitious to plan for 9 of these episodes, esp. if it starts feeling like just another television show, but the drama and scope keep it worthwhile. | |
| swing time (1936) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | not my favorite fred astaire movie and mostly forgettable, but has some good song and dance scenes. | |
| teen titans (vol. 1): divide and conquer (2003) | entry at amazon.com | 8 | enjoyable fluff. raven, the sympathetic goth girl, is the most intriguing (much like rogue in x-men evolution was), but the other characters are also likeable. the heavily manga-influenced animation works well for this. | |
| that touch of mink (1962) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | ludicrously dumb movie. some mildly amusing parts and doris day and cary grant make a cute couple, but mostly this one will put you to sleep, despite its somewhat shockingly blatant references to sex. | |
| the 39 steps (1935) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | highly entertaining. donat is a hunky male lead, and although the fact it has a bit of everything makes it feel a bit hodge-podgey, it never gets dull. the plot could have been a bit tighter and the escapes more believable, but it's another good flick from hitchcock. | |
| this is spinal tap (1984) | entry at imdb.com | 6 | finally got around to seeing the last of the christopher guest movies i hadn't seen. i rank this below waiting for guffman but above best in show. the comedy is entertaining but not riotously funny, and the emotion that was present in waiting for guffman isn't nearly as poignant here. | |
| thoroughly modern millie (1967) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | this musical is -hilarious- ... julie andrews, just a few years
after -the sound of music- and -mary poppins- headlines with mary
tyler moore and carol channing. the plot is fluffy and entertaining
and has a great tongue-in-cheek humour, but the real thing that makes
the movie worth seeing is the performances. julie andrews, although a
little old for the role, has some great opportunities for dancing,
singing, scheming, and making her inimitable facial expressions. it
would have been nice to have seen more out of mary tyler moore, but
she plays her ditzy part perfectly. carol channing is a complete
knockout ... she definitely steals every scene she's in. the trio is
helped out by a great supporting cast, including two pretty cute male
leads. while this might not be quite the right movie for most people
and features some pretty ridiculous asian stereotyping (featuring pat
morita of karate kid fame, no less), for me this movie is a fun romp
that ranks up there with the quirky -funny face- and beats out many
other, more serious musicals onstage or off. too bad it's not
available in the u.s.
saw it again recently ... still charming, but felt a little long. |
|
| thirty-two short films about glenn gould (1993) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | one of the few films that i actually own, which says
something. highly entertaining and oftentimes extremely cleverly
presented overview of the eccentric canadian pianist renowned for his
interpretations of bach. there are so many highlights among the 32
films, some less than a minute long, some rather longer, including
"gould meets gould" an "interview" taken from gould's writings in
which he argues with himself about his firm belief that the performer
is inevitably relegated to the role of puppet to the audience (which
is why gould retired early to concentrate on recordings instead);
"personals ad," which i assume was also taken from gould's writings
and which is wonderfully poetic; "practice"; "lake simcoe"; "crossed
paths"; "truck stop"; "forty-nine" ... there are, of course, some
tedious bits as well, and it may be difficult to watch the whole thing
at one sitting, but overall an excellent piece of film. colm feore is
excellent as gould. better than -shine- and -the red violin-. | |
| time bandits (1981) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | okay. this was one of those "time travelling journey through historic time periods" kind of films which are bound to feel predictable. a lot of it had the same dense, claustrophobic atmosphere of 12 monkeys, which was cool. but the story itself was kind of unimportant and the main boy was annoying. | |
| tokyo monogatari (tokyo story) (1953) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | this one's a downer, but more memorable than ohayo. it's about an elderly couple who goes to tokyo to visit their children and it explores the relationships and personalities of each individual. it will def. make you reevaluate your relationship with your own parents. | |
| topsy-turvy (1999) | entry at imdb.com | 3 | way too long. the production numbers look good, but they intrude on the rest of the story which is too unorganized as it is. | |
| tori amos: the complete videos (1998) | entry at amazon.com | 9 | a great collection of tori's music videos, with only a few misses. | |
| to the manor born (1979) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | another classic british TV comedy. this one has a widowed aristocrat forced to leave her beloved manor, only to see it bought by a supermarket mogul. a riot of class conflict humor ensues. brisk pace, some good one-liners, and engaging leads make this worth watching (although andy has to explain things to me every other minute, like how to spell "fforbes-hamilton" which is supposed to be with two small "f"'s. yes, those brits are strange). | |
| toy story 2 (1999) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | amazing animation, although it gets a little dizzying. some of the physical action was a little unrealistic (e.g. toy horse running after a plane). not as emotionally strong as the original, but still highly entertaining. the outtakes are fantastic. | |
| trick (1999) | entry at
imdb.com review i wrote for the tech: a little bit too glowing, but i agree w/ most of what i wrote way back when. official site: has some funny character bios and some links to reviews on the 'net. new york times article: i don't think janet maslin was able to accept the premise that two boys couldn't find a place to get off. and she hated tori spelling. heh. includes some low-quality real video clips.
|
9 | 10/2002: i watched this again and was again impressed by how fun
and funny this movie is. tori spelling is surprisingly amazing, the
two main male leads are well cast, and the story is sweet but not
cloying. the characters are all memorable, like the wanna be sex
therapist and the chanteuse-y friend ... very "gay", but not in that
potentially anoying, queen-y sort of way. and has there ever been a
more memorable drag queen in the bathroom scene? ha ha ... this is
one of the few movies i own.
5/2000: i still think this is an awesome, unique, hilarious movie
although some people don't agree w/ me. that is, they acknowledge
that it's entertaining, but they don't think it's as amazing as i
do. |
|
| trois couleurs: bleu (1993) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | binoche was quite good, but the movie is pitched as a thriller when really it's nothing of the sort. it works as a character study of a woman who deals with a monumental personal tragedy by completely cutting herself off from her former life, but it's rather heavy-handed. | |
| the truman show (1998) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | a mostly restrained jim carrey does a pretty good job here. generally contrived, but has some nice moments. | |
| the truth about cats and dogs (1996) | entry at imdb.com | 10 | prob. not many people would agree w/ me, but i think this movie is absolutely hilarious. this is one of the few intelligent romantic comedies i've seen, and janeane garofolo is fantastic. uma thurman and the male lead, ben chaplin, are also good, but it is the writing that makes this worth worth owning. | |
| twelve monkeys (1995) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | i find it hard to understand why people thought this movie was hard to follow. it was a good action movie, but the only slightly confusing part is the time travel. anyway, good flick although not particularly deep. brad pitt is wicked annoying, but then, he's supposed to be. | |
| two brothers (2004) | entry at imdb.com | 3 | echhhh. sappy drivel. how did guy pearce get roped into this one? | |
| 2001: a space odyssey (1968) | entry at imdb.com | 3 | having heard references to HAL since even before my first AI class i felt i had to watch this movie. it turned out to be rather a waste of time, though, imo. classic it may be, but i'll take a fairly good story over visuals, no matter whatthey may be, any day. | |
| ukigusa (floating weeds) (1959) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | not my favorite ozu movie so far, but good acting and his usual great cinematography and atmosphere. | |
| ultimate kylie (dvd) | entry at amazon.com | 8 | great to see kylie's growth through the years, and some really standout videos, esp. her fever era. | |
| under the tuscan sun (2003) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | wanted to see this one b/c it was written by the same person who wrote the truth about cats and dogs. really humdrum although every once in a long while it strikes a chord. | |
| unfaithfully yours (1948) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | solidly entertaining and some great comedic moments. rex harrison is a bit stiff at times, but overall def. recommended. | |
| les vacances de m. hulot (mr. hulot's holiday) (1953) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | cute "gentle" physical comedy. although it makes for a nice change of pace, i didn't find it to be quite my type of humour. | |
| vertigo (1958) | entry at imdb.com | 10 | in a word, amazing. fascinating. suspenseful, mysterious, well-developed, psychological, and deeply disturbing. now i see why people rave about hitchcock. | |
| the vicar of dibley: the divine collection (DVD) | entry at amazon.com | 7 | modest, but the characters are lovable and dawn french is always fun to watch. | |
| the vicar of dibley: 10th anniversary specials (DVD) | entry at amazon.com | 5 | disappointing, but it has its moments. much more formulaic than the originals. the episodes each feel like two halves, each of which is stretched a bit thin. also, the second is far too preachy and sappy. it def. takes everyone to settle back into their characters, but any way you have it, it's nice to be back in dibley. | |
| waiting for guffman (1996) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | funny and at times touching, esp. the ending. a little too similar to best in show, and vice versa, but still worth seeing, esp. for christopher guest and parker posey. | |
| waking life (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | excellent. visually stunning, and thought-provoking, yet at times quite funny also. one of the best movies i've seen in a long while. the film could have been a little more accessible, as the beginning esp. was a little slow. | |
| wallace & gromit: a close shave (1995) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | park is simply amazing. beautifully done. | |
| wallace & gromit in the curse of the were-rabbit (2005) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | hurrah! W&G's movie debut is a great success. nick park's humour and inventiveness are still going strong. just points up how unintelligent other animated films are. | |
| what about bob? (1991) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | bill murray does a variation on his usual shtick. entertaining enough, but a bit too "family fare". | |
| willy wonka & the chocolate factory (1971) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | rather annoying and disjoint. the chocolate waterfall looked like a sewage plant. gene wilder's performance was also annoying. | |
| wit (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | emma thompson is fantastic in this film. the odd detachment of the narrator and her declining physical health is a bit disconcerting and the stock portrayals of the nurse and the doctor are a little distracting, but the raw emotions that come through during the last third or half of the movie are right on target. | |
| working girl (1988) | entry at imdb.com | 9 | this one was surprisingly good. and harrison ford is hot! | |
| the work of director spike jonze (2003) | entry at imdb.com | 2 | very disappointing installment in the directors' series. jonze seems content to include a single conceit in his music vids w/ absolutely no development whatsoever. completely forgettable. | |
| the work of director stephane sednaoui (2005) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | disappointing. most of the videos were way too repetitive and ran out of steam after the first thirty seconds. the bjork videos were by far the highlights of this set. | |
| x-men (2000) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | 8/11/04: hadn't seen it in a while. the story and atmosphere were
better than i remembered, although the special effects and fight
scenes were still fairly ho-hum.
7/02ish: i'm definitely a huge fan of the x-men. the movie was pretty good
-- much better than i was afraid it wouldn't be. the second time i
watched it though, it became more apparent how slow the pacing is, and
how it only really included a few fight scenes. hopefully the other
two will pick up the pace. the extra scenes on the DVD were mildly
entertaining. |
|
| x2 (2003) | entry at imdb.com
|
8 | lots of good stuff about this one. liked how there was more action than the first, although the special effects could have used more work or a bigger budget. still, a fairly decent adaptation. | |
| yankee doodle dandy (1942) | entry at imdb.com | 5 | disappointing biopic of george m. cohan. the music numbers are nice, but the rest is pretty drawn out. | |
| you can count on me (2000) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | realistic look at a single woman's life and her relationship with her brother, but lacks drama. | |
| young frankenstein (1974) | entry at imdb.com | 4 | mel brooks movie that should've been way funnier than it was. cloris leachman was a standout though as the housekeeper, and the other two female leads were also pretty funny. skip this. | |
| you're a good man, charlie brown (1985) | entry at imdb.com | 7 | enjoyable and faithful adaptation of the broadway musical. seeing the songs sung by the original cartoon characters and hearing them performed by children (i assume) rather than adults makes the show more palatable for me, but it remains little more than a cute entertainment. gesner's script has a tone and language that i don't remember the original charlie brown films having, which made the whole experience feel a little off. | |
| zoolander (2001) | entry at imdb.com | 8 | enjoyable, but vacuous. |