Year End Review
January 4, 2006
Another plenteous year of movies in the rear-view mirror. Cranked out three more trips to the theater in '05 than the previous record holder known as "2004". Scope the 13-year standings:
Also switched from selecting a "Top 3" for the year on the Movie Manifest list, over to a "Top 5" format. Narrowing the field to three is just too much of a labor, and ultimately means some high quality material is left off the trophy mantel. Still tweaking the results from previous years... This year, however, we ended up with King Kong, Serenity, Tae Guk Gi, Primer, and Revenge of the Sith.
Kong had Skull Island - in all her carnivorous glory, Serenity was like visiting old friends, Tae Guk Gi was a fairly intense Korean war movie that was obviously (or not) a metaphor for kidney transplants, Primer was a fantastic story on an ultra-low budget (7k!), and Sith managed to not disappoint despite all expectations.
That mighty group managed to fend off the likes of Harry Potter, Crash, Ong Bak, Million Dollar Baby, and Batman Begins. War of the Worlds may have been a contender, had it not been for the below-average third act (it's also increasingly difficult to separate Tom Cruise the actor from Tom Cruise the wacko).
We managed to pack a few in right before the New Year:
Chronicles of Narnia
Meh. More of a kids-type movie than we were hoping to see. Reckon I forgot the story had Santa Claus in it, fer cryin' out loud.
King Kong
As mentioned previously, the glorious battle-royal that saw Kong handin' down a whuppin' on multiple dinosaurs is some of the best action since I don't even know when.
Memoirs of a Geisha
Felt a little cheated this thing wasn't subtitled. Was also taught to be disgruntled by a cast of Chinese actors portraying Japanese characters. What, Japan doesn't have actors? Otherwise better than expected for a borderline chick-flick.
Fun with Dick and Jane
Mildly amusing. Left no impression whatsoever.
Munich
Solid, despite length and the specter of political edification lurking within. It boggles the mind how Spielberg can go from War of the Worlds to something as dense as Munich in the same year.
Brokeback Mountain
I begrudgingly admit it was pretty dang good for a drama.
|
