Sunday, January 07, 2007

Movie Review Blitz

Did you know that I was the movie critic for my high school's newspaper? While I no longer have that flimsy excuse for the immense amount of time I spend watching movies, I do have a blog in which I can relive my days as a wannabe movie buff. Anyone who reads my brother's blog (see link to the right) can see that this runs in my family, and his end-of-year lists have given me the bug for lists of my own.

Being the unabashed nerd that I am, I recently created a typed list of movies I want to see (it is currently 2 pages long, 2 columns per page, with a mixture of old classic movies and newer ones that I just never got around to seeing) that I am working through at a steady pace, thanks to the fabulous DVD collection at my local library.

The good movies I have watched are: Midnight Cowboy (very sad), The Deer Hunter (very very sad), M*A*S*H (funny), Driving Miss Daisy (funny and poignant), To Kill A Mockingbird (could not live up to the book, but very good), and Broadcast News (funny and still very relevant).

The not-very-good movies I have watched are Being There (monotonous and ridiculous, but not ridiculous enough) and, just last night, Jarhead (which, despite its huge potential for political relevance AND the presence of an often shirtless Jake Gyllenhaal, failed to make an impact of the thoughtful or lustful variety).

2006 was not so great of a year for movies...of course, all the good movies come out right at the end of the year, OR they only play in a few theaters, so I have not seen The Fountain, Pan's Labyrinth, or Children of Men, all of which look very much like my cup of tea. Without having seen those (or the majority of the award-whore type movies), my favorite movies of last year (in no particular order) were probably Little Miss Sunshine, Dreamgirls, The Departed, Marie Antoinette, and A Prairie Home Companion. And, if I'm being perfectly honest, I should also include Borat, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, and Talladega Nights on that list...I said they were my favorite movies, not the best.

Any thoughts? Lists? Suggestions of old movies to watch?

Edit: I saw Children of Men, and it is stupendously fantastic.

3 Comments:

At 8:47 PM, Blogger Johnny said...

I am SO glad you like Driving Miss Daisy. I LOVE that movie. I've watched it many times, and it saddens me each time. great movie. A little sad as Jessica Tandy is now dead.

 
At 3:50 PM, Blogger Kyle said...

I've seen a bunch of great moview this year, though I rarely know if they are new this year or older. Some examples: Look Both Ways, Chumbscruber, The Devil In Daniel Johnston, A State of Mind, My Flesh and Blood, An Inconvenient Truth, Born Rich, Everything Is Illuminated Capturing the Friedmans, Startup.com, Blue Vinyl

 
At 1:55 PM, Blogger Kyle said...

Have you seen Buffalo 66?

 

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