Untitled Document

2004 Movies

Spanglish. (12/30/04). Really liked this movie. Entirely unexpected. Will buy on DVD as soon as available. Highly recommended.

Closer. (12/23/04). Not as expected. No sex, no skin, fine performances in a downbeat film. Only six speaking parts. Clive Owen excelled. Recommended.

Finding Neverland. (12/16/04). Sweet movie, highly recommended. Johnny Depp is moving away from the competition as lead actor of his generation.

Kinsey. (12/15/04). Very good performances from two leads in a movie limited mostly by its subject matter. Recommended but not a priority.

Ocean's Twelve. (12/11/04). Not as good as Eleven but plenty entertaining. Recommended.

Sideways. (11/28/04). As to be expected from the director of "About Schmidt," quirky, humorous, a little dark. Not in a hurry to see again, but a good movie. Strong recommendation.

After the Sunset. (11/16/04). Despite plenty of skin, beautiful location, A list stars, this is a weak heist movie. Not recommended, although I do not regret seeing it.

Ray. (10/31/04). Not as good as expected, 20 minutes too long. Good music. Recommended.

Friday Night Lights. (10/22/04). Odd what they're making movies about these days. Enjoyable sports movie and a look at Texas high school football. Recommended.

Ladder 49. (10/4/04). Viewed in an atrocious theater with a tiny screen. Slow pacing drove me crazy. Walked out. Not recommended.

Maria Full of Grace. (9/30/04). "Maria Full of Pellets" should be the title. Grisly, mildly compelling, plausible. Glad I saw it, so recommended.

Wimbleton. (9/27/04). More pleasant than expected. Recommended.

The Door in the Floor. (9/22/04). "Well acted, professionally made but the John Irving plot prohibits a positive recommendation. Memorable if you can endure it. Why?" (9/25/04). I'm changing this to a recommendation. Movie stays with you whether you want it to or not.

Cellular. (9/20/04). Not great but passable entertainment. Recommended but violent.

Control Room. (9/12/04). Very good documentary on Al Jazeera, the Arab television network, and its coverage of the Iraq war. Short. Highly recommended.

Hero. (9/8/04). Not quite up to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," but admirably close. Requires a big screen theatre for full enjoyment. Recommended.

Badass (How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass). (8/17/04). Admirable and entertaining story of Melvin Van Peeble's making of "Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song." A little uneven at first but finished well. Recommended.

Collateral. (8/10/04). Latest Tom Cruise thriller. Worked for me. Recommended. Agree with New Yorker that this is better film than two below.

The Manchurian Candidate. (8/5/04). Well-acted, but grisly plot makes unsatisfying overall. Not recommended.

The Bourne Supremacy. (7/23/04). Not as good as the first one, but it has its moments. Over-edited. Great locations. Strong recommendation.

I, Robot. (7/20/04). Good enough to recommend, barely. Enjoyed the female lead, Bridget Moynahan.

The Corporation. (7/14/04). Very little new material here to anyone who reads. Sophomoric. Walked out when blaming IBM's punch card machines for Holocaust. Not recommended.

The Day After Tomorrow. (7/13/04). Stupid plot, horrid script, bad acting, unforgettable special effects. Recommended.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. (7/10/04). The couple seated just in front woke me up when they walked out. I stayed till the end; this is the first Charlie Kaufman movie that ties into a neat knot. Still, it is not worthy of the actors or acting in it. Not recommended.

The Terminal. (7/9/04). Pleasant enough but a colossal waste of the talents of the writers, actors, and director.

Spider-Man 2. (7/06/04). Better than the first. Quite good, actually. Highly recommended.

What the Bleep Do We Know?! (7/02/04). Very unusual, non-main stream film centered on quantum physics and our perception of life and how we lead it. Mixture of philosophy and science. Excellent cinematography. Stars Marlee Matlin, who is lovely to look at throughout. 15 minutes too long. Highly recommended.

Fahrenheit 9/11. (6/29/04). Tuesday night, huge theatre, sold out crowd. Fun! Entertaining look at the dark side of W. and the motives behind the Iraq war. Not up to the quality of the best of the anti-Viet Nam stuff but plenty good for a new generation. Highly recommended.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. (6/15/04). Less literal than first two. Whatever. Recommended if you are a Potter fan.

Shrek 2. (6/12/04). Better than original. Recommended.

Man on Fire. (6/5/04). Denzel Washington vehicle. Started very well but too violent and way too long. Good shots of Mexico City. Not recommended.

Mean Girls. (6/4/04). Reviewers say this is the best of recent high school coming of age movies but I could barely sit through it. Not recommended.

Troy. (5/15/04). Badly cast, poorly acted, poor dialogue, well-paced, bloody, not sexy enough. Not recommended but not really bad.

Super Size Me. (5/13/04). Very entertaining and informative documentary even though it covers only 25% of "Fast Food Nation." Entirely original and fun to watch. Highly recommended.

Van Helsing. (5/12/04). At Seattle Cinerama. Best I can say is I did not walk out but it was close.

Good bye, Lenin! (5/10/04). Anyone for East Germany at the time the wall fell? Delightful, thoughtful, funny. Highly recommended.

Kitchen Stories. (5/6/04). Quirky Norwegian film about lonely old men. Amusing, slow. Memorable for its premise and setting but barely recommended.

Bobby Jones, Stoke of Genius. (5/6/04). If you are a golf fan, this beats reading his biography. Enjoyable for golfers.

The Human Stain. (4/17/04 Istanbul, Turkey). Not a great movie but now I am more of a Nicole Kidman fan. Interesting to watch in movie theatre with fully cloaked Moslem women. Not recommended.

The Ladykillers. (3/27/04). A few good belly laughs but self-indulgent, slowly paced and foul-mouthed. Not recommended.

Au hasard Balthazar. (3/22/04). Classic b+w French film about life of a donkey and the humans who control him. Unrelentingly bleak. Poorly acted except for donkey. Memorable.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. (3/17/04). Excellent documentary of psuedo coup of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in April, 2002. Memorable.

Starsky & Hutch. (3/13/04). Mindless and so light it is hardly worth reporting on. Just funny enough to recommend if you need to get out of the house.

How the West Was Won. (3/10/04). At Cinerama in Seattle. Even with 3 projector screen, the film is so dorky that it is a marginal experience. Not recommended.

The Station Agent. (3/3/04). Went to see because of nominations at SAG awards. Well deserved. Wonderful low budget film. Recommended.

The Barbarian Invasion. (3/1/04). Deserves Oscar for best foreign film awarded last night. Highly recommended.

Big Fish. (2/27/04). Never got off the ground for me. Not recommended.

The Same River Twice. (2/10/47). Documentary about naked river rats in Grand Canyon in late 70s, juxtaposed to their lives 20+ years later. Sort of a 28 up, 42 up approach. Problem is the universe of people updated is tiny (5). With more people cooperating, this might have been good. As is, it is boring. Not recommended.

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2/9/04). It's over at last. In this third episode, it finally mattered whether Frodo tossed the damn ring. Self-indulgent, 30 minutes too long but gripping. However, one more false ending and I would have walked. Recommended if rested.

Japanese Story. (2/2/04). Australian, set in desert mostly. Drags a bit, not quite enough there, but a noble attempt. Recommended.

Girl with a Pearl Earring. (1/26/04). Exquisite movie. Better be rested.

Along Came Polly. (1/24/04). Needed relief after Monster. Funny enough to recommend, no more.

Monster. (1/20/04). Like Boys Don't Cry, excellent performance by lead actress in a not enjoyable movie. After hype beforehand, felt like I was doing homework.

21 Grams. (1/11/04). Good movie. Sad. Sean Penn is good but the movie is not up to Mystic River. Over cut. Recommended.