2005 FILMS: The Best...
Post your "best of"s from 2005 films (in Oscar-type categories), proving that you're right and they're wrong.
/ /
posted by Cossack (AKA Izdatyel) at 12:28 AM
Friday, January 13, 2006
Links
News & Politics
Religiosity & Politics
Law & Media
Music & Film
------------------
Previous Posts
- Great "Orange Revolution" Pic: Kiev, Ukraine
- Sensory Crossover - Whoa! Dude, I Can Taste Jimi's...
- The United Order, Anarchy, and Quakers
- The View From Dostoevsky's Window
- Social Security: Part Deux
- Social Security Ain't The Sacred Cow Democrats and...
- Didja ever notice?
- Freedom & Gun Control... how do they balance?
- Who's a redneck? (Hey everybody, I 'm actually j...
- Best(s) of 2004 ???
Contributors
6 Comments:
All right, right off the bat I am going to eschew the standard "best of" categories and create a few of my own. To begin with, this year's winner of "Best Western" (not the hotel) and "Best Ensemble" goes to "Serenity," the feature film debut of writer-director Joss Whedon. Whedon is the creator of the cult TV shows "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel" and "Firefly." He is also currently in the middle of a pretty kick-ass run on the comic book "Astonishing X-Men."
Anywho, "Serenity" is a sequel of sorts to the above-mentioned series "Firefly," which ran for a mere 10 episodes on Fox back in 2002. The complete series was released to pretty strong sales on DVD however, which led to the opportunity of creating a feature film which capped off most of the dangling plot threads and long-running stories of the series.
The story is set in space, 500 years in the future, set in a galaxy governed by the Alliance of Planets (the descendant of the American and Chinese governments.) "But Jason," you're saying, "how the hell is this a western?" Well, that's the key twist. While the adventures take place in space, almost every one of the genre tropes comes from the classic western. It's "Cowboys in Space" basically. There's the Captain of the ship, a former General on the losing side of a civil war. There's the mercenary, the hooker, the sidekick, etc. They live out on the frontier of the Alliance, where government interference isn't as pronounced. The entire cast is fantastic, even though you've never heard of any of them: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin.
The plot of the movie involves two fugitives whom the crew of the ship "Serenity" have been hiding from the government. The whole show is fantastic and it was one of the few times where I was truly on the "edge of my seat" watching a movie. It has all that was good about the original "Star Wars" trilogy with none of the crap. I will devote a future post to a more direct comparison, but for right now, I recommend renting the series and then watching the movie. You won't be disappointed.
Dude, where did you find the translations from the Chinese? Or do you speak Chinese?
Uhh...huh huh...huh.
I'm not really qualified to participate in this discussion as I haven't seen any of those movies except "Cinderella Man."
I loved Cinderella Man. Unless I'm forgetting something, I think it's the best 2005 movie that I've seen. I was not expecting to like it much given that I'm not a big fan of Ron Howard movies or Russell Crowe. I fully expected it to be a sufficiently good, but formulaic, sports motivation movie. You know, like part VIII of the Hoosiers, Rocky IV, Rudy, Cool Runnings, Remember the Titans, The Rookie, & Miracle series. I've got to admit - I think it rises above that (except Rocky IV, of course), and I even like a couple of those movies. I definitely think its the best movie Ron Howard has made (it's better than "A Beautiful Mind" - and "Splash").
For no particular reason, most of my viewing time this year went into catching up on the explosion of quality TV series and cool documentaries.
I suppose we should start both a TV series and documentary thread.
I also enjoyed "Cinderella Man." I think Ron Howard is a uniformly strong director. I just don't think he has ever had a movie that rises to the level of true greatness. I think a few of his stronger works will still be watched years from now, like "Cinderalla Man," "Beautiful Mind," "Ransom," and "Splash." Probably "Apollo 13" too, although I've never seen it and therefore can't comment with any certainty. He's a good genre hopper too--Westerns, thrillers, comedies. I have to express my disappointment in the fact that he's directing "Da Vinci Code." It's too bad they didn't get somebody who could elevate an essentially pulpy page-turner of a novel into a great cinematic achievement, a la Coppola and "The Godfather." Who knows, maybe he'll pull it off, but based on his track record, it will probably just be "well done."
Gotta give some props to Howard though. Any guy who helps produce shows like "Arrested Development" and "24" has a permanent place in my heart.
Of course I consider lots of directors to be "great:" Spielberg, Hawks, Tarantino, etc. But, to give you an idea of where I stand in relation to Ron Howard, I think the director who provides the best basis for comparison is Rob Reiner. Like Howard, he is firmly in the mainstream. Like Howard, he hops from genre to genre. Like Howard, he's made his share of crap. Unlike Howard, however, Reiner has found much of his success by working with excellent, intelligent screenwriters. Christopher Guest on "Spinal Tap," William Goldman on "Princess Bride" and "Misery," Nora Ephron on "When Harry Met Sally" and Aaron Sorkin on "A Few Good Men." He's taken these screenplays and, with his craftsman's skill, has turned out some truly classic films. Howard, on the other hand, regularly works with Akiva Goldsman, the screenwriter of "Batman and Robin" and "Lost in Space," ensuring his films never rise to the upper tier of greatness.
As unthinkable as it is to me, I've only seen one movie in the last 6 months!! And, it was a J-Lo movie at that ("An Unfinished Life")! (Though, truth be told I actually enjoyed it... YIKES... in all fairness my wife took me ;)...) However, here are the top 5 movies I want to see:
1) Munich (though I've been told it is not what you'd expect)
2) Walk the Line
3) A History of Violence
4) Cinderella Man
5) Why We Fight (yes... even w/ its anti-American undertones :)...)
Post a Comment
<< Home