Finding Nemo: One of the first Pixar films I saw once I actually had a child...it's a great film...that may be actually a little too long in the end...but also very simple now looking back and seeing what Pixar has done since.
Big Fish: a Tim Burton film that strays a bit away from his "expected" films...it's not dark and goth and sad looking...this is a fun romp of tall tales and a torn relationship...it's refreshing and I can see watching this one for years to come
Elephant: I love these Gus Van Sant films...the ones that go under the radar, go to Cannes and I have no real idea what they are about...and then BOOM...it's a film that will make my list for best "Nap Time Films"...it is slow and you are hypnotized (or fall asleep) by the lazy day pace...then Blamo...stuff happens...I will not say what happens...but Gus is Great
Elf: Probably my favorite Will Ferrell character except for Frank the Tank...see later film...fun, has a great sense of itself...like an old school Christmas family film brought into a new generation...the end is predictable and not as great as the first 2/3rds...but it is solid
Old School: The Frat Pack starts here?...what a great beginning to a string of wannabe films..the team of actors is great ...too bad Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson have not made a better film since (maybe Idiocracy)
X2: Could have won...it's a great film...with so many things happening and so many characters and plot movements that it winds up hurting it in the end...these films for me have not lasted with the years...although better then Iron Man and other superhero films...I thought I would have thought more fondly of this film with the years behind it...but I don't...I could not even tell you what it's about...I remember the characters...but all I wanted to see was more Wolverine and less bald guy sitting in a wheel chair thinking real hard.
Only 2 films left as the best of the Year:
Kill Bill Vol 1: Please don't make a KBV3...I want this to be the end and have Tarantino go on to other things...to me before Inglorious Basterds I could 98% say that the Kill Bill films are the best of Tarantino...I love Pulp Fiction and the others...but this is glorious and hard to just separate the two films...this one is a bit faster then the Vol 2...but the juxtaposition of the 2 are amazing...and this one sets up the second perfectly...a revenge film of epic proportions...Tarantino is a master.
The Winner is:
The end is the best...the three years, one after the other was a great experience...there is possibly no way to recreate the experience...unless The Hobbit can repeat this...I had no idea about anything of the Lord of the Rings before I went into the theater in 2001 to see Fellowship...like nothing...I went with a friend who said I had to see it...I literally knew nothing...since then I have seen these films many many times...the extended cuts are the only way for me to see them...and yes it takes close to 11 hours to see it all in a row...once I walked out of the theater I was hooked...I read the books and bought the toys and love the story of JRR TOLKIEN...so I picked the last one because the action is best...it ends the film story...Viggo is kick ass and it is the Best film of 2003...Clues for 2004?...Well the winner certainly is not about Easter...
Great stuff! I knew you'd pick Return of the King. I gotta say the LOTR movies were phenominal! I remember sitting in the theatre as the credits rolled on the final installment and saying to my dad, "what are we gonna do next year?" It was painful when the ended, left a giant void for me which I could only fill with liquor, hard drugs, and whores.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the Ewan McGregor film. Can't remember exactly what happened, just that it was about love and an old man that I always think was daddy warbucks. Get one of your interns to fact check that.
I'll tell you another secret, since I maintain a certain level of autonomy...I found Finding Nemo to be creepy and uncomfortable to watch. You know if it was recast with human characters instead of CGI fish, that little fin would've been one of those shriveled up little arms. Icky. It would not have been so cute. In fact, it probably would've been a horror movie. Yeah, that was offensive, but SMoC is like an episode of Degrassi...I go there!
Welcome back, Vinny!