Movies 2008: What I can reconstruct

I must have seen more than 15 movies in 2008, but this is all I wrote down, so this shall be the formal record.


The Incredible Hulk (2008)
This was ok. I can handle this.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The dumb to cool ratio of this movie was way off. Also, Harrison Ford is old. Listen, Indy doesn't need to have a kid. Indy is always young and vital and committing improbable archaeology. I don't need stories about Indiana Jones in any other time period.

Raiders of the Lost Ark
This movie has been incorrectly renamed.

Hancock
What is this, the third time I've seen this? This movie doesn't bear repeated viewing.

Fearless (2006)
Maybe... maybe a little preachy? A little obvious? but so well done, I feel bad even bringing that up. Superb choreography and fight scenes, and a comeback for Jet Li who's made some gawdawful movies.

Charlie Wilson's War
It's interesting to watch how the filmmakers try to get you to root for a bastard. I didn't quite fall under the spell.... I blame the pacifistic and social justice imprint that the Mennonites are leaving on me.

Gone Baby Gone
Super movie. Loved it. Didn't believe that I would -- Where are the ray guns? The smart alec robots? -- but this movie was just fantastic.

Dickie Roberts Former Child Star
David Spade is funny, but that guy sure can be in some awful movies.

Casino Royale
I liked this ok, but this Bond is thuggish, not suave, which seems untrue to the character.

The Dark Knight
Lots to like here. Lots and lots. I particularly appreciated that nihilism was made compelling, but ultimately refuted. On playing the Joker: Jack Nicholson was great, but every time he was on screen, he was "Jack Nicholson as the Joker." Heath Ledger disappeared into his Joker. I was afraid and unnerved watching him.

Rome (HBO series)
We liked this pretty well, but WOW did this series move through history at an amazing clip. I was talking to M, dredging up my ancient Roman history from high school Latin class, saying things like, "Brutus turns on Caesar, but I thought that was much later. That should be, like..." and right then, on screen, Brutus is stabbing the guy.

also, though I really enjoyed the life and times of the centurion and his sidekick, their imposition into so many meaningful events felt forced. Cool to have the POV characters around at big moments, but it broke my suspension of disbelief when they were so present.

Minor complaint. Overall enjoyable, and good historical presentation.

Clash of the Titans
If you haven't seen this movie since you were a kid, don't go back now! Don't! Just remember the Harryhausen effects fondly and don't look back.

W.
Kind of a lightweight movie, one that didn't leave me with a sense that Oliver Stone was trying to make a point.

Lost (season 3)
M and I were yelling at the TV during the whole season, and we weren't yelling nice things. Everybody told us that this season of Lost picks up in the second half, but after 20-odd episodes, we were left wondering if there was some second half we had yet to see.

The Brothers Grimm
I always like what Terry Gilliam is trying to do more than I like what he actually pulls off in his movies. He seems to have more going on than he's explained to his audience, which doesn't feel tantalizing, it feels like someone made him edit out the explanation for time purposes, leading to a movie where it seems like characters explained their actions and demonstrated their motives just off-screen.

Movie: Bulletproof Monk

Bulletproof Monk
(official site | imbd)

This is the sort of aggressively dumb movie that makes you lose respect for its leads, specifically Chow Yun-Fat. Seann William Scott and Jaime King were sort of expected to be bad.

I hope that Michael Yanover and Michael Avon Oeming at least got decent-sized checks for their creation.

Conservative blacklisting in Hollywood

I found this on a friend-of-a-friend's blog. Comedian Orson Bean talks about being blacklisted.

But the piece doesn't go where you think it's going. It starts talking about being branded for associating with communists, and ends up being branded for associating with conservatives.

He makes a damn good point about the bowdlerization of democracy in California:

What’s going on in the streets these days is nothing less than a war on democracy itself. Both sides fought hard to win that vote. The anti Prop .8 side out-spent the other side and mustered every celebrity they could find to make their case. They fought long and hard… and they lost. And now they riot and attack and sling mud and black-list to protest the outcome of an honest election, the results of which they call “the tyranny of the majority”. What?!

Ever since the passing of Prop 8, I've listened quietly to my more liberal friends discuss their opinions and agendas. What I haven't heard anyone say (before now), is that California held a big damn election, and the mediagenic side lost.

Yet somehow, in this democracy we enjoy, this majority's voice is not considered acceptable. The kind of people who suffered under blacklisting in the front half of the 20th century, appear to have no qualms with now turning that wicked laser on their opponents.

Just because a lot of people believe something doesn't make it right. (This is so obvious that I'm only saying it to head off foolish arguments.) But when a lot of people believe something, you'd damn well better pay attention, and respect it.

It's easy and fun to mock the conservative, traditional chunk of the American electorate. But it's also cruel and stupid. In the state where most of the liberal, progressive legislation in the U.S. is born, people voted decisively for Prop 8. You don't have to like it. But you'd best treat it like it matters -- like those voters matter.

New president, live and in person

M and I took the train down to DC for the inauguration today. We didn't have an invitation or anything, we just went.


That was a lot of humanity.

We're back now, but it's late and I'm tired. Stories tomorrow.

Office trend alert

On time is the new early.

Movies on parade, 2009

I watched a bunch of movies in 2008, but I forgot to write them all down, and I didn't even do a one-sentence review of some that I did. I'll still probably post my regular start of the year super-review later in the month, but don't hit F5 waiting for it.

Now, differently: In 2009, as a means to post more regularly, I've decided to split my movie reviews throughout the year. CHEENYUS! I've put up a couple already. So enjoy that whydontcha.

Movie: Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia
(official site, imdb listing)

At times nonsensical,
but sufficiently whimsical.

Movie: Better Luck Tomorrow

Better Luck Tomorrow
(official site, imdb listing)

When a movie flashes its festival credentials, it means the flick is compelling, but probably has an ugly side they're trying to point toward the wall.

BLT has:

• predictable first and second acts.
• lots of fancy-dan camera tricks, which I enjoyed, but could have done with less of.
• Karin Anna Cheung, who is lovely to look at.
• a poor ending, but not a godawful one.