Movies 2005, Part 3 of 5

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
I give it 3 stars. Well done, lads.

Star Wars: Return of the Sith
Okay, but not great. High praise indeed for one of the new Star Wars movies!

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Saw it again with the girlfriend and Jon & Alison. Still pretty good.

GATTACA
Pretty good. I kinda wish Uma Thurman had a part besides Woman To Have Sex With. She’s a decent actor, but she’s not all that hot. And Jude Law incinerating himself was a stupid way to tie up that character. “Should we have him grow? Nah. Let’s have him get serious about suicide. He’s finally brave enough to get his fondest wish!” That’s a dismal, untrue character arc.

But gripes aside, pretty good.

Sin City
I had a good time at this flick. It seemed as if Rosario Dawson really got her part. She was not quite chewing on scenery, but nibbling it, beautifully. The other actors around her didn’t seem to be projecting how larger-than-life, how borderline unreal their story was. She did completely. This movie also effectively prevented me from typecasting Elijah Wood as a hobbit, because he was capital KRE creepy.

Kung Fu Hustle
I would like to see more movies like this every day.

House of Flying Daggers
Wow! I sure didn’t see any of those twists coming even though I guess I could have! I didn’t!

Team America World Police
Heh.

Mad Hot Ballroom
Saw it again with the girlfriend’s parents and sister when they came to visit. It’s still good.

Howl’s Moving Castle
I actually saw this movie twice this year, but I can’t remember when the second one was, so screw the chronological listing. A good movie, but not as good as some of Miyazaki’s others. My friend Paul liked it because it was ambiguous. It’s hard to know whether that ambiguity was intentional, but I like Paul’s generous interpretation, so let’s go with it.

The Crow
I remembered this being a mediocre movie, but on second viewing, it turns out to be quite bad.

X2: X-Men United
Which is a funny title, since they spent most of the movie split up.

City of God
Really very good. Great.

Escape From New York
The premise is fascinating. I remembered it being good from my childhood, but it’s actually not.

Last Life in the Universe
The slowest fucking movie I have ever tried to endure. Not bad, but I wouldn’t watch it again without money or life on the line.

The Untouchables
More boring and lame and Hollywood than I would have predicted.