Movies

Movies I intend to see, without any particular order or bias:

Last Seen

Most recent at the top, not all deemed noteworthy here, although I tend to watch movies in weekend bursts these days whenever family duties allow. Ratings are subjective and personal.

Date	Movie	Rating	Notes
2010
Feb 27	Jumper (2008)		Watched it out of curiosity after reading the book, on which it is only loosely based on. Not worth the time, either.
Feb 21	Transformers (2007)		Crap. Fluid special FX crap, but seriously, not worth the time.
Feb 10	Avatar (2009)		I originally thought this would dive headfirst into some kind of “Elves meet Halo Wars” in terms of plot, alhtough “Pocahontas in Space” seemed a more appropriate moniker: What made it work for me was that even if you took out a couple of stars for clichés, the overall execution is very good – we’re long past the uncanny valley here.
Jan 24	Surrogates (2009)		Sort of makes sense, sort of doesn’t. Mostly predictable. Still, it’s watchable, even if a bit weird at times.
Jan 23	Moon (2009)		Pretty damn good plot – has a few loose ends, but apparently there’ll be a sequel.
2009
Dec 31	District 9 (2009)		Sublime.
Dec 29	Objectified (2009)		An odd mixture of brilliance and inspiration. Makes me wonder what I’ve been doing wrong all these years.
Dec 21	Helvetica (2007)		Inspiring, but somewhat stale. I would have liked it to have covered computing a bit more.
Dec 9	Watchmen (2009)		Gotta love alternate realities. Damn good movie.
Dec 5	The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)		Meh – the 1951 original was far better.
Dec 1	Iron Man (2008)		Pretty decent overall. Far better acting than in your average superhero movie – some well carried-out sequences in there, great FX.
Nov 29	X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)		The plot could be a bit more consistent, but that’s franchises for you. Not too bad if you like the style.
Nov 22	Marley and Me (2008)		Perhaps I’m getting soft in my old age. Still, it is well worth watching, not for the lead actors or cliché family bits, but for the way the dog’s presence manages to keep the whole story together without too much emphasis.
Nov 21	Igor (2008)		Not bad. Not brilliant, either – perhaps it’s the lack of “yesh, mashter” jokes.
Nov 15	Up (2009)		Lovely. Simply lovely, with a great mix of character development and a compelling argument.
Nov 14	Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)		Loads of in-jokes. Worth watching a couple of times to pick up on the amazing detail and subtle hints.
Nov 8	Coraline (2009)		brilliant. Not a perfect match with the graphic novel, but an improvement upon it, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Nov 2	Star Trek (2009)		Too predictable. Nice SFX, sure to have a bunch of sequels now that they can do whatever they want with the plot lines and have fresh faces for the characters.
Pre-2009
Previously	Ratatouille (2007)		Pixar keep surpassing themselves. The expressiveness and realism of the characters is amazing – rats never looked this good.
	Over The Hedge (2006)		Kids will love the talking animals (and it has some funny sequences), but it isn’t quite as amazing as Cars.
	Cars (2006)		Utterly, utterly brilliant. Besides pushing the tech even further (the particle simulations for dust are amazingly believable), the sheer amount of detail is astounding. The car stickers, the audience doing the “wave” with their headlights, the landscapes, the little car-shaped insects (loved the Beetle), even the cameos at the end make you want to grab the DVD as soon as it’s out and watch it again and again.
	V for Vendetta (2005)		Hugo Weaving proves he can out-act anyone without even showing his face. Engrossing, oddly fascinating in some bits.
	Ultraviolet (2006)		The character and plot depth of a saucer. Interesting aesthetics, though – loads of eye candy in some segments, even if there were some pretty weak attempts at emulating some sequences from the Matrix.
	X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)		Woverine cries “NOOOOOO!” again. I know I nearly did, halfway through. Nice eye-candy, but no character depth to speak of and a rushed ending.
	Aeon Flux (2005)		The overall aesthetics of the thing deserve another viewing. The plot is a bit dull but has some nice twists, and I have no idea how true it is to the comics (my guess is not much, considering the ending).
	Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)		a competent sequel, wherein we find that Pixar isn’t the only one able to deliver believable and expressive characters. Good fun, quite a few good jokes, and lots of subtle homages to previous movies.
	The Chronicles of Narnia (2005)		kids have all the fun. Glorious, even if you’ve read the books.
	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)		a much darker, entertaining Potter with some interesting visuals.
	Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)		Lots of fun. The Madagascar psychotic penguins’ short that precedes it is hilarious, and deserves mention.
	Serenity (2005)		Although the “cowboys in space” approach seemed utterly stupid at first, it is an excellent way to bring closure to Firefly (which I watched beforehand), and a genuinely inspiring film on its own. Recommended.
	HH2G (2005)		Mostly harmless to my vision of the book.
	Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (2005)		Brilliant imagery, lots of fun.
	Fantastic Four (2005)		So-So, I guess. Okay, anything is better than Spiderman 2.
	Millions (2004)		inspiring and fun, only spoiled by a rather tacky ending.
	Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005)		Marital counseling and ordnance. Utter crap with a couple of moderately fun gags thrown in.
	Sin City (2005)		Not that hot. I guess you need to be a fan of the comic.
	War Of The Worlds (2005)		The story of a perfectly ordinary man that traipses around the U.S. hiding in basements and narrowly avoiding being blown up, crushed or turned into fertilizer. Aliens are somehow involved, and guess what – E.T. ain’t that friendly anymore.
	Madagascar (2005)		cute but plasticky and lacking in character depth (even for a cartoon). The penguins take away the show.
	Batman Begins (2005)		the first Batman that felt solid.
	Revenge of the Sith (2005)		28 years of cult Sci-Fi let down by some of the stiffest acting ever (even without a mask). Nice GFX, though.
	Million Dollar Baby (2004)		Clint churns out another stirring story about ordinary people.
	Ray (2004)		Good acting, great soundtrack, very inspiring.
	The Aviator (2004)		Grandiose, full of glamour, but oddly lacking in depth.
	The Recruit (2003)		Fun, but not memorable.
	The Terminal (2004)		Tom Hanks lost in the middle of somewhere without palm trees.
	Blueberry (2004)		Strange, but oddly riveting.
	Collateral (2004)		Well-paced, with a couple of nice twists.
	The Incredibles (2004)		Wow. The first computer animated movie that made me forget I was looking at RenderMan output.
	Bridget Jones – The Edge Of Reason (2004)		the book was a far better sequel, but there’s something about seeing Colin Firth portray the perenially embarassed Englishman that carries the story forward. Jolly good fun despite rather conspicuous product placement and a little repetition.
	Shark Tale (2004)		It’s a cartoon. So what if one of the sharks behaves a little fishy? Welcome to the 21st century.
	Sky Captain and The World Of Tomorrow (2004)		Faux futures, a luxury we don’t really have anymore. A glorious visual voyage through a world some of us grew up missing. And quite a few references to the genre (like door number 1138 , the female android a la Metropolis , etc.). Blue screens never looked better.
	The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)		I can’t even remember Pitch Black, but it left a better impression. Thin plot and saucer-like character depth spoiled exotic vistas and interesting scenic approaches (although some of it was in rather bad taste).
	New York Minute (2004)		I had to see for myself how bad it was.
	Stepford Wives (2004)		Plastic. I’m told the original was much better.
	Alien vs Predator (2004)		Clichés galore. Expect a sequel soon.
	Immortel (2004)		Bilal. Brilliant. Need I say more?
	Kill Bill 2 (2004)		never keep a snake in a trailer.
	Spiderman 2 (2004)		Why the hell not, even if it was a cliché?
	Catwoman (2004)		Crap. I don’t care how hot she looked in that leather harness.
	Starsky&Hutch (2004)		Yes, I know movies can also make you think. This is not the case.
	Hellboy (2004)		Tongue-in-cheek dialogue, fun. Not earth-shattering, but probably better than Spiderman 2.
	Shrek 2 (2004)		As long as Eddie Murphy keeps being an ass, I’m sold. Full of hilarious movie puns (like the Indiana Jones last-second hat-grab). Five stars.

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