Viewing Log: Films Seen In 2006

Submitted by grandpa_chum on Tue, 01/03/2006 - 06:49
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  1. January

  2. 73 To Die For(1995)(Jan1)
  3. 97 Dawn Of The Dead(1978)(Jan1)
  4. 91 *The Passenger(1975)(Jan2)
  5. 78 Slackers(2002)(Jan3)
  6. 89 Say Anything(1989)(Jan4)
  7. 69 Naked In New York(1993)(Jan5)
  8. 98 Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia(1974)(Jan5)
  9. 70 Since You've Been Gone(1998)TVmovie(Jan6)
  10. 100 Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia(1974)(Jan6)
  11. 100 Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia(1974)(Jan6)
  12. This is most definitely the darkest film ever made and it shouldn't go without saying that it's got a lot in common with my favorite book, moby dick, one of the darkest ever written. Warren Oates has maybe the best performance I've ever witnessed. He plays a man that falls in love with a whore, ruins her, rises from the grave, goes mad with obsession over a head, talks to a rotting head in a bloody bag, asks it questions, kills at least a dozen men and succeeds willing each death with his desperation, makes a choice and never turns back, and goes has no escape from life. I have to agree with the gentlemen who did the commentary on the dvd, benny grieves much longer than any other character in cinema. Usually the hero grieves for a moment, declares his method of revenge and goes on with it. Benny, however, slowly and painfully slips into hatred and aggression towards the obsession that ruined what little life he had left and is willed into deadly action by his desperation. This film has the essential no way out theme, there is no point in the movie for a good hour leading up to it's finale that the viewer can think to themselves "why doesn't he just (blank) and get away", there simply is no choice to be made but his decline into absolute despair. Peckinpah shooting a tragedy in the 'real' unpolished Mexico, smoking barrels, whole families blown away, buried alive, rising from the grave, no way out, and a whole lot of the darkest comedy you will ever see. The scenes in the graveyard, where everything that sets the second half of the film up happens, is so good and so daunting that I thought it couldn't possibly get any better than this, this has to be the bread and butter of the film. Benny is ambushed and left for dead half-buried alive and what directly follows is some of the most disturbing stuff I've ever seen. Well what follows the most-disturbing stuff is a no-way-out rambling road trip into despair that darkly mocks a 70's buddy movie(remember he talks to the rotting fly-ridden head in the bloody bag). Every second from the graveyard on is gripping, dark, funny, disturbing, and wholly expected at the same time. No one could have done such an anti-hollywood dirty, dark, and depressing film better than Peckinpah, and no one has since nor probably ever will.
  13. 97 The Long Goodbye(1973)(Jan6)
  14. The Fly(1986)(Jan7)
  15. 92 Blow Out(1981)(Jan7)
  16. 92 *Munich(2005)(Jan7)
  17. This movie automatically gets my praise for the detail and brilliance in which the violence was crafted. It goes in the elite group along with Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia and Violent City as one of only three films that made me feel every gunshot, every death made me cringe. I loved it. I was skeptical this would be a film in which one side is portrayed as good and the other evil. I applaud Spielberg for making a film on such an emotional topic in which both sides are wrong or right, depending on how you look at it, but the same, equals nonetheless. Surprisingly it suggests that the Israeli's were just as much to blame for the killing and violence as the Palestinians. Even the Munich murders of the olympic team seemed to partly be a choice made by the Israeli's. Now I know nothing on the subject but what I saw on the screen, but it looked as if the Israeli government decided to attack instead of negotiate, and ultimately got what remained of the olympic team killed in the process. The brilliance of this film is in it's neutral message. At one point in the film(my favorite point) a group of assassins working for the Israelis and a group of assassins working for the Palestinians are forced to share a safehouse given to each of them by a nuetral informant(the Israelis were there first). Halfway through the night two of the men start to bicker over which radio station they will listen to during the night. After some chest pounding and machismo the men agree to listen to Al Green on a third station. Guess what the song is... Let's Stay Together.
  18. 80 Trial & Error(1997)(Jan8)
  19. Funny as hell, Michael Richards made me laugh out loud ever 5 minutes or so.
  20. 97 Scarface(1983)(Jan8)
  21. 87 Cool Hand Luke(1967)(Jan8)
  22. 92 Blow Out(1981)(Jan9)
  23. 84 Eulogy(2004)(Jan9)
  24. One Night At McCools(2001)(Jan10)
  25. 70 Moving(1988)(Jan11)
  26. 95 Death Rides A Horse(1968)(Jan11)
  27. 84 ?Quien Sabe?(1967)(Jan12)
  28. 78 Blank Check(1994)(Jan13)
  29. Might be nostalgia, but I love this movie. Definitely the best of the 90's kid capers and probably rated by me higher than it should be, but surprisingly I still really enjoyed it 10 years after seeing it a billion times as a kid.
  30. 82 *King Kong(2005)(Jan13)
  31. I have to admit I did not expect this film to be as good as it was, because of my hatred of the way Peter Jackson goes about making what he calls a film(LOTR looked more like a bad video game) and the fact that I don't much care for the original(and only slightly enjoy the '75 remake). That being said, minus the ann darrow/ape love story this might have been one of the best films I've ever seen. Everything else is done so well, if Ann had died on Skull Island or somewhere along the way and the battle scenes between kong and other beasts had been a tad shorter this could have been on my top 10 list of all time. Everything dealing with Carl Denham is perfect. If only this could have been a movie about a producer on the run from the law going to an undiscovered island with beasts and creepy crawlies with a small crew to obsessively capture history, a boat captain and a stuck up hollywood actor becoming a real hero and saving the day, a playwrite turned knight in shining armour, tragedy, not between woman and beast but between Denham and his film, redemption in bringing the ape back in chains and the irony and poetic justice of it breaking free and running amok in New York City. I should have known that all the shit most people hate about this film is the only stuff I love. And boy is it grand. Unfortunately every other half an hour I have to dredge through 20 minutes of ridiculous romanticism and a love story between a woman and an ape. It brings the film down so much. It quickly goes from a sans love story 2 hour masterpiece into a 3 hour mess where an ape spins around on an ice rink and a woman survives a thousand near death experiences all in the name of love. I'm convinced love(especially between unlikely lovers) is the worst place for romanticism. Romanticism works for everything else, but love is the one subject that I demand realism. Give me the over the top characters, the one-eyed seaman chef, the obsessed movie producer, but don't give me the over the top love story between a woman and an ape. The heartbreaking love story does nothing for me, Kong battling three carnivorous dinosaurs does nothing for me, Ann Darrow surving the whole ordeal does nothing for me, the playwrite barrelling through the streets in reverse for no apparent reason does nothing for me. But Carl Denham's(Jack Black deserves some sort of recognition come award time even though he won't get it) journey and recklessness, Bruce Baxter turning into a bit of a real-life hero, Jack's story coming true before his eyes, the creepy island natives, the death, the destruction, the discovery of Skull Island caught on Carl's film, Now that is what I loved about this film. It sickens me how much I heard about how much of a drag the first hour of the film was. It was the best part. The only part without the Kong love story. Unfortunately that changed quickly. If I had to rate the Carl Denham/Skull Island discovery/Shipmates/Adventure aspect of the film I'd give it a 100. On the other hand, if I had to rate the Kong and Darrow interactions and love story I'd give it a big fat Zero, luckily for me the Ann Darrow love story didn't occupy quite as much of the film as I expected. Like the kid says about Hearts Of Darkness "It's not just an adventure story", well, in this case, I wish it were.
  32. 88 The Fog(1980)(Jan13)
  33. 97 Day Of The Dead(1985)(Jan14)
  34. 80 The Iron Giant(1999)(Jan14)
  35. My Blue Heaven(1999)(Jan15)
  36. 96 Paths Of Glory(1999)(Jan16)
  37. 75 Rolling Kansas(2003)(Jan16)
  38. 91 Shaun Of The Dead(2004)(Jan17)
  39. The Magnificent Seven(1960)(Jan18)
  40. 88 Clerks(1994)(Jan19)
  41. 84 *Brokeback Mountain(2005)(Jan20)
  42. WOW, it's been so hard for me to admit that I really enjoyed both Brokeback Mountain and King Kong in the same week, despite two of the worst plot devices EVER used, gay cowboy sex and Giant Gorilla Love... I could not have been more impressed by everything not including those two things in either movie... fuller better review coming
  43. 97 Carlito's Way(1993)(Jan24)
  44. Slightly better than Scarface, but not noticebly
  45. 95 Raging Bull(1980)(Jan25)
  46. 96 The Color Of Money(1986)(Jan26)
  47. 91 A Goofy Movie(1995)(Jan26)
  48. 87 *Match Point(2005)(Jan27)
  49. Unlike most people, including woody fans, I thought Match Point was only slightly better than Melinda and Melinda. Which I, unlike just about everyone, thought was a great film. So they are both great films. I have to say I was braced to be completely dissapointed up until the end of this film. It's one of those perfect, grand, half-unexpected endings that just makes the whole thing work, even if it didn't before. And like most of those perfect endings, it's not even the ending itself, just the way it is done. All the comedy is packed into the final 5 minutes and it is all done perfectly and ties the whole thing together with ease. It took the movie from alright to great in 5 minutes flat. I still can't tell if Rhys-Meyers and Johansson are both horrible actors, or simply have NO chemistry. Or maybe just one of them is horrible and the other not spectacular enough to pick up the slack(I really have no idea which would fit where), but something is horribly wrong with the two of them in this film. Most of the problems with the acting occur when they are together in a scene, but there are a few other moments that left me uneasy. Matthew Goode and Emily Mortimer on the other hand(playing the rich brother and sister and lovers to the main characters), gave fantastic, natural performances. Goode especially awed me with the little touchs he put on his character. He obviously will get no recognition because it was such a small part by such a small man in the business, but he definitely deserves it. He was flawless. All in all a great film, and if you feel uninterested half way through, as I did, stick it out. It's worth it.

  52. February

  53. 97 Grizzly Man(2005)(Feb3)
  54. 97 Grizzly Man(2005)(Feb3)
  55. 95 Play It Again, Sam(1972)(Feb5)
  56. 80 A Mighty Wind(2003)(Feb7)
  57. The Christopher Guest movie with the most heart, and still funny as hell. Eugene Levy's character, mitch, was so well set up I was nearly crying when they sang that 'kiss at the end of the rainbow' song. All the members of all the other groups hurrying to the stage to witness the beauty of the moment. That last song before the title song was all done brilliantly. The rest of the movie was damn hilarious though, and Bob Balaban has a bigger part this time around, thank god.
  58. 0 Phone Booth(2002)(Feb8)
  59. I am utterly disgusted by all the praise this movie gets. It just shows you how dumb people have gotten and how tolerant they are of horribly directing and ridiculous dialogue. I will give it some credit, the story is well written and the acting isn't bad. But the dialogue and directing is some of the worst you will ever see. Which in my book puts it pretty close to one of the worst movies I've ever seen
  60. 0 The Fifth Element(1997)(Feb8)
  61. scratch that, this is the worst film I've ever seen... I've seen chuck norris movies that made more sense.
  62. 72 Wedding Crashers(2005)(Feb8)
  63. Amazingly better than I expected... this was really canned, and for what it was(a date comedy with owen wilson and vince vaughn crashing weddings for ass) it was perfect. Reminded me a lot of Starsky and Hutch in that manner, neither could be made any better without losing the mainstream touch and the box office numbers. Now it wasn't a great movie, but it was a great mainstream box office hit... Will Ferrell cameo near the end and the whole thing with Chaz I thought was brilliant and very funny. The movie is pretty funny but it doesn't get too ridiculous(ahem dodgeball), and it also has a heart but it doesn't get sappy or too ridiculous. The cast is perfect all around, I had a good dozen laughs, and I felt for a few of the characters. More than I could have asked for from a movie called wedding crashers.
  64. 97 Dr. Strangelove(1964)(Feb10)
  65. 96 Sudden Impact(1983)(Feb10)
  66. 88 Living In Oblivion(1995)(Feb11)
  67. 97 The Wild Bunch(1969)(Feb12)
  68. 97 The Wild Bunch(1969)(Feb12)
  69. 100 Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid(1973)(Feb13)
  70. 100 Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid(1973)(Feb13)
  71. The Ballad Of Cable Hogue(1970)(Feb13)
  72. 99 Ride The High Country(1970)(Feb14)
  73. 97 The Wild Bunch(1969)(Feb14)
  74. 67 *The Pink Panther(2006)(Feb14)
  75. 88 The Fog(1980)(Feb15)
  76. 97 The Wild Bunch(1969)(Feb15)
  77. I can't get enough of it.
  78. The Ballad Of Cable Hogue(1970)(Feb15)
  79. 99 Ride The High Country(1962)(Feb16)
  80. 100 Once Upon A Time In The West(1968)(Feb16)
  81. *Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt(2004)(Feb26)

  84. March

  85. Life Of Brian(1979)(Mar13)
  86. 91 Shaun Of The Dead(2004)(Mar13)
  87. 89 King Of New York(1990)(Mar14)
  88. 94 Million Dollar Baby(2004)(Mar14)
  89. 88 Run Man Run(1968)(Mar15)
  90. 94 Jackie Brown(1997)(Mar15)
  91. 94 Million Dollar Baby(2004)(Mar16)
  92. 97 Dr. Strangelove(1964)(Mar17)
  93. 79 16 Blocks(2006)(Mar18)
  94. 83 An American Werewolf In London(1981)(Mar18)
  95. 100 Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid(1973)(Mar19)
  96. 100 Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid(1973)(Mar19)
  97. 100 Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid(1973)(Mar20)
  98. 99 The Wild Bunch(1969)(Feb20)
  99. 100 Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid(1973)(Mar21)
  100. 100 Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid(1973)(Mar21)
  101. 87 Junior Bonner(1972)(Mar23)
  102. 84 Dumb And Dumber(1994)(Mar24)
  103. 90 The Devil's Rejects(2005)(Mar25)
  104. 87 Junior Bonner(1972)(Mar25)
  105. 88 Straw Dogs(1971)(Mar27)
  106. 79 Scary Movie 3(2003)(Mar27)
  107. 71 Orgazmo(1997)(Mar28)
  108. 87 Hard To Kill(1990)(Mar29)
  109. 87 *Slither(2006)(Mar31)
  110. This is a great fucking film(I had to say it, in the spirit of the film). It's the epitome of a modern old-school horror film. It's definitely no shitty modern horror movie like The Ring or anything of that nature. If you've ever liked an old-school monster movie you must see this film. It's like a mix between The Blob, Dawn Of The Dead(the old one), and The Toxic Avenger. If you are like me that sounds like heaven, and it was. It was horrific, dark, and funny. Obviously it's one of those films that gets progressively funnier the dumber you are, but even for someone who considers himself at least of average intelligence it was genuinely funny(I didn't laugh half as much as the hicks in the back but). One big surprise about this film was the wonderful darkness of the situation, which is a rarity even in horror films today. So many apocalyptic movies end with deathcounts under a dozen. This isn't one of those, there are horrific deaths, flesh eating, gag deaths, old-school done with fake blood type gore, main characters drop like flies, even terrifying deaths of small children are shown, all in the spirit of a 70's style zombie movie. Sure there are some corny talk of all the monsters being one with each other and global annihilation, but for the most part it's isolated to a small town of people and there are no FBI or secret agent types to be seen, which is refreshing. I was a bit weary near the end that
    Spoiler: Highlight to view
    everyone was going to go back to normal, even the infected, but luckily that didn't happen. Thousands did die
    . There were only two problems I had with this movie, number one some of the main characters figure out not to let the things in their mouth, considering the ultra-low cut nature of the main characters jeans I would have to guess an ass entry would not be too hard and I'm no parasite expert but wouldn't the ass be just as good as the mouth, I mean the king monster is shot into the stomach of the first victim and it swims up to the brain, couldn't one just swim up one of their asses and be done with it. Second there is a scene where an infected dear darts in front of the camera(as a flash) and there is a huge thump sound which the character in danger does not hear. I despise these types of shots, sound effects neither part of the music, nor heard by the character 10 feet away, used only for audience reaction should be banned from filmmaking. Other than that a fantastic movie. I was surprised by how much I liked Nathan Fillion considering the trailers made his lines seem straight out of Serenity(of which I am a superhater).
  111. 84 Dumb And Dumber(1972)(Mar31)

  114. April

  115. 97 Casualties Of War(1989)(Apr1)
  116. 97 Casualties Of War(1989)(Apr2)
  117. 98 Keoma(1976)(Apr3)
  118. Shaolin: Blood Mission(1984)(Apr3)
  119. 90 Loaded Weapon 1(1993)(Apr4)
  120. 94 Loaded Weapon 1(1993)(Apr4)
  121. 0 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle(2003)(Apr6)
  122. 94 Fargo(1996)(Apr6)
  123. 87 Hostage(2005)(Apr7)
  124. 88 Sister Street Fighter(1974)(Apr9)
  125. 86 Bull Durham(1988)(Apr9)
  126. 87 *The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada(2005)(Apr10)
  127. 90 Assault On Precinct 13(1976)(Apr11)
  128. 98 Keoma(1976)(Apr12)
  129. 90 Assault On Precinct 13(1976)(Apr14)
  130. 15 The Thin Red Line(1976)(Apr15)
  131. By far the WORST dialogue I've of any movie I've EVER seen. It's pretty bad when the introspective voice overs of soldiers at war even sound forced, you have to try pretty hard to go over the top with those. This movie is everything I've ever hated about anti-war movies with none of the things I love about them. The flashbacks and fantasies of 'back home' are horrendous, there is actually a scene where the wife of one of the soldiers is on a swing laughing and smiling with green grass all around her. The only plot in the whole movie is that Jim Caviezal believes in a greater meaning, Sean Penn does not, and that a few of the soldiers once had sex with women. A soldier even gets a letter from his wife asking for a divorce so she can marry someone else, isn't that something you wait until after the war to bring up? The whole movie was horrendous, filled with cliches, great actors spewing out the shittiest dialogue known to man, entire battles consisting of smokey explosions with stunt men flying off screen. Whenever Americans were killed in action they were either blown up or shot down from a distance. Japanese men, on the other hand, were always either stabbed directly by Americans on screen or shot while screaming and unarmed. Now I've always hated when people say this, but if there was ever a movie that was unamerican, this is it. Half the movie is Japanese soldiers screaming in pain while American soldiers shove cigarettes up their nose to cover the smell of dead Japanese soldiers. Every line of dialogue was a direct explanation of how the character was supposed to be portrayed: "I don't care about anything" or "I've never been this scared in my life" or "I guess I ain't like you yet" or some other stupid shit that has nothing to do with anything. Nothing is shown, everything is told. It was an exposition cakewalk. The only character even slightly developed, or played out I should say, was Woody Harrelson's, but he's only in the movie for about 20 minutes. Other than him and Nick Nolte's character, every other actor wore his "scared shitless" face for the entire movie. This was a 3 hour movie where nothing happened. It was a bloodless, plotless, poorly written, characterless, actor-filled, piece of shit where every shot was on a steady-cam. I've seen war movies starring Chuck Norris with better developed characters and better dialogue(less cheesy too). I laughed the whole way through, the kiss of death for an ultra-serious war movie. Terrence Malick is the last person I expected to be on my shit list.
  132. 100 Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia(1974)(Apr17)
  133. 96 Cross Of Iron(1977)(Apr17)
  134. Absolutely shameful to think about this film in comparison to the thin red line piece of horseshit.
  135. 88 Sister Street Fighter(1974)(Apr19)
  136. 90 Let Sleeping Corpses Lie(1974)(Apr20)
  137. 84 The Blob(1958)(Apr23)
  138. I have to say that I think the blob being thawed out is about as big a threat as global warming. The thing is one crazy myth stuck and the other was made into a great movie.
  139. 83 City Of The Living Dead(1980)(Apr24)
  140. 84 Payback(1999)(Apr26)
  141. 79 Dead Heat(1988)(Apr27)
  142. 97 The Big Racket(1976)(Apr29)

  145. May

  146. 94 Loaded Weapon 1(1993)(May1)
  147. 61 National Lampoon's Senior Trip(1995)(May4)
  148. 82 Buffy The Vampire Slayer(1992)(May8)
  149. 97 Street Law(1974)(May10)
  150. 97 Street Law(1974)(May11)
  151. The Gambler(1980)(May13)
  152. 84 Buffy The Vampire Slayer(1992)(May15)
  153. 91 The Royal Tenenbaums(2001)(May17)
  154. 70 Tornado!(1996)(May17)
  155. Came out on tv the week before Twister was released, same basic story, low budget, no cgi, great b-movie cast(lq jones, bruce campbell, ernie hudson), and much more serious, but also more b-monster movie and much less big budget disaster action flick. Conclusion... at least 100 times better than twister no doubt about it, but still not a great movie, one of the best tv movies though.
  156. 89 Election(1999)(May18)
  157. 83 Don't Come Knocking(2005)(May19)
  158. 89 Night Of The Living Dead(1990)(May20)
  159. 82 Hell Of The Living Dead(1980)(May22)
  160. 70 *RV(2006)(May25)
  161. 30 *Mission Impossible III(2006)(May25)
  162. 80 From Dusk Till Dawn(1996)(May28)
  163. 77 Jaws 2(1978)(May30)

  164. June

  165. 60 *Poseidon(2006)(Jun3)
  166. 63 *The Sentinel(2006)(Jun3)
  167. 80 Jaws: The Revenge(1987)(Jun4)
  168. 95 Psycho(1960)(Jun5)
Author Comments: 

*Seen In A Theatre

Ratings out of 100 and as all my ratings are.

Cloned From: 
Cinema Log: Films I've Seen In A Movie Theatre
Rushmore01/14/2006

did you like eulogy?

grandpa_chum01/14/2006

It was great... very funny... the two troublemaking kids, the lesbians, ray ramano and hank azaria, all fantastic... I definitely owe it to your reccomendation, otherwise I would not have seen it.

greenmind02/24/2006

Totally on with "The Fifth Element." And the Chuck Norris movies didn't have Chris Tucker running around screaming and scratching his nails on chalkboards (well at least figuratively). Seriously one of the worst movies ever made - though I gave it an 18 and not 0.

grandpa_chum03/04/2006

i'm not sure i would really give it a zero either... I am too much of an admirer of bruce willis... but it wasn't worth the effort to actually rate, so zero it is.

jay_b04/01/2006

C'mon it's one silly movie that one doesn't need to take seriously. Everybody (well except for Tucker, whose character truly sucks) fit perfectly in these playful comedic roles, and there are endless little jokes in the movie at which I can't help but laugh everytime I see it. And I saw it a whole lot of times.

grandpa_chum04/01/2006

I will give you that... for a ridiculous sci-fi comedy it has about as good a cast as you can hope for... the problem is that besides most musicals, there is nothing I hate more than ridiculous sci-fi movies... or anything your average sci-fi fan would love in general(nothing against them, they are just on the opposite side of the spectrum when it comes to my taste in movies/music/women/everything). Willis, Oldman, Holm, Jovavich, Lee Evans, Brian James, Tiny, even luke perry was decent... it's just too bad the material couldn't have been worse... in my eyes anyway.

jay_b04/04/2006

That's understandable... the part about the subjectivness of things you find funny/lovable or not, I mean.

192204/13/2006

I'm happy to see that you liked Assault on Precinct 13!

grandpa_chum04/13/2006

It was fantastic... I'm usually pretty nuetral on John Carpenters self-made musical score, but this one was great... "Black?"... "Have been for 30 years"... great stuff.

CaptMal04/16/2006

You are a Serenity "superhater"? :'(

Glad you liked Slither, though. I didn't get a chance to see it when it was still playing around here (damn, theaters burn through new releases like...well, something really flammable, nowadays).

It looked...decent. And I woulda seen it just for Nathan anyway.

grandpa_chum04/16/2006

well i don't really ever "hate" a sci-fi movie... they aren't the worst movies in the world, I just hate the fact that they are loved by so many people... but that is just because I think they are stupid, it's nothing personal and just my opinion, which isn't worth much anyhow.