My favorites of 2000-2009 | Movies:

00: Crouching Tiger
01: Donnie Darko
02: Minority Report
03: Lost in Translation
04: Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind
05: Crash
06: Departed
07: King Kong
08: Dark Knight
09: Avatar
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This review is remorseful, mostly because the first two are awesome and should have had credit earlier.

Silversun Pickups – Swoon A-
Oh Silversun, people thought you were Smashing Pumpkins redux, and you still probably are. Such a big hit with ‘lazy eye’ last time around but this new cd is just solid, I’ve been playing it over and over and it has great tempo, good grooves, and I like the vocals. Big thumbs up.

Taken A–
with Liam Neeson, goons and girls.
Liam totally rocks. I love his attitude, I love all the oneliners, the plot works for me. Its just a solid surprise of an .. action/suspense? movie. Like a Bourne style, except older, and more parental urgency drama. Good stuff. I’ll probably watch it again, and I never watch movies twice.

Watchmen B++
with nobody famous, and a blue superguy
Quite a story packed into the screen. I appreciated a lot of it, while admittedly not knowing half of their names until near the end. The pacing was herky jerky which was part of the point of the movie. I liked the ending too, all in all, its a good experience, but really hard to categorize. More of a superhero drama than an action movie, although there is some good action stuff. Rorshach is easily one of the coolest characters ever, with the best voice to-boot.

Red Eye C+
with Rachel McAdams, Cillian
Oh Rachel of Canada, I’m glad you represent our country so well. Classy, pretty, and some strength too. This plot has no subplots really, or many major turning points. It could have been a tv episode of 24, so thumbs down on the writing. The rest was fine, forgettable. If it was starring a lightweight like Sarah Michelle Gellar or someone less respectable, it would have been a D easily.

American Gangster B
with Denzel, Crowe
Crowe likes the cop role, I sorta recently watched LA Confidential which is oddly similar, but much much older. American Gangster starts off slow, showing Denzel’s rise to the the top in an italian dominated world of organized crime, specifically drug dealing. He uses some unorthodox tactics, as well as some very solid principles he’s picked up from his mentor and dominates the game. Its kinda interesting to start, but I quit half way through and resumed the next day because it was getting long. The second half was a lot more exciting since you know the cops are going to catch up with him, you just have to find out how it goes down and what happens to this mess. I enjoyed the ending and it was paced much more like a drama than an action movie, which worked for me. Excellent character development, and plot. A really good movie for the patient.

Crank 2 D+
with Statham
I have never seen anything more explicit, I’m surprised they squeaked in with the 18A/R rating. The rest of the movie was entertainingly retarded and ludicrous electricity nonsense. Idk, a lot of stuff for the crowd that I’m not a part of, so I definitely don’t recommend it. I wasn’t bored though, so there’s that. The ’scene’ in Watchmen has got _NOTHING_ on crank. Wow. A bad wow.

Fast & Furious C+
with Diesel, Walker, testosterone
Exactly what I expected, it was the proper sequel to F&F with articles (the first one). Good racing, sorta interesting plot, lots of macho bravado. It accomplished its goal.

Seven Pounds C++
with Fresh Prince, Miss Rosario
The other measurement movie, 12 grams had a hugely different feel, but there’s something… I wont go into it too much, but I’m glad I’ve seen them both. I feel they are worth watching but because seven pounds is odd, some will hate it, some will love it. I really liked the humanity, morality and purity of good characters. Some will gag since its hard to believe people act like this since it is not as gray as almost all modern movie characters are. Except is it gray? Large questions to be asked, I liked it quite a bit. Even some heart string tugging. But I cant recommend it to everyone.

Barcelona’s 102.5 B+
Awesome radio station. “Alternative” with like 1/3 english, good stuff. Dance pop rock mostly. The only down side was that one “song” i “liked” turned out to be jonas brothers. I hang my head.

A lot of people have fond memories for a character they see two-three hours on a screen. Amazing hours with a full sensual experience, but mere hours nevertheless. What does that say about the movie genre that these filmmakers can connect so much with us in a short period of time? I wonder if games can ever make that connection.

Empire Online compiled a list of 100 great characters. I was so excited that #13 made this list, IMO this character should have won an Oscar. All in all I think this list is excellent. Although Luke Skywalker is lame, lame, lame. Leia too. #1 is definitely not my #1, and action movies are too high (diehard? cmon)

Empire’s 100 greatest movie characters/

This list is so good it has inspired me to go back and watch dozens of movies I’ve seen, and dozens more I haven’t.

I wonder if Napoleon Dynamite quotes will come back. Or if they were over used and died a short lived life.

How do I measure this? Perhaps I should use the 2% line and see if I get a date out of it.
Try to get a laugh from telling people about my nunchuk, bow hunting, computer hacking and skills. (I’ve gotten laughs before, but its worn out)
Or next time someone asks me what I do I can tell them not to be jealous, I’ve been chatting online with babes all day. (ooh, close to home)

Did Ferris Beuhler come back? I think it did. Breakfast Club? Fast Times at Ridgemont High I think definitely did. It must have been super racey at the time, but I guess somewhat accurate as to where culture was going?

Is there anything since Napoleon? Will people be quoting High School Music 3? Actually I’d go with Juno, as far as boyfriends go, Paulie Bleaker is totally boss. The scene about not trying at all, trying really hard is one of my favorites ever. I might have more success picking up a girl by piling her mailbox with tic-tacs. Or she might not get it and think I’m totally nutso.

quote whatever you wanna quote, gosh

Batman -The Dark Knight – A
starring Bale Ledger Eckhart Gyllenhall

It is not only well acted (Ledger is unreal), but maybe the best written movie I’ve ever seen. Social commentary, manipulation, games, trickery, self-references, clever lines… it’s top notch.
For more, read the eric.blog I too would have preferred Holmes or someone different (Kreuk played the exact same character in smallville), Maggie is the artsy damsel, not the classy damsel.

Ironman – A
starring Downey Jr., Paltrow

It is fantastic. Fan freakin tastic. Go see it. Its a superhero who isn’t really that polite. He has sass, he kicks… butt. It is a well made, well acted, well paced movie.

WALL-E – A
starring WALL-E, eeevuh

I already reviewed it. I adore it.

Wanted – B++
starring impossibly hot-girl, relatable average-guy

Wanted has a lot of Matrix elements to it, I also found it compared well to another movie I liked, Shoot Em Up, with its senseless suspend-belief action. Wanted is about some tax guy who is depressed, sorta like stranger than fiction’s will ferrell (one of my favs), except with more depressing complaining and less vacant isolation. So this main guy goes through this process and turns into an action hero, mob boss type. That sounds lame, but the plot is better than that. There are some neat elements involving bullet time (which really has become the theme of the decade, thanks Max Payne) and healing, curving gun shots. Anyway, it can sound hokey and all that, but its a good watch. They set up quite a few satisfying badassery moments. Not exactly an artful masterpiece, but highly entertaining and worth seeing.

The Incredible Hulk – B-
starring Ed Norton, Liv Tyler

It was good. It wasn’t ground breaking, except for when he breaks the ground (ha..ha.) I more saw it because I wanted to see the ironman + hulk + … for when they make the avengers. Its an interesting character and I like the performances of Norton and Tyler. The opening scenes where he does some weak parkour is pretty neat. I wonder if places in Brazil are really like that. The rest was pretty typical with good CG.

The Hancock – C+
starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize

I wanted to like it. I sorta did but it was kinda weak. An interesting concept and it had a few moments but it was not very creative or diverse as it could have been. Decent ending, weak ‘actiony’ parts, weak acting. Jason Bateman is great though, I’m forever a fan of his. Its very PG to me. Almost like it could star Vin Diesel and a gaggle of kids he has to pacify. Except its a bit better than that, mildly funny, mildly interesting action.

WALL-E – A
starring WALL-E, eeevuh

By and large, WALL-E is fantastic. I loved it. Its about a robot with a personality and female robot who develops one. Basically its a romance, perhaps my favorite romance ever? Keep in mind King Kong is also on my favorite ‘love-story’ movies too, but this one is more conventional and obvious as a romance.

It’s very funny and cute. I recommend it to everyone who has a heart and patience to pick up on small subtleties. It is not an action movie at all but the more ’slow’ movies I see, the more I think that character development happens without the flash. Action movies which have main hero save the girl and fall in ‘love’ are pretty shallow, and while wall-e can’t really talk, he has so much more depth and heart. This movie is deliberate, it is predictable but it’s very cute, it’s very clever. Your parents would like it, your grandparents would like it, you’ll like it too.
Go watch Wall-E. Leave your adrenaline at the door and bring your heart.

I went to the Buy n Large website under Technology and they talk about this new robot husband that they are working on

A new owner says “Sometimes he cries at inappropriate times and bangs his head on the wall screaming, ‘Please kill me!’ but then I just quickly reboot him before the kids get upset. This is something we expect to have addressed when we start the beta testing cycle.”

And then their business news.
“In a stunning move today, BnL Finance lowered its bottom line while simultaneously raising its performance bar higher. If implemented correctly, BnL hopes this new strategy will affect absolutely nothing and maintain the impression that everything is ‘OK’. ”

Go find wall-e at your nearest theatre

I survived the ides of march. Did you?

I have been living with a cat and I have related this to people. Some just walk around, want attention, then get out of the way when work needs to be done. They make noise and might cuddle or sit on your lap but they don’t really contribute or have any depth. Of course they are just animals but if i get a girlfriend who was like that, I will light my socks on fire, then i should wake up, give her a can of food and kick her out the door. (No i don’t have anyone like this right now, I am just hypothesizing future problems because my life is so vacant of real problems)

I also minireview some things!

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First movie I saw in January was one I was waiting for! Two Arrested Development alums and a sassy and pretty leading lady. I was pumped, I didn’t even expect it to be funny but it just might be the funniest movie I’ve seen since anchorman? I want to watch again. I’ve also seen a few other good ones that I liked quite a bit! Its a good month for movies. One of them is from 1999 and i picked up the DVD finally since I was tired of having it on my to-see list.

Juno, Magnolia, Cloverfield, Shoot Em Up — (more…)

Rapid fire time

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – B
starring Downey Jr, Kilmer

Its a lot like Lucky Number Slevin to me. There is a lot of sexual talk and violence, it is darkly humorous. I also feel it is well written and acted. The plot was neat and the different character struggles seemed appropriate. They also had amusing attitudes and just likable characters. I think most people would like it. Unless you know you dont like it due to the content, you should check it out.

Death Proof – B-
starring Douglas, Ms Dawson

This is half of the Grindhouse duo of horror movies. Written by Tarantino, it is classic conversational based stuff. I liked the jibberjabber as much as I sorta expected. If it was condensed I think it would be pretty cool since the idea behind the horror movie part was well thought up. But it goes on for a while and I think a lot of people might not enjoy the conversation part. Great ending, a clean but basic plot, lots of chat. You might like it, you might not. Let’s talk about it.

My Sassy Girl – B++
starring Korean actor and actress

A famous Korean movie about an angry girl that a guy ends up with, and eventually they have a romance. I enjoyed the totally different look at this genre and some of the plot arcs were interesting. It does really frustrate me if anyone thinks it is ok to be treated that way. “You die now” is not an appropriate way to express yourself. Submission shouldn’t be romance, but hey its just a movie. Just don’t pick up any pointers or you will be miserable or make someone else miserable. But! the characters do a very good job of showing why they need each other. Very entertaining and touching. I’d watch it again.

Bobby – B-
starring a zillion of people

There are sooo many celebrities. Shia Laboeuf is my favorite character. He has a wide range of emotions for a young man. Sharon Stone as an interesting neglected wife has a great moment. A Czech reporter is adorable. The whole dramatic part about Bobby I think is pretty well done. The highs and lows, and the symbolism of what Robert Kennedy represented I think was well conveyed in this movie. I love the political speech at the end. I think that speech was pretty much the foundation of the movie. I wish I was that good with words. But as for policy, its very one-sided and simple. So take that as you may. Watch if you wish. Its not exactly must-see.

Blades of Glory – C
starring Ferrell and Heder

My favorite comedies are Will Ferrell ones. But this one is just average for the most part. It seemed to get funnier at the end. Arnett and Pohler as Marilyn and JFK, haha, Arnett is the best part of this movie. I dont think Heder is funny at all, Ferrell had the odd moment, Ice doesn’t belong in the heart, it belongs out there, on the ice rink. Oh, there is a romance in here too, but its even worse than Adam Sandler movie romances. Thumbs down.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- A-
starring Carrey and Winslet

Quirky romance that messes with your mind a little. I loved it. You have to pay attention to the sorta messed up plot and memories and that. I love all the scenes and transitions! Its set in the 80s with tape cassettes and things of that nature. The characters are all messed up and have strong personalities, but they seem real and just watching interactions is great. Carrey and Winslet do a phenomenal job of just being their own weird. It wasn’t very funny comical, but there were smile moments from just things people said. The subplots were good too. Dysfunction meets charm. Check it out.

Children of Men – B-
starring Owen, Caine

This is a typical futuristic apocalyptic movie, but no, not a sci-fi movie at all. I thought some of the scenes were good. The plot was very plain but the characters were enjoyable. I wouldn’t say it is a must see by any stretch. It’s sorta like something I’d see on television. Its very dark and gloomy for the most part. I suppose it conveys that despair very well. It reminds me of 28 days later in the lack of colors and the hopelessness. Although I have fonder memories of 28days since it seemed to have more special scenes and a higher pace which kept my interest. Children of Men was good, but just didn’t seem special.