A year’s worth of movies
In the last year, I went to more than 30 movies, and that
doesn’t include all the other movies I watched on TV, DVD or
Blu-ray
– all in the name of writing a weekly movie column. When it
comes down to it, though, most of the time I appreciate a good
excuse to spend so much time enjoying movies.
Here is a look back at some of the movies I watched last week,
including the good, the bad and the ugly (think Pierce Brosnan
singing).
A year’s worth of movies
In the last year, I went to more than 30 movies, and that doesn’t include all the other movies I watched on TV, DVD or Blu-ray – all in the name of writing a weekly movie column. When it comes down to it, though, most of the time I appreciate a good excuse to spend so much time enjoying movies.
Here is a look back at some of the movies I watched last week, including the good, the bad and the ugly (think Pierce Brosnan singing).
Best surprise hit
Juno: This indie film became a surprise hit when Juno’s sarcasm won the hearts of movie viewers everywhere. Ellen Page plays the teen who has sex with a friend mostly out of boredom, and then finds herself pregnant. Juno picks a couple out of the classifieds to adopt the baby and she quickly bonds with the soon-to-be-adoptive father.
But Juno isn’t has strong as she pretends to be, and her vulnerability shows through in scenes with her father, her step-mother and especially with the father of her child, a teenage boy played by the quiet Michael Cera.
Worst use of singing in a film
Mamma Mia!: Anyone who wants to see this movie should know that it is a musical and it is full of ABBA songs. Amanda Seyfreid, who plays the lead character as a girl who plans to marry but wants to know who her father is first, sings beautifully. But one of her possible fathers – there are three – has about the worst singing voice I’ve heard with the exception of the Christmas party karaoke I listened to two weeks ago. Pierce Brosnan makes a great 007, a great Irishman and even a great assassin on screen, but a singer he is not.
Best 3D movie
U2 3D Movie: While 3D movies used to be kept to the realm of amusement parks, in 2008 they went mainstream. Many theaters now have one screen dedicated to 3D films and there have been a few movies made with the new technology in mind, including “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” an animated movie, and “Bolt.”
But of course, the best 3D movie released this year has to be the “U2 3D movie,” best seen on a 3D Imax screen. It offered a little fix for fans everywhere who were in anticipation of the newest album, set to release in 2009.
Most anticipated TV series adaptation
Sex and the City: The Movie: The year brought with it plenty of movies that offered a continuation of a TV series. There was “Get Smart,” a goofy spy series; “X-Files: I Want to Believe,” the conspiracy-theory filled series. But the movie that had the greatest cross-draw between faithful fans and new viewers was “Sex and the City: The Movie.”
Fans of the series turned out in droves for the opening weekend, and they brought along their mothers, sisters and friends. The turnout was good enough that the four main characters are in negotiations to make a second film.
Best comic book movie
The Dark Knight: Only one movie can claim this honor and it has to be “The Dark Knight.” The film achieved legendary acclaim before it even opened when Heath Ledger accidentally overdosed. The actor played the key villain in the film, the Joker, in a turn that created early Oscar buzz for a genre that rarely wins Oscars.
Ledger’s Joker is pointlessly violent, and as one critic pointed out, he has the simple happiness of a little boy who is senselessly destructive. The movie is boosted with the performances of the brooding Christian Bale as Batman, Aaron Eckhart as a district attorney turned killer, not to mention Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman.
Biggest disappointment
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: There should have been some signs that the fourth movie in the Indiana Jones “trilogy” might not be so great, including the 20-some years since the last film. At 60, Harrison Ford took on the role once again, and he actually did pretty well. But screenwriters George Lucas and David Koepp just couldn’t keep the plot together enough to keep viewers from losing interest.
The movie goes off on random tangents as Jones hooks up with a young man named Mutt Williams who may or may not be his son, and they search out alien skulls in South America. The only movie that needed aliens this summer was “X-Files,” and we didn’t even get them there since creator Chris Carter must have thought that would be too weird for crossover fans.
Best movie of the year
The House Bunny: When I looked at the movies I saw in theaters in the last year, they were overwhelming romantic comedies. Now part of that is because I see movies during my free time on the weekends, with my family, so I compromise a lot and see things others want to see. Part of it is that indie films and dramas often don’t play at theaters that are convenient to a quick trip to the movies. But I have to admit that once in a while, a comedy delivers way more than I expect.
That was the case with “The House Bunny.” The movie is about a playboy bunny who is kicked out of the Playboy Mansion when she gets too old. She has to find a way to make a living, and she ends up as a housemother for a group of misfits on a college campus. She promises to make them popular if they help make her smarter. Anna Faris is the perfect actress for the role, and the movie gets my vote for the best one of the year because it made me laugh more than any other in the last 12 months. I so glad I got it for Christmas so I can watch it over and over and over again.
