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An avid movie collector reviews movies, games, and TV shows for the common man, among other things. Spoiler Free

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Movies I have enjoyed/watched thus far this year.

Hustle and Flow
A pimp begins to resent his lot in life and tries to pick up and produce a rap album with some friends to get his life back on course towards his dreams. Starring Terrence Howard, DJ Qualls, Anthony Anderson, Ludacris, and Taryn Manning

An interesting film with very memorable performances from the cast most notably Terrence Howard and Anthony Anderson. The ending took me by surprise and I was impressed by the movie as a whole. Recommended

Four Brothers
Four adopted Brothers unite to avenge the death of their loving foster mother. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Andre 3000, Tyrese, Terrence Howard, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Would have been a great 80's movie. I was entertained but I have little interest in seeing it again anytime soon.

Ong Bak 2 (Sort Of)
Somebody takes Tony Jaa's elephants, and he will destroy anyone on the planet to get them back. Elephants are like family in Thailand in case you thought that was silly.

Tony Jaa will take over the depleted Martial Arts world, it is almost assured with how good these fight sequences have become. I could rewatch them all day. As soon as Jet Li and Jackie Chan move on Jaa will step in and we will all be satisfied.
* This was a bootleg of his movie which has yet to be released, I will buy it once it comes out so don't worry. Anyway it had some crazy title so they put Ong Bak 2 on the cover to sell it.

The Jacket
A man with some brain damages finds that he can travel into the future during one of his most intense treatments from a possibly deranged Doctor.
Starring Adrien Brody, Keira Knightly, and Kris Kristoppherson - I screwed that spelling up

Interesting idea that was done better in other movies such as The Butterfly Effect. They definately just threw together a story to attach their time travel idea to. Pass

Crash
An ensemble drama exploring several racially charged incidents within a day in L.A.
Starring Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Michael Pena, Brandon Fraser, Terrence Howard, Ludacris, and Thandie Newton

Excellent film about racism with wondrous acting and some very hard hitting scenes. A few points felt contrived but overall an excellent ensemble piece. I don't think anyone from it deserves an Oscar though, Dillon and Cheadle were good but not that good. Actually if anyone was really convincing it was Michael Pena, who had some of the strongest points of the movie on his shoulders.

Sideways
A middle aged pair go touring through wine country the week before one of them is set to be married. Starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haydn Church, Sandra Oh, and Virginia Madsen

Downed this last night, I was entertained and impressed by the story and characters, but as CJ put it "It had that Indie Film feel". Not sure that is entirely bad, or even what would give something that feel. Maybe it is the reliance on dialogue or slightly lazy camerawork which seems to always infect indies. Anyway I enjoyed it and am glad to have it among my collection.

Some side notes.

After a discussion of Christian films on Russell Brown's site he posited that maybe we should build a blog that we could dedicate to critiquing films from that perspective, and so forth. I do not necessarily wish to create this site myself but if one of you were to wish to create one I would gladly contribute my thoughts, opinions, and allow the borrowing of my films to those interested. On a similar token if people would like to get together on some sort of basis (once a month or so) to watch and discuss a film I would be game. Feel free to post your opinions on this matter.

I have set forth in this blog to provide spoiler free reviews which really boils my points down to - Star Wars - Good
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - Bad

I am contemplating a change up, or I may retire from the bloggin business and become a poster on other (actually visited) sites. If a lot of you are interested in the forst note point I may in fact create such a site to bring more dialogue to this lonely site of mine. Thoughts?

Thanks,
Dean
Comments:
Dean -

Unfortunately I lack the time, energy and resources to lead the effort on a Christian media blog, but would gladly weigh in with my opinions if you offered the opportunity. I will likely continue to post periodically on entertainment topics, especially once I finish with the theological business at hand.
 
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