Movie Recap: June 2005

This month brought a bunch of fun movies. Comic inspired, foreign language films, Oscar hopefuls and popcorn munchers. But the question is, are any of them any good? I saw Episode III for the second time this month, but did not include it on this month's list.

Best of the Month: Batman Begins
Worst of the Month: The Pacifier

1. The Pacifier. Not as bad as I was expecting, but completely forgettable. Not something I would go out of my way for. Diesel needs a good script and director, badly. **
2. Lords of Dogtown. This was a good movie about the rise of skateboarding in the 70's. Good performances all around, particularly from Heath Ledger. ***
3. Cinderella Man. Very good film, not so much for the generic direction, but for the superb performances. I do think it felt a bit like an Oscar grab, but still a good film. Probably released at the wrong time of the year. ***
4. Mr. & Mrs. Smith. This movie was pure fun. Laugh out loud funny and plenty of action. This was one of the most fun films I've seen this year. ***
5. JSA: Joint Security Area. This came out a few years ago, but just made it to US screens now. This Korean film is a highly entertaining tale of friendship and betrayal in the demilitarized zone between North and South. ***.5
6. High Tension. For as an impossible ending as this has, it does a great job of building tension in an old school slasher kind of way. ***
7. Batman Begins. Perfect. The cast and crew assembled for this really nailed the character. I saw this twice this month. Finally a Batman film about Batman. A very real world was created here. ****
8. Shortcut to Nirvana. Interesting, but not what I was expecting. A look at the carnival like atmosphere surrounding the spiritual festival, Kumbh Mela. **.5
9. Bride & Prejudice. My first exposure to a Bollywood type film. It was a lot of fun, but rather shallow on the story, despite attempts at depth. It does star a striking young woman, Aishywara Rai. ***
10. Land of the Dead. Romero returns to the zombie film, and makes a winner! It is far from perfect, but it does tell an interesting tale showing nice progression from the others of the series. Plus, it has some decent gore. ***
11. Howl's Moving Castle. Miyazaki doesn't quite attain the heights of Spirited Away, it still creates a magical world to explore, with interesting characters. Worth seeing, but it is maddening at points. ***
12. War of the Worlds. Can be a wonderful experience, or a failure, all depending on your point of view. I was sucked in and found it to be a wonderful film despite it's flaws. ***.5

That does it for June.

Also at Blogcritics.org.