Movie Recap: October 2004

Not much of a theme for this month, the genre's were all over the map. The best thing to do is just get right on with the list.

Best of the Month: Team America: World Police
Worst of the Month: Birth

1. Birth. Awful, dull, pointless, boring, poorly acted, poorly directed. This attempt at the surreal just comes of as a why bother exercise. *
2. Code 46. Moderately interesting science fiction film that downplays the science in favor of the fiction. A little on the slow side, but still interesting. **.5
3. Friday Night Lights. One of the best sports films I've seen recently. Thornton gives a wonderfully understated performance, and the kids aren't bad either.***.5
4. The Grudge. A love it or hate it film, I loved it. I liked it for what it was, which is basically a roller coaster of jump scares. ***
5. I (heart) Huckabees. I wanted to like it, but it was trying to hard to be bizarre. The end result is a little too shallow. **
6. Ladder 49. Strong character based drama with the surroundings of a firehouse to tie it all together. Joaquin Phoenix provides a strong center. ***.5
7. The Motorcycle Diaries. Not bad, Gael Garcia Bernal is a wonderful actor. I am glad that this didn't dwell on the politics, save the tacked on ending. Very nice cinematography. ***
8. Mr. 3000. Surprisingly entertaining. This had a lot more heart than I was expecting. It was still a rather forgettable baseball comedy. **.5
9. Saw. A low rent Seven, does a good job at delivering some gore to the big screen. The plot is a little ridiculous, still worked for me. ***
10. Shall We Dance. Eh. I really liked the original when I saw it years ago. This version loses all of the subtlety of the Japanese film in favor of more overblown antics. **
11. Shark Tale. What a disappointment. The animation was good, but the story was rather dull, and for a kids movie there was no child character for the kids to latch onto. **
12. Taxi. What a disaster. I wanted to like this, but I just couldn't. Fallon isn't ready for the big screen, and the script was not funny. *.5
13. Team America: World Police. This was a very funny movie, skewering everything and everybody. Nothing is sacred. ***.5
14. The Yes Men. An interesting documentary about a group that impersonates the WTO. It is amazing what some people will believe. ***

That brings us to the end.

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