Movie Recap: October 2005: A History of Violence

October brought forth a mixed bag of good and bad. A mixture of potential Oscar hopefuls, and money grabbers for the Halloween season. Without further ado, on to what I saw this month.

Best of the Month: A History of Violence
Worst of the Month: The Fog

Listed in the order I saw them in.

1. History of Violence. Cronenberg knocked this one out of the park. Complex characters, deep story, explosive violence. Absolutely beautiful. ****
2. Into the Blue. Not awful, not great either. Decent tension is built towards the end, although the movie is a bit overlong. Some great underwater work with Jessica Alba. **.5
3. Wallace & Gromit in Curse of the Were-Rabbit. An absolute delight. This was a blast, good for the whole family. Top notch animation and a fun story. Gromit is a wonderful creation. ***.5
4. Waiting… Not much to it. It's main purpose seems to be to gross the viewer out. I still enjoyed this, much more than I should have. ***
5. Me, and You, and Everyone We Know. This was a pleasant surprise. A quirky, matter of fact drama about fractured people attempting put their lives together. ***.5
6. Two for the Money. Carried by excellent performances, but hampered by a weak story. This is definitely worth seeing for the work of the stars, mainly Al Pacino. ***
7. Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D. Fascinating IMAX 3D documentary about walking on the moon. Not as deep as some docs I have seen, but still well worth the time. ***.5
8. Serenity. Second time I've seen this one, and well worth it. Action, comedy, adventure, it has a little bit of everything. ****
9. The Fog. Not terrible, but not terribly good either. It was nice to see a film that didn't rely on jump scares, but tried to create an aura of creepiness. Not successful, but a valiant attempt. **.5
10. Domino. This was an excellent film, dripping with style and an abundance of exuberance. Like our title character said "I just want to have a little fun." This delivers. ***
11. Haunted Castle 3D. An IMAX experience that seemed more like an amusement park ride than a film. Still, it was an excellent example of 3D done right. ***
12. Doom. Not good, but a blast of B level fun. I even liked the first person segment, that worked out pretty good. ***
13. Stay. Twisted little tale where nothing is quite what it seems. Good performances, but an unsatisfying close. ***
14. Legend of Zorro. Fun, but not up to the original. I like the old school action, but the story was a bit of a mess. Banderas is perfect for the role. **.5
15. Saw II. A sadistic mash of twisted traps and only an inkling of a tale. Cannot say I didn't enjoy it, but there is definitely a better film hiding within the blood. ***
16. The Squid and the Whale. Interesting tale of a family falling apart. Dryly humorous in its matter of fact nature. Good performances and an intriguing tale are sure to hold your attention. Only problem is that it ends a little abruptly. ***.5

That does it for this month. What did you see?