The Movie List

This is just a list of the movies I have seen since I started keeping this list. It’s more for my benefit to help me remember than anything else. After all, I’m an old fart, and I hate renting movies that I have forgotten I have already seen. You’ve done that, too, haven’t you? The comments were written after watching the movie, but don’t ask me to tell you more because I usually forget what the stupid movie was about, unless it was something that struck my fancy.

The Movies -

• 88 Minutes – an acceptable mystery/psychological thriller, but not worth owning – on the other hand, I’m happy to watch Alicia Witt in just about anything, but that’s just the hopeless, dirty old man in me
• American Pie – sophomoric, but entertaining
• American Pie 2 – more of the same, and still entertaining
• Angels & Demons – suspend your belief for a while and you can enjoy this action flick – I do wonder, though, how much in the film is accurate as it relates to the Catholic church – a follow-up to The DaVinci Code but only peripherally
• Batman and Robin – why in the world did they bother? . . better still, why did I watch all of it? . . worst Batman movie ever
• Batman Begins – usual Batman type fare
• Bedtime Stories – a cute story, worth watching, good family fare
• Beowulf – done completely in cgi – not bad except the faces of the women characters were particularly, um, characterless.
• The Big Lebowski – better than I thought it would be
• The Big White – a Robin Williams vehicle, and not his best
• The Black Dahlia – a mystery not worth solving . . . snore
• Bolt – enjoyable kid’s movie about a movie star dog who discovers his “in movie” abilities are not real – seems to me a lot of human actors could take this lesson
• Blue Butterfly – a bit sappy, but kind of an uplifting move anyways
• Boynton Beach Club – enjoyable, and something to which we on the older end of the stick can relate
• Borat – yeah, I watched it, what can I say?
• The Break-Up – yes, I love Jennifer Aniston and if Vince Vaughn doesn’t want her, I’ll take her
• Bridge to Terebithia – not at all what I was expecting but not in a bad way, occasionally thought provoking and a bit of a tear-jerker
• Bridget Jones’s Diary – a decent, light, romantic comedy – nothing particularly original, but worth watching
• Broken Flowers – I like Bill Murray, and this film has it’s moments, but in the end . . . eh . . .
• The Brothers Grimm – good enough for an evening’s entertainment
• The Bucket List – not a great movie and predictable for much of it, but when you start to get older, movies like this have more meaning for you
• Casino Royale – Latest 007 movie, at least when I watched it – usual Bond fun
• Cat Woman – the only reason I watched this was that I couldn’t get to sleep and needed something mindless to watch, and I got what I was looking for. Halle Berry may look good, but the special effects are pretty sucky and the story keeps up with the special effects.
• Christmas with the Kranks – another move good enough for an evening’s entertainment
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – good special effects, interesting concepts from the C.S. Lewis book
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – not at all as good as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – pretty much just an action battle from beginning to end without much depth
• Clerks – cult classic from Kevin Smith about clerks in a store – not for everyone
• Clerks II – the follow up of Clerks
• Clue – a fun little movie based on the game, with lots of name actors
• Corpse Bride – animated entertainment, good for one watch
• The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – Wallace & Gromit – I guess I’m not that much of a Wallace & Gromit fan
• The Darjeeling Limited – odd and quirky – I enjoyed watching it once, but feel no need to own it – scenery and setting was interesting
• The Dark Knight – no doubt in my mind, Heath Ledger made this movie and it’s worth watching just for him.
• The DaVinci Code – good exciting mystery – might even be worth another watch
• Deuce Bigelow – European Gigalo – Rob Schneider will do anything for a laugh, and does – appeals to the poo-poo joke part of my psyche and not much else
• Dr. Dolittle – Eddie Murphy version – has some fun spots in it and is enjoyable enough for one viewing
• Everything Is Illuminated – better than I thought it would be, though a tad strange
• The Family Stone – I don’t wish family gatherings like this on anyone, but watching it wasn’t too bad
• Fantastic 4 – comic book heroes romp and stomp, not anywhere near as good as X-Men
• Fathers and Sons – three stories about fathers & sons, okay, but not particularly inspiring
• Good Will Hunting – a very good personal growth tale
• The Great New Wonderful – not so great or wonderful, with a wacko psychiatrist
• Grumpier Old Men – Sequel to Grumpy Old Men, more of the same, some touching moments.
• Grumpy Old Men – took me a long time to finally see this movie – good entertainment, and Ann-Margret doesn’t look bad either.
• Hannah and Her Sisters – in the top ten and watched several times, there is just so much in this movie to which I can relate
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – yes, I’m a Harry Potter fan – read all the books and have enjoyed all the movies – your viewing of this movie will be greatly enhanced by reading the book first.
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – the movie version of the second-to-last book – well done (more understandable, I think, than the Order of the Phoenix), but once again, read the book!
• Hellboy II – The Golden Army – great fun, enjoyed the first movie, too – okay, so I have no taste
• Heroes – no, not really a movie, but I watched the whole first season on DVD so it qualifies in my book – really loved this series
• Hollywood Ending – I like Woody Allen, even when the movie is so-so
• Hollywoodland – kind of a mystery movie about George Reeves’ (Superman) death
• Hope Springs – a predictable romance movie, but it could be worse
• Ice Age 2 – animated entertainment was fair to watch
• The Illusionist – good story, maybe I’m too gullible, but it fooled me
• Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – Indi is showing his age, but it’s a watchable movie.
• Iron Man – an entertaining comic character romp – Robert Downy, Jr. is a good actor in spite of his personal demons.
• Kill Bill: Volume I – I was surprised that I liked this as much as I did. I am not a Quentin Tarantino fan so was not expecting to.
• Kill Bill: Volume II – actually, I liked this better than volume I, and I’m still surprised that Quentin Tarantino turned out something I enjoyed watching.
• King of the Corner – I should be able to relate to a slightly later than mid-life crisis, but this was a bit boring
• Kingdom of Heaven – ya gotta love those Crusaders – big scale, good story – not sure about the historical accuracy
• Knocked Up – my son left the DVD at my house and I had some spare time – not as bad as I thought it would be, but won’t be buying it myself.
• Lady in the Water – a quirky fantasy story by M. Night Shyamalan – entertaining
• The Lake House – a science fiction, fantasy romance movie
• Last Chance Harvey – it’s a little tough to swallow the idea that the age difference between the two romantic leads wouldn’t matter (in real life a difference of 22 years), but Dustin Hoffman is charming and I really like Emma Thompson – good for one watch
• The Last Good Time – the old fart’s secret desire – to make love to a young woman one last time
• Last Holiday – cute movie – Queen Latifah is nice in this
• The Life Aquatic – huh? forced myself to finish watching this one
• Love Actually – very enjoyable – a feel-good movie even with a couple of less than happy moments – several concurrent stories that loosely come together at the end
• Match Point – strangest movie I’ve seen directed by Woody Allen, talk about getting away with murder
• Mr. North – lightweight adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s last novel “Theophilus North” – or, having never read the novel, perhaps a faithful adaptation – a light story in any event
• Night at the Museum – a fun movie, lightweight but I like Ben Stiller
• The Nightmare Before Christmas – I guess it was worth filling some idle time, but nothing I found particularly charming or that I would watch again.
• Northern Exposure – yes, another TV series, but I’ve been going through the seasons on DVD – loved this series when I watched on TV and it’s great to re-live it – later seasons don’t thrill me as much
• The Notebook – call me a sap, but I liked this one and bought the DVD, too emotionally draining to watch too often
• Off the Map – bit of an odd movie, IRS agent in the desert with an odd family, but I liked it
• Pan’s Labyrinth – weird and depressing
• Paul Blart: Mall Cop – formulaic comedy with one or two half-way funny moments. The longer I live, the more I see the same movie over and over and over again.
• The Phantom of the Opera – I’m emotionally invested in this one
• The Pink Panther – Steve Martin’s version – no where near as endearing as the original
• Pirates of the Carribbean – Curse of the Black Pearl – better than I thought it would be, worth another watch
• Pirates of the Carribbean – Dead Man’s Chest – sequel to the above, again better than expected
• Prime – romantic comedy with Merle Streep as a psychologist, watchable once
• The Princess Bride – a cultural reference that you would be the poorer for not seeing – a light, romantic, adventure fairy-tale type story.
• The Pursuit of Happyness – Will Smith feel-good movie, worth watching
• Rent – sure wish I could have seen a stage performance, but I love the movie and the soundtrack
• Rumor Has It – kind of a pointless movie, with shades of The Graduate, but with Jennifer Aniston
• Rushmore – worth watching, but not worth owning – I like Bill Murray but this, in my humble opinion, is not one of his stronger roles – it’s a bit of a strange, um, coming-of-age movie
• RV – why?
• Somethings Gotta Give – an old fart coming around to reality, and liking it
• Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter . . and Spring – foreign film about a monk and his young charge as he grows up and matures, memorable
• Stranger Than Fiction – Will Ferrell is getting better, a tale about a man changing his life through the intervention of his inventor
• The Squid and the Whale – lives falling apart, without much plot and hard to watch
• The Stone Angel – this reminded me a lot of “A Trip to Bountiful” except that it was a harsher look at the lives of the people involved – made me kind of depressed thinking about all the mistakes I have made in my life
• There’s Something About Mary – screwball, slapstick, romantic comedy
• The Thing About My Folks – a touching family/father and son movie
• Tideland – bizarre Terry Gilliam movie, strangely fascinating
• Transformers – I don’t quite understand the hype this movie got – perhaps I’m getting jaded by “the usual” computer graphics effects – without those there isn’t really much to this movie
• Up – I have never seen such a depressing beginning to an animated feature. While there were a few interesting moments, I cannot comprehend the attention and awards this movie received
• The Virgin Suicides – the tv guide had it listed as a comedy – it is not – strangely interesting, though definitely disturbing
• WALL-E – cute animated tale about love between two little robots with a very strong “green” slant
• Winter Passing – kind of a dark movie, wouldn’t want to see it again
• X-Men 3: The Last Stand – good X-Men comic book fare