Movie # 107 -- Miracle

Title: Miracle

Director: Gavin O'Connor

Release Year: 2004

Plot Summary: The trials and tribulations of the USA Olympic Hockey Team leading up to and including the 1980 Olympics.

Thoughts: I don't much like Kurt Russel, in general, except for 'Tombstone' and 'Breakdown'. Come on, he was in 'Big Trouble in Little China' for pete's sake. anyway, i don't find him to be much of an actor. But his portrayal of hockey coach Herb Brooks is surprisingly effective.

Sure, it's a Disney movie. But the thing is, even though Disney has already covered this ground 3 times with 'The Mighty Ducks' franchise, the story just feels good, feels fresh, feels alive. And why? Well, because this story actually happened. Don't believe me? Do yourself a favor and get ahold of a copy of the 1980
medal round game between the US and the USSR.

There was a very fine balance to be walked between schmaltz and quality filmmaking and director Gavin O'Connor (whose resume is otherwise spotty at best) walks that line with gusto. The rest of the relatively unknown cast does a fair job in as much as they are all immediately loveable and forgetable: much like most of the real men of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team.

Rating (0-10): 7.25

recommendations: A good "feel-good" movie. Not worth owning, but worth renting or watching on cable. Oh, and go dig up a copy of the real US-USSR game. You can thank me later for that.

Movie #106 - Serenity

Title: Serenity

Director: Joss Whedon

Release Year: 2005

Plot Summary: The feature-length adaptation of Joss Whedon's TV show "Firefly", set five hundred years in the future, aboard Serenity, a transport ship captained by Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds.

Thoughts: I am blown away. It was everything Firefly was, only about ten times more - and if you've seen Firefly, then you know exactly what I mean. Seriously, I can't even process this yet - mebbe I'll add more once I see it again.

Rating (0-10): 9.8

Recommendations: I don't care if you're a fan of the series or have never seen a single episode. You owe it to yourself to watch this movie. I'm not even remotely kidding.

Movie #106 - Corpse Bride

Title: Corpse Bride

Director: Tim Burton, Mike Johnson

Release Year: 2005

Plot Summary: A man who puts a wedding ring on the finger of a woman's skeleton as a joke gets more than he bargained for, when she comes back as a ghost and claims that she is now legally his bride.

Thoughts: Disappointingly lackluster - the biggest impression I got, though it took me awhile to figure this out, was that it was much more kid-oriented than I had expected. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised at this, but I was. The songs especially seemed really juvenile compared to a lot of Elfman's previous word with Burton.

That said, the story wasn't too terrible, and wasn't particularly a ripoff of The Nightmare Before Christmas like I'd feared. It just wasn't anything that I feel I ever need to see again. Meh.

Rating (0-10): 5

Recommendations: See it or don't, you probably won't regret it either way.

Movie #105 - Red Eye

Title: Red Eye

Director: Wes Craven

Release Year: 2005

Plot Summary: A woman is kidnapped by a stranger on a routine flight. Threatened by the potential murder of her father, she is pulled into a plot to assist her captor in offing a wealthy executive.

Thoughts: I didn't expect much of this one going in, and I was pleasantly surprised. Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy definitely managed to carry the film - I'm especially becoming a fan of Murphy, who was one of the bright spots in Batman Begins. The story really wasn't anything terribly new or original, but the two leads were captivating enough to lend it a real tension and gravity.

Rating (0-10): 7

Recommendations: It's no A Sound of Thunder, but it ain't half-bad.

Movie #104 - A Sound of Thunder

Title: A Sound of Thunder

Director: Peter Hyams

Release Year: 2005

Plot Summary: When a hunter sent back to the prehistoric era runs off the path he must not leave, he causes a chain reaction that alters history in disastrous ways.

Thoughts: I've seen this one described as "the most unintentionally hilarious movie of the year," and that was precisely my reaction after seeing it. The plot had holes you could drive an entire convoy through, the special effects were worse than anything you'd ever find on Hercules or Xena, and Lord only knows what the actors were doing throughout the whole mess.

I loved it. It was everything I was expecting, and so much more. :D

Rating (0-10): 1.2

Recommendations: The most fun you can have at the movies and not get kicked out!

Movie #103 - The Constant Gardener

Title: The Constant Gardener

Director: Fernando Mierelles

Release Year: 2005

Plot Summary: In a remote area of Northern Kenya, activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz) is found brutally murdered. Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa's widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), will leave the matter to them. They could not be more wrong.

Thoughts: Wow, every movie critic on the planet seems to love this movie, and I have no friggin' idea why. All I can say is, if you're looking for a thrilling and action-packed movie about a global pharmaceutical conspiracy, just keep waitin'. Rachel Weisz was the only reason I was even remotely tempted to go see the movie, and I have to say it wasn't particularly worth it.

It wasn't particularly bad, don't get me wrong. What it was is boring.

Rating (0-10): 2.5

Recommendations: Give this one a miss.

Movie #102 - March of the Penguins

Title: La Marche de l'empereur (March of the Penguins)

Director: Luc Jacquet

Release Year: 2005

Plot Summary: A look at the annual journey of Emperor penguins as they march -- single file -- to their traditional breeding ground.

Thoughts: Really this could just as easily been cut down to an hour and made into a National Geographic documentary. It was quite interesting and I liked it well enough, it just felt too darn long. Penguins kick all sorts of ass, though, I have to say.

Rating (0-10): 6.5

Recommendations: If there's a shorter version, watch that one.

Movie #101 - The Brothers Grimm

Title: The Brothers Grimm

Director: Terry Gilliam

Release Year: 2005

Plot Summary: Will and Jake Grimm are travelling con-artists who encounter a genuine fairy-tale curse which requires genuine courage instead of their usual bogus exorcisms.

Thoughts: When I first saw the poster for this movie, I wasn't even remotely interested - until I saw that it was directed by Terry Gilliam. Hey, I thought, he'll put an interesting spin on things, I guess I'll give it a go after all!

Sadly, I never really found that "interesting spin" I was looking for. The whole thing struck me as a combination of the concept from Van Helsing (throw a bunch of classic monsters into one film) and the ambience of Sleepy Hollow. While that doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing, it just didn't twist things around enough to justify the project to me.

Rating (0-10): 4.5

Recommendations: Go rent 12 Monkeys instead. Now that's a good Gilliam film.

Book #9 - Vacuum Diagrams

Title: Vacuum Diagrams

Author: Stephen Baxter

Release Year: 2001

Plot Summary: It's a collection of short stories that detail mankinds next 4,000,000 years or so of history.

Thoughts: Some of the stories were good others were a little lacking. Apparently there's some novels that tie into these stories I'll have to check out.

Rating (0-10): 7.00

recommendations: If you like sci fi but not long involved plots this is for you!

Movie #100 -- The Grudge

Title: The Grudge

Director: Takashi Shimizu

Release Year: 2004

Plot Summary: An American nurse (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in Japan "discovers" a haunted house.

Thoughts: The first 10 minutes of this movie are genuinely creepy. I mean... GENUINELY creepy. It all goes downhill from there... Except the part where Sarah Michelle Gellar's character (Karen Davis) has a hand coming out of the back of her head.

The cast is B-List at best... Sarah Michelle Gellar, Bill Pullman, William Mapother, Ted Raimi. Seriously. And it's hard to complain that any one particular actor gets outdone in any scene, because none of them are all that good. The kids who play the haunted children are kinda creepy, but more or less you just want to punch them in the face any time either one of them is on screen.

Sam Raimi (director of both Spider-Man movies and all three Evil Deads) produced this movie, which is the only reason that I gave it a shot. It wasn't really worth it. The directing is affecting, but the way that the story is told is too jumpy and there are waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many flashbacks. Still, there were enough 'make-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-parts' to keep me from changing the channel.

Rating (0-10): 6.25

recommendations: As far as horror films go, you could do much, much better. If you liked The Ring you'll probably like this. If you liked the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre you probably won't.