The Good Shepherd (2006)

Date watched: December 22

Review: Robert De Niro's second film is a success. He doesn't triumph over his original film, A Bronx Tale. Not a single actor in the whole movie was mis-casted. Matt Damon was scary good. It was nice to see Joe Pesci back in action. The movie itself was completely boring, but everything else was near perfection. The camera angles, oh man, the camera angles!

Rating: 8.2/10.0

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Date watched: December 21

Review: The movie starts off experty, introducing many eccentric characters. The character arcs are easy to predict. Some of the jokes were easy to predict, because of plot devices such as the car they had to use to get to California. That didn't really take away from the funny factor though. It was nice seeing Steve Carell in a more serious role. Surprisingly Toni Collette was my favorite person in the movie, even though she was the most normal. The movie was fairly funny with a lot of serious parts, which I usually don't like. The ending was so ridiculous that I couldn't stop laughing.

Rating: 8.1/10.0

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Date watched: December 18

Review: Once again, not sure if this is historically accurate, but I can tell that the mood was captured. How else could you deal with such a tragedy? Don Cheadle's performance was very good, but I expected more for a nomination. For a highly praised movie, I would have expected less action than the movie had.

Rating: 8.0/10.0

Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

Date watched: December 16

Review: While being bored by the movie, Orlando Bloom pushed me further from the enjoyment of what could have been a great movie. Being a big fan of historical movies, though usually not accurate, (e.g. Braveheart and Gladiator) I was expecting much out of this movie. The story was barely followable because of the lack of attention I could put into watching it.

Rating: 6.8/10.0

King Kong (2005)

Date watched: December 15

Review: What a brilliant movie. Peter Jackson's direction was amazing. The story was great. The acting from Naomi Watts, Jack Black, and Adrien Brody was spectacular. That is, for the first thirty minutes of the movie at least. After that, the whole movie turns into an annoying special effects action fest. The characters became very unbelievable because of who they were before they reached the island. It wasn't just the special effects that ruined the movie, it was the lack of story. The empathy between Kong and Ann was done horribly. Peter Jackson had me with Lord of the Rings, but he failed miserably with this film.

Rating: 6.6/10.0

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

Date watched: December 13

Review: Will Ferrell plays his usual character, a crazy nut job who eventually calms down a little in the end. John C. Reilly(Gangs of New York) is a great actor, and helps this film out some. Though the shake and bake bit was annoying. The children and father of Will Ferrell's character made this movie enjoyable. Overall, it is just an okay comedy.

Rating: 7.5/10.0

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Date watched: November 23

Review: Shadow of a Doubt, is without a doubt another classic Hitchcock movie. With top notch performances from Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Even better than that were the persona of the characters they portrayed. Charlie was the leader of the family, young and innocent, and very confused. Uncle Charlie is a stylish and menacing sociopath. They were just fun to watch. The movie has some flaws that hurt it some though. The mother of Charlie and brother of Uncle Charlie was quite annoying. Just about every second she was on screen talking was mind numbing. Charlie's father and his friend Herbie Hawkins banter about how they would kill each other was just pure brilliance! And of course a very harrowing climax.

Rating: 8.9/10.0

Casino Royale (2006)

Date watched: November 17

Review: James Bond is back in action, and has a new attitude. Or what I should really say, is he has a new attitude compared to his predeecessor Pierce Brosnan. Daniel Craig brings back the darkness of James Bond that Timothy Dalton brought to the role. He executes the role with near perfection. Casino Royale attempts to stay true to the original 1953 book by Ian Fleming, when it eventually gets to those parts that is, and does well until some of the ending scenes. While the movie was still a little too much of an action flick, it tuned the action down some, and is a big step up from Die Another Day. It will definitely be interesting to see where Craig takes this franchise. The villains and Bond girls that are an essential part of the Bond franchise are superb in this flick. Some of the action scenes are a little unbelievable, but that's ok, it's just a movie. At least there are no computer generated scenes that are very unnatural. The series is back, and waiting for the next movie seems like waiting for the next millennium to come around.

Rating: 9.1/10.0

Rope (1948)

Date watched: November 12

Review: Alfred Hitchcock consistantly messes with his viewers. Rope is no different. The start of the movie starts with a murder, and the murderers aren't hidden from the viewer. Throughout the whole movie the viewer knows, while the people surrounding these murderers do not have a clue. James Stewart pulls off another extravagant performance in his first Hitchcock movie of his career. His character is one of many that have their own uniqueness that makes this movie all the more impressive. With a wide cast of characters and many moments of suspense, this makes for one of the best films of the 1940's.

Rating: 9.5/10.0

The Birds (1963)

Date watched: November 11

Review: Bodega Bay, Bodega Bay, Bodega Bay! Remind me to never go there if I happen to be in California. Alfred Hitchcock, the theatrical master of suspense, is just like the literary master of suspense, Dean Koontz, he never disappoints. This movie ranks up there with his best movies such as Vertigo and The Lady Vanishes. It has what those two movies have, believable characters, enjoyable dialogue, and tension that rips you out of your seat and makes you want to look away from the screen, though you just have to keep watching, because if you don't, something may go terribly wrong. Tippi Hedren did a great job with her innocent victim role as Melanie Daniels, while Rod Taylor did a swell job not letting her steal the movie. This macabre movie is masterful, and with the last twenty minutes of the movie, turn on the lights, and watch out for The Birds!

Rating: 9.3/10.0

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Date watched: November 11

Review: The Man Who Knew Too Much came in the middle of Alfred Hitchcock's career, and that's about where it lands in ranking of his movies. The movie had supreme acting by James Stewart and Doris Day, while the rest of the cast did excellent as well. While the plot was mysterious and the characters smoking, the suspense was toned down for this movie. The movie goes by quickly for a two hour movie, but it is not because of a fast moving plot, but of a smooth moving one. The plot was simple enough so that the viewer doesn't have to pay too much attention, and still understand all the details. The most important part of the movie is the look into the world of a family who is put into an abnormal situation, and what that family will do to stay together. Hitchcock knows how to create an atmosphere for the actors of the movie to perform at their peak.

Rating: 8.5/10.0

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

Date watched: November 10

Review: Expecting Borat to have anti-Semitism and rated R Napoleon Dynamite humor, I was surpised to get the opposite out of this film. I'm glad that the movie exposed the ridiculousness of racism, and I'm sure this movie will be misunderstood by thousands. The movie did have some completely outrageous and disgusting moments. What made up for this was the completely unexpected. The movie gives you humor from the most random directions, unlike the usual comedy movies of the last few years, which just inserts all the vulgarity and slapstick in hopes to make a few bucks rather than a few good laughs.

Rating: 8.3/10.0

The Prestige (2006)

Date watched: October 20

Review: The Prestige started off as one of those movies where you've seen the whole movie by watching the trailer. Christopher Nolan wouldn't dare be so trite though. There are plenty of surprises throughout the whole story to amaze the viewer. The elements of the genre are seemingly changed throughout the story. When you think it is going one way, it introduces a plot element that changes the whole genre of the movie. While many people would see this as a flaw, this is what saved the movie, and in fact turned it into one of the most spectacular movies of this year. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, and Michael Caine deliverd brilliant performances. Scarlett Johansson could have used some improvement, but was sufficient for her part.

Rating: 9.7/10.0

Capote (2005)

Date watched: October 14

Review: Very slow. Very boring. Philip Seymour Hoffman saved Capote from being a disaster of a movie. It is interesting how Truman's and Harper Lee's lives intertwined, and one of the only high points of the movie worthy of noting. When the ending credits hit, I was cheering that it was finally over.

Rating: 6.5/10.0

The Boondock Saints (1999)

Date watched: October 13

Review: After hearing so much good about The Boondock Saints, I expected more out of this film. When I watch a film full of blood and vulgarity, I expect something special to go along with the movie. That's not to say that the movie was boring. It had moments of hilarity and even moments that make you think. Willem Dafoe's role was very strange, and it worked out well. The acting in the movie overall wasn't brilliant, but it was good enough to keep you watching. David Della Rocco's character as Funny Man was annoying for the most part. The only enjoyable scene he was in, is the one with the cat.

Rating: 8.1/10.0

Hanover Street (1979)

Date watched: October 13

Review: After watching movies like Pearl Harbor, I have low expectations of movies in the genre of war romances. Good performances by Harrison Ford and Lesley-Anne Down helped make up for this. What really helped was the comedic parts added in. They didn't seem forced, while you wouldn't expect such a plot element in this kind of story. The plot was basic, with foreshadowing of Ford's Nazi fighting attitude that would show up later in the Indiana Jones' movies. The romance in the movie wasn't as contrived as most easy to predict romance movies are since the beginning of movies.

Rating: 8.0/10.0

Memento (2000)

Date watched: October 7, 2006

Memento is easily my favorite Christopher Nolan movie, beating out Insomnia and Batman Begins soundly. The juxtaposing of the scenes worked out perfectly because of the condition the main character, Leonard(Guy Pearce), had. The acting by Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss seals the deal on the greatness of this movie. This movie is originality in a sea of untalented and unoriginal movies.

Rating: 10.0/10.0

The Departed (2006)

Date watched: October 6, 2006

Martin Scorsese has been my favorite director for some time now, and this movie reasserts why that is. He doesn't shy away from showing the violence of real life. Although this isn't an original story, it's a remake of Infernal Affairs, Scorsese adds great direction as usual. The peak of the movie is the comedic performance of Mark Wahlberg's character Dignam. While the story was simplistic enough, the characters made this movie complex. Scorsese explores the theme of the blurry line between good and bad. The movie also inlcudes top notch performances from Jack, Leo, and Matt. While Alec Baldwin's part was small, it was very effective and funny.

Rating: 10.0/10.0