Jason Clarke

Something just hit me…IMDB is the best and biggest movie & TV info website on earth. So whhhhhyyyy aren’t they leveraging their incredible content, community, and traffic by integrating at least *some* amount of social networking features? Seems like a huge lost opportunity here.

Some movies we’ve seen recently, with links, ratings, and brief comments.

The Illusionist - 4 out of 5 stars - An excellent, thoroughly riveting (if predictable) movie about a misunderstood magician that proved to be genuinely satisfying in its conclusion without being trite or needlessly confounding. And of course, Ed Norton and Paul Giamatti were both great.

Beerfest - 2.5 out of 5 stars - We keep waiting for comedy troupe Broken Lizard to rival the classic Super Troopers, but unfortunately we found Beerfest, while much funnier than their Club Dredd, to be nonetheless a let down compared to Troopers. While this movie had some laugh-out-loud moments, it felt endless and lacked some of the same genuine camradarie that made Super Troopers more accessible.

Stranger than Fiction - 4 out of 5 stars - I expected to dislike this one. I truly enjoyed it. It captured the right mixture of whimsy, fun, and seriousness. Kudos to Will Ferrell, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, and the Queen (among many others) for worthy performances and thanks to all involved for a fine ending.

The Prestige - 3 out of 5 stars - Wow, two really excellent films about magicians were released in 2006. This one earned more acclaim, but I didn’t quite like it as much as The Illusionist. Although I think it’s still quite excellent. I especially enjoyed the mixture of historical drama with fantasy, the twists and turns in unexpected ways, and the endlessly untidy ending.

Casino Royale - 4.5 out of 5 stars - We watched this again after I called it my favorite movie of 2006. And I still feel that way after a second viewing of this outstanding film. Watch for the amazing action sequences, classic Bond homages, new twists, clever touches, smart writing, and one of the best endings ever for an action movie. I can’t wait for the next one.

I watched 17 19 20 21 movies that were released in 2006. Here’s the list of films I saw, ranked in order from least to most favorite:

UPDATE: I’ve seen 2 4 more films released in 2006 since I first wrote this post. I’ve integrated them into the list.

I DIDN’T LIKE THESE:
21. You Me and Dupree
20. Pirates Of the Carribean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
19. The DaVinci Code
———-
THE PACK:
18. The Departed
17. Accepted
16. Grandma’s Boy
15. The Lake House
14. Little Miss Sunshine
13. Mission Impossible III
12. The Break-Up
11. Scoop
10. Miami Vice
9. Cars
8. Click
7. Nacho Libre
6. Clerks III
5. Looking for Kitty
———-
I REALLY LIKED THESE:
4. Inside Man
3. Thank You For Smoking
2. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

MY FAVORITE MOVIE OF 2006:
1. Casino Royale

We gave up on the summer of junky movies and turned to Blockbuster’s cheapest DVD rental plan instead. For just $8/month, we get two movies delivered and 2 more in-store rentals for free. Thankfully, we’ve uncovered some real gems using the service lately. Here’s a rundown:

Brick - 3 1/2 out of 5 - Joseph Gordon-Leavitt carries this bizarre, amazing, dark, comic, and inventive modern noir tale set against the backdrop of high school.

Lonesome Jim - 4 1/2 out of 5 - My pick for the most criminally under-rated film of 2005. Casey Affleck gives another great performance in this hilariously bittersweet tale of a small-town family. Liv Tyler is as good as always and some excellent supporting performances, crack writing, and wise pacing make this movie a rare, totally enjoyable and redeeming night in a pretend-land that is cringe-inducingly close to reality.

Pride & Prejudice- 4 out of 5 - The millionth re-telling of one of my favorite books, I hesitated to watch this really beautifully-shot period piece, thinking that the classic BBC mini-series was the final say on the material. I was really wrong, as this version stands on its own as a well-written interpretation. Possibly- possibly- better than the BBC mini-series.

Inside Man - 3 1/2 out of 5 - Denzel Washington and Chiwetel Ejiofor crackle in this engrossing, truly original caper. Forget the mediocre or pandering reviews and make this a double feature with my next recommendation.

Confidence - 3 1/2 out of 5 - A slick, intelligent thriller that will keep you guessing from the first scene to the very end. Plus some great performances from stellar actors like Dustin Hoffman, Paul Giammatti, Ed Burns, and Rachel Weisz.

Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic - 3 1/2 out of 5 One of the filthiest comedy concert movies ever made, but one of the funniest in recent memory as well. Don’t watch this before familiarizing yourself with Siliverman first- then, watch it soon after.

* We watched Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. My vote: *** out of 4 stars. Funny, hilarious in places, and slick overall. I am deepy disturbed that they cut my favorite line from the trailer - “I can’t lower my heart rate; I’ve got a cougar on me!” - from the feature film. But all-in-all, this was a direct hit for Ferrell/McKay/Apatow, and well worth checking out.

* I uploaded some photos from our personal archives to Flickr. Included: Shots from December 2004, a highway/mirror shot from fall 2005, and one of a giant tree completely split down the middle on I-95 here in Maine.

The best movie I’ve seen so far this summer is Taladega Nights: The Ballad of Rick Bobby.

Wait, you say! That movie won’t even be in theaters until August 4th! How did a lowly commoner like me see it? Well, to be completely honest, I haven’t seen the whole movie…just some funny bits via the two different trailers I’ve seen.

As excited as I am about Ricky Bobby, it’s also a commentary on the sad state of cinema so far in summer 2006. I’ve seen more movies this summer than the past few combined, and yet I’ve been let down again and again with what I’ve seen.

I got hyped up for DaVinci Code, again for Pirates, and now I’m really looking forward to Ricky Bobby, especially after the latest trailer. We’ll see if Will Ferrell and Judd Apatow can save this summer with their third classic summer comedy in a row (Anchorman in 2004 and 40-Year-Old Virgin in 2005).

Some movies I’ve seen this summer, with brief comments:

MI:3 (Mission: Impossible 3) - *** out of 5 - Blazing action scenes, a sensible, borderline unique plot, and suspense without cheapness combined to make this movie an enjoyable distraction. I wish this was the first in the series; I’d like to see a couple more like this.

The DaVinci Code - ** out of 5 - The most disappointing film I’ve seen in quite some time (since 2003’s Collateral), DaVinci sums up my feeling about the summer movie season this year: It’s overwraught, it trys to hard, it’s lamely funny, and it doesn’t end well.

The Break-Up - ** 1/2 out of 5 - Notwithstanding the Old 97’s appearance, as well as the Annie Hall-esque ending, The Break-Up was not as funny, nor as poinant, as it tried to be. I still enjoyed it more than most critics across the country, who I feel are consistently (and unfairly) harsh to Jennifer Aniston.

Cars - **** out of 5 - My favorite movie of the summer so far. With spectacular animation and a thoroughly interesting plot geared more towards adults, Pixar did it again. I’m still mildly annoyed at their inability to present any type of humor besides lame, outdated pop culture references.

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest - ** out of 5 - Another major let-down. A movie without the charm, humor, pacing, and excitement of first. To be fair, it also lacks the suprise of the first, but that’s not really a good excuse to spend two-and-a-half hours boring me.

Moorelies.com is retired, and I don’t intend for this space to inherit its subject matter. That said, in checking Instapundit today, I noticed my old mark, Michael Moore, is in trouble again:

A double-amputee Iraq-war vet is suing Michael Moore for $85 million, claiming the portly peacenik recycled an old interview and used it out of context to make him appear anti-war in “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

Sgt. Peter Damon, 33, who strongly supports America’s invasion of Iraq, said he never agreed to be in the 2004 movie, which trashes President Bush.

Geez, just when you think a movie could not be more discredited, along comes one of the people who appeared in it to slam the preverbial door even further. Of course, this isn’t the first time Sgt. Damon has complained about the shameful way he was treated by Moore. In the documentary FahrenHYPE 9/11 (disclosure: which I appear in, briefly), Damon first stated that he was taken completely out of context in Moore’s film. So while these aren’t new claims, they do come after over a year of apparent but unsuccessful efforts by Damon to get Moore to admit his wrongs.

One of the little known facts about Moore’s films- one that he would prefer be kept under wraps- is that he does not personally collect all of the footage that ultimately appear in his films. Far from it; in fact- some is gathered by producers, but even more is culled from vast stock video libraries and editied as it is seen fit by Moore. In Sgt. Damon’s case, Moore obtained the rights to some footage from the NBC News archives, cut it down to fit his argument, and stuck it in. The act can only be described as a lazy, cheap, and thoroughly dishonest attempt to pull one over on viewers. Can you imagine being so afraid of your own positions that you would go to such lengths to advance them?

This isn’t the first time Moore has been sued, for that matter. As Dave Hardy and I wrote in our book, Moore was successfully sued by a former friend who won over $4 million dollars from the filmmaker in a 1993 judgement. The lawsuit stemmed from Moore’s 1986 film Roger & Me, and can you guess what it revolved around? That’s right! The friend successfully sued Moore for taking his words out of context and using them against him on film.

Of course, the fact that this time around the treachery involves a solider injured in battle just makes it all the more disgusting.

UPDATE: Dave Hardy has more.

Despite (or perhaps, due to) my high hopes, I thought The DaVinci Code movie was a long, boring, overwraught, and entirely lame screen incarnation of the book.

I love Audrey Tatou- Ameilie is on my Top 10 All-Time list- and I really like Tom Hanks, Paul Bettany, Jean Reno, and Alfred Molina; but despite that stable of fine actors, not a single of their performances was where I hoped they would be. Perhaps that was due to the clunky, unsure script, which managed to drain the action from the book, dillute its theories, muddy its characters’ intentions, beliefs, and personality traits, and strip away some of the best scenes and turning points.

The most exciting thing about the entire trip was, alas, the previews. I’m happy to report that at least in preview land, all things are well. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (with Will Ferrell) looks hilarious, and Casino Royale (the new Bond flick) looks quite interesting.

The DaVinci Code: C

If you have 11 spare minutes, I highly recommend you click over to Coudal Partners site to view their new short film, Copy Goes Here. It’s pretty darn good!