Nezz

I enjoyed myself! The storytelling was a bit messy and there were a few plot holes but I didn't care much. It bothered me to an extent but not enough to ruin the experience for me. This movie wasn't trying to achieve anything great, it's not vying for any academy awards, it's just there to give people a good time at the movies. For me, it did just that. It pleased most of the people in the theater I was in.

If we're going to be real, okay (spoiler alert): the movie was TOO long. They dragged that dessert scene for ages, which they didn't need to because the story is formulaic, we know Optimas Prime is going to be resurrected and he's going to kick ass, so dragging it on just made everything a bit too melodramatic. The storyline was sloppy--it had a lot of potential but they tried to complicate things, there was a lot of disorganization, rushing through the actual meat of the story. It confused me. That was the beauty of the first movie. They kept it simple and concise and it worked out because they let the characters and the action do the work. We didn't have to try to figure what was going on while we watched cars and robots crash into each other (deciphering plots is difficult to do when there's so much sensory overload). And I have to agree, although the special effects were incredible, I often found myself questioning whether that was an Autobot I was seeing or a Decepticon. It didn't help that they merged Optimas Prime and a Decepticon (although that was VERY cool). The characters seemed more 2D than usual, but it didn't bother me.

All that aside, I still really liked the movie (the first was way better though). I liked what they did bring to the table, the material was good enough (the ending fell a little short, but I was sort of expecting that). I loved the humor in it, it was so alpha and beta male style--I can see how some people might be turned off by that, but come on. They're trying to please a demographic here (cars+robots+hot girls... gotta have that kind of humor interplay). Bumblebee was awesome. I wasn't expecting Isabelle, but sure, I'll buy it.

If this kind of movie reaches out to you, you'll probably have a good time. I think you kind of have to be into the alien robots, cars, that macho-guy sense of humor, massive action scenes or at least be open to it to like the film. By the way, Optimas Prime stole the show every time he came out. He has the best entrances ever.

8/10.

So I've finally found my film of the year to cheer for and (surprise surprise) it's Brokeback Mountain.

Despite all the deafing buzz surround the film, I actually managed to go into the film relatively unfazed and was shocked at how good this film is without all the Oscarbuzz clouding up my perspective. If for any reason Ang Lee hadn't secured his-self in my top 3 favorite directors by now, he's safe now.

I have to say I've never been a fan of Heath Ledger. I have just never found him interesting as an actor and the only movie of his I can really tolerate is A Knight's Tale. But I have to say his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar is one of the best performances I've seen an actor give since the 00's began. From his inarticulate way of speaking to the hurt seen in his eyes, Ledger captivates throughout the entire film. He never once lets up and I appreciate that so much.

Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist is just a wonderful ball of boyish sexuality and confusion. Obviously Twist is more comfortable with his sexuality than Ennis at first and Gyllenhaal is completely believable as a man starving for love and waiting at all cost.

The women are good as well. I actually prefer Hathaway to Williams simply because I'm so shocked she had that type of character performance in her. She is so hilarious as a rich Texas girl growing into the type of rich bitch that type of person could become. Williams was good as Alma but it's nothing I haven't seen from Williams before. She gave knockout performance after another on Dawson's Creek all the time.

There are so many scenes in this film that are absolutely heartbreaking but the absolute best one is the Reunion Kiss between Ennis and Jack in front of the house. Best Kiss of the Year.

Best Film of the Year.

A+

This must just be the year of me being damn hard to impress. That's my story for Film 2005: Bored. (and yet my favorite film of the year, one that I have seen three times and still want to see again, is yet another adaptation of one of the most well trod stories in the English language. Go figure.) For starters, it's way too long. Way, way, way too long and ended about half and hour before it ended. Spielberg, Kushner and Roth went out on what felt like 1001 tangents, striking out with random thoughts and moments that just add to the jumble of thoughts and ideas that lead to my next point.

What the hell was the point of this movie? I suppose at the end, I'm meant to take it for a statement of the impotence of violence, but I found it almost impossible to hold on to that feeling. It was a little 'too little too late'...too weakly expressed at the end of a very, very long, bland and violent (amazing how it can be both) morality tale. Paradise Now did a much better job with this idea, I think.

Yeah, it's Spielberg, so it's well crafted, and there were a few moments that I really enjoyed - during the Beirut mission, the staccato of the rapid gunfire matched with the clanging footsteps running down metal stairs was especially striking. I did hate the sequence with 'threatening to blow up the little girl'...hated with a passion. Cheap, cheap, cheap.

I have a question about the languages used in Munich. Now, I've never really experienced a multi-lingual society, so I don't know in a practical situation how much English would come into play. When dealing with characters of several different nationalities (one of which is a native English speaker), it makes sense to me for the group to be speaking English. But when it comes to scenes of just Israelis, would they be speaking English? Or is the English to make it more understandable to the audience, to not bog down a major expositional scene with subtitles? And if this is the case, how is that any better than Rob Marshall's use of English in Memoirs (which in the end only bugged me because of a). the way it negatively affected the performances and b). the way that they pulled out Japanese whenever they felt like they wanted to be mysterious or exotic)? Just a question.

In short, Boo. I want Raiders Spielberg back.