Punch-Drunk Love

I liked Punch-Drunk Love when it first came out 17 years ago, and I watched it again to see what I would think of it now. It's not a movie for everybody, but it hits perfectly for me. I can totally identify with Barry. The soundtrack gets a bit obtrusive, and the plot isn't terribly realistic. But I love the humor, and the way his sisters act is a spot-on representation of how people really are.

I generally haven't hated Adam Sandler movies. I liked 50 First Dates. I liked Billy Madison, although I was nine when I saw it, so my opinion might change if I saw it again. I think he eventually went south with the dumb comedies, though, and I haven't seen him in anything for a long time.

I saw Punch-Drunk Love when it came out, but that was 17 years ago, which is insane to think about. I liked it then.

The Proposition

The Proposition is one of my favorite movies. Nick Cave's soundtrack is bewitching, and the landscapes are beautiful. All of the actors are great, and there’s so much depth to the characters. Everything about it is meticulous and nuanced. I’d dial back how graphic some of the violence is, but other than that, it's brilliant.

This is at least the third time I've seen The Proposition. I saw it when it came out, and it's one of my favorites. Apparently I don't even have a rating for the previous times I've seen it. I absolutely love it, though. It's great right from the beginning, when you've got everybody there -- Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, and Mikey. And they start right away cutting to the landscapes, and Charlie on his horse. The visuals are so great the entire time -- the scenery, the composition, everything. It makes you feel like you're really there.

Gladiator

I have a history of not liking Ridley Scott movies, and there's nothing in Gladiator for me. The time period reminded me of Titus (the Anthony Hopkins movie, not the comedian). I’d recommend watching that instead.

Gladiator came out the same year as Snatch. I guess I'm on an old movie kick. Like Snatch, I saw Gladiator back then, but I had completely forgotten all of it, and for some reason, I never saw the ending of Gladiator. It's widely regarded as a good movie, I guess. One of the people I was watching it with kept saying "this is such a good movie" during it, but I didn't share that sentiment. I think I'm pretty safe in saying I just don't like Ridley Scott's movies.

The opening fight scene reminded me of Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. I guess Gladiator came out first, so it should be the other way around. It's not a very feminist movie. There's not really anything for women to identify with or like.

Snatch

Guy Ritchie might be my favorite director. I love his style, and it really shines here, more than in any other movie of his that I've seen. Snatch has a ton of good actors, all playing great characters. Each one contributes something, even if they’re only in a few scenes. It's consistently funny throughout, there's always something new and unexpected happening, and the way it all comes together is great.

I'm pretty sure I must have seen Snatch at some point. But I was only 14 when it came out, and I didn't remember it at all. I knew where the diamond ended up because I read a reference to it somewhere, but other than that and the fact that Brad Pitt played a gypsy, I didn't know anything about it.

I like Guy Ritchie's movies a lot, with the exception of Lock, Stock. Maybe I should watch it again. Or maybe not. Snatch seemed a lot like Rocknrolla and Layer Cake (not a Guy Ritchie movie), only a million times better. I don't know what the point of making Rocknrolla even was since he had already done Snatch. Lock, Stock would probably be similar enough that I wouldn't get anything out of it.
 
Snatch had me hooked right from the beginning. I love Jason Statham, although by the time I watched the second movie that I saw him in (The Bank Job, which incidentally, I didn't like him in), I had completely forgotten that he was in Snatch. To be fair, that was eight years later, which is a long time to remember an actor you've never seen in anything else.
 
But his character was great in Snatch. Although I didn't get why he needed to reference "zee Germans" three times. I loved his sidekick, too. I felt like I knew him from somewhere, but I don't think I really did, even though I've seen a few things that he's been in. I also felt like I had just seen the diamond guy and Brick Top as bad guys in similar movies, but apparently I hadn't.

The Beaches of Agnes

Beaches of Anges really gives you a feel for who Agnes Varda is. I loved listening to the way she narrates this documentary about her life, and seeing all the fanciful, whimsical images she comes up with.

Beaches of Agnes is basically about Agnes Varda remembering some stuff that happened to her around beaches. I just like Agnes Varda. It's interesting to see the things that she comes up with. They're so fanciful and whimsical. The mirrors at the beach at the beginning are so cool.

X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand is a pointless abomination that deserved to be retconned. The ending is quite possibly the greatest failure in logic ever to exist.

X-Men: The Last Stand is easily the worst X-Men movie I've ever seen. Maybe it's because Bryan Singer wasn't involved. I can definitely see why they retconned it.

The entire thing was just terrible. Wolverine's hair looked ridiculous for most of the movie, and Storm's wig was super distracting. Kelsey Grammer was a weird Beast. Nick Hoult is much better. I still don't like Halle Berry as Storm. I do still like Rebecca as Mystique, though. Knowing her backstory gave the character more depth than it probably had for people watching the movie when it first came out. And I still liked Ian, too. Magneto's entire team was more interesting than the X-Men. I don't really see them as villains.

X-Men 2

Nothing really astounding happens in X-Men 2, but I haven't seen an X-Men movie yet that I didn't like (except maybe The Wolverine), and I enjoyed it.

It's been like two weeks since I watched X-Men 2, so this definitely isn't the optimal time to be writing my thoughts. I saw the first X-Men movie when it came out. I guess this one just didn't grab my interest, because I hadn't seen it. I think I like watching pretty much anything X-Men related. Hugh Jackman looks so young here compared to in Logan. He's like a little baby. I didn't really like Halle Berry's Storm. I like it better when they go a more African direction with Storm. Rogue's Lousianan accent was cool.

I loved the interaction between Xavier and Magneto. I think watching First Class and Future Past before this one added some depth to their relationship, and also to Mystique's character. I still think Rebecca is a million times better as Mystique than Jennifer.

If I came in expecting it to be some epic Blockbuster movie, I would probably be disappointed. But a lot of cool stuff happened. And it's perfectly enjoyable as just another episode of the overall X-Men story.

Moon

I can't really say that I *liked* Moon, but seeing how things played out was interesting.

It seems like everybody I know has seen Moon. Somehow I didn't hear anything about it until seven years after it came out. I didn't really know what to expect. All I knew about it was basically "a guy on a space station, something something AI."

The Departed

The Departed is a bit dated, but the acting is good, and I guess it’s interesting enough, if you like that kind of thing.

I had always heard that The Departed was good, but I wasn’t interested in it. Now that I finally got around to seeing it, it seems kind of dated, but I guess that’s what happens when you watch something that’s a decade old.

Layer Cake

Layer Cake is your typical crime movie, but there are some interesting shots, characters, and events here and there, so it's worth watching if that's your thing.

Off to a slow start this year with only one movie a month so far. I don't know if I've ever actually known anyone who liked Layer Cake, but it's a name you hear thrown around, so I figured I should see it. I didn't know anything about it, but I do like Daniel Craig. His eyes are crazy blue. I wound up turning the subtitles on about a third of the way through, which I probably should've done to begin with, because it helped a lot.

The Secret of Kells

The Secret of Kells has an interesting feel to it, but I wasn't into the animation style overall, and the story didn't really go anywhere.

I liked Song of the Sea, so my friend thought I might also like The Secret of Kells, but I didn't think it was as good. The animation was still interesting, although I've always been bothered by those Samurai Jack-style square fingers. And the cat and the wolf had spiky points for feet, which was really weird. And the cat's "X with a circle around it denotes the nose and mouth" bothered me, too. And I didn't like the linework on a lot of people's faces, like how the same line for Aidan's beard turned into his ear. Okay, maybe I really wasn't into the animation on this one.

Repo! The Genetic Opera

Repo! The Genetic Opera is just really, really bad. It looks cool some of the time, but the terrible music kills it.

Back around the time Repo came out, a friend watched it. For some reason I wasn't interested, or he was watching it when I was about to go to bed or something, because I saw about the first third of it and not the rest. People seem to like it, though, so I thought I should see the whole thing. It turns out the first third was the only halfway decent part and it's all downhill from there.

I did like the Graverobber. He's easily the best part. I like his aesthetic. And he has the best song, about Zydrate, which is the only good song. The music is really terrible. Shilo's punk interlude was the worst. It didn't make any sense at all. Rotti's children were so weird. They didn't have any depth at all, which I guess was the point, but it made them really hard to get into.

RocknRolla

RocknRolla is a fun movie. I guess the plot is sort of original, but it mainly gets by on the likeability of the characters.

I guess I can officially say I like Guy Ritchie's stuff. The Man from U.N.C.L.E was great, and I liked Sherlock Holmes and Snatch (although I no longer remember the latter). RocknRolla really pulls you in. It's engaging right from the start, and the characters are all likeable. It's interesting how little Mumbles and One Two want to hurt people, considering their line of work.

The Transporter

I could barely force myself to think about The Transporter for long enough to write anything about it. I don't know why I thought it might be good, but it profoundly was not. Definitely one of the worst, cheesiest movies I've ever seen. Everything about it was horrible, from the music to the action, dialogue, and plot.

I wasn't interested in The Transporter when it came out, but I later became a fan of Jason Statham (Death Race and Crank, anyone?), so I decided to check it out. Bad idea. Easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I don't even think Statham is that good here. The music was absolutely horrible. The action sequences were so obviously choreographed and slow. There were huge pauses for Statham to hit his marks, with all the bad guys patiently waiting for their turn to be attacked.

Zoolander

The humor in Zoolander ranges from dumb to tasteless, and there's pretty much no reason to watch it.

I wanted to see Zoolander when it came out - and I was 15 - but at some point I realized it wasn't worth seeing. I should've stuck with that. I'm not a huge fan of Ben Stiller, and the schtick he did for the movie didn't help. I do sometimes like Will Ferrell; he didn't have a huge part here, but he was good. Owen Wilson was probably the best part of the movie, but that didn't make it anywhere near worth watching.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is about the same as the other LotR movies. They changed some things from the book that I don't agree with, but it's still fun to be able to see the story.

I didn't think it was going to work out, but I actually managed to watch all three LotR movies in a row. I wonder what I would've thought of them if I hadn't read the books. There are a lot of things that don't make sense or are just wacky, like what goes on with Denethor, that don't bother me in the movies because that's just how it was in the books. I guess it doesn't all jive 100% in the books, either, though. I just kind of accept them for what they are. The story isn't perfect, but it's still interesting.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is obviously a middle movie. It's a little bit grueling, but they're on a long journey. It's still interesting, and it definitely leaves you wanting to see how it all ends. 

I actually saw The Two Towers a week after the first LotR movie, so it was a nice continuation of the story. I pretty much have the same thoughts about this one as I did about the first one. I like hearing all the language, and seeing how they represent everything. Liv Tyler makes a pretty good Elf. They changed a lot more things in this movie than the first one. I didn't think they were necessary changes this time, either.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

I really liked seeing Tolkein's book "come to life," to be cliché, in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I don't agree with some of the changes they made in the plot, but they did a great job visually. It does seem a bit dated, but so do the books.

I've wanted to see LotR since it came out, but I wanted to read the books first, and I didn't do that until a couple years ago, and by then I didn't have time to watch old movies anymore. I tried to read The Hobbit, and either it was the most boring book I've ever read, or it was one of maybe two books that was so terrible I didn't finish it; I can't remember which. Either way, I won't be seeing that series (and it's not supposed to be good, anyway).

I feel like an unusual amount of memes came out of this series, like "one does not simply walk into Mordor." And that wasn't even a big line in the movie. Why did it become so popular?

This movie has a weird look to it, like it was shot on old-school film, and it has a weird old-school fantasy vibe to it in general. But so did the books -- they were written in 1937-49, after all -- so maybe they were going for authenticity. The opening part in Hobbiton reminded me of Willow.

Synecdoche, New York

Synecdoche, New York follows the proud tradition of Charlie Kaufman movies that I don't enjoy. His characters are always unlikeable, and I can't get invested in them. There are a lot of things about it that could be funny if it weren't so depressing as a whole. I can appreciate it, but it's resoundingly not my thing.

2008 seems like a long time ago. It was only seven years. Maybe anything before 2010 registers as "a long time ago" for me. Charlie Kaufman is not my favorite writer. I could appreciate Being John Malkovich, but I didn't like it. I found the characters to be really unlikeable, which was the same problem I had with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I generally hate surrealism, and that movie is pretty out there. Plus if you don't like the characters, it's just really hard to be invested in what's going on.

It's All Gone Pete Tong

It's All Gone Pete Tong (which is about a DJ who goes deaf, if you haven't heard of it) is one of my favorite movies. It's not super deep, but it is funny and good-natured.

It's All Gone Pete Tong is one of my favorite movies, and I don't care if it is unrealistic and simple. This was either the second or third time I've seen it. Paul Kaye's eyes are so striking, and I love Frankie's whole "Ibiza" look. There are so many great lines in the first half of the movie.