Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Oscars, Schmoscars

In the fine spirit of film lovers everywhere, I'll now tell you my favorite movies this year, which pretty much don't line up with the Oscar voters. But what do they know?

Definitely my favorite film is The New World. That's going on the best of all time list.

After that, it gets fuzzy as to "rank" - but I love these for different reasons so up they go (any one of them is quite worth the time and expense of watching):
King Kong
The Constant Gardener
Howl's Moving Castle
Walk the Line
Serenity

I also really enjoyed, but couldn't quite put in the "favorite" and/or "best of the year" category:
Capote
40-year-old virgin
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

Films that were overrated:
March of the Penguins (see Winged Migration instead)
Memoirs of a Geisha (at least the preview version I saw)
Narnia
Crash
Murderball

Not overrated, just disappointing:
Rent
War of the Worlds

Nominated films I don't really care if I see (so correct me if I'm wrong):
Cinderella Man

The films I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen yet (but most certainly will):
Munich
Syriana
Tsotsi
Paradise Now
Matchpoint
Transamerica
Nine Lives
A History of Violence

Films I'm considering seeing:
Hustle & Flow
Mrs. Henderson Presents
North Country
Pride & Prejudice

And then there's the movie you probably won't get to see, because it won't get distribution, but was my favorite documentary of the year (and yes, I did see the nominated films):
Frisbee: the life and death of a hippie preacher

And last night we watched Hotel Rwanda, which was amazing. Now check out this article about a new Jesus movie, which I REALLY hope gets distribution, because I have a hunch I'd love it (LA Times requires registration - you could also try googling "Son of Man" - just premiered at Sundance)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm curious about why you left Brokeback Mountain off your list.

Anonymous said...

You left off what are in my opinion the two best films of the year: Brokeback Mountain and Good Night, and Good Luck.

Stasi said...

Ha ha ha! Because I just completely forgot about Brokeback Mountain. Oops! That was stupid.

It would go under the best movies group - according to my husband Brokeback and Gardener are the contenders for the greatest film this year...but that was before he saw New World (which is just in a category by itself).

As for Good Night and Good Luck, it goes in the "I'm ashamed I haven't seen it yet but have every intention to" group.

Thanks guys. The fever has left my brain a little bit addled.

Stasi said...

I should say I agree with my husband...although he loved Brokeback even more than me...but I have the Africa obsession so of course Constant Gardener would have the edge. My point is that even a manly man loves these two flicks!

But I think I love King Kong just as much. :)

Apostle John said...

I love Cinderella Man. It is a great story about a man of ethics trying to remain so through the greatest of difficulties. You should see it.

I agree with you about THE NEW WORLD. Wonderful film :)

ms. tea said...

i totally agree. the new world is certainly the best picture of the year and it makes it into my "best of all time" list as well, and i'm pretty snobby about movies. malick never lets us down.

amen too on Frisbee, i wish it had gotten the distribution (and production budget) it deserved.

other than that i found it a pretty underwhelming year for movies. thank goodness for netflix!