Movies I did like
with some short comments. I take no responsibility for comments being the same from day to day. These pages contain spoilers. Turn back now if you want!

Some things that will probably make me like a movie: smooth pacing (not necessarily fast), well done special effects (that is, effects that look like what they're supposed to be instead of effects), maintaining self-consistency, getting technical details right, strong characterization (even if it's a bad character), artful or technically pretty cinematography, Sam Raimi, the Coen brothers, Terry Gilliam, Ralph Fiennes, Johnny Depp, Bruce Campbell (Xena notwithstanding), Famke Janssen, Gina Gershon.

• Princess Mononoke, Theater Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I have been waiting SOOOOO long for a big budget non-musical, non-Disney animated movie. This is it. It's >really< good. It's long - if you expect that it won't throw you. The scenery is mesmerizing, the story is interesting, and those arrows will really knock your head off.
  
  
• AntZ, DVD A Woody Allen movie for kids. Yay! However silly it sounds, the final product can't help but be far sillier than your expectations. The animation is breathtaking in parts, and the casting is exceptional. I don't have too much to say about this movie, but it's good eye candy and an interesting story. The special edition supplements on the disc are worth the price of admission.
  
  
• The Matrix, Theater Yow! Go see this one if you haven't. Really good sf is rare, and this is it. The special effects are astoundingly good (and appropriate) and the story holds together surprisingly well under analysis. The end has some corny elements to it, but not enough to ruin the general feel of the film. I particularly liked the explanation of tastes.
  
  
• Cube, DVD Yet another film that looked good, passed in the theater, and bought on DVD for less than two tickets. I enjoyed this movie quite a lot - it's the kind of horror/scifi/suspense with a low budget I haven't seen since Hellraiser. The cast is believable, but it's not really about the cast, it's about the situation. See this movie, but don't watch the trailer first. It gives you a lot of information it's better if you don't have, in retrospect. The DVD quality is about standard, with a couple of neato-factor supplements and deleted scenes. It's a short little film, but a highly entertaining and engaging one.
  
  
• Out of Sight, DVD All I can say is: nice. This movie has a similar feel to Get Shorty (not surprising, since they're both based on Elmore Leonard books). It's not spectacularly good, but >very< solid. I like George Clooney and Ving Rhames, and they're both up to par in this film. Check back - I have more to say about this movie.
  
  
• Lethal Weapon, DVD The first fruits of the 800.com 3 for $1 sale, I was looking forward to this one for a long time. It's one of my favorite action movies, but also one that I've seen so many times that it's hard to justify buying. However, I also realized when watching it that of all the times I've seen it on video, it's never been in widescreen, and it makes a huge difference. The movie's a classic - if you've never seen it, just do. The DVD is high-medium quality, not outstanding, but no obvious flaws, and no supplements.
  
  
• Armageddon, DVD Wow. Yet another one skipped in the theater and picked up during the Amazon 50% off sale, and I will say it was well worth it. I've heard a lot of comparisons between this and Deep Impact, and everybody says one or the other is better for some reason or another, but they are TOTALLY different films, the only real similarity being that the main character is a big projectile hurtling towards Earth. Deep Impact is an emotional drama. Armageddon is an action flick. I've long been a fan of Jerry Bruckheimer (both his solo work and that with the late Don Simpson), and even though his films are almost always silly and testosterone-laced, they are also almost always fun, well paced, snappy, and have amazing special-effects. This one is no exception. The meteor shower raining over New York puts the sequences in Independence Day to shame. The film is visually stunning and the music is good (even the thoroughly overplayed Aerosmith song). It is also pleasantly long (2:30) and good enough to hold interest through the entire thing. Overall, the DVD quality is high, though the layer-switch hung on my player the first time through (I think that's the fault of my player though, since when I went to just before the layer switch and let it roll over, the pause was only a second). I'm a little annoyed about the ad for the soundtrack included in the extras.
  
  
• Blade, DVD I first saw this one in the theater, and picked it up recently on DVD, and I liked it better the second time. This is a great action flick. It is, shall we say, flexible, in plot, but it moves so well you don't really mind. The fight sequences are some of the best I've seen in an American movie, and I'm glad to see that Marvel has recovered from its early crappy movie days. Captain America and The Punisher are gladly nowhere to be found. The special effects are above par, with some small exceptions, and parts of the film are actually scary. The disc is riddled with extra content, including a partly developed alternate ending.
  
  
• Gone With The Wind, DVD Believe it or not, in about 15 years of choosing my own movies, I'd never seen this one. I was simply blown away. Everything about this movie pulses with life, from the acting to the costumes to the brilliant colors of the film itself. While I wouldn't want to watch it again anytime soon (at just under four hours, it's an ordeal), I enjoyed it quite a lot. Yet more Simpsons references explained...
  
  
• Small Soldiers, DVD I picked up the DVD on this one at the Amazon 50% sale after passing up the theater experience, and as Phil Hartman's last appearance, I felt I had to at least give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised! The pacing was >very< good, the CGI effects were indistinguishable from the animatronics, and the story was funny. I loved that the "bad guys" were programmed to hide. The DVD itself is pretty, and the layer switch is at a great point (in a dark room right before the light is turned on), barely noticable.
  
  
• Dead Man, VHS This is a slow movie, but not boring in the least. It's a wonderful example of what you can do with black and white film. Johnny Depp is wildly underrated, and excellent in this. Don't take any drugs before watching it.
  
  
• Bound, DVD This movie has some of the most interesting cinematography I've ever seen, with at least two tableau scenes that I will not forget for a long time. The money laundering is a great image. It's also one of the most violent movies I've seen in a long time, and so forceful and unashamed about it that it comes off well. It also has possibly the best lesbian love scene I've ever come across. Overall, an intense and slick production, well worth any investment of time or money you're likely to make in seeing it, with the caveat that you'll either love it a lot or hate it a lot.
  
  
• Pi, Theater Wow. I was literally falling asleep before this movie started (took a little nap in the 15 minutes between when we sat down and when the film began), and once it started, it swept me up into its ride. While the movie did have some technical faults, it was beautifully crafted, rife with symbolism, and just nutty enough to keep me laughing as my brains tried to squirm out of my skull. This movie is an experiment in conflict; it pervades every aspect of the film, from the stark black and white scenes (there is very little grey and a lot of grain) to the techno soundtrack to the constant thematic crossing between the spiritual and the technological. Unlike many other recent independent directors, Aronofsky has no artistic pretensions about low budgets - he just wants to make good movies, particularly big budget sci fi - and used this as a stepping-stone to get noticed. It worked. I'm listening, and I can't wait until someone gives this guy some serious funding and an ILM team.
  
  

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