This year was a banner year as far as going to see movies was concerned. In the past, I might go to one or two movies - tops. This year, I went nine - NINE! - times (that I remember). So, here's how it broke down:
Anchorman - Pretty cheese and over-the-top, but in a good way. Will Ferrell is a genius, and the rest of the cast was pretty great as well.
Blade Trinity - Not bad. Saved by actors other than Snipes. Some funny dialogue bits, occasionally not meant to be funny at all.
Bridget Jones : The Edge of Reason - Meh. Not my favourite, but I do like Renee Zellweger.
Dodgeball - I saw this movie around the same time as Anchorman, and some of the actors appear in both, so I sometimes mix the two up. I'm not a Ben Stiller fan (except for Mystery Men), and didn't change my mind after this film.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - This was my favourite Harry Potter movie so far. A lot of the "incidental" action - trips to the library, Quidditch matches, etc, were cut, and made the story less cumbersome. The actors are better at playing their characters now, and the addition of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore was excellent. And I liked Alfonso Cuaron's directing better than Chris Columbus' because Columbus tries too hard to make his child characters be mature and intellegent, like short adults, instead of letting them act like children. Now that most of them are teenagers, they're finally able starting to act their age.
Hellboy - Another meh movie. I do think that any film that uses Tom Waits in the soundtrack is worth watching at least once.
Hero - Stunningly beautiful. The cinematography, the costumes, the fight scenes - all bold and striking. The story? Confusing - I'd have to see it again to be certain who was really crossing who.
Shrek 2 - Better than the original, and more geared towards older kids or adults. The best line in the movie is when Fiona is looking for Shrek, and calls out "Shrek?" Puss in Boots responds, "For you baby, I could be." (You have to hear that line being said by Antonio Banderas to really understand the impact.)
Spiderman 2 - In general, meh. I liked it better than the original, though. (Bonus fun trivia: in the scene where Spider Man is forced to take the elevator, the actor who plays the guy in the elevator is Hal Sparks. Sparks plays Michael Novotny on Queer as Folk, a character that owns a comic book shop and writes a comic book about a gay superhero.)
