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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
 “Difficult times lie ahead, Harry.†Difficult indeed. The kids are growing up – faster than their characters in the book(s). The directors for this franchise keep changing – not always a bad thing, but if you got someone with a specific visual style (Alfonso Cuaron), the successor (Mike Newell) should at least try to match it, or to make the differences less glaring. And finally, the adventures themselves – although they are getting darker and more menacing, thanks to heavy use of CGI and second-rate acting – they are less believable. And repetitive. The three main actors – Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermoine) and Rupert Grint (Ron) were cute and cuddly in the first movies – but in this one they’re just awkward. I don’t have a problem with their characters’ adolescence – everyone goes through an awkward stage. I mean their acting, their “too old for the characters, too young to be grown-ups†behaviour on screen. Having never read the books, I can only imagine that this awkwardness was either intentional, or the age issue is going to get worse unless the future Harry Potter screenplays are adjusted properly. read more...
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40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
 Took me a while to get to go see this film. Not because I avoided it on purpose – not at all. Steve Carell has been a funny guy before that film, and even though everybody just discovered him this past summer as the lovable virgin, I knew him from The Daily Show appearances, the short-lived Watching Ellie, Bruce Almighty and of course, The Anchorman. His atypically funny - not always going for the obvious; and not always rushing to the punchline. He takes his time with jokes, building them up, improvising along the way. And that’s the feeling this movie gave me. Behind the gags and fish-out-of-water situations, there’s a genuinely funny story about a guy who never got laid. A guy who’s being “encouraged†by co-workers to overcome that particular obstacle, and as soon as possible. read more...
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Serenity (2005)
 Ok, this is not going to make me very popular, but here goes: I never cared much for Buffy or Angel. It's not that I didn't like the shows, I just never got into them, and if you consider glimpsing at an odd episode here and there for 1-2 minutes WATCHING, then yes, I watched them. Saw the Buffy movie (wasn't it in the mid-80s), and didn't really care to get hooked on the small-screen version, and the spinoff (Angel). But I heard it was good. In fact, the voices that kept droning on and on about just how good those two shows were - those annoying zombie-like voices was the reason I never got hooked - just don't like anything that has an immediate cult following. It's not natural. read more...
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Corpse Bride (2005)
 First it was Wallace and Gromit, and now - Corpse Bride? Wow, two claymation films in one year, bettrer yet, released within a month? This is very nice indeed - the big studios are looking at the amination a little closer, despite Disney's troubles and closures. I wonder if those two just happened to be finished at teh same time, or it was a strategically planned release, to position new animation studios as the future entertainment sources (as opposed to lousy Disney flicks)? After all, only Dreamworks (Shrek series, Madagascar) and Pixar (anything from them is a gem, really) can release cartoons that actually make money. But enough of cinicism - it was a film from Tim Burton, it was not a typical hand-drawn or tired computer-animated product, it was unusual. And as far as I'm concerned, unusual is good. It's memorable. read more...
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Everything Is Illuminated (2005)
 We are all immigrants. We all have roots elsewhere. Even if you think you've lived in the same little town for generations, keep digging and eventually you'll find that somewhere, at some point in the past, your ancestors have come here, and decided to stay. They immigrated. Therefore you too are immigrants. Don't argue with it, don't rationalize it, just look long enough at your family tree and you'll see where the roots come from. And if you don't see them - aren't you curious to find out? That's the idea at the core of this movie. And you don't have to be a nostalgic, odd-looking, Jewish boy to start looking for your roots half-way across the globe. You just have to be curious enough... read more...
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Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
 Nick Park has done it again. First with the original three short films (each more amusing and precious than the other), then with Chicken Run in 2002. Now, finally the time has come for the famous duo to claim the big screen. For those who don't like animation (or have something against claymation), Wallace and Gromit are an english man and his dog, the former is an aspiring inventor, the latter is the savior who comes and repairs whatever damage is done by a particularly unstable invention. They mean good, but sometimes get carried away with their inventions. They are a great pair of characters, an odd couple of sorts, and it is their relationship that works so well in this film - they are inseparable, and yet, very different to the point of clashing at every turn. The film is not only a showcase of hard work and determination (as you know, stop-motion films are shot frame-by-frame), it's also a testament to a solid script, love of characters, and a phenomenal support cast. You can't help but love this little town and its characters - it feels so real, and yet cartoonish at the same time. read more...
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A History of Violence (2005)
 David Cronenberg has fascinated me since I discovered Dead Ringers in the early 90s. See, I was convinced at the time that there were two guys playing Mantle brothers. I realize that part of the credit should go to Jeremy Irons, but it also takes a special director to present two different people, with two distinct personalities, and appearances. Cronenberg has been studying mutiple personalities and multiple universes in Spider, to an extent in Crash, and definitely in M Butterfly and Existenz. He's also fascinated with people under tremendous stress, being put under scrutiny (again Spider and The Fly), and as you may know, his films typically include a decent dose of gore. Naturally, when I heard about "A History of Violence", the title was all I needed to know. It's Cronenberg's territory. It might be confusing, but it will not be boring for a minute. read more...
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Water (2005)
 Deepa Mehta has been working on this movie for almost seven years. There were troubles on the set, Indian religious organizations
threatened to close the set and pull funding. So the production stopped and moved to Sri Lanka in order to finish this project. Usually
when one hears about "problems on the set", the assumption is that the movie is horrible, and the producers are trying to salvage it.
This is a different story - the movie is controversial, and also important - it needed time and a lot of love to be made. Now that I've seen it, I know it was worth the wait. The film is beautiful and heart-wrenching at the same time. read more...
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The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
Here's a movie you won't easily find in theaters. You probably won't see it released on DVD either, unless you specifically search for it online. Yet it's a great, simple film that will inspire you to aim higher, and live a little larger. This flick has been going from festival to festival, and unless a big studio exec picks it up and spins it, people won't know what they're missing. This summer's lacking in good entertainment, find this film and see it with your family. read more...
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
 Remake films always have it tough - the audiences don't want a different take on a familiar story; the cast and crew are either following someone else's footsteps or are trying too hard to steer away from it. And then there's the story itself - some movies get stale and outdated when they're remade (what were they thinking); while others - are timeless tales, and will flourish in capable hands. This remake is such a story - it worked in early 70s with Gene Wilder, and it works just as well with Johnny Depp, no doubt benefiting from the wild imaginations of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. read more...
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