25. THE NATIVITY STORY
Most of us know it, but hey, that didn't stop THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST from being interesting. This won't have as much blood (PG rating) as THE PASSION, nor the presence of Mel Gibson, but it does have Keisha Castle-Hughes (the chick from WHALE RIDER) playing the Virgin Mary. I smell a surprise Oscar nomination.
24. ROCKY BALBOA
Rocky really hasn’t been good since well, ROCKY (which is now thirty years old), but the fact that Sly Stallone was able to get his dream film (sixth dream film, I guess) off the ground after a decade of pleading and groveling, as well as mostly critical and financial failure, indicates to me that either A) the executives at MGM finally gave in, or the much more optimistic B) there was actually a solid screenplay pitched, and that the movie will be a success. Although the four sequels, all of which were bad and culminated in their badness in ROCKY V, left a bad taste in my mouth, I think I’ll give the Italian Stallion one last go if the film is as good as the trailer.23. THE BLOOD DIAMOND
This one may or may not make its end-of-2006 release date, which is a shame, because if it gets bumped back a few months it will in all likelihood lose out on any award hopes as well as a large chunk of its audience. The rushed scheduling reportedly has to do with Leo DiCaprio having to perform re-shoots for the upcoming THE DEPARTED, which has set things back quite a bit. THE BLOOD DIAMOND, whenever it will be released, will revolve around DiCaprio, Jennifer Connoly, and Djimoun Hounsou searching for a precious, very valuable conflict diamond in the Sierra Leone region. Moral judgments start getting in the way of their initial hunger for the diamond as the realization of the horror that is going on around them starts to sink in.
22. RENO 911: MIAMI
I think this would have been the perfect summer movie companion piece to MIAMI VICE, which while absolutely excellent, was dead serious. Instead, RENO's been pushed back to winter. The trailer was leaked on YouTube a few months ago and made me laugh very, very hard, being a carbon copy of VICE. But funny. I haven't heard much news other than the release date since, except for the whole cast being back.
21. BREAKING AND ENTERING
I watched Steven Spielberg’s ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE a few days ago, which starred Jude Law in a rather small role. I got to thinking that when I look deeper than his boyish looks and all the guff he gets about them, he’s probably one of the ten best young actors in Hollywood today. He was great in AI, ROAD TO PERDITION, CLOSER, and in small roles such as his cameo portrayal as Errol Flynn in THE AVIATOR. Through a little research I found out that he has been nominated for two Oscars in his career, as Best Supporting Actor in THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and Best Actor in COLD MOUNTAIN. Both, interestingly enough, are directed by Anthony Minghella. This is only his fourth film in the last decade, after RIPLEY, MOUNTAIN, and THE ENGLISH PATIENT, where he took home 9 Oscars, Best Picture and Director included. That sounds like two pretty good track records for me. I don’t even need to know what the film is about (and rest assured, I don’t), to be anticipating this one.
20. APOCALYPTO
Mel Gibson's drunken tirade a monthish ago back is good enough to merit two appearances in an entry like this. Other than said tirade, Mel's been pretty quiet since the mega-successful PASSION, working on his next pet project in South America. He's now bringing to the big screen the epic Mayan adventure film you've always wanted to see, you just didn't know it. Hurricanes and drunk tirades (Sorry, I love saying that) have pushed APOCALYPTO's production and release date back (December 8th from mid-August), as well as its budget, which has reportedly cleared $80 million (THE PASSION was made from $30 million of Mel's money). 19. THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
I like sentimental movies, and I like Will Smith. A lot of film snobs will say he can't act, which he can, or that his movies suck because they're always marketed to mass audiences. I can definitely accept it. He's a mega-star with enough clout in Hollywood to be able to sandwich this story of a jobless father trying to take care of his son (played by his actual son) between his $100 million+ projects. Prepare to be teary-eyed from the story and the incorrect spelling of "Happiness" December 15th.
18. FUCK
It's a documentary about the word 'fuck'. Yeah, that's about it. Fuck.
17. CHILDREN OF MEN
Alfonso Cuaron jump-started the Harry Potter franchise as well as making the absolutely sexy Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN. He knows how to direct, and he definitely has some material to work with in CHILDREN OF MEN. It's 2029 on Earth, and women have been infertile for over twenty years. Nobody knows why, and nobody can fix the problen. Clive Owen and Julianne Moore play two liberationists or something who find a woman who guess what, has a baby in the oven. A lot of people think this year will be the one to break the Sci-Fi-Oscar curse that has been present since Star Wars took over the world in 1977. This and another film on the list are two of the biggest reasons for this argument.
16. STRANGER THAN FICTION
It looks like Charlie Kauffman light and not as deep, but it looks almost as funny as any other movie this winter. Will Ferrel plays a tax collector who figures out his life has a narrator, and that actually he is the main character of a book written by a writer known for her tragic endings (Emma Thompson). Along for the ride are a very tattooed Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, and Queen Latifah. 15. DREAMGIRLS
Every bit of buzz I've heard about DREAMGIRLS has been great. A twenty-minute clip got a standing ovation at Cannes, the reviews have said it has re-vitalized Eddie Murphey's career and will catapult Beyoncé Knowles' film career into the stratosphere, and the USA Today even gave it a front-page story on the wardrobe. Not the movie, just the friggin wardrobe. If something so technical can get so much attention, I'm wondering what director Bill Condon's (the writer of CHICAGO) final project will look like.
14. HOLLYWOODLAND
Technically it was released yesterday, but HOLLYWOODLAND looks good enough to get a spot. It's the story of he unsolved mystery of the death of former Superman actor Christopher Reeves, as played by Ben Affleck. A gumshoe investigator is hired to dig up some dirt (Adrien Brody), and what he finds shakes the town. Diane Lane plays the woman who was having an affair with Reeves while married to one of the most notorious and powerful of producers in Hollywood (Bob Hoskins). The most surprising thing to me is the acclaim Affleck has gotten so far. Some are saying its fatherhood that has made him change a corner and give a tragic, beautiful, intelligent performance as the man who doesn't want to be known as the Man of Steel. Jonathon Freeman's bleached-out, beautiful, and time-transcending cinematography is another reason to pay the price of admission.
13. THE GOOD SHEPERD
Before Robert de Niro sold out, he made some damn great epic crime dramas. Here he's starring and directing the story of one of the CIA's first agent's life (played by Matt Damon). The film supposedly spans four decades, has a price tag of over $100 million, and has Joe Pesci in it. Yes, Joe Pesci is alive.12. LITTLE CHILDREN
I still haven't seen 2001's IN THE BEDROOM, but it has been said that director Todd Field's first film is blistering, affecting, and beautiful. The same goes for the look of his follow-up, LITTLE CHILDREN. Kate Winslet does her flawless American accent again, and like always looks Oscar-worthy. The trailer uses the sound of a train coming closer and closer and getting louder and louder as a metaphor to represent the building pressure between the three main characters, a married couple and a woman in their neighborhood who is having a relationship with the husband, played by Jennifer Connoly, Patrick Wilson, and Winslet. Does anyone else smell Oscars?
11. THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP
Michel Gondry is using the same broken-style narrative form he used in his directorial debut ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND in his follow-up, starring Gael Garciá Bernal. Bernal is one of the best young actors in Hollywood today, and providing that ETERNAL SUNSHINE wasn't just a fluke, Gondry is a terrific director. Bernal plays a man who sometimes can't decipher whether he is dreaming or awake, and all the while is trying to hold on to the girl of his dreams (ETERNAL SUNSHINE, anyone?) Click here to see the trippy trailer.
10. BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION KAZAHKSTAN
Sacah Baron Cohen is a hot commodity right now, especially coming off of TALLADEGA NIGHTS. I don't want to say that BORAT looks any smarter than TALLADEGA, because it really doesn't, but it looks better. It's not just an exhibition to see how stupid Will Ferrel can make his character, but a movie with some real creativity and a stretch of a character, by the looks of it. Words can't really do it any justice. Just watch the trailer.9. THE GOOD GERMAN
George Clooney had a lot of success in a spy movie last year and a lot of success in a black-and-white movie. THE GOOD GERMAN is both, and Steven Soderberg's latest, from the pictures and plot only, looks as good as both of Clooney's movies were last year (they were GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK and SYRIANA, by the way). It's got Clooney globe-hoppiong again as a reporter in WWII-era Berlin searching for an ex-flame's (Cate Blanchett) missing husband, along with an American soldier with black market connections (Tobey Maguire, who's getting a lot of buzz).
8. THE DEPARTED
TAXI DRIVER, GOODFELLAS, CASINO, GANGS OF NEW YORK, and MEAN STREETS aside, Martin Scorsese doesn't know how to make a crime drama. He's supposedly giving it a try though, with some guys named Leo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nichlaus. Or something.
7. THE BLACK DAHLIA
One thing I've noticed over the past year and a half, with SIN CITY, BRICK, HOLLYWOODLAND, and LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN to some extent, is that crime noir is back. THE BLACK DAHLIA is the story of the most brutal and most famous of Hollywood murders, that of a young actress who was murdered, disembowled, and then slashed with a knife from ear to ear in an eerie grin to shake up the cops. Brian De Palma, who actually does know how to make a crime drama (SCARFACE, THE UNTOUCHABLES) directs Josh Hartnett (who was in SIN CITY and SLEVIN) and Aaron Eckhart as the two cops assigned to the investigation, with Scarlett Johannson and Hilary Swank playing the love interests.
6. BOBBY
I haven't seen a trailer yet. I haven't seen a poster. Hell, I haven't even since one picture for BOBBY yet. Why is it my sixth most anticipated movie out of the hundreds of others that will be released this year? The monumental cast who headlines Emilio Estevez's very interesting take on the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968. The film doesn't revolve around him, but rather the stories of the people working at the hotel he was at when he was shot. When I think of this, I picture Altman's SHORT CUTS. If it turns out like that did, it will have earned its spot on the list.
5. FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS/LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
I've given up about trying to figure out whether or not Clint Eastwood wants to release LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, his film about the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima from the Japanese standpoint, at the beginning of next year or if he's really gunning for an Oscar and wants to release it simultaneously (or within a few weeks of) with FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS. Either way, his extremely ambitious project looks to be the next great epic war film, and it'd really be the first great straight war film since SAVING PRIVATE RYAN eight years ago (THE THIN RED LINE doesn't count). 4. CASINO ROYALE
I'm torn over CASINO ROYALE. On one hand, it looks flat out great. Daniel Craig looks right at home in the role that had fans screaming over, and he looks like he's going to bring the dark, edgy version of Bond back to the big screen, and bring it back well. On the other hand, this is not the Bond of old, by the looks of things. Whether its a good thing or not this film won't be in the same vein as GOLDFINGER, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, DR. NO, and other classic 007 films, where James beats up hundreds of anonymous bad guys, seduces several women, and blows up buildings, and at the end straightens his tie with a nod and a wink to the camera at the absurdity of it all. Times change, and nobody realizes better that better than me, I often feel (MIAMI VICE didn't have enough color blah blah blah say the purists). As radical a change as CASINO ROYALE will be from say FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, I have a feeling I'll be nuts over it if its as good as the trailer.3. RENAISSANCE
Back-to-back Daniel Craig, this time with him being seen through rotoscoping (the same process used in WAKING LIFE and A SCANNER DARKLY). He plays a detective in 2054 Paris who investigates the murder of a woman who works at a pharmaseuticals plant. Like most stories similar to this, he uncovers a massive conspiracy. The story isn't what I'm interested in, the visual style is. Imagine SIN CITY, but more polished, distinct, eye-popping, and asthetically beautiful, that's what RENAISSANCE looks like. I also can't say I've been more captivated by a trailer and its score since the first glimpse I saw of REVENGE OF THE SITH about a year and a half ago.2. BABEL
I have only seen about twenty minutes of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 21 GRAMS, but what I got out of that twenty minutes was great acting and brilliant, crushing emotional power. BABEL is his follow-up, an ensemble piece with Brad Pitt highlighting a stellar cast featuring Cate Blanchett as his wife and Gael Garcia Bernal as an illegal immigrant crossing the American/Mexican border. The film looks as raw and emotionally draining as any other this year, and if the reports from the Venice Film Festival are true, BABEL will be something special.1. THE FOUNTAIN
And now we arrive at the top of the pig-pile. A year ago the teaser was released for Darren Aronofsky's THE FOUNTAIN, and the first thing I thought of after the 30-second spot was done with was '2001'? That's how damn good it looks. Its about thre parallel stories spanning one thousand years, all three about the same man trying to find the cure for his dying wife's illness, and along the way discovers the Foutain of Youth. Not only does it sound conceptually mind-blowing, but I've read that the script is one of the most surprisingly touching and emotional of recent romances. While having hopes that it would match 2001 in quality is unrealistic, I truthfully wouldn't be all that surprised at this point.And now back to real life...
The past two weeks have been pretty damn good I have to say. School has started and I'm actually not dreading waking up before 7 this year, and my classes have actually been fun. It was great to see everybody on the first day and its been a very smooth and easy transition into the full routine. Before it started I was questioning whether or not I really wanted to run cross country, for one because I was feeling particularly lazy (and getting fat from working at Rick's all summer), and also because I've never really been able to stay healthy and dread having to leave the team again because I physically can't run. To say that I've stayed off the DL over the first four weeks would be a stretch, but it wouldn't be one to say that I'm feeling great from running. I'm not experiencing the same head-and-shoulder improvements I had at the beginning of the season last year, but I wasn't expecting too. The people are the real reason its been such a fun ride so far. We lost Miles and Kevin last year, and while it would devastate most teams to lose two top-ten runners, we haven't really been. We just got back one of our fastest, most naturally gifted runners, and if we can stay healthy we will definitely be back at States. We've also added some pretty awesome girls to the team, Molly, Erin, Jesse, and Nora especially. It's been a lot of fun. And I can't recap the last two weeks without mentioning PL.
That's Pilgrim Lodge to you.
What is PL? At its simplest form its christian camp. We have Chapel and Vespers, and we talk about God and who/what he is, and we sing graces before our meals. I've been going to PL for eight years now, and four at Family Camp (which was what was going on over the weekend). When you go out of your way to be somewhere for the long, you make a connection with the people you're with. School is one thing, but I'd say only 1/4 of the people at my school would be going if they weren't forced to. At PL, it's all your choice. I've known Alex McLeod since we were both in third or fourth grade, and we've been going to the same camps for that period. Whenever we 
see each other for the first time of the week, it's like nothing has changed. We are who we are, not what the people around us has molded us into. At this place cynicism goes out the window, and stays out for the weekend. I've only known Kegan Zema for two years, having gone to Moosehead (which in itself is like living another lifetime) over the past two July's as well as Family Camp with him. Really, we've only seen each other for something like 20 days. But its that connection that we have, that's what fuels our friendship. That's how there isn't any tension or awkwardness at the beginning of the weekend. We jumped into each other's arms like a couple of schoolgirls, and I don't feel gay or stupid or childish for saying it how it was. Camp is a three-day high for me, and the one of the best parts about it is the way I feel afterward. I don't feel overwhelming sadness. I feel hopeful. I know this year is going to be different because we'll be able to see each other outside of camp, and that will make our friendship even stronger next summer, which will probably be the last we ever share with each other. 
That whole rant right there might seem like I've got some sort of gay for Kegan, but I don't. I'd say that I got carried away there, but I didn't. I'm rarely able to convey how I feel about PL to people who haven't experienced it first-hand, and since I feel that I convey my thoughts best through writing, it makes sense. As awesome as they were, Kegan and Alex weren't what Family Camp was all about. Even with Nick Solloway out for the year (which really sucked) as well as Beka being in college, we had a tight, tight group. I've known Elsie and Jimmy for a long time, but I really only got to really know them and chill with them this year. I'd always kind of felt the were a little bit on the outside looking in at camp, 
because they really stuck with each other (how many teenage siblings do that?). This year I think they opened up a bit, and it paid off. I can now say I'm really friends with both of them, which is great because it could be the last time I ever see them. We all slept in the lodge and drove the parents crazy until the wee hours of the morning, we walked the Labyrinth, we sang Johnny Appleseed, and we watched Alex and Kego transform into rock gods. Whatever it was that we were doing though, we did it together, which is what PL is really about. I wish everyone could experience it. Click here to see pictures of the weekend. If I'm counting right, I took thirteen of them.As we disconnected for the world and connected with each other, stuff happened on Planet Earth. Mainly Steve Irwin died and the Yankees continued dominating. They've really got what it takes to go all the way this year, I believe. Over the past two months the Yankees have gone from three behind the Sox in the AL East race to ten up on them. It pains me to say it now, but I didn't write an entry after we swept the five game series we had with Sox, probably because I was too ecstatic to. It was the most fun I've had experiencing baseball since Aaron Boone hit the walk-off homer off Tim Wakefield in the '03 ALCS. Since then the Sox have really given up, trading away Boomer, who was really their best starter at that point, for a prospect. I'd like to add that Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield still are not back, and that those thirteen games we've made up have all been played without them. How many other teams could compete without two All-Star outfielders? None too many. In other sports news, Team USA lost out on its quest to win the World Basketball Tourney. It sucks, but I don't see the same outcome for the Olympics in '08. Keep the faith.
And now, for some quick reviews.
CHUNGKING EXPRESS
CHUNGKING EXPRESS was a frustrating experience. I went into it expecting nothing. I really didn't know anything about it, other than a person who I consider to be one of the finest students of films alive considers it to be the best film of the 90s. After finishing the film I had the same thought process running through my had as I did before starting it: 'What is this film about?"
What I got out of it was a supposed romance that goes nowhere, and takes its time doing so. Director/writer Kar Wai Wong uses a dizzying, nauseating handheld camera to try to get a raw feel for the Hong Kong life, and fails miserably. The story features a Hong Kong man only known as Cop No. 633, who is dumped by the girlfriend he loves on April Fool's Day. Thinking it is a joke, he waits thirty days to see if she will take him back. She doesn't.
Two more women come into play; a hitwoman of some kind who has no purpose to the story and a woman whom 633 meets while in a marketplace. There is no connection or emotion shared between them, least of all in a romantic way, although Wong's script wants to force the point that there actually is a connection on to its audience. I didn't feel anything towards the characters and didn't feel they felt anything for each other besides feelings of awkwardness.
Overall CHUNGKING EXPRESS is a muddled mess, with its boring, uninteresting characters and performances providing no artistic or entertainment value to its name.
C-
MYSTIC RIVER
When MILLION DOLLAR BABY was released, most everyone said Clint Eastwood was on a torrent two-film winning streak. He won the Best Director Oscar for MILLION DOLLAR BABY, and the year before was nominated for MYSTIC RIVER. I for one can not see why this happened. If any glaring miscalculation is most visbile in this film, it is Eastwood's direction.
At its core, MYSTIC RIVER is a character study about four people. Three are long-time friends, played by Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon. The fourth is the wife of Robbins' character, played by Marcia Gay Harden. Similar to last year's CRASH, the actors go for broke, but ultimately the overall film is not reflective of the gutsy, emotional performances.
Penn's character is Jimmy Markum, an ex-con who has moved on with his life and is now married to a good woman (Laura Linney, in a thankless, curiously small and unimportant role) and has three daughters he loves, including his eighteen-year-old Katie (Emmy Rossum). When she is found murdered, Markum finds himself connected to Dave Boyle (Robbins) and Sean Devine (Bacon), the friends who he has not associated with since a haunting childhood event. Boyle is now considered a prime suspect in the case, and Devine is the detective investigating the murder at Markum's request.
As I said, MYSTIC RIVER is a character study at its core. Where Eastwood goes wrong in his direction is turning the film into a by-the-numbers, emotionless police procedural. There is little suspense, and there really doesn't need to be. Eastwood , though, attempts to stretch what little suspense there is into a full-fledged mystery, which the film really is not meant to be. Penn and Robbins won Oscars for their roles, and I can see the argument for each of them (I don't necessarily, but), as each of them pours their souls into their complex characters, and the result is gripping. That makes the overall messy feel of the film all the more frustrating.
B-
And last but not least, my list. While I was at PL I came up with a list of 50 movies that I want to watch in the next 50 weeks. You can see the whole list plus watch as I track my progression through the list over the next year, with reviews and commentary, right here.
Until next time, stay classy Planet Earth.
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