Komodo Media » Movies

My favorite movies of 2005

Rogie — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 07:13:11 +0000

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I just finished the book before I watched the movie. That is not to say that I am not a seasoned veteran though. I read through all of the Chronicles of Narnia series when I was about 8. This movie was amazing! It followed the book very very closely. But it had to follow closely. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was less than a hundred pages.I think that the child actors/actresses did an amazing job. I personally thought Lucy Pevensie was the best, however Edmund came in a close second at being the best. Susan was good, but not too featured in the film, just as in the book. Peter was very good as well, but it sort of felt about half way through the movie that Peter was being setup as being the next JTT if you know what I mean. Maybe I’m just jealous of people that are better looking than me ;)

I honestly thought the animals would be tough to tackle, but I really think this movie nailed it. Talking animals from beavers to Lions to mystical creatures such as orcs and nymphs. The characters, especially the beavers were endearing and the wolves were very believable.

Some may think that a movie like this with children that become kings and queens is far too unbelievable and that The Lord of the Rings is far superior. I really think that the creators of this movie did a great job of bringing you back to your childhood, so that you could feel like this is a possible thing, this whole kids fighting bit. Also, the children arent killers. You can see their weakness, which makes fighting children all the more believable.

The battle scene was the best. All creatures of all sorts come into an amazing clash. There are cheetahs fighting fauns fighting rhinos. I really like how C.S. Lewis brought in species from all sorts of different mythologies, contrary to what Mr. Tolkien thought and advised. In addition to the great battle taking place, the battle grounds are in a beautiful scene that I would hope to be Glacier National Park, MT. One of my favorite scenes in the whole movie has to be when griffins are soaring above the battle field dropping boulders as bombs. It rocks :)

The only thing I honestly wish this movie did was to incorporate the first Narnia novel, The Magician’s Nephew into this movie. The previous novel shows you so much of how Narnia came to be, how and why the Wardrobe was able to transfer you to Narnia, and how the old uncle Digory came to be in it’s posession. I think that the first novel also helps to show Aslan’s true power as compared to the queen Jadis and where Jadis even came from.

Lastly, the movie drips of Christian symbolism everywhere and I love it. I love Aslan as the Lion of Judah, a sort of Christ that gave his life to cover the betrayal of Edmund, i.e. the betrayal of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The scene where he is resurrected reminds me so much of how Jesus Christ was resurrected from death for our sins. I love how the human children are the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve. I love how the evil queen Jadis, the White Queen lures Edmund in with food and treats and the promise of being a prince, i.e. Adam and Eve tempted with the apple. For any of you out there that don’t agree with me, I hope you do, because C.S. Lewis was a Christian and that was his intent.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

This movie was amazing. I think honestly it is about a tie with its previous Harry Potter release, The Prisoner of Azkaban. What the first two movies lacked was darkness and a sense of fear. I feel that the last two installments really incorporated darkness and fear with the dementors and currently with the death of a student and a truly grotesque Voldemort. Ohhh…dare I say his name ;)Also, this movie has a more grown-up feel to it, with Hermione getting to be pretty dang hott, the ladies of Delacour being smokin’, and the ball, where there is a lot of teenage crush type business going on. Also, the whole idea of the Tri-Wizard tournament being for kids over 17 and with a risk of death and Harry’s unbeknownst involvement in it makes it a age-pushing more-mature Harry Potter movie.

Once again, this movie’s epic nature continues, with huge stadiums, deadly dragons, and the new idea of a port-key. The port-key is this thing that when you touch it, it becomes a portal to new worlds or other areas of this world. Pretty dang sweet idea, and as you’ll see, it throws a great twist in at the end.

Once again, this movie series proves to be so creative and innovative, that it continues to keep my watching eye and entertain over and over. I sware that by now I would have grown out of this Harry Potter phase, but I keep lovin’ it more and more.

Serenity

Ohhh, let the inner nerd out! Sweet God, Serenity is just a killer sci-fi movie worthy being in any geek’s prized movie collection. Serenity, as I keep calling it, is the movie that the new star wars should have been. It also reminds me of so many of the great episodes of truly wonderful series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, which I feel is the best Star Trek series ever.Ever since the old Star Wars had that great feel of a technologically advanced society that was still a little rough around the edges, with its phaser burned ships and homemade starcrafts, I have felt unenthused with the new glistening perfect 3-d rendered Star Wars series. The new Star Wars came off with too much perfection with its beautiful rolling hills, non-war scarred vehicles, perfect driods and far too many light sabers. The only thing that did help with Star Wars is that episode 3 , I feel attempted to bring that back, but I was still disappointed. Serenity, however, entered the scene with the whole Cowboy/Sci Fi adventure that had that rough, used quality to it. It answered my hopes for the Star Wars series.

In addition to its feel of reality in the post-war era, Serenity delivered with its diverse cast and excellent space-craft design. I love the whole idea of a firefly becoming a cargo spaceship and the dreaded Reaver vehicles are excellent as well. Serenity boast a killer cast, from the original show complete with a hardened ex-warrior captain, a whore with morals, a preacher, a diamond-in-the-rough mechanic, an overzealous gun crazy macho man, a genius doctor and his uber-genius, butt-kicking, slightly mental, hotty sister.

River is to me the focus of the story. She always has been. River is a beautiful, dangerous, mental genius that “The Man”, the alliance has probed to try to use her intelligence. She gets rescued and put onto firefly the ship, unbeknowst to the captain that she is fleeing the government, not that the captain loves the alliance. She is doubted, but in the end as she becomes more mentally stable, she shows off what turns out to be her best assets. River was the coolest character, because for me, it has been since Chun Li of the Street Fighter series that a female butt-kicker has been worthy. In the end, it is River that saves the day, martial arts kicking and blasting Reavers from 360¬? around her. I gotta say, that scene left me saying, “that is sooo hot.” Until, of course, I was reminded that she was like 17. Oh well. :)

Batman Begins

I thought Batman was dead. Seriously, how many sequels need to come out before you realize that you truly are beating a dead horse. So, I thought. Batman Begins completely reinvents the wheel. With star Christian Bale as the new Batman, formerly of “The Newsies,” Batman is shown in his humble beginnings and humanity. You get to see the real Batman. For all of those people who asked how did he get his suit?, how did he get his car?, where did Alfred come from?, how did he learn how to fight?, etc. This is your answer.Batman Begins really is a clean movie. It seemed to me that the other Batmans got really warped and felt more dirty. In this new Batman, romances and action seems a little more clean. I recommended this to my Dad and my little brother and they loved it. With the exception of a poisonous gas that causes things ( including Batman ) to look rather scary and the Scarecrow himself, this movie also isn’t too shocking visually.

What this movie does well is acting, storyline, and action. Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy play very believable roles as Batman and the Scarecrow. In addition, a cast such as Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Rutger Hauer and Liam Neeson, this movie appears to have spared no expense as far as acting. The story is great. It brings you from Bruce Waynes spoiled, pompass childhood to his defeat and recreation as Batman. You get to see how his father essentially created Gotham and the politics, back-door killings and corruption that led to Bruce’s creation of his alter-ego, Batman. The story brings you through Batman’s struggles and experiments with new gadgets and explains how Bruce came into the riches and possesion of such great devices. Lastly, the action is killer and never seems to stop. From martial arts duels to stealthy knock-outs to high intensity train crashes, this movie proves to be action-filled and definitely a movie that I will own.

Another quick thought. This movie has such a feel of the first Batman with Michael Keaton. Once again it brings back the grunge and the reality of life and makes this film all the more believable.

here, look at this

Rogie — Wed, 11 May 2005 00:53:35 +0000

While I am working on a real blog post that doesn’t run on like a stream of conciousness, here are a couple of links that I have seen recently that are kind of funny or interesting:

I have lots to do, but sometimes I get bored. Throw me a cool link to keep me happy :)

Star Wars is RAD

Rogie — Mon, 02 May 2005 22:40:22 +0000

So, star wars is on its way. May 19th is the date for all of the fans to get their freak on. Unfortunately I will not be able to see this blessed film on its opening date. Its funny, I remember when Star Wars episode II came out in 2002, I camped out with my friends Nate King and Emsa Harding in front of the theater 52 hours to its release. We were(are) just dorks. We had our tent pitched, our camping chairs out, and a extension cable ran out to the nearest outlet. We were playing a butt-load of Halo on XBox and were having a wonderful time. Then these freaks that thought we were dorks decide to start bombing us with water balloons and calling us “nerds.” Holy crap was it funny. We got angry and starting acting all football-cocky. We ran up the hill across park avenue and chased them up the hill and over the fence. We never were able to pound them, so we waited. Like the true Star Wars lovin, video game playing dorks we were, we waited for our next water balloon threat. We waited… Then on came the barrage of water again. This time, ever so close to Emsa’s XBox! Emsa was pissed, so pissed I think he pissed himself. But Emsa was this 5′5″ very thin kid with huge hair. There was no way that he was gonna be able to do anything to his rivals. So me and Nate decide that we are gonna hop in the Honda Accord and chase em. Keep in mind that I don’t really get in fights so I don’t even know what we are gonna do if we get these kids in a corner. But, we chase em. We chase em all over Helena. Up by the mall, down by Hastings, up towards the Man Store, till finally we get them cornered in the back of the Man Store ( It wasn’t the Man Store then ). So we get out of the car all chests a’ puffin n stuff. We start screaming at them and I swear it was like something on an elementary school playground. They are screaming “Why are you chasing us, you are gonna kill us!.” Then we yell back, “well, well….why were you throwing water balloons at us!, why why would you do that!.” They are like “we were just having some fun!.” Then we’re like “well, well….you almost ruined my friends Xbox, thats why!.” And that was pretty much it. Nerds rule.

So, theres my story. Any other good Star Wars stories in the closet that you guys wan’t to bring out? Any favorite Star Wars moments? Heres mine:

In Star Wars: A New Hope on the Millenium Falcon when R2 and Chewy are playing space chess.

C3PO: He made a fair move. Screaming about it won’t help you.
Han: Let him have it. It’s not wise to upset a Wookiee.
C3PO: But sir, nobody worries about upsetting a droid.
Han: That’s ’cause droids don’t pull people’s arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookiees are known to do that.
C3PO: I see your point, sir. I suggest a new strategy, R2. Let the Wookiee win.

As a side note, one of my best friends Justin Able dressed up as Han Solo for Halloween. That was the raddest ever.

My Top Ten Movies

Rogie — Tue, 21 Sep 2004 04:56:59 +0000

So, I guess I might be getting carried away with the whole top 20 – top 10 thing. But here she goes. The Top 20 movies list according to me. I encourage any of my friends or visitors to this site to reply (comment) to this post with their own favorites. I’d like to see any movies that are cool that I may have missed. Remember, in this case one of the top 20 could be an entire trilogy or series. Here they are, in no specific order, just the top 20: