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List added by The Mighty Celestial on 7 January 2009 07:55
A Buncha Swords & A Bad Santa: My Fave Flix Of '03 |
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 2887  7.6  8.2  "Here comes the Bride, all dressed in white, dum dee dee da dum, here comes the Bride...."  You wanna know just how bad-ass Beatrice Kiddo, the Bride really is? At her wedding, not only does she show up looking like she's late into her trimester of pregnancy, but also at the same time, she has enough balls to wear a wedding dress that is white, the traditional color that is supposed to symbolize virginancy. So then, the question arises, how does one stop such an act of blatant aborition towards such an endeared long-standing nuptial tradition? Try sending her a Bill. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
 
285 7.7 7.7  Speaking as someone who has worked the majority of his life as an illustrator & cartoonist, I was surprised at how close this flick was to the specific style of drawing that got me interested in the field to begin with. Gritty yet beautifully rendered, cartoonishly exaggerated yet realistically animated. I could look at artwork like this all day. Plus, even though it is a foreign film, it has no dialogue in it, at all. And therefore, no need for sub-titles. So if some bizarre accident occurs (heaven forbid, of course) whereby that part of your brain that's responsible for reading becomes inexplicably cancelled out, you'll still be able to watch & enjoy this flick.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
1687 7.4 7.9  This movie is a perfect example of being able to so much with so little. The simple story of two lost souls from two different generations who's dashed hopes & aimless directions lead them to find within each other a quiet, & shared longing for connection thru acceptance, love & understanding.  
191 7.3 7.6  I had heard of Zatoichi, but never bothered looking up anything about this long-lasting character of the East. I stumbled on this DVD, & found myself enjoying it so much, that the end result was multiple viewings with no diminishment in enjoyment. The movie, just like the series of an earlier time, follows the latest adventure of a mystery traveler commonly referred to as the "blind masseuse", who in actuality is a gentle samurai warrior who's lone wolf journeys could've well been the inspiration of the Italian counter-part, "Man With No Name" of spaghetti western fame. Silent, noble & despite his blindness, the ability to see with more clarity, not just the world around him, but also the will & intentions contained within the hearts of all he encounters. A great classic character of the Japanese tradition.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
1312 7 7.8  I like this movie because it's alot like Dances With Wolves. Except, instead of wolves, it's a buncha samurais. And instead the ol' West, it's the ol' East. Of course. 
918 6.6 6.2 I like this movie because it's alot like Once Upon A Time In America.
Except, instead of mobsters, it's abuncha good-looking people doing bad-ass things. And instead of in America, it's Mexico. Of course. Plus, the story's completely different.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
 
3226 8.1 8.8 A movie about a famous fantasy novel series that I've never read. And even though, I felt a bit lost through out certain plot elements, there was enough in this thickly layered tale of wizards, faeries, hobbits & bug-eyed emo moppets to allow me to loosely fill in the blanks to make at least, an over-all blanketed sense out of the whole damn thing.
And even though this was a great series, for me, this series suffered from what I always thought the problem would be of trying to condense such a full & detailed storyline into three movies. The story left the alot areas for the viewer to fill in, certain ideas seem to almost come out of nowhere since there was almost no room to introduce them & there was quite a lack of hatable villians in these movies (Gollum seem to come closest in this trilogy). Now don't get me wrong, they're kick-ass looking villians & their concepts are great, but because so much is trying to be fit in the limited space of the running times, it doesn't feel to me like anyone one can really jump up & down when the good guys ultimately beat 'em. However, all of that is still just a minor quibble. Seeing dragons & giant spiders come to life in the manner that they were always meant to, magic being blasted with the power to awe, & giant sword & sorcery war scenes with a sweeping & mythological epic quality that used to be incomprehensible for the cinema in earlier years make up for any sacrifice that was made in order to be able to fit all this stuff onto the silver screen. Over-all, I was just really happy & satisfied that to finally see a series of the fantasy genre being adapted onto film with the respect & effort of the highest quality.  
2595 6.4 7.1 After this movie came out, could you feel it?
Could you feel the idea & use of special effects in the entire sci-fi genre take a major step forward? I know I did.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
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Description
My favorite movies of 2003. Swords, swords, swords. With Kill Bill, Zatoichi, The Last Samurai, TRotK, Matrix Reloaded, followed along with The Animatrix, the word for this year is swords. List cont. 11. Open Range - After watching so many films, that while on average were pretty good, were still of the standard genres that seem to occupy the majority of screens in theatres these days, when a "period piece" like a good solid western comes into my life, it just feels like a good shot into my movie-viewing system, pard'ner. 12.The Animatrix - One of the most important moments growing up as a huge comicbook nerd was the discovery of Heavy Metal, an anthology comic-magazine full of fantasy, futuristic and/or the emergin cyber-punkologic stories that were not restricted by those imposed upon more immature superheroic fare. When the movie came out, I had expected to see the same quality of creative diversity & no-holds barred story tellingthat I had experienced in the magazine. And tho, it was a valient effort, the film didn't seem to capture these traits to the level of hard hitting expression that I had imagined a film version to do so. Then, many years later, came the Animatrix. And all the things that I as anxiously expecting to see on the HM movie were now being fully realized on the silver screen. 13. The Fog Of War 14.The Cooler - I really like William H. Macy and he's one of those actors that seems to make more right decisions that bad when it comes to choosing a part in a film. And while it's always cool to see him in any movie, when he's the lead character, it's even cooler. 15. Confidence - Not the greatest Con movie, but I'm a big fan of this genre & this was still solid enough to warrant a place on my list. 16. Oldboy - A hard-bitten, no-holds barred tale of revenge that bites hard & holds no bars. And while I know that sentence is doublely redundant, it seems to fit the situation as far the level of emotional ravishing that this story leads it's characters up to. Brutal it may be, it's a film that depicts it story in an operatic level & with a refreshing energy to give the film a distinct life that widely separates it from the standard vengeance theme of traditional Hollywood-fare. IMO, a great flick that is armed with a in-your-face type of plot twist & proves that the medium of the graphic novel & comicbook is a world full of potentially good cinema, if one is willing to shuffle passed the mainstream same old same old. 17. School Of Rock 18. - The Italian Job - How hard is it put the thief-world's version of Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch in a movie & not have it be cool? Yep, it's pretty hard. 19. Terminator: Rise Of The Machines - In my mind, after a movie has been made by James Cameron, it's sequel should not be touched by any other director. (the Alien series being a good example). In the Terminator, while I believe that it's 3rd. installment didn't need to get made, it at least wasn't so bad that it completely ruined the franchise. Though nowhere near as good as the first two, & depending on one's mood during it's viewing ( it can easily be regarded as forgettable), it's story at least manages to run alongside with the that of it's predecessors, without diminishing their impact of greatness in the sci-fi world. It's serves it's purpose to just be a preriod at the end of a really great statement. 20. Daredevil - I know alot of people panned this flick, but I realy liked it. I don't think it was the greatest superhero movie ever made ( & watching Matt Damon's fighting scenes in the Bourne series makes me think his look would've fit the Matt Murdock persona alot better) but I felt it captured pretty well the feeling of the comicbook & was very well entertained by it. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Films from this year that I have not seen but am interested in seeing: - Ong-Bak - Girl With a Pearl Earring - Touching The Void - 21 Grams - House of Sand and Fog - Big Fish - Love Actually Other lists by The Mighty Celestial: My Top 20 Female Movie Bad-Asses http://www.listal.com/list/my-top-10-female 10 Movies That Feature A Dancin' Travolta In 'Em http://www.listal.com/list/my-list-9158 Yep. When It Comes To Comicbook Movies .... http://www.listal.com/list/yep-am-huge-comicbook WAATAAAH!! My Top 10 Favorite Martial Arts Flix! http://www.listal.com/list/my-list-thecelestial The Final Frontier Of Space... & Time. My Top 50 Favorite Sci-Fi Flix Ever http://www.listal.com/list/final-frontier-space-time Can't We Be Dysfunctional Like A Normal Family? http://www.listal.com/list/dysfunctional-family-movies/edit My Other Top Ten Favorite Movies By Year Lists: http://www.listal.com/list/19551959-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1976-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1982-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1983-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1984-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1992-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1993-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1995-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1997-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1998-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1999-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/2004-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/2005-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/2007-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/2008-my-top-ten-favorite
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