A Year of Movies

Week 21: May 21, 2010 to May 27, 2010
Total number of movies watched this week: 8

Free time has been in short supply as of late so this blog entry will be short and sweet.

211. The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc -- The Milla Jovovich marathon continues. I don't know how fact-based this movie is, however, I did like the story, the characters, and how the internal debate was portrayed using Dustin Hoffman.

212. Ultraviolet -- Milla kicks a lot of ass in this, but the story seemed thin. Is this based on a comic book? If so, does knowing the back story of this character make this movie more....enjoyable? An okay movie with some over-the-top fight scenes.

213. Love Happens -- The wife wanted to watch a rom-com so I took a mini-break from the Milla (and Bruce Willis) marathon. In general, I liked this rom-com...but despite really liking Jennifer Aniston, I felt like I'd seen this character from her before. Or perhaps I felt like I was watching Jennifer being Jennifer....I don't know. I'd love to see her in a role that makes me forget that she's Jennifer Aniston.

214. Madagascar -- Somehow, despite having kids, I'd never seen this relatively funny animated movie. I think the penguins were my favorite characters. Is that wrong? Now I have to track down the sequel for the kids...

215. The Fifth Element -- Ah...the Milla / Bruce marathon finally reaches its pinnacle with one of my favorite movies. I absolutely love this movie. I can watch it over and over... A great cast. A great story. A perfect, fun, entertaining sci-fi movie mixed with just a bit of rom-com. Each actor was absolutely perfect for his/her role. Have I mentioned that I love this movie?

216. The Hitcher (the original) -- While I've seen and enjoyed the remake of this thriller, I think the original is still the best by far. Rutger Hauer is so absolutely frightening in this movie. I remember the very first time I watched this movie and actually feeling terrified by him.

217. Sherlock Holmes -- I liked this re-imagining quite a bit. I thought Robert Downey Jr. truly brought the Holmes character to life and I liked Jude Law as a capable Dr. Watson. Admittedly, I haven't seen many of the other, older Sherlock Holmes movies, so perhaps I have less of a bias coming into this movie--but I was entertained by it from start-to-finish and I'm looking forward to what I presume will soon be a sequel.

218. Ivanhoe -- This was the 1982 made-for-TV movie starring Anthony Andrews as Wilfred of Ivanhoe. I loved this movie when I was a kid, remembering basically the jousting and the sword-fighting. Sadly, it didn't quite hold up as well as I remembered, now that I'm an adult, but still, it was a decent movie and I enjoyed seeing it again after so many years. I'd love to see this story (as well as another Anthony Andrews movie, The Scarlet Pimpernel) made into a new movie someday. I wonder, what are the chances of that ever happening....?

So ends another week of movies. Obviously, I love The Fifth Element and it is one of my favorite movies but I'd also add Sherlock Holmes as another movie on my list of...'I'd like to watch that movie again someday' list...