Rented & Theatre release viewings:

1. Munich - It's a shame it's been so overlooked, it's a stunningly emotional film.

2. House of Flying Daggers - I much preferred Hero, but still worth seeing.

3. Children of Dune - Based on the book; it's good to watch it with someone who's read the books, otherwise can be confusing.

4. Chronicles of Narnia - I have a feeling it will become a favorite movie very very soon.

6. Closer - I hated it. The acting was good, for the most part, but seemed forced at points. The story itself was horrible, especially the ending. BLECH.

7. Orange County - It's not a "laugh outloud" film, but is bittersweetly funny. It took me a bit to get into it, and it was worth watching. 

8. Streets of Fire - A wonderfully bad '80s film with Willem Defoe, Rick Moranis and some other actors. It's supposed to take place in the '50s but it's obvious that it's the '80s. Famous singer gets kidnapped, old flame comes back to rescue her. Great music by Bonnie Tyler and Ry Cooder.

9. The Life Aquatice with Steve Zissou - Brilliant. F-ing Brilliant. I love Bill Murray, he's wonderful. Wes Anderson's genius.

10. Confliction/Homeland - Niels & I went to the Goethe Institut to see this. It was supposed to be about a young man's quest to understand his German-American identity Post WWII, but turned it into what it means for all Germans to be German Post WWII. It had great potential but got sidetracked.

11. Stalag 17 - Considered a classic POW WWII film, I really enjoyed it. Parts were laugh out loud funny, other times intense. Thank goodness for Niels, he acted as translator when German was being spoken, as there were no subtitles.

12. The Great Escape - Steve McQueen was one fine fine man. I've mixed feelings about the movie. It definately didn't turn out the way I was expecting it to.

13. Lost in Translation - I think it's one of my favorite films; I need to buy it. I think it's Bill Murray's finest film.

14. Ikiru - It started out well enough but about half way through it began to feel very heavy handed. I much prefered Seven Samauri.

15. Smoke Signals - Adapted from the book "The Lone Ranger & Tonto Fistfight In Heaven" by Sherman Alexie. Even though I got the impression the characters seemed to be a bit stereotyped, I really enjoyed the movie. Definately worth renting.

16. Broken Flowers - meh. It was ok. It's totally not a laugh outloud comedy, but has some funny bits. Seriously 'tho I think I'm in love with Bill Murray.

17. Corpse Bride - Considering the great cast, the awesome filming style, it was a pretty crappy movie.

18.  Nowhere In Africa - A Jewish family escapes Nazi Germany by emigrating to Kenya, and the challenges they face. In German with English subtitles. A very beautiful film.

19. Spirited Away - A young girl, Chhiro, & her family wander into a magical world ruled by a witch & when her parents disobey the rules are turned into pigs. Chhiro must find a way to rescue her parents. In Japanese with English subtitles. Two thumbs up! I like the director a lot.

20. A History of Violence - Totally intense. A couple times I thought I'd have to turn it off & finish watching it the next day.

21. The Constant Gardener - So good. So extremely sad & upsetting. Makes me hate the big phara companies.

22. Where The Truth Lies - I love Colin Firth, but this movie sucked

23. A Very Long Engagement - Should be called A Very Long French Film. I was underwhelmed by the story, but the horrors of WWI were amazingly filmed.

24. Good Night, and Good Luck - holycrapwhataneffinamazingmovie. Seriously. Go see it. It's amazing.

25. Fog of War - made me understand Robert McNamera a whole lot more.

26. King Kong - I really liked 99% of it. But the last 30 seconds of it almost ruined it for me, and yes I know it was taken from the original.

27. X-Men: The Final Stand - Not as good as the first two, but still highly enjoyable.

28. Underworld: Evolution - I think I've been spoiled with Buffy and Angel because this movie just sucked. It could have been good... if it had a real plot. It was a total waste of Derek Jacobi's brilliance.

29. Memoirs of a Geisha - a very beautiful film.

30. An Inconvenient Truth - nothing new to me about Global Warming, but so well done. Everyone should see it.

31. The Road to Guantanamo - Heartwrenching. Gitmo makes me embarrassed to be American. We're supposed to be the bastion of human rights, but only when it's convenient for the Bush administration's cause of the day.

32. Capote - Effin' Brilliant.

33. Brokeback Mountain - I wasn't that impressed. I was actually quite disappointed in it.

34. Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man - Loved some of the performers who paid tribute to LC, but there were a couple who just couldn't sing. The highlight was LC singing w/U2 at the end. My only complaint was that it would have been nice if LC sang more of his songs.

35. V for Vendetta - Yes the book is way better, but still an amazing movie. An errie foreshadowing of what this world could become if we're not careful

36. Serenity - Joss Whedon is uber awesome. I want to be his friend. I just recently got into Firefly and the movie is sooooo good.