Best movies of the half year

[Trader47]

I decided to make this thread for several reasons: First, I figure there aren't any professional psychiatrists lurking around here with the authority to have me institutionalized for any latent anal tendencies I may have displayed by having too much fun making funky lists. And even if I'm wrong and there are a few, I KNOW I'm way too slippery to allow one to ever catch me....kind of like an electric eel in that regard.
Then, there's the fact that it IS the halfway point in the year...which means that there's still 6 months to go before it ends...and who knows whether or not I'll still be hanging around here making lists in 6 months? And if I am, then it'll be fun to dig this one up and see how many of these are still on the new list.
And besides all that, I don't have a diary or anything, and I need somewhere to make lists and this place is here so...
All in all, I've decided it's nothing to get overly concerned or depressed about. And to start, instead of listing the movies, I decided to make a list of everything I've accomplished this year...hmm:

1. Seen a lot of movies
2. Written a lot of funky words about them on a website
3. .....

Well, who needs more than two anyway? I guess that list of accomplishments maybe WOULD be something to get overly concerned or depressed about for many people...but as I was starting to do so, I remembered my childhood dream that I'd pull out whenever I found myself hanging around with kids discussing what we wanted to do when we grew up. Even then, just about all my friends wanted to do standardly boring things, like being soldiers, firemen, armed robbers, or brain surgeons, and most of them have succeeded in doing something of the sort...but my dream was, I think, admittedly simpler, but more creatively ambitious...I simply wanted to avoid doing anything of any practical use. And looked at in that way, I immediately started feeling good again, realizing that it's been another pretty good year so far. And a pretty good year for movies, too. These are my ten favorites to this point, all of which range from excellent to very good in my estimation:

1. V For Vendetta
2. The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada
3. Silent Hill
4. Thank You For Smoking
5. Winter Passing
6. Underworld Evolution
7. The Omen
8. X Men: The Last Stand
9. Art School Confidential
10. Bubble

[eilz7]

here are mine...but i'll probably change the order lol

1.underworld evolution
2. x men 3 - the last stand
3.lake house
4.aeonflux
5.over the hedge
6.
7
8
9
10. munich (even tho i didnt really like it it was a good film)

i'll fill in the rest when i remember lol
alee
xxx

[Trader47]

i'll fill in the rest when i remember lol


LOL, yeah, at this point, might as well just cheat and wait for Pirates to come out...I'd say the odds of it being on mine if I had waited are good enough that I probably should have just put it on there without even bothering to see it first, LOL.

About those I didn't mention on yours...I liked Over The Hedge too...not the world's greatest animation, but good enough and a good funny movie. And of course liked Lake House as well. And I thought Munich was great...it would have made my top ten list last year if I'd seen it by the time I made it... but somehow, I'll come up with some sort of list to put it on sooner or later I'm sure, LOL.

[Lisalou]

I haven't seen any of the movies that you listed. (well don't think I have)
And it's good to see a post from You Trader. IT'S BEEN A WHILE!!!! I thought maybe you were bored with sharing you thoughts. I would have to say though that in the last 6 months the best movie for me was Two for the Money. But for you I think maybe that was last year. LOL Ok and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And Crash. But see these are all LAST YEAR films but they are fairly new here. (golly I miss america in that regard) :rolleyes:

Oh I have to add something...
Can you believe that July 13th we get Pirates here?? One week after it opens in America. I AM SO EXCITED!!! (I already reserved my tickets)

[Trader47]

I thought maybe you were bored with sharing you thoughts.

LOL, not much chance of THAT ever happening I'm afraid, much to the chagrin of anyone who finds themselves unlucky enough to be in earshot..:rolleyes: :D

I've been around actually...it's been a weird two or three months movie wise for me too, though. I've seen a few really good ones, but there hasn't been a whole lot of them opening around me at least that I've even had much interest in seeing. I think that's getting ready to change as this month starts...there's a slew of them on tap that I've been looking forward to, and am HOPING anyway that most of them will open in reasonable theaters here...time will tell as to that.
But anyway, just haven't been seeing too many new ones, and I HAVE decided not to post any more completely negative reviews...I don't think anyone really comes to this board looking for those and they probably just annoy a few and are essentially useless to the rest...I don't see many that I can't at least give mixed reviews to anyway, and when I accidentally stumble into one of those from now on, I'm not going to review it here, LOL.

About those you mentioned, yeah those were last year for me...studio execs and their release schedule games are frustrating here too, though...there are some movies that I really want to see that get overseas releases LONG before being released here..(and some of them never get theatrical releases over here at all.) It's just one of those frustrating things about being a movie fan, LOL. Glad to hear you're getting the quick release on Pirates at least...it's opening Friday here, and we're tentatively planning to see it next Tues. evening...gotta see how things go, of course, but that'll probably be when I go.

About not being around, btw, I probably should mention this...I hadn't thought that there'd been much of anyone around the boards lately who'd care much one way or the other, so haven't thought about saying anything until now, but my internet connection has become increasingly problematic in the last week or so, due (I hope) to some fairly major storms we've been having...right now, I'm connected at 9600 bps :eek: ...and I'll almost certainly have to reconnect before getting this to post, if I even manage it at all, LOL. So the upshot of that is, that although I'm stiil going to do the best I can to make reasonably prompt responses to any convos I might get into here, there are probably going to be some longer delays between replies than usual until I can get this problem resolved. I'm strongly considering changing isp's at the moment, as I'm getting increasingly sick of aol, LOL. But we'll see what happens...anyway, just thought I'd mention this. I'm still hoping to be posting some more reviews before long.

[Lisalou]

Well My friend don't be so quick to get rid of reviews that are'nt all bubbles, tickles and giggles! Sometimes it's nice to read a review that says somethng like "hey I thought it wasn't so great." ok everyone is different and some people only want to hear happy go lucky thingies. I for one appriciate your honesty and really most of the time your right on the dot. So I wouldn't look at it as "negative reviews" but I would certainly post honesty. At any rate most people like honesty even if they disagree 100% (if you get my drift) But on the weird side of things, I just had a very strange almost to much of a kawinkidink thing happen to me. My husband and I have been writting a script for Dr. Who, but we had to scrap it because Billy Piper left this season. So I said to my husband wouldn't it be great if I did the season finale. For one thing I would bring Micky back and I would have a duel invasion of the Daleks and Cybermen. (if you are watching and don't know that Micky is gone I will stop here so as not to ruin it for you)
SOOOO To make a long story short, my husband said call the head writter with your ideas and maybe they will do it. Well since I am a nobody who nobody would listen to I decided to hold off. (by the way this conversation happened about 4 months ago) Then Last saturday night we curl up on the couch and guess what? My whole story line is now the season finale!!! There is only a couple of things that I did not think of that is in the story line, but other then that it's all there. WEIRD EH??? So now I am curious as to whether my husband called them or not, and if he did he is a bit foolish because I want money for my idea!! :p But is'nt it strange all the same??
And I have written a AWESOME script for Desperate housewives with a guest appearance from Alyssa Milano and Alicia Silverstone. But I guess I know nothing about budgets because both stars can not come on for 3 episodes each. (which they would have to) It's to much money for the budget. :mad: Yeah well...... what do I know, I can barely manage my check book. :confused: Well so that's what's up with me....
Glad to see your still around and all is good, and really dump AOL they are not that great. I know several people who have Comcast and they really like it, but I don't know if it's available in your area. Last week we had a huge tropical storm in this portion of the netherlands where I live. My back yard was flooded. :eek: (lucky for me there was no water in the house)

[Trader47]

Well My friend don't be so quick to get rid of reviews that are'nt all bubbles, tickles and giggles! Sometimes it's nice to read a review that says somethng like "hey I thought it wasn't so great." ok everyone is different and some people only want to hear happy go lucky thingies. I for one appriciate your honesty and really most of the time your right on the dot. So I wouldn't look at it as "negative reviews" but I would certainly post honesty. At any rate most people like honesty even if they disagree 100% (if you get my drift)

Well, no worries about that when it comes to me, LOL...I didn't mean all of my reviews were suddenly going to turn into nothing but sweetness and light. One thing I've always tried to do with any post I've made on any board here is to express myself with as much honesty as I can muster. I've always considered anything else to be a waste of time, both for me and any potential readers. As time has gone here, I HAVE tried to mute myself a bit, with varying results I think, LOL, but whatever you hear from me has always been and will always be, if nothing else, an honest attempt at expressing my truths. (In fact, once in a blue moon I've run into situations where I'll think a little diplomacy is needed...I'll usually try to handle those accordingly, but because I won't take it to the level of telling even little white lies, I suck at it unfortunately, LOL.)
But really, I was just talking about those few movies I stumble across in any given year that strike me as complete stinkers with no redeeming qualities at all, LOL...I think posting reviews of that kind here is pretty pointless, since even I'M not actually interested in them...there are too many movies out there with all kinds of interesting elements to spend time whacking out reviews of those that I don't think contain any...and I probably provoke enough hostility just being my affable self that there's really no need for me to go around further alienating fan bases of movies that I have have no actual interest in by lambasting them mercilesslly, LOL. (Although, I'll have to admit that that is fun once in awhile...feels like you're getting a little revenge on it for wasting your time and money...and it's always a pleasant surprise in the case of a widely popular one if someone else happens to pop up who feels the same way you do about it...makes you feel a little less lonely somehow, LOL.)
But you know, Lisa, I'm not so sure about the idea that most people like honesty. Really, I think most of us like the IDEA of liking honesty in others, but when it comes down to brass tacks, I think what most of us really want is to hear what we want to hear...but we want to hear it in a way that makes it sound like the person we're hearing it from is being honest, LOL. For a lot of us, I think that's really a kind of validation. That doesn't mean that I think everyone gets angry every time someone disagrees with them on something. (although there are certainly some who DO, even about the most trivial things imaginable,)...but we all have our own truths, and most of us don't relate too well to people who state theirs without comprimising them, unless they go along well with things we already believe or want to hear. Still, I state my truths as they are, and always hope anyone and everyone else will do the same...and that's not likely to ever change much I'm afraid, LOL. Especially since, that while I'm sure I could always make some improvements in my overall consideration for other's feelings, my posts have never been intended as an attempt to ram my ideas down anyone's throat...just an attempt to throw them out there for anyone who cares to do so to respond to in any way they see fit. One of the coolest things about the idea of these message boards to me is the opportunity they provide to interact with all sorts of people, many of whom may be as different from you as night from day...to whatever extent any of us can try to do that, consider points of view that may be completely alien to us, and see how much validity we can afford them within our own scheme of things, I think we teach ourselves something more valuable than anyone's opinion of a movie or a celebrity....ideally, anyway, LOL.

Hey, that's cool about that Dr. Who script. Probably what happened is that you guys are just into the show enough that you basically anticipated what the scriptwriters were going to do and had your vision coincide with theirs. I know that does happen...once in a blue moon, but it happens. And it's always real cool to me...seeing what feels like my own idea actually realized on the screen. Unfortunately, it's pretty much become a fact of life, at least as far as American production companies go, that submitting a script to a show without having an agent to represent you is basically just a waste of time....it can be the best script ever written, but unless it's presented the way they want it to be, most likely noone will ever even look at it. It wasn't always that way, and may still not be for European companies though...I don't know anything at all about the way they work. It's a cool thing to try your hand at, either way. :D


Glad to see your still around and all is good, and really dump AOL they are not that great. I know several people who have Comcast and they really like it, but I don't know if it's available in your area. Last week we had a huge tropical storm in this portion of the netherlands where I live. My back yard was flooded. :eek: (lucky for me there was no water in the house)


Yikes, seems like EVERYBODY'S getting flooded, LOL...we've just gotten through a drought that was supposedly the worst one we've had in 118 years, and when it ended, it did so with a vengence...I was caught out in the first and worst of the storms last week, and trying to make my way home through it, the streets were literally like rivers...felt like I was driving a boat instead of a car, LOL...luckily my vehicle and myself survived somehow, but it was touch and go there for a few minutes, LOL.
But speaking of trying to balance budgets, it's unfortunate for me, but Comcast's broadband service won't fit well into mine. Still, I'm getting fed up enough with aol's insistence on installing bloatware that I don't want that I'm considering making room for it. I've never minded aol, since all I use it for is to connect to the net anyway...I use my own browser and never bother with aol's stuff at all...but now, they've started insisting on installing their spyware protection, anti-virus, computer checkup, etc. They're all big memory hogs, I have my own, and DON'T WANT THEIRS, LOL...but as soon as you uninstall that stuff, they helpfully reinstall it without even giving you the option to cancel it...there's not even a legitimate way to disable it, you have to do it manually, and then the service usually won't work...LOL, sorry for the rant, but it's a real pisser. I'm definitely switching to SOMETHING else, unless I can get some satisfaction out of them...and Comcast is the best option, and would solve the current phone line problems I'm having too. I may have to see if I can find a way to afford it more easily. :rolleyes:

Hope this wasn't TOO bad, Lisa, LOL...no time to proof read, I'm just pushing post and crossing my fingers. :rolleyes:

[Lisalou]

Hey Trader it wasn't bad at all.

But you know, Lisa, I'm not so sure about the idea that most people like honesty. Really, I think most of us like the IDEA of liking honesty in others, but when it comes down to brass tacks, I think what most of us really want is to hear what we want to hear...but we want to hear it in a way that makes it sound like the person we're hearing it from is being honest, LOL. For a lot of us, I think that's really a kind of validation.

That is so true is'nt it? Sad but really that is the bottom line.

Hey, that's cool about that Dr. Who script. Probably what happened is that you guys are just into the show enough that you basically anticipated what the scriptwriters were going to do and had your vision coincide with theirs. I know that does happen...once in a blue moon, but it happens. And it's always real cool to me...seeing what feels like my own idea actually realized on the screen.

Yeah it was cool but at the same time I was thinking "how much money could I have gotten for this?"

Yikes, seems like EVERYBODY'S getting flooded, LOL...we've just gotten through a drought that was supposedly the worst one we've had in 118 years, and when it ended, it did so with a vengence...I was caught out in the first and worst of the storms last week, and trying to make my way home through it, the streets were literally like rivers...felt like I was driving a boat instead of a car, LOL...luckily my vehicle and myself survived somehow, but it was touch and go there for a few minutes, LOL.

I know the feeling..... My dog was almost swimming to go potty and she's a German Shepard pure bread. So she's a big girl. But when I said "Hareta potty time" she looked at me like I had just fallen from the turnip wagon and lost my mind. LOL
And you know me i like to read what you think is ramble. But in all that ramble sometimes I learn something new. :D


Hope this wasn't TOO bad, Lisa, LOL...no time to proof read, I'm just pushing post and crossing my fingers. :rolleyes:

[Trader47]

That is so true is'nt it? Sad but really that is the bottom line.


Unfortunately, yeah...I'd have to say that more often than not, I think it is.

Yeah it was cool but at the same time I was thinking "how much money could I have gotten for this?"


LOL, well, I hear you there...can't think of any ways of making money that at least sound any better than writing ANYTHING, actually...scripts, novels, short stories, whatever...I HAVE had a few people offer me money to STOP writing on the internet, but that's just not the same somehow..:( LOL, really, I do think it'd be great.


I know the feeling..... My dog was almost swimming to go potty and she's a German Shepard pure bread. So she's a big girl. But when I said "Hareta potty time" she looked at me like I had just fallen from the turnip wagon and lost my mind. LOL


Man oh man...ever here that old Zeppelin song 'When the Levee Breaks' ? Seems like we're ALL going to be singing that before long.:eek:

And speaking of singing, I was just thinking about all this net rambling...I remember days gone by, I used to think of that old Allman Bros. song Rambling Man as one of my theme songs, ...used to ramble all over North America and once in awhile Central and South, too...not so much anymore, as time and circumstance seem to dictate...but all us born ramblers gotta ramble somewhere, and Al Gore was just telling me the other day that that is what he really invented the internet for...so, I figure why not put his invention to it's proper use and ramble on....LOL, thanks once again for liking to read them, and rambling back once in awhile...tis always fun. :D

[eilz7]

LOL, yeah, at this point, might as well just cheat and wait for Pirates to come out...I'd say the odds of it being on mine if I had waited are good enough that I probably should have just put it on there without even bothering to see it first, LOL.

About those I didn't mention on yours...I liked Over The Hedge too...not the world's greatest animation, but good enough and a good funny movie. And of course liked Lake House as well. And I thought Munich was great...it would have made my top ten list last year if I'd seen it by the time I made it... but somehow, I'll come up with some sort of list to put it on sooner or later I'm sure, LOL.

yeah lol!!! i saw it the other day and it was AMAZING! but i dunno where to put it in my list!!! :confused:
alee
xxx

[eilz7]

hehe im gonna cheat...

1. pirates of teh carribean 2 - dead mans chest (im so sorry kate! )
2. underworld evolution
3. x men 3 - the last stand
4.the lake house
5.aeon flux
6.over the hedge
7. the wild
8
9
10. munich (even tho i didnt really like it it was a good film)

alee
xxx

[Trader47]

hehe im gonna cheat...

1. pirates of teh carribean 2 - dead mans chest (im so sorry kate! )


LOL, so I'll take a wild shot in the dark and say I guess that means you think Pirates lived up to the hype and was worth the wait. :D I saw it earlier tonight and since I'm sure just about everyone who goes to movies has either already seen it or will before long, I'll spare the board a lengthy review for once, and just say I'd generally agree...a whole lot of fun once again, and once again left me looking forward to the next installment. :D