At Northwestern, I'm living with about 40 Journalism majors, 40 Radio/TV/Film majors, and 40 Theater majors. They all own some pretty good movies. This should be an interesting year.
Movies from 2005-2006 school year:
Keeping Up with the Steins: Eh, it could have been better. It wasn't horrible, but it did not live up to its potential. Come on, Jews and Jewish seventh-graders are hilarious--build on that!
United 93: Riveting. This cleared up a lot of my confusion on what might have happened on September 11. Everyone should see this.
Breakfast at Tiffany's: Good, but not necessarily worth all the hype.
Thank You For Smoking: This was really good! Definitely a different perspective on smoking and the whole lobbying industry.
In Her Shoes: A really fun and enjoyable movie on love and sisterhood.
Beaches: Yay for friendship that lasts through the years. Really cute and fun.
Ice Age: Very cute!! I enjoyed this a lot, even though I could not stand Ray Romano's voice as the mammoth.
***Tuesdays with Morrie (the musical). NOTE: This is not a movie. This is a musical. I am putting the review here, though, so I don't have to make a "The Musical List" website for this, Chicago, and Wicked. This was very good. The book, the movie, and this musical were all touching and emotional. See this to get a different view on life.
Shattered Glass: This was a great journalism movie--if you're into that kind of stuff, definitely watch it. It was compelling, and it made me appreciate people who are honest.
The Aristocrats: Everything that this movie accomplished in an hour and a half could have been accomplished in about 15 minutes. It was fairly disgusting, and only sort of funny--the joke definitely got old after a while. It had its funny moments, but as a whole, I was looking at my watch near the end.
Cool as Ice (1/29/06): This was shown as part of CRC's "Bad Movie Sunday" series. It's a movie starring that rapper from the early '90s, Vanilla Ice. It was described as "one of the best worst movies ever." It was just awful. Wonderfully awful. Lots of cheesy montages, bright orange pants, and other fun stuff like that. Don't watch this if you're looking for an award-winner, but do watch it if you're looking for a laugh.
The Birds (1/28/06): I was forced to watch this movie as a young child, and I still can't look at birds without worrying that they'll attack me. I decided to watch the movie as an older, wiser person who likes Hitchcock. It was good, though it was quite entertaining making fun of the movie with a room full of my friends. "Watch out for the one behind you, Tippi!" Still, props to Hitchcock.
Good Will Hunting (1/27/06): This was pretty good. Matt Damon's alright, but I really like Robin Williams. Not my favorite movie ever, but good. Good Will Hunting.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (1/26/06): I had been warned that this movie would make my brain hurt, but I actually really liked it. It's one of those makes-you-think movies. I would see this again.
Se7ven (1/13/06): Creepy. Really, really creepy.
Dirty Dancing (12/28/05): Very cute. I saw its sequel before seeing the movie, so I really wanted to see this one. They also had the exact same plot. Still entertaining, though.
Miracle (12/28/05): I had previously seen Do You Believe in Miracles?, a similar movie, liked it, and wanted to see this. This was also very good, but I just don't understand why there are two movies on the same topic (the 1980s U.S. Olympic Hockey team) that are almost exactly the same. But it was enjoyable nonetheless.
Munich (12/24/05): A very powerful film. Kind of hard to watch, but about an important topic. It raises a lot of moral issues, and really makes you think.
State and Main (12/22/05): I really liked this. It was clever and funny, and had a great message. Special thanks to Robbie for recommending it.
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (12/19/05): This was really cute! I haven't seen the original Dirty Dancing (who wants to watch it with me?), but I liked this a lot. It was a fun, simple story with great dancing.
Pride and Prejudice (12/19/05): I had just gotten my wisdom teeth out a few days earlier, and it still hurt to yawn. That was an unfortunate problem while watching this movie, as I had the tendency to yawn throughout. Everything took too long. And while I love a good romance story as much as the next teenage girl, this was not my favorite.
Clerks (12/17/05): There were some funny parts. But it was very slow-moving and a little dry. I hope the other Kevin Smith movies are better (because I really liked Dogma).
Take the Money and Run (12/16/05): Ahh, Woody Allen. Very funny and clever.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (12/15/05): Eh. It was alright. Not really worth all the hype. Not horrible, but nothing to write home about either.
The Hebrew Hammer (12/14/05): Though this movie played on all the evil Jewish stereotypes I work so hard to fight against, this movie had its funny moments. It was sort of like the Jewish version of The Nightmare Before Christmas. I don't know if I'd necessarily watch it again any time soon, but I'm glad that I can take it off my list now and say that I've seen it.
Dogma (12/13/05): I really liked this movie! It was one of those movies that really makes you think. I've seen a few movies like this, about religion--God, Bruce Almighty, I can't think of others but I know I've seen them, and they're all really interesting. I also wanted to note that Alan Rickman was in this movie. You may remember him from such movies as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (voice of Marvin), Harry Potter (Snape), and Love Actually (Harry). He's just everywhere, really. Annoyed me a little at first, but I'm definitely getting more used to him. Anyway, Dogma, really great, go see it.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (12/12/05): This was really not as bad as I thought it would be. I had heard that it was absolutely horrible, and that the book was so much better. Yes, the book was definitely better--you just can't replace Douglas Adams's writing style--but it was still pretty enjoyable to watch. As Michael quoted his friend as saying, "The movie reminds you of why you liked the book so much." Very true. I thought it was funny (okay, not as funny as the book), and though some of the non-book additions were slightly odd, I'd put it in the 5-10 range of movie ratings on a scale of 1-10.
***Chicago (the musical) (12/2/05) NOTE: This is not a movie. This is a musical. I am putting the review here, though, so I don't have to make a "The Musical List" website for this and Wicked. Eh. I've seen better musicals. This was alright, but not great. And it also didn't help that I was sitting in the very last row of the auditorium--so not only was the play bad, but I couldn't see it. I think I almost liked Chicago the movie better, but maybe that's just because I saw it first. It seemed like the actors weren't very enthusiastic about their roles, and were performing very routinely. It was sort of enjoyable, but I'm definitely not going to rush out and see it again. I am going to rush out, however, to see Wicked again and Rent when it comes to Chicago.
Rent (11/26/05): "There's only us / there's only this / ... / no day but today." What a great song. And a great musical. I'll admit, I have not seen this play on Broadway yet (it was sort of my goal to see the play before the movie came out, but I failed), so I don't have anything to compare it to. The songs were great, the actors were fantastic (I recognized Idina Menzel from the soundtrack to Wicked), with great voices. I wanted to get up and sing along. "La vie boheme!" Who's seen Team America? I'll admit that I did have that song from Team America in my head throughout a lot of Rent: "Everyone has AIDS...AIDS, AIDS, AIDS!!!" Sorry, that was horrible. But a great movie. I almost cried. I didn't, but I almost did. Go see it.
Euro Trip (11/25/05): I liked this better than Old School. I actually thought it was sort of funny. The best part was when the bell rang and the white smoke came from the chimney in the Vatican, symbolizing the death and then selection of a new priest--yeah, I learned something in AP Euro! Watch this if you need something light-hearted and funny.
Old School (11/25/05): It's official: I hate Will Ferrell. For real. No joke. He is not funny. At all. Ever. Everyone else thinks he's hilarious, but I think he's just stupid. I like Vince Vaughn, I like Luke and Owen Wilson, but Will and I do not get along. Therefore, I did not like this movie. It also just wasn't funny. The end.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (11/18/05): HARRY POTTER!!! I'd like to add the following people to my list of people to marry: Harry Potter (remember the bathtub scene, huh?), Cedric Diggory, and, okay, that's it for now. But the movie was awesome. It was a lot funnier than the other HP movies, if I remember correctly. Very enjoyable.
History of the World: Part I (11/12/05): Sort of funny, but not as funny as some people hyped it up to be. It had its moments, I guess.
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (11/9/05): Muppets!!! This was such an adorable movie, detailing the life and times of a family of otters in the '70s. A classic tale.
Anchorman (I forgot when I saw this): I'm glad that I finally saw this movie, so I can understand everyone's references to it. Though for some reason, I thought that the "fever/cowbell" line was from this movie (it's actually from SNL, I learned), and so that was semi-disappointing. It was semi-enjoyable, but not as funny as it was cracked up to be.
Shopgirl (10/26/05): I got to see this movie as a special, Northwestern-only sneak-peek! This had just the right amount of humor (really funny!), the right amount of chick flick / romance, and was just all-around great. I highly recommend it.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (10/19/05): Great movie, if you like transvestites.
Team America: World Police (10/6/05): Hahahaha. Funniest movie ever. Especially if you like puppets. The music was hilarious ("I hated Pearl Harbor, but I love you"), and it was just so bizarre in general. Put that one on your list too, everyone.Catch Me If You Can (10/5/05): Wow, Leonardo DiCapprio has sure grown up since Titanic ("I'm the king of the world!!!!"). This was a lot of fun to watch.
Crash (10/1/05): I've seen this before, but it's worth reviewing here. This is really one of the best movies I've ever seen. I think it actually changed the way I look at people and at the world. You should all see this movie.
Peter Pan (9/29/05): This movie gave us a really fun visit to Neverland. Well made and cute.
Oldboy (9/28/05): I will never be the same after seeing this movie. It was a Korean film (with English subtitles), and it was insane. Holy cow, this was a WEIRD movie. Weird weird weird weird weird. I can't say why, though; that would ruin the movie.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (9/21/05): Even though I've never celebrated Christmas and my birthday is on Halloween, this was cute and enjoyable. I wanted to get up and dance.