Thursday, January 26, 2006


GLASSES
Today I received the glasses I had ordered on Friday. My optometrist told me that they would take two to three days to come in from when she ordered them on Monday. They came in yesterday but I couldn't get downtown to pick them up, so my dad picked them up for me this morning and gave them to my mom so that she could give them to me after I had written my final for English B(which was quite easy may I add). They are Giorgio Armani frames and I picked them out from the catalogue. When I had decided on that pair the woman who worked there informed me that they were out of stock but she could order them for me, and she did. I posted an image of them above.

On another note I plan to go see the movie Lord Of War tonight. It is supposed to be good and it stars Nicolas Cage who on average stars in good movies, plus Ebert said that it was a good film.


Today was also the last day of my finals. In total I wrote four, these include Science, Accounting, Math and English B. I was surprised because I had thought that a few of these would be challenging but they turned out to be fairly easy. I anxiously await my report card to see what I got on them. This seems to be the end of what I had to say today. I plan on getting up a list of honorable mentions of films for 2005 since there were a few films I didn't put on my list that were quite good this year. I am only holding off on this list until I see Lord Of War tonight. I'll be sure to post again soon.


-Alex

P.S. I also saw Schindler's List again today after school. It is one of the greatest films ever made, it serves as no surprise that it is a Steven Spielberg film. He truly is one of, if not the, world's greatest directors.


Tuesday, January 24, 2006

TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2005

Before I begin I'd like to take the time to mention that this list would have probably have been a lot different if I had gotten to see all the films I would have liked to see. These films include films like A History Of Violence, Capote, Brokeback Mountain, Good Night and Good Luck, and Matchpoint. The reason I missed most of these is because most of them never even came to a theater here. Although A History Of Violence did come here I never had the chance to see it and as for Brokeback Mountain it just came to theaters so I have yet to see it. I was also informed by a friend of mine today that The New World was excellent so I am hoping to go to see that as well. Even though I haven't seen these movies I shall publish this list anyways. So without further adieu I present the eighth wonder of the world (my #3 should explain this) the list, in my opinion, of the Ten Best Movies Of The Year 2005. Enjoy.

#1: STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH- directed by George Lucas
This film is the last piece of the puzzle to the greatest saga ever told on screen. This film deserves the top spot due to its amazing story and its beautiful visuals. Star Wars suddenly got a lot darker than it has ever been and this only added to the aura that the film carries. It is filled with amazing acting as well, this draws you into the movie and makes it impossible to dislike and very hard not to believe the emotions these characters convey to be anything but true. George Lucas deserves an Academy Award(even though he will probably never get one) for his epic direction in this truly great film. At the end when Anakin emerges as the dark lord, and one of the coolest characters on screen, Darth Vader it sent chills up my spine and brought tears to my eyes(not literally but...) because of the creepiness he possesses. This movie served as a great end to the epic saga and was very fulfilling to me. These qualities define a great movie and this was just that in every way.

#2: MUNICH- directed by Steven Spielberg
This film rolled into theaters late but it didn't take long for me to fall in love with it. A film like Munich, based on the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes which happened at the 1972 Munich Olympics and Israel's reaction to it, is so gripping that it is nearly impossible not to get drawn in and truly feel the vast majority of emotions that these characters go through. What I liked the most about the movie is the fact that Steven Spielberg, although Jewish, takes no sides in the film he simply states what happened and asks: what good came of any of this? The answer he leaves for you to decide and to form your own opinions about the tragedy. The acting in this film is incredible. Eric Bana steals the show as the hired killer who becomes emotionally scarred by the events. This film deserves best picture because it was on a far higher platform of films than any other Oscar-Nominated films this year. It was truly amazing.

#3: KING KONG- directed by Peter Jackson
This film had everything a true adventure needs to have: a great story, a scary location, lovable characters and a giant ape. Well they should have the first three. In the case of King Kong it had all these things and a whole lot more to offer. For example, its visuals took my breath away. Kong looked (and sounded) like he could he could have jumped out of the screen and grabbed me, this goes for the dinosaurs also. Peter Jackson shows he has what it takes to handle big scaled epics just like King Kong and The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, he is an excellent director seeing as if this movie was in the hands of another it may not have been on this list. Most people only know the film because of its legendary shot of Kong on the Empire State Building but that turns out to be the weakest part of the movie. Skull Island is where the action and adventure truly takes place. The shots of depression era New York City are superb. The creatures that Jackson and his special effects team bring to life are stunning, especially the scenes with the bugs on Skull Island(they creeped me out). All in all this film had so many good qualities it had to be high on this list.

#4: HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE- directed by Mike Newell
The best Harry Potter movie there has ever been so far. Mike Newell has truly mastered the art of how to create a great Harry Potter film without cutting too much yet not making it too long. This film catches the feeling and awkwardness that can come of asking out the opposite sex and delivers these feelings in a believable manner. The Ron/Hermoine relationship is taken into a whole new area and it is too obvious to miss the fact that they secretly have feelings for eachother. Ralph Fiennes captures the spirit of Voldemort and makes him so that he is as scary as any horror character. This is a lot darker than the others but that is because each movie in the series progressively gets darker after each film. If it weren't for the fact that there were so many good films this year I'm sure I would have ranked this movie higher but for now it stays at #4.

#5: BATMAN BEGINS- directed by Christopher Nolan
This film bypasses all the other Batman films in every single way. It had a great plot, amazing effects, believable characters and no over-the-top villains. Christian Bale is great as Batman and Bruce Wayne, going places other Batman stars have never gone before. Instead of villains in this film we mostly find thugs and crime kingpins which serves as a great breath of fresh air. When it comes to Batman films this movie is just as much a classic as anyone of the other films.

#6: WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT- directed by Nick Park and Steve Box
I am a giant Wallace and Gromit fan, I have seen all the films and loved them all, so it serves as no surprise that this film would be on my list. As soon as I had heard that there was to be another Wallace and Gromit movie I was overjoyed at the chance to see it in theaters. Needless to say I loved it. I found it good, funny and well made. I enjoyed every minute of it and it is definently the best animated film of the year. Steve Box and Nick Park are hilarious.

#7: SYRIANA- directed by Stephen Gaghan
This is a movie about oil and the power it gives(and when I say power I don't mean to your car). Big companies are at a feud for different spots in the Middle-East to tap for oil because it gives them money and with money comes power. This film gives you the chance to truly think in a movie about what is going on in the world we live in. Steven Gaghan has directed a great movie and deserves all the rave reviews he is getting. George Clooney and Matt Damon shine as usual. The movie also has twists and turns in every direction, one of the reasons it is so confusing to people. This film has a great theme and is a very good movie.

#8: WAR OF THE WORLDS- directed by Steven Spielberg
No matter how much the critics bash this movie it is still a great film. Steven Spielberg makes his second appearance on this list with this great movie. It is great to see a twist on the age-old alien cliche that they come from above to attack us. Instead, in this movie, the aliens are already embedded in our earth and decide to come above ground when they want. This is actually a very scary film with a lot of great action scenes. Tom Cruise plays good(as he usually does along side of Spielberg) and Dakota Fanning' s screams are so well acted that it seems that she really is scared to death. All the critics in the world could talk bad about this film without it losing any of its allure. It is a great movie.

#9: WALK THE LINE- directed by James Mangold
A great bio-pic about a great artist. Joaquin Pheonix and Reese Witherspoon are great as Johnny and June Carter Cash. It is difficult to believe that they were so devoted to doing the movie that they learned how to play instruments and took singing lessons. This is a great film due to awesome acting and superb direction by James Mangold. This is certainly one of the finer bio-pics made and has high Oscar potential.

#10: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE- directed by Joe Wright
A great take on the classic novel by Jane Austen. Joe Wright made a great film about love and the complications it brings. Keira Knightley is magnificent in her best movie so far, she definently deserves an Oscar for her acting. I really loved the movie and I also got the opportunity to see the play being performed at my school this year. This was a truly great movie and the adaption from book to movie was flawless.

-Well, that's it. Those were the movies I fell in love with this year. All these films are excellent and 2005 has definently been a very good year for films.

-Alex

Monday, January 23, 2006

THE FIRST POST
Ah...The very first post to my new blog. It is great to finally get my blog up and running. Just posting to say hello for the first time. Not much to say today during the week of my finals. Futurama fans may realize that I have named my blog after the Farnsworth parabox, an alternate universe from the show. That seems to be all I have to say for today. I am hoping to get my top 10 movies list up pretty soon, seeing as I am a big movie fan. I believe Munich shall be ranked pretty high because I absolutely loved it, but how high I'm not sure of.


-Alex