SPIDERMAN 3
This is truly going to be a great film. Venom is one of my absolute favorite characters from the Spiderman series. 2007 will be a great year for movies, not that this year won't be good with films like M:I-III (which Kanye West is doing the theme song for and he said in an interview that the song was amazing, and I know from experience that if Kanye says something is excellent it usually means it is) and Miami Vice (which, by the way, will be treated as only another Michael Mann film for me because I never really watched the show, which is fine by me) but 2007 with films like Halo and Spiderman 3 will be amazing because I have waited for these films since I first heard of them. They both look amazing and I can't wait until I get to see them. Halo AND Spidey, what more could a person ask for?

-Alex

P.S. Good Night And Good Luck opens on Friday. I am going to go on the opening night because I have wanted to see this for a while now. Only a couple weeks later V For Vendetta opens which looks excellent as well.

THE CRITERION COLLECTION
I recently added a link to the Criterion Collection website on the links section of my side menu. It is such an excellent collection with many great films. I only own a few of the films from the collection but would like to buy several more. I own all of the Wes Anderson films from the collection (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou) but would like to buy films like Le Samourai and This Is Spinal Tap. Sadly Spinal Tap has been put out of print so it is no longer available. I am really disappointed to hear this because it is such a funny film. There are many more great films in this collection that I want but I only decided to name a few titles, plus I probably won't be getting any for a while seeing as am low for money lately because of my many visits to the theaters.

-Check out the site because it truly has an excellent selection of films from all over the world. I will post again soon because I am limited for time here at school and I have almost run out.

-Alex

P.S. If you are reading this Adam you should really check out the site.

V FOR VENDETTA
I just finished up a graphic novel that I was reading entitled
V FOR VENDETTA. I found it to be very enjoyable. It was a story about the loss of power in a totalitarian world. The story is set in a prediction of near-future England (or at least in the 1980's when this story was written it was considered near-future), which is now a totalitarian country. A man dressed up in a Guy Fawkes outfit (but unlike Guy Fawkes, V actually blows up the parliament buildings) fights the government for freedom of not just him but for everyone. He kills the people involved in the testing that was done on him in a concentration camp (Larkhill army camp in Wiltshire, to be more specific) during the war, this in turn labels him as a terrorist and he is given the name "Codename V". He blows up the buildings of the government and murders the main people involved in their government but he does it for a good cause. This distills anarchy in the streets which causes the people to retaliate and gives them a chance for their anger, which has been bottled up in fear, to finally be heard. While doing this he rescues a girl from being killed by police officers and shows her the state of England and how the people are robbed of their freedom. The moral dilemma comes when trying to figure out if he is right or wrong in doing these acts. The reader must also attempt to figure out if he truly wants freedom for England or if he is just after revenge for crimes done against him. This was truly an excellent and smart graphic novel and I really enjoyed reading this and I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys graphic novels and, as you were told in the introduction of the book, "It's for people who don't switch off the news". Alan Moore, who wrote this novel, truly created a masterpiece of fine literature.

I thought that I'd share a quote by Alan Moore relating to the story which describes the story really well and sets the mood for the attitude that the reader finds throughout much of the story.
"Good night England. Good night home service and v for victory.
Hello the voice of fate and v for vendetta."
-Alan Moore
North Hampton,
March 1988

England Prevails*

-Alex

* After reading the novel you would understand what this meant.

P.S.- There is a movie on the graphic novel coming out soon. It is from the Wachowski brothers who created the Matrix trilogy. It looks like a good film, plus the creator of Ain't It Cool news has said that it is excellent and that it is even better than The Matrix. I am looking forward to it seeing as it opens soon.

HOORAY!!!
Tommorow is the last day of my driver education program. I am very happy to be out of this class because it was very boring and the teacher was kind of a bitch. It has been a long two and a half months (the reason it took so long was because we had two long breaks during the time the class was on). I wrote my final today in class and tommorow I only go to pick up my test scores and hand in my clearance form. The test we wrote today was quite easy and it was multiple choice so I think I did good on it. I can't begin to express how happy I am so I won't even try. This class truly felt like it took an eternity to finish. Well it seems that my lunch hour is almost up so I better wrap this up quickly.until next time...

-Alex

P.S.- I really feel sorry for my friends who haven't taken the class yet. Good luck to you.

BACK TO SCHOOL
After our nine day break(11 days for me seeing as I was sick for the first two days back) I am finally back at school. Over the break the majority of my time was taken up watching movies. Out of the films I saw I would have to say the best included North By Northwest, Psycho, Star Wars-Return Of The Jedi, The Manachurian Candidate, The Beatles-Hard Day's Night, and Casablanca. I decided to post from school today during my lunch hour but the bell just rang so I have to go.

-Alex

ACADEMY AWARDS- PICKS AND PREDICTIONS
Seeing as Oscar season is among us again, I thought that I would share my picks and my predictions via The Farnsworth Parabox.

* is my pick
** is my prediction

Best Motion Picture
**Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night And Good Luck
*Munich

Best Animated Film
**Howl's Moving Castle
Corpse Bride
*Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit

Best Actor
** *Phillip Seymour Hoffman- Capote
Terrence Howard- Hustle & Flow
Heath Ledger- Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin phoenix- Walk The Line
David Strathairn- Good Night And Good Luck

Best Actress
Judi Dench- Mrs. Henderson Presents
Felicity Huffman- Transamerica
Keira Knightley- Pride & Prejudice
Charlize Theron- North Country
** *Reese Witherspoon- Walk The Line

Best Director
**Ang Lee- Brokeback Mountain
Bennet Miller- Capote
Paul Haggis- Crash
George Clooney- Good Night And Good Luck
*Steven Spielberg- Munich

Best Supporting Actor
*George Clooney- Syriana
Matt Dillon- Crash
**Paul Giamatti- Cinderella Man
Jake Gyllenhaal- Brokeback Mountain
William Hurt- A History Of Violence

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams- Junebug
*Katherine Keener- Capote
Frances McDormand- North Country
Rachel Weisz- The Constant Gardener
**Michelle Williams- Brokeback Mountain

Best Art Direction
Good Night And Good Luck
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
* **King Kong
Memoirs Of A Geisha
Pride & Prejudice

Best Cinematography
*Batman Begins
**Brokeback Mountain
Good Night And Good Luck
Memoirs Of A Geisha
The New World

Best Costume Design
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Memoirs Of A Geisha
Mrs. Henderson Presents
*Pride & Prejudice
**Walk The Line

Best Visual Effects
**The Chronicles Of Narnia
*King Kong
War Of The Worlds

Best Screenplay Based On Previous Material
**Brokeback Mountain
Capote
The Constant Gardener
A History Of Violence
*Munich

Best Soundmixing
**The Chronicles Of Narnia
King Kong
Memoirs Of A Geisha
*Walk The Line
War Of The Worlds

Best Film Editing
Cinderella Man
The Constant Gardener
Crash
*Munich
**Walk The Line

Best Screenplay
Crash
**Good Night And Good Luck
Match Point
The Squid And The Whale
*Syriana

Best Sound Editing
** *King Kong
Memoirs Of A Geisha
War Of The Worlds

Best Documentary
Darwin's Nightmare
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room
** * March Of The Penguins
Murderball
Street Fight

Best Original Score
**Brokeback Mountain
The Constant Gardener
Memoirs Of A Geisha
*Munich
Pride & Prejudice

Best Make-Up
The Chronicles Of Narnia
Cinderella Man
** *Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

Best Foreign Film
Don't Tell
Joyeux Noel(Merry Christmas)
Paradise Now
Sofia Scholl- The Final Days
Tsoti

Best Original Song
** *"In The Deep"- Crash
"It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp"- Hustle & Flow
"Travellin' Thru"- Transamerica

So there are my picks and predictions for the 78th Academy Awards. I didn't choose a film for the best foreign film because I hadn't seen any of the films. I realize that my picks and predictions could be off by a little because I haven't seen every film in each category, although I can imagine that they wouldn't be too different if I had.

-Alex

HONORABLE MENTIONS 2005
2005 has been quite a good year for movie. I posted a list of top ten films of 2005 but it only limited me to ten choices, so I decided that I would put up a list of films that were good but didn't make my list due to a lack of space. So here they are...

CAPOTE directed by Bennett Miller
- I saw this film yesterday and it was really, really good. The plot was well developed and the acting was very well done. Philip Seymour Hoffman definently deserves an Oscar for his role as Truman Capote, the writer who wrote the classic non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. If I would have seen this film before I made my list it would have ranked very high.
CORPSE BRIDE directed by Tim Burton and Michael Johnson
- For looking great and for having a funny story in the fashion that only Tim Burton can tell them.
CRASH directed by Paul Haggis
- For taking on all sorts of stereotypes that exist and are believed in our world today and showing how they effect people just like us.
JARHEAD directed by Sam Mendes
- For taking the look into the life of a soldier that you usually don't see in films.
KUNG FU HUSTLE directed Stephen Chow
- For being incredibly entertaining and hilarious. This was one of the finest kung fu films that I have ever seen.
SIN CITY directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller with Quentin Tarantino
- For proving that it is possible to directly adapt a graphic novel like the amazing Sin City to the big screen. Also, for being so visually stunning, and thirdly for setting a new bench mark for the genre of comic book films.
THE WEATHER MAN directed by Gore Verbinski
- For giving a glimpse into the life of a man who seems to have no good luck what so ever, and for being incredibly memorable and well acted.
WEDDING CRASHERS directed by David Dobkin & THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN directed by Judd Apatow- For making me laugh so hard it hurt.

That is the list of other good films this year. If I have forgotten to put a few down it is because either I haven't seen them yet or that I forgot about them(be sure to leave a comment telling me in either case).
I will also say that I plan to put up the list of films that I saw in the month of January. I shall also put up a list of my Oscar picks and predictions for the up-coming Academy Awards and I believe that I will take my friends opinion and post a list of the films that I am most looking forward to in 2006. I will be sure to post again soon.

-Alex