The Passion of the Christ — Doubtless the most important movie of the year, maybe of the decade, and no matter Hollyweird's malediction, a cinematic masterpiece.
Troy — Does literary violence to the Homeric canon — Agememnon and Menelaus both die at Troy, seems like a long weekend instead of a ten year stalemate, Greek gods written out of the story line — still, Brad Pitt is Achilles and the special effects and battle scenes do a good job of creating the era and the epic.
Riding Giants — This year's surfing feature film. Beautiful, but much more for hardcore surfing fanatics than last year's Step Into Liquid.
King Arthur — Interesting take on the historical Arthur and his Knights. Might represent something that actually happened, excepting of course Kiera Knightly in the leather bikini. Of the three major "sword & sandal epics" of this year, by far the most intellectually satisfying. Jerry Bruckheimer proves himself more than a chases-&-explosions producer.
Spiderman, 2 — Suffers from being the second part of a trilogy. Buzz on this flick was that it was better than the original. I disagreed. Bad pacing, plot holes, too long, all contributed to my indifferent review, but I did like A. Molina as Doc Oc — the man can't do a bad role. Toby M. needs more variety of expression, sigh.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow — Only went to this because I missed Will Smith's I, Robot, in theatrical release, and SCWT is something of a technical event. Surprise entertainment of the year, light-hearted and a throwback to both screwball comedy and Buck Rogers. The effects were seamless, actually added to the ambience.
National Treasure — Went in thinking I would write a review titled "Conspiracy Theorists of the World Unite," but came out with something of a history lesson. Again, Bruckheimer offers us a serious treatment of a mythic subject. Nick Cage gives his best performance since Moonstruck, this one much more cerebral. This movie has a point to make about the responsibility of citizens to protect the national treasure, our founding canon, but it doesn't make it in a heavy-handed way — a breath of fresh air in the wake of the election. Despite a lot of expository dialogue, there was an unexpected, self-effacing humor in the characters that was so lightly done it took a beat to catch it all. Nevertheless, pacing is problematic. Someone wrote that Diane Krueger looked more Helen in this than in Troy. Won't argue. She makes a good foil for Cage.
Alexander — The word turgid comes to mind. A mess, depressing. Just like JFK, I walked out caring less about the protagonist than when I went in. If Alexander had really been that much of a sissy, Phillip would've had him killed before he was off the teat. Waste of everyone's talent, especially Anthony Hopkins as the aging Ptolemy. Note to self: Don't waste money on Oliver Stone films. Did like Jared Leto as Hyphesteon.
Callas Forever — Please see this small, "European" movie. Franco Zefferelli at his finest, a tour-de-force by Fanny Arandt as Maria Callas. The soundtrack is the best I've heard since Amadeus. A touching meditation on the decline of Callas as an artist, with a message for all about how to age gracefully.
I, Robot — Just rented the video; might've been more satisfying on big screen. Thanks to my neighbor, J., for helping to clarify my thoughts on this film. Perhaps my mistake as I watched this movie was my willingness to take it seriously as a treatment of Asimov. I won't say that the 3 Laws of Robotics weren't addressed here, but the script was at best contrived, at worst hackneyed, and the denouement completely predictable. Will Smith gives a strong performance as the hero cop, playing against his other, more cartoonish forays into scifi. But the robots never really made me believe: They weren't edgy enough to inspire real terror, or real pity. The chases-&-explosions didn't add anything new visually or technically, & to some extent bogged down the plot/pacing. Serious questions badly answered. Your call.
Notable movies I didn't see: Finding Neverland (I really wanted to see this, & may still, but not before it was time to write this; I hope it's as good as they say 'cuz I love Johnny Depp); The Aviator (only real reason to see this is Cate Blanchett as Kate Hepburn! I'm not enthralled with Scorcese as a director, which I'm sure makes me an odd duck, but his films just don't appeal to me, excepting only The Last Waltz); Team America World Police (I was in Texas w/ my mom when this came out, & by the time I got back it was off the scene; I was curious about it since it's from the South Park guys, anybody see it? Think it worthy?)