Battlestar Galactica among AFI top 10 TV shows for 2005

[Sobelius]

AFI top 10 for 2005

So very very happy to see Battlestar Galactica on the list of TV shows.

[HaemishM]

So sad that I know almost none of those movies, but am avid fans of at least half those TV shows.

[Stormwaltz]

I'll balance you, sort of. I wanted to see (but haven't seen) most of the movies, and I haven't heard of half the TV shows.

[Rasix]

Woot, Veronica Mars is on the list.  I watch half of the shows listed there and I used to watch 24. 

Haven't seen a single movie on the list.  I just haven't gotten out to the movies a lot this year. 

[WayAbvPar]

3 of my fav TV shows are listed. They missed Arrested Development, but they have that in common with 99% of America. Pity.

[Viin]

Who wants to watch a movie about gay cowboys? We've already seen Three Amigos.

I haven't seen any of those movies either, but I hear Syriana and A History of Violence is good. I have heard of most of them.

They forgot Entourage on the TV show list!

[Rasix]

They forgot Entourage on the TV show list!

It was 2000 times better this year than last.  It's still got miles to go before it's worthy of any list.

[Sobelius]

Who wants to watch a movie about gay cowboys? We've already seen Three Amigos.

Me. And apparently a lot of other people. It opened in 5 theaters (granted, NY, SF, LA) and made an unprecedented $109,000 per theatre. If you're willing to put aside your initial prejudices, you may find it worthy of the "2005's Best Film" awards it's receiving from many quarters. But seeing it might mean getting a little bit out of one's comfort zone. Not such a big deal -- it's not like someone is going to lash you out on a barbed wire fence in sub zero weather just for seeing this film.

The other film that I hope gets showered with recognition is Peter Jackson's King Kong. Again, an amazing love story at its center without compromising on astonishing action/adventure. I hope Jackson tries his hand at science fiction next and creates something to get us out of the mediocrity of Star Wars/Star Trek.

[stray]

I haven't watched much TV since the X-Files. I know next to nothing about it. I'm too behind on Deadwood to watch it now, but I might get around to renting the DVD's one day.

Good Night and Good Luck, 40 Year Old Virgin, History of V, and Capote were all excellent. All worth watching the minute you get a chance.

To hell with Crash. It's an overrated piece of junk. To hell with ensemble films. Want a better ensemble film? Watch Magnolia or 12 Angry Men. To hell with ensemble films about race. Want a better ensemble film about race? Watch Do the Right Thing. Or skip the ensemble bit and just watch the Pawnbroker or Schindler's List.

Want to watch a movie named "Crash"? Then watch the real Crash instead (the Cronenberg one....director of History of Violence btw heh).

In short, I hated Crash. If a movie from this year had to replace it, then I'd say Cinderella Man.

[edit] As much as I like these films though, Sin City and Batman Begins really should be up there too. So they were based on comic books. Big deal. So was Sideways and American Splendor. And to top it off, Munich and King Kong haven't even been released.

[Margalis]

Yeah...I liked Crash when it was called Crash...wait no that wasn't good either!

Capote was good. Worth seeing. Great acting all around, not for the action movie crowd though.

Fuck King Kong. Seriously. King Kong...wtf. Remember when Peter Jackson had an original thought? A movie that did not need to be remade at all. I saw an extended preview on TV today, it looked terrible. A fake looking ape chasing a car...yay. I liked this movie when it was called "King Kong." Now the same with CGI - wow I'm impressed! For the record I didn't like LOTR either. Are people going to ever realize that CGI doesn't make movies? I think in 50 years people are going to look back on movies like LOTR and laugh at how they were considered good. The LOTR movies are almost unwatchable already - bad acting, horrible melodrama, cheeseball music, all drowned in CGI work. In 5 years they will lose their glossy veneer and people will see them for what they are - boring, mediocre messes. The entire third movie was one big CGI battle! (And no, I don't hate the source material - there is a much better movie to be made out of the LOTR books if someone could put in a lot more atmosphere and a lot less cheesy comedy looking CGI Orcs)

As far as "gay cowyboys eat pudding", it has nothing to do with comfort zone. It just sounds dull to me. I just really don't care at all. I'm not a huge fan of Ang Lee either. It has nothing to do with gay cowboys - I wouldn't find a drama about straight cowboys very compelling either.

[Sairon]

I also disliked the LOTR movies, the whole movie was made up of try-to-be-good-one-liners. I read the books a couple of years before the movie and found those to be overrated as well, even if they were decent books. I have nothing against CGI though as long as it's not the focus of the movie.

[Rasix]

I hope Jackson tries his hand at science fiction next and creates something to get us out of the mediocrity of Star Wars/Star Trek.

Would have been nice if he got something like Ender's Game.  Instead we get to watch Wolfgang Peterson butcher it.

I don't agree with the LoTOR hate (that's about as far as I'll go, we need less nerd slapfights here, not more), but I would like to see more original Peter Jackson work.  We need another Heavenly Creatures or The Frighteners.  But really, the guy has earned the right to make whatever he feels like.  You do enjoy being contrarian though, don't  ya? :)

[stray]

Yeah...I liked Crash when it was called Crash...wait no that wasn't good either!

Heh, I'll admit, even though I like Cronenberg, I wouldn't put it on his "best of" list myself.

I don't even think the new "Crash" is all that bad really either. It's just overrated is all. I'll hold it in contempt for that. At least most people absolutely hated the shit out of Cronenberg's film. Overrated is the last thing you could say about it.

I've expressed my LotR hate enough, so no comment.

And yes, Capote had great acting. Hoffman is one of the best around imo, but he keeps getting typecasted in shitty roles like "Best Pal/Confidant", "Depressed and creepy guy in a stained shirt, with a secret crush on the male lead", or "Depressed and creepy Best Pal/Confident in a stained shirt, with a secret crush on the male lead". Not to say he's bad in those roles, but c'mon, the dude can do just about anything. He should be the lead from now on.

[schild]

Who wants to watch a movie about gay cowboys? We've already seen Three Amigos.

Me. And apparently a lot of other people. It opened in 5 theaters (granted, NY, SF, LA) and made an unprecedented $109,000 per theatre. If you're willing to put aside your initial prejudices, you may find it worthy of the "2005's Best Film" awards it's receiving from many quarters. But seeing it might mean getting a little bit out of one's comfort zone. Not such a big deal -- it's not like someone is going to lash you out on a barbed wire fence in sub zero weather just for seeing this film.

The other film that I hope gets showered with recognition is Peter Jackson's King Kong. Again, an amazing love story at its center without compromising on astonishing action/adventure. I hope Jackson tries his hand at science fiction next and creates something to get us out of the mediocrity of Star Wars/Star Trek.

I hate to break it to you, but if someone gave a movie about gay cowboys a bad review, they'd be called prejudiced. Also, people feel obligated to see movies like this - that challenge the traditional thought because it makes them seem smarter. It's a Hollywood style fart in the wind. IIRC High Art did well also. That was just a piece of trash with lesbians in it. But I'll see this gay cowboy movie just to see how much ass critics are kissing with this "best film of 2005" bullshit I'm seeing everywhere. Another movie like this? Everything is Illuminated. A lot of people think it's the shit. A lot of jews thin it's the shit which makes a lot of their christian friends want to see it because they don't know what their missing out on. I'll tell you what their missing out on 2 great performances with a mediocre backdrop. But I know if I don't see Brokeback I'll be missing out on steers and queers. And we can't have that. It's like its own punchline.

No one's going to be lashing anyone with barbed wire, but you can be goddamn sure that the mothers across America who go see Brokeback will go to see it out of guilt and spectacle rather than genuine interest. It's a shame. But it's the truth.  Here's what negative reviews for Brokeback look like:

"For all its brave beginnings and real achievements -- its assault on western mythology, its discovery of a subversive sexual honesty in an unexpected locale -- Brokeback Mountain finally fails to fully engage our emotions."
-- Richard Schickel, TIME MAGAZINE

"I love gay people and I love a lot of gay movies - just not this one."
-- Kevin N. Laforest, MONTREAL FILM JOURNAL

  "Heath Ledger's extraordinary. . . though Lee's passion for this project seems several degrees cooler."
-- Walter Chaw, FILM FREAK CENTRAL

"Brokeback Mountain is an epic love story about gay cowboys and that, in itself, is something. Otherwise, the film is not one to get particularly excited over."
-- Marcy Dermansky, ABOUT.COM

"Ultimately suffocates on its own good taste."
-- Kevin Courrier, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE

I really like that last one. I don't even think HE knows what he just said.

I've also found a number of good reviews that shouldn't have been labeled as good - examples:

"Ang Lee has taken the right tack with Brokeback Mountain, but that doesn't mean anyone's going to want to see it."
-- Joshua Tyler, CINEMABLEND.COM

"Though deeply flawed, Brokeback Mountain does break new ground in some respects and is worth seeing in some form (probably DVD for most) at least once."
-- Staci Layne Wilson, FANTASTICA DAILY

"This is one of the best serious films about homosexuality ever made, but though it's sad and sobering it's still only a rough draft of a great movie."
-- Kyle Smith, NEW YORK POST

"This is a noble experiment, but one which has failed."
-- Eric Lurio, GREENWICH VILLAGE GAZETTE

In other words, people are giving it good scores but giving you the real dish in the actual review. And that dish? Generic Ang Lee served up on a gay platter.

Anyway, yea, so I've covered mothers (specifically soccer moms who do things like read O and not only read stuff on her book club list but also see every movie she recommends and baselessly takes all commentary from celebrities as gospel) and obviously gay men and women. I'll see it because I want to see if Heath Ledger can pull off....gay....cowboy and I want to see if Ang Lee has matured any since he seemed to have lost every ounce of skill he might have once had by making The Hulk. That will happen when I can Netflix it.

Crash

Ugh. It's a bandaid picture. I think I've explained this before here. Get someone incredibly popular with the academy and SAG (in this case, Don Cheadle whatwith Hotel Rwanda and whatnot), and put a bunch of people with waning careers around him - just like they did with Benicio Del Toro in Traffic. And viola, everyone gets a nice bandaid on their career.

As for the Cronenberg picture - gah - give me Existenz, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone and hell, even The Fly before you make me watch that shit again. Christ.

Now, to be topical - I'm glad House, Veronica Mars, and Grey's Anatomy are on that AFI  list. They're some of the best TV I've seen in years. On the movie list, the 3 movies I want to see most (and haven't seen yet) are Good Night, and Good Luck - A History of Violence - and Munich.

2006's movies I'm interested in? The Decameron (go go team Tim Roth!), Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny, David Lynch's Inland Empire, Silent Hill (so sue me), The Black Dahlia (please don't let De Palma's string of terrible shit continue), Highlander: The Source (YEA METHOS!). Seriously, something is wrong with the movie industry.

[stray]

The Black Dahlia (please don't let De Palma's string of terrible shit continue)

It'll be another poor attempt at Noir ala Femme Fatale. It'll probably suck. Somebody stole De Palma's soul about 15 years ago, I think.

[MrHat]

The Pick of Destiny.

[Jimbo]

After just taking my son (almost 10 year old) and I to Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, I would would say it was the best one the he and I have seen this year  :-D

I guess I would rather see Jarhead or Walk the Line, instead of some of the titles on their list, but then to each his own.

[HaemishM]

And yes, Capote had great acting. Hoffman is one of the best around imo, but he keeps getting typecasted in shitty roles like "Best Pal/Confidant", "Depressed and creepy guy in a stained shirt, with a secret crush on the male lead", or "Depressed and creepy Best Pal/Confident in a stained shirt, with a secret crush on the male lead". Not to say he's bad in those roles, but c'mon, the dude can do just about anything. He should be the lead from now on.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the most underrated actor everyone knows by looks, but couldn't tell you his name. At best, they'll say the annoying guy in Along Came Polly. That's because most people are rutting pig Philistines who know shit about movies. Hoffman makes pictures he's in better, such as the aforementioned Polly, which would otherwise have been irritable bowel jokes and uncomfortable Ben Stiller moments around Jennifer Anniston's flake moments. Watch Hoffman in State and Main. Watch The Big Lebowski. The man can flat out act, and I hope Polly made him a mint. I want to see Capote, only I don't think it'll come here.

Brokeback Mountain? Meh, if it wasn't about gay cowboys, NO ONE WOULD BE TALKING ABOUT IT. I don't really give a shit either way. If Ang Lee isn't doing kung fu or superheroes, I really don't care, because his style of filmmaking is very slow and almost tedious. His movies can be hard to watch if you're tired because you fall asleep. Watching Jake GILLIGAN and Heath Ledger make goo-goo eyes at each other in the old west, only with chaps and long, slow panoramic shots, no thanks. I wouldn't care if it was two hot lesbians either, btw.

They are making another fucking Highlander movie? WHY? Was 3 shitty movies NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU BASTARDS?!?!??!?!?

[Shockeye]

Brokeback Mountain? Meh, if it wasn't about gay cowboys, NO ONE WOULD BE TALKING ABOUT IT.

Not true. Anne Hathaway is topless in it.

[schild]

Brokeback Mountain? Meh, if it wasn't about gay cowboys, NO ONE WOULD BE TALKING ABOUT IT.

Not true. Anne Hathaway is topless in it.

Her titties are less impressive than I thought they'd be. For shame too. They could have sold tickets.

[Viin]

After just taking my son (almost 10 year old) and I to Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, I would would say it was the best one the he and I have seen this year  :-D

I guess I would rather see Jarhead or Walk the Line, instead of some of the titles on their list, but then to each his own.

I've always liked Narnia, and the previews look cool. We are going to go see that this weekend.

I also agree that Jarhead and Walk the Line were very good movies (Jarhead more so, IMHO). Matter of fact, as far as war movies go, Jarhead is up there. Ranks up with Apocalypse Now.

[Abagadro]

On the "Peter Jackson sci-fi" front, he is going to produce (although not necessarily direct) a Halo movie, which could be pretty damn cool.  Don't know if that will be before or after The Hobbit. He does need to go to some "new-source" material through.

[stray]

I just don't see how Halo could work. It may have a story....But it doesn't have a lead character.

A guy in a spacesuit who doesn't say anything isn't a lead character. He's not even the "cool, silent type". He's not Toshiro. He's not Clint. He's not even corny like Snake Plissken. He's nothing.

[edit] That's IF they follow the game, at least.

[Yegolev]

I have said it before and I'll say it again: many more straight women are into stories about gay men than most people think.  Even the straight women themselves.  I get the impression that Brokeback is marketed at the straight women.  I think it opens in Atlanta on Dec 19 and I think I will probably end up seeing it.

[stray]

And....

Does that mean you're a straight woman too? I'm not following.

And why do you have a old bearded guy as your avatar?

[Yegolev]

I am a straight man with a straight wife, and I end up going to see movies with her from time to time, so it's gay cowboys for me.

My avatar is none other than The Peter S. Beagle, the Savior of Horizons.

[tazelbain]

Stray, All you didn't want to know.

[Abagadro]

Apparently the writer for Halo is the guy who wrote 28 Days Later.

[Murgos]

Apparently the writer for Halo is the guy who wrote 28 Days Later.

Well at least we know it will be derivative.  Wait, I think we were already assured of that.

[Sobelius]

Now I'm even more glad that Battlestar Galactica got attention from AFI. The Writers Guild of America awards ignored it completely, which I think is sad. BSG's writing is what got me hooked (despite the lame use of "frak" for "fuck").

[Rasix]

BSG's writing is what got me hooked (despite the lame use of "frak" for "fuck").

Hah, that really bothered my wife also, almost to the point where I thought she wouldn't give the series a chance.  I was pretty used to sci-fi shows using fake swear words considering I had just finished watching Farscape (frell=fuck and almost every naughty word had a made up counterpart).  And before that was Firefly, and they swore in what sounded like Chinese. Does every sci-fi show have it's own way of portraying colorful language?

[MrHat]

Ya, but Firefly handled it much much better.

[Bunk]

Regarding Narnia: Go in to it remembering that its based on a kid's book. Not a teenager's book, a kid's book. It's not the second coming of the Lord of the Rings.

For the most part it's pretty and fun, but far from deep. Its worth seeing for the performances of the White Witch and the youngest daughter Lucy. Beyond that, the acting is meh at best.

Everyone seems stuck on either loving or hating Narnia. For me, its a solid thumbs in the middle.

[MrHat]

For me, its a solid thumbs in the middle.

Pretty dirty for a kid's movie.

[Yegolev]

Now I'm even more glad that Battlestar Galactica got attention from AFI. The Writers Guild of America awards ignored it completely, which I think is sad. BSG's writing is what got me hooked (despite the lame use of "frak" for "fuck").

Truly sad for the reasons you mention.  Tense drama generally makes me tired, or start to seem so ludicrous that I can't enjoy it (24).  Somehow the BSG writers nailed the pacing and I just can't stop watching.  It's like kangaroo testicles.