Sunday, December 14, 2008

2002 Part V

I can still remember going to Pierce Brosnan’s last Bond movie “Die Another Day” during the Christmas season of ’02. It was one of the last movies a friend and I went to before he met the love of his life. I hadn’t seen Brosnan in his 3 prior Bond flicks, so was looking forward to seeing “Die”. It was mostly satisfying.

The movie started with Madonna singing the title song (which had a very electronica vibe). The last half of the movie took place in an area of the Arctic, I believe. Bond’s big contraption in the movie was an “invisible” car. Though completely lacking compared to Daniel Craig’s reboot in ’06, I had a pretty good time with the Secret Agent Man (bonus points for Halle Berry who played the love interest).

Catch Me If You Can” starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Steven Spielberg looked to be a great movie about a guy who impersonated doctors and airline pilots in the 60’s, but I didn’t get around to seeing it until about 7 weeks into its run.




Based on a true story, it was quite captivating with great period detail (trailer).

The musical “Chicago” was the 3rd Richard Gere movie I saw in 2002.



Ridiculous, I know, but all three were very good. Most of his work since then has been blah. “Chicago” was special in that the audience was able to hear the famous Buddhist sing. Queen Latifah also sang one as did John C. Reilley. Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones each sang a number of songs. The film wound up winning Best Picture for the year. I didn’t think it quite deserved it (though the tunes were so good I bought the film’s soundtrack a few days after seeing the film). My favorite song from it might very well be “We Both Reached for the Gun” sung by Gere. (you can view it here).

Men in Black II” was the first movie I saw at Rochester’s newest theatre, Cinemagic (the theatre is now the worst in town by far). The only good thing about the movie was the talking Pug. He’s a stitch…and such attitude! (trailer)

I had much more fun with “Austin Powers: Goldmember”. I went to the first "Powers" twice and the second one thrice. My favorite character in part two was Fat Bastard, so I greatly looked forward to seeing his return in part III. Though he was only in one major scene, I was on the floor throughout it (the scene starts at 7:30 of this link and continues here). Tom Cruise surprised with a cameo in the film.


6 comments:

Eric Curtis said...

I haven't seen "Chicago" or "Catch me if you can," yet, and I have no good excuse because so many people have told be how good they are.

Saw MIB:II with a friend, and we had a great time. The best story I have about that movie is my Dad took my Sister to see it, and actually enjoyed it. I don't think he's enjoyed a new movie since Dirty Harry. The part where Smith's character says to the pug "I'm supposed to take advise from someone who chases their own ass" is what did it for him. I have no idea why they haven't made a third one. I'd be there on opening day.

The opening to Goldmember is great. Spielberg needs to step in front of the camera more. All the DVD extras I've ever seen of him proves he's funny and has great timing. Of course that could just be good editing.

Thomas said...

Eric, you're running out of good excuses not to see "Chicago" or "Catch". They both can be viewed in their entirety on YouTube.

Excellent story about MIB 2. I love it when people have stories to go with a particular movie that they saw. I have quite a few myself, which is why I frequently write about movies.

You can't help but love Spielberg. The first movie of his I saw was "Raiders" at the age of 10. "E.T." came out one year later. As an adult, "Schindler's List" was my favorite movie of 1993 and "Saving Private Ryan" for '98.

Brian Mongold said...

Catch me if you Can was an awesome flick. Still haven't seen Chicago as it's a little too musicy for my taste.

I still haven't seen Schindler's List, but I too loved Saving Private Ryan. Never saw Saving Ryan's Privates, although I heard that was good stuff too. :)

Unknown said...

None of those films listed appealed to me. Everyone around me who saw "Chicago" keeps saying I need to see it. Also, a biopic is usually good. I don't know why I didn't try out "Catch Me if You Can" as well. Thanks for the reminders. I'm really looking forward to seeing "Milk," starring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk.

Unknown said...

Oh, I forgot "Schindler's List." That's one of my all-time favorites.

Thomas said...

Brian, you've not seen "Schindler" yet? Shame, shame. I saw it 15 years ago this winter. It's a tough one, but essential if you consider yourself a movie guy.

The second time I went to "Ryan", I actually said to the BO attendant, "I'll take one to Saving Ryan's Privates". I couldn't resist.

PJ, I'd be more interested in "Milk" if I wasn't lactose. Seriously, though, it does look good.

The top three movies I'm looking forward to seeing over the next month are Pitt in "Benjamin Button", Kate & Leo in "Revolutionary Road", and Jim Carrey in "Yes Man".