Top "New Year's Eve" Movies

In celebration of 2007, here are our top 5 movies for new year's eve.

#5 - 200 Cigarettes (1999)

Set in 1981 in New York's Lower East Village during one very loooong New Year's Eve night out, a bunch of post-slacker hipsters head out seeking a good time. Cast includes Paul Rudd, Courtney Love, Ben Affleck, Cassey Affleck, Jay Mohr, Kate Hudson, Janeane Garofalo, Martha Plimpton, Gaby Hoffmann, and Christina Ricci. Dave Chappelle has a recurring cameo as a disco cab driver that alone makes this worth watching.

#4 - The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

At midnight on New Years Eve the S.S. Poseidon is struck by a 90' tidal wave and is capsized. A great cast make up this movie. The Rev. Frank Scott (Gene Hackman) leads 9 Survivors; an elderly couple, Manny and Belle Rosen (Jack Albertson and Shelley Winters); A N.Y. detective and his wife, Mike and Linda Rogo (Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens); A young brother and sister, Robin and Susan Shelby (Eroc Shea and Pamela Sue Martin); A haberdasher James Martin (Red Buttons); a pop singer Nonnie Parry (Carol Lynley), and a waiter from the ship Acres (Roddy McDowall). They travel from the grand ballroom struggling through steam, fire and rising water in the up-side-down ship to reach the bottom (the propeller shaft), now the top.

#3 - Bridget Jone's Diary (2001)

Bridget Jones makes a New year's resolution to keep a diary and her life starts to change. Starring Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth.

#2 -When Harry Met Sally (1989)

(Spoiler) This movie's memorable ending takes place New Year's Eve finally bringing together 2 friends afraid to admit they're realy in love (played convincingly by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan). Way funny lines. Also starring Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby who met and fell in love thanks to not falling for Harry and Sally.

#1 - Strange Days (1995)

Set in the year 1999 during the last days of the old millennium, ex-cop Ralph Fiennes receives a disc containing the memories of a murderer killing a prostitute. Lenny investigates and is pulled deeper and deeper in a swirling vortex of blackmail and murder. Also starring Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis and Tom Sizemore.

A Mouse- how quaint. Hello, Computer?

Here's a really funny article on Computers in Movies.

My favorite:

4. Integration is Easy, Data Interoperates
In movieland, users have no trouble connecting different computer systems. Macintosh users live in a world of PCs without ever noticing it (and there were disproportionally more Macs than PCs in films a decade ago, when Apple had the bigger product-placement budget).

In the show 24, Jack Bauer calls his office to get plans and schematics for various buildings. Once these files have been transferred from outside sources to the agency's mainframe, Jack asks to have them downloaded to his PDA. And -- miracle of miracles -- the files are readable without any workarounds. (And download is far faster than is currently possible on the U.S.'s miserable mobile networks.)

If only it were that easy!

Deja Vu

A good solid action movie. Plenty of twists and turns, though at one point the story totally breaks the laws of physics and turns the movie from semi-realistic to fantasy. Oh well. At least the car chases were cool.

If you liked The Island, The Rock, Armageddon, etc. you 'll love this one.

A tale of two animations

Hoodwinked is an example of movie studios trying to copy Pixar's success with Toy Story, etc. and failing miserably. Bad story, bad artwork. Somehow the movie studio thought

Over the Hedge also tried to jump on the animated animal bandwagon, but had just enough talent in artwork, story and voices to be decent. Pixar still reigns supreme though.

RIP VHS

After a long illness, the groundbreaking home-entertainment format VHS has died of natural causes in the United States. The format was 30 years old.

No services are planned.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117953955.html?categoryid=20&cs=1

New TV Season coming

The Office starts up again September 21. The writing & acting have come a long way since the first few episodes, now that the story is more original (not simply copying the British version) and the actors have become comfortable in their characters' shoes.

Lost returns October 4th. Looks like we'll get to see the story from the Others' point of view. I just want to know what happened in the hatch and why Charlie was so aloof about it.

Battlestar Galactica is back October 6th. The Cylons have taken over and the Humans are forming a resistance a la WWII.

Inside Man

Yet another bank heist movie with a plot twist. The twist wasn't what I expected (which is cool), but it came so late in the movie I almost had given up that one even would occur. If you liked movies like The Usual Suspects, The Score & The Italian Job, you'll like this.

My Neighbor Totoro

One of Hayao Miyazaki's first animated films, it is worth seeing but not as refined as his more recent works. Seeing it after seeing Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service and the more recently released Spirited Aaway, it gives a good sense of the evolution of his storytelling and artistic styles.

Underworld: Evolution

This sequel is up to par with the original Underworld movie which features a battle of war and intrigue between rival vampire and werewolf clans. Lots of great action, cool moves and effects. The direction of the first was a bit too Matrix-ish, and this one is more original in style. Both have Kate Beckinsale in a tight black outfit, which is nice too.

Three Letters... One Number. B.S.G. 3.

Battlestar Galactica Season 3 starts Oct 6.

Here's the first teaser that came out for it. If you haven't seen the end of Season 2, you may want to skip all of this. Nahh, just watch this one. It's just a bunch of scenes cut together, you won't see anything too revealing.

Okay, now here's the one that just came out during the premiere of Eureka on SciFi. Definite spoilers, here. You may want to skip this. But you'd love Adama's line at the end. Makes you want to yell "Yeah!! Bring it on!!!"

If you already watched the first two teasers, you're probably wondering what events lead up to them. Well, you could watch all of Season 2, or the last few episodes. Or... you could watch just the final minutes of the absolutely stunningly amazing Season 2 finale on SciFi.com!

If you were able to resist temptation, Season 2 is on DVD. But that's just the first half. According to VideoETA, the second part of Season 2 comes out Sept 19.

If you were able to resist the teasers AND the Season 2 final minutes, have some fun reading what The Office's Dwight Schrute has to say about BSG and Lost.

If not, then like me, you probably now really can't wait for Season 3!!

Well, you can get a LIVE BSG fix at Comic Con in San Diego this weekend:

This Friday, from 2:00 to 3:00 in Room 20:
Panelists include stars Edward James Olmos (Admiral William Adama), Mary McDonnell (Laura Roslin), James Callis (President Gaius Baltar), and Lucy Lawless (D'Anna Biers), Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol), plus executive producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore and SCI FI VP for original programming Erik Storey. Moderated by Lisa Chambers, features director, TV Guide.

It doesn't get any better than that!

2046

Well produced, visually. But hard to follow and even harder to stay awake.

Superman Inside Story

After watching this story told by Kevin Smith, now I get why Superman was only mediocre at best. And why most Hollywood movies have really stupid writing.

I remember talking to some guys working on CG for the TV show SeaQuest DSV. They went through all this trouble to make things look realistic- the textures, lighting, motion. And the producers said "the sub moves too slow... can you make it faster?" Umm, that's how fast a big sub moves underwater. But guess what? They made the sub move faster. Why? Watch the Kevin video and you'll understand.

Howl's Moving Castle

A classic animated movie by Hayao Miyazaki. Highly recommended. You'll be so drawn into the story and artistic style that you'll wonder where the time went when the credits roll. Good American translation and reading by famous real-life actors.

Superman Returns

I was hoping that with all the hype over this movie for the past year it would be a surprise revival of the Superman series, as was (definitely) Batman Begins.

Instead I found it un-original, deriving too much from the original Superman movie, as well as other popular movies, including Batman Begins. You never know how much of this is intentional or accidental. I'm sure Director Bryan Singer set out to pay homage to the original and the people who made it. But I think he overdid it. In some scenes, characters spoke word-for-word the lines from the first movie. It's almost a bit creepy.

Overall, it's not a bad movie. Most of the negatives were due to my expectations and my memory and appreciation of the original movie. The visual effects are spectacular. Worth watching on a big screen.

The visuals may have alot of depth, but the characters are kinda flat. Jimmy Olsen's exuberance is over-done. He might as well have been played by Screech from Saved by the Bell. Perry White is a sort of knock-off of J Jonah Jameson from the recent Spiderman movies. Everyone talks about how adventurous Lois is, but you really don't see it (she doesn't jump on an elevator with a nuclear bomb in the Eiffel Tower, does she?). Lex Luthor is played well, but you don't really get he's a diabolically evil mastermind.

Superman is not bad. Again, you don't really get the depth of his character that you do from the original, or Smallville, or especially the recent cartoons (Justice League). Justice League and the Batman animated series have THE best stories and characters of all the Superman/Batman versions. And what's with him stalking Lois & family at their home?

I hate to bad-mouth such a sentimental film, but the truth is that it's good but not great. Not from lack of quality, but mostly from trying too hard.

World's Fastest Indian

I love movies based on true stories. Stand and Deliver, October Sky and several others come to mind. A great quirky true-story movie I loved was The Dish, about a radio dish in Australia that was the only one that could be used to monitor the NASA moon mission.

The World's Fastest Indian is based on a true story, it's quirky, and takes place (partly) in New Zealand. So it has alot of thing going for it. But it also stars Anthony Hopkins, which could make up for alot of other flaws (if there were any). It's a great "underdog triumphs over all" story- even the story about the making of the movie. Turns out the director is a New Zealander who has been trying to make this movie for years. He finally did it, and it's worth the wait.

The gist of the story is Burt Munru, a motorcycle fanatic, works on perfecting his bike for 25 years so he can race it on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. He saves up the money and makes the voyage by sea to Long Beach, buys a car & drives from Los Angeles to the Salt Flats. He meets some really colorful characters along the way. What's great is no matter how different they are from him, everyone is good natured and want to help Burt make his way to his race.

When he finally arrives, he's told he can't race because he didn't pre-register. All that way for nothing? Well you have to watch the movie to see what happens.

Watch the ending credits for some facts about Burt (like the end of Stand and Deliver). And definitely watch the Extras - not the "making of", but the real-life footage of Burt. What a character!

Jarhead

This is a pretty good war movie set in the first Gulf War. It has a kinda Full Metal Jacket story progression. Boot camp, shipping out to war, fighting in war, going insane in war.

I was impressed with the visuals- the desert terrains were shot near Brawley, CA (it's really remote-- I've driven past it to El Centro, which is really really remote) and things like burning oil fields were added with CG.

Mirror Mask

When I saw the Matrix, I knew it was a fresh orginal style that many other movies would copy.

When I saw Mirror Mask, I knew it was a fresh original style that no one else would dream of copying.

Both have their merits, but there's something to be said about have a strikingly original design and method of storytelling that stands on its own. It doesn't need sequels or spinoffs. It just exists in its own world, and I was loving every minute of it.

I hope the people that made this movie (the story behind that is on the DVD extras) continue to make more originals like this.

In terms of production, I would compare this to Sin City- both shot mostly in blue/green screen sets, with lots and lots of CG. Both claim to have low budgets, much higher than a pro-sumer like myself could afford, but inspiring that this type of visual is being attempted. These days movies are either hyper-realistic or children's cartoons. There's not much in between.

I really hope that this type of movie becomes the US equivalent of Japan's Anime. We'll never have the likes of Akira or Ghost in the Shell made in America as just animation. The box office killed this with movies like Final Fantasy. Too bad. But the hybrid of live and CG is new, fresh and has a chance to grow. At least I can hope. :)

DaVinci Code

If you've read the book, don't bother. You know what's going to happen. The movie is almost too faithful in my opinion. For the few dozen people in the world who haven't read it, go see this movie.

It's a well crafted suspense thriller, as long as you don't already know everything that's about to happen.

X-Men III

III has a new director from I an II, but I couldn't tell the difference. Still great over-the-top action and creative visuals (the scene in Jean Grey's home comes to mind). Definitely so "I can't believe it!" moments that make you wonder what's going to happen in the future because some pretty major events happen. If you see this in the theater, STAY FOR THE ENTIRE CREDITS.

Get LOST!

With the recent LOST episode, "Two for the Road", the road is getting pretty windy with lots of action and plot twists. We're in the home stretch now towards the season 2 finale, and it's going keep getting better.

I've been following the rumors and theories on The Tail Section, and SpoilerFix.

During the summer break before season 3, ABC is running something called The Lost Experience, where clues about the island and who else might be involved in it will be appear on web sites, tv, radio, or other unexpected places. A fan group is running The Lost Experience website to keep track of the sightings.

In the last episode, a fake TV commercial for The Hanso Foundation listed a 1-800 number that has clues about where to look. There's even a website for this fake organization.

Ask a Ninja

What would you ask a Ninja?
Anything you want!

Why would you ask a Ninja?
Because he might have a funny answer!

The latest installment of Ask a Ninja is hillarious. You can subscribe to it as a video podcast on iTunes or play them right from the Ask a Ninja website.

Mark your Calendar

April 28 - United 93
May 5 - MI 3
May 12 - Poseidon
May 19 - Da Vinci Code
May 26 - X-Men 3
June 9 - Cars
Jun 30 - Superman Returns
July 7 - A Scanner Darkly
October ?? - The Fountain
November 3 - Flushed Away
2006? - Time Traveler's Wife

Ewan McGreggor Adopts Mongolian Girl

LOS ANGELES -- Ewan McGregor, who plays Jedi mentor Ben Kenobi in the "Star Wars" prequels, has taken someone under his wing in real life.

The actor and his wife Eve Mavrakis have adopted a four-year-old girl from Mongolia, reports People magazine.

Besides gaining two parents, the little girl will have readymade sisters, the couple's biological four-year-old daughter Esther Rose and one-year-old daughter Clara Mathilde.

No other details are available about the adoption process, but McGregor had stopped in Mongolia on his global motorcycle road trip in 2004, which was chronicled on Bravo's "Long Way Round."

The rest of the story is on Zap2It.

Long Way Round

In the summer of 2004 we went on a trip riding a bus through the wilderness of Alaska. We had a general route to follow, but our day-to-day activies were left up to chance, weather, people we met and things we say.

Ironically, just a couple months before us, two guys on motorcycles passed through Alaska doing basically the same thing but their trip was going around the world-- from London to New York going east.

The two guys were Ewan McGreggor and Charlie Boorman. They became friends working on a movie together and share a love of motorcycles. So they planned the trip, and got a producer to follow them and document the experience.

The trip is a very enlightening view of parts of the world you usually never hear about. Although they do go through England, France & Germany, not to mention the United States from Alaska to New York, the documentary focuses on places like Khazakstan, Mongolia and remote parts of Russia. It is really interesting to see how people live in the cities and rural areas of these countries-- and how they respond to these two visitors. In every city they are welcomed with friendship, food, lodging, and sometimes the local TV news station.

The two bikers and their camera man also have to deal with rough weather, bad roads (or lack thereof) and mechanical problems. On a few occasions it becomes so extreme they are forced to reconsider their plans, but ultimately choose to push on.

From the logistics of planning and executing such a trip to the exotic landscapes and interesting people they pass by, this is a great adventure story, well told.

Battlestar Galactica: End of Season 2

BSG just finished its second season, and this finale was just superb. The writers keep coming up with really fresh yet believable story lines, and the actors deliver their roles with dramatic impact.

That's what makes this such a great show-- it's driven by intense acting and intricately woven plots with plenty of twists and turns. Not once does a character solve a problem with some obscure techno-gadget or are all the world's problems solved in the last five minutes of the episode. In BSG, a story may develop over several episodes. Some characters only resurface every once in a while just to shake things up.

The Season 1 finale ended with Adama being shot by a friendly character who turned out to be a Cylon but didn't know it. You knew he had to survive, but the real question was what would happen to the rest of the fleet when the "boss" was out of commission?

This time, about 3/4 through the episode, the entire story is hurled into unknown territory- over a year into the future. Just when everyone had settled down and gotten used to not being pursued by Cylons, suddenly they get a surprise visit from their robot-human-hybrid adversaries. No one is prepared and the Cylons take over easily. The fleet escapes, leaving the remains of humanity as prisoners. Reminds me of a story line from the old Robotech cartoon series.

If you missed this, you have to look for reruns on the SciFi Channel or download it from iTunes. Here is a great review of the final episode on IGN.com

Season 3 is in October. Can't wait.

More cool Lost websites

Lost Links
http://www.lostlinks.net
Basic but useful list of recent topics and headlines.

LOST Notebook
http://www.hanttula.com/projects/lost/intro.htm
A well designed site made to look like an old notebook. This has lots of well compiled lists such as all the survivors, interesting items, facts, numbers, etc. A great place to check your Lost facts.

Lost PodCasts

Well we've introduced the people from the tail section (Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko, et al). And more of the Others (but not enough!).

I highly recommend these Podcasts if you want to hear some juicy tidbits:
LOSTCasts - a good team of hard-core fans talks about clues and theories.
The Official LOST Podcast - not just ABC propaganda; includes interviews with cast members and producers. Some spoilers too.

A great Podcast used to be the Lost Transmission with Ryan and Jen. Sadly, they decided to call it quits because it was interfering with their personal lives. That's what Lost does to people. You have to know when to say "NO". :-)

Look for them on iTunes.