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The Baadasssss Films of 2004Jan 18 '05 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line You want to see greatness from 2004? Grab a bottle wine, some tissues, possibly cigars, or a samurai sword, and sit down and watch any of these fantastic flicks! First of all, let it be known that I did not see every single movie that was released in the year 2004. When thinking about it, for that reason, Ebert and Roeper and Harry are much more qualified in making a year end list than me, but, then again, I did see a hell of a lot of movies this year, as I always do. Here's how it works. Many critics give you ten movies. Not me. I'm giving you 15. You know why? Well, because I'm in a good mood, and also, something may happen in the futures when I'll see a movie from 2004 that truly belongs on this list. If that'll happen, I will gladly come back and add to the list. I won't subtract anything, I'll just add. I have the ultimate Best Films of the year List. It's the year end list that keeps on giving! But, it could always remain at just these 15 films, which I absolutely love, and also the little extra tid bits at the end. So, please, enjoy my list, write some feedback, and watch these movies! #1 Sideways I was working at a movie theater when I first saw this movie. Everytime we get a new flick that comes our way, it's our job to preview that movie, which usually happens at 1am. I'm sitting there, watching it, pretty tired, but that did not bother me one bit. I did not want to go home, I did not want to go out with friends, I did not want to get up to go to the bathroom. I especially did not want this movie to end. I loved every single frame of this film, and I've seen it a total of three times. It was free for me, but that's beside the point. I've seen all of Alexander Payne's films, and he's made one I didn't like ("Election"), one I liked ("Citizen Ruth"), one I really liked ("About Schmidt"), and now I gotta give it to him, he's finally made a movie that I absolutely loved and will surely cherish. And I don't cherish that many things non "Caligula" oriented. The movie is an absolute hysterical character driven comedy, and also an adventure through wine tasting country! Miles (Paul Giamatti), an unspeakably depressed person, takes his buddy Jack (Thomas Haden Church), a womanizing former tv star who is about to get married, up to the wine fields of California for a week. What follows is a tale of love, sadness, infidelity, and and a whole lot of drunkeness. There are three scenes in this movie that purely jump past the line of brilliance. One is a scene where Miles explains of his love for Pinot where you get the feeling he's talking not just about wine, but more so about himself. It is the scene where you get the sense that waitress Maya (Virginia Madsen) is really falling for him. And on the other end, she explains how she came to love wine, how it grows, how it fades, how it "tastes so f**king good," and you can literally see in Miles' eyes that not only is he falling in love with her, but he doesn't seem to be all that depressed anymore. Then there's Jack's classic line to Miles: "You understand a lot of things. You understand wine, literature, movies. But you don't understand my plight." It's in that scene that we understand Jack. I love the hell out of this movie. I could seriously watch it every single weekend for the rest of my life, with several bottles of wine to keep me company. Except Merlot, I am not drinking a Merlot. #2 Shaun of the Dead In my review for Zack Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead," I called it an average zombie film that was made by people who do not love the original "Dawn of the Dead." "Shaun of the Dead" is quite the opposite of that. It is such a brilliant zombie film that you wonder who else in this day and age, besides Romero, could make a zombie film that works as well as this film. Given scenes featuring Goblin music, the comparisons between a zombie society and a normal society (it would be hard to cross the street and not tell the difference, if you're pretty sleepy), and the gut busting comedy about how they just want to "wait for the whole thing to blow over," I will say that this is a film that not only loves "Dawn of the Dead," but they love "Dawn of the Dead" as much as I do. It's amazing just how well this movie works. It is a horror/comedy that actually is a horror/comedy. It isn't a full on comedy with blood and guts a'la "Return of the Living Dead" or "Dead Alive," but it has the moments of physical and dialogue driven comedy (especially about relationships and how your friends can affect the outcome). There's a flat out brilliant scene where the band of survivors decide to make their way past the zombies by simply acting like zombies, something we've been waiting for in a zombie movie for 40 years. But near the last third of the film, it really does turn into a horror film. When somebody gets bitten, that emotionally affects the other people who are involved. Near the end, these characters think that they're going to die, and Shaun has an extremely human scene when fears he is going to lose his mother. It's the funniest horror film of the year and also the most touching horror film of the year. All around, it's one of the best zombie movies that I've ever seen. #3 Kill Bill Vol. 2 Volume 1 is the questions, and Volume 2 is the answers. That is what Tarantino has described of his Grindhouse epic. Not only is Volume 2 the answers that we were looking for, but most of us were all completely off on what we thought would really be the answers. Volume 1 was a film that was a perfect homage to the Grindhouse revenge/kung fu/giallo films of the 1970's, and for that reason, I probably identified with that one more, but what Volume 2 is is a completely character and dialogue driven film, and we realize that the underlining subtext is not simply a story of violence and hitmen, but also a real love story. We expect Bill to be that unseen shadowy menace that was glimpsed in Volume 1, but what Tarantino gives us is not only a human being, but a likable human being, and not even an exceptionally bad one at that. Watching David Carradine as Bill is an experience in it of itself. He is funny, he is insightful, and he loves The Bride. With that in mind, while watching this for the first time, I was not sure how I wanted the outcome to turn out. Is the Bride someone who simply wants revenge, or someone who has to have revenge? But I knew that whatever the outcome was going to be, it would 100% work to the film's advantage, and I would sit back and say "all's well that end's well." The movie is heartbreaking at times, a pure homage to such overlooked genres as the Spaghetti Western, and it is a fitting end to not only the saga, but to also all of the characters in the movie, be it good or bad. Now all we need is for the Grindhouse theaters to open back up. #4 Garden State You might not believe this due to the complete sarcastic underlining of all my reviews, but I really don't have all that much of a personality. Well, I do when I'm with my closest friends, but in large groups, or in a social setting, you really really need to get me drunk in order for the personality switch to be turned on. I think that's why I identified with "Garden State" so much. Zach Braff plays a character who has been medicated for so long, that he is almost stripped away of every noticable emotion. That is until he meets Natalie Portman, a character of such wild emotions and outspoken personalities, that this whole movie really made me reflect back upon all the relationships that I've been in. I always was the downer one in the relationship, and the girlfriends were either crazy or airheads. Granted, Natalie Portman is not an airhead in this film, she's actually pretty smart, but the fact that she makes Braff come alive in the end of the film, that really gives me hope for the future. Not many movies really do that to me. You know, make me reflect upon what will lie ahead for me. What Zach Braff has created is a work of pure genius, in the way that the film looks, the way the dialogue is written, the way we find out more about the characters, and in the end you realize that you don't need to run away to find the things that are right in front of your face. Having been a fan of his since "Scrubs," I can't wait for Zach Braff to make another film. #5 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Would you go out with someone if you knew exactly how it was going to turn out? No, seriously, would you? Does love at first sight exist so much that you will be blinded by the things that you know for a fact will happen in the future? Watching "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," those are the questions that I was left with. And the answer is yes, personally, I would do all of those things. You can't really get past how you feel about someone, it is always going to be there, until it actually does rot and dissolve into thin air. Aside from all of those deep emotional questions, this movie is a mushroom like head trip, man. Seriously. Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey are lovers who break up. She goes to Lacuna Inc to have him erased from her memory. He finds out about it, and to get back at her, he goes under the same procedure. Dear god, I wish that company actually existed. Just that very idea is simply brilliant from writer Charlie Kaufman. It's something that we can see happening in the near future. A good portion of the film actually takes place in Carrey's subconscious as he struggles to save his memory of Winslet, realizing he does not want to forget the woman he still cares for. For a movie that involves trippy images like a tiny Jim Carrey bathing in a sink, this is just as realistic of a relationship movie as "Garden State." The emotions and, of course, the questions are two things that do exist in our current society even if Lacuna Inc isn't quite here yet. #6 The Aviator It takes a lot to really hold my attention in a movie that is over about 2½ hours long. It had to really be about a subject that I take interest in, and it has got to entertain the living hell out of me. If I'm going to invest a good portion of my day into something, it had better be worth it. That's part of the reason why "The Aviator" is one of the best films of the year. It has been a long long long time since I've seen a 3 hour film that did not seem like it was 3 hours. This movie is so utterly gripping, so beautiful and magnificent, not to mention beyond entertaining as hell, that it barely seemed an hour and half long, let alone 3 whole hours. This movie has its time and it uses it wisely. It shows Howard Hughes as aa man who has a thirst for the extreme. He wanted the sky, he wanted the women, he wanted the biggest movies in Hollywood, and this movie shows you all of those lusts in great glittery detail. From his relationship with Katherine Hepburn, to the 3 year process of making "Hell's Angels" (how it had to be reshot for sound), to his air war with Pan Am, and ultimately to the germaphobia who certainly was a key factor in him losing his grip on sanity. This movie is a Masterpiece, and certainly one of Scorsese's best in the past 15 years. #7 The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou This movie really is a live action, adult Hanna Barbera Cartoon. And a great one at that, because I don't even really like Hanna Barbera cartoons. I really loved this movie, and what struck a chord with me more than anything else was how much more dramatic this film was compared to Wes Anderson's other movies and even compared to the movie's trailer. It's definitely a whimsy little tale, full of such bizarre and downright comedic scenes like the rescue of Jeff Goldblum from pirates, how Steve Zissou's wife is actually the brains of the operation, and their gung ho attempts at documentary filmmaking, but ultimately this is a story of a man and his son. The father being Bill Murray, the son being Owen Wilson, and the fact that they have just met each other. They aren't 100% sure if they are father and son, but the love, respect, and complete admiration Wilson has for Murray is something you would see in a scene involving a father simply playing catch with his son. Murray is a character who doesn't know why he abandoned Wilson, he's not sure what he's supposed to feel about the situation, he isn't even sure what to do with being a dad, and he spends most of the movie keeping Wilson as close as he can while he figures everything out and while admiring the hell out of him. I'm getting a lot into the serious portions of the movie here, but truthfully there is some great comedy in it. Willem Dafoe's Klaus is a brilliant, and psychotic, supporting character, and Goldblum is just pure Goldblum, and anything Goldblum is simply gold. With such a unique visual style in his directing, Wes Anderson has quickly become like a directing stepson to Stanley Kubrick. #8 Collateral This is one movie that ultimately defines baadasssss. This movie just happens to be so utterly baadasssss that you have a character (Tom Cruise) who is so dead set in his mission to carry out all of his hits, that he will even resort to walking right through a night club, and snapping the necks of random people who get in his way. He is cold blooded, he is ruthless, but the writing of this movie is so great and it is present so well, that he is by far the most likable character in the movie, not to say that Jamie Foxx isn't indeed likable as well. I love the scenes where he discusses his pipe dream to Jada Pinkett Smith. While watching this movie, though, I just wanted Tom Cruise to succeed in his mission. And if he didn't succeed, I atleast wanted him to get away. He was just so damn cool. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's part of my thing about always rooting for the character who is the most suave. That could be it, but I'm going to hand it to the writing on this one. The dialogue in this film is just great. The interaction between Tom Cruise and the aging jazz musician is so real and so interesting and dead on, that it makes the outcome of that scene all the more brutal. This is one of Tom Cruise's best movies and I don't think he has ever been cooler than he was in this film. Did he have to shoot that thief in the head one extra time? Of course he did, you know why? He's suave. #9 Million Dollar Baby This movie surgically removes your heart from your chest, plays around with it for a little while, squeezes some life into it, gives you a little something called feelings, and then places it back into your chest, without the need for stitches. If you don't fight back a little watery stuff from your eyeballs during this film, then that amateur heart procedure has gone terribly wrong. This is a fantastic film, and what is so great about it is that it could have been put into the hands of some hack who could easily have made it just some cliched picture this side of "The Next Karate Kid." Watching the previews of the film, you really think it's going to be another boxing movie, only the trainee is a girl. It is so much more than that. In fact, it's not really even about boxing. This is a definite relationship movie, showing Hilary Swank who looks up to her manager Clint Eastwood as this godlike being, only to not have that admiration returned. Over the course of the film, not only does Eastwood take a liking to this person, but because of a subplot revolving Eastwood's lost daughter, we see that he begins to think of Swank as his own flesh and blood. This is an anti-formula anti-Hollywood flick, and a damn good one at that. Detractor's have called this film nothing more than an average boxing pic. If that were true, the last third of this movie would not exist. It is some of the best acting Eastwood has ever given us. #10 Closer This movie is like one of those compilation CD collections that you see on late night TV and hosted by either Davy Jones or Martha Quinn. Except instead of peddling 80s music, 60's music, or elevator music, it is like a collection of absolutely everything that can, and indeed does, go wrong in a relationship. It doesn't matter how you fell in love, where you had that first kiss, your wandering thoughts about how you are destined to be together, and this movie knows that too, because there's very little happiness in it. It's about how something that seems like it will go on forever will absolutely blow up in your face. The movie begins with one of the best "meet cute" scenes in movie history, and if this had been a standard hollywood love story, the two characters (Jude Law and Natalie Portman) would be married by the end. Intstead, Law feels he is falling in love with Julia Roberts, Julia Roberts falls in love with Clive Owen, Clive Owen seriously wants to screw Natalie Portman, who turns out to be a stripper. Between this film and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" this has been a fantastic year for movies that show love in all its heartbreaking, bottom of the barrel, sewer drenching glory. #11 Fahrenheit 9/11 Yes, I love this film because it represents my politics. I believe this is a failed administration, I believe Bush is a man who is not fit to run a small business, oil company, or an entire country, and as we would later learn, the man has the mindset of a bigot because he is a bigot. That is my own personal opinion and my beliefs, but all of that aside, looking at Moore's film as indeed a film, it is an absolutely riveting and fantastic documentary. Moore is like a stand up comedian when it comes to dishing out the issues that require a little satire, like his banjo music look back at the 2000 Election, and his statement about how Ben Affleck is "always in my dreams." The use of The Gogo's "Vacation" during a montage of Bush's first few months in office is equally as brilliant. But while watching this, inside we are still fired up about these issues, mainly because Moore has presented it in such a fascinating way that makes us pay attention to his every word. On the other end of the spectrum, we have truly truly heartbreaking scenes involving soldiers in the midst of Iraq, and also the scenes with Lila Lipscomb whose son was killed in Iraq. There is a gutwrenching scene where she goes to the White House gates to try and find some inner comfort with herself, and it is absolutely devastating. If you weren't moved by that scene, then you are most likely someone who hates this film, even though you haven't seen it. Politics aside, Roeper is right. This is a movie everyone should see. #12 Before Sunset After watching the original film all those years ago, you can't help but think to yourself: do they get together, don't they get together, what happens next? The hopeless romantic in each and every one of us says that yes they do hook up and get married that day and have kids the next. The negative side says that it never happened. I always felt that maybe they did get back together and it just didn't work out. I'm speaking from experience, because that has happened to me. You share a startling moment with someone and it turns out to be a complete lunk of horrifying reality. Thankfully my theory was incorrect, and this follow up film couldn't have been better. 9 years ago, Jesse and Celine shared a romantic night together, and made plans to meet up again in 6 months. As it turns out, that never happened, and here we are in the present, as the two bump into each other as Jesse is on a book tour in Paris. The movie is shown in real time as we get more into these characters and what exactly happened 9 years ago and what they have been doing since. The script is credited to Linklater and stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, and you always get the feeling that these characters are talking from first hand real life experience, especially Hawke. This is a fascinating dialogue film, that ends on a note where you may again say "what happened?" but when you think about it, this time, you know exactly what happened. #13 The Passion of the Christ I'm not a religious person. I saw this movie on opening day, not because I had prepaid tickets, but because I had nothing else to do that day. I wasn't with a church group or anything, and I didn't bring a box of klenex with me. I have always considered myself an agnostic ever since the day I began to think for myself, but watching this film, you totally get what Mel Gibson was going for in it. Gibson is a man who loves his faith and what it stands for, and I applaud him for that, but Gibson is also one hell of a director. On a visual note, he is up there with David Lean, and I wish Gibson would do more directorial work. This movie is what the title says it is: The Passion of the Christ. It's a movie about what Christ went through to save us from our sins, and watching him for all that time being tortured, humiliated, and hung on that cross, you see that he is doing that because he loves every single one of us. The movie succeeded at showing that to us, in all it's gory glory, and even though my beliefs are what they are, I can't deny that this is a great cinematic work from a man who loves his own beliefs and wants to share that with the rest of the world. Granted, the movie is also one of the most sadistic things I've seen since "Bloodsucking Freaks," making it finally movie that portrays crucifixion realistically, and FINALLY makes Jesus speaking something other that English!! Everyone knows that Jesus speaks Spanglish. #14 Baadasssss! I've been making a movie for close a year now. It's has been an absolute nightmare. The tone of the movie has over time switched from dark horror to just camp, my lead actress disappeared for 3 months straight because of a religious awakening (thanks Mel!!), another actress wouldn't return phone calls either. We've had problems with locations, props, and just about everything else. I even had to leave the state for a while for a couple reasons, not pertaining to the movie, but still, it pushed things back. Damn, and I thought that making MY movie was a living hell. Suddenly, after seeing "Baadasssss!" I really don't feel all that bad. The movie is directed by and starring Mario Van Peebles where he portrays his own father Melvin Van Peebles and the strugles he went through to make his groundbreaking 1971 classic film "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song." It's quite an experience. To avoid the unions, Melvin disguises the film as a porno flick, he has to replace talent at the last minute, runs out of money, to which Bill Cosby loans him some, and a lot of the movie's tension is placed after the movie is done shooting, when in the editing process, the editor attempts to jump ship. There's a fantastic scene in the movie where Melvin sits in a near empty theater showing his movie, and has to come to terms with the thought that his movie is a failure. As we know now, that isn't the case, and the scenes that follow are like something out of "The Producers." What's also great, is that Mario portrays his father as a flawed person, a guy who has his ups and his downs, especially in scenes dealing with a young Mario. It's great therapeutic stuff, and best of all, it's a movie about making a movie where the director was actually present while the events take place. I dig it. #15 The Girl Next Door There is always that one movie that you know isn't going to make any other critics list, but you just love it so much that you will lose sleep and even part of your soul if you do not include it on your best of the year list. "The Girl Next Door" is that movie for me. I absolutely loved this film, I loved everything about it. It's incredibly funny at times, and also brilliantly sleazy in some scenes, but the best part is that the movie as a whole really has some tremendous heart to it, and whether a character is good, bad, or just innocent, they have qualities to them that make them incredibly likable and downright realistic. The movie is about a former porn star who moves next door to a high school student (Emile Hirsch) who is about ready to graduate. Hirsch has been depressed because, even though he certainly has the grade credentials, he feels he has done nothing substantial with his life yet. When questioned what he will always remember, he simply cannot come up with anything. I think we've all been there a time or two in our lives. Enter Elisha Cuthbert as the former porn star, and his life is completely turned around, and he actually has something to care for, and for the first time, he's got a little bit of confidence. She is not a character put there for pure exploitation and to take her clothes off every ten minutes. In fact, she doesn't even appear nude in the movie. She is a real character, with real conflicts in her life, and most certainly has real emotions. The movie takes a dark and highly entertaining detour when her former producer (Timothy Olyphant) turns up to not only take her back, but also to make Hirsch's life a living hell. He is a fantastic character, and the performance is brilliant. The character is funny when he needs to be, and also scary at other times, but the script is so good that no matter what he or the other characters do, it would make sense if that were to happen in a real unscripted life. The trailers for this movie made it look like some sort of goofy "American Pie"-ish B rip off flick. It is much more than that Best Snuff Film: "The Passion of the Christ." Come on, it's true. This movie could seriously go in the Religious Guinnea Pig Box Set. Best Use of Jude Law: "Closer." So many titles to chose from. Can only go with 1! Best Use of Ben Stiller: "Dodgeball." This wasn't a hard choice. I love this movie. Worst Use of Ben Stiller: "Envy" This wasn't a hard choice either. Needless Remake of the Year: "Dawn of the Dead" I'm sorry, no matter how it is done, "Dawn" will always be above a remake. The fact that this was just an average film still makes me want to plead to the makers to change the title. Best Sequel: "Before Sunset" Worst Sequel: "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" Given the cliffhanger of the previous, this one could have worked. Instead, it had direct to video and Christopher Lambert written all over it. Oh Come On, People, It Wasn't THAT Bad: "Surviving Christmas" This wasn't a great film, and it was obviously shot without a completed script, but nevermind that, it made me laugh! Biggest Commercial Film of the Year: Anything computer animated. Between the multiple tv commercials for multiple items, the fast food toys, the billboard ads, one has to think that these movies don't really need a box office. Brilliant Camp Performance of the Year: Jennifer Tilly "Seed of Chucky" I compare it to Bruce Campbell's brilliant "Evil Dead" performances. The Joe Pilato Performance of the Year: Parker Posey "Blade Trinity" She's just so out there, so over the top, that no one could have played that part more memorable, and it wasn't even that great of a film. Best Twist: "Saw" Whether you liked it, hated it, did or didn't see where it was going, you still sat there and said "oh...damn!" Homophobic Film of the Year: "Alexander" Yes, in Greek history, we all know that all they did was just...hug a lot. This movie needed a double dose of a drug I like to call Tinto Brass. Overrated Film of the Year: "Napoleon Dynamite" There's no excuse for this non comedy for being as popular as it was. None. Part of My Reason For Hating CGI: "Van Helsing" Yeah it was so exciting when he fought that Sim. He beat the pixels out of it. She Ended Up with the Wrong Guy: "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" Two characters love the same girl. One can provide for her the rest of his life and also find himself in the process. the other whines a lot. Who would you chose? Best Trailer: "The Life Aquatic" "What would be the scientific purpose for killing the shark?" "Revenge." Best Trailer for a Movie Released Next Year: "Sin City" Rourke is back in what looks to be the best looking film of 2005. Just a hunch. Best Trailer for a movie released overseiz, but not here yet: "Haute Tension" With a creepy version of "Superstar" in the trailer, this horror movie does look to be deliciously tasty. Worst Trailer: "White Chicks" Anyone who believes those are women must have gotten a big surprise when they took their seemingly female 49th street prostitute home. "Alexander" or "Troy"?: "Troy" Even if "Alexander"'s battle sequences where some of the best I've seen, "Troy" held my attention a hell of a lot more as a movie. Best Poster: "Fahrenheit 9/11" The poster where Moore is holding hands with Bush at the tagline says "What controversy?" I've rarely seen a poster be so aware of itself. Worst Poster: "King Arthur" Despite the fact that Guenivere is portrayed as a Warrior Princess, she is NOT the star of the film! Yet still, she gets center stage in the poster. Makes perfect Hollywood sense. Worst Cop Out to a PG-13: "Alien Vs. Predator" Coming soon, "Freddy vs. Jason vs. Michael Myers: A Bloodbath to End All Bloodbaths" That is until they cut out the blood bath and leave it with a PG, that way, you know...the kids can see it. Best Cop Out to a PG-13: None. Stop copping out, you pro-censorship f**ks. Why Didn't This Go To Theaters?: "Life and Death of Peter Sellers" Excellent character study of a very flawed comedic genius. Why Did This Go To Theaters?: "Anacondas: The Hunt For the Blood Orchid" Seriously. It belongs next to "Species 3" and "Wild Things 2." Worst Transylvanian Accent of the year: Angelina Jolie "Alexander" Granted Kate Beckinsale's wasn't great in "Van Helsing," but atleast Beckinsale's character actually WAS Transylvanian. Worst Film of the Year: "Napoleon Dynamite" I didn't know what I was going to put down for this category. At one point I was thinking in my head "Catwoman," it just has to be "Catwoman." I hated "Catwoman," everyone hated "Catwoman." But then I remembered that there is a movie that I hate much worse than "Catwoman," and certainly hate more than any movie I have seen this year. I was sidetracked, because I seem to be in a small group of people who also hate this movie. I really hate "Napoleon Dynamite." I hate the movie and I hate the damn character. One of my best friends has repeatedly said the two stupidest things to happen in 2004 is the election of George W. Bush and this here film becoming an independent hit at the box office. I have to say that I can't disagree with him on that one. This is hardly even a movie. It isn't really anything. The movie is like a little short you would see in between commercials on MTV, but that may be giving it too much credit since those things actually have plots. People ask me all the time if I ever knew someone like this in high school. No. No, I didn't. I have never known anyone like any of the characters in this movie. I'm not even sure if they actually would exist in real life. That could be narrow minded of me, but I'm on a role here. God I hate this movie so much. Napoleon is a character who gets pushed around a lot and picked on on a daily basis. Idiots would think he gets picked on because he is a nerd. Anyone with half a brain knows that isn't the case. He is picked on because he is a complete jerk to everyone he comes in contact with. He's got a love interest in this film (I think that's what she is supposed to be), and his first line to her is whether she thinks she's fat because of the milk she is drinking. It doesn't sound like nerd pick up line talk. It sounds like he just wants to be rude. Maybe that's due to Jon Heder's horrid pseudo stoner performance. The movie looks like it was shot on a 1980s camera in the midst of the Bible Belt, meaning that not a trace of a visual style even exists. I've seen better filmmaking qualities in a snuff film. Nothing at all happens in this film! In the end he quickly learns to dance, and does so on stage, leaving the students to all laugh AT HIM. I'm just too damn angry right now because of this pointless hateful mean spirited trash, so I'll just leave you with some quotes from the review I wrote for the movie all those months ago: "Napoleon Dynamite revolves a lot around high school life. It doesn't pass to the sophomore year," "This is one of the only movies that I can think of that doesn't have a single point to it in any one of its frames. I even found a point in Nail Gun Massacre," "I cannot see any reason for Napoleon Dynamite to be made into a movie," then there's my favorite: "This movie seems to be made for people to relate to. Who in hell would relate to this film? Jeffrey Dahmer? Not that this PG rated film at all mirrors the beginning stages of a serial killer (or does it?), but come to think of it, Napoleon does look a little bit like a young, pre-5 o'clock shadow Dahmer. Interesting."  |
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by George_Chabot
by dangbro
by Stephen_Murray
