What In Tarnation?!?!? In the Classroom

Previously on WIT?!?!?:
2002 in Movies (Which looks a little like this list, at least I am consistent.)
Best and Worst of Movies 2003

The plan was to give you my top ten favorite movies of the year. Only problem is, I couldn’t come up with ten. I think the main reason for this is because I just haven’t seen some of the movies that I think would make the list. I have been thinking about joining the Blockbuster On-line DVD program. If I do I could see some of those movies… maybe. So I have done some major hacking at my entry (a free and weird fact for you: back in high school I called cutting back on writing, normally due to wordiness, dictosuction). I have decided to share my top three.

To look at these three movie you could say that this was the year of the sequel. Two of the three are the returns to a series of movie. In fact there were two other sequels in the expanded top ten list.

Enough already, on with the abbreviated list!

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Warner Bros.)
Even though The Chamber of Secrets is my favorite Harry Potter book, Prisoner of Azkaban is definitely a better movie than CoS. Whoever had the idea of allowing Alfonso Cuarón to direct this movie needs to be promoted. Cuaron brought some interesting new ideas and had the foresight to pick one major theme and cut away everything that didn’t deal with that theme. Sure that made some Harry Potter fans upset, but they can just go read the book again. The movie is very focused and ultimately it is a better movie because of it. The movie has an even darker tone, both cinematicly and emotionally. Those adolescent feelings of can I trust this adult certainly come into play in a very real way. The young actors definitely stretch their acting wings a bit further in this outing. All with good results. Oh and the Dementors were cool. I love the scene on the train when they are first introduced in the movie.

Now I can’t imagine the kind of cutting that they are going to have to do to wedge the Goblet of Fire into a book. I will be looking forward to see what director Mike Newell (Mona Lisa Smile, Donnie Brasco, Four Weddings and a Funeral) will do the GoF.

2. Spider-Man 2 (Columbia)
The series started out well with Spider-Man and it only got better with this entry into the series. The villain Doc Ock certainly made this movie better than the first. I also like the continuity that the writers have established through the series. Performances in 2 were stronger than they were in the first. This movie also seemed to have a bit more of a sense of humor. I love the scene with Parker having trouble with the brooms in the closet, the scene in the elevator and the street musician. I am curious which actors will return for Spider-Man 3 (2007 release) and of course they planted many possible suggestions (I can think of three) of possible villains for number three.

1. The Incredibles (Buena Vista)
A genuine action cartoon that dealt with serious emotion in a fun way. How’d they do that? It’s Pixar and they are becoming superheros in their own right. Can Cars (2006) even come close to the quality of Pixar’s last two movies? Oh, and that is Larry the Cable Guy voicing the beaten up tow truck in the trailer. “Dadgum! Well I tell you what son! I drive my tires of a mile of busted glass to see that picture right there.”

Some might be thinking, where’s the Passion of the Christ? He went on and on about that movie for months. It was listed as number 10 on the full list and it was a wonderfully made movie, however, one criteria of being one of my favorite movies is rewatchability. The Passion of the Christ is one movie that I can’t rewatch. I saw it the one time and really have no desire to see it again, at least for another five years or so.

So there you have it. What were your favorite movies?

Comments or on your own blog and I will link to you.

Class dismissed!