Movies: The listing - part i

A guy I work with keeps a database of every movie he’s seen for the last 20 years, with reviews, scores and whatnot. He can then say at the end of the year – “I watched 226 films this year”.
For some reason I think that’s kind of cool so I’m going to try that here, not on a database

Old School - DVD - Whilst i try so hard not to yell out "you're my boi blu" in croweded areas, its a hard thing to do. Some awesome bits in this film that are spoiled for some really cheap gags. Thematically its a natural progression from my favourite film of all time, The Graduate.
Out of Sight – TV - I love this movie, especially the use of freeze frames. Soderbergh loves his 60’s new wave films – he uses their techniques so well while still being fresh. This movie also features the next suit i'm going to get made up (the light coloured checked 3 button with the red lining, also worn by Cary Grant and the Rock – tho I want a 2 button version).
Chocolat – DVD – Enjoyably quaint, though I was surprised that this got nominated for best picture since it is so subtle and evenly paced without dealing with a grand conflict or social issue, which is the norm for Oscar nominees. But when it comes to exotic women solving people’s problems with food I’ll take Peneolope Cruz in ‘Woman on Top”
King Kong – Cinema – We went Gold class and had to wait an hour for our food which sort of spoiled the experience. But whilst I think I could watch Naomi Watt’s face forever, the whole movie seems so shallow. It just feels like all the situations and scenes are just put in so they’ve got something to build a videogame around and to sell action figures. It was a bit meh, well made meh but still meh.
Everafter – DVD – Emma watches this frequently, in this viewing I just tagged along. I like it for a bit of fluff, beautifully shot fluff. Drew Barrymore is quite charismatic, but not that pretty. And as always, more gypsies.
The Island – DVD - This movie requires Ewan McGregor and Scarlet Johanson to run around screaming “Go” or “stop” for 2 hours. Not as bad as they say it was though I like explosions and car chases. still its pretty vacant. And Scarlett does nothing for me.
Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights – DVD - Emma will quite happily watch the original Dirty Dancing everyday (she watched it 3 times in 2 days once) and I have to admit I don’t mind watching it either, every now and again, I can see why it was so successful and there’s something about Jennifer Grey - sigh. Anyway DD2HN is 80 minutes long and has dancing it.
Police Story 2 – DVD - I’m a big Jackie Chan fan and thought I had seen most of his post Young Master films but while I watched this film it barely registered, I couldn’t remember anything from it. Its not particular a great Jackie film, its almost boring and besides the exploding factory I still can’t remember much from it (oh – except for the slow mo bouncing red ball)
Project A; Part 2 – DVD – One of my favourite Jackie films; the handcuffed and being chased scene is very cool. It also makes me think that in a lot of Chan films there’s always a ‘hiding’ scene.
Say Anything – DVD – I’m a Cameron Crowe fan but I hadn’t even heard of this film until recently. John Cusack is good as always, though in a lot of his movies he always stands broken hearted in the rain. A good romantic film with kickboxing.

my boys are back

On Sunday I went to a bridal expo where the estrogen count was so high my testicles retracted. I spent 2 hours glassy eyed trying to figure out why do you need chair covers and how they can cost $5.50 each to hire, as well as who the fuck would ever watch a wedding video. I also considered if Kayne West’s Gold Digga would be appropriate at our wedding, but shudder at the thought of my dad yelling ‘we whan prenup, we whan prenup’ in the background.

more shitty comics (part ii)

2004
Totally POV comics

Thinking that having done 24 pages of comics i was somewhat of an accomplished artist, i tried to be smart and do a point-of-view comic, because i realise a suck at drawing people but stuff i'm relatively better at (relatively; like how my dentistry skills are better than my brain surgery skills) so as long as i did stories where no one else existed i was fine.

Bye Bye Bali goes for 4 pages and its pretty autobiographical since only 2 weeks before i had been in Bali. Check out the 'how to be an artist' captions, i should have done the whole future past tense thing - "you will sit in a seat too small for you and have the metal buckle dig into your bloated belly" - but it was still early and i wanted to get ahead of schedule (plus i'm not that clever).

The biggest buzz i got was when i went to pick up Emma from her work and saw she had printed the first page to Company Time on her pin up board. My ode to shitting on comany time and getting paid for it. I think i had about another 2-3 pages of material but thought it may be making me look like a neurotic loser. The story is ruined by the font (and yes the drawing)(and yes the jokes).

Happy Ending -getting a massage (that first panel has the caption "you tell me if to strong fo you ok - garble"). Neither me or rob liefeld can draw feet - take that to the bank.

The musical interlude for this year sucked, i was trying to think of a nice short song to 'comicise' and thought Tom Wait's "The Ocean doesn't want me today". For some reason i though that was the only line in the song, so i started to draw, towards the end i played the song for inspiration and discovered that its a lot longer than i thought. Its supposed to be a scuba diver being expelled by the ocean crash landing on the beach - it doesn't work at all.

Master and Mastered was a bit of a depature - it wasn't meant to be funny. It was also the first time i used photoshop filters to suppliment and camoflauge my shitty drawing. I think the best thing about this was i got asked if the story about the balaklava and old lady was true, which is quite the compliment since i've never sky jumped in my lfe.

Cast asunder is sort of the sequel to Callous, which was drawn by Tonia Walden and appeared in Pirates. Cast Asunder is shitty drawing and all wordy wordy. Callous, is beautifully drawn with no words.

Do your duty, my little imagining of the conversation between David Hicks and the supposed Australian agents who he spoke with on the battleship as it chugged its way to Camp Xray. Plus its the inclusion of the 'paddy wagon' special word. It almost works - its ends a bit abruptly.

And it all ends with me 'cheating' with the camera. Since then me and Emma moved to our new house which is a fair depature from the unit (which i'm renting out to some doctors from overseas).

Judge Dredd wants you

The Editor, of Judge Dredd Megazine is seeking contributors to submit stories. Its unpaid but if you are cool with that, then email submissions to Matt.Smith [at] rebellion.co.uk.

(this may only be a UK thing, i dunno)

Chaloner at Newsarama

Gary Chaloner talks about his new John Law series at Newsarama, which is a step up from talking about Planet of the Apes at Bananarama.

(this is what happens when i post twice in one day)

Ledgers; Recognising Excellence in Australian Comics

Congratulations to all the winners for the peoples' choice award winners.

And special congrats to Glenn for FunnyBone, putting together such a big book for charity is quite the achievement and deserves the recognition.

(but Garfield???)

my shit drawing

Now with the 24hour comic website up - lets take a walk down memory lane regarding ME. and my comics.

2003
Sketchy comics

(excuse the crappy interface)
Starts off with "Darkness of the Sole" a 9 page story about two mates whose fridge connects to the phone line.

Then i had a whole series (well about 7) of "when stick figures don't work properly". There's Stick figure porn on page 10 and Stickfigure gangsta rap video on page 17.

Page 12 has a musical interlude where i rip off a short lucksmith tune (i asked permission before hand). I've done musical interlude's 3 times running - this was the only time it worked. (also the caption is my feeble attempt to hide behind the fair use/review copyright law).

Roboto is a 4 page take off of Memento, it runs backwards and covers a favourite theme of mine 'satisfaction in mediocrity'. One day i may do this strip right (though my shit drawing has its charms)

The next four pages is me trying to not have to draw at all. There's

• nude cross global running for albinoes
• a hungry gen-y american brown bear
• an impatient beaver
• gossipy horny polar bears

Finally I have no idea, it makes me laugh, but i'm simple that way (and i haven't had the fin for about 2 years now).

Tomorrow lets party like its 2004, because i don't have anything else going on.

Ozcomic 24 hour website is back

After the sudden demise of aussiecomics.com, the Ozcomics 24 hour challenge website was lost. I didn't even have a proper backup - but with the gracious help of Maggie McFee, and some fiddling with files

http://www.pulpfaction.net/24hr_2005/

I've included a media page, where there's

• Loren and myself on JJJ
• Darren Schroder on a massive 20 minute interview on Radio New Zealand
• Douglas Holgate and me on radio abc melbourne (you can hear what i sound like after 30 hours no sleep)
• plus some scans of newspaper articles

There was a really good interview with Ben Hutchings on National ABC but that was lost

On the entries page, i've got it linking directly to the forum pages, i did have a lot of them in the template but didn't have a backup of that file. Some of the image links may be broken.

if you spot any errors let me know.

(big thanks to anomic for setting all that up)
(and thanks to matty b and monkey for their work on the site.)

Sydney Exhibition

More gallery showinngness in Sydney.

Running for two months
January 18 - 18 March 2006

Featuring
Patrick Alexander
Queenie Chan
Matt Huynh
Libbie
Komala Singh
Nathan Soehardi
Sofia
David Tang
Yasinta Widjojo
Sally Woellner

Mars Hill Cafe
331 Church Street,
Parramatta

god.king.slave.

i picked up Larry Young's True Fact for $3 from one of the Adelaide Comic Shops and became somewhat inspired to do something in comics.
Larry Young runs AIT/Planet Lar Comics, probably most notably known for publishing Brian Woods work and his own Astronauts in Trouble. I was never a fan of any of their output but once you get past Larry's self aggrandising and 'gee whiz i'm just a cat that loves comics' he does say some good stuff (there is nothing more tiring than people using the word 'cat', it ALWAYS sounds like my dad trying to be hip and its always embarrassing).
Like Steven Grant, who is probably one of the smartest commentators on comics (especially mainstream stuff), Larry's product always is lacking something.
But he did produce True Facts, his guide to publishing comics, a reprinting of some columns he did at the old Savant website.
Anyway, he quotes Guy Kawasaki (who may be quoting someone else)
Create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave.
I tend not to make new years resolutions until the end of january, i mlike to see how the year is blowing, where i wanna go and what not. This year will probably be a busy year for me, workwise there are some big projects i'm going to manage; around the house theres a cellar and deck i want to build, plus painting the exterior and there's the whole getting married thing.
But i wanna do something with comics; i have a couple of ideas - some which will have to wait till next year some which i can do myself, some i'll need help.
so ive done the god bit, i've got the idea - the king bit involves some planning which takes me awhile because i'm a ponderer - and the slave bit is actually the easy bit for me.
so stay tuned.

tall stories and short people

For those in Melbourne go see Tall Stories

Features Doug Holgate, Simon Sherry, Joe Whyte and some other guy (will ainger).

there will be seaman on the walls

Nicola Scott Interview

Not sure if this got linked to from anywhere http://www.dc-kingdom.com/interview.php?id=5

(on a side note one of the consistent searches that finds this very blog is "birdie birdie num num jelly wrestling nicola" - someone out there has to move on - just saying is all)

Nicola also was the cover artist of december's issue of Millarworld Magazine


(also in that issue Christian Read reviews the Aeon Flux license)

Beau Smith gives Ms Scott a shout out at Silver Bullet Comics

Finally Nicola is doing the art for Season of the Witch #3 and #4 (Image) which should be now or soon.
(plus she may be doing something high profile at Oni)

Voting for 2006 Ledgers has began

For all those interested in Australian Comics, you can vote in the 2006 Ledgers. So Go.

Winners will be announced on Australia day.

(and thanks to all those who nominated me for the 24 hour challenge, who's website should be resestablished soon)

Australian comics round up

I haven't done this for awhile but what's going on in Australian Comics-
deevee 1-5 reviewed at Comics Reporter
Micheal Luenig on cartoons and Israel
Ledgers Awards Nominations closed
Shane McCarthy's first issue of Victims is out and can be found in issue 815 of Detective Comics. (The art is awesomely gorgeous and by one of my favourites Cliff Chiang.)
David Yardin does weddings, parties, anything
If you want to pay less money for a table or booth at Brisbane Supanova then contact the organisers now.
And speaking of Supanova it looks like Gary Chaloner will be a guest.

new soveriegn of assholia

Till now i thought they king of the club assholes was the guys that piss at the bar but last night a new king reigns, the guy that spews in the urinal so the drain clogs up and the level of piss raises until it breaks the banks of, what I call, the urinephrates.

huzzah

Olijo - Enjoy

I've provided a 4 course meal and its saturday night.

Appetiser - dukkah and bread
Entrée – balsamic marinated mushroom bruschetta
Main Course - spaghetti vongole
Dessert – Fried Eggplant and Chocolate.

invite some people around and enjoy

Olijo – Dessert – Fried Eggplant and Chocolate.

For xmas instead of cards I bottled and labelled little containers of olive oil to give to friends and family. Some people have said “oh wow, thanks – what do I do now?” – well before you rub it all over your body and slide down the banister, I’ll be posting up some olive oil related recipes.
It’ll be a 4 course meal – but you can of course do what you like.

Appetiser - dukkah and bread
Entrée – balsamic marinated mushroom bruschetta
Main Course - spaghetti vongole

This was probably the trickest course to come up with, a dessert made with olive oil. I’m sure there is an olive oil cake out there – but I don’t do cake. Whilst cake isn't one of the foods that freak me out - i'm still not that keen on it. Then I remembered something we made in Italy during the cooking class Emma got me for my birthday. We sort of were a bit advanced than their normal clientele; they had planned to teach us how to make gnocchi and tira misu – stuff we both know how to do. Since we were the only people there AND it was my birthday AND it was the day after i proposed the instructing chef showed us something her mum used to make for her. One of those underhanded and visiously cruel ways of making kids eat their vegetables. By mixing them with chocolate.
We’ve made it a couple of times for friends and have spun them out each time.

• Eggplant
  
• Olive oil
• Dark cooking chocolate, grated
• Flour
• salt
  

Try and use lebanese eggplants, they are more cucumber/zucchini shaped an easier to work with.
Cut the eggplant up - long ways into finger width slices and sprinkle a good coating of flour and a bit of salt (pinches of table salt) on both sides. In a pan pour a layer of olive oil and put it on a highish heat. Shake off the excess flour and Pan fry the eggplant on both sides. Don’t burn it, actually don't overdo it.

Place the eggplant on paper towels to drain the excess oil.

Each person's serves needs two slices. Sprinkle the grated chocolate over the top of one slice and using another eggplant slice - make a sandwich (with the chocolate in between). The heat from the eggplant should melt the chocolate – sprinkle a touch more chocolate on top and serve. Don’t tell your fellow diners what they are eating and watch as they try and figure it out.

Olijo – Main – Spaghetti Vongole

For xmas instead of cards I bottled and labelled little containers of olive oil to give to friends and family. Some people have said “oh wow, thanks – what do I do now?” – well before you rub it all over your body and slide down the banister, I’ll be posting up some olive oil related recipes.

It’ll be a 4 course meal – but you can of course do what you like.

Appetiser - dukkah and bread
Entrée – balsamic marinated mushroom bruschetta

Serves 6

• Half a cup of olive oil
• Half a cup of white wine (Riesling)
• 500 grams of clams
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 bunch of parsley
• Pack of Spaghetti

Chop the garlic nice and fine
Chop the parsely up too.

This is one of Emma's recipes so i don't get to cook it but its rather simple. In a pot add the olive oil and garlic and on a low/medium heat cook it until the garlic has changed colour (about 2 minutes). Add the wine and clams. Put the lid on and turn the heat up a touch. Wait about 3-4 minutes until the clams have opened up. It shouldn't boil. Stir it around a bit.

Meanwhile cook the spaghetti (boil water then add salt and pasta and cook). A packet of spaghetti usually serves six so use a whole packet.

Once that’s done, drain the pasta and throw it in the pot with the sauce mix. Drizzle some extra olive oil on top, couple of pinches of pepper and serve into bowls. Then finally throw on some parsely.
Make sure you tell people not to eat the shells or unopened clams. Its a bit of a chore to eat this dish, unlike other pasta which i can shovel down, but having to fish out the shells and twirl spaghetti increases the chances of enjoying the meal. its a good meal to eat with friends because you don't have food in your mouth most of the time.

Drink with a fruity cabernet or Primo Estates’ Il Bondino (i think that's what its called - its the only white i like). Have some bread rolls as well because sopping up left over sauce is a must.

Tommorrow- dessert

Olijo – Entrée – balsamic marinated mushroom bruschetta

For xmas instead of cards I bottled and labelled little containers of olive oil to give to friends and family. Some people have said “oh wow, thanks – what do I do now?” – well before you rub it all over your body and slide down the banister, I’ll be posting up some olive oil related recipes.

It’ll be a 4 course meal – but you can of course do what you like.

Appetiser - dukkah and bread

• Large flat mushrooms
• 4 tbs of balsamic vinegar
• 6 tbs olive oil
• ¼ tomato, chopped
• ½ clove of garlic
• basil leaf
• ½ teaspoon of basil powder
• ball of boccocini cheese
• Sea Salt

This list of ingredients is per large mushroom so multiply for bigger groups. Also the quantities are really rough; i haven't perfected this recipe so tread carefully.

Get a mortar and pestle, add the olive oil, vinegar, basil powder, garlic and a couple pinches of salt and start grinding till you get a nice liquid.

Peel the top skin of the mushroom and carefully break off the stalk. Pour the liquid over the mushroom, mushrooms are sponges so it should soak it right up. Sit the marinated mushroom in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to let the flavours really absorb.

Heat up a pan on the stove or the hotplate on the bbq. I recommend not using a grill because the oil will leak from the mushroom and you’ll get a massive flame and scare yourself shitless. Just cook the top of the mushroom (not the ‘gill’ side) for a good couple of minutes. If they marinade starts leeching out, that’s about enough.

Treat the mushroom like a little bit of a bowl, so on the gilled side (where the stalk was) add the chopped tomato and ball of boccocini and but it under the griller until the cheese melt. Tear the cheese up a bit so it melts faster. Add the basil leaf and serve.

I have no idea what to drink with this – I’m liking rose at the moment for some reason, so I’ll say Rose or maybe a sweet Grenache.

Tommorrow the main meal.

Olijo – appetiser – dukkah and bread

For xmas instead of cards I bottled and labelled little containers of olive oil to give to friends and family. Some people have said “oh wow, thanks – what do I do now?” – well before you rub it all over your body and slide down the banister, I’ll be posting up some olive oil related recipes.

It’ll be a 4 course meal – but you can of course do what you like.

• White bread
• Dukkah
• Olive Oil

Starting easy - as an appetiser, its really easy to use olive oil. Go to a bakery and buy some bread, try and find somewhere that don’t just describe the bread as ‘white’, ‘wholegrain’ or ‘multigrain’. Find something a bit interesting – but in this instance keep it white and without anything backed into it (fruit, nuts, human fingers).
Just something dense and fresh, but not to crusty. (Lepinja is good)
Supermarket bread is ok, but only really works when its warm. Warm bread works when its eaten with meals not before – especially as an appetiser because when people are chatting the bread cools down becomes dry.

Buy some dukkah, which is a herb/ spice/ nut mix from the middle east. You may have to go to a continental or fine food shop. I like the ones with added chilli. If you can’t find one with chilli, the add some chilli powder yourself, but just a little – a half a pinch or so.

Ok, get your bread cut it up into two bite portions, make sure there is a crust. I’m a portion overlord, so I’d cut up 5 pieces of bread per person. Pour the olive oil into a couple of small dishes – saucers will work if you are desperate. Pour the dukkah onto some other plates and serve.

People dip the bread into the oil and then into the dukkah and eat.

In terms of drinks, I’m not some drink fascists that forces people to drink specific beverages with specific meals. But I would either drink a subtle beer; corana, mythos, moretti or light beer OR a really spicy shiraz to compliment the chilli. It depends, if it’s a snack then beer but if I’ve got a big meal coming then the shiraz (d’arenberg footbolt) because the chilli/shiraz will stimulate appetite (where the bread and beer combo will be quite filling).

Tommorrow - the Entrée

503me

Fellow Panels and Gutter drinker and comic creator Owwen Heitmann has just flattered my massive ego by including me in this week's 5031 strip. I have no issue with the likeness, he's captured my ruggedly handsome handsomeness - though i do take issue with the top. Yes, I wear polo tops, yes i have worn public enemy tshirts, yes, i could wear a public enemy tshirt over a polo top, but i don't think i'd wear a public enemy polo.

oh and its not true, i'm only a sick sick individual

Platinum Grit

For all those who hungrily groped my Platinum Grits at Saturdays Panels and Gutters drinks
The Lulu Shopfront
or you can buy'em of ebay

And for those who want to know more about Lulu's Print on Demand costs - which is kind of attractive.

Bovinevision of 2005

I think I should have thought through the whole cow thread for my end of year cultural round up.

For some reason TV is where its at for me, the truly inspiring stuff is happening on the little screen. Movies are just cliché ridden, special effects driven nerd romps that I can barely manage the strength to go see. But the serial nature of TV, the grittiness and innovative corner cutting employed by lower budget TV (when compared to Films) and the extremely well written scripts just get me excited.
However I didn’t bother with some new shows like, House, Grey’s Anatomy or Numbers – all of which I was told are good and they could be but what I watched and enjoyed;

The Wire
The second season started off slowly but then accelerated until the nail biting end. Awesome fully rounded characters and perfect sense of pace its so much better than Sopranos and yes even the Shield.

Deadwood
Even though I didn’t see this on TV but on DVD it still counts. Though I thought the swearing was a bit much, (and what's the deal with music days it all sounds the same, where are my slippers) watching Seth’s slow boil, Al’s scheming and the going ons of the other characters; its all postively engaging - you cunt.

24
Even with the massive plot holes and the smattering of melodrama, the 4th season was the best. Unlike the 3rd season, this didn’t chop and change storylines every 6 episodes, it built one freaking long story and hashed it out properly. I’m hoping next year its just Jack and a silencer for 20 episodes.

Arrested Development
In terms of comedy, for me it doesn’t get better than Fawlty Towers, Young Ones and A couple seasons in the middle of Seinfeld. Arrested Development is up there now. Its clever and stupid all at the same time, which is just perfect. I wish channel 7 would stop fucking around with it.

The Shield
A couple of episodes this year, shock horror, were a tad crap. Once Lem burned the money train cash, those few episodes where a new status quo was being set up just sort of lost focus but once its feet were found it turned gold again. Though i wish channel 10 would stop fucking around with it.

Same thing happened with the OC, the whole lesbian thing was very lame – but it bounced back. And I enjoyed the two episodes of Veronica Mars I’ve seen very much.

The total shit tv goes to the first episode of Headland (emma was supposed to watch it for work – well that’s what she told me) and Shopping for Love.

moosic of 2005

I did buy a bunch of cds this year, but very few were fresh in 2005. Most where filling up holes in my collection (Tom Waits, Sonic Youth) some were nostalgic (NWA, Dirty Old bastard) but of the music i did purchase that was released in 2005.

Rock out with your cock out
Franz Ferdinand - Its so addictive, the posturing and swagger.
White Stripes - I didn’t see this as a great departure from their older stuff. No tracks really stood out, but in total its a good listen.
Semichub
Bloc party - Its growing on me, but slightly over produced but original compared to other rock stuff.
Kaiser Chiefs/Kings of Leon - both take different tacks but the stripped back feel still rocks satisfactorily
Flaccid
Gorillaz - I didn’t really like the first album all that much so I shouldn’t be that surprised. 3 good tracks and the rest are meh.

Booty baking Ass shaking
Little Brother - Even though De La Soul are still around and doing really great stuff (Grind date still got spun this year) Little brother has the East Coast native tongue flavour – though the whole concept album thing is a bit cute (and overdone in hip hop) – it doesn’t hit you over the head with it.
Common – A nice adult hip hop album with good production. I don’t think it was a great year in hip hop, but it doesn’t get much airplay so I’m not really sure what I missed.
Throw your hands up in the air
Kayne West – A solid album, a bit too mainstream and its a bit hard to relate to the whole, “its hard being this wealthy" but good to get your party on.
Kicked to the curb
Public Enemy – Sniff
Handsome Boy Modelling School – The first album is so awesome, "White people" though stretches the joke too far without the music to back it up. 3 barely decent songs and the rest are crap.

Music that made my vagina cry
Lucksmiths – “Music from next door” is just a perfect song, just can’t get enough of this album.
Let's just be friends but still just cuddle
Jen Lekman - The first album is great, this album has remixes which is just weird for a folk singer.
Just Rubbish
Antony and the Johnsons - boring

Moofies in 2005

Using http://www.imdb.com/ReleasedInYear?year=2005&country=Australia

I saw

Finding Neverland – It made me sad but happy too
Alfie – Absolutely awful
Alexander – A film that was too long winded and tried too hard to make its solidary point.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) – I think this will be a film that I can have in the background and watch, like the more recent Bond films – some really cool bits interspersed with some meh.
Aviator, The - Was like Alexander but a bit more watchable and not as clumsy.
Constantine - Better than I expected, enjoyable in fact
Oldboy – Stylistically, probably one of the more interesting films of the year. In terms of plot it loses steam. Oh and he fucks his daughter!!!
Ong-bak – Over rated.
Ring Two, The – I liked that it was different from the first one but otherwise meh
Assault on Precinct 13 – I liked this a lot.
Interpreter, The – Kidman was pretty/ movie was average
Sahara - meh, it should have left more impression with Macy, Zahn and Cruzzzzz
Hostage – Sort of falls down at the end, I was expecting something really clever.
xXx: State of the Union – The first one sucked too so at least they are consistent.
Kingdom of Heaven – Um, no idea, it may have been good, may have been crap, it left no impression on me what so ever.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - shit
Longest Yard, The – better than Revenge of the Sith, still shit though
Mr. & Mrs. Smith – Did not live up to its potential at all. Needed more explosions, needed more gunplay.
Madagascar - OK
Batman Begins – pretty decent (good even) until the costume appears then it got kind of shitty. The showdowns with each of the 3 villains (roman, scarecrow, the other one) were all lame and anti-climatic.
War of the Worlds – For what it was it was OK
Fantastic Four – Batman Begins may have been, technically, a better film but I was quite surprised when i enjoyed it more.
Sin City – bit of a boy’s film, wasn’t it? I liked it but it got a bit much at the end; not helped by the repetitive narration and the violence.
Lords of Dogtown - I really liked this, I don’t know why.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – not as good as the original, I did have high expectations though which may have dampened my reaction.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – because of the paper thin plot, I probably enjoyed this more than the other Harry Potter films. It felt a bit over edited and none of the kids can act but I still had fun.
Chronicles of Narnia - Satisfying, quite satisfying indeed.
Brokeback Mountain - I only saw about 2/3 but it was incredibly engaging and almost my favourite movie of the year (almost because i didn't see the whole thing)


When my top 5 for the year possibly contains Assault on Precinct 13, i think i shouldn't bother

Ultimate Monthly Challenge Winner

http://forums.pulpfaction.net/viewtopic.php?p=13517#13517

One of the more interesting and generally better australian comic initiatives has its end of year ultimate poll. Go Vote.