where have i been?

umm...
sick and working and seeing family at home in boston and having family visit and working and celebrating the new year.
yeah, pretty much.

and all i really want to do on my two more days off is SEE MOVIES.

after buying and receiving dvds for the holidays, i have been contemplating the year in film. what does erica think about the flicks of 2005?
eh... not a great year for american film, better for foreign, especially german and french. but at least they're making unabashed comedies in the states again. and tons of other crap, but hey, we got wedding crashers and the 40 year old virgin.

ok, i must list. i must. and i'm making up my own categories:

BEST

movie to make you want to slit your wrists, but in the good way
2046 (chinese)

wonderfully truthful and disturbing movie (that todd solondz wishes he made)
me and you and everyone we know (usa)

gay gay movie
my summer of love (british... and nope, it's not brokeback mountain)
(did bad education come out this year? because that was pretty good too you know)

movie set in a subway system
kontroll (hungarian)

movie about skateboarding with kick ass camera work
lords of dogtown (usa!)

tragic romance with edge and lots of languages movie
head on (german)

touching pants-wetting movie about a virgin
40 year old virgin (usa)

black and white and red all over movie
sin city (usa)

movie based on a jane austen novel
pride and prejudice barely beats out bride and prejudice by a bollywood hair (british)

movie where they dance!
tie: mad hot ballroom (nyc public school kids learn hot to cha cha cha, fantastico! usa)
and rize (krumping? krumping! usa)

movie to make you want to revolt and fall in love simultaneously
the edukators (again german)

pbs style movie
march of the penguins (antarctica)

movie about transcending your reality through music
the beat my heart skipped (french)

actresses
michelle williams in everything (brokeback mountain, the baxter)
emma watson in hp4 (dude, hermione is getting awesome)
toni collette in in her shoes (gotta love muriel)
shirley maclaine in in her shoes (best new grandma)
claire danes (shopgirl)
isla fisher (wedding crashers)

actor
jake gyllenhaal in proof (too cute to be a math nerd)
will ferrell in everything (bewitched, kicking and screaming, the producers)
romain duris (the beat my heart skipped)
jason schwartzman (shopgirl)
the double v (vince vaughn!) (wedding crashers, be cool, and mr. and mrs. smith)
geoffrey wright (broken flowers, he is the fucking bomb)

special award to heath ledger, being all versatile and hot in everything. even the brothers grimm
special award for the aristocrats for being a funny ass film that was actually kinda boring, but overcame the repetition by having people like mario cantone nearly make me pee my pants
special award to joss whedon, for back in the day taking a movie and making a tv show (buffy) and then doing the converse this year (firefly tv series into serenity movie)

WORST

biggest let downs:
palindromes
broken flowers
the chronicles of narnia
the brothers grimm
pretty persuasion

most overrated:
brokeback mountain
batman
all those computer animated movies (madagascar, robots, sharktale. don't get me wrong, i like them, but they're not as good as shrek)
shopgirl (i liked it, especially the young actors, but shit if they don't blow these movies up in the press)
everything is illuminated

pieces of crap that i spent money on:
alot like love
just like heaven
the sisterhood of the traveling pants
be cool


special award for being an offensive anti-euthanasia romantic comedy wings of desire/ghost knock off
just like heaven (mark ruffalo couldn't save it, thus it must suck)
actor
ben affleck should stop acting and only be a dude on reality talking about film production (project greenlight rules!)

i'm sure i will be amending these tomorrow when i wake up and realize i forgot whole months of films that i saw.

but until then,
how's your sweetness?

erica the boots wearing girl