The Weigh in 82

Dana’s best of 2006

This article has done more than its fair share of lists, so it really shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that I am going to add one more just before this year shuts its doors on us forever.

Movies you absolutely have to see...

Brick- Writer and director Rian Johnson took the noir flick and placed it in a modern day high school seamlessly. The lingo and pacing of the film is absolutely brilliant and it is very easy to fall into the world of gangsters, femme fatales, and skipping class.

United 93-Paul Greengrass takes this tragedy on September 11, 2001 and gives everyone an eerily stirring and an emotionally draining first person look at the last few hours of the passengers lives.

The Proposition-Written and scored by Nick Cave, this film tells the story of an outlaw in the turn of the century Australian Outback who holds the life of two of his brothers in his hands. The film is a gritty western with an abundance of violence while at the same time doing a wonderful job of capturing the more personal, internal struggles the main characters were fighting.

The Prestige- Chris Nolan’s look at two dueling magicians each searching for the ultimate trick with excellent performances by Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, and especially David Bowie. It is easy to get wrapped up in the movie and get blown away by the ending.

The Pursuit of Happyness-A rather ordinary film made absolutely spectacular by the performance of Will Smith. His performance makes this film an emotional experience.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan-Throwing political correctness out the window and poking fun at all aspects of Americana; this is by far one of the funniest films in years.


What in the world were they thinking when they made this movie…

Everyone’s Hero-I know that this was the final project of Christopher and Dana Reeve’s before they passed away, and big names like Whoopie Goldberg and Forrest Whitaker, but this children’s film about a talking baseball and bat that have to get back to Babe Ruth before the seventh game of the World Series or the Yankees could lose is just mind-boggling absurd. It was a pain to sit through as an adult and the audience of 5 year old children seem just as bored as I was.

Turistas-Fox Atomic’s first film puts a group of tourists in a South American country while a wild surgeon tries to remove their organs. This movie was just plain silly and it is usually a bad sign when the villain of the film seems to have more of an altruistic purpose than his victims. Plus, as a horror film this just bored me to tears.

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties-A sequel to a film about a comic strip that hasn’t been funny for years features Garfield in a predicament ala “The Prince and the Pauper”. This is just another example of Hollywood studios belief that not only will anything computer generated make money but that they consider children complete idiots.


Occasionally I had the chance to pick up a few comics too and I actually think you should check
these out…

All Star Superman- Grant Morrison’s take on the Man of Steel in a brand new series of stories is priceless and should be read by any Superman fan.

Daredevil run by Ed Brubaker-Ed Brubaker managed to tell the story of the incarceration of Matt Murdock and his search for the killer of Foggy Nelson with a gritty edge and humor that had me eagerly awaiting each monthly issue, and I am not really known for my patience with comic books.


The year that was, a few memorable moments from 2006, for better worse…

After over a decade of reworked scripts, new directors and lingering in development hell,
Superman Returns was finally shot and released. I for one was giddy as a little girl at the result.

OJ Simpson actually found someone to publish a novel titled “What If”, chronicling how he would have killed his wife if he had done it. There are so many things morally wrong with this idea (least of which is the fact that the publishers didn’t think it was a bad idea until the public told them so) that everyone involved should be locked away and fed pages of the book until we can find a cure for whatever mental defect they seem to have acquired.

The entire internet was abuzz about a self proclaimed crappy movie starring snakes on a plane. After all of the hype, people still walked out of the theater complaining about what a crappy movie it was.

Britney Spears confirmed what all of us knew as soon as we saw her career going down the tubes, she would eventually do nudity. We just didn’t think it was going to happen this way. Way to white trash it up.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes marry and have a child this year. I was able to write a good portion of my articles on this news alone.

Screech from Saved by the Bell tries to sell t-shirts with his picture on them in order to save his house from foreclosure. Shortly thereafter a homemade porn video accidentally pops up and he makes a deal with the distributor to make some money off of it.

I hope you all enjoyed this quick little trip back into the year that was 2006 and I hope to see you all back next year for a little more.
 

As always, you can send your loving adoration of hate mail to DPlace76@yahoo.com. You can read other random ramblings at http://bigdpimpin.livejournal.com/. Come check out our myspace account at www.myspace.com/stumblebumstudios to keep up with all of the comings and goings of the gang.