01-03-2005

- Best: La Dolce Vita. The more I think about it, the more I believe this is the second best movie I've ever seen. I made a big fuss over Million Dollar Baby, but a lot of that came from the emotion of the moment (coupled with seeing a stinker like Elektra shortly afterwards) and I've settled down enough to place it near the top, but not that high. My contrarian spirit made me want to dislike this movie since it's so important and blah blah blah, but despite that I fell completely in love with it. Marcello Mastroianni is supposed to be the focus of the picture, but I saw more in the supporting cast and their tales and circumstances while he simply drifted along. It's not quite as beautiful to look at as an Antonioni (L'Eclisse, especially) picture, but what little Fellini lacked in style he made up for with story telling.

- Favorite: Anchorman. Knowing full well that I was wasting precious time, I wound up watching this at least five times this year. I love comedies above all else (except maybe westerns) so there are going to be a lot of silly movies listed under favorites, and this is the king of them all. The 40 Year Old Virgin comes pretty close to this hilarity wise, but there's no topping it. Well done, sir.

- Worst: Haiku Tunnel. Words cannot describe how terrible this movie is. It's the reason I no longer have IFC.