1.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: 10/10
By far the best movie of the year. Everything matches it's predeseccor, and in some ways passes them. The only possible flaw I could see is it's cliffhanger, but it's still very well done. In fact, in terms of cliffhangers, I think it does a better job at it than
The Empire Strikes Back(*gasp*, well okay, maybe that one is slightly better, but it's almost a toss-up for me) and
The Lord of the Rings(then again, I think Lord of the Rings sucks).
2.
X-Men: The Last Stand: 9/10
Forget what the critics thought, this was the best X-Men yet, in my humble opinion. The amount of deaths actually made the film more suspenseful, it had just the right amount of action, and the whole story about mutants dealing with the cure, along with society, was more fascinating than anything in X-Men 1 or 2(but I still liked both quite a bit).
3.
Cars: around 7.5, but to be generous, I'll round it to 8.
Well, I really do like it, but the more I think about it, the more I see it was really just the same story as
Toy Story 2. I mean, the whole concept of him getting lost and learning about himself was taken from TS2. Plus, also add to the fact, Sally, Doc Hudson and Mater are the exact same characters as Jessie, Stinky Pete and Bullseye. Plus the whole "countdown" to the big race, is something seen in every Pixar films(sans The Incredibles). I think even the biggest Pixar fan can see it's not their most original film. Oh dear, big rant, well, to be fair, I thought the animation and the songs were all at perfection! Though flawed, I thought on a whole, it's story worked well, and it's not's Pixar's worst film(I think that title will belong to "Finding Nemo" for a looooooooooooong time
) Plus there were a lot of great characters. So I did enjoy it(in fact, I saw the film twice
) I just REALLY hope that the next 8 Pixar films don't involve: 1. Somebody getting lost, or trying to "find themselves" or 2. Two buddies for the majority of the film
4.
Superman Returns: 6/10
Had some decent moments, but the whole film felt pointless. I think a big part of it is trying to give Superman such a LONG introduction, yet,
Superman: The Movie already gave him an introduction, so why Warner Brothers thought they needed another movie to do it here was beyond me. For Batman it worked because they added a lot to the character we hadn't seen before and made it an incredible ride. This just felt like they wanted to compete with Marvel. It's sad both Fantastic Four and X-Men: TLS were worse reviewed by those critics, becuase I would take both over Superman Returns anyday.
5.
Glory Road: 6/10
Was alright. It had it's moments and I enjoyed it enough, it just felt too much like a typicals sports movie.
6.
Eight Below: 5/10
Meh. I'm not the biggest dog-lover, so maybe this is why, but this film did nothing for me. On a side-note, the cinematography was great.
7.
Monster House: 1/10
I hated this movie. It was just flat out awful. I chose this over Click and The Any Bully, just for the fact that I loved The Polar Express, but this film was just ugly. The story of this film was just 100% ridiculous. I really don't see how some critics can actually say with a straight face this was better than Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. If "A Scanner Darkly" is eligable for an Animated Oscar, and we see 5 nominations this year, I still hope Monster House isn't nominated, because if The Polar Express couldn't get a nomination, there's no way this should.
Not the worst film ever made, but definetely one of the worst animated films ever made.
So while some good/great movies, this year isn't as great as 2005. I hope I see many more great films this year to help me change my opinion.
B-
(Unsure if I want it on DVD)