The MRFH 2005 Revue

The Year I Rediscovered What Fun Is

I’m actually typing while sitting out on my front porch, listening to a midnight downpour and seeing my own breath: a rare novelty in southern California.

But today, the second day of 2006, helped me see just how far I’ve come in the last year. 2005 was the first year in a very, very long time that I didn’t spent at least half of it enrolled in an academic institution. I didn’t even attend traffic school. It was all me, on my own, living my life and embarking on a personal journey with no curriculum or professional guidance making any decisions for me.

It was pretty damn scary. And, as it continues even now, it still is.

But viewed as a whole, I can point with some certainty at moments and times over the past year where I made leaps forward in all ways. Growing up, growing sideways, and at some points taking a step or two back in order to gain clarity to find a new route to follow. Definitely exciting times. Being in your 20’s is awesome!

How all this related to movies can be summed up in one quick sentence, the thrust of which I’ve already ruined with my article title (assuming Justin doesn’t change it): my idea of what “fun” is evolved with me. Not in gargantuan steps and not in any way that invalidates my past opinions, but in a way that keeping in step with where I’m at in my life.

Which again isn’t to say that I’ve made a quantum leap in any way, shape, or form. 2004’s Kyle would worship Wedding Crashers, Batman Begins, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang as his films of the year just as 2005’s Kyle does; in fact, any yearly incarnation of Kyle in this new millennium would have made the small picks as the current one has.

I guess the best way to say it is that I’m more in tune with my likes, desires, dislikes, and guilty pleasures. For the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I’m aware of the things that I truly enjoy, and that heightened perception allows me to choose activities and hobbies of all kinds with more successfully pleasing results than before. At the same time, I’m very thankful that either latent impatience and innate restlessness (I am a Gemini, after all) prevents me with sticking with my niche pleasures: if I don’t seek out new experiences and cultural products on a fairly consistent basis, my lack of stimulation quickly rouses me to action. I love being in constant motion. Who doesn’t?

I guess I like to think that I’m more able to say with absolute conviction things like “I recognize that The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a better overall film than Wedding Crashers, but I still believe that Wedding Crashers is one of the most important films of the decade. Possibly of all-time.” It’s about freedom, it’s about confidence, it’s about knowing yourself as a complex being with likes, dislikes, and an intense attraction to Rachel McAdams.

Which is probably where all of you are. Meaning self-awareness of yourself, not the Rachel McAdams crush part. That’s only some of you. But it’s is great all-around, either way? Awesome.

Film-wise, I guess I agree with the common people that the reason box office receipts are down is because most movies are crap and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. I also agree that theater attendance is down because most of the people you end up sharing a theater with are ill-mannered savages with bizarre snacking rituals and awful ring tones. I’m still optimistic on most fronts, however, based on quality audiences I’ve enjoyed quality films with during the past year. I’ve had bad experiences, to be sure, but I’m not about to become a home theater junkie who shuns the local megaplexes. And not just because I can’t afford a snazzy home theater system. Though that part doesn’t hurt. I mean, it does hurt, but you know what I mean.

I also think 2005 was brighter on the cinematic score for me than most because there were so many hidden pleasures and breathless finds for me at the theaters and at the stores. I got all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies for $2 each! I got 2001: A Space Odyssey and Caddyshack for $5.50 each, and I got all the theatrical Lord of the Rings movies for $6 each! There were countless discounts, rebates, and sales that allowed me to pick up movies I’ve liked/loved or even waited to see to buy, and it was amazing! My Christmas vacation was topped off by a cool DVD sale at a coastal supermarket I went into solely for Red Bull and donuts, and I walked out with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the crazy ‘70s remake one), Urban Legend (a total guilty pleasure), and Krull! I didn’t find any donuts that looked good, but I was so movie and Red Bull-happy I didn’t even care. Hooray!

But, yeah: Batman Begins was probably the film of the year, although I think I’ll get more comfort viewing hours out of Wedding Crashers. I was so psyched to see Wedding Crashers again that I went out and rented it from my local we-don’t-care-about-street-dates rental store to watch on New Year’s Eve’s Eve, despite it being just four days before I would be able to buy it myself. Weird. But at least I found out early that the “Uncorked” edition is pretty stupid, and that watching it “Theatrical” is the only way to go!

Those were the two big ones, but I was really blown away by the super-hyped Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which I had read on internet film sites all over the place was the greatest thing ever. I actually managed to get out to Santa Monica while it was playing on the 3rd Street Promenade, which is a big deal for me, since usually when a movie I want to see is playing at an extremely limited engagement in SoCal (like when Undead played for one week only at the NuArt) I think about going to see it and then go on a few all-night benders that destroy my short-term memory and send me back into rehab only to emerge and find out I missed the last showing. Damn! But I got to see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and it truly is great. I’m not a big noir guy but I like the stuff that people who love noir produce, because the noir influence I can dig but it’s diluted enough that it isn’t distracting. If a movie has Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, and hot chicks willing to be naked, I’m pretty guaranteed good times (I gotta be me, after all), but Kiss Kiss Bang Bang provided thrills beyond the shallow ones. It’s a super good time, and I highly recommend it.

Those three are the big guns; the three that I think you absolutely should have seen on the big screen to enjoy 2005 like you should have. Yeah, I guess seeing Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith would have been a good idea, but whatever. I’m glad it's over, and I’m glad it ended on a relatively high note, but if Sith had been it I think it would have been monumentally disappointing. But, thankfully, the prequels provided the fodder for the excellent Lego Star Wars video game, which is pretty much the greatest thing ever. Once you’re able to play as Darth Maul, Count Dooku, or General Grievous in “free play,” you’ll quickly recognize the potential that the prequels squandered and then forget your anger as you just have a blast destroying droids and collecting Lego studs. The actual Lego General Grievous figure is pretty sweet, as well. I’ll also allow that Sith plays pretty well as a DVD on the small screen, either because it’s just slight above a Sci-Fi film to begin with or because it’s the closest we’re going to get to the original trilogy and that fact is beginning to sink in. Hmm. Best not to think about it.

But for all the stuff that either disappointed or didn’t live up to the expectations I carried into the theater or out of the rental place with me (Three Extremes, The Island, Sin City, The Fog, Boogeyman, Land of the Dead, Meet the Fockers, The Ring Two, Ocean’s Twelve, Team America, Sky High, Undead, Sahara, Assault on Precinct 13, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), there plenty that met my expectations or surprisingly blew them out of the water.

Constantine and The Amityville Horror weren’t great but I enjoyed them, as I enjoyed Lords of Dogtown and Fantastic Four. Maybe my lack of expectations helped me really like Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, Hostage, House of Wax, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Sideways. I never dreamed I’d like The Dukes of Hazzard or The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as much as I did, but that’s life!

40-Year-Old Virgin was good, I’ve seen bits and pieces of The Jacket, and I saw Stealth for free so whatever. On the dramatic front, Closer, Dear Frankie, The Family Stone, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou were all absolutely fantastic. Rachel McAdams can’t help but make whatever she does better, a trait shared by Cillian Murphy, which helped make Red Eye the easy winner of Guilty Pleasure of 2005. Yahooooo!

I didn’t get to see Elizabethtown but I look forward to it. High Tension is ab fab for all of its running time, and I continue to recommend that if you stop it at a certain it’s easily one of the best films of its kind in decades.

Anyway, I didn’t mean to sum up the movies I saw in 2005 in such excruciating detail, but I found a compiled list of the year’s releases and got carried away. As you may have noticed there were some big films I have yet to see (King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia being the two biggest recent omissions); what can I say? I’ll make some time for them this coming weekend, perhaps. I’m just glad I made it through and we’re all safe and sound. Whew!

Although, and I’ve got to say this despite a lot of you potentially getting angry with me: Serenity was definitely not all that. I have to quote Fred Willard from A Mighty Wind on this one: “Wha’ Hap’p’end?” Yikes! Astonishing X-Men is bollocks, too, people. True.

I was thinking of doing the usual end-with-funny-awards thing, but for some reason I can’t be bothered. I just can’t find that essential comic chi for it, you know? So here are a few things I enjoyed in ’05 that I think you would get a kick out of as well. And as always, perennial stalwarts Grant Morrison, Harold Bloom, William Shakespeare are safe choices for pop culture/intellectual fun!

The new Doctor Who series! If you have a region 1 dvd player (and if you’re sure, then that is definitely what you have) then you won’t be able to watch these (via legal means) until February 2006, but it’s worth it. Just as Battlestar Galactica was reinvented into something shiny and new but still mindful of the original, well, the new Doctor Who kind of does the same thing. Except it’s building upon the original, even though this was apparently “Season 1” instead of “Season 28,” but who cares? It’s fun, flashy, appropriately cheesy and dark in various correct places, and if you’ve ever dug Doctor Who before you will again.

The Weakerthans! I was exposed to their song “Aside” during the end credits of Wedding Crashers and that initial exposure, followed by the purpose of the film soundtrack and then the Weakerthans’ three albums, changed my life. That’s no lie. Excellent lyrics, good tunes, and a general cool vibe that can conform to fit any mood (in a sweet nonconformist way, ‘course). Highly recommended.

Street Angel and Mnemovore are the best comics not written by Grant Morrison! The world of comics is pretty sad, at least for someone like me, who isn’t as impressed by Warren Ellis and Frank Miller and Mark Millar as I apparently should be. Oh well. Street Angel is absolutely fabulous, and I just decided I’m going to buy a bunch of copies of the Volume 1 collection and send them out as late Christmas presents. I also picked up all the issues of Mnemovore on a whim because I heard it was an okay horror comic mini-series, and it really was great. Just dreamy and confusing enough to be Argento-inspired, but explicit enough in its gore and thrills to hold the attention of people who have no idea who Argento is. The Scorpion Marvel digest gets a special mention as a really sweet standard play on the usual superhero/spy-with-evil-parent(s) story starring a girl with green hair, which had me at “girl with green hair.” Solid!

A long, cool, black Perry Ellis coat! Buying clothes in The Vegas to wear and look cool while in The Vegas is one thing. But getting home and realizing that you look just as hot, cool, and totally sweet with your new clothes as you did in The Vegas: priceless! Also, I won like $15 on an Alien machine. Yes!

I guess that’s it for me. Happy 2006, everybody!