The MRFH 2006 Revue

2006 was surely a year of many milestones — or was that millstones? — for yours truly. Somewhere during those meager 365 days, my eldest child became a high school freshman, while my youngest’s odometer tipped her right into teenagerdom. I became... older.

Of the highlights, I can proudly point to my parents celebrating fifty years of marriage (go Mom and Dad!) and my lesser month-long accomplishment of a 50,000 word novella for NaNoWriMo alongside Justin and stalwart forum regular, TheOogieBoogieMan. (See that people? Participate in NaNo and you get your name into an article! So there, ya slackers!)

The bad news contained things like the permanent discontinuation of air conditioning in my dear old Neon, my failure to finish a publication-ready project for yet another year, and the untimely deaths of two bunnies in the backyard. (A tragedy for which my greyhounds express shocked dismay at allegations of their possible involvement in the murders. They are currently working on a script treatment to send to Harvey Weinstein.) Worst of all, the Packers didn’t make the playoffs.

But of course, this is the land of movie reviews, so who cares about any of that really? Let’s get on with it, shall we?

From a cinematic point of view, all I can say is, "Welcome 2007!"

I’ll tell you up front, that I saw very, very few new releases this past year. Frankly, there just weren’t many that tripped my trigger. I saw Lucky Number Slevin and liked it. Then there was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, of course. I liked it. I saw Superman Returns. I... liked it. For the sake of the kids, I even saw, Over The Hedge. I.... I.... liked it. Kind of. Can you see a trend here? Love just wasn’t in the air. I’d feel cheated, but to be honest, I guess I didn’t put as much effort into the relationship as I should have.

For the ones that I intended to see but missed — The Prestige, Casino Royale, The Illusionist, Rocky Balboa, Clerks II, even Happy Feet — I guess my feelings just weren’t strong enough to make the effort to get to the theater before they disappeared from sight. This is a sad state of affairs for any movie reviewer; even an old one with gray hair and teenagers sprouting up like pimples.

However, I look to rebound in 2007. Children of Men (technically an ‘06 release, but I don’t care,) looks terrific and that’s one I WILL catch. Other musts include Spider-Man 3, Pirates 3, Live Free or Die Hard, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix... and those are just the biggie, ultra-hyped ones. Yes indeedy, I have high hopes for ‘07. It had better not let me down.

Or else.