101 - Michael Clayton

I think either Tom Wilkinson or George Clooney could have received an Oscar for their performance in this movie. Tilda Swinton's performance was also great...but I somehow couldn't justify its Oscar-worthiness. Perhaps the judges wanted to award Tilda Swinton, the actress, and not necessarily Tilda Swinton of Michael Clayton....now that I can accept.

Marker - 100 films

A hundred films in three years. That sounds like a long time to reach such a milestone...and I thought I was spending too much time watching movies....but let me remind you, this is just for my Netflix account! Anyway......after a hundred films on Netflix.....my personal favorites.......

from 2006
03 Dead Man
04 The Matador
14The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
24 Little Fish
32 Croupier
33 A Clockwork Orange

from 2007
39 Little Miss Sunshine
63 Casino Royale
56 Fast Food Nation
60 A Scanner Darkly
67 Breach
68 Black Snake Moan
69 Dr. Strangelove
73 Pan's Labyrinth
81 Red Road
84 Down By Law
88 Night on Earth
89 Mystery Train

from 2008
91 Eastern Promises
92 Waitress
93 La Vie En Rose
95 King of California
97 Maria Full of Grace
98 Gone Baby Gone

Amen.

100 - Home of the Brave

This can't be my 100th entry. It's really sad that it is...anyway...
Here's the bottom line: I couldn't finish this film and thought it best to just mail it back right away so I can get the next one (hopefully Michael Clayton). And it's not that its awful. Maybe just bad timing that my life's been so busy I have such a short patience. Maybe.

But there just wasn't enough in the beginning to provide that base for all the different stories. There are some movies that leave a certain amount of assumptions for the audience to make and this one just felt like it wanted you to fill in too much of the blanks to render it without much emotional journey to discover. I don't know. Like I said, maybe its just me right now. I guess its also sad that this movie comes under the shadow of Black Hawk Down....maybe just bad timing.

99 - Goya's Ghosts

I think Stellan Skarsgard did a great job and I enjoyed watching him portray Francisco Goya. Even more interesting was how they showed the old process of print-press (of lineart?). I'm not sure what made them choose Randy Quaid and that really felt odd. Natalie Portman I think, despite an admirable performance in the first part (as Ines), was miscast. She does not deliver the same effect Scarlett Johansson had in Girl with a Pearl Earing (funny how they finally found their way together now in The Other Boleyn Girl...wonder who will have more of an effect over the other...)

Javier Bardem, of course, was equally enjoyable to watch as a man of the cloth...though I have to admit I was waiting for him to break character and utter "friend-o" :)

The movie though, fell off after the first act, and was not the same after that....