Martin Luther King Day

Greetings one and all. For those of you expecting to see the regular Monday update today, sorry to disappoint. The regular edition of the Drill will be back tommorrow. As far as today goes, enjoy the words of the great Martin Luther King Jr. as we celebrate his birthday today.

 

I HAVE A DREAM (excerpts)

Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. Source: Martin Luther King, Jr: The Peaceful Warrior, Pocket Books, NY 1968

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

 

I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."-Martin Luther King

 

Long live the dream....

 

FRIDAY THE 13TH: JASON TAKES OVER THE TWO MINUTE DRILL

 

"shhh-shhh-shh...kill..kill..kill." ;-)

Welcome to a special "Friday the 13th" edition of the Two Minute Drill!! Thought I'd change it up a bit and offer you the meanings behind some superstitions. Ever wonder why Friday the 13th is considered unlucky? (It has nothing to do with our "friend" in the picture. hehehe). Why do you throw salt over your right shoulder if you spill it? Here are the stories behind the omens. ;-)

Hope you enjoy it! Thanx to Oldsuperstitions.com for the info!

 

VERY SUPERSTITIOUS

Friday the Thirteenth - The Scandinavian's believed that the number 13 was unlucky due to the mythological 12 demigods being joined by a 13th, an evil one, who brought misfortune upon humans. It was also said that Christ was crucified on Friday and the number of guests at the party of the Last Supper was 13, with the 13th guest being Judas, the traitor

 Walking under a ladder - A leaning ladder forms a triangle with the wall and ground. Triangles represent the Holy Trinity, and violating the Trinity by breaking it (walking through it) would put you in league with the devil himself.

Black Cats - In ancient Egypt, the Goddess Bast was a black, female cat. Christians, wanting to rid society of all traces of other religions, convinced the ignorant that black cats were demons in disguise and should thus be destroyed. In the process, they also destroyed the kindly ladies who cared for the cats, believing them to be witches. Being demons, a black cat crossing your path would create a barrier of evil, cutting you off from God and blocking the entrance to heaven.

Spilling Salt - Salt used to be an expensive commodity used mainly for medicinal purposes. For this reason, spillage was to be avoided at all costs. The idea that it is unlucky to do so probably stems from the belief that Judas spilt salt during the last supper. Throwing spilt salt over the left shoulder is linked to its medicinal use. If it could not be administered, the next best thing was to throw it into the eye of the evil spirits that brought sickness upon us. These spirits were thought to lurk behind your shoulder, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Other Superstitions

The following things are considered Bad Luck:

A bat flying into the house

An owl hooting 3 times

3 butterflies together

Looking at the new moon over your left shoulder

Breaking a glass while proposing a toast

Red and white flowers together

Beautiful..but dangerous! ;-)

Hearing a rooster crow at night

 Cutting your nails on a Friday

Putting a hat on a bed (I'm guilty of this one)

Getting out of bed left foot first

A picture falling

Singing before breakfast (What if its in the shower? uh-oh. ;-) )

Opening an umbrella indoors

 Giving away a wedding present

Crossed knives

Sparrows are said to carry the souls of the deceased to the after-life. To kill one means that you will be cursed.

If a groom drops the ring during the ceremony then the marriage is doomed to failure.

What about goodluck you ask? Well here's how you can ward off "bad luck"

Saying God Bless You When Somebody Sneezes. When the great plague swept Europe., sufferers began sneezing violently which was a sign of death. The Pope therefore passed a law requiring people to bless the sneezer. At the same time, it was expected that anybody sneezing would cover their mouth with a cloth or their hand. This was obviously to stop the spreading of the disease, but many believed that it was to keep the soul intact. Sneezing 'into the air' would allow the soul to escape and death would be imminent. Up until this time, the opposite was true. Those who sneezed were congratulated, as it was believed that a violent sneeze would expel evil from their bodies.

Knock on Wood - It was believed that good spirits lived in trees, and that by knocking on anything made from wood, we could call upon these spirits for protection against misfortune.

Fingers Crossed - By making the sign of the Christian faith with our fingers, evil spirits would be prevented from destroying our chances of good fortune.

So there you have it. Of course if you're not superstitious, you have nothing to worry about! ;-) Except for this guy of course:

RUN BILLY!!! hahaha

Well, 4 updates this week!! Look who finally got on the ball!! Have an awesome weekend and hopefully I'll be back on Monday with more Two Minute goodness. ;-) Be safe everyone.

DQ

Thursday Update

 

(When We Last Left You: For almost 20 years now, Warner Bros had tried to get its "Superman" franchise back into theatres. After countless delay's and production problems, it seems that the WB had just about given up. But in Hollywood, you can never say never)

SUPERMAN (FINALLY) RETURNS: PART II

With the success of "Spider-Man" and the "X-Men" movies comic book movies were raking in the cash. Several Hollywood Studios were trying to cash in on the superhero craze. Within a few years there were movies based on comic book characters "The Hulk", "Daredevil", "Hellboy", "Blade" and more. All did good business at the box office and in the case of "Blade" established franchises for their studios. Add to this the fact that Marvel comics was pretty much running wild at the box office and its easy to see why Warner Bros decided to give the Superman project yet antother shot.

At this point however, Warner Bros also decided to resurrect another character from the vault. "Batman 5" was also starting to come together and soon these two films would be competing against each other. After several months of closed door wheeling and dealing it was decided that Batman would release first since it was farther along on the devlopment track and alraedy had its principles cast (Something Superman did not).

Now that he was free of schedule conflicts, McG was once again brought in to try to set this project up. He and screenwriter J.J. Abrams poured over the original draft Abrams had submitted and tried to revamp it to Warner's liking. Gone were the ideas of a "Living" Krypton and the kryptonian Lex Luther. This "new" version of Superman would again explain the origins of the character and stay more closely to its comic book roots.

Once again however the sticking point became just WHO would play Superman. With Warner Bros INSISTING that whoever signed on to play Superman had to commit to 3 films, many of the A-Listers were passing on the project. It became increasinglyclear that whoever wore the blue tights, was going to have be an unknown actor.

McG continued to work on the project but, as the months went on, it became apparent that this movie just wasnt coming together. Abrams script just wasnt meshing well with what McG wanted to do and it again seemed that this project was going to die.

Then in the Summer of 2004, as "Spider-Man 2" is raking in the cash, something huge happened that would finally get the Superman project on the fast track to theatres. Director McG left the project only to be replaced by acclaimed director Bryan Singer of "X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United". Singer for years had wanted to do a Superman movie and seeing his oppurtunity he jumped in and signed almost immediatley. Nevermind the fact that he was already well into pre-production on "X3" for 20th Century Fox!! So while one group of comic book fans mourned the loss of their director, another group cheered the news.

Singer made an impact on day one. He ditched Abrams' script and brought in his own team of writers from the "X-Men" franchise. He had his own vision for what Superman should be: This wasnt going to be an origin story. "Superman V" would actually be set between the events of "Superman II" and "Superman III". An interesting premise to say the least.

Things really went into overdrive then as the next step was casting Superman/Clark Kent. This time around however, talk focused squarely on Tom Welling of TV's "Smallville".

Tom Welling

Welling in the past had shown reluctance in playing the actual SuperMAN character, but he was the fan favorite to play him. He was pretty high on Singer's list also, so much so that he offered the role to him. Welling ultimatley passed on the project and the attention turned again on finding an unknown.

Finally, after what seemed like an enternity, WB had their Superman. Iowa native Brandon Routh:

Ladies and Gentlemen..Superman

 

Routh (ryhmes with "mouth"), who had zero big screen credits was deemed the perfect fit and the fact that he resembled a young Christopher Reeve didnt hurt his chances either. ;-)

On the set as Clark Kent

If Superman was going to be played by a unknown actor, then Warners was going to compensate by filling in the supporting cast with known actors. Super villan Lex Luthor was the next role cast and it went to A-Lister Kevin Spacey.

Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor

 

Long rumored to be in the running, his signing gave the movie some sorely needed star power.

The next role cast would be that of Lois Lane. After much speculation and some name tossing (Some rumored names were Selma Blair, Elisha Cuthbert and Claire Danes) Kate Bosworth landed the role.

Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane

With his 3 prinicples cast in a span of 3 months, Brian Singer had brought the Supeman project farther than any director before him had in 6 years!!

The newly dubbed "Superman Returns" was pegged for a Summer 2006 release and filming started in the Winter of 2005.

Singer's vision for "Superman Returns" was quite an ambitious one. Using unused footage from "Superman II" of Marlon Brando (Jor-El in the original film) Singer will be bridging thegap between this Superman and the Superman from the original films. The movie tells the story of how Superman has disappeared for a long period of time and when he returns to Metropolis he finds that the love of his life (Lois Lane) has moved on with her life and a growing feeling that Metropolis may have been better off without him. The resentment of course being fueld by Lex Luthor, who is determined to destroy the "Man of Steel" once and for all.

Routh as Superman

It sounds like a great story and the teaser trailer released late last year, gave fans hope that their long wait may have been worth it after all.

Bryan Singer is often credited with re-inventing the superhero genre with his "X-Men" films, but will he make us believe in a hero that hasnt been in theatres for almost 20 years?

On June 30th, we'll all "Look up in the sky" and find out ;-)

DQ

One Final Thought: I LOVED the teaser trailer for "Superman Returns" and there was one image in it that totally caught my eye. As you hear Jor-El (Marlon Brando) narrating there's a quick shot of Superman's silohuette against the sun.  This image was so awesome that I felt it wouldve made a much cooler teaser poster than the one that was ultimatley released. Well, using a fan art picture and some messing with MS-Paint I made my own version of the teaser poster. I'll let you decide. The official poster is on the left. My "mockup" is on the right.

Wednesday Update

Its that time again! Time for the drill!!! Instead of talking about current events and what not, I thought I'd share with you the story of one of the biggest upcoming releases of the year. I think you'll find it interesting. If not, then I apologize for wasting your time. ;-) Lets get to it..I call this story:

Superman (Finally) Returns

 

On June 30th, 2006 one of the most beloved superhero's and an icon of Americana will return to the big screen. "Superman Returns" reintroduces the story of "The Man of Steel" to movie goers.

Longtime fans of the character may be saying "ABOUT F'N TIME!!!" ;-) This film has been in development hell for almost 20 years!!! Talk of a "Superman V" started almost immediately after the fourth installment hit theatres back in 1987. However when that film's gross didnt exactly live up to expectations the franchise was shelved.

Flash forward to 1998, when acclaimed director Tim Burton seems to have everything set in place. With a star in Nicolas Cage slated to play Clark Kent/Superman and a script by Kevin Smith it seemed like only a matter of time before Superman would return to the big screen.

Burton's vision for the film would set it after the death of the hero. Dubbed "Superman Lives", it wouldve told the story of how Superman dies and comes back to life to restore order to Metropolis. Production was so far along that costume designs were already being considered for the character

concept drawing for Nicolas Cage's "supersuit"

However when ticket sales for the last Batman movie of the 90's (The horrible Batman & Robin) came in far lower than expected, Warner Bros. started having second thoughts about the whole superhero genre. The Superman project was placed on hold and Burton and co. decided to move on to other things.

We move onto 2002 and with the success of "Spider-Man", Warner Bros. decides its time to dust off the Superman project and get it up and running. This time around director McG of "Charlie's Angels" fame gets his crack at it. McG brings in screenwriter J.J. Abrams to bring Superman into the 21st Century. Casting rumors start flying and the most prevalent name being tossed around is Brendan Fraser of "The Mummy" fame.

Brendan Frasier as Superman? Hmm, wouldnt have been too bad a choice IMO

Things once again looked like they were coming together, but once again something caused the project to stall. This time around it was McG's conflict of schedule as he was already directing Sony's "Charlie's Angels 2" and wouldnt be shooting Superman til after. Warner Bros however wanted Superman in theatres ASAP so they gave McG the boot and brought in Brett Ratner of "Rush Hour" fame.

Ratner started setting things in motion again and even signed Anthony Hopkins to play Jor-El (Superman's brith father). Around this time, J.J. Abrams script hit the net  and the reaction was overwhemingly negative.

Abrams totally revamped the Superman origin and in doing so angered many fans of the character. Abrams later stated that the script was just a first draft and that several of the more "controversial" elements would be taken out. Still, the damage was done and several online petitions were started to get Abrams thrown off the project.

Despite the turmoil, Ratner continued to go forward and was on the verge of hiring his leading man to play Superman, but yet once again Warner Bros halted the project. This time the excuse was that they didnt like the choice that Ratner had made to play Superman (Soap opera actor Matthew Bomer) and wanted Ratner to choose someone else.

 Matthew Bomer was Brett Ratner's choice to play Superman

Warners wanted whichever actor that would be selected to commit to 3 films over a 7 year period. Because of this stipulation, many of the actors who audtioned for the role (The list included Ashton Kutcher, Paul Walker, Josh Hartnet and Jason Behr among others) passed on the movie.

Kutcher, Hartnet and Behr all passed on donning the red cape.

When Ratner saw that his vision for Superman was not going to come to fruiton, he decided to ditch the project as well.

So now we've got no director, no leading man and a script that nobody seems to like. It seemed like Superman was dead again. But just like in the comic books,you cant keep a good hero down..

To Be Continued...

 

Monday Mania

Welcome to the first 2006 edition of the Two Minute Drill. Yeah, I know I said that I would try to update this thing 3 times a week and I didnt update at all last week. I forgot to mention that last week didnt count because it was a short week. ;-) So hopefully starting today the regular updates continue. So lets get to it.

The "New" Dodger Stadium Photo Update

Since its opening in 1962 Dodger Stadium has been known as one of the best places to watch a ballgame. With the San Bernadino Mountains in the backdrop of the outfield to the East and the Downtown L.A. Skyline to the West, it truly is one of the most picturesque places to watch baseball. Over the years, the players on the field have changed, but Dodger Stadium has remained virtually the same. From its rainbow color scheme to its unique outfield pavilions (or bleachers) its architecture is a thing of beauty.

The only knock on the stadium is that it hasnt aged well. What with newer stadiums popping up almost every year, it seemed that sooner or later Dodger Stadium itself would be bulldozed and a new stadium put it its place. When new owners purchased the team in 2004, many thought Dodger Stadium would indeed be destroyed and the Dodgers would have a new home in the not so distant future.

All those fears would put to rest however when owner Frank McCourt made a commitment to restore Dodger Stadium to its former glory. Starting last season with the new scoreboards and Dugout Club seats, the stadium underwent many renovations.

This offseason brings with it more construction and for the first time since the late 80's, new seats and a new color scheme.

The "new" colors are actually a return to the original colors of Dodger Stadium when it first opened. With an array of muted pastel colors, the stadium will indeed look very different this upcoming season. Below are some shots of the ongoing construction.

Goodbye red top deck, hello powder blue.

 

Close up of the top deck seats. Notice the "LA" logo on the side

The new look reserve level.

Close up of the reserve level seats

YES!! Cupholders with every seat!!

As you can see, the stadium will indeed look VERY different this upcoming season. Gone are the red top deck seats replaced with what is being billed as "Blue Heaven" Top Deck Seats. The baseline field boxes will also be radically designed as they will now include a table and additional leg room.

 

Concept art for the new baseline box seats

Being a HUGE Dodgers fan, I for one am excited and anxious to see what the stadium will look like. I'm already anticipating that first glimpse of the stadium as we drive up the hill on Stadium Way. April 5th cant come soon enough!

 

Box Office Report

 

Jay Hernandez in "Hostel"

1)Hostel, $20.1 million: Horror films usually do ok this time of year, because there is little to no competition in the same genre. Funny how any movie that has the name Quentin Tarintino slapped on it will bring out all his fans to see it. Its not even his film really, he's just producing. We'll see if word of mouth keeps this one on top or causes it to sink.

2) The Chronicles of Narnia, $15.4 million: Thats it, I'm not typing out the while name. ;-) Looks like Disney is making up for losing Harry Potter very well. Its taken in $247 million thus far and might even end up outgrossing "Goblet of Fire" if it keeps up its current pace.

3) King Kong, $12.4 million: Some people are still surprised that this film hasnt really taken off yet. Its still doing really well, but most experts believed it would be way past $200 million at this point. As af this writing "Kong" has taken in $192 million. Where it ends up, is anyones guess right now.

4)Fun With Dick and Jane, $12.2 million: Jim Carrey is box office gold when he does comedy. A very funny movie with a good message/story. This film showed that Carrey can still "bring it" when it comes to being a goofball.

5) Cheaper by the Dozen 2, $8.3 million: The unnecessary sequel is actually doing ok. It might even hit $80 million which wouldnt be bad considering it didnt cost that much to make. It'll probably tail off soon.

 

More Stuff

"Scary Movie 4" the next installment of the horror movie parody franchise, will be released on April 14th. This time around it looks like it will parody "The Grudge", "War of the Worlds" and "Saw". Here are the teaser posters

 

                                    

I've also heard that it will include spoofs of "The Village" and various superhero movies. There was talk that there would be FIVE "Scary Movie's" but by all accounts this one could very well be the final one. Of course if it doesREALLY well at the box office then look for the inevitable fifth movie in 2008. ;-)

There's also another movie coming out in the spring that parodies films. From 2 of the 6 writers of the original "Scary Movie" comes "Date Movie".

Romantic Comedies FINALLY get there's. ;-)

This one features Alyson Hannigan as a young woman looking for her true love. It pretty much spoofs nothing but romantic comedies (about time) and the first trailer for it looks promising.

Kobe and the Lakers seem to be surging again.

KOBE!!! ;-)

After missing two games due to suspension, Kobe returned against the 76'ers on Friday night and dropped 48 points on them leading the Lakers to victory. Then for an encore, Kobe smacked the Clippers for 50 points on Saturday as the Lakers evened the "Battle for LA" series @ one a piece. The Clippers, after starting the season red hot, seem to have tailed off as of late. To be fair, they have suffered their share of injuries, so its not as if they are playing at full strength. Both teams now have the same amount of wins, but the Clippers have two fewer losses. If all the Clippers/Lakers games are as exciting as Saturday's game, then its going to be an interesting matchup next time they meet.

Well, that will do it for now. Here's to a good week ahead.

DQ

Send Feedback to twominutedrill8@yahoo.com

All comments are appreciated

Final Update of 2005

Hello everyone and welcome back to the drill. Its gonna be a short one, so lets get to it.

Disneyland Mini Update

More like NANO update. ;-) If you're planning on heading to Disneyland this weekend AT ALL, be prepared for HUGE crowds and lots of out of state Texans. I'm not kidding either. There will be lots of tourists in town for the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game. So be ready for the crunch. New Years Eve is hands down the worst day to goto Disneyland because of the mass of people going to ring in the New Year. Be safe if you and dont expect to go on any rides. I was there last Sunday on Christmas Day and it was every bit as bad as I thought it would be. We arrived @ the parking garage at approx. 830am and the sign outside already had Disneyland listed as being extremely busy. The lines werent too bad that early, well except for one:

Space Mountain

But the rest showed times of 20-30 min. But once 11am hit, it was all over. Everything jumped to 45-90 min or more.

I just hope that once the buzz for the Monsters Inc. ride dies down, the crowds die down also. I cant take another year of a SUPER PACKED Disneyland. ;-)

2005: Where does time go?

Well time flies and this Sunday we'll be ushering in a new year. 2005 was full of so many events. Some highlights

Hurricane Katrina destroyed the gulf coast when it slammed into New Orleans during the Summer.

Pope John Paul II passed away.

Terrorist attacks in London

Michael Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges

The Bush White House continued to come under heavy criticism from all sides concerning the war in Iraq

Free elections were held in Iraq

Los Angeles elected its first Latino Mayor in over 100 years when Antonio Villraigosa was elected in May.

In sports the New England Patriots won their third Super Bowl in four years. The San Antonio Spurs won the NBA title in June. And in baseball the Chicago White Sox expelled their "Black Sox Curse" and won their first World Series title in 86 years.

NHL hockey returned after having its season wiped out in 2004.

Star Wars: Episode III was finally released completing George Lucas' "Star Wars" saga.

Disneyland celebrated its 50th Anniversary in July

The Birth of TomKat (hehe)

Phil Jackson returned to the Lakers

and SOO MUCH MORE.

It was a year full of surprises, heartbreak, tragedies and memories.

2006 is upon us and hopefully it brings with it better times and pleasant surprises.

To you all my readers I wish you a safe and happy New Year. My New Years resolution is to update this blog at least 3 times a week. We'll see how long it lasts!

Til next year

 

DQ

Thursday Best of Update

Welcome back to the drill! Now, you didnt think I would go the rest of the year without putting SOMETHING up did you? So I wanted to do some sort of "Best of" list and the easiest one I could think of was a "Best Movies" list. Now, PLEASE keep in mind, that this is only what I thought were the best movies I SAW. So if there's a movie that you REALLY liked that isnt on this list, I might not have seen it. For example, I didnt see "The Corpse Bride" or "Fantastic Four" or "Cinderella Man". Besides, I might have different taste than you. ;-) 

 So now that the "disclaimer" is out of the way, lets get to it.

 

MY TOP 10 FILMS OF 2005

10)Hitch

Why Its Here: This was 2005's Valentine's Day movie and it was really good. I'm not usually a fan of romantic comedies or "chick flicks" but this one wasnt really either. It had just enough slapstick stuff in it to make it a good stand alone comedy. The fact that I'm able to imitate Kevin James' dance moves from the movie didnt sway my thoughts either. ;-)

9)The Wedding Crashers

Why Its Here: Box office wise, this movie came out of nowhere to gross over $200 million. It's a very well written comedy with great performances by Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.

8)The 40 Year Old Virgin

Why Its Here: The sleeper hit of the summer, this movie had like non-stop laughs the whole way out. You're literally laughing as soon as the movie starts.

7)Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith

Why Its Here: OK, I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan. In fact I hadnt even seen the original movies (With the exception of Episode VI) til earlier this year. But I thought this was a great film. I loved that it pretty much tied up the loose ends of the story and brought it all together so to speak. It probably has the coolest title of the six movies also. ;-)

6) The Legend of Zorro

Why Its Here: This movie was either great or sucked depending on who you talk to. It was the sequel to one of my favorite movies of all time, so if anyone would have a good opinion on it, it would be me. ;-) Seriously, its a good movie. It wasnt as good as the first one, but it was a worthy sequel IMO. I think the fact that waited so long to release it (The original was released in 1998) hurt the movie in the long run.

5)Chicken Little

Why Its Here: Disney's first true animated blockbuster in years! This was a fun little film that I actually saw twice. The second time in 3D which was very well done. I hope they find a way to release both versions on DVD next year. Lots of laughs and a good story put this in my top 5.

4)Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Why Its Here: I'll admit I might have been a bit harsh in my original review for it. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was a great movie, even if it didnt quite capture everything from the book. You have to understand that "Goblet" is my favorite of the six books so far and I had really high hopes for it. Those high expectations may have caused me to give it a lower score than it deserved. I'll watch it again when it comes out on DVD next year.

3)Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Why Its Here: Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka was awesome and he threw himself into the role all the way. Its not as "musically inclined" as the original one, but I liked this version better. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp: Cant go wrong with that combo. ;-)

2) King Kong

Why Its Here: The rare movie that actually lives up to its hype! King Kong was such an awesome movie. The special effects are insane and even if the movie is 3 hrs long, it doesnt feel that way. It isnt doing as well as they thought it would at the box office, but I'm sure business will pick up on it soon.

1)Batman Begins

Why Its Here: Controversial choice I'm sure, but this movie was truly my favorite of the year. The re launching of "the Dark Knight" went over very well with the audiences and the story was great. I'll admit I was a bit skeptical about this one when I first heard about it, but all my fears were laid to rest once I got a chance to see it. There's talk of a sequel, but I'm not sure it would be able to top this one. Warner Bros finally got the Batman character right.

Honorable Mention:Sin City (Wouldve been number 11 on the list), Flight Plan, The Longest Yard, The Amytiville Horror

And of course you cant have a "Best of" list without a "Worst" list. I didnt see that many bad films this year, but if I had to pick ONEtruly bad film it would be this one (Drum roll)

MY PICK FOR WORST MOVIE

Land of the Dead

Why Its Here: Cuz it sucked. nuff said! ;-)No seriously, it was such a pointless movie and the ending even more pointless. Argh, I cant believe I actually paid money to see this one!

DisHonorable Mention: War of the Worlds (Just because of the ending)

Agree with my choices? Disagree? Feel free to comment or drop me a line at my new email address for this twominutedrill8@yahoo.com

Maybe one more update before the end of the year. Til then, thanx for reading.

DQ