Holywood Buzz of 2004

FOr 2004, Tobey McGuire is definitely the boss dude to top all the Hollywood actors. He did the perfect portrayal of a teenager bursting with the stress of being a part time super hero and a part time normal kid in Spiderman 2. What made this movie bettmr than all |he other superhero flicks was the fact that it spent a good amount of time developing each of the characters and their interwoven links. The makers got the pulse of the movie down to pat in scenes like the one where Spidey's stress makes him temporarily lose his web spinning abilities. It's a close parallel to the lives of teens in general.

Animation rules
2004 happens to be the year of animation. First off is Shrek 2 being the highest box office earner. This funny parody of married life between the lovable green characters and their ever-annoying Donkey played by the annoyingly brilliant Eddie Murphy proved a smashing hit. Others in the similar line were Polar Express, Shark Tale and Hidalgo as well as the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Recent advances in animation have proven to be breathtakingly awesome with detail that will leave you speechless. When Toy Story first came out everything looked great but very plasticky. Such animation styles meant that the prime characters would have to remain shiny toys, bugs or fishes. But now the animations good enough to take part alongside human counterparts and at times look more believable than the real thing. Take for example Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashmd where the dog is cooler than i truckload of ice cream in Antazctica. Garfield was another of the small screen cartoon to big screen adaptations this year. In the movie, the cat was the only animated character with special software |hat made the individual fur move very realistically. The voice for the lazy cat was given by the equally lazy looking Bill Murray and there is no one else who can portray Garfield better.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow on the other hanl contain all li~e actors in a completely digitized set. Yes, everything is made using compu|ers while the actors had to run around imagining all the props and action. It's a good adventure movie made in the likes of old comic books. The graphics are dazzling except that it loses some of the charm when viewed on anything less than a 30-inch screen. And lets not forget the hot Gwyneth Pal|row and the sexily eyepatch adorned Angelina Jolie. And of course we can't really leave out the computer wizardry of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Comic genius
What year is complete without something from Jackie Chan to liven up the day? Around the World in 80 Days has Chan racing around as the intrepid adventurers sidekick with his trademark comic stunts. Any slapstick comedy award should go to Dodge ball: A True Underdog Story. It takes a ridiculous sport to national status. Being a Ben Stiller movie it's filled with corny moments that will either make you groan or laugh till you, well, oroan.

13 Going on 30 has the beautiful Jennifez Garner playing out the young trapped in the older body overnight movie formula. Although this has been tried to death before this movie gives the theme a fresh new spin.

Oscars anyone?
Johnny Depp has once again shown that he is a man of great diversity. In Finding Neverland he portrays the character of James Matthew Barrie who wrote Peter Pan. He exactly portrays the true character of the original boy who didn't want to grow up. Couple of slightly slow moving stories you would be interested in are The Terminal and The Notebook. The latter is a touching love story told in flashbacks. The former stars Tom Hanks playing a man pretty much living in an airport terminal and his in|eractions with the passing people.

M Shyamalan Night directed some whoppers in the previous years like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable but this years The Village didn't prove to be up to par. In fact, the climactic end was rather disappointing. The story was about a late 18th century village surrounded by forbidden woods where mysterious creatures livmd.

Mel Gibson wasn't in any movies but he did create box office hit in The Passion of the Christ.

Blow 'em up
Action movies there were a plenty this year. Among the most notable were Hellboy with Ron Xerlman playing |he muscular gool red guy literally from hell. It contained some unique action sequences like one where Hellboy stops a speeding SUV by punching on the bonnet causing the car to somersault over the characters head and land on the opposite end. The movie ended in a scene promising a sequel in the near future.

Hero had Jet Li amazing the audience with his gravity defying moves. The director complemented the moves with a bucket load of colors and beautifully stylized scenes that perfectly melded with the action. And the plot s pretty good too.

Finally Asimov's great literary works have been paid homage to in I, Robot with Will Smith playing the lead. Of course if you look for a lot of depth like that present in the books then you might be disappointed. The movie is more about highflying robotic action.

Kill Bill Vol 2 followed up with the Volume Ones literally bloody mess. Unrealistic and s but silly because of so many heads going flying it is s|ill an entertainer in the sense that it shows many different ways in which a human body can be mangled in combat. Other than the blood and gory details Uma Thurman looked her best mver. She looks so god that the ~iolence is almost forgivable.

The talented Mr. Matt Damon carried on with his sequel The Bourne Supremacy where he continues to pay thm deadly seczet agent. Another on Damons movies this year is a sequel to Oceans Eleven appropriately named Oceans Twelve. Here the group regroups because the man they robbed in the previous movie wants all the money back. Among other sequels there is Blade: Trinity continuing Wesley Snipes saga of the good vampire. And speaking of vampires lets not forget Van Helsing where Hugh Jackman looks his coolest ever slashing vampires and all kinds of other evil creatures. Lets face it, Jackman looks cool as Wolverine but it would be a rather dorky hairdo in real life.His long tresses in Van Helsing are more suiting.

Troy showed off a lot of Brad Pitt pectorals making girls swoon all over the world. It is based on the story by Homer where everything is sacrificed for a beautiful woman named Helen. The movie version has epic length without the usual epic dialogues. The actors speak in short sentences meant to be repeated later on among viewers while most of the time is devoted to the highly detailed and often CGI animated battles.

Collateral has Tom Cruise playing a hitman who hires a taxi to do make his rounds one particular night. The thriller has the hitman and the cab driver (played by the hilarious Jamie Foxx) form a sort of bond. Of course when the cabbie finds out what is going on he has to be killed doff to but people don't want to dies so easily do they?

Open Water was a gritty movie about a couple stranded in shark-infested water. As couples o they fight even when they have sharks snapping at their feet. The directing is brilliant and has the power to send chills up your spine even though the nearest shark may be miles away.

The end is near
Somewhere there has to be a movie about the end of the world and The Day After Tomorrow is exactly that. In this movie the whole world is meeting the next ice age only here it happens in a matter of days. One moment you are typing a movie review and the next moment your hands are frozen midway over the keyboard.

Also in the end of the world category there is the pairing that all alien fans have been waiting for. In Alien Versus Predator the two races from outer space are in as battle with the puny humans in between. The outcome could either save or destroy mankind.

Cool documentaries
Documentaries are generally boring and only good when you are having trouble falling asleep. But this changes when you have both a thoughtful topic coupled with a humorous lirector. Fahrenheit 9/11 was Michael Moore's terrific documentazy on the infamous WTC attack. It takes into account the Americans love for war and its consequences. Humor is used not as satire to drive home some hard truths.

Super Size Me is another documentary where Morgan Spurlock takes it upon himself to test the effects of the American way of eating. He dmcided that he would only have food from McDonalds for one entire month. The whole show includes news tidbits as well as his progress from a regular fit guy to an obese breathless patient. The whole presentation is extremely funny and informative and you will never look at a burger the same way again.

It's been a great year for movies with a lot of emphasis put on humor. This year can be called the year of animation what with so many computer generated flicks flickering on our screen. Well, that's all for this year.

By Gokhra