The Ten Best Reasons To Have Gone To The Movies In 2006 - Page 3

6. Zach Helm's Script for Stranger Than Fiction

From the unscripted to what is, for my money, the most ingenious script of the year. Zach Helm is a playwright whose first crack at a Hollywood script earned him a Golden Globe nomination this year, and ought to be listed among the Oscar nominees for best original screenplay. Granted, it smacks heavily of Charlie Kaufman, but it's also much more relatable than a Kaufman script, less exclusionary, and still manages to be crisp, entertaining, and thought provoking.

7. Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)

The movie's okay. Beyonce looks amazing. The songs are fine. But if not for former American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls wouldn't be worth much ink. Her performance among stars as bright as Beyonce, Eddie Murphy, and Jamie Foxx does more than steal the show. It is the show. After she sails through "Love You I Do," you don't even want to see anyone else in the movie. After she receives an ovation for "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," you forget that there even is anyone else in the movie.

8. "Gonna Fly Now"

I realized watching Rocky Balboa that hearing Bill Conti's classic theme is an experiment like Pavlov's dogs. The dogs would hear a bell and then get food. After a while, Pavlov took away the food, rang the bell, and found that the dogs salivated because they knew what the bell meant.

When the trumpets kick in and Rocky starts punching the speed bag, you sit up in your seat grinning, just like you're trained to do. But that inner joy of rooting for the underdog had been missing from Rocky movies and from Stallone's career for 20 years. Now, Rocky and Sly are both underdogs again and damn it, it feels good to cheer 'em on.

9. Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)

I was not overly impressed with this film either time I saw it. It's very good, but it has restrictions, mostly forced by the genre it inhabits, that keep it from becoming a great film. I did enjoy it more the second time I watched it, however. Why? Because I just watched Will Smith that time.

Article Author: Colin Boyd

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