It's the New Year, and I'm going to clean a few shelves.

Happy 2,000-Men!
I've got resolutions percolating, but I want to blog, and as tradition dictates, the beginning of the year should include a bit, of, er, cleaning. Over the course of the last three months or so I've accrued a hefty list of films I've seen and planned to write about, but never got around to for one reason or another.

Thus, to empty my larders as the New Year crashes down upon us, I propose a new tradition: emptying the filmic vaults of my mind. Nothing long, hell nothing over a few sentences. Just a good solid power washing of my celluloid choked brain pan.

Hope the champagne was cheap, and your headache was cheaper.

Lets dust the corners:

Paper Heart (dir. Nicholas Jasenovac; feat. Charlyne Yi, Michael Cera)

Charlyne Yi is a shockingly unmotivating lead, a female Michael Cera. Oh wait, he's in it too.

I Am Waiting (dir. Koreyoshi Kurahara; feat. Yujiro Ishihara)

I was told hyper-violent, instead I was just very tired. Criterion-related but cursed with the boring tone of the obscurely Japanese.

Beautiful Losers (dir. Aaron Rose, Joshua Leonard)

Amazing documentary about the sort of street art-scene that was fostered in the depths of New York and Los Angelese in the early 90s. Filled up a few pages of sketch book with all the inspiration this one shot through me.

Away We Go (dir. Sam Mendes; feat. Maya Rudolph, Jon Krasinski)

Second time round, same as the first. A great two thirds, followed by a klunker of a third act. Someone referred to this film as "the film about Noah and Alex." I'll take that as a compliment.

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince (dir. David Yates; feat. Children)

My second dance with the sixth film in this increasingly enjoyable series. Probably going to squish itself on to my tops of the year list. Dumbledore manages to invoke chills and tears.

Good Hair (dir. Jeff Stillson)

The best damn documentary about African-American hair I've ever seen. Seriously though, this movie has a subversively sad streak a mile wide. Don't expect "creamy crack" joke and "creamy crack" jokes alone.

Bruno (dir. Larry Charles; feat. Sasha Baron Cohen)

Offensive and enraging, but not in the subtly genius way of Borat. Made me laugh, but I faded near the end.

12 Monkeys (dir. Terry Gilliam; feat. Bruce Willis, Madeline Stowe)

Creepy, original, downright brilliant if you ask me. I ask you this though, "Oh where oh where did the real Terry Gilliam go?"

Audition (dir. Takashi Miike; feat. Ryo Ishibashi)

You know, I thought the first three-fourths of this film were so much stronger than the gore-soaked finale. It's like you build a house of suspense and then just kick the damn thing over. Still, seeing one's foot cut off by a leather clad beauty is always a bit shocking.

Sherlock Holmes (dir. Guy Ritchie; feat. Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law)

Hmmmmm ... so much better than it could've been. But aside from Downey and Law I found the film decidedly, "meh." Rachel McAdams took a big fat step backwards with this film. Sadly, I still saw it twice in the theater.

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I'm forgetting just a ton of movies here, but I'm sure I can knock a few loose from my brain prison when Alex gets home. Or they'll just slip in to oblivion like so much else that enters my ear holes.