Watched a whole lot of movies over the holidays, I think my brain is melting! It was nice to get some time off and relax though. Here's some of the stuff I watched:

Cold Mountain: I actually didn't watch this whole movie, just the first 40 minutes, I couldn't stand watching any more than that. I hated this movie. Nothing happened, the characters were so lifeless and uninteresting, it was dreadful. And the people on IMDB gave it a 7.4/10 rating, go figure. The part where people got blowed up real good at the very begining was kinda cool tho.

The Last Samurai: this one was pretty decent, and I'm not a big Tom Cruise fan. The happy ending seemed a little forced tho.

Mystic River: I didn't have very high hopes for this movie, but it was very good, I was pleasantly surprised. I love the way Clint Eastwood directs a film, he seems to have the patience to let the story and characters develop naturally, unlike a lot of other directors that seem afraid any quiet moments will cause the audience to lose interest.

Bad Santa: funniest movie I've seen in a long time. You'll either love this movie or hate it, it's very demented.
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Willie: You know, I think I've turned a corner.
Marcus: Yeah? You fucking petites now?
Willie: No, I'm not talking about that. I beat the shit out of some kids today. But it was for a purpose. It made me feel good about myself. It was like I did something constructive with my life or something, I dunno, like I accomplished something.
Marcus: You need many years of therapy. Many, many, many fuckin' years of therapy.
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LOTR: Return of the King: never saw this when it was in theatres, so watching the extended version on DVD was my first viewing. Very good, great finish to a great trilogy. Apparently, the Saruman sequence was missing from the theatrical release? I don't see how they could do that after watching the EE. How would they explain the where the magical orb came from? Finishing the Saruman story seemed pretty crucial to the whole story, even though they kill him at his fortress rather than having him return to the Shire like in the books. People complained about the multiple endings when this first came out, but it seemed perfectly natural when watching the DVD. Maybe people were getting restless after sitting in a cramped theatre for over three hours.