The Top 10 Movies of 2012

So last month, the Turkeys of 2012 were announced, and quickly forgotten about.  Now it's time to celebrate the movies that made a lasting impression in our house.  The criteria is always subject to confusion and bribery, but for the most part, the movies on my "Best of" lists are movies I own, hope to own in the future, wouldn't mind owning, or would be willing to watch again.

So without further adieu, let's get this party started!


10) Puss in Boots ~ The first of 2 animated features on this countdown, here comes a prequel to the Shrek franchise that concentrates on the exploits of Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) before he comes to know everyone's favorite ogre.  It's a fun action tale that is enjoyable for the whole family. 

9) Courageous ~ Oh no... not a Christian film!  Yep, suck it. : )  You have to give these guys credit, each film seems to be better than the previous one.  You can skip it because you're afraid of religion or whatever, but the budget, production values, acting, writing, etc. are now rivaling that which you see from the big studios.  I applaud their efforts, and really enjoyed this take on the life of some small town cops with big world problems.

8) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows ~ The role that Robert Downey Jr. was born to play...when Iron Man or the Avengers aren't being filmed.  Sure, it takes liberties with the books, but so what?  It's entertaining!  That's what we go to the movies for, and that's what they are doing with the franchise.  This one felt more intriguing than the first go-round, so I'm hoping there will be a third installment.

7) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ~ This is a rare exception that the movie was so good, but I don't know that I would want to own it or watch it again.  If it was on, I certainly wouldn't actively attempt to change the channel.  The story was wonderful, the acting was spot-on.  Plus, it was, I believe, the 2nd most read review on this page.  Pretty impressive, but nothing topped Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  You guys are awesome in what you want to read! : )

6) The Help ~ Here's another film that while I wouldn't go out of my way to buy the movie, I have watched parts of it several times on cable on a slow day at home.  It's funny, poignant, and honest in the emotions of a society that is still more prevalent today than anyone is probably comfortable admitting.  Plus, they serve up the 2nd grossest meal ever served in a mainstream drama, behind the bbq from Fried Green Tomatoes.

5) Lockout ~ Nice to see Guy Pearce as a good guy in an action flick.  It's a crisply executed, well-paced, funny action yarn where Pearce is a government agent sent to a space prison to rescue the President's daughter from rioting lunatics.  Much fun is had by all involved as Pearce attempts to clear his name while saving the girl's life.

4) Tucker & Dale vs Evil ~ I saw this one in January of last year, and it has weathered the storm of nearly all-comers to remain on the Top 10.  If you want to see a horror-comedy that gives an endearing wink, smile and hug to the horror genre, then look no further.  It's scary without being gruesome.  It's funny without being stupid.  And it has the greatest chainsaw scene in the history of cinema as well.    Streaming on Netflix!

3) Arthur Christmas ~ The 2nd animated flick is a delightful British tale of Santa's family and how they take care of Christmas.  Arthur is Santa's youngest son, and a bit of a screw-up.  When he discovers that one child was left behind, he defies his older brother and attempts to get that gift under the tree before daybreak.  Sweet and charming.  And a new holiday staple in our household.

2) The Amazing Spider-Man ~ Going into this film, I didn't think the movie had to reboot.  I was happy enough that Spidey had been recast, but so be it.  It blew me away and made me realize that THIS is the way the Spider-franchise should be.  Sadly, that means that Spidey won't be reverting to Marvel Studios anytime soon, but at least it appears to be in good hands.  This would have been the # 1 movie of the year for me if not for...

1) The Avengers ~ 'Nuff Said!

: )

My childhood dream of seeing them on the big screen was fulfilled. 
It was the first time I'd gone to a theater on opening weekend in a decade.

Yes, it was the best movie of the year... by a mile!


Looking forward to what treasures await me in 2013!!!


Happy New Year everyone!!!!

I Wish I Could Un-Remember This Remake..."Total Recall"

The remake that YOU demanded!

You didn't?

Well, someone did, and this is what we have to show for it.


The Story:

A troubled worker (Colin Farrell) has been having some bad dreams.  He tells his wife (Kate Beckinsale) about them, then goes about his dreary routine with his best friend.  But he wants something more.  So he decides to go to a place and have some memories implanted into him about being a secret agent.  Only it turns out...he already is one!

Dun Dun Dun!

To their credit, the makers of this version abandoned Mars and said "hey, the concept behind Total Recall is kinda cool, what can we do to make a similar story, but still be different."

And with that, they succeeded, and actually succeeded quite well.  The story they wanted to tell is actually kind of interesting.

In execution however...

There is something that just isn't there.

Could it be Quaid/Hauser's insistence on "I need something more...my life sucks...if only I were a secret agent..." ? Talk about laying the exposition on thick.

Maybe it's Beckinsale's turn as an unstoppable killing machine...except she's not a machine, and not really very good at killing her intended target.

Perhaps it's Jessica Biel who seems too soft of a character to be a higher up in the resistance.

Maybe it's just the lack of Ah-Nuhld?

Hard to say, but while the original Total Recall is not a cinematic masterpiece, it's pretty decent cheese that actually has aged well and still is as compelling as ever.

Again, the storyline is good and solid.

But everytime the remake takes a step forward, it takes two steps back.

Why the insistence on the same names?  I found myself trying to remember who played that character in the original film instead of investing in these new characters.

Why did they insist on keeping some things from the original and jettisoning others?

Really, was the lady with the 3 boobs (makes sense on Mars...less so on Earth) really necessary?  Of course, with today's generation, I remember when the film came out and either the studio or the actress had to go on social media and say "no, that's not real, it's special effects".

Duh.

We're getting stupider by the generation, and remakes like this aren't helping.

Any goodwill I tried to maintain with this film went out the window at the end when the line "Consider that a divorce" was NOT used.


I can't, in good faith, recommend seeing it.  Just watch the original again and have a blast.

Ghosts of Christmas Movies Past: "Gremlins"

This movie is nearly 30 years old... how's that for some perspective on how old you are?


The story:

A man gets a cute little critter for his son for Christmas.  There are 3 simple rules to follow: They don't like bright lights...in fact, sunlight will kill them.  Don't get them wet.  And Don't feed them after midnight.

Naturally, in the span of about 48 hours, all those rules will be broken...

Was there ever a cuter onscreen critter than Gizmo?  I'm hard pressed to think of one.  He's still as adorable today as he was back in 1984.

So I've used the notion of not feeding my kids after midnight for years.  Here's the movie that naturally instilled that idea in my head.  The older kids had seen it sometime in the last decade, but the youngest had never seen the film...

Until now.

Netflix provided last night's entertainment, and it was a fun trip down memory lane.  It's no holiday classic that would need to be screened every year for Christmas like Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, and Die Hard...

But there are worse Christmas movies out there.

For those that haven't seen it (ever, or in a long time), water causes the Gremlins to multiply, and food causes them to change into the green monsters that terrorize the town.  The movie actually clips right along with a good pace, only dragging when the gremlins are in the bar in an excessively long scene to show off how many crazy gremlin characters they could animate.

Between that and the long theater sequence, the movie gets drug along just a hair much, but the rest of the movie keeps the plot/pace moving along nicely.

Perhaps we'll spin it again around the 40th anniversary so the little one can figure out why she can't be fed after midnight?

Poe Drank HImself To Death..."The Raven"

Odds of a sequel...

Unlikely.


The Story:

It's the true story...... of the last few days of Edgar Allen Poe (John Cusack).  It seems that a serial killer is running through the streets of Baltimore killing folks, using means and methods as laid out in the macabre works of Poe.  So the police naturally seek out Edgar for two reasons: 1) to rule out that he is the prime suspect and 2) to help him figure out who the killer might be or where he would strike next.  Things naturally get personal when the killer takes Poe's beloved captive and plans to make her one of the victims.

Ooo!

So much promise... such an interesting premise...

And yet, unlike Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter... the movie never really draws you in.  Okay, it didn't draw me in.  It was simply on.

Cusack is spot on with his Poe rendition, but he's hardly the sympathetic character that you need in the film.  Nobody likes Poe, and when you are an unlikable character, it doesn't mesh well with the audience taking a rooting interest in the story.

It's hard to put my finger on it, where did it go wrong?  Maybe it tries too hard to be scary, yet doesn't want to be a horror movie, it wants to be a period piece drama.  Maybe it needed a tighter script?  I'm not sure.

In the end, I applaud the idea behind the film, just can't say the finished product did much for me, which is a shame because I really enjoy Cusack and wish he could find some movies which could bring him to the forefront ala Robert Downey Jr. or Johnny Depp.


Spin at your own risk.

Worth watching again?

Nevermore!

Christmas with the Bayside Alumni: The 12 Dates of Christmas

Yesterday we caught up with A.C. Slater, tonight we take a look at what Zack's been up to since graduation...

: )

The Story:

Kate(Amy Smart) is set up on a blind date with Miles (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) on Christmas Eve.  Due to an accident at the mall, every night at midnight, Kate ends up reliving the part of her day directly after he mall accident.  Will she figure out the meaning of Christmas, or is she doomed to repeat Christmas Eve... forever?

Another sweet romantic comedy from ABC Family to the holiday rescue. 

If the plot sounds familiar, it should.  It's like Groundhog Day, only set at Christmas. 

As Kate spends each day trying to figure out what it is that will trigger her life to return to normal, she learns a few things along the way about others, and about herself.

I quite enjoyed this one, and look forward to adding it to the annual festival of Christmas movies.

If you haven't seen it before, or in awhile, check ABC Family for air dates, or head to Netflix where it is streaming as of this writing.

Christmas with the Bayside Alumni: Holiday in Handcuffs

Thank you ABC Family for continuing to attempt to make new holiday movies every year to enjoy the holiday season.

The Story:

A waitress (Melissa Joan Hart) is getting ready to head to her family's house for Christmas with her boyfriend when he dumps her.  Outraged, despondent and desperate, she does the only logical thing she can think of:  She kidnaps the first guy she sees sitting in the restaurant (Mario Lopez).  She needs him to pretend to be her fiance' for the weekend.

And you can connect the dots of where it goes from there.

And you would be correct.

That said, you should still have a decent time watching the film.  It's silly and fluffy, but just the sort of romantic holiday comedy that the whole family can gather around and enjoy.  A nice change of pace from the Christmas Classics.

Melissa Joan Hart is spunky enough as the lead.  Growing up from her Sabrina TV roots, though I have to admit this is the first of two movies with a similar premise, so I have now officially categorized as the actress most likely to star in a movie about fake romances that turn real. : )

Then, we catch up with A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez!) A decade plus removed from Bayside, he still is the youthful charmer that all the girls swooned over in the Saved by the Bell tapings.  Look at the picture...aside from the hair, the dude hasn't changed a bit.

If you haven't seen it, you should be able to catch it on ABC Family during the 25 Days of Christmas, or it is also streaming as of this writing on Netflix.

Tomorrow, we'll see what Zack Morris has been up to!

These Brownies are Delicious... "High School"

Next to Sam Rockwell's amusingly menacing drug dealer from The Sitter, he is topped by Adrien Brody in High School.


The Story:

A high school valedictorian depending on a scholarship to go to college makes one mistake after having a bad day, and winds up getting a little high.  Turning to his former friend and campus weed fiend, they attempt to elude the mandatory drug test for all students the next day by baking some weed brownies, and getting the entire student body high, thus voiding the test results.

The problem is, how do they get that much product from Adrien Brody's stash without paying him for it?

This movie is filled with kid actors I didn't recognize, but they did a good job.  Brody, Colin Hanks and Michael Chiklis are all onboard in bit parts, but Brody steals the show as the crazed drug dealer who the kids rob, and then have to avoid paying him back when he finds out who got his stuff.

Nothing you haven't seen before in a million Cheech & Chong movies, but still an amusing 90 minutes of wasted time.

Wasted...

Get it?

: )

A Night on the Town With... "The Sitter"

Would you want this man to watch your kids?


The story:

Noah, a college-aged slacker is sitting at home while his divorced mom is set to go on a date.  Unfortunately, plans go awry and she will be forced to cancel her plans at happiness unless she could find someone willing to babysit some children.  Cue the son feeling bad, and opting to do it, even though he's a guy, and guys don't do that.  The kids are dysfunctional, at best, but hey, so's the sitter.  Naturally, Noah gets a booty-call from his girlfriend asking him to come to a party, and don't forget to bring the coke...

So, what would you do?


Naturally, Noah is taking these little hellions with him on the ride and night of their lives.  There will be explosions, gunshots, and an odd assortment of characters, most notably Sam Rockwell as the world's nicest drug dealer, that fill out the movie.

Noah, of course, is played by Jonah Hill.  Jonah is not your typical Hollywood leading man, and all the more awesome that he's making it work.  If he doesn't write his own material, he has the same routine that he's done for most of his slacker-roles in movies, and it works, and I laugh everytime.  They guy is funny.

Here's my problem with the movie...

They started off so crudely to make sure YOU KNOW THIS FILM IS RATED R!!!!

This could have been this generations' "Adventures in Babysitting".  A cult-classic that kids "that age" went to see, and had a blast with it.  There is a lot of humor and heart in this movie that could have easily been tailored to fit a PG-13 set-up, which really, that's what this film could have been.

It could have been huge for families to see and laugh along with.

Instead, they went the easy route, made it an R-rated raunchfest, and much of the soul of the movie gets lost in the translation.

It was nice to see the kids connect with the sitter as the night went on, and the movie would have worked so much better if they had just decided to tone it down a bit and let the message come through.

Amusing film... disappointed because it could have been much bigger/better in the overall scheme of things.

Worth a look, but otherwise, just a 3 out of 5.

For the Love of Cruise..."Rock of Ages" ???

Aha... so it's a Broadway musical that they turned into a movie...

The Story:

A girl comes to L.A. to become a singer.  She falls in love... people murder great 80s songs in the process....


20 Minute Rule Invoked:


This movie sucked and was yanked out sometime around the 20 minute mark.  Needless to say, this is on the fast track of Turkey of the Year for 2013.

To me, a musical should be like the classics... or even "Grease" where there is a lot of story... big musical number... a lot more story...


This was Song...teeny story...song..teeny story...song/song mashup..teeny story...

Utter crap.

Waste of a great cast too.


2 thumbs, way down.

"Hope Springs" Eternal... Or Does It?

How do you put the pep back in your step after 31 years of marriage?

The Story:

A married couple, Kay and Frank (Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones) have been married for 31 years.  Their life is...very routine.  Kay (not Tommy Lee Jones...causing MiB confusion) isn't all that happy though.  So she makes plans to go see a couples therapist (Steve Carrell) in the very distant city of Hope Springs to see if they can recapture the spark, or if the marriage is actually over.


Okay, at some point I need to acknowledge that I am not the biggest fan of Meryl Streep.  She's a good actress, but I would have to say she is easily the most overrated actress in the history of cinema (modern).  Give the roles to someone else, I bet they could do a good job too....

That said, she won me over here with her performance of a wife who is in love with the idea of being in love with her husband.

Conversely, Tommy Lee Jones is perhaps the most underrated actor in the history of cinema (all time) and he simply owns any and all parts he has ever inhabited.  Even movies I haven't fully enjoyed often are salvaged by his appearance... thinking No Country for Old Men or something like that.

Finally, the third actor in essentially a 3 person movie (all other characters are superfluous and irrelevant in the overall scheme of things..) is Steve Carell.  I've yet to figure out where he fits on the actor scale, but let's just say that his dramatic, ie: not zany, turns do not go unnoticed nor unappreciated.

You will believe he is a marriage therapist.

But essentially this is a story about love, and how that can be taken for granted and slowly erode into an auto-pilot functioning if you're not careful.

Seriously, watch the choreography between Kay and Frank just in the morning kitchen scenes at home and imagine that this has been happening for 30 years... you can FEEL it!

3.5 out of 5 stars!

He Doesn't Burst Into Song or Dance... That Makes Us "The Lucky One"!

Today's movie is one of those Nicholas Sparks romantic dramas that make the ladies swoon, the guys they are married to seem inferior, but we get bonus points for watching the movie with them.  Of course, for every Notebook which kicks you in the gut with how great a film it is, and makes you cry like a baby at the ending...

What?

My man card says crying at the end of the Notebook is totally justified.

Anyway, for every Notebook, there is a litany of films that aim for the stars, but barely get off the ground.


The Story:

A Marine (Zac Efron) finds a picture in a combat zone, and it literally saves his life.  When he gets out of the Marine Corps, he decides to find the woman in the picture who he feels he owes a debt of gratitude.  Naturally, before he can fully explain, things happen, and he never really gets around to telling her the whole truth.  Sparks fly...

You can see where this is going, right?

So no, it's no Notebook.  But, it's also not a bad film.  Way more entertaining that it probably has any right to be, and much better than, say, Dear John was.

So Zac Efron works really hard to play a "man" instead of a teenager.  With his looks, he'll have to wait probably another decade to pull it off completely, but for the most part, he does a good job with his role.

You can connect the dots to the story long before the characters do, and amazingly the conflict between our hero and villain does not play out like I was expecting, so I'll have to give the film a thumbs up for daring to be different and avoiding the obvious.

Worth a viewing, and one that could be good background noise in the future, but I won't be adding it to the library.  However if you have a need to watch a romantic drama, this could definitely score you some brownie points for the evening.

And that's always a good thing.

: )

One of the Best Movies I Don't Own.... "Holes"

This was a movie back when Shia LaBeouf was cool...  Oh wait, he's never been cool... but perhaps before everyone noticed how lame he was.

: )

The plot:

A boy is sent to a juvenile detention facility for stealing some shoes.  At the facility, the boys spend all day digging holes in the dirt.  You see, they are looking for a buried treasure that just has to be out there somewhere...


Yes, there is more to the movie than that, but to say much more would spoil it.

Based on the novel by Louis Sachar, and adapted for the screen by him, this is a movie that you've likely never seen unless you have pre-teens/teens.

That said, you're missing out on one fun movie that is tightly scripted and wonderfully acted by all involved including Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Henry Winkler and Dule Hill.

Whaaaaaaaaat?!

The story takes place both in the now, and with flashbacks to explain the buried treasure and how the characters all intersect with one another's lives.

It's an engaging tale and one I heartily recommend, especially if you've now got teens/pre-teens that weren't around 10 years ago when the movie came out.

They'll probably get a kick out of it...

And you might too!

The Third Time's a Charmer... "Men in Black 3"

Proof that sometimes you can go home again...

The Plot:

A dangerous alien breaks out of prison, goes back in time, and kills Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), thus changing the future.  Only his partner, J (Will Smith) seems to remember the way things were supposed to be.  That leads him to time jump back to 1969 to save his partner (Josh Brolin)...oh yeah, and the entire world!

Some franchises churn out films to cash in on their name brand.  Some wait, and present films that help remind us of why we fell in love with the original movie in the first place.  If you had any misgivings on seeing the 3rd film because the 2nd film didn't live up to the original Men in Black, set those apprehensions aside.

This third entry into the series is worth a viewing, and you'll likely enjoy it enough to add it to your DVD library.

For the most part Tommy Lee Jones is not in the movie.  But Agent K is never for one moment NOT reminding you of Jones.  Brolin does a dead on channeling of Jones' Agent K, it's impressive.  He has the instant rapport and chemistry with Will Smith that this movie just unfolds as a nice trip down memory lane.

The movie spends a majority of time, back in time.  That allows for Will Smith to again play the fish out of water that worked so well for the first time.  Yeah, this time he knows all about aliens, but the 60s?  That's a whole different animal.

Not sure that we'll ever see a 4th Men in Black movie.  But that's okay.  This brings a nice closure to the series, and goes out with a bang, not a whimper for the franchise.


One of the best films of the year, that got overshadowed in a busy summer at the box office.  If you enjoyed the first movie, you should enjoy this one as well.