Top Movies of 2011: My Opinion

For what it's worth, here's my list of the top movies I've seen this year. There are a few movies I did not have a chance to see yet that I am sure would make it somewhere in this list, such as Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, Midnight in Paris, Ides of March, Driver, The Artist, and Martha Marcy May Marlene. Nonetheless, I have seen a large swath of the movies released this year and I have noticed that the ones I believed to be the best were nowhere to be found on the lists others have set up (for instance Rotten Tomatoes). In particular, I strongly felt Hugo was an astounding piece of film despite being unanimously panned and dismissed, unlike the popular clunker that the Descendants was and yet unanimously hailed as being the year's strongest.

The movies here are what I felt were some of the best and most worth watching. I had more of a 'take it or leave it' mentality for movies like Contagion and Transformers, and hence are included here.

My choices:

1. Hugo
 A visually stunning movie where Scorsese delivers a doctoral thesis on why film is important and how 3D can be used to tell a story. This is a masterful movie where each character is well rounded and utilized to their full potential. Most under-rated movie of the year.
2. 50/50
 This was an astounding movie in how real and powerful the subject matter of cancer was presented. The performance by Joseph Gordan Levitt was inspiring and the script was strong. Levitt definitely deserves an Oscar nod, if not the prize itself.

3. War Horse
 It begins with a Disney-esque sequence but quickly turns into a Spielberg classic thereafter. This is a movie constructed around several vignettes that approach the subject of war from a few different angles and manages to do so deftly and with great thought. What surprised me the most was that considering I am not someone who cares for animal centric movies, I was moved and attached to the character of the horse by the end of the film.

4. The Muppets
 To be fair, I am a little biased in my opinion of this movie as I was already a fan of this franchise. However, the people that went to see the movie with me were not but quickly became fans thereafter. I loved how witty and original the songs were, how gifted the jokes were, and how the new movie stayed true to the original conception of the Henson Muppets.
5. Young Adult
 This movie stands out from many of the other movies I saw this year for it's unparalleled acting from Charlize Theron and the level of detail that director Jason Reitman brings to the screen. The story is flawless with having a twisted nature that makes you simultaneously sympathize and hate the main character.
6. Crazy Stupid Love
 Hands down the biggest surprise of the year. Going in I thought I would encounter a generic romantic comedy but instead left seeing a well thought out and composed drama. A multitude of well conceived characters both in story and acting are presented. 
7. Money Ball
 The acting is superb and the cinematography is captivating. The love for the game is on center stage and interest in the characters is abound. The movie falters, however, with not presenting enough on the characters themselves and would have done better if the supporting characters were developed more. 
8. Captain America
 It has the thrills as expected with a summer block-buster, but it also had some of the strongest characters to be found in any movie this year. The movie is filled with fun and excitement, which pleased me on a visceral level but also left me surprised with the breadth of story and character. By far the best of the summer block busters.
9. Friends with Benefits
 Reminded me of 300 Days of Summer, but came up short in the story's grandeur and originality. However, I greatly appreciated the refreshingly real substance of this romantic comedy, which is why I draw parallels to it and 300 Days of Summer. 
10. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
  Like Captain America, I came in expected a generic summer blockbuster but left seeing something much more. While falling in the category of sci-fi, this is more of a drama that focuses on the relationship between an ailing father and his son. This is an incredibly bleak movie with strong acting and a surprisingly sophisticated story line. One of the year's dark horses.
11. Arthur Christmas
 Funny and touching. The subject matter is not unique as it features the squabbling relationships within a family, but it is executed very well with numerous well timed laughs to make it perhaps the best animated movie of the year.
12. Harry Potter
 The ending of an epic franchise. By itself, the movie is strong but not excellent. However, in the context of the series this finally acts as a terrific bookend. I left the theater feeling satisfied with how the characters were left but was aggravated how it completely dropped the Deathly Hallows' storyline that the previous two movies had been working towards.
13. Thor
  There is nothing deep or Oscar worthy found in this movie. However, this was one of the most fun movies of the year besides The Muppets. Some of the best casting was featured in this movie, with a story line that had a perfect pace and amount of laughs that filtered through the screaming action sequences. The biggest flaw, however, was that a lot more story could have been told. In particular, this story focuses on the decent and resurrection of Thor, but the story pays hardly any time to showing Thor's decent.
14. Bridesmaids
 While funny, I did not find this movie as hysterical as some. It is obviously a female take on The Hangover, and does so with a considerable amount of originality. One of the better comedies of the year.
15. X-Men: First Class
 Like Thor, X-Men had some of the year's best casting. The acting was outstanding but the film suffered from several slow moments in the story; Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy stole the show.
16. Super 8
I want this movie to be better! The first 4/5 of the movie reminded me of the best Spielberg films but the ending was so damn poor and cliched! The movie opens with an original premise and uses aliens as a foil to understand the relationship between father and son, and the loss of the mother character. Excellent dialogue and acting all around, but with such a weak and generic ending it reminded me of District 9 where again we had an original movie that ended like a generic action flick.
17. Descendants
 I don't get why people love this movie so much. George Clooney is good but he is only playing himself; I do not see a noticeable difference from how he portrayed characters in other movies. The directing is well executed with some terrific cinematography, however the story is segmented with characters being haphazardly dropped and a different storyline being awkwardly jammed in half-way through the movie.

Kevin Smith's Red State

Kevin Smith has gone on tour showcasing his latest movie, Red State. For the tour he personally introduces the movie, sits at the back of the theater to watch alongside the audience, and then performs a Q&A. He admonishes that this is nothing new as movies such as Gone With the Wind were handled in a similar manner, although he is perhaps the only person in my lifetime to have done so.

Red State was not picked up by a movie studio. Instead of selling his movie for very little and having a third party represent it, Smith opted instead to showcase his movie in the same style that he has been providing his stand-up and Smodcast tours for the past 5+ years. At first Smith had toured extensively across the United States, leaving myself and others wondering if he would ever grace his audiences in Canada with the movie. Sure enough, on August 17th 2011 he did just that in the city of Calgary, Alberta.

I follow Kevin Smith's career with a level of regularity that fits somewhere between the obsessed and the curious. I love pretty much all of his movies equally and for that I am easily pleased with anything he produces. Not surprisingly I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It is not a laugh-a-minute movie like Clerks but more akin to Dogma with a little more dry humor and levity. The story revolves around a hard-lined biblical group in the United States that kidnap three teenagers and as a result the FDA are called out to end the situation, ala Waco. The acting is excellent, which is not surprising as Smith bring out the best in his actors. The storyline is for the most part quite original and engaging with some very memorable moments. The only downside I wish to point out is that (and this is not a spoiler) the preacher has a very lengthy sermon that needed to be edited down. At some point during the sermon I believe the audience was beginning to get lost, however, the sermon does add a great element of fear and trepidation for what would come next. A positive note is that this movie feels like an indy art-house flick, with frayed edges and a richness that can be studied and discussed ad nauseum.

Following the movie Smith entertained the audience with over 2 hours of great commentary on everything from what occurred while and following the filming this picture to events in his personal life, along with answering numerous questions from the audience. In the early phase of this tour Smith was sometime accompanied by actors in the movie, but in this case it was solo Smith. It is hard to not like Smith because he is incredibly personable and real. There is not a moment when you feel that he is up there only for the money or that what he is doing is an act. This is a rare quality that is a driving reason as to why Kevin Smith has become so popular over the past two decades. 

I wholeheartedly recomend anyone reading this blog to go see Kevin Smith on his tour or at the least watch his latest movie Red State once it becomes available on DVD sometime later this fall or early winter.

A Theater Revolution Cont.

Here are two suggestions for how to improve movie going experiences. The first is to have theaters reward and encourage respectful behavior. This can be accomplished through creating a rewards program where respectful movie goers obtain a card similar to the Sceneit card. This card is then used to purchase tickets to movie screenings that are advertised as a zero tolerance area for talking and other disruptive behavior. To purchase said tickets you must have this card, and this card can be revoked if it is found that you have abused the policies such as no talking.

The second suggestion is an option if movie theaters show no interest in improving the movie going experience. This is where we rally together to make the change ourselves. Movie theaters rent out their screens for private showings of movies for birthdays and other celebrations. Why not have a celebration of basic movie goer respect? Create on Facebook or Twitter a fan page where people can come together in your community. Every week or month, organize a movie night where a screen is booked for one of the more recent movies. Commit a number of people from your fan pages to seeing this movie where it will be filled with people of a similar mindset. By doing so, you eliminate the disrespectful from your movie watching experience.

A Theater Revolution

I love movies and I love seeing them in the theater. However, I hate the dregs of society that sit next to me in the movies. I am not alone in this feeling. I am sick of those who come to a movie, paying a fair chunk of change to: eat their popcorn like they haven't seen food in days and to eat this food while having mouths gaping: constantly checking their cell phones for that all important message that will alter their state of being (it aint coming because you are not that special -sorry): talking to their friends about their other low-life scum sucking friends: narrating the movie for the well seeing and hearing douche of a friend that sits next to them watching the same God forsaken movie: hopping up and down from their seat to either refill that enormous bucket of lard and starch to sedate their sarlac pit of an appetite: bring their 2 year old to an existential movie about the French Revolution and then wonder loudly why their child is squirming and yelling. Guess what people? I don't want you sitting next to me in a movie theater and neither do a lot of other people!

I encourage those who share these sentiments to become vocal. Call these fuckers out. Feel free to embarrass them and tell them to be quiet or stop being a fucking cancerous nuisance. Leave the theatre for a minute and have a staff member eject them from the theater; chances are you will be rewarded with a free pass to your next movie. Do something to make yourself heard and lets make a stand against the ignorance of the world. Sure I am only referring to movie goers here, but this shit is important to me. A movie theater is supposed to be an escape from the assholes of the world. I pay to experience this escape, not to be trapped for 2 hours with those I am fleeing from.

Next, I encourage movie theaters to embrace these sentiments. I plead with movie theaters to be active in ridding these detestable creatures from their houses of business. Proclaim loudly that you agree with the words above and that you promote such a haven away from the Darwin rejects of our society. If you do this I will come. The numerous masses of those with similar attitudes will also come. The alternative to doing nothing more than the inept status quo of broadcasting brief postings prior to the movie to stop talking, put down the phone, and enjoy the movie will result in those faithful to paying to watch a movie will disappear. We are numerous and we are what make movies successful. We, the many who love to escape through the medium of a movie will dwindle away. We are also a strong and valued source as we see more than one type of movie. We see them all. We go when the economy is thin and we go when the sun is up and the skies are blue. We go no matter what and we thank you for the service you provide, but with an abuse of this service comes a re-evaluation of its worth.

San Diego Comic Con 2010: Episode VIII

Line for Hall H.

Day one of Comic Con began with a bang! Well, not literally. We woke up early and hustled our way out the door, debating on whether to walk or take one of the shuttle busses that the Con provides free of charge (there are multiple busses that pick guests up at a spot near or at their hotel and bring them to the convention center, and then can be picked up again at the convention center to be brought back). We opted for walking as the busses unfortunately do not run all that early, and if you want a good spot in a line you should probably find your own way there. It was a pleasant walk despite it being so early, and it gave us an opportunity to buy a coffee. This is important, as if you are a coffee drinker it is difficult to buy coffee (nonetheless good or cheap coffee) once you are at the convention center. Furthermore, the first few hours of each morning at the Con are spent in a line. You cannot buy food or drinks while in line as most things are still closed, so it is best to pick something up that morning or the night before. Thankfully there is a Starbucks located in the Gaslamp along 5^th Ave, which is the main street you want to walk towards the convention center if you are staying at a hotel in the downtown area.


The line for the Thursday morning was not all that bad. We had heard horror stories of the line ups, especially for the main hall that we were in line for on that morning –Hall H. We soon realized that this was from the previous year’s Twilight panel. As none of the actors from that movie were there in 2010, the line ups were not so bad. It was made that much more pleasant because of the people around us. We befriended a few people standing in line with us and talked to each other over the next few hours. It was great as these people were not only friendly and shared mutual interests, but they had attended Comic Con before and were able to give us advice on what to expect. That is one of the key features of Comic Con; the people standing in line with you tend to be super friendly and will always have sage advice on how to maximize your fun!

Paulie Shore at the
San Diego Comic Con!

As I’ve already said, the line ups were not too bad. As the line began to move we saw Paulie Shore doing an interview for some new talk show. He went around interviewing various people that were waiting in line and as he did so someone farther back in the line started yelling out the names of the movies he’s been in: Biodome! Stepson! Etc etc. Definitely a cool moment.

Inside Hall H.

Once inside Hall H we were struck by the enormity of the room. Hall H holds over 6,500 people. The seats are arranged into large square groupings with even larger screens hung from the ceiling at multiple locations so that no matter where you are seated you can still see the action! Not only do these screens show what is happening on the big stage at the back of the Hall, but they also show the clips and trailers for the movies that the guests are promoting. When first entering the room, a line of people giving out swag bags great you. Make sure to take what they have as many times there are special tickets inserted into random bags (these tickets get you into the events happening throughout the downtown area I had mentioned in the previous post).

We had found ourselves two seats with a decent view, but not exactly close to the stage. Roughly 1/2 way to 1/3 up to the stage was where we sat. This is something to remember: do not fool yourself into thinking you will get prime seats in Hall H. There are thousands of other people thinking the exact same thing! Many of the sections close to the front are also reserved for special attendees and press, making it that much more difficult to obtain prime seats. Despite the fact you may not get a great seat, you will still be able to enjoy the event(s) as the screens will show you everything that is going on up front, not to mention that the guests have mikes. 

Michael Cera dressed up
Captain America.

We decided to stay in Hall H all day as there were just too many great panels happening! We did not leave our seats until the panels had finished at around 5 pm. As a bonus, there are bathrooms and a food /drink vendor in the Hall. It extremely difficult to get back into Hall H once you leave the room, so you have to make that commitment that if you leave, you will probably not get back in since the line up does grow longer throughout the day and that there are many other people like my wife and I who decided to not leave at all! So why didn’t we leave? Well, the panels were amazing and included cast members from: Megamind (Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Jonah Hill), Tron (full cast),  Battle Los Angeles (Aaron Eckhart and Michelle Rodriguez), Salt (Angelina Jolie and Liev Schreiber), RED (Bruce Willis, Helen Mirin (who, as always a class act, walked out wearing a Harvey Pekar shirt, who had just passed away), Mary-Louise Parker, and Karl Urban), J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon discussion (both were there!), The Expendables (Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Randy Couture), and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (full cast including Michael Cera, Kieren Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh (Superman!),  and Jason Schwartzman). OK, so that was an impressive list of names right? Well, as my posts about Comic Con have already been INCREDIBLY LONG, I will not go into detail about these panels, except that everyone listed above and more were there! It was amazing to here the stories of how the movies were made, what the stars thought of the movies, and other side stories they had –Stallone was the best for this. In addition, other stars just randomly showed up, like acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro, Simon Peg, Nick Frost, and more! One final note though, each panel is hosted by an individual that is often of some relation or importance in the entertainment industry or Comic Con. While I did not recognize all of the people hosting the panels, I did recognize that The Expendables panel was hosted by Harr Knowles of aintitcool.com! Aint that cool!

Another quick note about the day in Hall H was that the Tron panel became interactive! The director announced that they still needed some audio for the movie, so on the sayings were shown on the screen in which the audience was supposed to repeat. These sayings (and stomps and claps) were the sound of an audience cheering and jeering were to be used in a race scene from the Tron movie. 


As we left Hall H we were immediately introduced to the blaring sun and throngs of people moving left and right past the building. We decided to look at our maps and figure our what we wanted to do. The downside to attending a panel all day is that there is little else occurring at the convention center specifically, and the main hall floor is already closed. So as we stood there we saw a few guys rushing past us. We quickly realized that Nick Frost was whom the guys were rushing towards! We followed suit and asked for a photograph, and he politely said yes even though the gentlemen escorting him around said he did not have time. It was great, and made even better with just how friendly Nick Frost was! It was a great almost end to the day!

My wife & I with Nick Frost

We left the convention center after our run-in with Nick Frost and sought food in the Gaslamp district. We walked around looking at all the events occurring in the area, and ran into Bill Duke who played Mack in the movie Predator! It was absolutely awesome as I am huge Schwarzenegger fan and this is probably as close as I’ll ever get to meet him, not to mention that Bill Duke’s character was one of my favorites from the movie. Bill Duke, much like Frost, was incredible nice and kind enough to have a photo taken with me. I grinned from ear to ear for the rest of the day!

Me and Bill Duke!

The Town

Recently I was able to view an advanced screening of the new movie, The Town. It is written, directed, and stars Ben Affleck. Affleck plays a bank robber who falls in love with the girl he kidnaps. The story is one of the better of its genre but not exactly the best. The movie is being praised by film critics and to an extent I would have to agree with this. In particular what it does deserve praise for is Blake Lively's performance. Ben Affleck was also very good, however he does have a peculiar trait of jutting out his lower jaw when trying to talk with a Boston accent. Another high note is that the heist sequences are expertly depicted. As 'crime' and 'heist' genres have been portrayed numerous times in film it can be very difficult to produce something truly original. The heist scenes may not be the most original of its genre but they are nonetheless done well.

One of the major flaws in The Town is that the character development is weak. Ben Affleck's character Doug MacRay, is not exactly dynamic nor does he stand up against other memorable movie characters like Nick Moran's character Eddy from Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Despite this, Affleck's character still engages the viewer. He is somewhat likable and is fleshed out to a degree but is done so slowly throughout the movie and with too small of portions. There are numerous other characters in the movie but they are overshadowed by Affleck's character. MacRay's best friend in the movie, James Coughlin (played by Jeremy Renner) is a character who receives a fair amount of screen time. Renner is a decent actor but nothing too remarkable and plays the character of Coughlin flatly and adds nothing noteworthy. Further, the character Coughlin acts solely as a prop to MacRay.

One actor who does add to the movie is Blake Lively, who plays Krista Coughlin (pictured right in a scene from The Town with Ben Affleck). To use the over-used phrase, Lively steals every scene she is in. Each moment she graced us with her appearance I instantly thought of how she will win an Oscar for her performance; mark my words, Lively will win or at least be nominated this year for best supporting actress.


The storyline for The Town is enjoyable. You will not be disappointed watching this movie, but do not expect the best. The movie starts out very strong with MacRay standing apart from his crooked brethren as a kind of smart Boston poet with a penchant for bank robberies and a taste for the ultra-violence. However, somewhere during the movie the story looses this feel. I don't wish to spoil anything about this movie but there are aspects to the story that occur in the beginning of the movie that become lost, forgotten, or wasted later in the movie. Another drawback to the story was that the first half of the movie felt choppy. The scenes felt spliced together and seemed to lack flow. Somewhere during the middle of the movie, however, the storyline began to gel. Perhaps the problem is that the storyline was not willing to focus on just a few characters and elements of the story. Instead, Affleck attempted to include too much in the story while not providing each segment enough of an opportunity to grow. Another factor is that few if any of the characters were allowed to develop and so I the viewer felt disengaged from being invested in what the story meant for the characters.

Visceral action is needed in a movie such as The Town, but it was not provided. In some of the best movies of the 'crime' genre such as Reservoir Dogs, there are characters that act absolutely reprehensible (characters Mr.White and Mr.Orange from Reservoir Dogs pictured at right). I did not see this anywhere in the movie. You need to have a truly bad guy, or the main character who you want to root for perform a deed that makes you cringe at the fact that you do like them; again I think of another movie that did this well, History of Violence. This negative strike also goes for the heist scenes as a whole, which was briefly mentioned at the start of this post. While they are definitely engaging and boasts one of the better car chase scenes I've watched in a while, it was still not enough. They needed to be about 5-10 minutes longer and to have had more drama added to them. I wished that they had added more suspense to the scenes to make you wonder who would make it out.

With all of this being said, The Town still stands as a very enjoyable heist /crime movie that has some incredible acting from Lively. The heist scenes were also well constructed and the car chase was great fun, although these scenes could have been longer. Go see this movie. You will enjoy it, but just don't expect it to be as good as movies such as Reservoir Dogs or Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.

The Expendables

As a child of the 80's, my bread and butter were action movies. I also loved all other genres of film from an early age, but there was something truly fascinating about the movies that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stallone. Movies such as Rambo, Predator, Commando, Cobra, Rocky, and Conan (to name but a few) were some of my favorite movies as a child and continue to be so today. In particular Rambo was an interesting phenomena for it spawned a cartoon and series of toys. The movie was further attractive to me for it told the story of a hardened Vietnam vet, who I saw akin to my own father. These movies (I believe) were also attractive to other children of the 80's for they espoused true heroism. They featured heroes that never faltered and always won when they pursued the right and honorable course of action; such actions commonly centered around defending one's country and woman. The story's protagonists and antagonists were all black and white. There was no questioning the motivations. Such stories are rarely told today, and some of the classics from the 80's are considered today as chauvinistic, weak in plot, redundant, ultra-violent, and etc. Nonetheless, it is for the reasons I outlined above that I am still fond of this genre of movie and why I felt so incredibly drawn to the recently released movie, The Expendables.

(The Expendables panel at the San Diego Comic Con 2010)

The movie, The Expendables, is about a rag tag group of mercenaries. They go into difficult places to perform difficult deeds and get paid quite well for it. The story in the movie is about this group of mercs who get a job to kill the dictator /overthrow the government of a small island. Predictably however, the job is not as straightforward as it seems, but then again the storyline itself is pretty straightforward. The plot is not as interesting as some of the 80's classic action movies and the comedic lines are nowhere near as funny either. Nonetheless, the storyline hearkens back to those classics and it is that nastolgia for this genre that pulls you in. You know it's over the top and corny as all hell but it is still enjoyable because you rarely see this type of movie anymore. Another big factor is the BIG cast the movie has. You absolutely cannot go wrong with a cast that includes: Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Gary Daniels, and Steve Austin. As if that was not enough, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have cameo roles. Sure there are plenty of actors that could have been added (most notably Jean Claude Van Damme), but you can't have everything; as a side note, at the San Diego Comic Con 2010 The Expendables panel, Stallone mentioned how there were plenty of actors that had commitment conflicts or who had personality conflicts!

One of the notable aspects of this cast is that each actor was featured in their own style of action. Jet Li was filmed as Jet Li with his trademark martial arts style, Jason Statham was filmed in his own style with the fast action sequences, and I noticed that Randy Couture used combat moves he is familiar with in the UFC octagons. This was great as it really took advantage of all the actors they had on the screen. However, what the movie did not allow for was giving the audience a chance to know any of the characters or care for them. This is where the plot was obviously thin and that the focal point of the movie was really only to showcase how many friends Stallone has.

One small downside to this movie is the special effects. There is not too much CGI in this movie (thankfully), but when it does appear it does so with no justice to the scene. In one instance the plane that the mercs use is flying at night over the ocean. For some reason it was shown via the usage of CGI and it looks incredibly fake and pulled me out of the movie for a few seconds. The usage of CGI in these few scenes was even more noticeable because it is hardly used. Like the action flicks of the 80's, the majority of the scenes were filmed with real actors kicking but and using real guns that caused real explosions; it was nice.

Overall, if you are reading this and are a fan of those 80's action flicks that I too was of, then you will enjoy this movie on many levels. However, if you are not (like the annoying lady behind me in the theatre), then DO NOT GO. This is also not the greatest movie of its genre but it also offers something that has not been done before, bring together this large cast and do it well. Hopefully they will make a sequel that bring back even more of these 80's action heroes and this time add in a better story.