24. Take Shelter (2011)
Rating: 8/10
Review: I love Michael Shannon and I've been following his career closely since Bug, and while Shannon seems to play a borderline crazy person in all of his roles this one has a more complete picture of his descent to madness than the others. Stick around for the end.
23. Hugo (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: This movie is a lot of fun even though Chloe Moretz seems to have been given direction for a different movie that's more whimsical than Hugo.
22. The Driver (1978)
Rating: 6/10
Review: Completely unrelated to the Ryan Gosling movie that came out last year, this is another Walter Hill flick I caught up on. Gosling and O'Neils main characters are both stoic and feature sparse dialogue, but what really separates the films is style, and the Gosling version has oodles more. Nothing really new here, but still has the 70's style and vibe going for it but it's a lesser movie to the contemporary counterpart.
21. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)
Rating:6/10
Review: This is the third best movie in the Vengeance trilogy, didn't enjoy the build up to the finale as much the other films.
20. The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: David Fincher is hands down my favorite director working in film today, he brings his unique vision to every film that he touches. But I feel like this is the first outing where this movie could have really been done by a cadre of current directors. When I heard this was going to be made I skipped the novel and original film to take this in as entirely its own property, don't get me wrong the story is really good I just had greater expectations. I'm hoping Fincher doesn't get locked in to directing the next two films.
19. The Artist (2011)
Rating: 9.5/10
Review: Growing up I always had an appreciation for Buster Keaton and all silent films because of my parents keen interest in them, so this movie really hit my nostalgia sweet spot. Also having been a big fan of the actor/director's preview two collaborations I felt the two of them grew exponentially with this picture. To really understand and appreciate the movie you have to know a little bit about the history of the silent era to get more out of it.
18. Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: Because of the low budget this movie hasn't aged well at all, but the brutal story still gets the point across but it's let down by the rest of the melodrama that takes over the film. I wouldn't mind seeing a remake of this done because there is plenty of room for improvement. Check this for a really young Stephen Lang (the general from Avatar).
17. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
Rating: 8/10
Review: Great story of kidnapping that spirals out of control, this is just behind Oldboy for me in the Vengeance trilogy.
16. Happy Feet 2 (2011)
Rating: 5/10
Review: So if you have Brad Pitt and Matt Damon add to the cast for this sequel how would you as a screenwriter/casting director have utilized them? Made them microscopic krill that exactly parallel Mumbles journey from the first film and never interact with the main characters? Of COURSE! Why didn't I think of that? Because it's a terrible idea and the movie entirely loses focus once they are introduced, as a fan of the first one I was completely blown away by how lifeless this one seemed in comparison.
15. Streets of Fire (1984)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Another Walter Hill flick but this bit of revisionist nostalgia is a camp classic and still enjoyable today. In her prime Diane Lane is also something to behold, but this goofy movie is well worth it.
14. 48 hrs (1982)
Rating: 6/10
Review: Eddie's first movie has sure seen better days, this hasn't aged very well at all and Nick Nolte doesn't really redeem his bigoted cop character even by the end of the movie. I know we've all caught parts of this being replayed on cable tv, but this movie is a hard R and your not really seeing the movie at all if you've only seen the tv cable edit.
13. I Saw The Devil (2010)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Really enjoyed this revenge film, takes quite a few twists and turns that keeps everything moving at a brisk pace.
12. Southern Comfort (1981)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: Another one of the Walter Hill films i hadn't seen, this movie has a lot of familiar faces that fill up the cast of character actors. Good survival movie, even though it pales to the comparison of Deliverance which the poster name checks.
11. Howl (2010)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Well done animated sequences help give the prose a new life, I definetly got a renewed interest in Ginsberg after watching this.
10. Hard Times (1975)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: Standard street boxer movie, what drew me to this movie was my need to fill out my lack of knowledge of Walter Hill's movies.
09. Tinker, Tailer, Solider, Spy (2011)
Rating: 8/10
Review: Expertly crafted but I feel like the majority of people viewing this will be put off with the pacing of the movie, which is at a crawl the majority of the time so we can keep up to pace with the different agents and agencies that are at play here. Give it time and due attention and it's going to pay off for you.
08. Due Date (2010)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: For some reason I had skipped this one when it came out initially even though I'm a big Zach fan and wanted to see this duo's on screen chemistry. This movie is a good mainstream distraction that achieves a modicum of success but isn't anything revelatory that hasn't been seen before.
07. The Future (2011)
Rating: 5/10
Review: Being a fan of Miranda July's previous film I waited intensely for the years long hiatus to end and what I ended up with was this, while there are a few good ideas here and there it doesn't really tie together nearly as well as her previous film.
06. The Beaver (2011)
Rating: 8/10
Review: This is a love it or hate it type movie I have found out. I was able to greatly sympathize with the characters because of events in my own life that mirrored some of theirs and I didn't feel like this movie was put together haphazardly at all but rather very well thought out. I still don't like Mel Gibson as a person but his on screen portrayal in this movie shined through for me and I was able to exist solely in the world of this film.
05. The Adventures of Tin Tin (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: With this movie Spielberg has shown that he can still direct an Indiana Jones like adventure if he has a good screenplay under him that wasn't tainted by George Lucas. With each motion capture movie they seem to make leaps and bounds in the animation and this movie is definitely the best of any of the motion capture animated movies so far.
04. The Skin I Live In (2011)
Rating: 9/10
Review: Highly recommended viewing, Almodovar doesn't do horror movies but this is as close as he has ever gone with it. Not a typical Almodovar and that's a very good thing.
03. Warrior (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: I typically don't get into a lot of sports movies but this has Tom Hardy in it so that alone for me was worth the price of admission. I ended up enjoying this feel good film quite a bit but it felt a bit overlong with 20mins needing to be removed but it doesn't take that much away from the film.
02. Crazy Stupid Love (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: I went into this with pretty low expectations because I loath most rom-com material, but this movie really elevates itself above the rest with a well written script where for once in a rom-com we can understand the motivations of each character. And while the trailers may sell this as a Ryan Gosling movie, Carrell is the main character.
01. The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
Rating: 8/10
Review: Really enjoyed this slow burning tale of love and revenge. The pacing is very deliberate but have faith because it all wraps up nicely.
