A blog listing the movies that I've watched so far during the year (first time viewings only), how I rate the film on a scale of 10 each is below the title in followed by a brief review. All films are linked to IMDB so you can easily get more plot/cast info so I don't have to summarize each movie in the review. UPDATED THE FIRST WEEK OF EACH MONTH.
50. The Five Year Engagement (2012) Rating: 8/10 Review: Caught an advanced screening of this movie and really enjoyed it to bits. This movie strikes the perfect tone between all out comedy and complete melodrama, never getting too saccharine for it's own good. This is one of the few romantic comedies that actually portrays a realistic relationship which is so rarely the case in movies made in the studio system. Highly recommended.
49. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) Rating: 7/10 Review: Good revenge western that has been referenced in tons of movies. Kansas Jayhawkers are briefly mentioned as genocidal maniacs.
48. The Prince and The Showgirl (1957) Rating: 4/10 Review: This is the movie they are shooting in "My Week with Marilyn" and that is the only reason why I put this on, while it's nice to see the sets and a few scenes that were depicted in the contemporary film this movie is dreadfully boring and wouldn't have been of note at all otherwise.
47. Justice League: The New Frontier (2008) Rating: 7/10 Review: Enjoyable animated superheros save the Earth movie, but I didn't enjoy how much of the Green Lantern origin story was crammed into this.
44. Puss In Boots (2011) Rating: 7/10 Review: I was really surprised that I ended up liking this quite a bit, even though there is a little too much dancing, this isn't the crass annoying ride that I was expecting from a movie spun off the Shrek world. Zach Galifianakis practically has the lead role in this.
43. My Week With Marilyn (2011) Rating: 7/10 Review: Michelle Williams really saves this movie with her performance, otherwise this is an average backstage drama with a great cast. Blink and you'll miss Emma Watson, I'm not saying her part should have been bigger but they should have cast a less known actress in the role because it's really distracting to see her used so sparingly.
42. Genius Party (2007) Review: Anime short story compilation film. This was a lot of fun but the last segment was directed by the creator of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, but its about two school kids realtionship together (aka not an action story) and isn't really what I wanted when hearing that his name was attached to do a short film.
41. Battle Angel (1993) Rating:5/10 Review: The only reason I watched this was because for years this was the next project James Cameron was developing a live action adaptation film of, but Avatar moved to the front of his attention and the rest is history. Still hard to imagine what Cameron would do with this but would love to see it, can't really recommend this anime but I've heard the manga that it was adapted from told the story better.
Rating:6/10 Review: Rotoscoped animation is something not really seen at all anymore because of the advent of motion capture but it does produce a unique image at the very least, but there isn't much to the plot of this fantasy piece so the animation takes center stage and kind of suffers because of it. The frame rate on the rotoscoping animation is probably 10/15 frames a second which doesn't make for the most visually pleasing watch. Fun to be aware of this movie existing but probably nothing I'll revisit anytime soon.
Rating:7/10 Review: Even though this movie has a hyper-kinetic pace, it has a nice amnesia plot that unravels nicely. Animation goes by at a mile a minute.
Rating: 7/10 Review: While the story of two teenager lovers separated by long distances resulting in lots of train riding through out isn't a typical anime story that I would care about, but the animation techniques used explode the images off the screen.
37. Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010) Rating: 8/10 Review: This doesn't really have anything to do with the first movie other than the setting of Rio and the story of corruption in the Rio police forces so it's not necessary that you have seen the first movie. Really tough cop movie that easily out classes any American cop film since The Departed.
Rating: 5/10 Review: This movie is a camp classic. The foley work on this movie also is insane, the punch repetition by the main character sounds like he's shooting a machine gun. A good time will be had if you need a good dose of 90's action movie camp.
Rating:5/10 Review: I know this movie is consider a classic for it's style, but honestly I almost nodded off watching it and that's something I never do. Maybe this will need a revisit from me in a few years.
Rating:8/10 Review: Just as amazing as Rene Laloux's previous two efforts. Must see for all animation aficionados. Highly Recommended
33. Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) Rating:4/10 Review: Poorly done rehash of one of the segments from the original Heavy Metal, don't waste your time with this sequel and just watch the original.
32. In Time (2011) Rating:7/10 Review: I enjoyed how well executed the premise was even if a little goofy but ultimately a lot of fun. Timberlake is definitely not the problem with the movie, the problem is that this story is lifted directly from an Ellison short story and no credit was given but plagiarism claims have dogged Andrew Niccol since The Truman Show. There really is a mega-flop type stink that this movie has a reputation for already but it's definitely not that.
31. Underworld Awakening (2012) Rating:5/10 Review: Um, it was less than 90 minutes and has Kate Beckinsale in leather...those are about the only positive things I can really say about it.
30. Rio (2011) Rating:6/10 Review: While this wasn't a bad movie, nothing was really special about it either. A few days after watching I had almost forgotten I had seen this which means nothing stuck with me.
Rating: 8/10 Review: I love Rene Laloux. His previous movie Fantastic Planet is something that must be seen to be believed. Here Laloux returns with a slightly more evolved animation style and the movie is a little easier to follow than Fantastic Planet and I enjoyed it just as much. All Laloux is a must see. Highly Recommended
Rating: 7/10 Review: Anime short story compilation film. My favorite short is one that I had been introduced to through Liqiud Television on early 90's MTV, its called The Running Man about a futuristic racing league. I found it on youtube and posted it above.
26. Mad Dog and Glory (1993) Rating: 6/10 Review: This movie has aged horribly, and has an unintended camp factor to it in that some of the acting is over the top also. It didn't help that during this stage in the late 80's early 90's that every movie seems to have been shot as flat as possible also so its visually uninteresting also. Uma in her early prime on display here.
25. The Rum Diary (2011) Rating: 7/10 Review: While this can't really compare to Fear and Loathing as a movie, I think that probably lies with the source material being less interesting than Fear and Loathing. Still I found this movie enjoyable and it's good to see Johnny still do a passion project like this between blockbusters.
