Rating: 7/10
Review: Extremely young Leo DiCaprio goes toe to toe with Robert De Niro in this family drama. De Niro actually stepped with this one and I really was intrigued by his evolving portrayal of his unraveling family dictatorial-ship.
186. Only Yesterday (1991)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Studio Ghibli backlog. Another dramatic anime that didn't bore me to tears like maybe a live action telling of the same story might have. Studio Ghibli really knows how to handle this type of picture well.
185. The Professionals (1966)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Charming "assemble the gang for one last score" western. Pacing isn't an issue with this movie but I really didn't like the ending on this film.
184. From On Poppy Hill (2011)
Rating: 7.5/10
Review: Studio Ghibli backlog. A case for anime to not just be known for action films is this one, which is just a simple story of school mates who grow fond of each other but told through the Ghibli Studio eyepiece.
183. The Lorax (2012)
Rating: 7/10
Review: I didn't mind that there were several musical songs spread throughout the movie, overall this stays true to the book's message and I enjoyed this whimsical take on it.
182. The Amazing Spiderman (2012)
Rating: 7/10
Review: I've been on the Andrew Garfield bandwagon since "Never Let Me Go" and "The Social Network" and he definitely delivers a convincing Spidey. Now there are about three times throughout the movie where is pretty much the same beat for beat as the first Rami/McGuire Spider-man and it was a detraction to the movie that otherwise is completely it's own and I enjoyed more than the first Spider-man. Emma Stone also is already a more compelling character than Spidey's love interest in the entire original Spider-man Trilogy
181. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: I watched the first two films of the trilogy back to back the night before going to see this one, and I'm glad I did because this references quite a bit of story from Batman Begins which I hadn't seen since initial theatrical release. But overall this film doesn't really compare well when put next to the previous two installments and is a bit of let down from Nolan after coming off of Inception. But overall I didn't think this was a bad movie just more average than I was expecting and I had avoided all media / trailers for this so I didn't have really any idea what the movie was going to be heading into the film.
180. The Rain People (1969)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: Francis Ford Coppola's first feature and they only thing he had directed before being hand the monumental task of shooting The Godfather. While the performances in the movie are decent, the portrayal of James Caan as a special needs person is as dated like a TV movie of the week from the time.
179. Cormans World (2011)
Rating: 8/10
Review: Engrossing documentary on the career of Roger Corman who I know quite a bit about before hand but this still had new information that I gathered from the viewing. Really great job of tracking down all the talent that he worked with in the past that became big names, like Jack Nicholson who surprisingly is in quite a bit of this being extremely candid.
178. Casa De Mi Padre (2012)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Yes, Will Ferrel does speak Spanish through the entire film and it's just as ridiculous as you would expect from just knowing that. But this is a really good parody of Spanish language telenovelas and things of the like that I see only when I'm at the laundry mat, and some people might not get that take of the material.
177. The Raven (2012)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Even though this movie has John Cusack he is actually watchable in this more so than he has been since Hot Tub Time Machine or anythine else recently. I'm somewhat biased because as a kid I was always fascinated with the life of Edgar Allan Poe and I like how this "what-if" scenario played with the relevant facts.
176. Return to Oz (1985)
Rating: 5.5/10
Review: Really crazy movie that I'm sure is more faithful to the book than the Wizard of Oz but this movie is just extremely boring also. I watched this back to back with the Wizard of Oz after seeing the trailer for the new James Franco top billed Wizard of Oz movie.
175. Hell is for Heroes (1962)
Rating: 7.5/10
Review: Even though WW2 movies are kind of a done that genre these days I still enjoy the small scale stories of the war. Through this movie we just focus on a half dozen or so soldiers so we spend enough time with them to get invested in there personalities enough that they aren't just cannon fodder when the fighting starts. I was surprised how much I ended up enjoying this Steve McQueen starring vehicle.
174. Klute (1971)
Rating: 6/10
Review: David Fincher referenced this movie for the look he wanted to have shooting Se7en so I had wanted to check this out for awhile and Gordon Willis style definitely lifts this otherwise average movie into a compelling watch.
173. Existenz (1999)
Rating: 7/10
Review: While in terms of story many comparisons can be made to The Matrix and Inception I feel like this takes it own spin of those tales of what is and isn't real. Jude Law seems like a young man in this compared to his role in A.I. just a scant two years later. I love that all the machines are biological and because of that its definitely unique to Cronenberg. After Cronenberg's recent success of doing relatively straight movies I'm hoping his next few will embrace his weird side again like this film.
172. Memories of Murder (2003)
Rating: 8/10
Review: Extremely captivating investigative narrative that I could only really compare to Fincher's Zodiac for amount of depth into the details that this movie grasps.
171. Like a Dragon (2007)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Takashi Miike direction. This movie is one of Miike's more lighthearted affairs with quite a bit of slapstick put in there. Although this didn't reach Kung Fu Hustle levels of zaniness it was still fun but did need about a half hour trimmed from it.
170. Unauthorized The Harvey Weinstein Project (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: For as silly as the title is this was actually a good documentary on the rise of Harvey Weinstein in the film industry. I only wish it would have come out a year later because they are kind of showing the downfall of Harvey and they show the Kings Speech Oscar wins as a last breath of air for them, but it it had been updated to show The Artist winning the next year I think the ending would have been more optomistic.
169. Zardoz (1974)
Rating: 6/10
Review: This movie has a ton of camp appeal so the rating is a bit higher if you looking for camp. The opening scene is enough to tell you what to expect from the movie, I was hooked and glad I gave it a watch. Movie slows to a crawl about halfway through but otherwise a fun post-apoc watch.
168. Why Stop Now? (2012)
Rating: 5/10
Review: Tracy Morgan actually wasn't the worst part of this movie, it was the whole movie. I don't know what Eisenberg is doing in this.
167. Snabba Cash (2010)
Rating: 5/10
Review: I watched this because of Joel Kinnaman and wanting to see more of him, but this movie is a really boring drug dealer movie which is hard to do. But somehow the characters that populate this film are of no interest to me and I didn't care what happened to anyone. Actor Dragomir Mrsic from this film looks like Danny McBride's Swedish doppelganger.
166. Melinda and Melinda (2004)
Rating: 5/10
Review: I understand what Woody was trying to do with this movie, present the same story from a dramatic angle and then also from a comedic angle. Unfortunately it comes off as really gimmicky and I didn't really want to follow either story. Will Ferrel and Steve Carrell are wasted in this film.
165. Better This World (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Extremely compelling documentary that starts out about grassroots fanaticism, but actually has a pretty big twist later on that I'm glad I didn't know about but kind of guessed. This case is a really fascinating study in the law and how it's prosecuted.
164. Lockout (2012)
Rating: 6/10
Review: While this movie tries to have some fun it doesn't succeed. There wasn't really anything for Guy Pearce to play off of for this movie, a more captivating character actor playing the villain would have excused quite a few of the movies faults. Getting through the movie seemed like a chore.
163. Juan of the Dead (2011)
Rating: 6/10
Review: I really wish this movie did include a zombie Che but it doesn't, and if I had seen this poster before watching the movie my expectations would have been through the roof! But as it was this really was as I expected, basically a remake of Shaun of the Dead for Latin America. While this does have it's funny moments I don't know why they chose this title because this movie falters in direct comparison.
162. Millennium Actress (2001)
Rating: 8/10
Review: Satoshi Kon ("Paprika") backlog. An old screen starlet tells the path her career took to a camera operator and interviewer but when they find themselves shooting a scene of her recollections as if they were happening in front of them is when the story gets really interesting. I can't speak highly enough of Satoshi Kon's storytelling style, this ranks just as high as Paprika and Tokyo Godfathers in terms of enjoyment to be had from them.
161. The Woman in Black (2012)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: This was extremely well produced and put together I just felt there were way too many easy scares / jumps created through editing but I guess that's what I should have expected from a Hammer Films production but I felt it detracted from the final film.
160. Tangled (2010)
Rating: 6/10
Review: My girlfriend really enjoyed this because of the musical aspects of it but none of the songs, or movie for that matter really stuck with me after it was over.
