Rating: 8.5/10
Review: However this movie has been received by the press, I figure that seeing dozen of white supremacists/slave owners and traders slaughtered does tend to tip the scale back towards the side of being awesome. I really enjoyed this addition to the Exploitation genre of film and Christoph Waltz is intriguing as the German bounty hunter espousing Tarantino's monologue's with great ease. Tarantino is the only one that could have done a movie like this properly with all the control that the Weinstein's give over to him.
280. Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)
Rating: 6.5/10
Review: Bill Murray seems to be playing Bill Murray in this movie and not FDR. But I have to admit that this was an extremely ballsy role for Murray because playing a president who has an affair with a cousin, whether fifth or sixth removed as the movie states, is not going to be an easy role to make sympathetic, yet he succeeds at that to a certain degree. The King and Queen were not memorable and overall Laura Linney is the best part of this extremely listless film.
279. Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
Rating: 7/10
Review: 60 Minutes ran a story earlier this year that was a Cliff Notes run through of this documentary and I thought this documentary would be just a long form retread. But thankfully there a lot of really interesting revelations that were left out of the 60 Minutes piece. This is a great profile of a previously forgotten musician. The music is really the centerpiece of the documentary thankfully.
278. Hitchcock (2012)
Rating: 7.5/10
Review: This wasn't a movie that I was highly anticipating because of all the other movies that came out in December. So I was pleasantly surprised at how well crafted the story and acting came together. Anthony Hopkins really does disappear into this role and this is the most interesting starring vehicle I've seen from him in quite awhile. Even though there is a popular movement to hate on Scarlett Johansson, I really thought she captured Janet Leigh perfectly and brought humanity to a role that wasn't entirely fleshed out in the script.
277. Looper (2012)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Time travel is storytelling esthetic that has been almost done to death that any new film using the same trope has to bring quite a bit of new material to the table for it not to be forgotten immediately after release. Thankfully Looper does add enough new to be relevant. Now I know that they needed the two lead actor's to look similar because of the story but I didn't feel like any make-up/facial reconstruction was needed at all to achieve that. Willis and Levitt are believable enough as being the same person sans make-up. I otherwise did enjoy the world created around the story and would welcome future adventures as has been discussed in the press already.
276. This Is 40 (2012)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Like all of Apatow's directorial outings this movie clocks in at over two hours but I felt like this film utilized the running time more than Funny People. Albert Brooks and Jon Lithgow turn in great supporting roles in this truly stellar cast of Apatow regulars. I like that we get to see both sides of each main characters and it's not an idealized Hollywood relationship we see so often. Paul Rudd is a big reason why I'm higher on this one more than Funny People.
275. The Island President (2012)
Rating: 7.5/10
Review: I went in expecting this entire doc to be about global warming and the effects of it on the island nation and while a large part of the documentary coves that subject I didn't expect it to also featuring a rousing story of government reform through protest that brought the focus of the doc to power. Featuring quite a bit of Radiohead music making the documentary even more of a compelling watch. Watch til the end credits because huge events that happened after the documentary finished shooting are stated in a brief message at the start of the credits.
274. Lincoln (2012)
Rating: 9/10
Review: I had low expectations going in because of Spielberg's past with extremely boring pre-world war two period dramas. But this film is the exception to the rule because of Tony Kushner's screenplay brings to life the nuts and buts negotiations of trying to pass the thirteenth amendment. That only aids Daniel Day-Lewis immeasurably in what may be his best performance yet. The opening scene is an incredible introduction to the story with the scene being entirely dialogue driven that while extremely still has great movement in the language. Also it should be noted that the last few scenes of the movie should have been cut but that is only a slight edit that we can make in our minds and be happy to have seen everything that came before that.
273. Frankenweenie (2012)
Rating: 8/10
Review: I grew up watching the short of Frankenweeie that Burton shot early on in his career, it was a favorite of my dads so we watched it quite often, so it was a great blast from the past when I heard that Burton had decided to produce a feature length version in one of my favorite mediums stop motion. This delivered on all of my expectations as to what this movie would be and more. Must see for all stop motion fans.272. Les Miserables (2012)
Rating: 7.5/10
Review: I was brand new to Les Miserables the musical so as this was my first pass through I really enjoyed the movie a lot more than I expected, granted I had pretty low expectations. With the live performance recording it really brings life to the songs and makes them diagetic to the scene and allows the songs to function more as dialogue in some scenes that helps further the story but still in song format. Hugh Jackman was great and I would love to see him shoot another musical in the near future. Sasha Baron Cohen has a nice turn as the Master of the House.271. Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Rating: 5/10
Review: This is a coming of age film that i absolutely gagged while watching because this hits every cliche in one fulll swing. Emma Watson really doesn't have alot to do here playing a third tier character in terms of screen time. A much more interesting story in my point of view would have been a story told from Emma Watson's viewpoint or have Emma Watson be the good looking best girlfriend of a female main character, that would be something we haven't seen a thousand times.270. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Rating: 8.5/10
Review: Like all movies based on real events this movie has come under fire and while that is a valid conversation, I'm only here to discuss this as a movie and not a documentary. Going into this movie my mind raced on how to conceptualize a manhunt that would be interesting that doesn't involve the old west because it makes the investigation the centerpiece and not the on the ground action for the majority of the movie. A single person's dedicated years long investigation is the core of the movie much like David Fincher's Zodiac. Jessica Chastain only the film with her portrayel of someone who treads in the gray area of good and bad and in pursuit of justice how far to go.269. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Rating: 7/10
Review: I initially had gotten the vibe that this was a Malick like feature, but after watching it I would say it has a lot more cohesive narrative than most Malick features. I was facinated by the movie all the way through and really enjoyed how well photographically conceived the movie was.268. Sleepwalk With Me (2012)
Rating: 7/10
Review: I expected to enjoy this movie more than I did because I think Birbiglia brings very little to the table in terms of acting, but I enjoy all the stand-up comedy featured throughout the film.267. To Rome, With Love (2012)
Rating: 6/10
Review: I didn't feel like the character Woody played added anything to the movie and Penelope Cruz is wasted on screen here and her storyline goes nowhere. The story should have just been the Alec Baldwin/Jesse Eisenberg storyline expanded. This movie was a little disappointing from Allen coming off Midnight in Paris.266. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) HFR IMAX 3D Presentation
Rating: 8.5/10
Review: 48 frames a second 3D is here and I could not be happier. This 3D presentation trumps all previous 3D outings in that the 3D picture was so much brighter and actions scenes were so much clearer and didn't cause my eyes to strain like a normal 3D film would have. I'm worried though that there is confusion about the presentation options and that people are going to the regular 3D presentation thinking its the High Frame Rate presentation but the HFR Presentation is only on about 400 or so screens nationwide. The epic battle scenes presented here were a breath of fresh air, we've become so jaded to epic battle scenes they have become boring to a point, but they High Frame Rate really brings those scenes to life. But onto the movie itself, I wasn't expecting that much action because of the need to setup and present all the backstory necessary to tell the story a head in the series of films. Now the opening scene looked great but it was too much story thrown at me at once to retain, but all the relevant info is retreaded later in the movie thankfully, but overall this movie was way more satisfying than I expected and I'm saying that as an outsider that never read the book and don't consider myself a hardcore LOR fan also.265. Holy Motors (2012)
Rating: 6/10
Review: Watching the trailer for this movie I was excited to see how all the disparate characters and settings would be ties together and by the end of the movie I was disappointed to find out that at the end of the movie that they weren't at all. I think knowing that going into watching the movie would have cause me to look at differently and be more into the journey and not the destination. After watching the movie and finding this out I would have rather gone in blank and not seen the trailer because it gave me a negative bias as to what the movie was going to be about. The movie looked really well crafted from a cinematographer's eye and seeing so much of Paris again is always welcome but I was still underwhelmed by the film, but I'm down for revisiting this movie sometime in the future and doing a new review.264.Tapeheads (1988)
Rating: 6/10
Review: This movie has some great surreal turns and I enjoyed the several musical sequences which were an unexpected surprise. A nice forgotten satirical comedy.263. Expendables 2 (2012)
Rating: 6/10
Review: This was exactly what I was expecting with a huge mix of WTF. This reaches some pretty looney heights.262. The Last Hard Men (1976)
Rating: 6.5/10
Reason: James Coburn Western.
Review: This western occupies one of favorite sub-genres where modernization of the early twentieth century is making the world smaller through technology and the west is changing from one completely open plain to property owners of land and the rule of the outlaw is coming to an end. James Coburn has a great outing as cunning chain gang runaway leading a misfit group of follow runways from the chain gang. Coburn has a brutal streak but only as each situation requires all up to the finale of his plan. Now as much as I love Coburn's turn I almost would have liked to see Heston and Coburn switch roles and see Heston play against the hero character portrait he usually plays because I wasn't really interested in any of Heston's scenes where Coburn wasn't on screen.
261. Major Dundee (1964) Extended Version
Rating: 6/10
Reason: Sam Peckingpah backlog.
Review: I should start out with stating my bias against Charlton Heston, the only movies of his that I enjoy are Planet of the Apes, Ben-Hur, Soylent Green, Omega Man, and Touch of Evil because there is enough non-Heston related storytelling to not detract from the movie. I think his acting is most of the time pretty wooden somewhat like Gregory Peck could be at time but without any of Peck's charm. In the movie Richard Harris' accent kind of bounces between Confederate and Union Jack a number of times. Even though I watched the extended version which was supposed to be closer to Peckinpah's original intention, I still found this movie extremely boring and that's with considering myself a fan of westerns in general.
260. Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid (1973)
Rating: 6/10
Reason: Sam Peckinpah backlog.
Review: This movie has a dedicated following that has helped this movie grow in appreciation in the last 20 years. Now I found Kris Kristofferson to be almost unwatchable with his approach to acting in this movie. It almost seemed like he was being fed lines off camera because it doesn't feel like a cohesive performance from him and because of that it detracted greatly from my enjoyment of the movie. Coburn as always is solid and blows Kristofferson off the screen. I don't consider this Peckinpah's best film as some have claimed.259. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
Rating: 6/10
Reason: Sam Peckinpah backlog.
Review: David Warner has a good turn i this movie and I always enjoy Jason Robards but overall this movie just plodded along for me and doesn't really stick in my memory as signature Peckinpah.258. Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Rating: 6.5/10
Reason: Sam Peckinpah backlog.Review: Warren Oates is an extremely unlikeable anti-hero so he fits the part perfectly. I did like several of the action set pieces and the cinematography but overall this movie was lacking in terms of general substance. Only really for diehard 70's action fanatics or Peckinpah completists like myself.
257. The Cross of Iron (1977)
Rating: 7/10
Reason: Sam Peckinpah backlog.
Review: Any film that features German soldiers as the main characters and doesn't present them as monsters has a big hurdle to cross in terms of putting the audience on their side of the portrayed events. During the Cold War the way of doing that was pitting them against the Russians and also having characters that state they were only fighting for Germany and not for the Nazi party. Party sympathizers are chastised on the front lines because by the time this story starts very few of the soldiers feel like they are going to win the war. I watched this from a new Blu-Ray remaster that really brought the film to life with how clear and vibrant the film was almost as if it had been shot recently. This is the only way to introduce older films to a new generation in this quality such as this because then it engages the younger audience on a different level then if there were watching a normal DVD copy of the film. I felt like there were some things that needed trimming like all Peckinpah but I ended being more interested in this movie than I expected partially because I enjoy James Coburn in anything he did during his prime.256. Howard The Duck (1986)
Rating: 5/10
Review: The legacy of this movie obviously precedes itself and I remember growing up with the VHS cover of this ingrained in my mind (not this poster i have added above) from seeing it on the shelves at my dad's video store. I also remember my dad owned a Howard the Duck comic or two also that I read and to this day can still remember a few panels of the artwork from. While I may have seen this as a kid, I honestly didn't remember a single scene from it as I watched it for this blog review. Now yes, obviously this is a hilarious camp classic that has been written about ad nausem so let's get to the stuff I liked about the movie. There are a ton of (for the time) really well done practical effects that I can tell a lot of money was spent on perfecting. There are oddly a number of similarities and similar vibe as the Men In Black series and I really felt that this is what Men In Black would have looked like had it been made in the mid-80's. I definitely recommend this if you've always been aware of the film but never watched it.255. Premium Rush (2012)
254. Quicksilver (1986)
Premium Rush - Rating: 6.5/10
Quicksilver - Rating: 5/10 Review: So I of course had to watch these movies as a double feature and while both have there share of cheesy thrills, Premium Rush edges out Quicksilver. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character is a dedicated messenger where as Kevin Bacon's character is a stock broker who bottoms out and uses bike messenging as a back up career. Funny coincidence that even though the movies take place on opposite coasts (PR-NYC, QS-San Fran) both feature the requisite Asian organized crime lords that figure differently into each story. The game changer is Michael Shannon as a dirty NYC detective over his head in gambling debts to the aforementioned ethnic gangsters, Shannon's maniac cop is what the Rush stew needed to elevate this to perfect popcorn entertainment.
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