The next to last post of all of the films which were released in 2013 includes films that I thought were great and which possibly could have, in another year,been in the top of my list. Most of these films have a small nitpick that keep them from the top but I enjoyed all of these immensely in one way or another this year and most of these are what make me feel that this was a fabulous year at the movies!
Also, Number 16 is a special mention that I can't leave off the list, but I also can't quite categorize or place in the top of my list, even though it belongs there (When you see the title, you will understand.)
Great Films, but Missing that Extra “Thing”
34- Behind the Candelabra- Michael Douglas plays Liberace and Matt Damon is his younger lover in Steven Soderbergh’s supposedly last film as director. The cast is fantastic and it is very well produced, but the fact that Liberace was slimy coats the entire film. I loved it and thought it was very well done, but it is graphic in spots.
33- Saratov Approach- A little tighter editing at the beginning and a better actress cast as one of the Elder’s mothers are the only 2 minor nitpicks that I have of this film. Otherwise, it is a fabulous, intense, and well made film about the true story of 2 kidnapped DS Missionaries in Russia. It doesn’t matter if you are LDS or not- this is a riveting film!
32- Captain Phillips- Tom Hanks does his normal solid job of portraying the captain of a large ship taken captive by pirates in this true story. It is a great drama with small character moments scattered throughout. The tension is kept up very well, but what makes this one a bit more special is the final scene with Hanks’ Captain finally succumbing to the stress he has felt over several days.
31- Trance- Just like another film higher on my list, this is a twisty thriller. I admit that I love these types of films more than most. But this one is funny, mysterious, intriguing, and the last 10 minutes is absolutely insane! James Macavoy, and Rosario Dawson make a great pair as an art thief who has memory loss trying to get it back so that he can find a painting that he hid which is worth millions. Not for the squeamish or easily offended but an amazingly fun ride courtesy of director Danny Boyle.
30- 42- While this film makes Jackie Robinson into a saint with no problems other than facing racism, the cast and production values are so high, I can’t deny how strong the picture is. Chadwick Boseman is riveting and Harrison Ford tears into an uncommon character role. Also, Alan Tudyk is great at playing despicable as one of the most racist people ever put on film!
29- Hunger Games- Catching Fire- The original film was one of my favorites last year. I think the cast and production values were amazing and the story drew me in and held me while Jennifer Lawrence tore into the role of Katniss and made herself a star. This one is just as well made and intriguing. However, I have not read the books and did not know where it was going. Without giving anything away, the cliffhanger twist ending negated the strength of the character of Katniss and knocked this down a bit on my list. But, it comes more from the story created in the books and the film just follows suit by keeping the plot the same. Never fear- Lawrence is just as good as she was last year and owns the character of Katniss and does a fabulous job,, it’s just the book that robs her a bit of her strength.
28- Wolverine- The gravitas of the character Wolverine is brought greatly into this film and how hard it really would be to be immortal. The weight of Hugh Jackman’s predicament and decision is brought to bear on the film and it is better for it. While not action packed, when there is action, it is tough and brutal, Jackman holds nothing back. This is definitely more of a dramatic superhero film which finally takes the character of Wolverine very seriously. Until the over the top climax, this is a masterful film and the climax doesn’t kill the film as a whole, it just makes it less than what it could have been. Jackman really IS Wolverine.
27- Thanks for Sharing- While the first 4/5ths of the film seems like an R-Rated sitcom, the last 1/5th and the cast really brings the darkness and drama out of the situations and it goes places that are quite unexpected. Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Josh gad, and Alecia Moore (or Pink- yes, Pink) star as sex addicts who are going to a sex addicts meeting. Some have been clean for a long time and are mentors, others are newer and still struggling, and some are brand new and having a difficult time even admitting that there is a problem. If you know an addict of any kind, this film is hard hitting and hard to watch, especially when some situations start to spiral out of control near the end. Very hard film to watch, but the actors make it a very strong film and a reason to watch.
26- Drew- Man Behind the Poster- As a documentary, this is actually pretty poor. There are no amazingly told stories, nothing really dramatic which is happening behind the scenes (such as Metallica Some Kind of Monster), but when your subject is Drew Struzan, the artist behind the original Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Back to the Future films, along with many, many others and there are interviews with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Michael J Fox, Frank Darabont, Guillermo Del Toro, and you watch Drew paint and the camera shows many of his posters, lingering on the details, you don’t really need much more.
25- Prisoners- The cast is top notch and the script goes to places that most other stories only hint at. On Thanksgiving 2 little girls go missing and their families (played by Hugh jackman, maria Bello, Viola Davis, and Terrence Howard) all react in different ways as they attempt to discover what happened to their daughters. Jackman is just as seething with rage as he was in Wolverine and attempts torture to a suspect who had to be let go, Bello tries to drug and sleep her way through it, Howard helps Jackman out of helplessness, and Davis looks the other way at the lawlessness the husbands are creating but acknowledges that she is okay with whatever they do. Jake Gyllenhaal is the detective tasked with finding the girls. This film gets dark and gritty, and disturbing and doesn’t let up for its 2 ½ hour running time. The only slight problem is the ending does not go quite as dark as it probably should, but it is a riveting watch.
24- Mud- Matthew McCaughnahey continues his run of strong characters as a man wanted by the law, trying to get in touch with his girlfriend and befriending two boys during the summer. A very strongly acted and produced coming of age film that also touches on other universal emotions and truths, this is a small sleeper film but one that is well worth watching and is cornerstone for MM’s career resurgence the past 2 years.
23- Rush- In most sports movies, there is a “good” competitor and a “bad” competitor and the audience is manipulated to root for one over the other in the final conflict. In this true story of race car driving in the early to mid ‘70’s, the 2 drivers at the center of the story are both jerks, egomaniacs, and great at what they do. Ron Howard makes this truly a story of 2 professionals attempting to be the best at what they do and beat the other. There is no “good” or “bad” and it was a very refreshing take on a sports move with great action and racing scenes and spectacular acting bringing you into the conflict.
22- All is Lost- With a nearly wordless performance, Robert Redford plays a lone sailor, stuck at sea with a damaged boat that is slowly sinking, diminishing supplies, and nature going against him. An absolutely claustrophobic and nerve jangling film. I found my self saying “No, no, no, no, no” several times throughout the screening.
21- Enough Said- I always at least like Nicole Holofcenter films, but usually, somewhere along the course of her films, the characters end up going to places that I don’t feel are really story driven and become more chess pieces and the endings of her films usually leave me cold. Not this one. Enough Said is her masterpiece and a really funny, touching, and heartbreaking story starring Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and James gandolfini (in one of his last roles) as a couple who starts dating and tries to keep the relationship going, even though they are both divorced and have their own lives and outside influences pulling them apart. The central conflict is a bit forced and comes straight from a Three’s Company storyline, but Dreyfuss and Gandolfini handle it like pros and make you feel every bad life choice that these characters have made and their desire to have someone who loves them and to spend their life with. The supporting cast is also very strong and ties this together. Very touching.
20- Spectacular Now- Miles Teller plays a teenage alcoholic high school senior whose girlfriend breaks up with him and whose mother is never home because she is working two jobs to try to make ends meet. He meets a girl, played by Shailene Woodley, who is outside of his normal ccol clique at school and starts dating her, bringing her into his alcoholism and slow downward spiral as his high school years come to a close and he searched for his father who left his family many years ago. A gut punch of a film that feels very real with all of the emotions and small things throughout the entire film.
19- American Hustle- In a comedic, fictionalized version of the Abscam scandal in the 70’s, director David O Russell gets the most from everyone who worked on the film. The main cast- Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner- all knock their scenes out of the park, whether it’s a scene for comedy or drama and the supporting cast, along with a great surprise cameo, also nails it home. The costumes, hairstyles, and art direction all make it feel like it was actually filmed in the 70’s as well. While not as emotionally deep as ‘The Fighter’, the relationships between the characters and their motivations still ring true, but it is much more of a “fun ride” this time. And Amy Adams has never looked better!
18- 12 Years a Slave- I cannot really say anything bad about this film. The acting is great, the specific moments are very powerful, each whip and punch are felt by the audience, the story is intriguing, but… my mom was a history teacher and loved learning about the Civil War. Of course, slavery is a part of it. So, I have seen many of the real life plantations, heard many stories throughout the years, read many books, saw a ton of films, and this film, while amazingly well-done, adds nothing new to the “slave drama” subgenre. I do, however, hope that, if The Butler is up for any awards alongside 12 Years a Slave, and one of them wins, it had better be 12 Years a Slave which is a fantastically made film with no manipulation added.
17- Frozen- A few songs don’t quite work and a couple of jokes fall flat, and a slight character issue all drop this film just out of the top of my list, but I have not enjoyed a Disney-branded film this much in aa very long time. Beautifully animated, a song which will go into the pantheon of all-time great Disney songs (Let It Go), fabulous voice acting from everyone but especially Kristen Bell, and a story that focuses on family and sisters more than a “Prince Charming” make this a winner!
Special Mention
16- Jurassic Park 3D- Jurassic Park came out while I was on my mission. I did see it in the theater on my first day home, but, with the showtimes, I ended up making it my second movie back in the theater (The Fugitive was my first.) While I loved and really enjoyed Jurassic, Fugitive was in a better auditorium at the time and also such a great film, and I think I was a little overwhelmed with Fugitive and a little underwhelmed by Jurassic- ever so slightly. I have seen Jurassic many times over the years and still really enjoy it. But, seeing it in IMAX, in 3D and really being transported into it again after all these years, this was a very special theatrical experience(s- I saw it twice in IMAX 3D) and it was like seeing it for the first time all over again. This is truly a fabulous theatrical film! And no, if pressed, even all these years later, I don’t know which one I prefer- Fugitive or Jurassic.
Best TV Show That I Just Watched
Parks & Recreation
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Numbers 56- 35, Good for What They Were, Better Than Expected
This section of films definitely gets better as the numbers increase. Only 2 sections of the list remain! Keep checking back!
Good For What They Were- Better Than Expected
56- 47 Ronin- As I stated on The Geek Agenda recently, “If you go for stupidity, it’s a lot of fun.” Get rid of the first 40 minutes, ignore the too-serious ending, forget about the random mysticism of a dragon and floating hair feeding a prisoner sushi (yes, you read that correctly), a disappearing spider, a random beast in the woods, and a gigantic, unidentified 10 foot tall samurai, then you get a pretty fun middle hour.
55- GI Joe- Retaliation- I almost out this on the “Pure Entertainment” level, but the mountainside fight makes this one slightly superior to that level because it tries something brand new. Nothing great, but that mountainside fight makes it worth it.
54- Mortal Instruments- Even though this is a blatant attempt to cash in on the “Find the new Young Adult novels turned into feature film” craze, I actually liked this one a lot more than the rest of them (ie. Percy Jackson, Beautiful Creatures, Host). It is almost funny how crass of a product this is, but there are several interesting ideas at play (where the “trophy” is hidden), and it goes to a certain area of the romantic triangle that I thought was tricky but that I really liked (until one line near the end tries to wipe away the darkness, but I am going to ignore that line!). Here’s hoping to a sequel!
53- Pain & Gain- Michael Bay Bays it up, but this is still an effectively dark comedy about a real life crime event. To give away any of the twists and turns would spoil it, but, if you want a flashy dark comedy starring Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg, give this one a shot.
52- Don Jon- Although I trust Joseph Gordon Leavitt as an actor, he stars in, wrote, and directed this film about a Brooklyn guy who tries to find the perfect woman while still being addicted to online porn. The cast is fabulous and the film actually comes around from a very creepy opening 20 minutes to a slightly less creepy resolution and shows that JGL is a legitimate triple threat now. Not for all tastes!
51- Warm Bodies- A fun mix of a zombie movie and romantic comedy that actually works. The cast is uniformly good and appealing with some good action and good laughs.
50- The family- While this film about a family in Witness Protection living in France and hiding out from the Mob has massive tonal shifts, I had a great time all the way through. DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones all deliver their normal solid performances, Dianna Agron, who has yet to impress me ina film, does a great job as the very mentally unhinged daughter of the family. The jokes and violence don’t quite mix, but it is never boring!
49- Ender’s Game- I am a bad geek and have never read the book so I was pleasantly surprised by the plot of this film and how dark it is. The actors do well and I was drawn into the story. My biggest concern is that the final “twist” was what I had assumed was happening anyway, so it felt very anti-climactic, but still a very good solid sci-fi thriller.
48- Monsters University- Other than the fabulous animation and voice work, I was very disappointed in this G rated version of Animal House- until the heart came hammering back in the last 20 minutes of the film and took it to an interesting way to bring us back to the beginning of the first film. It takes too long to turn around and find its heart, but it finally gets there and is never painful to watch.
47- Instructions Not Included- I heard that this a very amusing Spanish language comedy. Whoever says that should be shot! It is a very effective Spanish language drama with funny moments, but this film treats its subject honestly and delivers a gut punch about every 10 minutes in its last half hour. Very good and emotional film about an illegal Mexican immigrant raising a daughter on his own after the mother walks out.
46- You’re next- This is a weird mix of a dark comedy and home invasion thriller. The film starts with a family gettogether at a remote cabin for an anniversary party and the siblings in the family all bring their significant others. Once the blood starts flowing, the plot twists and turns with some great surprises. Sharni Vinson is a great addition to the group. Watch it and find out why.
45- Byzantium- A very dark, more dramatic version of a vampire film starring Saorise Ronin as a vampiric daughter to vampire Gemma Arterton who helps keep a roof over their heads by being a real “lady of the Night”. When Saorise decides to tell her story to a local boy in their latest small town stop, their lifestyle may be in danger. Neil Jordan, who also directed Interview with the Vampire” directs with a sure but steady hand here as well.
44- Mama- While I initially had some issues with where the story went, I remembered that it started with ‘Once Upon a Time’. It is truly a fairy tale with a horror bent. An almost unrecognizable Jessica Chastain plays a woman who must take care of her boyfriend’s long lost nieces after they are found alone in the woods after being missing for 5 years and after her boyfriend has to go to the hospital for a while. They show the menace a little too much, but still a very effective PG-13 horror/ thriller.
43- White House Down- I preferred the fun, over the top goofiness of this Die Hard in the White House.I feel it is a much more fun action film with bigger and more memorable setpieces. Is it a better film than Olympus Has Fallen? Maybe, maybe not, but it is a lot more fun!
42- Last vegas- While a lot of subplots are conveniently forgotten about or quickly wrapped up, this film works purely through the power of the cast. Kevin Kline, Morgan Freeman, and Robert DeNiro play best friends who go with soon-to-be-married Michael Douglas to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. This shows what a good cast really can do with a pretty generic script. Mary Steenburgen also shines as a lounge singer who gets in with the group.
41- The Heat- Again, a film that just made me laugh. A lot. Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy play mismatched cop partners searching for a drug dealer on the streets. Is there anything that we have not seen before done in numerous other films starring males? No. But Bullock, McCarthy, and the supporting cast really make this work. Could have been a bit shorter, but still enjoyable.
40- Red 2- Expanding on the initial premise and bringing Helen Mirren back to kill Bruce Willis, this sequel starts at the opening scene and never lets up. The cast is obviously having a great time and bring us along for the ride. I have no idea how Willis does not crack at all when Mary Louise Parker is slapping him, but it is a fabulous scene in a very enjoyable film!
39- Thor Dark World- While I didn’t quite like this as well as the original Thor, mainly due to the boring villains, Hemsworth proves that he IS Thor and Hiddleston returns as Loki and matches him step for step. The bouncing through the wormholes, the action, and the fun comedy keep this lively even if the plot is quite nonsensical. Also, props for setting up Avengers 3 (yes, 3!), even before they start filming Avengers 2.
38- Grudge Match- Of the films which came out on Christmas day, this was my favorite. What could have been a cheesy Rocky vs Raging Bull spectacle (and yes, there are jokes based on each of the stars alter egos) the ambitions and shattered dreams of the characters are actually much more front and center than I was expecting. Great acting from the entire cast along with an ending that works makes the film a winner as well.
37- Fast 6- There is nothing more to this than a big, dumb action film, but when it is done this well, who cares? The tank chase and the girl fights with both actresses taking most of their own punches are the highlights here. It is what it is and it works very well. Could have been trimmed by 20 minutes, but it goes from setpiece to setpiece with glee.
36- World War Z- Let me be clear. This is NOT World War Z the Book. But, for a big budget zombie movie starring Brad Pitt, it is a very tense and enjoyable ride. While the wife and family become more plot devices than characters after Pitt goes off to find rthe cause of the outbreak, it keeps the tension going and the menace real.
35- We’re the Millers- The only reason that I saw this was that I had seen everything else and my wife was gone for the evening. I must admit that I laughed very hard all the way through this. Everyone nails the comedic tone and it is gag after gag after gag. It is crude, crass, and frequently hilarious from beginning to end. I definitely have “No Ragrets” after seeing it.
Good For What They Were- Better Than Expected
56- 47 Ronin- As I stated on The Geek Agenda recently, “If you go for stupidity, it’s a lot of fun.” Get rid of the first 40 minutes, ignore the too-serious ending, forget about the random mysticism of a dragon and floating hair feeding a prisoner sushi (yes, you read that correctly), a disappearing spider, a random beast in the woods, and a gigantic, unidentified 10 foot tall samurai, then you get a pretty fun middle hour.
55- GI Joe- Retaliation- I almost out this on the “Pure Entertainment” level, but the mountainside fight makes this one slightly superior to that level because it tries something brand new. Nothing great, but that mountainside fight makes it worth it.
54- Mortal Instruments- Even though this is a blatant attempt to cash in on the “Find the new Young Adult novels turned into feature film” craze, I actually liked this one a lot more than the rest of them (ie. Percy Jackson, Beautiful Creatures, Host). It is almost funny how crass of a product this is, but there are several interesting ideas at play (where the “trophy” is hidden), and it goes to a certain area of the romantic triangle that I thought was tricky but that I really liked (until one line near the end tries to wipe away the darkness, but I am going to ignore that line!). Here’s hoping to a sequel!
53- Pain & Gain- Michael Bay Bays it up, but this is still an effectively dark comedy about a real life crime event. To give away any of the twists and turns would spoil it, but, if you want a flashy dark comedy starring Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg, give this one a shot.
52- Don Jon- Although I trust Joseph Gordon Leavitt as an actor, he stars in, wrote, and directed this film about a Brooklyn guy who tries to find the perfect woman while still being addicted to online porn. The cast is fabulous and the film actually comes around from a very creepy opening 20 minutes to a slightly less creepy resolution and shows that JGL is a legitimate triple threat now. Not for all tastes!
51- Warm Bodies- A fun mix of a zombie movie and romantic comedy that actually works. The cast is uniformly good and appealing with some good action and good laughs.
50- The family- While this film about a family in Witness Protection living in France and hiding out from the Mob has massive tonal shifts, I had a great time all the way through. DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones all deliver their normal solid performances, Dianna Agron, who has yet to impress me ina film, does a great job as the very mentally unhinged daughter of the family. The jokes and violence don’t quite mix, but it is never boring!
49- Ender’s Game- I am a bad geek and have never read the book so I was pleasantly surprised by the plot of this film and how dark it is. The actors do well and I was drawn into the story. My biggest concern is that the final “twist” was what I had assumed was happening anyway, so it felt very anti-climactic, but still a very good solid sci-fi thriller.
48- Monsters University- Other than the fabulous animation and voice work, I was very disappointed in this G rated version of Animal House- until the heart came hammering back in the last 20 minutes of the film and took it to an interesting way to bring us back to the beginning of the first film. It takes too long to turn around and find its heart, but it finally gets there and is never painful to watch.
47- Instructions Not Included- I heard that this a very amusing Spanish language comedy. Whoever says that should be shot! It is a very effective Spanish language drama with funny moments, but this film treats its subject honestly and delivers a gut punch about every 10 minutes in its last half hour. Very good and emotional film about an illegal Mexican immigrant raising a daughter on his own after the mother walks out.
46- You’re next- This is a weird mix of a dark comedy and home invasion thriller. The film starts with a family gettogether at a remote cabin for an anniversary party and the siblings in the family all bring their significant others. Once the blood starts flowing, the plot twists and turns with some great surprises. Sharni Vinson is a great addition to the group. Watch it and find out why.
45- Byzantium- A very dark, more dramatic version of a vampire film starring Saorise Ronin as a vampiric daughter to vampire Gemma Arterton who helps keep a roof over their heads by being a real “lady of the Night”. When Saorise decides to tell her story to a local boy in their latest small town stop, their lifestyle may be in danger. Neil Jordan, who also directed Interview with the Vampire” directs with a sure but steady hand here as well.
44- Mama- While I initially had some issues with where the story went, I remembered that it started with ‘Once Upon a Time’. It is truly a fairy tale with a horror bent. An almost unrecognizable Jessica Chastain plays a woman who must take care of her boyfriend’s long lost nieces after they are found alone in the woods after being missing for 5 years and after her boyfriend has to go to the hospital for a while. They show the menace a little too much, but still a very effective PG-13 horror/ thriller.
43- White House Down- I preferred the fun, over the top goofiness of this Die Hard in the White House.I feel it is a much more fun action film with bigger and more memorable setpieces. Is it a better film than Olympus Has Fallen? Maybe, maybe not, but it is a lot more fun!
42- Last vegas- While a lot of subplots are conveniently forgotten about or quickly wrapped up, this film works purely through the power of the cast. Kevin Kline, Morgan Freeman, and Robert DeNiro play best friends who go with soon-to-be-married Michael Douglas to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. This shows what a good cast really can do with a pretty generic script. Mary Steenburgen also shines as a lounge singer who gets in with the group.
41- The Heat- Again, a film that just made me laugh. A lot. Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy play mismatched cop partners searching for a drug dealer on the streets. Is there anything that we have not seen before done in numerous other films starring males? No. But Bullock, McCarthy, and the supporting cast really make this work. Could have been a bit shorter, but still enjoyable.
40- Red 2- Expanding on the initial premise and bringing Helen Mirren back to kill Bruce Willis, this sequel starts at the opening scene and never lets up. The cast is obviously having a great time and bring us along for the ride. I have no idea how Willis does not crack at all when Mary Louise Parker is slapping him, but it is a fabulous scene in a very enjoyable film!
39- Thor Dark World- While I didn’t quite like this as well as the original Thor, mainly due to the boring villains, Hemsworth proves that he IS Thor and Hiddleston returns as Loki and matches him step for step. The bouncing through the wormholes, the action, and the fun comedy keep this lively even if the plot is quite nonsensical. Also, props for setting up Avengers 3 (yes, 3!), even before they start filming Avengers 2.
38- Grudge Match- Of the films which came out on Christmas day, this was my favorite. What could have been a cheesy Rocky vs Raging Bull spectacle (and yes, there are jokes based on each of the stars alter egos) the ambitions and shattered dreams of the characters are actually much more front and center than I was expecting. Great acting from the entire cast along with an ending that works makes the film a winner as well.
37- Fast 6- There is nothing more to this than a big, dumb action film, but when it is done this well, who cares? The tank chase and the girl fights with both actresses taking most of their own punches are the highlights here. It is what it is and it works very well. Could have been trimmed by 20 minutes, but it goes from setpiece to setpiece with glee.
36- World War Z- Let me be clear. This is NOT World War Z the Book. But, for a big budget zombie movie starring Brad Pitt, it is a very tense and enjoyable ride. While the wife and family become more plot devices than characters after Pitt goes off to find rthe cause of the outbreak, it keeps the tension going and the menace real.
35- We’re the Millers- The only reason that I saw this was that I had seen everything else and my wife was gone for the evening. I must admit that I laughed very hard all the way through this. Everyone nails the comedic tone and it is gag after gag after gag. It is crude, crass, and frequently hilarious from beginning to end. I definitely have “No Ragrets” after seeing it.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Numbers 93- 57- Good for what they were but no extra oomph
Sorry about the delay in this post, but I took the weekend off last weekend and had minimal time/ access. Stay tuned for more on Wednesday!
Good for what they were, but didn’t have the extra “oomph”
93- Great Gatsby-The book never connected with me and neither di this film. It was, however, well acted and well produced, but, again, I didn’t care. It throws around words like love, devotion, and passion, and I didn’t buy any of it. Near the end, when Carraway is alone at the funeral, he says that he was the only one who cared. But why did he care? The movie never showed us that he cared, only that he was enthralled with Gatsby’s life, but it was a very one-sided relationship. I will however probably pick this for the art direction Oscar if it is nominated.
92- Texas Chainsaw 3D- Oh, this movie was crap, but it made me jump a few times, Daddario was good, there were moments of dread, and I liked what they tried to do with it. It didn’t work fully, but it was better than Last Exorcism 2.
91- Baggage Claim- I like watching Paula Patton in films. She is likeable and energetic. The concept of this romantic comedy is generic, but the set up makes it so that this could have been something special and turn the generic rom-com resolution on its head. But, as it get closer to the end, it slowly starts to turn and the ending is extremely disappointing by going to the exact place that any other rom com could have gone. Great ideas, great lead actress, very poor writing of the conclusion.
90- Elysium- Good action, good acting and world building, but the too-on-the-nose social commentary beat me over the head too hard to get into the actual story. Still looking forward to Blomkamp’s next film, though.
89- Oblivion- Again, very well produced film with fabulous technical achievements, and a great performance by Andrea Riseborough (and even Tom Cruise), but, when all is said and done, the twist of the film is identical to a much better film made several years ago and so Oblivion was a little bland as the credits rolled.
88- Jack the Giant Slayer- The movie starts well, dies for about 45 minutes, and then comes back to life and has a rousing finale, but, it dies and stops momentum for a little too long. The effects are good, acting and story are fine, it just could have been trimmed substantially.
87- Hatchet 3- The conclusion to the Hatchet series which is really just an excuse to have over the top violence (by using actual physical effects, not CGI) and a lot of horror movie in-jokes. The first one was fantastic! The last two have been fun, but the returns have been diminishing quickly!
86- Insidious Chapter 2- One of the things that I loved about the original Insidious is that the character played by Rose Byrne was a mom who actively tried to resolve the strange situations plaguing her family. In this one, she becomes the crying, fearful mother who does almost nothing. The change in character hurt this film greatly for me even though the tension and dread were still very well done, but it became more like a common horror film.
85- Evil Dead- Again, it was great to see a horror film use more practical effects instead of CGI. Great acting and, again, tension and dread, take a backseat to inexplicable character choices and a nonsensical script.
84- The Call- Working in a call center, the first hour of this film absolutely nailed the environment, and the tension and helplessness that an operator can feel while attempting to help a caller. Unfortunately, the man kidnapping the girl is over-the-top evil, causes too much mayhem in broad daylight and doesn’t draw attention to himself, and the finale in which Halle Berry’s 911 operator goes after the kidnapper because she knows more than her cop boyfriend, just gets too silly and drops all of the goodwill from the first hour.
83- Despicable Me 2- Admit it, take an honest look at this film. Now, take the minions out of it. You are left with a bland and generic kids film with nothing really for adults or, for that matter, laughs. This film is made entertaining purely by the minions. While I laughed very hard at some of the random jokes (an Isaac from the Love Boat reference? Really?) I was left with an overwhelming feeling of meh with the film as a whole.
82- Croods- The animation is great, it is very funny, and the story is well-meaning, but I didn’t buy it. I felt nothing as the film’s climax came and one of the character’s had to make a sacrifice. While the end of the film was never in question (no big budget family movie is going to end on a down ending), I felt no emotional attachment to the film or charcaters.
81- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2- While far from a bust, this is nowhere as good as the original. It does have an imagination that goes crazy and is infectious, some hysterical gags, but, again, by the end, I felt nothing more for the characters. The first film was one of my favorite animated films of the last few years. This will not be joining it.
80- Percy Jackson- Sea of Monsters- There is nothing really wrong with this film, but there is nothing really right about it, either. There are great cameos (Stanley Tucci and Nathan Fillion are the best) and everyone does their job, but some characters are given the short shrift to make room for a new Cyclops brother, but, again, nothing really lands emotionally. The climax was great in Atmos, but was very meh otherwise.
79- Delivery Man- While I smiled a lot, I never really laughed and that is a problem for a comedy. The actors are fine, but I was never able to allow my suspension of disbelief to take effect as I watched this film. Chris Pratt and Colbiw Smulders make the biggest impacrt, but they are minor roles.
78- This is the End- Just like most Apatow comedies, there is a lot of genius along with a lot of stupidity. This time, the stupidity takes over. I would have marked this lower, but the script does take some amazing surprising and daring paths. And Emma Watson’s cameo is priceless! “Back the f*** up!”
77- Epic- The animation is gorgeous, the sound and score are amazing, and the voices are very well done, but the plot doesn’t really make sense and that kills it for me. In the forest, growth is good and decay is bad. Okay, so, if the queen of the forest keeps everything growing, then the plants will overrun each other and will deplete the food resources very quickly which will lead to death of the plants and decay. But, wait, it can’t because the bad guys of decay were vanquished so this forest will just be overrun with too much foliage that never dies. Yes, I realize that it’s a kids movie and I need to turn my suspension iof disbelief off, but it got too far in the way for me. I can go with talking slugs, but not allow the plot to just be? I know, I know…
76- Black nativity- Good acting and intriguing songs and versions of holiday classics negate the bad melodramatic plot. Not good, not bad, it just is.
75- Runner, Runner- The plot makes no sense and I didn’t care about anyone or anything but I liked watching Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterto, John Heard and Anthony Mackie in gorgeous island settings and a low-level crime drama. It was nothing special at all, but easily watchable.
74- Dark Skies- The opening 20 minutes could have been trimmed waaaay down into one scene to get this alien abduction movie going much quicker, but once it gets going, watch out! There are some seriously creepy moments, disturbing images, and great ideas, but the film just doesn’t quite work as a whole.
73- Incredible Burt Wonderstone- I am probably giving this much more slack than I probably should, but I was one of the target audience members for this comedy that stars Steve Carrell as a Vegas magician who is nearing the end of his reign. I laughed a lot at him, Steve Buscemi, and Jim Carrey, I loved the acting turns by Olivia Wilde and Alan Arkin and I had a good time laughing at the mocking of magicians like Copperfield and Criis Angel and others, but, if this is not an area that you enjoy, stay away.
72- Spring Breakers- Many critics are calling this an amazing indictment of the current culture of pleasure and enjoyment over common sense. I found it a slightly interesting take on the same themes and the vapidness of today’s society (see also Bling Ring) but the most interesting characters leave after the first hour and the others who were left, even James Franco’s drug dealer) never really intrigued me and I ended up not caring what happened to the main charcaters left at the finale.
71- Bling Ring- I cannot decide where to put this film. The whole point of the film is that the characters are stupid, vapid, and vain. I disliked everyone in this film because they are all stupid, vapid, and vain and I didn’t care about any of them and wanted them to get caught. However, I am sure that the emptiness is the whole point, so the film did its job. But that doesn’t mean that I liked it. Or did I?
70- Closed Circuit- I was very intrigued by this look at the Britsh legal system starring Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall, but, after the initial setup, the script lets them down., Just one example- they are afraid to take a witness to the courthouse because they know that the bad guys are hunting the witness to kill him. So, how do they get him into the courthouse safely> They go about an hour early and walk in the front door. Huh?? A very disappointing film as a whole with fabulous parts! I would highly recommend this just for the good parts, if you turn your brain off for the ridiculous plotholes.
69- Kevin hart- Let Me Explain- The first half of this stand up comedy concert film goes over the same old ‘men and women are different’ jokes as every other comedian has told for the last 30 years, however, once Hart starts telling specific stories about his kid and his horse riding adventure, I laughed quite a bit- too bad that was only in the last 25 minutes or so.
68- Oz- Great & Powerful- Again, way too long, and way too many CGI effects, but I had a great time watching this Wizard of Oz prequel with James Franco as the soon-to-be Wizard. Franco is good. Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, and Mila Kunis are great as the witches of the land and there is a very interesting climax which uses no violence. A good family film, but still too long.
67- Snitch- More of a drama than the action film that Dwayne Johnson fans expected, this was still an enjoyable character drama with great acting by Johnson and Jon Bernthal as an ex-con who helps Johnson’s character. A couple of great stunts, but just a bit too plodding and overemphasis on the same character beats hold this back a bit.
66- Out of the Furnace- This film had amazing acting, incredible tension and a great forboding sense of depression, but the story held no surprises and the characters do exactly what they would do in Screenwriting 101. Disappointing.
65- Lone Ranger- This was probably the hardest movie to rank. The film is waaay too long, the script is a mess, the acting is all over the map, but, for the 3 or 4 action sequences in this film (especially the climax) it can almost all be forgiven because they are so well done. Sadly, there is about 90 minutes or more of blahhh filmmaking to get to the good stuff.
64- Secret Life of Walter Mitty- It is a gorgeous film, very well filmed and made, but while many of my customers at the theater and friends on Facebook are enthusiastic about how amazing the film was and how it is absolutely inspiring, and life changing, I just have to shrug my shoulders and agree that it was good, but nothing special in my eyes. Although the Karaoke bar in Iceland was very funny.
63- Wolf of Wall Street- Yes, it is over-the-top. Yes, it is crude from the very opening moments. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, and Margot Robbie are amazing to watch (along with Matthew Mccaughnahey in a 10 minute cameo), and there are some absolutely hysterical scenes of excess and the effects of drugs, but, after 3 hours, I had not learned anything about the characters or the situations other than what was there at face value. Too long with no heart or soul. But again, I think that was the point.
62- Anchorman 2- This is just as silly, dumb, and pointless as the original. And I laughed quite often. It is, again, too long, goes off on random tangents, and has stretches without laughs, but better than most comedy sequels. The Battle Royale finale is packed with cameos and is very funny.
61- Carrie- Chloe Grace Moretz is spectacular as Carrie, but her amazing screen presence is still hard to suppress at the beginning when she is supposed to be the ultimate wallflower. Julianne Moore is crazily good as her overly religious mother, Judy Greer adds a great dramatic turn as carrie’s school counselor, and the young actors playing the kids trying to help Carrie and bully Carrie do their jobs well, but the question remains- why remake this film? Sadly, I could not find much reason to watch this one over the original, if you’re only going to watch one.
60- Room 237- This is a documentary that follows several theories as to what Stanley Kubrick actually had in mind as subtext when he was making The Shining. This is fascinating on many levels, and just crazy and insane on others (In one of the theories, The Shining proves that Kubrick was the director who faked the footage of America landing on the moon. In another, The Shining is all about the destruction of American Indians.) Since it just has the audio interviews and minimal footage other than the film, it is boring visually as it shows the same scenes from The Shining over and over and over and over again, but still is fascinating on its own level.
59- Kick Ass 2- Chloe Grace Moretz is fabulous again and there are some great bits from Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jim Carrey, and others, but Aaron Johnson as the lead is still a little bland. I really enjoyed watching this but there was no new point to be made in making the sequel, as fun as it was.
58- Broken City- This is a modern film noir that does nothing new with the format as it shows that corruption in big city politics can go all the way to the top. Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Alona Tal do a great job and the tension is held well, but there are no real surprises.
57- Company You Keep- An all star cast (no joke! Robert Redford, Susan Sarandon, Shia LaBoeuf, Anna Kendrick, Chris Cooper, Nick Nolte, and many, many more) elevate the story of a newspaper reporter on the trail of a man who has been a fugitive and living under another name for 35 years and why he finally decides to make a run for it. This is acting class 101, but again, the story does really nothing new or interesting with its ideas.
Good for what they were, but didn’t have the extra “oomph”
93- Great Gatsby-The book never connected with me and neither di this film. It was, however, well acted and well produced, but, again, I didn’t care. It throws around words like love, devotion, and passion, and I didn’t buy any of it. Near the end, when Carraway is alone at the funeral, he says that he was the only one who cared. But why did he care? The movie never showed us that he cared, only that he was enthralled with Gatsby’s life, but it was a very one-sided relationship. I will however probably pick this for the art direction Oscar if it is nominated.
92- Texas Chainsaw 3D- Oh, this movie was crap, but it made me jump a few times, Daddario was good, there were moments of dread, and I liked what they tried to do with it. It didn’t work fully, but it was better than Last Exorcism 2.
91- Baggage Claim- I like watching Paula Patton in films. She is likeable and energetic. The concept of this romantic comedy is generic, but the set up makes it so that this could have been something special and turn the generic rom-com resolution on its head. But, as it get closer to the end, it slowly starts to turn and the ending is extremely disappointing by going to the exact place that any other rom com could have gone. Great ideas, great lead actress, very poor writing of the conclusion.
90- Elysium- Good action, good acting and world building, but the too-on-the-nose social commentary beat me over the head too hard to get into the actual story. Still looking forward to Blomkamp’s next film, though.
89- Oblivion- Again, very well produced film with fabulous technical achievements, and a great performance by Andrea Riseborough (and even Tom Cruise), but, when all is said and done, the twist of the film is identical to a much better film made several years ago and so Oblivion was a little bland as the credits rolled.
88- Jack the Giant Slayer- The movie starts well, dies for about 45 minutes, and then comes back to life and has a rousing finale, but, it dies and stops momentum for a little too long. The effects are good, acting and story are fine, it just could have been trimmed substantially.
87- Hatchet 3- The conclusion to the Hatchet series which is really just an excuse to have over the top violence (by using actual physical effects, not CGI) and a lot of horror movie in-jokes. The first one was fantastic! The last two have been fun, but the returns have been diminishing quickly!
86- Insidious Chapter 2- One of the things that I loved about the original Insidious is that the character played by Rose Byrne was a mom who actively tried to resolve the strange situations plaguing her family. In this one, she becomes the crying, fearful mother who does almost nothing. The change in character hurt this film greatly for me even though the tension and dread were still very well done, but it became more like a common horror film.
85- Evil Dead- Again, it was great to see a horror film use more practical effects instead of CGI. Great acting and, again, tension and dread, take a backseat to inexplicable character choices and a nonsensical script.
84- The Call- Working in a call center, the first hour of this film absolutely nailed the environment, and the tension and helplessness that an operator can feel while attempting to help a caller. Unfortunately, the man kidnapping the girl is over-the-top evil, causes too much mayhem in broad daylight and doesn’t draw attention to himself, and the finale in which Halle Berry’s 911 operator goes after the kidnapper because she knows more than her cop boyfriend, just gets too silly and drops all of the goodwill from the first hour.
83- Despicable Me 2- Admit it, take an honest look at this film. Now, take the minions out of it. You are left with a bland and generic kids film with nothing really for adults or, for that matter, laughs. This film is made entertaining purely by the minions. While I laughed very hard at some of the random jokes (an Isaac from the Love Boat reference? Really?) I was left with an overwhelming feeling of meh with the film as a whole.
82- Croods- The animation is great, it is very funny, and the story is well-meaning, but I didn’t buy it. I felt nothing as the film’s climax came and one of the character’s had to make a sacrifice. While the end of the film was never in question (no big budget family movie is going to end on a down ending), I felt no emotional attachment to the film or charcaters.
81- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2- While far from a bust, this is nowhere as good as the original. It does have an imagination that goes crazy and is infectious, some hysterical gags, but, again, by the end, I felt nothing more for the characters. The first film was one of my favorite animated films of the last few years. This will not be joining it.
80- Percy Jackson- Sea of Monsters- There is nothing really wrong with this film, but there is nothing really right about it, either. There are great cameos (Stanley Tucci and Nathan Fillion are the best) and everyone does their job, but some characters are given the short shrift to make room for a new Cyclops brother, but, again, nothing really lands emotionally. The climax was great in Atmos, but was very meh otherwise.
79- Delivery Man- While I smiled a lot, I never really laughed and that is a problem for a comedy. The actors are fine, but I was never able to allow my suspension of disbelief to take effect as I watched this film. Chris Pratt and Colbiw Smulders make the biggest impacrt, but they are minor roles.
78- This is the End- Just like most Apatow comedies, there is a lot of genius along with a lot of stupidity. This time, the stupidity takes over. I would have marked this lower, but the script does take some amazing surprising and daring paths. And Emma Watson’s cameo is priceless! “Back the f*** up!”
77- Epic- The animation is gorgeous, the sound and score are amazing, and the voices are very well done, but the plot doesn’t really make sense and that kills it for me. In the forest, growth is good and decay is bad. Okay, so, if the queen of the forest keeps everything growing, then the plants will overrun each other and will deplete the food resources very quickly which will lead to death of the plants and decay. But, wait, it can’t because the bad guys of decay were vanquished so this forest will just be overrun with too much foliage that never dies. Yes, I realize that it’s a kids movie and I need to turn my suspension iof disbelief off, but it got too far in the way for me. I can go with talking slugs, but not allow the plot to just be? I know, I know…
76- Black nativity- Good acting and intriguing songs and versions of holiday classics negate the bad melodramatic plot. Not good, not bad, it just is.
75- Runner, Runner- The plot makes no sense and I didn’t care about anyone or anything but I liked watching Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterto, John Heard and Anthony Mackie in gorgeous island settings and a low-level crime drama. It was nothing special at all, but easily watchable.
74- Dark Skies- The opening 20 minutes could have been trimmed waaaay down into one scene to get this alien abduction movie going much quicker, but once it gets going, watch out! There are some seriously creepy moments, disturbing images, and great ideas, but the film just doesn’t quite work as a whole.
73- Incredible Burt Wonderstone- I am probably giving this much more slack than I probably should, but I was one of the target audience members for this comedy that stars Steve Carrell as a Vegas magician who is nearing the end of his reign. I laughed a lot at him, Steve Buscemi, and Jim Carrey, I loved the acting turns by Olivia Wilde and Alan Arkin and I had a good time laughing at the mocking of magicians like Copperfield and Criis Angel and others, but, if this is not an area that you enjoy, stay away.
72- Spring Breakers- Many critics are calling this an amazing indictment of the current culture of pleasure and enjoyment over common sense. I found it a slightly interesting take on the same themes and the vapidness of today’s society (see also Bling Ring) but the most interesting characters leave after the first hour and the others who were left, even James Franco’s drug dealer) never really intrigued me and I ended up not caring what happened to the main charcaters left at the finale.
71- Bling Ring- I cannot decide where to put this film. The whole point of the film is that the characters are stupid, vapid, and vain. I disliked everyone in this film because they are all stupid, vapid, and vain and I didn’t care about any of them and wanted them to get caught. However, I am sure that the emptiness is the whole point, so the film did its job. But that doesn’t mean that I liked it. Or did I?
70- Closed Circuit- I was very intrigued by this look at the Britsh legal system starring Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall, but, after the initial setup, the script lets them down., Just one example- they are afraid to take a witness to the courthouse because they know that the bad guys are hunting the witness to kill him. So, how do they get him into the courthouse safely> They go about an hour early and walk in the front door. Huh?? A very disappointing film as a whole with fabulous parts! I would highly recommend this just for the good parts, if you turn your brain off for the ridiculous plotholes.
69- Kevin hart- Let Me Explain- The first half of this stand up comedy concert film goes over the same old ‘men and women are different’ jokes as every other comedian has told for the last 30 years, however, once Hart starts telling specific stories about his kid and his horse riding adventure, I laughed quite a bit- too bad that was only in the last 25 minutes or so.
68- Oz- Great & Powerful- Again, way too long, and way too many CGI effects, but I had a great time watching this Wizard of Oz prequel with James Franco as the soon-to-be Wizard. Franco is good. Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, and Mila Kunis are great as the witches of the land and there is a very interesting climax which uses no violence. A good family film, but still too long.
67- Snitch- More of a drama than the action film that Dwayne Johnson fans expected, this was still an enjoyable character drama with great acting by Johnson and Jon Bernthal as an ex-con who helps Johnson’s character. A couple of great stunts, but just a bit too plodding and overemphasis on the same character beats hold this back a bit.
66- Out of the Furnace- This film had amazing acting, incredible tension and a great forboding sense of depression, but the story held no surprises and the characters do exactly what they would do in Screenwriting 101. Disappointing.
65- Lone Ranger- This was probably the hardest movie to rank. The film is waaay too long, the script is a mess, the acting is all over the map, but, for the 3 or 4 action sequences in this film (especially the climax) it can almost all be forgiven because they are so well done. Sadly, there is about 90 minutes or more of blahhh filmmaking to get to the good stuff.
64- Secret Life of Walter Mitty- It is a gorgeous film, very well filmed and made, but while many of my customers at the theater and friends on Facebook are enthusiastic about how amazing the film was and how it is absolutely inspiring, and life changing, I just have to shrug my shoulders and agree that it was good, but nothing special in my eyes. Although the Karaoke bar in Iceland was very funny.
63- Wolf of Wall Street- Yes, it is over-the-top. Yes, it is crude from the very opening moments. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, and Margot Robbie are amazing to watch (along with Matthew Mccaughnahey in a 10 minute cameo), and there are some absolutely hysterical scenes of excess and the effects of drugs, but, after 3 hours, I had not learned anything about the characters or the situations other than what was there at face value. Too long with no heart or soul. But again, I think that was the point.
62- Anchorman 2- This is just as silly, dumb, and pointless as the original. And I laughed quite often. It is, again, too long, goes off on random tangents, and has stretches without laughs, but better than most comedy sequels. The Battle Royale finale is packed with cameos and is very funny.
61- Carrie- Chloe Grace Moretz is spectacular as Carrie, but her amazing screen presence is still hard to suppress at the beginning when she is supposed to be the ultimate wallflower. Julianne Moore is crazily good as her overly religious mother, Judy Greer adds a great dramatic turn as carrie’s school counselor, and the young actors playing the kids trying to help Carrie and bully Carrie do their jobs well, but the question remains- why remake this film? Sadly, I could not find much reason to watch this one over the original, if you’re only going to watch one.
60- Room 237- This is a documentary that follows several theories as to what Stanley Kubrick actually had in mind as subtext when he was making The Shining. This is fascinating on many levels, and just crazy and insane on others (In one of the theories, The Shining proves that Kubrick was the director who faked the footage of America landing on the moon. In another, The Shining is all about the destruction of American Indians.) Since it just has the audio interviews and minimal footage other than the film, it is boring visually as it shows the same scenes from The Shining over and over and over and over again, but still is fascinating on its own level.
59- Kick Ass 2- Chloe Grace Moretz is fabulous again and there are some great bits from Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jim Carrey, and others, but Aaron Johnson as the lead is still a little bland. I really enjoyed watching this but there was no new point to be made in making the sequel, as fun as it was.
58- Broken City- This is a modern film noir that does nothing new with the format as it shows that corruption in big city politics can go all the way to the top. Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Alona Tal do a great job and the tension is held well, but there are no real surprises.
57- Company You Keep- An all star cast (no joke! Robert Redford, Susan Sarandon, Shia LaBoeuf, Anna Kendrick, Chris Cooper, Nick Nolte, and many, many more) elevate the story of a newspaper reporter on the trail of a man who has been a fugitive and living under another name for 35 years and why he finally decides to make a run for it. This is acting class 101, but again, the story does really nothing new or interesting with its ideas.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Numbers 104- 94- Pure Entertainment
Pure Entertainment- listed in chronological order of release. These were what they were. No more, no less.
104- Hansel & Gretl Witch Hunters- Really, if you go see a movie with this title, you should know what you’re getting. A surprising character beat (Renner’s character has diabetes due to eating all the candy as a child), cool action, a winking sense of humor, Peter Stormare chewing scenery, bloody, cheesy special effects, and Gemma Arterton doing her best Kate-Beckinsale-in-leather imitation made for a fun 90 minutes.
103- Parker- Using a character from a series of novels by Donald Westlake, Jason Statham stars as a moral thief who goes after his ex-partners to get the amount he was owed for a job after he is shot and left for dead. Jennifer Lopez catches onto his plan and finagles her way into the scheme. A fun little thriller/ action film.
102- Last Stand- Arnold Schwarzenegger comes back to the big screen in a fun way! He is the sheriff in a small US town near the Mexican border where an escaped drug dealer is expected to cross over. Surprising plot choices, a sense of fun, great action, and surprisingly bloody- this film is a blast, however, it does overstay its welcome by about 15 minutes.
101- Gangster Squad- Josh Brolin leads a group of LA cops to do whatever it takes to take down a mobster trying to take over 1930’s Los Angeles. While it is based on a true story, this is a very fictionalized version of that story. It also stars Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Michael Pena and Nick Nolte. With that cast, it should explode off the screen, but unfortunately is nothing more than a fun 2 hour time waster.
100- Good Day to Die Hard- I wish that this film was more than it is. The initial car chase is fantastic, but, otherwise it just coasts by and Is nothing at all memorable. Bruce Willis is taking a paycheck, nothing more, and that hurts me to say it. Fun to watch but nowhere near the classic status of the original. Bonus trivia fact- My first film in Dolby Atmos.
99- Olympus Has Fallen- Basically, Die Hard in the White House. I enjoyed this film, but nothing more. I like the setup for the main character (in a tragic decision, he has to save the life of the President of the US and let the First Lady die) and I like the darkness of it all, it actually works against the film in not making it much fun. This is the bloodier, grittier, R-Rated
Terrorists take over the White House ‘ film of the year.
98- 2 Guns- Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg make a fun team as two undercover cops (from different agencies) who are both pretending to be criminals (unknown to the other) who rob a bank and try to discover who has set them up for the fall after the heist. The interplay between the two is fun and they elevate the material, but, 2 minutes after leaving the theater, the film evaporated from my mind. Enjoyable 2 hour film.
97- Getaway- This is an awful, horribly plotted film. Ethan Hawke stars as an ex-race car driver whose wife is kidnapped. He is contacted and told that he must steal a car and do specific tasks throughout the city one night and if he refuses, his wife will be killed. Selena Gomez is the owner of the car he steals who is also a computer hacker. Unbelievable to the extreme, but a very cheap knock-off version of a Fast and the Furious type of film with great car stunts and an amazing 90 second shot filmed from the front bumper of the car as it runs red lights and travels through the streets gives this film a major leg up.
96- Riddick- Nowhere near as good as the original Pitch Black, but still a fun film with Riddick being left for dead on a planet that has many threats to life, so he calls for a rescue ship which happens to be populated by bounty hunters looking for him. A tense scene involving a locker full of explosives, a tough Vin Diesel, interesting setup (almost a silent film for 30 minutes as he survives on the planet alone, except for his pet “dog”) help this, but it is nothing more than what the makers wanted- a pulp story brought to the big screen.
95- Escape Plan- Stallone is an expert of breaking out of prisons who is hired by a shadowy group to go into an unknown prison and attempt escape. Once there, he discovers that he has been duped and is being kept locked away with no “safe word” escape route. He enlists Schwartzenegger to assist in his escape and take down the cruel warden. While I enjoyed this film quite a bit, the ending was extremely rushed and Stallone’s “office team” is severely wasted, but otherwise a very enjoyable ride.
94- Homefront- Jason Statham again as an ex-undercover cop who moves to a small Louisiana town with his daughter to escape the wrath of a local drug kingpin. When he is discovered by the small town drug dealer who sells him out, the dealer he put away plots revenge. Waaaay overlong by 20- 30 minutes with characters who drop in and out for long stretches of time (and one that disappears entirely for no reason after the first 45 minutes or so), but an interesting film, nonetheless. It has a slight ‘Straw Dogs’ vibe to it. One of the “coulda” films- It coulda been so much better but its not bad for what it is.
104- Hansel & Gretl Witch Hunters- Really, if you go see a movie with this title, you should know what you’re getting. A surprising character beat (Renner’s character has diabetes due to eating all the candy as a child), cool action, a winking sense of humor, Peter Stormare chewing scenery, bloody, cheesy special effects, and Gemma Arterton doing her best Kate-Beckinsale-in-leather imitation made for a fun 90 minutes.
103- Parker- Using a character from a series of novels by Donald Westlake, Jason Statham stars as a moral thief who goes after his ex-partners to get the amount he was owed for a job after he is shot and left for dead. Jennifer Lopez catches onto his plan and finagles her way into the scheme. A fun little thriller/ action film.
102- Last Stand- Arnold Schwarzenegger comes back to the big screen in a fun way! He is the sheriff in a small US town near the Mexican border where an escaped drug dealer is expected to cross over. Surprising plot choices, a sense of fun, great action, and surprisingly bloody- this film is a blast, however, it does overstay its welcome by about 15 minutes.
101- Gangster Squad- Josh Brolin leads a group of LA cops to do whatever it takes to take down a mobster trying to take over 1930’s Los Angeles. While it is based on a true story, this is a very fictionalized version of that story. It also stars Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Michael Pena and Nick Nolte. With that cast, it should explode off the screen, but unfortunately is nothing more than a fun 2 hour time waster.
100- Good Day to Die Hard- I wish that this film was more than it is. The initial car chase is fantastic, but, otherwise it just coasts by and Is nothing at all memorable. Bruce Willis is taking a paycheck, nothing more, and that hurts me to say it. Fun to watch but nowhere near the classic status of the original. Bonus trivia fact- My first film in Dolby Atmos.
99- Olympus Has Fallen- Basically, Die Hard in the White House. I enjoyed this film, but nothing more. I like the setup for the main character (in a tragic decision, he has to save the life of the President of the US and let the First Lady die) and I like the darkness of it all, it actually works against the film in not making it much fun. This is the bloodier, grittier, R-Rated
Terrorists take over the White House ‘ film of the year.
98- 2 Guns- Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg make a fun team as two undercover cops (from different agencies) who are both pretending to be criminals (unknown to the other) who rob a bank and try to discover who has set them up for the fall after the heist. The interplay between the two is fun and they elevate the material, but, 2 minutes after leaving the theater, the film evaporated from my mind. Enjoyable 2 hour film.
97- Getaway- This is an awful, horribly plotted film. Ethan Hawke stars as an ex-race car driver whose wife is kidnapped. He is contacted and told that he must steal a car and do specific tasks throughout the city one night and if he refuses, his wife will be killed. Selena Gomez is the owner of the car he steals who is also a computer hacker. Unbelievable to the extreme, but a very cheap knock-off version of a Fast and the Furious type of film with great car stunts and an amazing 90 second shot filmed from the front bumper of the car as it runs red lights and travels through the streets gives this film a major leg up.
96- Riddick- Nowhere near as good as the original Pitch Black, but still a fun film with Riddick being left for dead on a planet that has many threats to life, so he calls for a rescue ship which happens to be populated by bounty hunters looking for him. A tense scene involving a locker full of explosives, a tough Vin Diesel, interesting setup (almost a silent film for 30 minutes as he survives on the planet alone, except for his pet “dog”) help this, but it is nothing more than what the makers wanted- a pulp story brought to the big screen.
95- Escape Plan- Stallone is an expert of breaking out of prisons who is hired by a shadowy group to go into an unknown prison and attempt escape. Once there, he discovers that he has been duped and is being kept locked away with no “safe word” escape route. He enlists Schwartzenegger to assist in his escape and take down the cruel warden. While I enjoyed this film quite a bit, the ending was extremely rushed and Stallone’s “office team” is severely wasted, but otherwise a very enjoyable ride.
94- Homefront- Jason Statham again as an ex-undercover cop who moves to a small Louisiana town with his daughter to escape the wrath of a local drug kingpin. When he is discovered by the small town drug dealer who sells him out, the dealer he put away plots revenge. Waaaay overlong by 20- 30 minutes with characters who drop in and out for long stretches of time (and one that disappears entirely for no reason after the first 45 minutes or so), but an interesting film, nonetheless. It has a slight ‘Straw Dogs’ vibe to it. One of the “coulda” films- It coulda been so much better but its not bad for what it is.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
2013 Movies numbers 123- 105
Although this list does rank the films that I saw this year, and I critique them, I want everyone to know that I still enjoyed every single movie that I saw this year on some level. If it is a movie and I am watching it, I am enjoying it.
In making this list, I have created 7 categories in which I placed the films. To try to ensure that my placement in the categories was correct, I went through and made sure that, as I rose through the levels, I would generally rather watch a film from level 3 before I watched one from Level 4, and so on. Then, in each level, I ranked them again, so that, generally speaking, I would rather watch number 105 than 1-8 and so on.
The only time that I did not follow this ranking is in my section of 'Pure Entertainment'. These are generally action films and these are ranked in chronological order. Since my dad was a cop, I grew up watching cop shows and they are generally like "comfort food" to me and I can watch them at any time and I am almost always much more lenient on these types of films than I should be- that's why they get their own section.
It was 13 years ago, while watching 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' that I realized that, in order to consider something really good and solid that I had to care or that it had to really touch me in some way. The films which are lower on my list are there, more often than not, because, at the end of the film, I didn't really care about the characters or the story told, and I was able to walk out of the theater and not really think much more about the story and the characters and it was only the technical maiking of the film that kept going through my head.
On the other end of the spectrum, though, I am starting to realize that the films that make the top of my list are ones where I do honestly care about the story or characters, where I am transported into the film and forget everything for 2 hours, or films that have deep connective ties to me.
I will admit, right now, that the films that are at the very top of my list this year are ones that, even though I see flaws in them, they touched me and struck a deep chord somewhere in me. These chords include cancer, family, fathers, and creatvity.
In fact, to give a bit of a tease, my favorite film of the year is actually one that had no real storytelling surprises at all, but it featured 4 actors at the top of their craft making a heartfelt film that had me laughing or crying the entire 90 minute running time the first time I saw it and, while I did not quite do the same the second time that I saw it, I still laughed a lot and got very teary.
Anyway, that is for a different post. Here, to start off the list are my least favorite films that I saw this year.
Bottom of the Barrel-
123- The Host- I am not a Stephanie Meyers hater who automatically hates it just because she is behind it. While I do think the Twilight films were bad, they had certain actors and moments that stopped them from being the absolute worst and, conceptually, I have heard of storylines that are much worse (a high school cheerleader who is also a vampire slayer). The Host, however, even though it has a great cast and a concept that is not necessarily a bad concept, should have stayed on the page. The actors do what they can, but they can’t save it. Having a voice over done by the voices in the main girl’s head doesn’t work, a love quadrangle with 2 minds in one female body and 2 separate boys is laughable, sets look chintzy…the list goes on. It ended up just being a very very bad film and not working on any level.
Good moments, good cast, but large disappointments
122- Diana- Naomi Watts does a great job in playing “The People’s Princess” in this film look at the last 3 years of Diana’s life, but, had I not lived through the actual events, I wouldn’t have cared at all about anything that happens. It is boring, plotless, and gives nothing more than a glance behind the façade. Very, very disappointing.
121- Book Thief- While I know that many people are loving this film, both of an older generation and younger, I found this film very boring and pointless. Whena main plotline is about the hiding of a Jew in a basement in Nazi Germany and absolutely nothing comes of it either plotwise or characterwise, it is a very misguided film. Story points are brought up and dropped, never to be heard from again, characters make random decisions that do not have any point, things happen for no reason, and again, the list goes on and on. Only the acting by Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and the main character played by Sophie Nelisse and the mjusic score by John Willliams make this even worth watching.
120- Last Exorcism 2- I really enjoyed the first film and found it both fascinating and terrifying. There is almost none of that here. Only Ashley Bell’s lead performance keeps this one on the tracks. I like the darkness of where they were trying to go, but it just didn’t work.
119- To Do List- While the cast is amazing, absolutely nothing of any interest really happens in this film. It feels like a generic 80’s sex comedy that was barely released and only Clark Gregg and Connie Britton as Aubrey Plaza’s parents make any impact. No laughs cripple a comedy.
118- Counsellor- While I love the darkness and bleakness of this film, I just didn’t care. I liked some of the monologues, but at the end of the day, I did not feel any of the stakes for any of the characters, some of the acting was bland, other acting was flat-out bad, some scenes were ridiculous in a bad way- this is showing up on Top 10 and Bottom 10 lists this year and for me, it is on the bottom.
117- RIPD- Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, mary Louise Parker and Kevin Bacon are all game, but this film is a pale imitation of Men in Black. Only a few silly quips keep it from the bottom.
116- Dead Man Down- Dripping with mood and good acting, but with a pace that is plodding and a plot that is uninteresting, this Colin Farrell-starrer was easily forgotten upon leaving the theater.
115- Rapture-Palooza- A few random laughs and a great comedic cast with impeccable timing (Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Ana Gasteyer, Thomas Lennon, John Francis Daley) does not save this misfire about a woman who, after the rapture, is coerced into getting intimate with the Anti-Christ so that she can trick him and imprison him for a thousand years. Too much emphasis on the crude jokes while the actually funny bits are few and far between. Oh, and Anna Kendrick looks great in the white dress.
114- Hangover 3- I really admire the fact that the filmmakers took this film in a different direction (as opposed to Hangover 2) and make 3 more of an action film. Unfortunately, very little of it works. Bradley Cooper having to climb down the outside of Caesar’s Palace and Chow’s parachuting down the strip are highlights, as is a quick reunion with Heather Graham’s hooker from the first film adds a touching couple of scenes, but otherwise, again, why bother (?) and very forgettable.
113- Machete Kills- I knew that I was going into a complete piece of trash filmmaking- which I got- however, as opposed to the original film, it isn’t much fun. Until the last 30 minutes or so of the 2 hour running time. Then the film springs to life with all the gloriously bad, cheesy plotpoints connect and it almost redeems itself. Almost. By that point, though, the film has overstayed its welcome (see: The Lone Ranger) I am srtill excited to see Machete Kills Again…. In Space.
112- Pulling Strings- In what is basically an extended Three’s Company setup, a mariachi band member helps a Consulate worker who just denied him his US Visa find a computer that she thinks was lost but is actually safely at his apartment in exchange for receiving a Visa. I laughed only once in this two hour long romantic “comedy” and while definitely not a chore to sit through, the script meanders way too much and the chemistry between the leads is non-existent.
111- Hobbit- Desolation of Smaug- I have not really been a fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, nor the previous Hobbit film. However, the more that I thought about this film, the more I disliked it. Other than Evangeline Lilly, the barrel/ river chase, and the Dolby Atmos sound, I disliked this movie. The Hobbit was barely in it except for the last 40 minutes or so, it belabored plot points and… Every. Single Thing. That. Each. Character. Says. Is. Of. The. Utmost. Importance. The action was not fun nor was it exciting, the characters were boring, Gandalf is off on his own adventure through most of the running time watching the menace of Sauron buld (which is absolutely non-essential to this story),and Smaug was not menacing. Also, apparently in a world that has Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs, cats and pigs are alive and well. It feels as though the film is struggling to give the audience more of what it loved in the original trilogy and this time, you see the film’s own flop sweat. CGI still looks like CGI. The best thing of this film? I only have about 3 more hours to spend in middle earth.
110- Jobs- Steve Jobs is a fascinating individual. He pushed technology further than anyone expected it could go. He was a perfectionist. And a world class jerk. That is basically what I got out of this film about Steve Jobs. I have not read his biography nor do I know everything about him and his associates. This film introduces names that I know but does not give me much reason to care. It jumps back and forth in time for the opening 20 minutes. His wife is only onscreen when he can yell at her. Characters are introduced and then forgotten until it is time for Jobs to betray them or for them to betray Jobs. While the acting is the only thing going for this film, it makes it worth it, but it never really scratches anything more than the surface and gives us anything other than: Jobs was a genius, Jobs was a jerk sequences.
109- Beautiful Creatures- While not unwatchable, there is also nothing really noteworthy about this adaptation of the first in a series of young adult novels trying to be the next Twilight. The production is competent, the acting is good, but again, nothing connected with me in the story or the characters. Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons are always welcome to watch, but even they can’t save this film.
108- Paranoia- Paranoia is actually only a plotpoint for about 5 minutes of this film. This is one of the most bland films made this year. Characters aren’t really characters in this film, they are chess pieces and they make moves and decisions only to get them to certain places in the plot- nothing seems natural or plausible. Gary Oldman chews the scenery and ignites his scenes. Harrison Ford doesn’t even appear until about the 40 minute mark and only has a few scenes. The real killer of this film is the non-relationship between its leads Liam hemsworth and Amber Heard, both of whom I have liked in other films, but do nothing but recite dialogue here. Even though the plot is silly now ( a phone which has lots of capabilities) it could have been overshadowed by gutsy directorial decisions and a tighter script. This is a real disappointment.
107- Butler- Forest Whitaker is amazing. Let me repeat that- Forest Whittaker is amazing. Otherwise, this is a horrible white-guilt crowd pleaser meant to make white people feel good about themselves because now we have a black President. This takes a fascinating true story and morphs it into a horrible Forrest Gump like film where the titular butler’s son is involved in every single important piece of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s. because the Presidents speak to The Butler, they make decisions leading to the laws giving Civil Rights across the board. Oprah Winfrey is along for the ride and co-stars as The Butler’s wife who hates him for the first half of the film and admires him for the second half with no turning point other than it was written in the script. Some of the cameos are great but for every good moment in this film, there is an awful, cringe-inducing moment. I hope that this wons no Academy Awards, especially for Oprah, and that, if any black film wins awards, it should be 12 Years a Slave, a much, much more well-made film.
106- Man of Steel- Another film that makes a really awful choice for every awesome choice. I like a lot of man of Steel. Cavill is great, Amy Adams is an actual Lois Lane that I believe is an award winning journalist, Diane Lane and Kevin Costner bring the heart to Clark’s yearning for home and family and Michael Shannon is an evil bad guy with motives I understand and sympathize with. I like the “hero who disappears” angle along with the parts of the military not knowing if Superman is a threat or not. Unfortunately, I realized that I just don’t care about Superman’s backstory and Krypton. I never have. Thus, seeing it again and continuing to discuss it bored me out of my mind. Also, the last 45 minutes or so can be summed up like this- IHOP- punch, punch, punch, punch punch, punch, Sears, I throw you through a building, you throw me through a building, bad CGI, bad CGI, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch. Way too long, drawn out and boring. I am more excited for the sequel than I am in ever watching this again.
105- Bullet to the Head- Sylvester Stallone returns as a mobster who has to work with a cop to find who killed their respective partners, all helped out by Sarah Shahi as Stallone’s tattoo artist daughter. This is a very non-descript action film with a fun, exciting climax. I have become a Shahi fan this year after watching the TV show ‘Life’ and she adds some much needed spark, but nowhere near enough. Otherwise, nothing here.
In making this list, I have created 7 categories in which I placed the films. To try to ensure that my placement in the categories was correct, I went through and made sure that, as I rose through the levels, I would generally rather watch a film from level 3 before I watched one from Level 4, and so on. Then, in each level, I ranked them again, so that, generally speaking, I would rather watch number 105 than 1-8 and so on.
The only time that I did not follow this ranking is in my section of 'Pure Entertainment'. These are generally action films and these are ranked in chronological order. Since my dad was a cop, I grew up watching cop shows and they are generally like "comfort food" to me and I can watch them at any time and I am almost always much more lenient on these types of films than I should be- that's why they get their own section.
It was 13 years ago, while watching 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' that I realized that, in order to consider something really good and solid that I had to care or that it had to really touch me in some way. The films which are lower on my list are there, more often than not, because, at the end of the film, I didn't really care about the characters or the story told, and I was able to walk out of the theater and not really think much more about the story and the characters and it was only the technical maiking of the film that kept going through my head.
On the other end of the spectrum, though, I am starting to realize that the films that make the top of my list are ones where I do honestly care about the story or characters, where I am transported into the film and forget everything for 2 hours, or films that have deep connective ties to me.
I will admit, right now, that the films that are at the very top of my list this year are ones that, even though I see flaws in them, they touched me and struck a deep chord somewhere in me. These chords include cancer, family, fathers, and creatvity.
In fact, to give a bit of a tease, my favorite film of the year is actually one that had no real storytelling surprises at all, but it featured 4 actors at the top of their craft making a heartfelt film that had me laughing or crying the entire 90 minute running time the first time I saw it and, while I did not quite do the same the second time that I saw it, I still laughed a lot and got very teary.
Anyway, that is for a different post. Here, to start off the list are my least favorite films that I saw this year.
Bottom of the Barrel-
123- The Host- I am not a Stephanie Meyers hater who automatically hates it just because she is behind it. While I do think the Twilight films were bad, they had certain actors and moments that stopped them from being the absolute worst and, conceptually, I have heard of storylines that are much worse (a high school cheerleader who is also a vampire slayer). The Host, however, even though it has a great cast and a concept that is not necessarily a bad concept, should have stayed on the page. The actors do what they can, but they can’t save it. Having a voice over done by the voices in the main girl’s head doesn’t work, a love quadrangle with 2 minds in one female body and 2 separate boys is laughable, sets look chintzy…the list goes on. It ended up just being a very very bad film and not working on any level.
Good moments, good cast, but large disappointments
122- Diana- Naomi Watts does a great job in playing “The People’s Princess” in this film look at the last 3 years of Diana’s life, but, had I not lived through the actual events, I wouldn’t have cared at all about anything that happens. It is boring, plotless, and gives nothing more than a glance behind the façade. Very, very disappointing.
121- Book Thief- While I know that many people are loving this film, both of an older generation and younger, I found this film very boring and pointless. Whena main plotline is about the hiding of a Jew in a basement in Nazi Germany and absolutely nothing comes of it either plotwise or characterwise, it is a very misguided film. Story points are brought up and dropped, never to be heard from again, characters make random decisions that do not have any point, things happen for no reason, and again, the list goes on and on. Only the acting by Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and the main character played by Sophie Nelisse and the mjusic score by John Willliams make this even worth watching.
120- Last Exorcism 2- I really enjoyed the first film and found it both fascinating and terrifying. There is almost none of that here. Only Ashley Bell’s lead performance keeps this one on the tracks. I like the darkness of where they were trying to go, but it just didn’t work.
119- To Do List- While the cast is amazing, absolutely nothing of any interest really happens in this film. It feels like a generic 80’s sex comedy that was barely released and only Clark Gregg and Connie Britton as Aubrey Plaza’s parents make any impact. No laughs cripple a comedy.
118- Counsellor- While I love the darkness and bleakness of this film, I just didn’t care. I liked some of the monologues, but at the end of the day, I did not feel any of the stakes for any of the characters, some of the acting was bland, other acting was flat-out bad, some scenes were ridiculous in a bad way- this is showing up on Top 10 and Bottom 10 lists this year and for me, it is on the bottom.
117- RIPD- Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, mary Louise Parker and Kevin Bacon are all game, but this film is a pale imitation of Men in Black. Only a few silly quips keep it from the bottom.
116- Dead Man Down- Dripping with mood and good acting, but with a pace that is plodding and a plot that is uninteresting, this Colin Farrell-starrer was easily forgotten upon leaving the theater.
115- Rapture-Palooza- A few random laughs and a great comedic cast with impeccable timing (Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Ana Gasteyer, Thomas Lennon, John Francis Daley) does not save this misfire about a woman who, after the rapture, is coerced into getting intimate with the Anti-Christ so that she can trick him and imprison him for a thousand years. Too much emphasis on the crude jokes while the actually funny bits are few and far between. Oh, and Anna Kendrick looks great in the white dress.
114- Hangover 3- I really admire the fact that the filmmakers took this film in a different direction (as opposed to Hangover 2) and make 3 more of an action film. Unfortunately, very little of it works. Bradley Cooper having to climb down the outside of Caesar’s Palace and Chow’s parachuting down the strip are highlights, as is a quick reunion with Heather Graham’s hooker from the first film adds a touching couple of scenes, but otherwise, again, why bother (?) and very forgettable.
113- Machete Kills- I knew that I was going into a complete piece of trash filmmaking- which I got- however, as opposed to the original film, it isn’t much fun. Until the last 30 minutes or so of the 2 hour running time. Then the film springs to life with all the gloriously bad, cheesy plotpoints connect and it almost redeems itself. Almost. By that point, though, the film has overstayed its welcome (see: The Lone Ranger) I am srtill excited to see Machete Kills Again…. In Space.
112- Pulling Strings- In what is basically an extended Three’s Company setup, a mariachi band member helps a Consulate worker who just denied him his US Visa find a computer that she thinks was lost but is actually safely at his apartment in exchange for receiving a Visa. I laughed only once in this two hour long romantic “comedy” and while definitely not a chore to sit through, the script meanders way too much and the chemistry between the leads is non-existent.
111- Hobbit- Desolation of Smaug- I have not really been a fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, nor the previous Hobbit film. However, the more that I thought about this film, the more I disliked it. Other than Evangeline Lilly, the barrel/ river chase, and the Dolby Atmos sound, I disliked this movie. The Hobbit was barely in it except for the last 40 minutes or so, it belabored plot points and… Every. Single Thing. That. Each. Character. Says. Is. Of. The. Utmost. Importance. The action was not fun nor was it exciting, the characters were boring, Gandalf is off on his own adventure through most of the running time watching the menace of Sauron buld (which is absolutely non-essential to this story),and Smaug was not menacing. Also, apparently in a world that has Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs, cats and pigs are alive and well. It feels as though the film is struggling to give the audience more of what it loved in the original trilogy and this time, you see the film’s own flop sweat. CGI still looks like CGI. The best thing of this film? I only have about 3 more hours to spend in middle earth.
110- Jobs- Steve Jobs is a fascinating individual. He pushed technology further than anyone expected it could go. He was a perfectionist. And a world class jerk. That is basically what I got out of this film about Steve Jobs. I have not read his biography nor do I know everything about him and his associates. This film introduces names that I know but does not give me much reason to care. It jumps back and forth in time for the opening 20 minutes. His wife is only onscreen when he can yell at her. Characters are introduced and then forgotten until it is time for Jobs to betray them or for them to betray Jobs. While the acting is the only thing going for this film, it makes it worth it, but it never really scratches anything more than the surface and gives us anything other than: Jobs was a genius, Jobs was a jerk sequences.
109- Beautiful Creatures- While not unwatchable, there is also nothing really noteworthy about this adaptation of the first in a series of young adult novels trying to be the next Twilight. The production is competent, the acting is good, but again, nothing connected with me in the story or the characters. Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons are always welcome to watch, but even they can’t save this film.
108- Paranoia- Paranoia is actually only a plotpoint for about 5 minutes of this film. This is one of the most bland films made this year. Characters aren’t really characters in this film, they are chess pieces and they make moves and decisions only to get them to certain places in the plot- nothing seems natural or plausible. Gary Oldman chews the scenery and ignites his scenes. Harrison Ford doesn’t even appear until about the 40 minute mark and only has a few scenes. The real killer of this film is the non-relationship between its leads Liam hemsworth and Amber Heard, both of whom I have liked in other films, but do nothing but recite dialogue here. Even though the plot is silly now ( a phone which has lots of capabilities) it could have been overshadowed by gutsy directorial decisions and a tighter script. This is a real disappointment.
107- Butler- Forest Whitaker is amazing. Let me repeat that- Forest Whittaker is amazing. Otherwise, this is a horrible white-guilt crowd pleaser meant to make white people feel good about themselves because now we have a black President. This takes a fascinating true story and morphs it into a horrible Forrest Gump like film where the titular butler’s son is involved in every single important piece of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s. because the Presidents speak to The Butler, they make decisions leading to the laws giving Civil Rights across the board. Oprah Winfrey is along for the ride and co-stars as The Butler’s wife who hates him for the first half of the film and admires him for the second half with no turning point other than it was written in the script. Some of the cameos are great but for every good moment in this film, there is an awful, cringe-inducing moment. I hope that this wons no Academy Awards, especially for Oprah, and that, if any black film wins awards, it should be 12 Years a Slave, a much, much more well-made film.
106- Man of Steel- Another film that makes a really awful choice for every awesome choice. I like a lot of man of Steel. Cavill is great, Amy Adams is an actual Lois Lane that I believe is an award winning journalist, Diane Lane and Kevin Costner bring the heart to Clark’s yearning for home and family and Michael Shannon is an evil bad guy with motives I understand and sympathize with. I like the “hero who disappears” angle along with the parts of the military not knowing if Superman is a threat or not. Unfortunately, I realized that I just don’t care about Superman’s backstory and Krypton. I never have. Thus, seeing it again and continuing to discuss it bored me out of my mind. Also, the last 45 minutes or so can be summed up like this- IHOP- punch, punch, punch, punch punch, punch, Sears, I throw you through a building, you throw me through a building, bad CGI, bad CGI, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch. Way too long, drawn out and boring. I am more excited for the sequel than I am in ever watching this again.
105- Bullet to the Head- Sylvester Stallone returns as a mobster who has to work with a cop to find who killed their respective partners, all helped out by Sarah Shahi as Stallone’s tattoo artist daughter. This is a very non-descript action film with a fun, exciting climax. I have become a Shahi fan this year after watching the TV show ‘Life’ and she adds some much needed spark, but nowhere near enough. Otherwise, nothing here.
Total List of everything watched in 2013
Here is a list of everything that I have watched for the first time during 2013. I have decided to keep it to first time watches because, if I have seen something before, I may watch it while I fold laundry and only watch a specific 20 minutes or so. I figured this was just the easiest way to do it as, if I have not seen it before, I will push through and finish it as opposed to the half-watche or clips or listing Raiders of the Lost Ark 13 more times. I have notated if I watched a specific film more than once this year as well.
This list includes a total of 178 films watched this year- 155 individual new films watched- along with 5 seasons of half hour long tv shows and 23 seasons of hour long TV shows.
Here it is, my list of everyhing new watched in 2013:
Previous Years’ films
Big Red One
Code of Silence
Extract
Goon- 2x
Green Berets
Harper
Just Go With It- 2x
Rocky Balboa
To Catch a Thief
Trick or Treat- 1986
Visiting Hours
Warning Shot
Watching Currently
TV Series
Big Bang Theory Ssn 5
Body of Proof Ssn 2
Body of Proof Ssn 3
Castle Ssn 4
Community Ssn 4
Covert Affairs Ssn 2
CSI Miami Ssn 10
CSI NY Ssn 8
CSI NY Ssn 9
CSI Vegas Ssn 12
CSI Vegas Ssn 13
Dollhouse Ssn 1
Fairly Legal Ssn 1
Fairly Legal Ssn 2
Good Wife Ssn 2
Hart to Hart Ssn 1
House of Lies Ssn 1
Law & Order LA Complete series
Life Ssn 1
Life Ssn 2
Mentalist Ssn 2
Mentalist Ssn 3
Mentalist Ssn 4
Newsroom Ssn 1
Party Down Ssn 1
Rizzoli & Isles Ssn 3
Psych Ssn 6
Suburgatory Ssn 1
2012 films
Les Miserables- 2x
Jack Reacher
Life of Pi
Lay the favorite
The Hobbit
Zero Dark Thirty
The Impossible
Django unchained
Wreck It ralph- 2x
Hitchcock
VHS
Beasts of Southern Wild
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Seven Psychopaths
Perks of Being a Wallflower
Collection
Fun Size
Hit & Run
Man with the Iron Fists
Dredd
2013 Films
1-Texas Chainsaw 3D
2- Hansel & Gretel Witch hunters
3- Warm Bodies
4- Good day to Die Hard
5- Snitch
6- Dark Skies- 2x
7- Jack the Giant Slayer
8- Last Exorcism Part 2
9- Oz- Great & Powerful
10- Dead Man Down
11- Incredible Burt Wonderstone
12- The Call
13- Croods
14- Gi Joe- Retaliation- 2x
15- Olympus Has Fallen
16- The Host
17- Jurassic Park 3D- 2x
18- 42
19- Spring Breakers
20- Trance
21- Evil Dead
22- Oblivion
23- Iron Man 3
24. Star Trek Into Darkness- 3x
25- The Last Stand- 2x
26- Hangover Part 3
27- Now You See Me- 3x
28- Fast & Furious 6
29- Gangster Squad
30- Man of Steel
31- World War Z- 2x
32- Monsters University
33- This is the End
34- The Heat- 2x
35- Bling Ring
36- White House Down- 2x
37- Lone Ranger
38- Kevin Hart- Let Me Explain
39- Pacific Rim
40- RED 2
41- RIPD
42- Way, Way Back- 3x
43- To-Do List
44- Unfinished Song- 2x
45- Conjuring- 2x
46- Wolverine
47- 2 Guns
48- Percy Jackson- Sea of Monsters
49- We’re the Millers
50- Kick Ass 2
51- Paranoia
52- Elysium
53- Mortal Instruments- City of Bones
54- The World’s End- 3x
55- Closed Circuit
56- Jobs
57- Getaway
58- Spectacular Now
59- Riddick
60- You’re Next
61- Despicable Me 2
62- Butler
63- The Family
64- Instructions Not Included
65- Room 237
66- Bullet to the Head
67- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
68- Baggage Claim
69- Thanks for Sharing
70- Prisoners
71- Rush
72- Runner Runner
73- Don Jon
74- Insidious Chapter 2
75- Gravity
76- Saratov Approach
77- Pulling Strings
78- Crystal Lake Memories
79- Captain Phillips
80- Machete Kills
81- Enough Said
82- Hatchet 3
83- Carrie
84- Escape Plan
85- Last Vegas
86- Ender’s Game
87- All is Lost
88- Counselor
89- Thor Dark World
90- About Time
91- Diana
92- 12 Years a Slave
93- Dallas Buyers Club
94- Delivery Man
95- Hunger Games: Catching Fire
96- Frozen- 2x
97- Homefront
98- Philomena- 2x
99- Out of the Furnace
100- Drew- the Man Behind the Poster
101- Book Thief
102- Black Nativity
103- Rapture-Palooza
104- Company You Keep
105- Drinking Buddies
106- Anchorman 2
107- Hobbit- Desolation of Smaug
108- American Hustle
109- Saving Mr. Banks
110- Pain & Gain
111- Parker
112- Secret Life of Walter Mitty
113- Wolf of Wall Street
114- Epic
115- 47 Ronin
116- Mama
117- Byzantium
118- Behind the Candelabra
119- Grudge Match
120- Broken City
121- Great Gatsby
122- Beautiful Creatures
123- Mud
This list includes a total of 178 films watched this year- 155 individual new films watched- along with 5 seasons of half hour long tv shows and 23 seasons of hour long TV shows.
Here it is, my list of everyhing new watched in 2013:
Previous Years’ films
Big Red One
Code of Silence
Extract
Goon- 2x
Green Berets
Harper
Just Go With It- 2x
Rocky Balboa
To Catch a Thief
Trick or Treat- 1986
Visiting Hours
Warning Shot
Watching Currently
TV Series
Big Bang Theory Ssn 5
Body of Proof Ssn 2
Body of Proof Ssn 3
Castle Ssn 4
Community Ssn 4
Covert Affairs Ssn 2
CSI Miami Ssn 10
CSI NY Ssn 8
CSI NY Ssn 9
CSI Vegas Ssn 12
CSI Vegas Ssn 13
Dollhouse Ssn 1
Fairly Legal Ssn 1
Fairly Legal Ssn 2
Good Wife Ssn 2
Hart to Hart Ssn 1
House of Lies Ssn 1
Law & Order LA Complete series
Life Ssn 1
Life Ssn 2
Mentalist Ssn 2
Mentalist Ssn 3
Mentalist Ssn 4
Newsroom Ssn 1
Party Down Ssn 1
Rizzoli & Isles Ssn 3
Psych Ssn 6
Suburgatory Ssn 1
2012 films
Les Miserables- 2x
Jack Reacher
Life of Pi
Lay the favorite
The Hobbit
Zero Dark Thirty
The Impossible
Django unchained
Wreck It ralph- 2x
Hitchcock
VHS
Beasts of Southern Wild
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Seven Psychopaths
Perks of Being a Wallflower
Collection
Fun Size
Hit & Run
Man with the Iron Fists
Dredd
2013 Films
1-Texas Chainsaw 3D
2- Hansel & Gretel Witch hunters
3- Warm Bodies
4- Good day to Die Hard
5- Snitch
6- Dark Skies- 2x
7- Jack the Giant Slayer
8- Last Exorcism Part 2
9- Oz- Great & Powerful
10- Dead Man Down
11- Incredible Burt Wonderstone
12- The Call
13- Croods
14- Gi Joe- Retaliation- 2x
15- Olympus Has Fallen
16- The Host
17- Jurassic Park 3D- 2x
18- 42
19- Spring Breakers
20- Trance
21- Evil Dead
22- Oblivion
23- Iron Man 3
24. Star Trek Into Darkness- 3x
25- The Last Stand- 2x
26- Hangover Part 3
27- Now You See Me- 3x
28- Fast & Furious 6
29- Gangster Squad
30- Man of Steel
31- World War Z- 2x
32- Monsters University
33- This is the End
34- The Heat- 2x
35- Bling Ring
36- White House Down- 2x
37- Lone Ranger
38- Kevin Hart- Let Me Explain
39- Pacific Rim
40- RED 2
41- RIPD
42- Way, Way Back- 3x
43- To-Do List
44- Unfinished Song- 2x
45- Conjuring- 2x
46- Wolverine
47- 2 Guns
48- Percy Jackson- Sea of Monsters
49- We’re the Millers
50- Kick Ass 2
51- Paranoia
52- Elysium
53- Mortal Instruments- City of Bones
54- The World’s End- 3x
55- Closed Circuit
56- Jobs
57- Getaway
58- Spectacular Now
59- Riddick
60- You’re Next
61- Despicable Me 2
62- Butler
63- The Family
64- Instructions Not Included
65- Room 237
66- Bullet to the Head
67- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
68- Baggage Claim
69- Thanks for Sharing
70- Prisoners
71- Rush
72- Runner Runner
73- Don Jon
74- Insidious Chapter 2
75- Gravity
76- Saratov Approach
77- Pulling Strings
78- Crystal Lake Memories
79- Captain Phillips
80- Machete Kills
81- Enough Said
82- Hatchet 3
83- Carrie
84- Escape Plan
85- Last Vegas
86- Ender’s Game
87- All is Lost
88- Counselor
89- Thor Dark World
90- About Time
91- Diana
92- 12 Years a Slave
93- Dallas Buyers Club
94- Delivery Man
95- Hunger Games: Catching Fire
96- Frozen- 2x
97- Homefront
98- Philomena- 2x
99- Out of the Furnace
100- Drew- the Man Behind the Poster
101- Book Thief
102- Black Nativity
103- Rapture-Palooza
104- Company You Keep
105- Drinking Buddies
106- Anchorman 2
107- Hobbit- Desolation of Smaug
108- American Hustle
109- Saving Mr. Banks
110- Pain & Gain
111- Parker
112- Secret Life of Walter Mitty
113- Wolf of Wall Street
114- Epic
115- 47 Ronin
116- Mama
117- Byzantium
118- Behind the Candelabra
119- Grudge Match
120- Broken City
121- Great Gatsby
122- Beautiful Creatures
123- Mud
Friday, November 22, 2013
A few hints as you go to the movie theater
I have now been working at the box office of a movie theater for a little over a year. During that time, I have weathered all of the holidays once and the opening weekends (and usually the Thursday night premieres) of films such as Skyfall, Breaking Dawn Part 2, Life of Pi, Hobbit, Les Miserables, Iron man 3, Despicable me 2, Fast & the Furious 6, Instructions Not Included (a huge film for my theater) and many more. Here are just a few tips as you go to the theater this weekend, next weekend, during the holiday season, whenever, to make it easier for both you and the person who is helping you at the register.
The movie theater should be a place of enjoyment for all of those people involved. While I understand that sometimes there are issues that are beyond the control of the customer, more often than not, if mutual respect is shown for the employees of the theater and for the other guests as well (an this goes for both sides of the counter), a theatrical experience can be mostly stress free for all involved.
What this all boils down to is: please use common sense.
1- Please do not come up and yell at us that "our website said such and such". I check our website every day that I am working so that I know exactly what it says and what it doesn't say. With very few exceptions, the problems are almost always user error.
1a-Last night, for example, we had a 5 pm showing of the original Hunger Games and then our showings of Catching Fire started at 8pm. We had about 20 people buy tickets to the original, thinking that they were seeing the sequel earlier than anyone else. It was far from a packed showing, but, after the movie started, they came out and wanted a refund and every single one said, "Your website did not say it was the original". While it is true that it did not specifically say "The original Hunger Games", our website only had the one showtime for it, showed the poster of the original and, next to the poster and the one showtime had the listing- Hunger Games- 2012. If you are still confused, it is your own fault.
1b- Many times, people say that it is "our website" and when we ask them what website they used, they will say Flixster, Fandango, Movietickets.com, or many other websites. While we do send our showtimes to these sites, more times than not, they get them wrong or do not list them as specifically as we do and seperate them into IMAX, 2D, 3D, etc.
1c- Even if it is the website of my company, they will often be looking at a different theater in my chain and they will tell us that the website showed that we had a showtime at 1030 in IMAX. I ask them to show it to me, and the top of the page clearly shows that it is for the different theater.
2- For a very busy movie, please make sure you have your ticket and do not throw it away. I had about 10 people last night come up to me and tell me they threw their ticket away and I needed to print them another one. Guess what? Once you buy a ticket and it is handed to you, it is your responsibility to keep it and hand it to the guy at the podium as you enter the theater. Please do not yell at me and tell me that you are going to be late for your show because you threw your ticket away. I will do my best to help you, but please do not try to make me responsible for your mistake. Luckily, in each case last night, the customer came back to me almost immediately after having purchased the tickets and the seats that they had chosen were in easy spots to remember where they were sitting, but this is not always the case.
3- Do not make up a version of events to hide your error. When you tell me that you purchased 13 tickets and you know that you purchased 13 tickets because you just did it at our automatic ticket machines and the machine only gave you 10 tickets and that I need to find some way to make sure that you get all 13 of your tickets, please try to remember that you actually only bought 10 of them and your friend purchased 3 at the machine next to you. We have ways to check to see if the card has ever been used and if it was declined or if it went through and how much the transaction was for so we know how many tickets were purchased.
4- Please do not have an argument with your moviegoing partner in front of the cashier and hold up the line. It is very uncomfortable for us to stand there with a smile on our face attempting to help you while you are throwing a fit that you have already seen that movie, or you don't want to see this movie, or you paid for dinner and you sure aren't going to pay for the movie as well, or any of the number of other arguments that I have witnessed.
5. If you are going with a bunch of friends to the same film and you want to sit together but you are paying seperately and the theater has reserved seating, you can all come to the same cashier so that you are not blocking every single cashier while you are all running back and forth from station to station trying to decide where to sit. At my theater, we can seperate out the payments. Even if this is not the case, you may go to the same cashier who can make each transaction very quickly since that cashier knows where you have all chosen to sit.
5a- If you are going to the same movie, and you are paying seperately, and you all have exact change, just give one person all of the money and have them pay for all of the seats all at once.
6- If you are standing in line to buy tickets for a moment, and you know what you want to see, and you know that you have a rewards card and you know how you want to pay for it, please have the rewards card and your payment method out and ready to hand to me. It makes it go faster for everybody else and gets you out of the line faster as well.
7- Please make decisions quickly and voice your opinions. If you do not know what movie you want to see, please do not clog up the cashier station while trying to decide. We are more than happy to answer questions, but, just as when a couple is having an argument in front of me and all I can do is stand and smile and watch as the people in line get more and more impatient, the same thing happens here. If you have an opinion on where you want to sit or what movie you want to see, please voice it to your moviegoing partner. Do not say "I don't care where we sit" or "I'll see whatever you want to to see" and then complain as your moviegoing partner makes the decisions and say, "But I don't like to sit there" or "I don't want to see that."
8- Please do not complain to us if you have a specific seat that you like to sit in and that seat is already taken. If it has been purchased, it is no longer available. Please do not ask me if the previous customer could move down one seat. You may ask them once you enter the theater, but the other person got their seats first, so they have the right to say no. Also, if the seat is no longer available, all that I can do is recommend a different showtime that has that seat available in it. The early bird gets the worm. This is especially troublesome if it is already 15 or 20 minutes after the movie has started.
9- If you have a large group and want to ensure that you can sit together, it is best to get your seats early. And no, 10 minutes before showtime of the big new release is not what I would consider early. Last year, on Christmas Day, I had a family of 37 people who wanted to see a 7 pm showing of Les Miserables (a very popular movie on Christmas day last year) and wanted to be able to take 2 entire rows in the exact middle of the theater to sit together. They were shocked, appalled and told me that I had ruined their entire Christmas Day by not allowing them to do so. Now, it wasn't that I was not "allowing" them to do so. It was that the showtime was sold out and they had arrived at 730- half an hour past the start of the showtime that they wanted to see. This probably would have been an impossible request for most any film on most any day.
10- Please do not try to make it sothat there will be no one sitting next to you, in front of you, or behind you- especially on an opening weekend. If seats are going fast, do not try to leave a seat between you and another guest. If this is done, that single seat will usually not sell. I have a great way to almost guarantee that I have no one anywhere around me- I sit on the front row center seat. If you do not like this option, you will more than likely have people around you.
11- The Golden Rule- Treat Others as You Wish to Be Treated. If it annoys you when people talk during a movie, do not talk during the movie. If you don't like it when people kick the back of your seat, please do not kick the backs of chairs in front of you. Again, please use common courtesy and it will be a better experience for all of us.
The movie theater should be a place of enjoyment for all of those people involved. While I understand that sometimes there are issues that are beyond the control of the customer, more often than not, if mutual respect is shown for the employees of the theater and for the other guests as well (an this goes for both sides of the counter), a theatrical experience can be mostly stress free for all involved.
What this all boils down to is: please use common sense.
1- Please do not come up and yell at us that "our website said such and such". I check our website every day that I am working so that I know exactly what it says and what it doesn't say. With very few exceptions, the problems are almost always user error.
1a-Last night, for example, we had a 5 pm showing of the original Hunger Games and then our showings of Catching Fire started at 8pm. We had about 20 people buy tickets to the original, thinking that they were seeing the sequel earlier than anyone else. It was far from a packed showing, but, after the movie started, they came out and wanted a refund and every single one said, "Your website did not say it was the original". While it is true that it did not specifically say "The original Hunger Games", our website only had the one showtime for it, showed the poster of the original and, next to the poster and the one showtime had the listing- Hunger Games- 2012. If you are still confused, it is your own fault.
1b- Many times, people say that it is "our website" and when we ask them what website they used, they will say Flixster, Fandango, Movietickets.com, or many other websites. While we do send our showtimes to these sites, more times than not, they get them wrong or do not list them as specifically as we do and seperate them into IMAX, 2D, 3D, etc.
1c- Even if it is the website of my company, they will often be looking at a different theater in my chain and they will tell us that the website showed that we had a showtime at 1030 in IMAX. I ask them to show it to me, and the top of the page clearly shows that it is for the different theater.
2- For a very busy movie, please make sure you have your ticket and do not throw it away. I had about 10 people last night come up to me and tell me they threw their ticket away and I needed to print them another one. Guess what? Once you buy a ticket and it is handed to you, it is your responsibility to keep it and hand it to the guy at the podium as you enter the theater. Please do not yell at me and tell me that you are going to be late for your show because you threw your ticket away. I will do my best to help you, but please do not try to make me responsible for your mistake. Luckily, in each case last night, the customer came back to me almost immediately after having purchased the tickets and the seats that they had chosen were in easy spots to remember where they were sitting, but this is not always the case.
3- Do not make up a version of events to hide your error. When you tell me that you purchased 13 tickets and you know that you purchased 13 tickets because you just did it at our automatic ticket machines and the machine only gave you 10 tickets and that I need to find some way to make sure that you get all 13 of your tickets, please try to remember that you actually only bought 10 of them and your friend purchased 3 at the machine next to you. We have ways to check to see if the card has ever been used and if it was declined or if it went through and how much the transaction was for so we know how many tickets were purchased.
4- Please do not have an argument with your moviegoing partner in front of the cashier and hold up the line. It is very uncomfortable for us to stand there with a smile on our face attempting to help you while you are throwing a fit that you have already seen that movie, or you don't want to see this movie, or you paid for dinner and you sure aren't going to pay for the movie as well, or any of the number of other arguments that I have witnessed.
5. If you are going with a bunch of friends to the same film and you want to sit together but you are paying seperately and the theater has reserved seating, you can all come to the same cashier so that you are not blocking every single cashier while you are all running back and forth from station to station trying to decide where to sit. At my theater, we can seperate out the payments. Even if this is not the case, you may go to the same cashier who can make each transaction very quickly since that cashier knows where you have all chosen to sit.
5a- If you are going to the same movie, and you are paying seperately, and you all have exact change, just give one person all of the money and have them pay for all of the seats all at once.
6- If you are standing in line to buy tickets for a moment, and you know what you want to see, and you know that you have a rewards card and you know how you want to pay for it, please have the rewards card and your payment method out and ready to hand to me. It makes it go faster for everybody else and gets you out of the line faster as well.
7- Please make decisions quickly and voice your opinions. If you do not know what movie you want to see, please do not clog up the cashier station while trying to decide. We are more than happy to answer questions, but, just as when a couple is having an argument in front of me and all I can do is stand and smile and watch as the people in line get more and more impatient, the same thing happens here. If you have an opinion on where you want to sit or what movie you want to see, please voice it to your moviegoing partner. Do not say "I don't care where we sit" or "I'll see whatever you want to to see" and then complain as your moviegoing partner makes the decisions and say, "But I don't like to sit there" or "I don't want to see that."
8- Please do not complain to us if you have a specific seat that you like to sit in and that seat is already taken. If it has been purchased, it is no longer available. Please do not ask me if the previous customer could move down one seat. You may ask them once you enter the theater, but the other person got their seats first, so they have the right to say no. Also, if the seat is no longer available, all that I can do is recommend a different showtime that has that seat available in it. The early bird gets the worm. This is especially troublesome if it is already 15 or 20 minutes after the movie has started.
9- If you have a large group and want to ensure that you can sit together, it is best to get your seats early. And no, 10 minutes before showtime of the big new release is not what I would consider early. Last year, on Christmas Day, I had a family of 37 people who wanted to see a 7 pm showing of Les Miserables (a very popular movie on Christmas day last year) and wanted to be able to take 2 entire rows in the exact middle of the theater to sit together. They were shocked, appalled and told me that I had ruined their entire Christmas Day by not allowing them to do so. Now, it wasn't that I was not "allowing" them to do so. It was that the showtime was sold out and they had arrived at 730- half an hour past the start of the showtime that they wanted to see. This probably would have been an impossible request for most any film on most any day.
10- Please do not try to make it sothat there will be no one sitting next to you, in front of you, or behind you- especially on an opening weekend. If seats are going fast, do not try to leave a seat between you and another guest. If this is done, that single seat will usually not sell. I have a great way to almost guarantee that I have no one anywhere around me- I sit on the front row center seat. If you do not like this option, you will more than likely have people around you.
11- The Golden Rule- Treat Others as You Wish to Be Treated. If it annoys you when people talk during a movie, do not talk during the movie. If you don't like it when people kick the back of your seat, please do not kick the backs of chairs in front of you. Again, please use common courtesy and it will be a better experience for all of us.
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