Most Anticipated Movies of 2013 (Updated 12/12/12)

It looks to be a little early for this, but I thought I would go ahead and get it out of the way before I need to wrap up last year'sTop Anticipated list. (I've seen 15 out of the 20 I listed last year, three have not been released yet and one got a very small limited release that I may not catch this year, so I'm only behind on Argo) But 2012 has been a fantastic year for cinema, and 2013 looks to carry the torch. The follow is a list of my top anticipated movies of 2013.

20. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese) - It's Scorsese and it stars Leo so it makes the list. But Hugo was pure example of filmmaker porn, so it sits at the bottom for now. 

19. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller) - Do we really need a 4th Mad Max? Probably not, but these set pieces look cool. 

18. The Wolverine (James Mangold) - Hugh Jackman must really love playing Logan when he keeps coming back to projects with no promise. Even though this is supposedly supposed to be a semi-sequel to the first Wolverine movie (that sucked big time) Mark Bomback is rewriting the script. Bomback is responsible for the horror that was, Race to Witch Mountain, Die Hard 4, Unstoppable and the Total Recall remake. Despite Wolverine being one of the best comic book characters ever created, that's not enough to move this movie from the bottom (but yet still slightly hopefully) of my anticipated movie list.

17. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (Robert Rodriguez) - Does Robert Rodriguez have nothing better to do? With a release date set in October of 2013, we should to start seeing some official photos and teasers soon. But most of the cast from the first film is returning, Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Michael Madsen. It remains low on my list for lack of information.

16. Warm Bodies  (Jonathan Levine) - This premise is a joke, but there is something oddly charming about the way Levine approaches scripts. He made having cancer feel comfortable in 50/50 and even if 2013 is seeing more than one high profile zombie release, (Will the zombie craze ever stop??) Warm Bodies has Rob Corddry and John Malkovich... so I'm obligated to see it.

15. A Good Day to Die Hard (John Moore) - After Bomback and Len Wiseman ruined John McClane's personality in Live Free or Die Hard, John Moore apparently is doing everything he can to revive him and assuring us "This is Die Hard! Any shit won't do!". With publicity that includes a car chase that was 78 days in the making, it's hard not to get excited to see John McClane save the world. It's low on my list because Moore also is responsible for Max Payne. *shudder*

14. Man of Steel (Zack Synder) - I'm not sure what to think of this yet. What are we in for? The joke heard around the internet is we are about to see Superman fly in slow motion since that appears to be the style Synder (300, Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead, Sucker Punch) likes to edit in. However we also have the master of the Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan penning the script and producing, so he's obviously going to have a lot of input on how the movie comes out. Cautiously optimistic after the disaster that was Superman Returns.

13. World War Z (Marc Forster) - So it's official, this movie is going to be nothing like the book. It was originally on my list for 2012, but when reshoots were being called into action the release date was pushed back into 2013. What scares me about this? Damon Lindelof was brought in to help with the script. What's exciting about this? Joss Whedon was brought on as a consultant of the reshoots. Who knows if any of the trailer had reshoots in them. They are definitely trying something new with the zombie theme- I am not a fan of running zombies, but there's some interesting shots below.

12. White House Down (Ronald Emmerich) - The master of disaster movies, Emmerich (ID4, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012) is taking on a new film that involves the white house being taken over by terrorists. Improbable concept, but Emmerich has entertained me in the past.Staring Channing Tatum.

11. The Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking (David Twohy) - Probably my favorite character developed within the last 10 years. Twohy's last Riddick movie was a flop in theaters, but the fanbase was large enough he got the funding to finance another R-rated Riddick movie. I've been waiting a long time for this trailer to come out. With a release date in March, I hope we see it soon.

10. Nymphomaniac (Lars von Trier) – Easily one of the most provocative and blunt directors out there right now, Lars von Trier raised eyebrows with Anti-Christ and last year’s Melancholia (which I thought was the best film of last year). His new film is titled, Nymphomaniac, and apparently involves unsimulated sexual intercourse. Actress Nicole Kidman already dropped out after reading the script, but Shia LeBeouf remains on the cast list. Interesting to see what Lars has up his sleeve.

9. Oz: The Great and Powerful (Sam Raimi) - Trailer below. :)

8. Oldboy (Spike Lee) – I’m not sure why I have this on my list. The original was phenomenal and remains in my top 30 movies of all time. Could Spike Lee ever adapt this into something equally thrilling? Staring Samuel L Jackson, Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen… I can’t help but anticipate the Americanization of Oldboy.

7. Iron Man 3 (Shane Black) - Hard to not get excited over the next story arc in the Avengers universe. Trailer says it all.

6. The Last Stand (Jee-woon Kim) - If you don't know Jee-woon Kim by now, you fucking should. I Saw the Devil is one of the best movies I saw this year and I wrote about the Good the Bad and the Weird earlier this year. He's now directing Arnold Schwarzenegger in his first full length feature film since stepping down as Governor of California and based on the trailer, it looks to be fantastic.

5. Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro) – Love del Toro’s style, so naturally a science fiction film based on the Japanese monster film genre known as Kaiju, will be hard to ignore. Updated: Added Trailer!

4. The Evil Dead (Fede Alvarez) All Alvarez is known for is this short youtube clip, but The Evil Dead and I go way back. The Evil Dead (1981) was the scariest movie I had ever seen, and I probably saw it at an age where I shouldn’t have watched it. But by the time Army of Darkness came out I was already a Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell fan. Raimi is still producing this, so I have faith he won’t let it suck, but this trailer is indeed shocking… and exciting.

3. Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón) – Known for Children of Men and the best Harry Potter in the crappy series (Prisoner of Azkaban) Cuaron is helming Gravity, another sci-fi movie starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Not much else is known about the project except: “Gravity is the next Avatar in terms of ambition: the film is a contemporary survival thriller that follows a woman as she attempts to make her way back to earth after a satellite crash sets off a chain reaction of further crashes. Because it’s set in space, most shots require every element to float in zero-gravity”… Yes please.  To further my excitement for this film; “DeFaria said there are only 156 shots in the entire two-hour film. If you do the math, that means quite a few of these shots would have to be over 30 seconds long at least (which is an eternity compared to many of the shots in your average action film), and DeFaria notes that some of them could run anywhere from six to 10 minutes without a single cut.” Wow.

2. Star Trek into Darkness (J.J. Abrams) – This will be the final straw which determines if J.J. Abrams is indeed an elite director or if his production and marketing campaigns are stronger than the actual final product. Good luck JJ. Updated: Added Trailer!

1. Elysium (Neill Blomkamp) – Blomkamp did District 9 on a $30 million budget, so how will a sci-fi film with $130 million budget turn out? Backed by Hollywood’s  A list actor Matt Damon, the synopsis reveals; “In the year 2159, two classes of people exist. The first are the very wealthy who live on Elysium, a pristine man-made space station looking like a stanford torus built by the Armadyne Corporation. The rest live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster), a hard-nosed government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium.”

What I'm Currently Obsessed With (September 2012 Edition)

I have a ton of reviews to get to and hopefully I'll post them soon, but I thought I'd do a quick "What I'm currently obsessed with" post like I did in February and last year. Most people know of the movie Dredd, currently in theaters. It's a reboot of the 1995 classic Judge Dredd starting Sylvester Stallone, only a lot more dark and a lot more violent. Some of the trailers begin with some beautiful music that sets the tone for the film perfectly. The artist is La Roux and the song is In for the Kill. Once I saw the trailer I immediately went to Amazon and downloaded to my iPod. So now I listen to it 60 times a day like I did when Nightcall was featured in the movie Drive.  Below you will find the song and the trailer that introduced me to it. Let me know what you think. 

Review: Total Recall (Len Wiseman, 2012)

               Anothertop anticipated movie of 2012 for me.  Remembering my reaction of the original back in the mid 90s, Total Recall was the epitome for what I believed the future to look like.  Cool looking cars, that drive themselves, giant wall sized TVs and the ability to live on Mars. A more recent viewing of the 1990 classic has me thinking otherwise. Cool looking cars? Well, I guess in the future cars are ¼ the size they are now and travel at 10% the speed. Maybe in the future natural resources are limited. Cars that drive themselves? Not really sci-fi anymore thanks to Google. Giant wall sized TVs? I’m certain my living room TV is larger than the one in Arnold’s home. Mine is also anamorphic widescreen which makes it even better. That blender that Arnie is using to make his breakfast, is sitting in my cabinet at home. And the ability to live on Mars? OK, mankind hasn’t mastered that yet. But we did just land the most sophisticated space probe in the history of NASA. I am also intentionally leaving out the most important sci-fi draw of both movies; the ability to implant memories into people’s head. This is the sci-fi element that drives both films and still remains mastered.

                The two things that worried me about this project were director Len Wiseman and screenwriter Mark Bomback. Bomback is responsible for destroying John McClane’s personality in Live Free or Die Hard (not to mention that wonderful idea of John McClane riding on the back of an F-35) and he also penned the critically acclaimed Race to Witch Mountain. However, Bomback teamed up with Kurt Wimmer this time around, who I am a big fan of. Wimmer gave us, Equilibrium (which put Christian Bale on the map) and the Recruit. Wiseman is most known for the first two Underworld movies, where he actually stole actress Kate Beckinsale and then married her.

                Wiseman’s Total Recall is redesigned- Colin Farrell takes over from Arnold Schwarzenegger, still works reluctantly at his job, unhappy with the way his life turned out, married to a smokin hot wife (Kate Beckinsale) and intrigued by a company called “Rekall” that advertises vacations or fantasy memories by implanting them in your brain. Like Arnold, Farrell opts to visit Rekall and get ‘secret agent’ persona memories implanted in his head.  You can essentially break Total Recall into halfs- the first being ripped straight from original- making it easy to guess the sequence of events. Both films follow essentially the same pattern of events with minor tweaks and modernization of technology. Instead of cherry sized GPS implant in Arnold’s head, Farrell has a cell phone installed into his palm. There is also an overextended chase sequence showing off Wiseman’s futuristic hover cars. It’s almost as if Wiseman knew people were poking fun at the Verhoeven’s Total Recall depiction of the future and wanted to ensure his audience that yes, we made cars in the future cool again. Kurt Wimmer

                The second half is where new ideas start shaping. There’s no Mars in Wiseman’s adaptation, so the big sci-fi element is a giant tunnel through the center of the Earth. The tunnel divides the two surviving factions after World War III. The United Federation of Britain (UFB) and The Colony. In Verhoeven’s Total Recall, the rebel force on Mars was fighting for more air and a fair and balanced civilization. In Wiseman’s Total Recall, a rebel force is fighting for habitable space in the Colony. Wiseman does a great job portraying the Colony as a dark and gritty Blade Runner-like world, filled with congestion and unpleasantness, while the UFB is portrayed as a clean Minority Report world.

                The biggest problem with Total Recall is how the story develops in the 2^nd half. We meet up with Melina (Jessica Biel) early (as we did in Verhoeven’s version) but scenes feel dragged out. Maybe the source of the problem was in the editing room? The car chase sequence was way too long, the standoff sequence where Farrell is made to believe he is still strapped into a chair at Rekall was way too long and it took way too much time to meet up with Bryan Cranston’s character. Unlike Lockout, which I felt needed an extra 20-30 minutes to fully develop, Total Recall needs 20-30 minutes cut to make the movie flow better. 

                There are some things to like about Total Recall; some great action set pieces, neat sci-fi ideas and of course Beckinsale and Biel look great on screen. But Farrell as an action hero still comes off rather boring. Biel is also wearing cargo pants throughout the entire movie which was a big mistake. Maybe Beckinsale and Biel needed to switch roles. For an action movie, it’s a rather dull one. There are some great throwbacks to the original involving the “2 Weeks” woman and the “three breasted woman”, but no “See you at the party Richter” lines, no alien tech and no mutants. In fact, the three breasted woman isn’t really explained in the movie. I suppose you could argue that the radiation from World War III is the cause, but there’s no mention of radiation or anything else that could have caused that anomaly. In the end, Total Recall is a rebranded-iRobot screenplay that barely resembles its predecessor due to weak chase story mixed with a dull lead actor.

Grade: 70

Review: Prometheus (Ridley Scott, 2012)

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Prometheus was on my top 20 most anticipated movies of the year and is getting mixed reviews from fans of the Alien franchise and critics. I was really excited to see Scott get back into his element- His last few films have not been the Scott as we know him for; Robin Hood and American Gangster were bores, A Good Year was a love story that I could barely get through and the last enjoyable Ridley Scott movie was made over 12 years ago; Gladiator. What made Prometheus so interesting was the mystery behind the giant Space Jockey that we were introduced to in Scott’s original Alien movie. So many questions arose from the gigantic dead being, and Scott even provided some insight in the 2003 DVD commentary of Alien Director’s Cut.

“The space jockey is the pilot and he is part of a military operation, if that's the word you want to apply to his world. And therefor this is some kind of carrier, a weapon carrier, biological or biomechanoid carrier of lethal eggs inside of which are small creatures that actually fundamentally integrate in a very aggressive way into society or any place you drop. So if you land on a human being you have a resemblance to a human being, if you dropped on an ostrich it would look like an ostrich. And there is a fundamental connection in nature," ... Then he goes on to explain how there is an insect that has the ability to sense when there is a grub behind a piece of bark on a tree. “When the insect walks over the bark, senses the grub and stabs into the bark piercing the grub and lays the eggs inside the grub so the grub become the host.”

The problem with explaining this on the DVD commentary and not in the movie is it left too many questions and not enough answers as portrayed in this comical video.

                One of the problems with Prometheus is there is too much Lost-like story going on. Damon Lindelof has created the same problems that led to the mixed reaction of  J. J. Abrhams’ Lost ending. Too many motifs, too many unanswered questions, too much confusing (and misdirection) logic that it takes away from that great stuff that is put on screen. The second problem was FOX- We already know FOX wanted Prometheus to be PG-13, but somehow Scott convinced them to keep it R. FOX wanted to cut out the best scene in the entire movie; an abdominal surgery scene.

                But what Scott does do well is setup another universe within the Alien universe and the possibility for another trilogy. Prometheus is based around the origin of the human race; the mystery that could have started life on Earth. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) are archaeologists who have discovered star maps in ancient civilizations across the planet, which suggests beings from another world have traveled to Earth giving these civilizations an invitation to humanity’s ancestors. They dub these aliens as “Engineers” and suspect they are the reason life began on Earth. A team is assembled to explore a distant moon, LV-223 (not to be confused with LV- 426 in Alien) on the ship Prometheus. We know Prometheus was a titan from Greek mythology who not only created man out of clay, but gave them fire. This angered the Gods and they chained Prometheus to a rock and condemned him to have his liver eaten out by an eagle every day for the rest of his life. (his liver would grow back) Prometheus the film, and the rest of the Alien franchise, returns to this torn abdomen motif on a regular basis as we all know well.

                The film narrates in a way that does not particularly come out with precise explanations for the events that transpire on screen. The opening shot of the movie involves one of the Engineers performing a ritual as a spaceship flies away. The Engineer drinks from a small cup of black goo that subsequently dissolves his body into a river as his body is broken down into individual DNA sequences. Is this Earth? We don’t know. And it doesn’t matter. The point Scott is making involves the building blocks of another world. Remember, Prometheus the Titan’s name is derived meaning “Forethinker” being a man of great foresight. Prometheus also approached Zeus with a choice of two animal sacrifices which his decision would set a precedent for future sacrifices. The Engineer in the opening scene of Prometheus is clearly sacrificing himself for the birth of man. What is the black goo? We don't know for sure but in theory the Engineers weaponized the xenomorph genetic material. We know what happens when you are exposed to the black goo as Prometheus plays out.

                Prometheus is not perfect, but Scott does create two of the most refreshing horror sequences I have seen in quite some time. When one of the scenes finally ended, I realized had squeezed my popcorn bag crushing the popcorn inside and my legs were twisted in front of me. I tried to imagine myself in the same situation of the character on screen.... I’m not sure I would have made it.

                What goes unnoticed are the bread crumbs Scott leaves, foreshadowing certain events that are not directly explained but opens the area for discussion which I find the most fascinating and clever portions of the film. For example, the final shot of the movie with the xenomorph had people rolling their eyes. Was this inserted because FOX pried it into the movie? Did Scott want to give Alien fans a link to both stories? Probably not. 

The creature was known to exist by the Engineers as shown by the mural and the theory of the base being a military facility. Based on Scott’s comments in the Director’s commentary above, I believe the Aliens change based on the species they come in contact with. This would also explain why the face huggers that come out of the eggs are different than the one Shaw gave birth to.  

                Theron's character (Vickers) was pointless. I didn't say the film was without flaws, but I still believe they are easily ignored flaws. Why do we even care that her character is pointless? Does it bother viewers who were expected her to have a bigger role in the premise? I think if anything her character serves as an opposite to Dr Shaw's character; she was a cold SELFISH human being (and arguably non-human), which is proven towards the end when she escaped the ship to save her own life. This was well represented in the motifs of the notion of self-sacrifice of “Prometheus”, which Vickers has no interest in partaking. If anything, her fate was well depicted. Shaw on the other hand is a believer "in God" with a "very strong faith". Her personality evolves through the film as seen with the discovery of the star map and then later with an internal conflict of her belief system and then a physical conflict fighting for not only her life, but all of Earth. And even when the battle is over, she still has the determination to continue to question her beliefs, to find more answers.

                Prometheus is not to be part of the Alien universe. It was made for different reasons and Scott pulls it off. It will not end up considered an instant classic, but it is a great way for Alien and Scott fans to rejoice to what is an interesting concept manufactured inside an existing fictional universe. I'm on board with this new storyline and I await the sequel to help quench my thirst for more Space Jockey. 

Grade: 91

Review: The Dark Knight Rises (Chris Nolan, 2012)

It’s been months since I’ve done an update, and rightfully so; in that time I’ve earned myself a nifty new post-graduate degree. Now that I have all this extra free time after work, I have the freedom to watch movies, play sports, go out with friends and do things that I’ve been dying to do but couldn’t in the past 21 months. My first update will be about the Dark Knight Rises, my number 1anticipated movie of 2012.

                The Dark Knight Rises was everything I had hoped it to be, even with a running time of 165 minutes, far exceeding the length of the first two films. The movie begins 7 years after the events in The Dark Knight. Gotham is quiet and crime free, while a badly worn out Bruce Wayne hides inside his mansion mourning over the death of his love Rachel and struggling with an internal battle realizing how much he has given up, for so little in return.

                The three new characters introduced are the most interesting parts of The Dark knight Rises. They include; a talented cop, John Blake (JGL) , who suspects Bruce Wayne to be Batman, Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a mysterious jewel thief who is described to be an associate of the main villain but appears to only act in her own selfish manner,  and the main villain Bane (Tom Hardy), whose menacing voice and monstrous appearance hides behind a respirator. The new characters are pivotal to the climax of the movie. Nolan did a fantastic job building the relationship of Selina and Bruce and at the same time intertwining the stories of the first two films to uncover Bane’s master plan. Hathaway is perfect as Selina, (but don’t call her Catwoman!) as Nolan portrayed her in a tight, black suit with cat ears that fold down to night vision goggles.  Bruce/Batman also has an incredibly memorable fight scene with Bane and Nolan depicts quiet clearly how the 7 years held up in his mansion has taken a toll on his body and it appears Batman is most definitely physically outmatched.

                The complaints I have are minor in scope. I didn’t expect Nolan to produce excellent action sequences and I was right to assume so. The Dark Knight Rises probably has more action set pieces than the previous two films and with the exception of one emotionally great sequence involving a stadium, the Dark Knight Rises chugs through bits and pieces of car chases, fist fights and aerial shots that are not exceptional. They also don’t need to be. They feed the story fine. Nolan also doesn’t do humor. There’s no witty comebacks like Spider-man is known for, no cute banter that makes Tony Stark so charming, there’s just stone cold Bale.

And my biggest gripe about Nolan (SPOILERS AHEAD *** skip this paragraph) is his inability to induce any sense of a drama into a villains defeat. We saw what happened to Two Face in The Dark Knight, which could possibly go down as the weakest character death in the history of all cinema.  There was speculation that Two Face wasn’t dead and was being held inside Arkham Asylum, but the Dark Knight Rises squashes that theory pretty quickly. But more annoyingly, the movies spend a great deal of time building up Bane as an unstoppable monster only to dispatch him in a pseudo-deus ex machina event.

                Although Nolan had more time to tell his story, there does seem to be a bit of rushing editing involved. Nolan is known for using cross-cutting (a type of editing that simulates events occurring at the same time) in his past films but there are sections of The Dark Knight Rises that really stand out as rushed. In Nolan’s defense, the cross-cutting is a technique used to power the audience through a lot of the silly (but important) pieces of information but the audience is vulnerable to get confused on just how much time has actually passed between scenes. None of these critiques affect the love affair I had with the on screen characters. They were casted perfectly and to read more about how Nolan and David Goyer (an avid comic book fan) were influenced on all three movies, I invite you to read 20 Batman Stories Most Influentialto “The Dark Knight” Trilogy.  

                In the end, Nolan left the Batman universe with another tremendous effort with a satisfying conclusion, which should leave Batman fans smiling. Chris Nolan has ended his saga with Batman with a beautifully written love letter. The hopes of Nolan being involved in a future Justice League movie are doubtful. It’s best for him to walk away at this point, let someone else spin a Batman story of their own. But Nolan has transformed comic book adaptations as we know it (as evidence with The Amazing Spider-Man and The Man of Steel).  Not only will the next Batman predecessor have a huge challenge in front of them, the filmmakers will be challenged with creating a story following the best trilogy ever made. 

Grade: 95

Most Anticipated Movies of 2012 (UPDATED)

APRIL UPDATE: I feel like i need to make a quick adjustment to this list since some movies have been pushed to 2013 (Oz, World War Z) and I need to clean up some mistakes in my original post. The meat of the list remains the same.

20. Chronicle (Trank) To finish off the list I have a movie that appears to be what Akira fans have been waiting for. Another low budget thriller. Trailer is very promising.

19. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Bekmambetov) Replacing World War Z on my list is the film adaptation of the best selling novel- What if before Lincoln was President, he killed vampires for a living? It's being directed by the guy who ruined WANTED, but also adapted Night Watch and Day Watch nicely.

18. The Lords of Salem (Zombie) Rob Zombie’s last Halloween movie was a disaster, so he’s returning to Salem Massachusetts to direct a movie about the witch trials. Actually, the synopsis sounds a lot like an R rated Hocus Pocus.

17. John Carter (Stanton) An interesting adaptation, but the trailer is too much CGI for me. Brings back horrific memories of Attack of the Clones. Trailer below.

16. Total Recall (Wiseman) Colin Farrell seems to be rebooting his carrier with strong performances in Horrible Bosses and the Fright Night remake. We all love Arnie’s original, will the remake be as strong?

15. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Jackson) No description necessary. Trailer Below.

14. Dark Shadows (Burton) Replacing Oz, surprise surprise Burton and Depp team up again to remake this 1960 soap opera. Also not surprising, it looks like Depp has added a fun new character to his resume. 

13. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence (Neveldine & Talor) The first movie was horrible, so the studio decided to reboot it with a quasi-sequel that was darker. The first footage they released during comic con had Nicholas Cage pissing fire. Will the movie hold up? Trailer below.

12. Silent Hill: Revelation (Bassett) – Not much has been shown other than some set work on their Facebook page. The first movie was the closest we’ve seen to a decent video game to movie adaptation. Can we expect equally great things from Silent Hill 2?

11. Argo (Affleck) Ben Affleck’s new film about a CGI agent freeing Americans at the Canadian ambassador. Affleck’s last movie The Town was quite good, and he might be on the rise as a prestige Hollywood director.

10. Skyfall (Mendes) The new Bond movie due out next year. No set pieces or trailers have been released yet.

9. The Avengers (Whedon) What as the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor brought us? Finally a movie with seven super heroes teaming up against some dark evil. Trailer Below.

8. The Hunger Games (Ross) The book was a huge hit (even if it was a complete rip-off from Battle Royale) so the movie should get extra attention. Will it? Trailer Below.

7. Brave (Andrews & Chapman) Pixar’s new beautiful movie. Trailer Below

6. The Dictator (Charles) Sacha Baron Cohen’s genius is returns to the big screen. Trailer Below

5. The Amazing Spider-Man (Webb) After Sam Raimi was forced out from the studio due to creative differences, Spider-Man was rebooted with a new director and cast. Hard to tell from the first trailer how good it will be. I sure hope that FPS view at the end is cut out of the final movie. Trailer Below

4. Django Unchained (Tarantino) Quentin Tarantino’s new movie: Synopsis: “With the help of his mentor, a slave-turned bounty hunter sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

3. Taken 2 (Megaton) Did you see Taken? Well Taken 2 should have even more Liam Neeson kicking ass. No trailer is released yet.

2. Prometheus (Scott) Ridley Scot returns to the genre he created with what appears to be a prequel to Alien (only he won’t describe it that way). I highly recommend watching this trailer in HD. Trailer Below

1. The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan) Chris Nolan and Christian Bale return for the epic conclusion of the Batman trilogy. Trailer Below

Review: John Carter (Andrew Stanton, 2012)

Every year I make a top 10 or 20 anticipatedmovie list and every year there’s at least one or two movies I regret to put on the list, because I don’t expect to enjoy it. This year I already missed the Grey on my list, although in my defense I did not know about the movie’s existence until after I made my list. In this case, I regret this movie was not higher on my list. John Carter exceeded my expectations by quite a large margin and looking back, there are plenty of clues that could have suggested I would enjoy this movie quite a bit.

First, director Andrew Stanton, having little but great success with directing Pixar’s animated movies such as A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo and WALL-E.  The ladder two are in my top 100 Films of All Time List. Stanton is the second director we’ve seen in the last 3 months making the transition from animated to live action with great success. The first being Brad Bird with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which I also enjoyed.

Second, John Carter is a Disney produced movie. Disney of course owns Pixar but Disney is also responsible for bringing to life Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (I pretend the other three movies don’t exist). Disney was a afraid the dark themed PG-13 Pirates of the Caribbean would deter parents from taking their kids, and be a scar on their reputation but the movie ended up grossing $654 million worldwide.

And lastly, I knew nothing of the source material before viewing the movie therefore I had very little attachment to the character John Carter. When I asked people at work whether they were interested in the movie, a buddy of mine joked; “They made a spinoff of Terminator?”

John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is mysteriously transported to Mars to which there is oxygen and two races living on the slowly dying planet. One of the races looks human while the other race has green skin and four arms. The human races are in the middle of a civil war and John Carter meets the beautiful Princess of Helium, (Lynn Collins) who requires the help of Carter to defend their city Helium from a pending attack. Carter is reluctant to fight for anyone, but eventually sees the good of bringing peace to the planet of Mars.

I was initially afraid the overwhelming use of CGI would be a huge distraction as it typically is with movies that need giant exotic set pieces. The trailer reminded me a lot of what Attack of the Clones looked like, but I was surprised at how fantastically rendered the effects were. The space ships did not seem implausible, the giant white apes did not look fake, the green Martians moved and acted alien and John Carter’s ability to jump great distances did not look unrealistic. Because John is accustomed to the gravity on Earth giving him greater bone density, John is much stronger and has the ability to jump great distances.

Having casted Johnny Depp so well as Captain Jack Sparrow in Curse of the Black Perl, I feel Disney may have got away with casting Taylor Kitsch  (who?) as John Carter. In hindsight, the film only made $30 million domestically in its first weekend so they probably are debating whether they made the right choice whereas maybe a bigger named actor could have drawn more people to see the movie. Kitsch does not bring anything special to the table and merely carries out his lines in verably bland fashion. The comic relief is typical Disney styled humor, mostly revolving around a dog-like Alien creature that follows John Carter around and Lynn Collins is stunning ly beautiful in her role. John Carter of Mars is a uniquely complicated plot from Disney, but overall gives a fairly enjoyable story and respectable action set pieces sequences. My guess is the debate to turn this series into a trilogy or more will ultimately depend on the final gross and how well DVD sales turn out so do not expect any sequel announcements soon. 

Grade: 89

Movies Watched in 2011

This is a list of every movie I watched in 2011, with the director, year the movie was released and final grade. The final grade is not always set in stone. I move movies around during the year after second viewings and reevaluations. This is the most movies I watched in a year since 2004 when I was in college and had nothing better to do aside from study. Comments are encouraged.

1 Once Upon a Time in the West Leone, Sergio (1968) 99

2 Stalker Tarkovskiy, Andrey (1979) 96

3 Black Swan Aronofsky, Darren (2010) 95

4 The Elephant Man Lynch, David (1980) 93

5 Melancholia Von Trier, Lars (2011) 92

6 127 Hours Boyle, Danny (2010) 91

7 Rashomon Kurosawa, Akira (1950) 91

8 Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror Murnau, F.W. (1922) 91

9 Diabolique Clouzot, Henri-Georges (1955) 91

10 Attack the Block Cornish, Joe (2011) 91

11 The King's Speech Hooper, Tom (2010) 91

12 King Kong Cooper, Merian (1933) 91

13 Bride of Frankenstein Whale, James (1931) 91

14 Manhattan Allen, Woody (1979) 90

15 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Weerasethakul, Apichatpong (2011) 90

16 The Fighter Russell, David O (2010) 90

17 Kung Fu Panda Osborne, Mark (2008) 90

18 Elite Squad Padilha, José (2007) 90

19 Frankenstein Whale, James (1931) 90

20 Leon Besson, Luc (1994) 89

21 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Bird, Brad (2011) 89

22 Super 8 J. J. Abrams (2011) 89

23 Red State Smith, Kevin (2011) 89

24 How to Train Your Dragon DeBlois, Dean (2010) 89

25 The Men Who Stare At Goats Heslov, Grant (2009) 89

26 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Wright, Edgar (2010) 88

27 Valhalla Rising Winding, Nicholas Refn (2009) 88

28 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Hosoda, Mamoru (2006) 88

29 Mala Noche Van Sant, Gus (1986) 88

30 Let Me In Reeves, Matt (2010) 88

31 Quarantine Dowdle, John Erick (2008) 88

32 [REC] Balaguero, Jaume (2007) 88

33 The Cabinet of Dr Caligari Wiene, Robert (1920) 88

34 True Grit Coen Brothers (2010) 87

35 Freaks Browning, Tod (1932) 87

36 Rango Verbinski, Gore (2011) 86

37 The Social Network Fincher, David (2010) 85

38 Fright Night Gillespie, Craig (2011) 85

39 Hanna Wright, Joe (2011) 85

40 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Lord, Phil (2009) 85

41 Super Gunn, James (2011) 85

42 Ugetsu Mizoguchi, Kenji (1953) 85

43 Buried Cortes, Rodrigo (2010) 84

44 Rubber Dupieux, Quentin (2011) 84

45 The Conversation Coppola, Francis Ford (1974) 83

46 The Ghost Writer Polanski, Roman (2010) 83

47 Blue Valentine Cianfrance, Derek (2010) 82

48 The Expendables Stallone, Sylvester (2010) 82

49 Trollhunter Ovredal, Andre (2011) 82

50 Capitalism: A Love Story Moore, Michael (2009) 81

51 The War Game Watkins, Peter (1965) 81

52 The Pianist Polanski, Roman (2002) 80

53 The Green Hornet Gondry, Michael (2010) 80

54 The Arbor Barnard, Clio (2011) 80

55 Candyman Rose, Bernard (1992) 80

56 Tangled Greno, Nathan (2010) 80

57 Ten Days That Shook the World - Aleksandrov, Grigori (1928) 80

58 La Dolce Vita Fellini, Federico (1960) 79

59 Thor Branagh, Kenneth (2011) 79

60 The Passion of Joan of Arc Dreyer, Carl Theodor (1928) 79

61 Hot Tub Time Machine Pink, Steve (2010) 79

62 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Mamoulian, Rouben (1931) 79

63 The Phantom of the Opera Julian, Rupert (1925) 79

64 Never Let Me Go Romanek, Mark (2010) 79

65 The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans Herzog, Werner (2009) 78

66 Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages Christensen, Benjamin (1922) 78

67 Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Miyazaki, Hayao (1984) 77

68 Cave of Forgotten Dreams Herzog, Werner (2011) 76

69 The Good, the Bad, the Weird Kim, Jee-woon (2008) 76

70 Insidious Wan, James (2011) 76

71 Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance Masayuki (2009) 76

72 TRON: Legacy Kosinski, Joeseph (2010) 76

73 Munich Spielberg, Steven (2005) 75

74 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Oplev, Niels Arden (2009) 75

75 X-Men: First Class Vaughn, Matthew (2011) 75

76 The Adjustment Bureau Nolfi, George (2011) 73

77 Insomnia Nolan, Chris (2005) 73

78 Fright Night Holland, Tom (1985) 73

79 Duel Spielberg, Steven (1971) 73

80 Monsters Edwards, Gareth (2010) 72

81 From Beyond Gordon, Stuart (1986) 72

82 The Face of Another Teshigahara, Hiroshi (1966) 71

83 Creepshow Romero, George A (1982) 71

84 Bill Cunningham New York Press, Richard (2011) 70

85 Limitless Burger, Neil (2011) 69

86 Pickpocket Bresson, Robert (1959) 69

87 The Burrowers Petty, J.T. (2008) 68

88 Horrible Bosses Gordon, Seth (2011) 67

89 SLC Punk! Merendino, James (1998) 67

90 Frozen Green, Adam (2010) 67

91 Lord of the Flies Brook, Peter (1963) 66

92 Tree of Life Malick, Terrence (2011) 66

93 The Man from Earth Schenkman, Richard (2007) 65

94 Amelie Jeunet, Jean-Pierre (2001) 63

95 Your Highness Green, David Gordon (2011) 63

96 Waiting for Superman Guggenheim, Davis (2010) 63

97 Stake Land Mickle, Jim (2011) 61

98 Popcorn Herrier, Mark (1991) 61

99 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Fleming, Victor (1941) 60

100 The Kids Are All Right Cholodenko, Lisa (2010) 60

101 Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion Anno, Hideaki (1997) 60

102 The Green Mile Darabont, Frank (1999) 60

103 Seconds Apart Negret, Antonio (2011) 60

104 Winter's Bone Granik, Debra (2010) 59

105 Day of Wrath Dreyer, Carl Theodor (1943) 59

106 Vanishing on 7th Street Anderson, Brad (2011) 59

107 Kung Fu Panda 2 Yuh, Jennifer (2011) 58

108 The Thing van Heijningen Jr, Matthijs (2011) 57

109 The Phantasm Coscarelli, Don (1979) 57

110 DeepStar Six Cunningham, Sean S (1989) 56

111 Hang 'Em High Post, Ted (1968) 56

112 Screamers Duguay, Christian (1995) 56

113 From Within Papamichael, Phedon (2008) 56

114 Suspiria Argento, Dario (1977) 54

115 Rise of the Planet of the Apes Wyatt, Rupert (2011) 54

116 Unknown Collet-Serra, Jaume (2011) 53

117 Captain America Johnston, Joe (2011) 53

118 Wall Street Stone, Oliver (1987) 52

119 Voices Oh, Ki-hwan (2007) 52

120 Transformers: Dark of the Moon Bay, Michael (2011) 50

121 The Resident Jokinen, Antti (2011) 50

122 Robin Hood Scott, Ridley (2010) 50

123 Apocalypto Gibson, Mel (2006) 49

124 Cedar Rapids Arteta, Miguel (2011) 49

125 Source Code Jones, Duncan (2011) 48

126 Resident Evil: Afterlife Anderson, Paul W.S. (2010) 48

127 The Lost Boys Schumacher, Joel (1987) 47

128 Bridesmaids Feig, Paul (2011) 47

129 Faster Tillman Jr., George (2010) 47

130 Fast Five Lin, Justin (2011) 47

131 Skyline Strause Brothers (2010) 46

132 Hobo with a Shotgun Eisener, Jason (2011) 46

133 Sucker Punch Snyder, Zack (2011) 45

134 Battle: Los Angeles Liebesman, Jonathan (2011) 45

135 Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future Gaidai, Leonid (1973) 44

136 Cold Weather Katz, Aaron (2011) 44

137 Season of the Witch Sena, Dominic (2011) 42

138 A-Team Carnahan, Joe (2010) 41

139 Hereafter Eastwood, Clint (2010) 41

140 The Hangover 2 Phillips, Todd (2011) 41

141 Bad Teacher Kasdan, Jake (2011) 40

142 The Ward Carpenter, John (2011) 39

143 The Terminal Spielberg, Steven (2004) 38

144 Green Lantern Campbell, Martin (2011) 35

145 Passenger 57 Hooks, Kevin (1992) 30

146 Priest Stewart, Scottt Charles (2011) 29

147 Mutant Chronicles Hunter, Simon (2008) 33

148 The Descent: Part 2 Harris, Jon (2009) 27

149 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Marshall, Rob (2011) 23

150 Cowboys & Aliens Favreau, Jon (2011) 18