2011 Movie Recap

Apparently I can't exceed 70 movies in a year. For some reason I thought I had seen less last year, but I watched 66 movies last year and have managed to watch 69 this year. Only 3 more! I suppose I did beat my actual goal of watching at least 50, which is impressive since half of the year I was finishing grad school. Course, I suppose I did have 6 months to catch up too. :)

Of the 79 movies I watched, 22 were movies from last year or earlier, so a good chunk were this year. It is funny seeing what movies I watched in the beginning of the year because it feels like they were in 2010 and not this year! I do suspect the beginning of 2012 will be a lot of 2011 movie rentals, though. It's pretty natural given their DVD release dates.

With that said...I found last year's recap of movies and I did pretty well on my 2011 movie release list and pretty bad on my 2010 movies to watch in 2011.

I didn't watch from 2010 (out of 11):

• Eat, Pray, Love
• The Legend of the Guardians
• The American
• The Social Network

I know, I know! I must be in the minority of movie watchers who has NOT seem The Social Network. I started it. Does that count? LoL I watched literally 5 minutes of it. I need to get back to it, but there are so many other things to watch! I feel like I might have seen Eat, Pray, Love because I saw the trailer so often, but I didn't. Didn't manage The American and The Legend of the Guardians either. Don't miss those so much. :)

And I didn't watch from 2011 (out of 12):

• The Hangover 2
• Puss in Boots
  

Both of these will be, for sure, on the DVD rentals for 2012. Hangover 2, when it came and went, just felt like a DVD rental and Puss in Boots was skipped due to money. So look for their reviews in 2012.

With that said...On to favorites of 2011 movies (will not include movies that came out in 2010 or earlier)!

Favorites of the year (no particular order):

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (surprised, surprise :P )
• Captain America
• X-Men: First Class
• Crazy, Stupid, Love
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
• The Help
  

Definitely a short list of favorites this year...Kind of weird.

Must see movie of the year: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Runner-ups: Nothing as a *must* see, but I *highly* recommend The Help, X-Men: First Class, and Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Favorite stupid comedy: Bridesmaids
Runner-ups: Just Go With It (I can't help it. Aniston and Sandler not making a TOTAL dump of a movie?! Beating expectations by a long way is worth a mention! With that said, don't get your hopes up if you watch it. :P) and Horrible Bosses

Romantic/Romantic Comedy: Crazy, Stupid, Love
Runner-up: Friends with Benefits

Horror: N/A - Didn't seen any this year (highly likely I won't ANY year)

Family film (non-animated): Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Runner-ups: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Family film (animated): Rio
Runner-ups: Cars 2 and Gnomeo & Juliet

Action-Adventure: X-Men: First Class
Runner-ups: Source Code, Lincoln Lawyer, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Comic: Captain America
Runner-up: Thor

Drama: The Help
Runner-up: Moneyball

Worst of the year: So many bad ones this year (Sucker Punch, Hoodwinked Too, Change-Up, 30 Minutes or Less, etc), but I do think Bad Teacher was my least favorite and that's saying something given I had a string of bad movies the latter half of the year!

2011 Movies to See on DVD in 2012 (no order):

• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• J Edgar
• Happy Feet Two
• Hugo
• The Muppets
• New Year's Eve
• The Adventures of TinTin
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• War Horse
• I Don't Know How She Does It
• Hangover Part II
• Ides of March
• Real Steel
• The Descendants
• What's Your Number
  
• My Week with Marilyn
• Puss in Boots
• A Dangerous Method (curious since I read a Jung book in HS and the actors are good)
• Beginners

Three shy of doubling last year's previous year's movie watch list...A lot of these are all movies that came out in the fall and winter and have not made it to DVD yet. I'm sure my list will get added to when the Oscar nominations come out; though, predictions show that I may end up watching all the Best Picture nominations on my own. We'll see!

2012 Movies I Want to (Most Likely) See (release date order):

• Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance (2/17)
• Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (3/2)
• Mirror, Mirror (3/16)
  
• The Hunger Games (3/23)
• The Avengers (5/4)
• MIB 3 (5/25)
• Snow White and the Huntsman (6/1)
• Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (6/8)
• Brave (6/22)
• GI Joe: Retaliation (6/29)
• The Amazing Spider-Man (7/3)
• Ice Age: Continental Drift (7/13)
• The Dark Knight Rises (7/20)
• The Bourne Legacy (8/3)
• Taken 2 (10/5)
• Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (11/16 - Maybe...I don't want to help it beat HP's records!)
• Rise of the Guardians (11/21 - Know little about it, but it's a DreamWorks Animation)
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (12/14 -- Guess who's watching The Hobbit for her birthday?! Course, maybe I should do a midnight release...I bet they'll have one!)
• Life of Pi (12/21 - Maybe)
• The Great Gatsby (12/25)

I am most excited for The Hunger Games, The Avengers, MIB 3, Brave, Dark Knight Rises, and The Hobbit! Can almost guarantee I'll see those in theater. I'm interested to see the contrast between Mirror, Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman. 

So...Next year's goal will be to have watched at least 70 movies. We'll see. That seems like an awful lot at this point...but...If I watch every movie I just said I want to see in 2012 (DVD and new), I'd have exceeded half of my goal (39 movies). That's also scary. :P

Anyway, on to 2012! Happy New Year everyone!

LAST movies of the year! (and mini life update)

Highly unlikely I'll watch anymore movies this year since I've only got one more day and I think I've watched almost everything I want to watch that's out and available on RedBox (whoa is me without any Netflix!).

At any rate, the last 3 movies!

Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts) - It's a cute romantic movie that is somewhere more in the drama realm than the comedy realm. I'm still having troubles with Roberts's and Hanks's characters connecting so quickly, but maybe I'm missing something. I just found it a little unbelievable (or too fast), but I enjoyed the film. It's a little more slow-paced, which works given Hanks's character has lost his job over the fact he doesn't have a college degree and, thus, decides to go to college. Let's also not forget that his house is upside down so he's troubled with money woes too. He meets a young college student who instantly takes a liking to him when they meet each other at the scooter parking zone his first day of school. She takes him underneath her wing and helps "spruce" him up. Roberts's character is basically in a rut with her husband and in an unhappy relationship with him and with her career. Movie really is about finding yourself later in life, especially when your life hasn't quite gone the way you wanted it too. It's cute. If you're looking to waste an hour-and-a-half of your life, this would be the movie to watch. It's mostly gentle and non-demanding, but it is also isn't anything too fantastic or necessary to watch either. You're not missing much if you don't watch it, but it's also just "okay" too. Grade: C+ (perhaps B-)

The Help  (Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, etc) - Yes, it may water down the whole discrimination aspect; yes, it may not be as powerful as the book (though I haven't read the book so I can't judge that); and, yes, it may have some historical things wrong and situations wrong/improbable and yaddy, yaddy, but I found it rather good. The acting is really good and the female cast is a lot of people you see here-and-there in other movies (at least for me). I cried while watching it, but you can't always consider that as I tend to cry through almost any remotely sad part in any film (case in point: I teared up in Conan....Really? Conan?!). The beginning is where it really tries to lay down the foundation for how strong the discrimination between white and black was back in that day in Mississippi and, from there, sort of eases its way around the issue. It made me angry in the beginning, but sad (laced with anger) later on as you really get to know the women and the abuse they receive. There are some funny moments and some tender ones too. I thought Emma Stone did a good job, but it really is Davis and Spencer who make the movie. Dallas Howard is also definitely despicable and comes off really well as the queen bee and no one goes against her. At any rate, I see the Oscar attention, but we'll also have to see when the nominations come out and I start watching those movies. I do recommend seeing this movie if you think it's something you'd like to see. It's a good film and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. Don't think I'd own it, but maybe if the price came down to $10 I would. Grade: B+/A-

Midnight in Paris (Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams) - Well, I can't say the relationship between Wilson's and McAdams's characters had a surprising ending. I knew from the get-go the way it was heading, but the film was rather cute. I don't think I've ever watched a Woody Allen film before, but who doesn't know of Woody Allen? At any rate, I enjoyed the concept and the nostalgia. It's fun seeing famous people from the 1920's (e.g., Hemmingway) and Wilson's modern character interacting with them after midnight (in Paris). The film is a mix of modern and nostalgia and is an interesting film about the past and where we think we'd rather be (era or situations). I like to think its underlying message is that the past is the past and we need to come to terms with our present and learn to live within it and with what we have. We can't go to the past to a better time. Even if we could, we wouldn't belong. So it's best we look to our present and find and do what makes us happy. At least, that's what I took from it. At any rate, I enjoyed the film and am glad I watched it. Grade: B+

Well, the last of the movies of 2011 that I watched!

Life is good. Got my first paycheck today! It feels good to be making money regularly, again! I like my co-workers and the environment is pretty good too. It's an interesting and different experience than working at Borders. You think retail is retail, but people treat Goodwill differently. There are some things you'd never do in a Borders or normal department store that people do at Goodwill, but there are also relationships you build with your customers that you don't really do at most department stores too. It's really common at Goodwill to introduce yourself or have a customer introduce himself/herself to you. I don't think any customer at Borders during my 5 years there ever introduced themselves to me. Granted, if they did, it was more because I was ordering something for them and I maybe formally shook someone's hand and gave them my name maybe a dozen times. At Goodwill, it's kind of the norm to get to know your regulars on a more personal level. It's also protocol to greet and say hi to everyone, but it was at Borders too. So, who knows. I am enjoying it, though. It's a little more laid back too. Being a lead is fine too.

Come January, I start my 2nd contract with the Aquarium. It's a big report so I'll start working on writing and researching that. It'll be interesting to work 40 hours a week and do that. I'll also continue to do MOPS twice a month before work at Goodwill. So...life went from basically nothing to a lot! It's kind of nice, but it is also a big adjustment for me too. I'm still adjusting to the standing for 8 hours at work and also just expending more energy throughout the day. I'm basically coming home tired and don't want to do much. I'm hoping after the holidays it'll get better. I've been working now for 3 weeks and all my days off (most of today even) have been filled with something to do and so I haven't had a real day of just doing nothing. New Year's Day -- nothing! At any rate, things are good. :)

Last movies of the year?

There is a small possibility I might manage to watch another 1 or 2 DVDs before the year is out, but it's iffy. At any rate, with these 4 reviews, my movie count is set at an ominous 66. So I almost feel like I need to watch 1 more to make it 67 or something. Considering I totally forgot about Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts), perhaps I'll make it. The Help seems to be in great demand (or simply not being returned there) and is not showing up at the RedBox I have been frequenting. So The Help might have to wait till next year. At any rate...Here's my backlog of movies I have watched. I actually reviewed two of them and then my Internet ate my blog post. Didn't have the desire to rewrite it at that time, but I suppose now is as good as any time to do them!

Friends with Benefits (Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake) - More curious than anything to watch this and compare it to No Strings Attached (Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher). I think I like Friends with Benefits just a little more. Even though the concept for both is the same (sex without the attachment/relationship with it), the concept is truly set around what the movie title is. Might be hard to understand, but FwB really is the story of the friendship between Kunis/Timberlake and how they just throw sex into it, but remain friends. They have a fun friendship to see and they obviously get along well. It's cute with the quirky things they end up doing (e.g., the flash mobs). Portman/Kutcher really is just sex and nothing more. They're old friends, but they don't have the friendship like Kunis/Timberlake have so it really is just, well, no strings attached sex. Those two differences, for me, makes the difference in which movie I enjoyed watching more. I also felt No Strings Attached was a little too "heavy" towards the end and it sort of makes sense given the way the movie is set-up. It doesn't have the same cuteness or lightness that FwB has (no clue why FwB seems longer to type than No Strings Attached and hence the acronym for one over the other). With that said, neither is particularly that great for a RomCom, but I would recommend FwB over No Strings Attached. Grade: B-

Change-Up (Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman) - So not a family movie, a female chick-flick, or anything that I expected it'd be. Well, I didn't expect it to be a family movie or a chick-flick, but I didn't think it'd be so heavily on the side of male interest comedy. There is just nothing really appealing in it for a female, which is kind of weird (I suppose) given who the two actors are. With that said, I said it's quite on the male side because the movie is all from a male's point of view, which isn't bad, but when it centers around two males switching and a married man with a family becoming single and a single man becoming a family man, there are just certain male-ishy things that come about (e.g., suddenly being single and the possibility of sleeping with your #1). However, I will say, Bateman's character does not become a total loser and realizes that he really does love his wife and loves his life and wouldn't give up it up. In addition, Reynolds's character does learn to grow up too. So, I guess it's got that, but you gotta wade through a lot of bare breasts and some foul language and, well, yeah. Wouldn't recommend to most people. Grade: C-

Warrior (Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte) - This was good. I think I like it better than The Fighter, but I can't say the acting was as good as The Fighter. The acting in The Fighter really was superb. Not to say that Warrior's acting is really bad, but it's just not on the same level. I'd say it's more B-level acting. With that said, both movies sort of had the same storyline of forgiveness and how a messed up family can come together in the end (all in the climax with the final fight). The MMA fighting was interesting to see; the story did pull at your heart; and the ending was interesting to see how the family made up. I do think this one is more action based with the drama story, whereas The Fighter really is more a drama with the action in the background. It was a little predictable too given what the trailer shows you and how the movie sets up, but I liked it. Grade: B

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace) - I do believe I enjoyed this more than the first one, which is kind of amazing; however, I might need to rewatch it first before I make that an official statement! I enjoyed how this one was more clue-hunting and game play focused than the first one. I do think this does make the movie a little more "intellectual" for an action film, but that's what I kind of enjoyed about it. I even knew to make sure I note when Holmes took interest in something and I still would forget and go "Awww..." later on in the movie. I like things like that and the replay value of this movie is just as good as the first. Plus, I'm forever going to quote, "They're dangerous at both ends and crafty in the middle." Not to mention the next sentence, "Why would I want anything with a mind of its own bobbing about between my legs?" So funny! Best scene ever that whole lot. I laughed so hard. At any rate, I recommend it. I'm not sure why it's not doing as well in the theater. It did seem, to be fair, a little long in certain parts and there was something a little more "rough" about this movie than the first. There is a little less intrigue than the first since you know instantly who Holmes is after and who is orchestrating everything, whereas the first is sort of puzzles each time and in this one Holmes is more playing a game and taking clues one after another. It's different, but I think it works in both movies. I think Rapace did a great job and it was nice seeing her in her outside of Girl with a Dragon Tattoo (the Swedish versions). Grade: A- (perhaps a B+)

Well, the year is almost to an end, which means it's almost time for my 2011 Movie Recap, what I'm looking forward to in 2012, and what I hope to see in 2012 that came out in 2011. The "to watch from 2011" list is sort of long, but I guess I'll see if it's truly bad or not when I figure it out (somewhere around 15 movies right now). :)

With that, time for bed!

3 more movies

More summer releases now on DVD:

30 Minutes or Less (Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride) - Predictably stupid-funny. If you watch the trailer, the trailer is pretty much what you get. Not a whole lot else to say about it since the trailer kind of says it all. :) Can't say it's a particularly good stupid-funny movie either (e.g., Hangover), but it's far better than Bad Teacher. Grade: C

Crazy, Stupid Love (Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone) - This was rather delightful. The reviews for it were pretty favorable so I wanted to see it in theaters, but just couldn't get myself actually to want to see it in theaters. It was probably for the best since I saved a ton of money watching it at home on DVD and it didn't need a big screen to enjoy it. It's almost a dramedy (drama-comedy) because there are some pretty funny moments in the movie, but it's also got the sense of a drama too. It's sweet about the various kinds of love and how you can be affected by love. Each person in the movie, pretty much, experiences a different type, but mostly the movie revolves around Carell and his broken marriage to his wife (Moore). The climax I should have seen coming (one of those "didn't see that coming, but should have" moments) and was funny at the same time. I liked it. It was probably one of the better movies I've seen recently, which is kind of saying a lot. Can't say it's quite movie ownable, for me, but it's close. I just don't rewatch dramas (95% of the time) is my big problem. If it was more comedy (e.g., The Proposal), perhaps, but it's just a little on the too much side of a drama. It's good though. Grade: B/B+

Water for Elephants (Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon) - Don't watch it if you can't watch animal cruelty. There are two scenes that make me cringe and they make me cringe now just thinking about it. One you don't see, but you see the aftermath and the other is just, well, hard to watch because someone is being mean to an animal. I knew there was going to be animal cruelty in it (knew it from the book), but I still couldn't stand watching it even know I knew it was coming. Aside from the animal cruelty, it wasn't that greatly acted. I've watched RobPat in some of his films and this was one of the bigger films he's done that is not small production, non-Twilight, and Harry Potter almost doesn't count since he's in it for such a short time. So I figured I'd see it given it's based on a book (by Sara Gruen), I like Reese Witherspoon well enough, and it'd be something to see RobPat in that's different. I will say, before this movie, I didn't particularly like RobPat's acting. I find him unbelievable most times; however, as I said, this was a different sort of film so I gave it a shot. Well, let's just say I was disappointed. I still do not like RobPat's acting. I find him unbelievable and sometimes just cheesy. It was so bad, in fact, that I felt like he brought down Witherspoon sometime into the unbelievable/cheesy aspect of it. So, it was rather disappointing. My other, sort of funny, issue with the movie (and with the book) is it starts somewhat similar to Titanic. Come to think of it, it's kind of Titanic and The Notebook mashed into one that revolves around a circus. Huh. Didn't think of that till now. So the beginning and end are rather touching with the old man, but I didn't particularly enjoy the middle. Get's a C+ instead of a C because I liked the animals (especially Rosie the Elephant). Grade: C+