HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Okay, I'm a little early, but close enough for most of the world. :) With hours to spare, I managed to watch 101 movies for the year! That would be new movies, for me, of course.
Here are my last 7 movies of the year!
Les Miserables (Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, etc) - I loved it. Seyfried was a little high for me and Crowe was a little low for me, but I really liked it and they really didn't bother me too much. I think the casting (physically) was spot on and the singing was good. Sure, it's not the normal Broadway singing you normally hear for Les Mis, but I liked it. The emotional singing with the acting was really powerful. It is one of those movies you can't just listen to the soundtrack for. I much prefer the Broadway recordings compared to the movie, but I really liked the movie and it might even be one I buy. To say the least, I can now say that I love the book, play, and movie, which is an amazing feat! I do think Anne Hathway could be easily nominated for an Oscar or many of the others too. Grade: A
10 Years (Channing Tatum, Justin Long, etc) - Wasn't sure what to expect from this movie. I thought it'd be a little more on the comedy end, but it was actually more on the drama end. The movie was more about growing up and how people change when they meet each other at their high school reunion. It had that great slight awkwardness of seeing old friends, telling how your life has changed, etc. It wasn't spectacular and at moments rather sad to see how many of them hadn't really grown up; however, at the end, things turn and you can sort of see the moment when they decide it's time to grow up and let high school go. Don't think I'd readily recommend it, but it wasn't a total flop. Grade: C-
ParaNorman (animation - Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, etc) - It was cute. The animation had that fake-realistic feel to it (like Coraline or Corpse Bride). It wasn't a spectacular story, but I liked how things weren't always what you thought and it was sort of a coming-of-age/acceptance animated Sixth Sense. I liked the animation and the story is cute, but it's definitely a Halloween movie and not a post-Christmas movie! Watching zombies and witches and a kid who can see/speak to ghosts is just not what you think of to watch post-Christmas. It's not overly scary, but it's definitely for those that are 10+ since the witch is a little scary and there are zombies and dead people (and a dog that got run over...that was disturbing and funny at the same time - reminded me of the armadillo in Rango). Grade: C+/B-
The Words (Bradley Cooper, Dennis Quaid) - It's a story-within-a-story-within-a-story movie. It's a little confusing when you try to untangle it and I can see why that's one thing people just didn't like about the movie. The story is the author reading from pieces from his book (Quaid is the author and Cooper is the main character) and then you find out, in the end, because Olivia Wilde's character kept pushing, that the story, believed to be fictional, is actually (SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) biographical. Which then made my brain hurt a little because I had to figure out which character he was supposed to be (I was tired, okay?!). Anyway, the acting wasn't bad and I enjoyed Cooper, but the story was just "off" and the 3-deep story situation was not fantastic. I don't think it was as bad as it was made out to be, but it's certainly not fantastic and I'm not surprised it didn't do well. Grade: C-/D+
Trouble with the Curve (Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams) - I can see why the movie didn't get better reviews. The acting was good and the father-daughter relationship was interesting, but it felt a little too gruff and off-putting and you didn't make up enough with the characters at the end to feel truly satisfied with it. With that said, I enjoy Justin Timberlake's acting. I've seen him in a few different things and he's always fun to watch. I liked Amy Adams too and I liked Clint Eastwood's gruff, hard-to-get-close-to attitude. The baseball scouting story semi-interesting. I mean, it wasn't really a surprise in how it was going to end. It was an okay movie, but it does have a lot of cussing in it. Grade: C
Why Stop Now? (Jesse Eisenberg, Melissa Leo, etc) - I like Eisenberg so I tend to watch a lot of his indie films. This one was weird in a silly sense because Eisenberg's character is trying to get into this conservatory internship based on his piano skills, but his mom (Leo) is having troubles with drugs, and he's got a younger sister. He tries to get his mom into rehab, but she can't go because she doesn't have insurance and her urine screen is clean (she sobered up before entering). The doctor tells her that if her urine screen is not clean, they can admit her, but not if it's clean since she has no insurance. Irony? Yeah. So they go off on a hunt to get her some drugs so she can go to rehab. In that process, they confront their issues (family and personal) in a wild and twisted path. It's really rather silly and over the top, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been either. Definitely not one I'd really recommend either. Grade: C-
Looper (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt) - Time travel, it's always the kicker that can confuse you. At the same time, the name says it all: Loops. It was an interesting concept of a movie and had an interesting (if not noticeable from a mile away) solution/answer to the "how." The little boy, though, is CREEPY! Man that kid has a good "creepy" sort of "possessed" look to him. He definitely tripped you out. It was a movie about how far you are willing to protect those you love and the consequences those actions have on others. I liked the movie and thought it was really interesting. There is a lot of blood and some nudity (definitely deserves its rating), but it was intellectually interesting (again, time travel movies tend to mess with your head). It was interesting how old Joe could come back from the future to young Joe to avenge his future wife's death by killing the Rainmaker, but because he's old Joe, he got the jump on young Joe to save his own life. See what I mean?! At any rate, I liked it, but it won't be for everyone because of its rating. Grade: B (maybe C+ because there are some extraneous things in the movie...)
With that...Looper was number 101 and Why Stop Now? 100! YAY! I exceeded my goal by a LOT and also meat my far reaching goal too. Not bad! With that, I'm off to ring in the New Year and to start writing my end of the year favorites/recap. As for nails, I may do a post about my water marble attempt at a later date and a quick book update. I don't work tomorrow so I get to sleep in. Yay!
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