Best Summer Movies in 2011

So another Summer Movie Season has gone by and it was filled with superhero films, remakes, comedies, etc. So the question is, what is the best or what are the best summer movies? Well I’ve put together a list to show you what I thought were the best movies of the summer. So let’s start off with the honorable mentions

Honorable Mentions

• Fright Night: Yes, the remake of a cult classic is on my list of best summer movies. Believe it or not the movie was actually quiet fun (for a remake) and falls into my surprise hits of the summer and so far the year (have 2 more but I’ll save those).
• Transformers: Dark of The Moon: Despite it not being the best movie on my list Transformers 3 does have its moments where I enjoyed it enough to put it on here. Give it to Transformers however, it was what we thought it was going to be, a summer action popcorn movie.
• Horrible Bosses: At first I wasn’t really that interested in seeing this but once I saw it I can’t believe I had those doubts. The movie had my laughing or at least giggling throughout the film. It was always fun seeing Colin Farrell in a different role than usual.
• Cowboys & Aliens: Although most people didn’t like it, I found C&A an enjoyable film that did a descent job of mixing the Western and Sci-Fi genres which has never really been done before.

• Don’t be Afraid of the Dark: Guillermo Del Toro has done yet another job of making something that is suppose to be creepy into something that is somewhat beautiful that can kill you (I know but that’s just the way I see it).

Now on the what I think are the best Summer Movies this year, please feel free to agree of disagree with me. (No order here)

• Thor: It not only was the first summer movie and the first comic book superhero movie, it was also a good way to start off the summer. Hemsworth did a great job playing the God of Thunder and had strong emotional scenes which is weird for a comic book summer movie.
• X-Men First Class: Yes another comic book movie in the best section list but it’s not because it’s the X-Men but because it told a great story on two characters (Xavier and Erik) and how they became friends to enemies. Also a great period film.
• Super 8: J.J Abrams is one of the few directors in Hollywood to keep movies pretty close to the chest (Cloverfield anyone) and he did it again with Super 8. However, the film was as strong when it didn’t have Abrams secret in it as well.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: The end of an era, childhood’s for most of us, came to close this year in one of the biggest openings to a movie that I can remember. HP delivered what many of us wanted and expected.
• Captain America: The First Avenger: The last comic book superhero movie to come out was one of the strongest. The movie had everything from action to good strong telling and love story. Of course this was the last Marvel film before we see the super team of The Avengers come to screens next summer.
• Attack the Block: A film that made the rounds in film festivals and eventually got limited release in theaters in various cities was a great low budget horror action comedy from the UK about aliens attacking a suburb in England. Highly recommend this movie when it comes out on DVD for all of you.
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes: The last great Summer Movie in my opinion did a amazing job of rebooting a series that has thought to be dead (Let’s just say Tim Burton’s version doesn’t exist okay). Andy Serkis does a great job of playing a CG character of Caesar that leads apes against humankind. It’s also rare that a movie is told through a CGI character that never talks and a director that has never done a big budget movie.

So there is my list. Do you agree of some or disagree? let me know

Best Movies of the Year (2011) So Far (My Opinion)

I usually like to post this around this time just to get the idea on what movies were the best, in my opinion of course. There will be movies on this list that some of you (maybe all of you) may have not heard of, some are actually movies I’ve seen in a Film Festival (Actionfest is the only festival I’ve been too this year so far) or on Video On Demand. Of course all the movies on this list can and probably will change by the end of the year. So let’s get to the list

These movies are in no particular order (yet)

• The Adjustment Bureau: I’ll admit in the beginning I didn’t really feel like watching this movie however the more I heard about I became interested. Also have a good cast like Matt Damon and Emily Blunt also helps.
• Battle: LA: I was completely surprised at this movie although it had sci-fi elements the movie was a complete war film. Yes the movie did have some Marine recruitmentness in there and some of the scenes involving non marine characters kinda slowed the movie down but it was still pretty damn good.
• Insidious: Good horror movies are find to hard nowadays especially original ones and Insidious was one of the those movies. Yes it had elements from other but all movies do. Great cast and more importantly great scares which is hard to go for me.
• Bellflower: Although some film festival crowds know this movie it is still a great movie that I think people should watch. Not going to give much away of this but when it comes out you should watch.
• Tomorrow, When The War Began: I’ve grown more fond of movies from other countries and Australia seems to be one of those places. This movie is actually based off a series of books from “The Land From Down Under” and this movie is going to start bringing that to the big screen.
• Hanna: A movie about a female teenager assassin going through an adventure in a world she never thought she would see while also begin hunted down and kicking ass. Hanna was not just an action movie but a coming of age/art film.
• Fast Five: Despite what people think of the Fast and Furious series I still find them pretty entertaining and dumb fun. Fast Five had everything we loved about the original and the others. Cheesy lines, over the top action, and add in The Rock and you got yourself a movie.
• Thor: One of the probably the most hardest comic book characters to bring to the big screen (because of the mythology and character itself) but Kenneth Branagh and Chris Hemsworth managed to bring it. Not just a great story but a great acting and visual effects.
• X-Men: First Class: Despite the last two X-Men films not being great they managed to bring back some goodness into the iconic franchise. X-Men: First Class not only told the origin story of the team but how Professor X and Magneto came to be friends and later enemies. Micheal Fassbender did a terrific job and sure is the new leading man in Hollywood.
• Super 8: J.J Abrams is one of those directors that likes to keep things related to his movie close to the chest (Christopher Nolan of course is the other). Abrams also gave his lead character role to child actor that was never in a movie before. Also the fact that the movie is really not a creature movie and more of a character driven movie which is losing focus in movie nowadays.

So that’s my list so far. I’m not going to put the worst movies here, because let’s admit why tarnish the list of good with crappy movies. So do you agree? Disagree? Let me know and of course keep enjoying movies.

Oscar Nomination Thoughts

Full List: http://www.imdb.com/features/oscars/2011/nominations

Now I won’t be doing all the nominees just the ones that main ones of the night. So let’s start this thing shall we.

Best Picture:

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

Thoughts: All great movies (Haven’t seen King’s Speech, 127 Hours or Winter’s Bone yet) and with Social Network winning the Golden Globe for best picture it would seem unlikely that it would win here (only movie that I remember doing that is Slumdog Millionaire). Not saying Social Network isn’t a bad movie but I think it’s time another movie wins. I don’t know who will win but I have a feeling that the movie that might have the highest chances of winning are Social Network, King’s Speech, The Fighter or Black Swan.

 

Best Leading Actor:

Javier Bardem for Biutiful (2010)

Jeff Bridges for True Grit (2010)

Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network (2010)

Colin Firth for The King’s Speech (2010)

James Franco for 127 Hours (2010)

Thoughts: This one is tough considering that I can’t really pass judgment on all the actors because I haven’t seen any of them expect for Social Network and True Grit. So of the two I’ve seen I think that Bridges and Eisenberg will NOT win the award. I think it might be Colin Firth who wins because he’s been getting rave reviews for his role. Javier Bardem is also getting raves reviews for his movie. Tough choice here because then again Eisenberg can pull through.

 

Best Leading Actress:

Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole (2010)

Jennifer Lawrence for Winter’s Bone (2010)

Natalie Portman for Black Swan (2010)

Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine (2010)

Thoughts: Have not seen Rabbit Hole, Winter’s bone or Blue Valentine so I’m going to go with the three I’ve seen. So between Bening or Portman I ashamed to say they might give it to Bening because they probably feel sorry for never giving her the award before. However, if she doesn’t win, I really hope Portman wins because she truly deserves it but Kidman or Williams could win.

 

Best Supporting Actor:

Christian Bale for The Fighter

John Hawkes for Winter’s Bone

Jeremy Renner for The Town

Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush for The King’s Speech

Thoughts: with Bale winning the Globes he might come around and win the Oscar too and I wouldn’t be surprised. Rush might also win just for the King’s Speech factor or even Renner because they didn’t give it to him for The Hurt Locker.

 

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams for The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter for The King’s Speech

Melissa Leo for The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit

Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom

Thoughts: Now I really feel strongly about this category because Hailee Steinfeld is NOT A SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN TRUE GRIT, she is the LEAD in True Grit. Despite that fact I think somebody from The Fighter will win the award, who? doesn’t matter.

 

Best Director:

Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for True Grit

David Fincher for The Social Network

Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech

David O. Russell for The Fighter

Thoughts: Fans are outraged about Christoper Nolan not be nominated but to be honest that did not really surprise me but Nolan will always be one of the directors that will probably never get nominated and make excellent movies. So who do I think will win? True choice, any one of these directors could win and to be honest I really would not mind who wins here.

Anticipated Movies in 2011

I meant to do this last year but never got around to it so I figured I do it now. We all know that 2010 was a good year for movie but it seems that 2011 is going to be one of those years were we see potentially great movies come out within weeks of one another. Now many of these movie don’t even have trailers yet and some might even be moved but just by the people involved I’m excited to see them.

January:

The Mechanic: Directed by Simon West who did Con Air and directed the pilot episode for Human Target bring another action packed movie (or at least it looks like it) starring action superstar Jason Statham and underrated actor Ben Foster. While the movie just looks like a nonsense action movie you have to admit it’s going to have descent action sequences from the trailers and Statham.

February:

Unknown: starting Liam Neeson and soon to be Emma Frost and Mad Men star January Jones. The movie looks a great action thriller about Neeson trying to figure out why his identity was stolen and it looks like Neeson might kick some more ass in this movie so what’s not to look forward to.

Drive Angry 3D: done by the man who remade the pretty good My Bloody Valentine, Patrick Lussier has done another 3D movie that seems pretty good. With the grindhouse like setting and a cast the consists of Nicolas Cage, the awesome William Fichtner and Amber Heard (I still don’t see what’s so big about her) the movie looks like a dumb fun action movie. “Wouldn’t wanna be you when Satan finds out”… “What’s he gonna do, not let me back in?” COME ON that’s good cheesy line.

March:

Battle: Los Angles: it seems like Aliens are making a come back to Hollywood and with the failure that was Skyline last year I hope Battle LA will be better. However the effects are going to be done by the Strause Brothers but that’s all there doing so we should be safe. The movie does have good trailers going for it, especially the latest one, and a good cast of Aaron Eckhart and Michelle Rodriguez.

Paul: director of Superbad check, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost check, and a A-List comedy cast check. A movie about two British comic book geeks that come to U.S to look for Area 51 and actually find an Alien named Paul check. Now what else do you want.

Sucker Punch: 300 and Watchmen director Zack Snyder returns to blow our minds with Sucker Punch that looks like its going to have great visuals and have some pretty decent video game references. With a strong female cast led by very lovely Emily Browning and even comes out on my birthday weekend…so come on I’m looking forward for that.

April

Source Code: directed by Duncan Jones who made the fantastic film Moon comes back and films another sci fi thriller about taking over the last couple minutes of somebody’s life. With pretty descent cast of Jake Gyllenhaa and Vera Farmiga the movie looks pretty interesting.

Super: directed by James Gunn and has the same basis of Kick-Ass when an everyday guy turns into a superhero to save his girlfriend who falls in love with a drug dealer. The movie has actually made it around the film festival circuit and has gotten some good buzz. Only thing I’m looking for is the great cast of Rain Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon and others.

Hanna: Saoirse Ronan from The Lovely Bones returns as a 16 year old born and raised assassin by her father played by Eric Bana. Before you say it no it’s not a Hit Girl spin off (personally I’m starting to hate that comparison) but the movie does look pretty damn good. Joining Ronan and Bana is Cate Blanchett who plays Hanna’s target.

Insidious: James Wan returns to horror with Insidious which is another movie that made the runs around the film festival circuit. The movie stars Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson about a family who tries to stop sprites from taking over their child.

Apollo 18: nothing is known about this movie expect it’s about found footage from the “never happened” Apollo 18 mission to the moon.The poster has already sucked me in.

Scream 4: I’m very uneven about this movie because I enjoyed the first Scream when I was younger and the other three have been okay but Wes Craven hasn’t had the best track record lately but I’ll still check it out for the new cast members.

Fast Five: Justin Lin returns to the world of fast cars with the Fast and Furious crew and Dwayne THE ROCK Johnson chasing them down. This times the action takes place in Brazil it looks like and even a chase scene in the Favela’s there.

Action Fest: the 2nd annual film festival takes over again and I’m pretty sure I’ll get to see some kick ass movies.

May:

Thor: the third Marvel movie to set up the upcoming Avengers movie is going to set up new potential superstar Chris Hemsworth who played Captain Kirk’s father in 2009′s Star Trek. The movie looks great with some pretty good visuals and looks like sticking close to the comics the movie is truly one of the two last stops until we see The Avengers. Also confirmed is a Hawk Eye cameo of some sort.

Priest: a 3D movie in the future about vampires (new looking by the way) and Priests that kill them, yeah I’m down with that. The movie actually looks pretty cool and with Paul Bettany and Maggie Q playing the heroes and Karl Urban playing the villain it’s going to be interesting how this turns out since the movie was held back until this year to convert it into 3D.

Pirates of Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: Going to be honest I really think they should have stopped after part 3. However since Disney knows this is a cash cow there going to keep making them and of course this time there going after the fountain of youth which they hinted in the last one. The movie will also see the appearance of one of the most famous pirates, Blackbeard.

June:

X-Men: First Class: directed by Kick Ass helmer Matthew Vaughn and set in the past when Xavier first meets his future enemy Magneto. The movie has a really great cast like James McAvoy, Micheal Fassbender and Kevin Bacon playing Sebastian Shaw. The movie already has buzz from earlier this year when Vaughn said he had to cut pages from the final script because it was similar to the zero gravity fight scene in Inception.

Super 8: yet another J.J Abrams secret monster movie but this time he sets it in the late 70′s and in small town USA Ohio. Not much is known about Super 8 expect that kids find out they recorded a alien (or monster) on their super 8 camera that escaped from Area 51.

Green Lantern: with Marvel releasing movies left and right DC is coming out with the long gestured Green Lantern movie and it looks like it’s going to be a special effects speculator since the whole Lantern suit it going to be CG. The movie starts Ryan Reynolds playing Hal Jordon and of course Ryan is a lucky man as he takes another comic book character.

July:

Transformers: The Dark of Moon: everybody that knows me and has talked to me about movies knows I hate Micheal Bay now, I loved Bay’s early work but recently Bay has started to dig a hole deeper for himself for me anyway. Same goes for Transformers, I enjoyed the first one while the second was just bleh (Bay blames it on the Writer’s Strike that was happening at the time). However, I’ll give this one a chance as Bay said it’s going to be a darker tone movie than the others and since part of it filmed here in Chicago (said to be the last part of the movie) I’ll go see it just to see how the series ends.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: the last Harry Potter movie EVER!! unless Rowling makes more Harry Potter books then never mind but for the moment the Harry Potter series is coming to an end and the battle that we all have been waiting for it coming.

Captain America: The First Avenger: the last marvel movie before The Avengers shows the leader himself taking on the Red Skull played by Agent Smith himself Hugo Weaving and Cap being played by Chris Evans. The movie is doing something different, it’s taking place in World War 2. With Captain America the last to be released well see how it does next to Thor.

Cowboys & Aliens: two things you thought you never see right? but throw in Jon Favreau, Daniel “James Bond” Craig, Olivia Wilde and Harrison “Indiana Jones” Ford and Western theme and you got yourself a movie.

August:

Fright Night: a remake of a cult classic to some about a vampire next door and a kid trying to prove it the movie is starting to get some buzz for its cast along. Anton Yelchin, Collin Farrell, and former Dr.Who himself David Tennant.

September:

Warrior: Tom Hardy is starring in this movie that I’ve heard so much about being in production but never got a release date. Hardy stars as an ex marine who gets into mixed martial arts tournament for a cash prize but has to go through his older brother as well.

Drive: stars Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stunt driver who also works as a getaway driver who ends up in a botched job and is on the run.

October:

Real Steel: starring Hugh Jackman as a former boxer in the future where robots battle in the ring like well boxers, the movie reminds me of rock em sock em robots with a hint of Rocky. Seems like a pretty good movie from the trailer.

The Three Musketeers: being directed by Paul W.S Anderson and staring a pretty good cast (Logan Lerman, Milla Jovocich, Mads Mikkelsen, Til Schweiger, Ray Stevenson, and Christoph Waltz) the movie might actually be pretty good. Besides it’s not everyday we get a Musketeers movie

Contagion: directed by Steven Soderbergh the movie is about a threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak. Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Laurence Fishburne star.

November:

Immortals: directed by Tarsem Singh who has directed visually great movies like The Cell and The Fall makes the movie about the Greek warrior Theseus and his battles against imprisoned titans. Of course people are going to want to compare this to Clash of the Titans but the movie from the one picture that has been released showing Mickey Rourke all dirtied up looks like it’s going to be a gritty toned movie.

December:

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol: the next installment of the MI series is one that might see Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt last time on screen. The movie is a supposed passing of the torch to Jeremy Renner who might take over the series now that Tom Cruise might be gone. The movie also stars Lost star Josh Holloway, Slumdog Millionaire‘s Anil Kapoor and Swedish actor Micheal Nyqvist (who was in the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: A remake of the best crime thriller I’ve seen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is getting remade with David Fincher at the helm and Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara headlining. I’m personally feeling effy about this since I loved the Swedish version so much but with Fincher in the directors chair I feel a little better. Also the recently released pictures of Mara as the famous character Lizbeth Salander still didn’t make me feel better.

So what are you looking forward too?

Award Show Winners

So originally this was suppose to be a video announcing the winners but do to stuff happening around me, I was not able to the video. So I turned to the next best thing…the other part of the internet, the blogosphere. Anyway, for those of you how are aware I posted polls for you the people to vote for how YOU thought was the best actor, actress, director, supporting actor/actress blah blah blah. So without further ado let us begin this “Award” show.

If you were one of the people that voted you know there was a long list of nominees, so what I’m going to do is list the winner and the people/fights/etc you voted for.

Best Animated Movie

Winner: Toy Story 3

Tangled

How To Train Your Dragon

Despicable Me

Thoughts: not really a surprise here really, Toy Story 3 was the best animated movie this year in my opinion. Tangled was the runner up and was probably would have been the best if Toy Story did not come out.

Best Comic Book

Winner: TIE…Ironman 2 & RED

Kick-Ass

Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Thoughts: If I had to break the tie I would pick RED, don’t get me wrong I didn’t hate the others movies and unlike many people out there I did not hate Iron Man 2 either. I personally think RED and Scott Pilgrim vs The World were the best comic book movie in my mind this year with Kick-Ass very close behind.

Best Horror

Winner: The Crazies

Paranormal Activity 2

A Nightmare on Elm St.

My Soul to Take

Thoughts: okay first of all…Who voted for Nightmare on Elm St.? never mind. I was very surprised that The Crazies won because PA2 and The Crazies were always tied until the very end. Nonetheless, I loved The Crazies and PA2 and in my mind the two are equally tied for best horror.

Best Villain

Winners: Gabriel/Possessed – Legion & Freddy Kruger – A Nightmare on Elm St.

The Crazies – The Crazies

Ivan Vanko (Whiplash)/Justin Hammer – Iron Man 2

Predators – Predators

The League of Evil X’s – Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Horvath – Sorcerers Apprentice

Clu 2.0 – Tron Legacy

Thoughts: very surprised here by the way but I did like, and I use like very very loosely, the new Freddy Kruger but not that much. I did like Gabriel in Legion but I really feel like he should have been in it more. If I had to pick somebody for best villain it would be somebody that didn’t make the list and Raul ‘Dolor’ Quinones played by Marko Zaror. Maybe even Clu 2.0 because he was badass.

Best Fight

Winner: Gabriel vs Micheal – Legion

Arthur vs Projections (Zero Gravity) – Inception

Hit Girl vs Drug Dealers – Kick-Ass

Iron Man 2/War Machine vs Hammer Drones – Iron Man 2

Scott vs The League of Evil X’s – Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Thoughts: REALLY surprised here folks. Zero Gravity fight in Inception was ahead for a long time and then out of nowhere Legion came ahead. I did enjoy the fight scene in Legion but Zero Gravity fight scene in a hotel hallway takes my cake.

Best Actor

Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio – Shutter Island/Inception

Shia Labeouf – Wall St. Money Never Sleeps

Ethan Hawke – Daybreakers

Jeff Bridges – True Grit

Logan Lerman – Percy Jackson & The Olympians

Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network

Ryan Reynolds – Buried

Ben Affleck – The Town

Micheal Nyquist – Millennium Trilogy

Timothy Olyphant – The Crazies

Thoughts: props to Leo because he managed to give two great performances in two great movies. I have to say if I had to pick it would be hard, since there was alot of great performance this year and it would be hard to pick just one. I loved Leo in both movies so thank you for making that hard decision for me.

Best Supporting Actress

Winners: Willa Holland/Kate Walsh for Legion & Marion Cotillard for Inception

Scarlett Johansson – Iron Man 2

Mila Kunis – Black Swan

Mia Wasikowska – The Kids are Alright

Michelle Rodriquez – Machete

Thoughts: I agree Marion Cotillard in Inception was fantastic and while many people didn’t like Legion (I really starting to hate the comparison to Terminator) Willa Holland actually surprised me. I thought her character was going to be a bitch but turns out she was one that you wanted to see make it.

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Tom Hardy – Inception

William Defoe – Daybreakers

Mark Ruffalo/Ben Kingsley – Shutter Island

Micheal Douglas – Wall St. Money Never Sleeps

Rupert Grunt – Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1

Sean William Scott – Cop Out

Nicolas Cage – Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Jeremy Renner/Jon Hamm – The Town

Thoughts: Clear in my mind that the winners deserved it, loved Tom Hardy in the movie and Levitt is always good. However I’m very surprised that nobody voted for future Spider-Man himself Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer for the Social Network or Christian Bale for The Fighter (then again I’m surprised people voted so there you go haha).

Best Actress

Winner: Noomi Rapace – Millennium Trilogy

Emma Watson – Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 1

Ashley Bell – The Last Exorcism

Olivia Wilde – Tron Legacy

Hailee Steinfield – True Grit

Ellen Page – Inception

Natalie Portman – Black Swan

Thoughts: glad to see Rapace has gotten attention from moviegoers because she is truly a great actress and she’s going to be in the sequel to Sherlock Holmes. However, if we only did American movie I believe Portman for her Black Swan performance would have won BUT Steinfield performance in True Grit really surprised me and she arguably wins my best actress but if I had to pick I would pick Portman for American movies. I am in NO WAY putting down Rapace win.

Best Director

Winner: Christopher Nolan – Inception

Niels Adren Oplev – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan

Martin Scorsese – Shutter Island

Rodrigo Cortes – Buried

Ben Affleck – The Town

David Yates – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Thoughts: Well not really a surprise is it since people have been saying Nolan is possible the best director out there right now. Nolan has always given us movies that have made us think or that has simply taken the movie world to a new level and Inception is no different. Another name that I’m surprised is not on this list is David Fincher for The Social Network. However, I have reached another tie in my mind as Nolan and Aronofsky take the best director for me this year.

Well that’s was my first award show. I wanted to thank everybody that voted because without you this could have been disastrous. Also want to thank the people that spread the word and made this possible. So again thank you for voting and hopefully this comes again this year in 2011

Highest number of votes: Noomi Rapace (8), Toy Story 3 (7), Nolan (6)

My Best (Favorite) Movies of 2010

It’s that time of the year boys and girls. The time when moviegoer have to decided what there favorite movie or movies of the year are. This year we got to see great movies from high paced action, thriller crime drama, mind twisting and animated movies five years in the making. I have to be honest this list was harder than others years since there have been many great movies that came out. Now without figure ado lets get this list started.

First I’ll list the Honorable Mentions:

- Edge of Darkness

- Clash of the Titans

-  From Paris with Love

- The Losers

- Iron Man 2

- Splice

- Green Zone

- Predators

- The Expendables

- Operation Endgame

- 14 Blades

- Raging Phoenix

- Vengeance

- Mandrill

- Takers

- The American

- Little Big Soldier

- It’s Kind of a Funny Story

- Daybreakers

- Harry Brown

- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

- The Girl that Played with Fire/The Girl that Kicked the Hornets Nest

phew long list right, sorry about that but I couldn’t go without naming these movies. So Let’s move on to the actual list of my best movies of the year. Remember these are MY best movie and in no way is suppose to say all the movies you saw sucked, this is just the movie I felt were better in my opinion

I’m separate the movies into two parts the best and then the top 10. First movies will not be in order

1) The Crazies: While it is a remake of a George A. Romero film, I ended up loving the movie. Not a zombie movies even thought there is an infection turning people to kill one another. The movie bought a fresh and not so fresh sense for horror movie.

2) Undisputed 3: Redemption: the first undisputed movie was released in theaters and was so so but the following sequels have gotten more of a cult fan following with high octave action sequences and a pretty damn good director and Scott Adkins and upcoming action star Marko Zaror, this movie is definitely one of my favorite action movies this year and of all time.

3) Tucker and Dale vs Evil: While it is kind of unfair to put this on the list since it has not been released out in theaters or DVD just yet. This movie did an excellent job putting horror and comedy and making it work without turning it cheesy or dumb. Look out for this is when it comes out.

4) The Square: this movie was one of the perfect drama thrillers this year. Coming from Australia this movie does a good job explain what can happen when we get a tad bit greedy. Great performance and a slick sense of throwing the viewer off this movie had to be on my list

5) Paranormal Activity 2: when I heard this was being made I was sad because with most perfect movies like the first which in my opinion was a fresh take on horror movies this one proved me wrong. PA2 might have been better than the first in some ways because the movie was different and actually explain many questions that we had about the first. A perfect example that we don’t need blood, gore, or nudity to have a good horror movie.

6) Tangled: In what was probably the best Disney animated movie in a long time, Tangled did bring me back to some childhood memories of watching old Disney movies like Lion King. Tangled was damn good and if another certain animated movie had not come out this year it would have got my best animated movie.

7) REC 2: in a sequel to one of my favorite horror movies in a long time REC 2 reminded me why I loved the first one so much and gave me some more scared. Done in the same fashion as the first and many movies before it like Cloverfield and Blair Witch, this movies just gives me another reason to hate the dark and looking through my camera in video mode.

8) Scott Pilgrim vs The World: based off a comic book of the same name, Scott Pilgrim bought a fresh sense of action and video game references into a movie that bought many action sequences. While the movie at times felt kinda of slow I still ended up liking the movie to put it on my list.

9) Kick-Ass: another comic book movie Kick Ass bring a sense of what would if people tried to be super heroes for real. The movie was really violent which is rare in some comic book movies now since many are in PG-13. The movie did of course bring controversy because of Chloe Moretz performance as Hit Girl (and now a trend of comparing everybody to Hit Girl) with her swearing.

10) RED: yet another comic book movie on my list but this one takes my best comic book movie of the year because of the star power and the way the movie was made to add comedy and action and make a movie good. All in all this movie was really a fun action movie

11) The A-Team: A movie based off a popular tv show can go either way, like Miami Vice, however this movie worked. The movie had everything, drama, tad bit of romance, comedy and lots of action. While some say it was over the top, I thought it worked well.

12) Shutter Island: considering that this was supposed to realized in 2009, the wait was pretty worth it. With a great cast that includes Leo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese at the helm this one was a a truly great film. Suspense, drama, and a twist, nothing more could have been asked.

Now on to my Top 15 Movies of 2010:

15) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

14 ) Merantau

13) Tron Legacy

12) Machete

11) Red Hill

10) True Grit

9) Easy A

8) The Town

7) Buried

6) The Fighter

5) Toy Story 3

4) The Social Network

3) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2) Inception

1) Black Swan

Surprised at my list? So was I anyway, that is my list so feel free to tell me what your best movies of the year for 2010 were. Let’s hope 2011 will bring a good year of movies again.

Black Swan Review

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Cast: Nataline Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey

Plot Summary: Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace the prima ballerina for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side – a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

Well the summary pretty much explains everything right? Well if you watch the movie then you know that it is not it at all. However for the sake of doing a review, Nina is an ambitious dancer determined to win the lead role in a forthcoming reinvention of Swan Lake. Her innocence make Nina a favorite to play the white swan however those same things make her a less likely candidate to play the flip-side of that character, the black swan. The company’s new director Thomas (Cassel) does things like tease and and even makes sexual advances at her to unlock her dark side. Vincent Cassel as Thomas was a well done performance and while it feels like we’ve seen his character many times before he still does a damn good job.

She eventually wins the role but Nina’s efforts to have the perfect performance see her losing herself in terrifying hallucinations that begin to threaten her sanity. Of course matters don’t help when Lily (Kunis) a dancer from San Francisco arrives who is the complete opposite to Nina. Getting closer to the edge of madness, lust, paranoia, frustration, and jealousy, Nina works on getting the perfect performance that leads to a stunning finale which takes place on opening night when the world is finally introduced to her black swan.

The art direction is amazing in the movie, the color scheme is an effective combination of blacks, whites and greys, apart from Nina’s bedroom, which has pink in it. Along with the color scheme, Clint Mansell score takes Tchaikovsky’s music (the composer of the actual play Swan Lake by the way) and turns it into something quite disturbing at times but it is just soo good.

Mila Kunis as Lily is getting attention by many people which throws me off, not because she was bad but her role in the movie was not that big in my opinion but she does play an very important part to the story. I like Kunis but as a real true actress I think she has not made it just yet. Of course I can not write this review without talking about the lesbian scene between Kunis and Portman. Now most lesbian scene in movie are just thrown in for shock value or meant for the male viewers but here Aronofsky does it to keep driving the story and to show how far Nina will go.

Barbara Hershey plays Nina’s mother who is the ultimate pushy parent who is living out her dreams through her daughter and overprotective to the point that she even dresses her. But Black Swan is Natalie Portman’s film, and she delivers the performance that just might get her an nomination and maybe even a win for the Oscars. It’s no surprise that the camera loves her, but this may be her most subtle and nuanced work yet, perfectly capturing Nina’s physical and mental meltdown. Combined with Aronofsky’s brilliance behind the camera, some camera shots and angles reminded me of The Wrestler which is not a bad thing.

The final half-hour of this movie is amazing with the dance sequence that has to be seen. Along with the performance this movie is surely going to take some awards and is arguably one of the best movies if not the best movie of the year. Also don’t be shocked to see a cameo by another great actress in the movie.

Black Swan is a beautifully shot movie that will also leave you thinking what the hell is going on and might, no wait, will make you cringe. In the year that another mind twisting movie, Inception, (which is not really fair to compare but some people out there will try to do it) was released this movie might just take the cake if not surely give it a fight for fans.

Black Swan

5 out of 5

The Fighter

Director: David O. Russell

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo

Plot: A look at the early years of boxer “Irish” Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before going pro in the mid 1980s.

The trailers for The Fighter have not done this movie justice. Frankly, they’ve made it seem like a Rocky movie . But The Fighter, like Rocky movies before it, is as much about fighting outside of the ring than inside the ring. It is a family drama that elevates The Fighter beyond normal genre cliches.The Fighter also has a sense of humor that helps keep you invested in the characters and the story which in some movies don’t usually work but this one does.

Set in working class Lowell, Massachusetts, the film focuses on Micky’s relationship with his older half-brother Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale), a former boxing hero who now trains Micky but threw away his own shot at glory when he descended into crack addiction and became an emaciated shadow of his former self. He’s stuck in the past, reliving the glory of his big bout with Sugar Ray Leonard, who makes a brief cameo.

Despite his addiction Dickie remains the favorite in his mom Alice’s (Melissa Leo) eye and “The Pride of Lowell.” Micky and Dickie also have a slew of nine sisters. At one point Dickie get’s himself into trouble and nearly cost Micky his hand and livelihood, Micky realizes he needs to distance himself from his family’s influence over him. He loves them, but their behavior might cost him his one last shot at making a real name for himself as a boxer and possible champion. Encouraged by his new girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams), Micky starts to rebuild himself as he pursues a Light Welterweight title bout.

Christian Bale performance in this movie is incredible, I love Bale as in actor because he can transform himself for every role he does, but it’s the energy level and wit that he brings to the piece that makes Dickie perhaps the best and most different role he’s ever played. Bale hopefully get an Oscar nomination (if not a win) as Best Supporting Actor.

Melissa Leo as the mom playing Alice who also gives an amazing performance as a hard-bitten, streetwise woman who has managed her sons’ boxing careers while also maintaining a manipulative hold over them. (Dickie, though, knows how to play her, which explains how she’s kept letting him get away with his crap.) Leo, like Bale, could very likely win a supporting acting Oscar for her work here.

Mark Wahlberg is fine as Micky, but playing a tough guy from Massachusetts isn’t exactly asking a lot from him acting-wise (since that’s pretty much every role he does). But physically-speaking it pays off, despite what you think of his acting skills he along side Bale and Leo gives a performance that is pretty damn good. Wahlberg did look like a boxer. Amy Adams does not give off her usual America’s Sweetheart persona but portrays a feisty and rough side and of course the Massachusetts accent it just adds to her character.

David O. Russell brings a great balance between the edgy, humorous and the tragic weight of addiction from drugs, to  even to family. You truly feel for them and root for Micky to go the distance and for Dickie to get past his addiction.The Fighter is definitely one of the year’s best movies.

The Fighter

4.5 out of 5