Best/Worst 2013!!!!

Best Actor


James Franco, Danny Mcbride, Craig Robisnon, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen  (This Is The End)

Funniest film I saw in 2013 the entire cast was great and thoroughly enjoyed the film from start to finish.

Best Actress

Jane Levy (Evil Dead)

Evil dead was probably the best horror film I saw this year and Jane Levy was great in her role as Mia.


Worst Actor


Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe:Retaliation)

Channing Tatum was at his best (which is his worst) once again. 

Worst Actress 


Alex Daddario (Texas Chainsaw 3D/Percy Jackson:Sea Of Monsters)

While she is a cute girl, Alex Daddario was in two of the worst films I saw this year and her acting performance in neither of the films instilled confidence in her acting ability down the road.

Best Film 2013!!!!!

2013 honestly was not a great year for movie, There were some good films but nothing great, but there is a best of the good.

First I will list my top rated films of the year.

MAMA

SNITCH

EVIL DEAD

THIS IS THE END

WORLD WAR Z

THE CONJURING

ELYSIUM

These are my top rated films of the year Narrowing these down to a top 3 

 1.Elysium
2.World War Z
3.This is the End

these are my top three films of the year of the three My best film of the year goes to

It came down to World War Z and Elysium as the final two, I gave the edge to World War Z just because I for so long wanted to see a zombie movie done with a big budget and this film did not disappoint, As I mentioned earlier there where no really great,memorable films for 2012 but World war  was a really good film.

Worst Film 2013!!!!!

Usually I have a list of films for the worst of the year but the film that I have chosen was so disappointing in my opinion I did not feel the need put any other films up agasint it.

This film was so bad It ranks up there with House at the end of the Street as one of the worst films I have seen in recent memory, Will Smith I have no idea why you joined this project and your son needs to step up his acting game and hopefully whatever project he does next I wisdh hgim luck.

December 2013!!!!

The last and final month of the year brings with it one more movie to end the year 47 Ronin Starring Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada and Ko Shibasaki.

Plot

"A band of samurai set out to avenge the death and dishonor of their master at the hands of a ruthless shogun".


My thoughts

When i first heard about this film last year I was really excieteeed to see it, I have read the story of the real 47 ronin and was really interested to see what a movie adaptation would be like. Boy when this movie was over the first words that pooped into my head was "Forgettable" this film was so disappointing. the movie was nt horrible but there was nothing that it did particularly well. The acting was passable overall (Keanu Reeves did okay for his standards) everyone else in the main cast was believable for the time period they where placed in. The trailer really makes you think this film is going to be really action packed but sitting through the movie the  action was very sparse and it had a lot of lulls of just dialogue which for me really hurt the pacing of the film. The CG of the film was decent considering the budget but I felt it could have been better considering this was a huge budget film. The plot of the film I felt while obviously not completely accurate to the real life events was played out on the big screen in a very poor and slow developing manner. Overall this film to me was lacking a lot of action and I felt it was suffered from to many dry spots that made it feel very boring. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 11% saying "47 Ronin is a surprisingly dull fantasy adventure, one that leaves its talented international cast stranded within one dimensional roles". I agree completely the film was very dull and boring and I am utterly disappointed that this film that looked to have so much promise and could have been a spectacular finish to the year for movies was a dud.

Rating

Huge letdown dry,boring, film 6.0/10!!!!

November 2013!!!!

The Month of November brings with it two films to review the first being Thor:The Dark World Starring Chis Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddlestone.

Plot

"Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.".

My Thoughts

Anyone who read my review for the original "Thor" (here it is Thor) will know that while I didn't think the film was terribly bad I did criticize the film for its plot, its choices for some of the casting (Mainly Natalie Portman from the main cast) and overall to me out of the marvel films that I have seen (dating back to X-Men in 2000) this was the weakest of the mall, I will add that I am not a huge Thor fan but I like the idea being the Norse mythology and I am fascinated by the whole idea of a Norse god as a hero. Coming off of the huge success of the avengers last year, I was ready to give this film a new chance ti impress me much more than the first film did. Sadly this film for me does not do much better than the first film, the plot I felt was weak as the main enemy in the film to me did have that "It" factor that a villain in any marvel films needs to have to be useful, the villain dopes his job but to me for how much h the "dark elves":'' where being touted about in the film, I expected more and felt that overall the elves where underwhelming. Natalie Portman for anyone who read my original "Thor" review will know that to me she was completely unneeded in the first film and was basically just there for Thor to have a love interest her character just felt “forced “and “slammed “into the film and her acting for a "academy" award winner was downright awful. With her being recast in this film I was hoping that her role would prove to at least be more useful and Natalie Portman’s acting to kick it up a notch. Again I was disappointed, her character again was not needed in this film and it felt like the producers made her a huge part of the story just to give her screen time, I honestly felt they could have taken her character away made one slight tweak to the script and you would have not missed her, if her character is in the next film I don’t know what they should do but her character needs to be overhauled completely. Chris Hemsworth by this point knows how to play Thor and does a decent job at playing the Norse god for the third time, nothing spectacular but not Natalie Portman bad by no means. The rest of the main cast does a decent Job (I did feel that Darcy's character was again not really need for this film and was used just for comic relief which she did not do a great job of) . Onto my next gripe wit this film the use of CG in my opinion CG is fine as long as it is used tastefully and well done, for a film with a budget of this caliber I was hugely let down by the low quality  of the CG a and the amount of how much was used. There were not many bright spots for me in this film, the only real one that I can think of would be the Scale of the settings of the film the backdrops and the different worlds that where shown did look beautiful and I commend the production and visual arts team or the great job that they did on that part of the film. RotttenTomatoes

Gave this film a 65% saying "It may not be the finest film to come from the Marvel Universe, but Thor: The Dark World still offers plenty of the humor and high-stakes action that fans have come to expect". I agree for the most part except that the humor to me was bland and not funny the action was pretty good but with a marvel film that is the least you expect. Overall this film for me was no better than the original and that is a disappointment I expected better the second time around and it basically felt the same as the first film expect that the characters knew each other better this time around.

Rating 

Dissappointment expected more 6.9/10!!!!

September 2013!!!!!!

The Month of September has two films to review. The first is "Riddick" Starring Vin Diesel, Katee Sackoff and Matt Nable.

Plot

"Left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick finds himself up against an alien race of predators. Activating an emergency beacon alerts two ships: one carrying a new breed of mercenary, the other captained by a man from Riddick's past".

My Thoughts

The first two "Riddick" films I felt were solid movies, with "Pitch  Black" being the superior between the two. I had been waiting for a new "Riddick" film for a long time and when I read of news that a new one was in production I was very happy to hear it, the more information I read about the film intrigued me more and more and my anticipation for the movie was very high. Now after seeing the film I can say that it left me with a feeling of "wanting more" it wasn't a bad film but I felt it could have been much better, for starters the cast I felt was underwhelming as a whole, I new what to expect of Vin Diesel as "Riddick" and he deliverer (except for a few partial nude scenes i felt I personally added nothing to the film). Other than him the rest of the cast just kind of "Muddled" through the film and did a slightly below passable job (I do want to say that Katee Sackhoff who played the character "Dahl" was even worse than everyone else and every time she was on the screen I could not wait for her character to stop talking so the camera could shift to someone else) I would say. Once I got past the acting Job's by the cast overall, the next part of the film that caught my attention not for a good reason was the CGI, this being a film that explores distant planets and space travel is going to relay heavily on CGI to depict its settings and the this was a huge disappointment most of the CG used in the film was very poorly done and you could really tell that it wasn't "real", I know its not actually real but CG done really well will at least look lifelike in this case it did not., the planet that was the main setting for the big panoramic shots looked awful the CGI creatures for the most part didn't look very good and overall everything in the movie that was not physically actually there looked pretty bad and that for me is a huge NO-NO especially when seeing action/Adventures films if nothing else the CG needs to be good and the fighting scenes which in this film were passable not spectacular but the choreography was pretty good. there honestly was not much about this film that I liked, as I mentioned earlier Vin Diesel was very good in this role and I compare him to Robin Downey Jr. as Tony stark or Hugh Jackman as wolverine the part was made for these actors and without them it would not be the same, The plot of the film was in theory a good idea but it just wasn't executed correctly in terms of the pacing of the film it flowed together pretty well but the lack of a good execution of the script coupled with the below par acting was to much for the film to overcome in the end. When ranking the three films I would put this film below "Pitch Black" and Above "The Chronicles Of Riddick". Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 59% saying "It may not win the franchise many new converts, but this back-to-basics outing brings Riddick fans more of the brooding sci-fi action they've come to expect." U felt that is a slightly lower score than I would have gave the film, but I do agree that if you are a fan of the series I still suggest to see the film and regardless of what I have said about this film if they go fourth with 4th installment in the series I will see it immediately.

Rating

An okay entry into the Riddick series if you are a fan of the the previous film I highly recommend it, if not and want to see a decent action film and have 2 hours to kill this could be a good option. 6.9/10!!!!!!!!!!!


The next film for the month of September is "Insidious:  Chapter 2"  Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Ty Simpkins.

Plot

"The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world".

Rating







The original Insidious was one of my favorite horror films in recent memory (along with Sinister, Mama, Let Me In and The Cabin in the woods. I am going to keep this review short and sweet if you have seen the first film in this series and enjoyed it and want to see how the family continues to deal  with the burden see this film.  if you are interested in seeing this film  i recommend you see the first film as the continuity is very present. This film was very good and is not quite in my honest opinion as good as the first film that is not exactly a bad thing as the first film in my opinion was a classic horror film which is hard to live up to but this film does pretty well on its own. I loved how the film expanded on the back story of the first film and really helped to connect parts of the first film that may have not made sense. I will say like in my review of the original film found here (Insidious Review) this film has a good amount of jump scares and if you prone to jumping be prepared to have a few moments where you may lose your popcorn to the floor, also  the camera work in this film was top notch and was some of the better camera work I have seen in recent memory for a horror film, I congratulate the production team. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 36% saying "Despite strong performances and a few effective scares, Insidious: Chapter 2 is decidedly short on the tension and surprises that made its predecessor so chilling.". I disagree with the score while Chapter 2 is not as good as the first ffilm I do not feel it is that far behind in terms of being a quality film. Overall as I mentioned earlier in the review if you enjoyed the first film then see this film and you will enjoy the expperience.

Rating 

Very good horror  film, I wouldn't call it a classic like the first film but this is a good continuance in the series and I look forward to chapter 3.  7.9/10!!!!!

August 2013!!!!!

The month of August  has two films to review.

The first film is Percy Jackson:Sea Of Monsters Starring Logan Lehrman, Alex Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson.

Plot

"In order to restore their dying safe haven, the son of Poseidon and his friends embark on a quest to the Sea of Monsters to find the mythical Golden Fleece while trying to stop an ancient evil from rising".



My Thoughts

I did not have the chance to catch the first Percy Jackson film when it came out in theaters, But I did see the film on television. While I did not think the film was anything special it had a certain charm to it and if you went into seeing the film with the right expectations. For this film I went in not expecting much but something a little better than the original, I did some research on the books for what to expect in this film and if the other three books are also translated to the silver screen. This film was a huge disappointment when I left the theater I could not believe what I had just watched this film was a cliche riddled,  Bad CGI, wooden acted Jumbled mess. This was one of the first times I actually thought about asking for my money back, the film was that bad. First off there where so many cliches in the s film you could literally see the next scene coming before it happened, even worse the way the lines for this film was acted by its cast you had to wonder how long the script actually took to put together it has been over three years since the first film came out, but the scrip and story of this film made me think they wrote it up in three weeks. The film largely stayed true to it's source material which I commend as sometimes Hollywood can twist and change the scrip to better fit the movies theme. The biggest shock for me was how bad the CGI in this film was the budget for this film was $90,000,000 with a budget of that size you would think the CGI should be top notch, that was not the case with this film it more closely resembled a syfy channel film in terms of the quality of the CG. with a film, like this the minimum I expected was to at least be pretty to look at if nothing else and the film even failed to deliver in that aspect. This is one of the few times  the only quality that I liked with this film was the action scenes where filmed pretty well and flowed naturally other than that there is nothing in this film I can honestly say I enjoyed. RottenTomaotes gave this film a 35% saying "

It's pretty and packed with action; unfortunately, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is also waterlogged with characters and plots that can't help but feel derivative". I somewhat agree with there synopsis but I disagree with the pretty comment, the film to me when considering the budget could have looked much better, I could only recommended this film if you have 2 hours to kill and just want to see a movie to pass the time or if you read the book and want to compare and contrast the film with the book, otherwise I say pass.

Rating

Huge disappointment, if you don't have time to pass or are not a fan of the series pass this film 6.0/10!!!!!!!!.




The Second Film for the month of August is "Elysium" Starring Matt Damon, Alice b=Braga and Jodie Foster.

Plot

"Set in the year 2154, where the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth, a man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the polarized worlds".




My Thoughts

I want to start off by saying anyone who saw "District 9" will feel the subtle similarities with this film and the aforementioned "District 9", I also want to add if you have not seen
"District 9" I highly recommend that you see it as soon as possible. It was a very good film that was one of the better films from recent memory for me. While I would not say this film was as good as "District 9" I would say this film is close and is one of the better films I have seen this year so far. The plot for this film was a interesting one for me, going into the film I felt that if the plot was executed well enough this would be a very solid film but if not done correctly could have been a disaster. When a movie has a plot/setting that deals with oppression and and other real world possible situations it needs to be done right and this film was done very well. The cast was given very good material to work with and delivered it on the screen very well and with the right amount of believability , I want to single Out Sharlito Copley (who starred in "District 9" in the main role) who played the hired gun "Kruger"  he was excellent and for me he stole the show and I really liked the way he played the role. The effects in this film were very good and where some of the best I have seen this year it did not look cheesy in the least, my one complaint would be the use of "Shaky Cam" in the film it felt kind of unneeded for me but it wasn't a huge deal, but was a minor annoyance. other than that some of the scene of the Elysium space station where "breathtaking" I applaud the special effects team for this film. The undertones in this film may seem farfetched to some are not that different than what is currently going on in the world (Overpopulation, Hoarding of Wealth, Class Divergence, World Resources Dwindling), As I mentioned earlier in the review I mentioned with films that deal with real world issues they need to be done correctly or the film can come off as "cheesy" in my opinion.. Seeing Los Angeles as a desolate wasteland then being taken to Elysium which was filed with mansions and a paradise like feel helped me understand what Exactly Matt Damon;s character was fighting for the difference between those on Earth and Elysium was so huge that you wonder how people could just act like those on eat=rth did not matter but Like the sayings goes "Out of Sight, Out Of Mind". This was overall a really good film which I encourage those who where fans of "District 9" or just want to see a solid film to go and see.Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 66% saying "After the heady sci-fi thrills of District 9, Elysium is a bit of a comedown for director Neill Blomkamp, but on its own terms, it delivers just often enough to satisfy". I agree with it not being as good as "District 9" but I feel the rating is low.

Rating

Very good film, acted well, Plot executed well/setting was good, no huge flaws. 8.2/10!!!!!!!!!

July 2013!!!!!!!

The Month of July brings with it four films to review the first being "Pacific Rim" Starring Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi.

 

  Plot

"As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete special weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse".

My Thoughts

This was one of my most anticipated films for the year, first off I am a huge fan of Guillermo Del Toro films and I have always wanted to see giant robots facing off against monsters on an epic scale and this is what the doctor ordered. Sadly the film didn't play out on the screen the way, I thought it would play out at all. I will say the CGI and the fighting scenes where top notch and some of the best I have ever seen (Only Avatar I would rate above it). First off the acting (besides Idris Elba and Ron Pearlman who where the only standout),  I especially want to single Charlie Hunnam his role as the main character of this film was way below par, he walked around with what i felt was a smug factor and to me it rubbed me the wrong way his portray of his character ruined the film for me.  out was below par to say the least all of the actors in this film gave forgettable performances. The pacing of the film was decent. I felt it flowed well and the movie while over two hours long did not feel as long which is indicative of good pacing and setting for the film. Now on to my biggest problem with the film which really killed my score which was the predictability of this film anyone who sees this film will be bale to find all of the cliches in this film and it makes the film not entertaining and was not enjoyable  to watch as you know what is going to happen and when it happens it is just, there was not one shock for me in this film and the ending was utterly predictable and not surprising it sets up a potential sequel which is fine but I wish some of the scenes where done in a different way. Rotten Tomatoes   gave this film 72% saying "It may sport more style than substance, but Pacific Rim is a solid modern creature feature bolstered by fantastical imagery and an irresistible sense of fun". I agree with what they said and the score is not far off from what I feel the movie felt like. Overall this film had huge expectations from me and failed to reach them, the planned sequel I hope will do something different and from what Mr. Del Toro has said it may be completely different which is something I would look forward to.

Rating

I liked the idea of the film, Disappointing in the end on the execution front  7.2/10!!!!!!!!!!




The Second and final movie for the month of July is "The Conjuring" Starring Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga and Lili Taylor.

 

 

Plot

"Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse. Forced to confront a powerful entity, the Warrens find themselves caught in the most terrifying case of their lives".


My Thoughts 

I must admit this film only crossed my radar only recently (before two months ago had no inclination to see this film), I am very happy that I decided to see this film. It was one of the best films I have seen this year and easily joins "Insidious", "Sinister" and "Mama" as one of the best horror films I have seen in recent memory. I want to start out by saying this film was expertly executed, I am not one who is fearful or jumps when watching a horror film (and that remained the case in this film) but I did not ice a decent amount of jolts from the row behind me and the row in back of me, which is a sing that there are some scars in this film. The acting in this film was very good for the genre of film from the children to the parents of the haunted family to the paranormal investigators played expertly by Patrick Wilson and Lili Taylor this was a solid acting job by the entire cast overall. There was no huge amount of CG in this film which I always welcome, the less use of Cg to me the better it displays that the director still wants to have some sense of "purity" in the film. I could go on and on about how well this film was done but I will leave it with this if you are a fan of horror movies and actually want tot see one that was executed well by the directed and acted out well by the cast this is the film for you to see. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 85% saying "Extremely well-crafted and gleefully creepy, The Conjuring ratchets up the dread with a series of smartly delivered, terribly effective old-school scares", I agree this film it did a very well job at what it tried to accomplish, this was a very good movie that I almost completely missed out on.

Rating

One of the best of the year I have seen so far, you will not be disappointed 8.5/10!!!!!

Mid Point Nominees 2013!!!!!

It is now the midway point of the year and for the first time I will have my midway point Nominees where i have a few categories and will give my top 5 pics for each category (no winners or losers just nominees)

Worst Film

Texas Chainsaw 3D

Jack The Giant Slayer

 Iron Man 3

After Earth

Oblivion

Best Films 



Mama

Snitch

Evil Dead

This Is The End

World War Z

Best Performance (Male)

Sylvester Stallone (Bullet To The Head)

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (Snitch)

Lou Taylor Pucci (Evil Dead)

Brad Pitt (World War Z)

James Franco, Danny Mcbride, Craig Robisnon, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen  (This Is The End)

Best Performance (Female)

Jessica Chastain (Mama)

Jane Levy (Evil Dead)

Lena Headey (The Purge)

Keri Russell (Dark Skies)

Daniella Kertesz (World War Z)

Worst Performance (Male)

Ryan Gosling (Gangster Squad)

Bruce Willis (A Good Day To Die Hard)

Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe:Retaliation)
 

Will Smith, Jaden Smith (After Earth)

Nicholas Hoult (Jack The Giant Slayer)

Worst Performance (Female)

Gemma Arterton (Hansel & Gretel:Witch Hunters)

 


Alex Daddario (Texas Chainsaw 3D)

Eleanor Tomlinson (Jack The Giant Slayer)

Adrienne Palicki (G.I. Joe:Retaliation)

Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man 3)

That is all for now, lets see what the rest of the year has to offer and see if anything changes.