10.
This is probably the only film on this list that I did not get to see in theaters and of the ones that I did not get the chance to do a blog review on yet. Maybe someday, but for now I will give you my brief thoughts. Of course what everybody is talking about in the film is Denzel Washington as Pilot Whip Whitaker, and how superb the acting is. Well...yeah Denzel Washington was INCREDIBLE in the role. I said in the past how it is good to get angry at a character as long if it is some sort of emotional attachment. Well Washington as Whip is a great example of that. You see in the film is character has a constant battle with his alcholism, and BOY does it show! You can pretty much play a drinking game to how many times the character drinks in this film! It gets really annoying, but annoying as it would totally ruin the film, but in a way that you subconsciously actually care about this character. You want to see him make it out okay, you want to see him overcome his struggles, but whenever he decides to drink heavily, he you get so angry at him that you want to jump into the film and just punch him in the face. But hey, Denzel's acting made it all the more possible to connect with the character, and he is the main reason why this film is so good. Plus the beginning scene with the plane crash is probably one of the most suspenseful and heart pounding thrills I've ever seen in a film all year. I always said that Robert Zemeckis' dramas were a little overrated, as I prefer his comedy adventures like Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but with this film he convinced me that I could get sucked in. Just have to thank good ol' Denzel Washington for that! GRADE: P+
9.
I was incredibly impressed with how this film came to turn out. It filled in the small voids that were left empty in me and needed to be filled after I saw ParaNorman. ParaNorman was a good film and had a good original story, but there are just a lot more elements that Frankweenie had that made it triumph over the latter for me. That element is the setting and the supporting cast. Usually these are not the elements that make a film an automatic classic, it's the story and main character. But this setting and the people that inhabit are just so entertaining to watch and not one of them stock. They are entertaining, funny, well-written, and most of all original! Which is where ParaNorman lacked for me it was it's side characters which for me felt all stock and cardboard one-dimensional. There was also the problem having the typical "outcast weirdo" story where the main character is a misunderstood and introverted misfit and there are constant bullies always pestering him. If these characters had their own separate films, they would all be the misunderstood misfits, and thank God they all come together in this film. Heck, even if they all got their separate films, if they felt they were being bullied they would do something outrageous and fun about to get revenge, instead moping and doping constantly asking themselves "Why does no one understand me?" But Frankenweenie is not all about the side characters nor is it about bashing ParaNorman's overlooked flaws, it's the story of young Victor Frankenstein and his pet undead dog Sparky. And I got to say that it is evident in the film that the relationship between the two is actually pretty good. You believe the two are best friends and it represents itself as a humble but yet cute relationship. It's so genuine, that when it gets to the scene where at first Sparky dies I actually felt torn up about it both for the lost of the cute dog and feeling sympathy for Victor. Plus this film does great in referencing and paying homage to classic horror films from The Universal Monsters, to 80s horror references, and even to Japanese giant monsters. It's a love letter to classic horror as well to pet lovers, and it is done well. Enough said. GRADE: P+
Full Review: Frankenweenie Review
8.
Yes, a summer blockbuster superhero film made my Top 10 Countdown. But at least I have most of the audience who went to see this film on my side. Along with films like the Tim Burton directed Batman film and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, The Avengers is a great example on how a quality comic book superhero film should be made. It was made for the fans, by fans and it really shows! This is one of those few superhero films where the writing, directing, story development, and character development were in harmonious synchronization. Every character from Iron Man, to Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, to Loki all had their chances to shine and they are there to show why people love them so much. We can also thank every actor from Robert Downey Jr. to Samuel L. Jackson, who have brought these roles to life that made us the audience have our eyes glued to the screen the entire time the film was running. We also have to thank Joss Whedon, for he was the perfect candidate to both write and direct this marvel, no pun intended. His writing, his direction of action scenes as well as performances from the actors is all the reason I need to really like this film. A good example of a film to escape to when there is a need for fun, and for a film that definitely loves its audience, The Avengers is truly one of Earth's Mightiest Comic Book Movies! GRADE: P+
7.
Here is a film that I did get to see in theaters, but unfortunately I have not posted a review of it on this blog yet, but certainly will remind myself to do so in the future. Here is the film that Ben Affleck infamously got snubbed for a directing nomination by the Academy. And it really is not fair because everything that works within the film such as the writing, scene set up, character and story development, and performances from the actors all go back to Ben Affleck and his talent as a director. You got great performances by a lot of the supporting cast most notably Alan Arkin and John Goodman. To my knowledge, I think Affleck gets a lot of bad reception for his acting in other films he has been in, but from my stand point in this film he comes out as pretty decent and his acting made me able to be a lot more interested in Tony Mendez. Affleck was able to succeed in getting out entertaining and intriguing performances out of his cast as well as himself. But I think the main reason why I am upset that Affleck did not get a nomination is because when a scene comes up that is not only suspenseful but also heart pounding, they are done tremendously well. The intro and climax are perfect examples of this as each word of dialogue, each action taken, each wrong turn, and even each right turn gets you guessing what's going to happen next and how it is going to happen. I also like how the atmosphere in scenes taken place in Hollywood and the scenes taken place in Iran are very different. The scenes in Hollywood are a little more light-hearted as people like Alan Arkin and John Goodman take most of it and you get a good little comic relief here and there. The scenes in Iran are a lot darker and full of suspense, making the audience constantly pray throughout the film that the U.S. diplomat hostages get out safely. Overall Argo is a great film, with great writing, great suspense, great acting, and of course underappreciated great directing. Let's hope no more of it is overlooked. GRADE: P+
6.
I am so ashamed for putting an animated family fantasy film over a gritty suspenseful well written as well directed film such as Argo, but yet am I not ashamed because to be honest I happened to find myself enjoying this one a little more. I just love the great amount of creativity that is shown in this film and how greatly they take advantage of it as well as this incredibly wondrous premise. I love each adaptation of these iconic holiday/mythical creatures are all unique as well being able to stand out from other generic adaptations in the past. I like the voice acting because even though the majority if it are of course celebrity, they pull off there rolls really well. Whether or not they try to disguise their voice, emotion and heart is still put into these performances to allow audiences to connect with the characters and fully enjoy them. I like the story of Jack Frost and how it connects and ties with everything what is going on as well as the solution to solve the overall in conflict in this film. I like the villain Pitch the Bogeyman as he is one of the most creative and enjoyably dark villains that I have seen in a film in a while. I think the animation that is presented in the film is just GOREGEOUS. This might not be Dreamworks Animation's best animated film, but the film certainly has the best animation, if that makes sense. I mean you can still have a poor animated film with breathtaking animation, it's happened before. Every scene is just animated beautifully and the animation really takes advantages of great opportunities to show off whether it would be one of the characters' magical powers, the setting, the action scenes, the character designs, the characters' emotional expressions, and so much more great animation to look at. But besides praising the beautiful animation, I like the most is this story and these characters. I thought both were very well written as well as unique and original, I like the ultimate payoff that is used to end the main conflict as it is one that I have hardly seen in any family film in general. The film uses what it is given as its advantage and it uses it to the full potential to gives us a wonderful, creative, unique, and beautiful animated film. GRADE: P+
Full Review: Rise of the Guardians Review
5.
Again, I put a Disney Animated film, a Disney animated film about video games no less, over Argo. What is wrong with me? But to my defense Disney has of course put a lot fantastic animated material in the past and here is no exception. A lot of people like to call this film the "Who Framed Roger Rabbit of video games" and even though I wouldn't say this film is as perfect or fantastic as Roger Rabbit, still there is definitely a reason why it should still be called so. Not only does the countless amount of cameos from famous video game characters make it so, but the amount of effort put into the comedy, the storytelling, the clever in-jokes, the character development, and most important of all it gave me the feeling of being a child again. Watching this film took me back to around the late-90s to early 2000s when I used to play classic Nintendo games with my cousins at their house whenever I would sleepover on the weekends, and let me tell you it is the best felling in the world. Roger Rabbit of course does that to, but the difference between Roger Rabbit and this film is that the nostalgia affect that it gives appeals to a lot more generations because of the use of classic cartoon characters from the Golden Age of Animation. That film would give nostalgia to you, your parents, your grandparents, or possibly even your great-grandparents, where this film would only appeal to generations starting from people who remember playing classic early 1980s arcade games as children to children of now as this film does deal with video games instead of classic cartoons. I really hate when I find myself starting to compare a film to another just based on similarities so continuing on I will give my opinion according to the film's own special merits. For instance I thought most, if not, ALL the character were incredibly fun, well-developed, and overall enjoyable to watch. Ralph, Fix-it Felix, Vanellope, King Candy, and Srgt. Calhoun are all great characters. The settings are a lot of fun within the three different video game worlds presented in the film such as Fix-it Felix Jr., Hero's Duty, and especially Sugar Rush the animation and in-joke highlight of the film. The emotion they put into the some of the scenes as well it helping each character arc works really well. And the story is not only original but it is really fun and really engaging. Wreck-it Ralph is full of fun, with fun characters, fun, energetic, and bright animation, a fun story, fun comedy, and a delivery of wondrous nostalgia that Disney is known for providing. GRADE: P+
Full Review: Wreck-it Ralph Review
4.
At first to be honest I kind of had no high hopes for this film, for my personal taste. I knew it was received well by critics and the commercial audience, but I thought it was going to be a pretentious, Oscar-begging fest. I always loved Steven Spielberg as a director, but mostly in his sci-fi/adventure genre heyday. I think it ever since Schindler's List was released, he seemed to slow down on the sci-fi/adventure genre and he mostly continued to do war/historical films. He would occasionally return with sci-fi/adventure films with films like War of the Worlds, Kingdom of the Crystall Skull, and Tintin, but most of the time it seemed that Spielberg was doing the same thing over and over with his films. I love when directors take a chance in tackling other genres that is outside of their usual work, because it just seems that the director can bring a whole new and unique look to the genre we have not seen before. But I thought Spielberg had overstayed his welcome in the historical/war department. But after seeing this film I was not only immensely impressed to how good it was, but I ended up loving it as well. The film has just so much to offer and it succeeds to balance all it has to offer well within the film. It has the story of Abraham Lincoln trying to get the 13th Amendment passed, it has his relationship with his family, especially with his wife Mary Todd and his son Robert who wants to fight for the Union, and it also has the job of presenting Lincoln himself to us through the writing and Daniel-Day Lewis' acting. Lincoln's journey to pass the 13th Amendment is a tough one, and what makes it so intriguing and emotional is the writing and the performances by the supporting cast who play various members of the House of Representatives. Of course there is also Daniel-Day Lewis' acting but we will get to that later. I was impressed to how able I was to get so involved into a lot of the supporting cast. Though at times they can be a little over the top, most of the time the conversation and debates they have are beyond intriguing. Also in a lot of these scenes Tommy-Lee Jones appears as Thaddeus Stevens and he brings that Tommy-Lee Jones charm to work off the other characters within the scene and sort of plays a likeable and good-hearted wise ass. When we get the scenes involving Lincoln and his family, they are very genuine. You can sense the relationship between Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd, played by Sally Field, as shown in the various arguments and bantering they have. Yeah they disagree on a lot of things, but in the end they still love each other and they do not want to see the other make the wrong decision. I also really like, which I find kind of overlooked whenever this film is discussed, is the relationship between Lincoln and his son Robert, played by Joseph-Gordon Levitt. Robert wants to fight in the Union, and even though Lincoln knows the Civil War is a good cause and that he wants to abolish slavery, he cannot risk making take away his sons life. And of course there is Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, yes he is a big scene stealer and the center piece of the film. Every time he speaks or does an action, you genuinely see Lincoln right in front of your eyes. Though most of us never knew Lincoln personally, the film certainly makes you feel like you had and it is all thanks to Lewis' portrayal. Every delivery the guy gives seems a lot real, and you can tell that he is fully devoted to the performance as well as trying as best as he can to turn the words from the screenplay into definitely powerful monologues. Even the film itself seems to respect him, most of his dialogue scenes always turn to monologues as the scene is always silent and people always patient listening to what the President has to say. A film that pays respect to Lincoln as well as its audience, it makes me forgive Spielberg for his genre choice and is totally worth checking out. GRADE: AE
Full Review: Lincoln Review
3.
How weird am I that I put this film over a film about a great man with a great dream, who accomplished a great goal that changed America by ending slavery in a rationale and humane way. As with this film's method of facing slavery is well...controversial. But to be honest , I did of course enjoyed this film a little more. Whether there is a subtle character development scene or a bombastic or a bombastic action scene, I felt very entertained throughout the entire film. Not only are a lot of the action scenes very well done but majority of the performances from the principal cast are one of the very best performances I've seen in a film throughout the entire year. Christoph Waltz comes across as funny, smooth, and charming as Dr. Shultz, Leonardo DiCaprio comes across as enjoyable as well as surprisingly menacing as the main villain Calvin Candie, Samuel L. Jackson completely steals the show near the third act and also gives a great performance as another comedic yet menacing villain, and finally we have Jamie Foxx as Django who does not completely shine until probably the third act but the build up to it and his subtle performance throughout most of the film is well worth it. The way the film plays with your expectations is quite genius. Also as the writing goes, you know it is always going to be fun to listen to if Quentin Tarantino is involved. Like I said before every scene in the film is enjoyable whether it would be subtle or loud, and the writing is proof of that. Sometimes you'll get good jokes, sometimes you will get interesting character and story development, and at other times you get creatively choreographed action scenes. Django Unchained is a film that is in love with the fun it has, and how well it can even play up to the drama. A roller coaster ride of outstanding effort! GRADE: AE
Full Review: Django Unchained Review
2.
Here is a film that sort of got a mixed reaction from the commercial audience. People were all excited to see it but after seeing, people either liked it or hated it. And to the people that hated it, I have total respect for your opinion, but I find more and more that the main complaint for this film was that the singing was not very good and that the camera moved around too much. My opinion is not meant to change anyone else's but to clarify one thing, people went in this film and expected beautiful singing voices. Well the film was never supposed to be that. It was not meant to be like other musical films like Rent or Phantom of the Opera, where they want to show off their voices. They wanted to do something different, they wanted to adapt the musical but at the same time they wanted to focus on and have the audience care for the story and character arcs. And to better understand them, while there are musical numbers, the actors had to act first before singing. I do not know about anybody else, but I think that is a genius move. But not only that but the actors had to sing the songs live while on set instead of a recording studio, that way they can be in character. And I thought they did that very well. I appreciate that the film took a bold and original move in order for us to care for the story and characters while also reminding us that it is a musical at the same time. Yes, Russell Crowe's infamous singing voice can get unbearable, but to be honest I got used to it. I was to invested by the actual things I needed to care about such as story and characters rather than nitpicking something as insignificant as somebody's singing voice. Yes it's a musical and it seems right to criticize somebody's singing voice, but it had to be a film first and Les Miserables knew that. You got great performances from Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean as well as from Anne Hathaway as Fantine. The characters themselves are especially phenomenal. Jean Valjean is just one of those heroes you root for from the beginning and thanks to Jackman, the character goes through a lot of emotions that are delivered outstandingly well. Fantine is a character that goes through all sorts of hardships. You almost feel angry at the film for making such an innocent character go through so much. But again you are reminded that these were how times were like. And also we get to see it from the perspective from a small yet significant role. Fantine is great as the every-girl and blank slate that anybody can fit into. She is sort of the Muse that comments and observes the things she has experienced throughout the first act, so once the second act rolls in something can be done about the problem and the story can set in motion. Though these characters have originated in the original Victor Hugo novel, which to be honest I never read, and were also in several film adaptation s as well as the Broadway musical this film came from, I still do truly respect these characters and the actors' performances within the film. I really like how this film took new chances and took full advantage of them, and I also like that with their method they were able to make the story engaging as well as the music. I still think there are great performances from most of the cast, as well as new methods that were really worth it. GRADE: AE
Full Review: Les Miserables Review
1.
Fitting seeing how the world was "supposed" to end the past year. Though there were many films in the past, most notably big budget blockbuster action films, that were about some sort of disaster that was going to cause the end or destruction of the world. And most of the time, they were pretty cheap and story wise, very silly and implausible. What I absolutely adore about this film, is that it gives all those other films a massive punch to the face. From the beginning it rids you of all the nonsense and implausibility of all those end of the world disaster films, and instead it gives you the story about what the average human reaction would be if the end of the world truly was coming. On top of that I found great character development in the film. It may seem like a typical romance road trip film at first, but the idea about the end of the world, and the genius way they present it, just heightens the emotional feel that is present throughout the entire film. It makes the story work and be original instead of it being tired. Both Steve Carell and Keira Knightley do superb in their performances. Carell the most impresses me because he is mostly known as a comedian. But in here he actually manages to give a good performance when it comes to drama. Plus the chemistry between the two main leads is very genuine and the two work off each other perfectly. But what I really like the most out of the film that it takes full advantage of its premise by actually portraying what normal human beings would be doing if the world was really ending. As absurd as the idea sounds, they treat it very seriously and they do it in a way that the audience can be able to take it seriously as well. The amount of scenes that the portrayals are present areso intriguing to watch, that you can say to yourself "Yeah, that would really happen" I think the film's only crime that it marketed itself as a comedy film, when really throughout it is mostly drama. I think that's what peeved some people off which is why got the mixed reception from the mass audience. But to be honest I really appreciate the film for what it really is. It presents an original story, with fresh and new ideas, a genius approach, and it rids us of most of Hollywood's most absurd cliches. It takes a tired premise and tries something completely new, emotional, and engaging with it. It has become one of my favorite films as well as my favorite film of 2012! GRADE: E
Full Review: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World Review
Well, that's it for my Top 10 Films of 2012. The Oscars are near, but these are the films that stood out to me during the past year. Let's see what 2013 has to offer, and until next time!
0 Comments