Top 5 Movies 2011

I really enjoyed doing this blog this year, and if time permits, I'll continue to do it. Mostly that means having time to go see movies with a new baby in the house. Here is my top 5 movies of 2011 that I've seen. I haven't seen some of the Golden Globe nominees. These are the movies that I enjoyed the most and will, probably, own them all at some point. Thanks to everyone that has kept up with my blog. With out further ado...

5. Rise of the planet of the Apes:

I really thought they did a great job on the relaunch of this franchise. I almost always love origin type movies for huge franchises like this.

4. Midnight in Paris:

As many movies as Woody Allen makes, there's bound to be some good ones here and there. I've liked several, but this one could be my favorite.

3. Take Shelter:

The more time I've had to think about Take Shelter, the more I like it. I know a lot of people won't love it, but I do. Can't wait for Mud to come out next year to see what Nichols does next.
2. The Descendants:

Love Alexander Payne movies and this one is just another. He seems to just make movies that seem so true to real life. Loved the way he used Hawaii in this movie, and George Clooney was great.

1. Drive:

Yes, Drive is my favorite movie of the year. Had to be a Ryan Gosling movie. Crazy Stupid Love barely missed my top 5. We already own CSL now. I think Drive was just so well done from the music, photography, acting, and everything in between. I can't wait for it to come out of DVD to watch it again.

That's it, my top 5!!

Roger Ebert's Top Movies of 2011

Roger Ebert, obviously, has a lot more access to movies than we all do, so his list includes some movies that may never even come to Fayetteville, AR except for on DVD.  A couple that he did slip in there that I've seen are Terri and Another Earth.  I like Terri, but I didn't think is was unbelieveable or anything.  I did enjoy Another Earth.  I think that one is worth checking out if you have the time. 

Peter Travers Top Movies of 2011

Peter Travers agrees with me!!  He put Drive as his favorite movie.  They both have The Artist in there top 10, so I guess I'm going to have to suffer through this silent movie.  That's right folks a silent movie could win all the Oscars this year just because it took such a big risk.  It is supposedly really well done.  I guess we'll see....

The Debt

        The Debt is a pretty good movie about 3 Israeli agents who have the task of going to capture a war criminal from East Berlin.  The movie begins with them coming back to Isreal to a heroes welcome, then flashes 30 years later to them celebrating a book being released about their heroic capture and killing of the Surgeon of Berkinau.  Rachel's (Helen Mirren/Jessica Chastain) daughter writes the book, and Rachel reads and excerpt from the book to open the story of how they captured him.  Then, after months of captivity, he escapes, but after fighting with him, Rachel crawls over and shoots him from the balcony and he dies.  There begins to be some sense of doubt cast from some people in the Ukraine about what, actually, happened.  The movie then flashes back and walks through the whole event to show whether the events are exactly as told in the book.  The only part that was confusing was who was who in the flashbacks and flash forwards, but you can figure it out.  The ending is slightly anti-climatic.  It is not a great movie, but I would reccommend it.  3 M&Ms.   

Rober Ebert's Take

Peter Travers' Take

Take Shelter

       I really enjoyed Take Shelter.  I can't decide if I'm giving a little more credit because of the writer/director being from Arkansas, or if that it is just that good of a movie.  Jeff Nichols is the writer/director and you should go ahead and expect big things coming from him.  His next movie Mud was filmed in Dumas, and has A List actors (McConaughey, Witherspoon).  It will make him a lot more known.

      Back to Take Shelter.  Take Shelter is about a man and his family in Ohio.  They are just a blue collar family living their normal lives.  Michael Shannon plays Curtis.  He begins to have these nightmares of an apocolypse coming.  Nichols does a great job of making these nightmares seem real.  Curtis begins to think that he may be like his mother and be schizophrenic.  Because of the dreams he begins to take out loans to expand the family storm shelter to prepare for what his nightmares are telling him.  His wife and friends begin to get very concerned.  There are many great scenes in the movie, but it would give away some things to tell them here.  I know Michael Shannon will, most likely, get snubbed for nominations, but he deserves one for his job in this movie.  At the end of the day, he is the one that makes Take Shelter along with the great direction of Jeff Nichols.  Jessica Chastain is pretty amazing, too.  She has come out of no where this year with roles in:  The Debt, Take Shelter, The Help, and The Tree of Life.  She does so great making you feel the pain for the man she loves so dearly, but not quite knowing if he's crazy or not. 

        If you don't like these kinds of slow moving non-big box office type movies, then don't waste your time.  If you do enjoy movies that tell a story and let the audience decide some things for themselves, then you'll love it.  If you stick around for the credits you get to hear a Ben Nichols song (lead singer of Lucero), too!  His brother is Jeff Nichols for those that don't know.  4 M&Ms 

Roger Ebert's Take

Peter Travers' Take

     



Tower Heist waste of time

Tower Heist had so much potential and did not deliver. From the trailer I thought we were going to have old Eddie back, and all would be right with the world. While he did have his moments, he was underutilized and not very funny towards the end.

The story is about some hotel employees who lose all their savings because they trust their boss to invest their money for them. He, of course, is a crooked old man, and loses all their money. They discover that he is hiding a ton of money some where, and decide to steal it. They come up with their grand scheme and go for it. This is where the movie just gets plain bad. Brett Ratner is the director, and I guess he just didn't feel like explaining or was not creative enough to show how all the events unfold in the movie. If you put yourself through watching this, you will see what I'm talking about. Just a lot of, "oh, okay?"

Not recommending this one to ya....2 M&Ms mostly for Eddie being old Eddie for a little bit. Hope he continues to try, but doesn't force it like this one seemed at times.

Finally, watched Captain America...not bad.

Finally, I watched Captain America this morning. After Thor, I had kinda lost my interest in this whole Avenger series, but Captain America revitalized it some.

They do a great job of making you care about the hero, unlike Thor. It is the usual super hero stuff in the end, but the depth in between is good. It still isn't up there with Iron Man or Dark Knight, but it is not bad. 3 1/2 M&Ms

PARANOMRAL ACTIVITY 3 A LITTLE TOO MUCH OF AN OKAY THING

Paranormal Activity 3 does bring some scary to the theatre, and for that it serves it's purpose.  After seeing the first 2, you can kinda guess when something is going to happen.  That is the only problem with a movie like this is it does get a little stale at this point.  They did bring some new things to the table in this one that I thought were cool more than scary.  I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, but there are about 3 scenes that I thought were a little different scare.  The story is a prequel to the first two.  It is set in 1988 when the girls from the first two are first introduced to the demon.  The little girls do an okay job of playing innocent and creepy at the same time.  Toby is the name of the demon, and he is still after that little boy that he's been wanting since the first Paranormal.  Overall, it is worth seeing if you just want to see something a little spooky during this time of year.  It is directed by the guys that did Catfish last year, and they could've chosen a better second project than this. 

My main problem with the movie was the trailer.  They put several things in the trailer that I thought were cool, and they left them on the cutting room floor.  Very strange to me to lure people in with the things in the trailer then not include them in the movie.  I'm sure they had their reasons, but this lowers my review a little.  Here is a little article about the things they left out:

5 Things in Trailer not in movie

Like I said, go check it out if you want to see a scary movie, but be sure you know a little background from the first two movies, or you'll be confused at the end.  I had to go look up the ending stuff to totally understand, so that means they didn't explain it very good...2 1/2 M&Ms.

Ebert's Take

Traver's Take

FOLLOW BIG AL'S MOVIE REVIEWS ON TWITTER:  ALSMOVIEREVIEWS TWITTER

Pearl Jam 20 4 M&Ms

As far as documentaries go this was one for the ages. It brought back so many memories of that time in my life, and I'm sure it would in everyone that's been fans of PJ.

The doc shows a lot of never before seen footage of the PJ through the years, and a lot of interviews with all the band members. The doc is directed by Cameron Crowe who is a great director (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Singles), and he was a writer for Rolling Stones during the grunge years. It has a lot of things that I knew nothing about with PJ, but a lot of things I already knew. The footage of Kurt Cobain is awesome and it makes you remember how sad it is that some people can't handle the pressure of success. Their perseverance to still be relevant today is amazing, and it is hard to imagine any of these bands today recreating what they have done. 20 years of PJ...that's crazy to think that it's been 20 years. Check it out if you get time.