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.

Another Ryan Gosling Winner! Ides of March

Enjoyed Ides of March. Not anything new really as far political dramas go, but the acting and direction are top notch. 4 M&Ms

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Really enjoyed the Apes. This is a prequel to the other Apes movies and is a great reboot to the franchise.

This movie shows how the monkeys are being tested for a cure to Alzheimer's. The idea is to get parts of the brain that quit working because of the disease to start working again. They test the medicine on the monkeys and they begin to get smarter. They are ready to show the world their product when one of the monkeys goes crazy and is killed. They think that the medicine is responsible for her going crazy, so they are ordered to kill all the monkeys and shut down the program. When the man with the order to kill all the monkeys goes into do this deed, he finds a baby monkey which was the baby of the the monkey that went crazy. She was just being protective of her baby when she went crazy. This baby goes home with the lead scientist and grows into an Ape with the medicine past down from his mother. He begins to do amazing things, but, of course, things go a little crazy once he gets full grown.

Great prequel and great special effects make this a can't miss. I've never been a fan at all of the other Apes movies, but this one is worth it. 4 M&Ms

Ryan Gosling is on a role!

Ryan Gosling has been one to watch for a while now, and he is really going to a new level this year.

Blue Valentine was a very dark movie about a failing relationship. It shows from the beginning bliss to the slow deterioration at the end. He is great in the role as is Michelle Williams in hers. I gave this 4 M&Ms.

Crazy Stupid Love was the first time for him to venture into the chick flick type movie since the Notebook. Most guys won't admit that the Notebook is a good movie, but it is. Crazy Stupid Love is really good and even throws in a great twist that I didn't see coming. Another 4 M&Ms!

The latest is DRIVE! His acting wasn't really what made this movie as it is the direction of Refn. Haven't seen anything else he's done, but he's on the rise. Drive is about a guy that does just that drives. Doesn't sound very interesting, but he gets into a situation where he has to do more than drive to protect Carey Mulligan's character and her son, which is become a bad arse! I could see this showing up at the Academy Awards some where. Seen it best described as an artsy action movie. 4 1/2 M&Ms.

He still has the movie with George Clooney coming out in a few weeks. This reminds me of Brad Pitt doing Twelve Monkeys and Seven in the same year and realizing he's not just a pretty face, he's a good actor. Gosling seems to be trying to do the same things as Pitt and not get stuck in some genre like McConaughey or some. Official man crush on Ryan Gosling.

4 MOVIES YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE HEARD OF TO SEE THIS SUMMER...

These are 4 not mainstream movies that I think are worth your time on one of these hot sultry nights.

LET ME IN

Let me in is about a young boy that is bullied everyday at schools and dreams of getting revenge on these people. It takes place mostly in the apartment complex that he lives in. He goes out at night and spies on the people of the apartment complex. He becomes friends with a very strange little girl played by Chloë Grace Moretz. (If you don't know who she is, you soon will. She is not just a good child actor, she is a good actor period. She is good in Kickass, 500 Days of Summer and this.) Several murders begin to occur around the aparment complex, and the young boy begins to have suspicions of his new friend. I don't want to give anything away even though there is not too much to giveaway. I just think this was a great movie, and deserves more notice than it received. It is already on Netflix, if you want to check it out. It does have a few scary/gorey parts, if you don't like that.

Peter Traver's Take

Roger Ebert's Take

BARNEY'S VERSION

Mostly this is just because you should watch almost any movie with Paul Giammti! If he had the looks of Brad Pitt, he would be the one of the best actors to ever live, but then again looking the way he does may be what makes him great. Barney's Version is the story of a man's life told from his point of view. It goes through the 3 wives that he had and tells the story of each one with the last being the love of his life. He meets her and begins to persue her at his second wedding! He has many misadventures along the way with his father there for the ride played by the amazing Dustin Hoffman. This one is already on DVD, so go grab it!

EVERYTHING MUST GO

WILL FERRELL! Gotta love some Will Ferrell. This is about his 4th venture into a little more dramatic role. It does still have some of his comedy, but it is nothing like his normal roles. He is an alcholic who loses his job and his wife in the same day. He comes home from getting fired to all of his belongings on the front lawn, and the locks changed on the house. He proceeds to sit in his favorite chair on the front lawn and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon cans. He becomes friends with a young boy from down the street that helps him through this tough time. It was a great escape from the comic book movies and sequels of this summer. It is still on at some theaters.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Midnight in Paris is one of those movies that I walked out of and wasn't so sure about, but that is, usually, how I feel after watching a Woody Allen movie. Now that I've had time to reflect on it, I did enjoy it and I think some of you would, too. A soon to be married couple (Owen Wison & Rachel McAdams) travel to Paris with the woman's family for business. Owen Wilson's character has a great love for Paris, and he begins to take these Midnight strolls around Paris. Very strange things begin to happen on these excursions as he goes back in time to the 1920s of Paris that he so admires. All the acting in the movie is great, and I enjoyed the overall message of the movie that everyone always thinks that another time, life, or place would be better than where they are now, but is it? It is still in the theatres, but, probably, not for long.

If you check out any of these movies, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I've gotten where the big budget movies don't do much for me, and all these type movies at least give you something to think about. Jon Favreau and Christopher Nolan are about the only big budget directors worth going to see now. I thought JJ Abrams was going to be until Super 8. He can still redeem himself. I give him a mulligan because Super 8 was a homage to Steven Spielberg. If you don't like these movies, don't complain to me. These are just my opinions, and everyone's got one...

HORRIBLE BOSSES

Movie information from rottentomatoes.com:

For Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day), the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses (Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston) into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con (Jamie Foxx), the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers... permanently. There's only one problem: even the best laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them

It would’ve been hard for this movie to not be good with the actors in it. Jason Sudekis, Charlie Day, and Jason Bateman play great roles of the everyday man getting pushed over by their bosses. The real comedy comes from the bigger stars in Spacey, Farrell, and Aniston. They are hilarious in their roles as the Horrible Bosses. The reason they want to kill their bosses is mostly revealed in the trailers. Bateman wants to kill Spacey because he gives a promotion to himself instead of Bateman’s character, Farrell is a coke head boss who takes over the company Sudekis works for after Farrell’s father passes away, and Aniston sexually harasses Day to no end. Aniston’s role is the hardest to believe because I think most men would be hard pressed to say no to a necked woman that looks like Aniston. Aniston is great in the role, and great to see her venture off from her normal romcom roles. Foxx plays the man they hire to help kill their bosses, but he is underutilized. The best part about Foxx’s character is his name! Their plan, of course, spirals out of control into some great scenes. In a summer full of crappy movies, I would, definitely, put this on the list of ones to go see.

3 1/2 OUT OF 5 M&Ms FOR THIS ONE

Roger Ebert's Take

Peter Travers' Take

5/23/2011 THOR

The introduction of Thor to comic book movie fans was a mediocre one.  Chris Hemsworth is great as Thor, but the movie lacks all believability and depth that the latest comic book movies have provided.  Iron Man and Batman have set the bar so high that it is hard to reach those.  I have never known much about Thor, so this movie did nothing to make me really want to know more. 

As most know, Thor is the God of Thunder, and he comes from another dimension not from earth.   He is cast away to Earth by his father, Odin, played by an underutilized in this movie, Anthony Hopkins.  There he is taken in by some earthlings with one being the beautiful Natalie Portman.  He, of course, falls in love with her in like a week.  He must prove to his hammer or his father that he is worthy of his godly powers to return to his dimension and have his super powers.

To be such a big budget style movie, there is not much depth or explanation of Thor and his world.  The overall plot is just not great at all.  The Frost Giants are just pretty pathetic villains, and are so insignificant.  There is no Joker or Obadiah Stane. It is just a wam bam thank you mam, meet Thor, come see the sequel, and go see Captain America/Avengers.  The problem with it all is that I will go do all the above because I have to finish it off, and see how they put it all together to make the Avengers in a couple summers.  Be sure and stay to watch all the credits like all the Avenger series movies to get a small sneak peak of what’s next.  Hopefully, Thor is not a big player in the next movies, or maybe the Thor sequel is a lot better.  I’ll give Thor another 3 M&Ms out of 5. 

Peter Travers' Take

Roger Ebert's Take

5/23/2011 Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids is not a bad movie, but I really don’t think it deserves a lot of the praise it has been getting.  It is underneath the few gross out comedic moments a chick flick. 

Bridesmaids is about, obviously, from the title, a bride and her bridesmaids in the pre-wedding rituals.  The main character is Annie played by Kristen Wiig.  I’ve always enjoyed her on SNL, and she does a great job in several scenes in the movie.  I think that she is just best in small doses.  Anyway, Annie is going to be the maid of honor in her friend’s wedding played by another SNL cast member, Maya Rudolph.   Annie lives in an apartment with a very odd English couple that I still haven’t figured out why that was even included in the movie because they were just strange and not funny at all.  She doesn’t have very high self esteem when it comes to men.  She continues to see a guy (John Hamm) that treats her like a piece of meat through most of the movie.  Couldn’t believe that Hamm agreed to his role, but it was kind of funny to see him in this type role.  Annie begins to unravel because of one of the other bridesmaids, Helen, begins to take a lot of the spotlight.  Helen wants to be in control of everything and she has the money to be in control, so this drives Annie nuts.  The journey goes through the almost bachelorette party, trying on dresses, shower, and then the eventual wedding.  Annie messes every one of these events up in some sort of fashion, and everything else in her life.  She meets the perfect guy by getting pulled over by a cop for her tail light being out, and runs him off because of her insecurities.      

Bridesmaids gets 3 M&Ms out of 5. There are several hilarious parts throughout the movie but to say it is on the level of the Hangover is a far reach.  The movie began to drag a little at the end, and turns into a straight chick flick for the last 20 minutes. If it would’ve been an hour and 44 minutes instead of 2 hours and 4, it might’ve been better.  Men go see it with your girlfriends, but don’t be fooled you will be singing “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips when you walk out of theater, and get your chick flick ending.  How else would it be? 

Peter Travers Take

Roger Ebert's Take 

4/21/11 INSIDIOUS!

Finally, a scary movie that is just that, scary! I had my hat covering my face through several scenes in the movie, while the two girls in front of us rarely looked up from their heads in their hands.

I can’t believe that this has not gotten more word of mouth, but it just did not have much money behind it. It is made by the same people who created Paranormal Activity and Saw. If you liked Paranormal, it is more in that realm than Saw. I’m not saying that it is a great movie or anything, so don’t go see it thinking it is an Oscar worthy movie. It is just a good ‘ol scary movie! I think they were hoping for the same response as the original Saw and Paranormal Activity, which were low budget and made a lot of money by word of mouth.

The movie begins with a family moving into a new house that creaks with every step, which is a must in these type of scary movies. Things begin to happen that are abnormal that makes the family assume that the house is haunted. You can see from the trailer that it is, actually, something other than a haunted house.

Insidious keeps from using gore, blood, and guts to scare you. There is hardly any blood in the entire movie. The director draws the audience into expecting things to happen at certain times, but then something pops out when you least expect it! It uses great sound and camera angles to provide the scariest movie I've seen in a long time.

I give it 4 M&Ms out of 5, which means it is a movie to see! I don't think that Insidious can turn into another franchise for the Paranormal and Saw folks, but it really doesn't need to be. It is what it needed to be, and they need to leave it at that. If you like scary movies, please go see this and let me know what you think!

Peter Traver's Review

Roger Ebert's Review

3/6/11 THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU REVIEW

The Adjustment Bureau is one of those it is what it is movies.  If you’ve seen the trailer above, you pretty much can figure out what is going to happen.  It doesn’t go much deeper than what you see in the trailer.  I went into this one with decently high expectations.  I like Matt Damon a lot, and Emily Blunt Is not bad to look at for a couple of hours.  I always enjoy movies that go into the possibility of there being a plan to this life we live. 

The movie got off to a rocky start because it opens with him losing an election for Senate because of his immaturity, and then he meets Blunt in a bathroom where they kiss after talking for about 5 minutes.  Rather stupid in my opinion, but that is because that has never happened to me.  This may happen to people all the time, but I just don’t hear about it.  If it wasn’t for that scene, I might have been a little more into it.  I just felt that was a little bit absurd to have them kiss the first time they ever meet, and in a bathroom. 

The rest of the movie is about him trying to find her again.  The Bureau is supposed to keep them from meeting ever again.  I won’t go into why they don’t want them meet to again other than just think of someone that influences you in certain ways good or bad.  You will understand once you see the movie.  Basically, there is a plan to this life is what the movie entails, and the Adjustment Bureau is there to keep everything on track.  They carry around little books in their hands that can help them determine the decisions that a human is going to make.  If they want them to decide one way, they can influence that decision.  They can cause you to misplace your keys, so you might miss someone they don’t want you to see at a certain time.  It’s the little things in life that slow you down that they may have their hand in. 

My main problem with the movie is that they had an opportunity to go deep into this subject, but they kind of skated around it.  They spoke of the “Chairman”, but didn’t really go into what or who he/she is.  I guess they wanted to the audience to interpret that the way they want to interpret it.  The books that they carry around showed all kinds of symbols and things like the audience was supposed to be able to understand what they meant.  They would just glance at the book, and get concerned about the coming events.  There were a lot of unexplained things including why they felt that Matt Damon’s character was so important to go through all the trouble that they go through to keep him on plan.  They do a little, but not enough to appease me. 

Overall, I gave it 3 M&Ms out of 5, which means it is worth seeing.  It is a movie that ends up being about chance, and whether or not we are in control of our own lives.  The love story is forced, but Damon and Blunt do a good job of trying to save it.  Most of us like the idea of life having a plan, so that part of it is fun to watch unravel even if it doesn’t answer every question we may want answered in the end. 

Click for Roger Ebert's Take

Click for Peter Travers' Take