The 3 Best and 3 Worst Movies I've Seen So Far This Year
This is my first post in a while, so I thought I'd just highlight a few films I've seen so far in 2012 that were particularly good and.... particularly bad.
BEST
1. Moonrise Kingdom- In my opinion, this is Wes Anderson's best film to date (sorry Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums). A charming story of two loner kids living on an island who befriend each other, and run away together. The adults freak out (wonderful performances by Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis and Frances McDormand), but it's the kids who run the show. If casting could win an Oscar, this would definitely be a contender. These two are phenomenal.
2. The Dark Knight Rises- A lot of people were disappointed with the final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. Not me. I think he tied up the series perfectly, and any complaints I had about it were minor. The cast was uniformly excellent, especially Tom Hardy as Bane. I make fun of the voice a lot (the now infamous muffled British), but in the context of the movie, I think it works great.
3. The Cabin in the Woods- What? A horror movie with an original premise? Yep, and not only is it original, it's a hell of a lot of fun, too. I'll spare you any plot details because honestly, any information about the plot would kind of ruin it. Just see it, and make up your own mind.
WORST
1. Rock of Ages- Absolutely abysmal. The acting is laughable, especially by these two Disney channel bimbos below. Tom Cruise is actually pretty decent as the drunken rock star womanizer, but he's not in the film a whole lot, in a movie that goes on waaay too long. The music is mediocre at best, the plot just kind of meanders, and Mary J. Blige keeps popping up at random times. This movie was a mess.
2. Project X- The trailers ostentatiously claimed that "Project X is like Superbad on crack"!!! Actually, it's more like Superbad if it were completely unrealistic and, instead of an intelligent screenplay, just had the words "boobs and booze!" written on a piece of paper in crayon. Oh, and 90% of the dialogue comes from this unlikeable doucher on on the left.
3. The Woman in Black- I wanted to like this movie, but it was pretty weak. Daniel Radcliffe is completely miscast as the widower/lawyer who goes to investigate some tax paperwork or something at an old haunted house in a creepy town. Turns out, there's the ghost of a woman living there, and she keeps banging shit around trying to creep out poor HP. The movie is extremely repetitive, and features about a million shots like the one below of Radcliffe just wandering around the house with a candle.
BEST
1. Moonrise Kingdom- In my opinion, this is Wes Anderson's best film to date (sorry Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums). A charming story of two loner kids living on an island who befriend each other, and run away together. The adults freak out (wonderful performances by Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis and Frances McDormand), but it's the kids who run the show. If casting could win an Oscar, this would definitely be a contender. These two are phenomenal.
2. The Dark Knight Rises- A lot of people were disappointed with the final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. Not me. I think he tied up the series perfectly, and any complaints I had about it were minor. The cast was uniformly excellent, especially Tom Hardy as Bane. I make fun of the voice a lot (the now infamous muffled British), but in the context of the movie, I think it works great.
3. The Cabin in the Woods- What? A horror movie with an original premise? Yep, and not only is it original, it's a hell of a lot of fun, too. I'll spare you any plot details because honestly, any information about the plot would kind of ruin it. Just see it, and make up your own mind.
WORST
1. Rock of Ages- Absolutely abysmal. The acting is laughable, especially by these two Disney channel bimbos below. Tom Cruise is actually pretty decent as the drunken rock star womanizer, but he's not in the film a whole lot, in a movie that goes on waaay too long. The music is mediocre at best, the plot just kind of meanders, and Mary J. Blige keeps popping up at random times. This movie was a mess.
2. Project X- The trailers ostentatiously claimed that "Project X is like Superbad on crack"!!! Actually, it's more like Superbad if it were completely unrealistic and, instead of an intelligent screenplay, just had the words "boobs and booze!" written on a piece of paper in crayon. Oh, and 90% of the dialogue comes from this unlikeable doucher on on the left.
3. The Woman in Black- I wanted to like this movie, but it was pretty weak. Daniel Radcliffe is completely miscast as the widower/lawyer who goes to investigate some tax paperwork or something at an old haunted house in a creepy town. Turns out, there's the ghost of a woman living there, and she keeps banging shit around trying to creep out poor HP. The movie is extremely repetitive, and features about a million shots like the one below of Radcliffe just wandering around the house with a candle.
OMG, yes: Poor ol' HP! I watched The Woman In Black, too, and actually LAUGHED at how much of the first 30 minutes seemed to intentionally draw on HP imagery instead of developing a good story. And then for most of the REST of the film, I found myself saying, "Huh. Maybe the shocking-surprise-gotcha moment is gonna come after we watch Daniel Radcliffe walk around the house with a candle THIS time!" So disappointing. :(
ReplyDelete