awakethefallen (Level 10)

 Pretty good year for movies, all things considered. Though, I'm surprised by the amount of smaller films on this list. A lot of the bigger, Hollywood/Studio driven stuff didn't work for me and I found refuge in a lot of smaller movies. Not all of them, there's definitely a couple of blockbusters on here, but for the most part that holds true.

Films I wished I had seen

This actually isn't as extensive as it usually is, pretty happy about that!: 127 Hours, Centurion, Date Night, The Disappearance of Alice Creed, Dogtooth, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Legend of the Guardians, Let Me In, Restrepo, Tangled, The Town, Tron Legacy, Waking Sleeping Beauty & Walt and El Groupo

Top 15

15.) The Sorcerer's Apprentice



I have to be one of the only people in the world to put this on a Top Films of the Year list, besides the people involved and maybe not even them. What can I say though? I watched it with my little sister and we had a great time with it. Only scene I wasn't crazy about was the scene with the brooms, which was just kind of shoehorned in. This really didn't need to be called The Sorcerer's Apprentice, it could have been called anything, the name attachment probably didn't even mean that much to the general public. I liked Nicolas Cage in this, thought he was fun and I was surprised how much I liked Jay Burachel too. There's not a lot to it, I just had a ton of fun watching it!

14.) Easy A



Just caught this today, so I might be on a high from it, but I really enjoyed it and it, along with another film on this list was a one-two combo to get me excited about watching the Spider-Man reboot. Emma Stone is pretty adorable in this though and definitely surpassed her Lindsay Lohan-lite category that I had kind of placed her in. I've liked her well enough in other things, but was never sure that she could carry a movie on her own. She did and more, this is one of my favorite leading actress roles of this year now! Britt pointed this out and I thought it was a good point, but there are a lot of movies like this and usually the teen is rebelling or making fun of their parents, but here Emma Stone's character Olive's relationship with her parents is great through the whole thing. Thought that was a nice, refreshing take on this kind of movie. Again, nothing deep or interesting about the movie, but it was just a fun watch!

13.) Despicable Me



Again, just a completely fun movie, that like the first couple of movies, I had absolutely no expectations when I sat down to watch it with my family on Christmas. It's great that we're starting to get a little better quality CG movies from Studios other than Pixar. Yeah, you can see everything coming from a mile away as far as the emotional beats come, but I don't think that's necessarily a problem and I think it works pretty well. I like the family dynamic they build in the movie with people that are essentially outsiders, thought all of that worked pretty well and the humor of the film, between the little girls and Steve Carrell's character was just so good. Don't even get me started on the Minions, who are kind of a cross between the little green alien guys from the story films and the Rabbids from the series of Raving Rabbid video games, pretty much every scene with those little guys is hilarious and then the funniest part of the movie, that I've been quoting with everyone I know since I've seen it, "IT'S SO FLUFFY!"

12.) Splice



Splice, what to say about Splice. Haha, I'll say that it's a pretty good movie that works most of the way. It loses me a bit in the final part of the film, which I won't spoil here, but the last act of the film didn't really work for me. The part where the movie becomes a horror film, I'll say that and I think I'm safe in spoiling that, because that's what the trailers made it look to be. The trailers also made it look like a Species movie, which it definitely is not. It has some pretty interesting things to say about cloning and genetic manipulation. Can't remember the names, I think maybe Adam and Eve, but the scenes with the little genetically made creatures were pretty interesting and then of course, all of the stuff with Dren was really interesting. Thought the acting was pretty solid all around, Sarah Poley needs to do more work and Adrien Brody was pretty good here as well. Shame about the final bit though, held me back from completely loving this movie!

11.) Bitten



Again, I'm going to be one of the few people who puts this movie on any kind of favorites list, but what can I say, I dug it. Britt and I watched it in the middle of our unfinished horror movie marathon in October and it was a complete surprise for us. I was just looking for a cheesy vampire movie to add to our list, saw that this one had Jason Mewes in it and added it. I figured it would at least be interesting to see him in a non-Kevin Smith movie and it definitely was. You can see how far he's developed as an actor in this movie and how his comedic chops are pretty good now and I think his chemistry with Erica Cox was pretty great as well. She was another nice surprise, I didn't really know who she was before I sat down to see the movie and I thought she was, like Mewes, genuinely funny. So the humor was all pretty much a hit and I liked how vampirism was related to drug addiction, thought that was a nice, if cliche, little touch to the movie. 
 
 10.) How to Train Your Dragon



I didn't quite love this one as much as I wanted, but I loved it enough to put it this high. My one big gripe was that the love story was pretty shoehorned in and didn't fit the characters and their previous motivations at all. That said, I think Chris Sanders and company again knocked a film completely out of the park. The amount of imagination and sheer fun that's involved with anything Chris Sanders is a part of is just crazy. I didn't quite like this one as much as Lilo & Stitch and I'm kind of sad they're expanding on it. Other than that I really dug the friendship that developed between Hiccup and Toothless. So often in animated movies, especially CG ones, everything feels so artificial and here, that relationship feels completely natural and for the lack of a better word, real. Some of the CG work is just amazing. Aside from all of that though, the film just has a really good heart to it.

9.) The House of the Devil



If I was basing this list off of sheer tension and horror in a film, this along with the movie that's actually number one on the list, would be the only two movies on the list. The House of the Devil is a fairly small film where not a lot happens. It's a film with an hour and ten minutes of painful buildup to lead to the tense release of that tension. It's a film that has a couple of characters only, but most of the films running time is dominated by one character and that's Jocelin Donahue's character Samantha. She's pretty great in the film and it's absolutely necessary that she is. Without her being great, the film would fall flat on it's face with cheesiness.

8.) Shutter Island



If you've seen the trailer to Shutter Island and haven't seen the movie, you've probably already guessed what happened in the film. But did you think about it? Did you really? I watched the film and enjoyed it, in spite of knowing what was going to happen. Then something else happened. The last line of the film occurred and said in such a way, that my complete view of the film changed. It's a really subtle line though and you really have to be paying attention to get what it's trying to say and if you get it, it'll change your outlook of the film too. This is probably lesser Scorcese in that I don't think it touches the heights that Goodfellas or The Departed did, but it's still a very good film held together by an amazing performance by Leonardo diCaprio. He's just great in it and this is finally the film where you can look at the Scorcese/diCaprio pairing and really understand why Scorcese continues to return to him over and over again.

7.) Kick-Ass



So, yeah, maybe my initial thoughts on the film were a tad hyperbolic. I stand by my feeling of the film, that I completely love it. I love how referential the film is to comics, not only comic movies, but comics themselves. Not sure how much of that stems from the graphic novel itself and how much of that Matthew Vaughn added, but there you go. Aaron Johnson was a little overlooked by me, I think, but looking back he puts in a really fun performance, as does Christopher Mintz-Plasse. The real stars of the show though, to me, was the father/daughter dynamic of Nicolas Cage and Chloe Moretz. This film made two things for me okay again. It made it okay to like Nicolas Cage in films for me again, after a couple years of just ignoring everything the man was doing, just knowing it would utter garbage. And it made it okay that they remade Let the Right One In. I still haven't seen Let Me In, but I was okay with Chloe Moretz getting a chance to tackle that role after I saw Kick-Ass. It's just an all around fun movie though, though maybe not my favorite comic adaptation.

6.) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo



The novel, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, is the novel that got me back heavily into reading this year. So needless to say I was very excited to see the film adaptation of it and pre-ordered the film on Bluray, which pre-orders is something that I never really do anymore. I think, it's a very good adaptation with some room from improvement that could be done with a better director helming the film. I think that for what it is, it's very good. Re-watching the movie has showed some of the flaws, the direction isn't showy in the least and I think the film needs a little bit of showiness. Anyway, enough of the downers and let me get to the praises. I wasn't sure of Michael Nyqvist going into the film, but definitely by my second re-watch I ended up liking his performance a bit. The real star of the show, however, is Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, who completely nails and inhabits the role. It's rare when you come to an adaptation and literally see what you pictured in your minds eye, but Noomi Rapace was exactly how I picture Lisbeth, who is the reason you come to these books/movies. The character is so fascinating and the portrayal here is just spot on, could not possibly be any better.

5.) The Social Network



Which leads me to this film, I suppose. I have to admit, that post The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I was a bit worried about David Fincher, who was one of my favorite directors at that point. As a complete outsider, with no inside knowledge, I began to develop this theory that somehow, he had become a populist filmmaker, only wanting to make films that appealed to the masses. Benjamin Button certainly was that, it had a uniquely weird plot that just squandered all of that uniqueness to basically be Forrest Gump 2. Hearing Fincher was making a Facebook movie didn't help matters out any and then making a Facebook movie with Justin Timberlake? Yeah, my theory was looking pretty good. Then I actually watched the film and I'm completely happy to eat some crow here. In terms of interesting drama, I'm not sure there's a better film out there this year. And this isn't the flashy Fincher of Fight Club, it's a very subdued and mature Fincher. He lets the drama and the performances be his secret weapons.

Pretty much all of the main cast is great. Jesse Eisenberg was a revelation to me, I mean he was good in all of his Michael Cera-lite roles. But if he's this good? He needs to forget about those roles and carve his own path, because if he truly is as good as he is in this film, he's one of the better younger actors. Brief mentions to Rooney Mara, Brenda Song, Rashida Jones and Justin Timberlake, all who were really good in their roles. To me, though, the most important role in the film is Andrew Garfield's and he's the reason I love this movie. I was worried about his pick as Spider-Man, I knew him from other roles (Lions for Lambs and an episode of Doctor Who primarily) and I was pretty unimpressed with him. He's great here. Which is weird, because in some bizarro world you could see Hayden Christensen playing this role. The acting style isn't that different, but Andrew Garfield just pulls it off amazingly well and him, along with Jesse Eisenberg are the reasons to see this movie. No matter what you think of Facebook, those are two power house performances in a movie filled with very good performances. So yeah, Mr. Fincher, you made me eat my words once again. Thanks!

4.) Toy Story 3



Ack, the movie that made me tear up not once, but twice (so glad I was wearing 3D glasses and no one could see). I'm not sure where I rank the film in terms of the series yet, or even in Pixar's filmography, though I know it's not my favorite in either of those two categories. That said, two scenes in this film had more of an impact on me than any other film on this list probably. Those scenes, which I won't spoil, but you know exactly what they are if you've seen the film, along with the fantastic opening callback to the original film (right down to the color of the sky and the shape of the clouds matching Andy's wallpaper). I do hope this is the end for the Toy Story characters, at least in terms of big screen films, I know they're doing the animated shorts. The end of the film is a perfect sendoff for them and I feel that every time they touch it, there's a chance they could drop the ball. They didn't here though, they pulled it off amazingly well and I remain excited about everything Pixar does.

3.) Ink



I'm cheating to put this movie on here, because I actually think it came out last year. That said, I couldn't ignore it and any chance I get to pimp the movie out, because it's such a small movie, I take it. Please see this film any way you can if you enjoy movies in any way at all. Ignore the cheesy opening ten or fifteen minutes of the movie, then enjoy one of the most creative movies I've seen in awhile. Seriously and I'll talk about this in the next movie on this list a little bit more, but there's this rush/excited feeling I get when I think of a movie that I love and there's a scene in this film, where everything from the visuals, to the acting to the score collide and I'm just completely enthralled by what I'm watching. It doesn't happen often (though, oddly enough it happened with three films this year), but when it does I will love and defend that movie forever. Anyway, I call that scene the "1 2 3 4" scene which won't make any sense to you reading this if you haven't seen the movie, but seriously, it's pretty amazing.

2.) Inception



Let's get the obvious out of the way? Is Inception (pronounced insheption) perfect? No. There are probably a million holes that people can point out and a million things that people on the internet will nitpick and I don't care about a single one of them. That feeling I talked about for Ink, that excited rush I get when I think of a movie, was so present when I think of this film. Everything about the movie just comes together perfectly for me. It has an amazing score, that alone gets me excited about the film. The directing is really great and you can see Christopher Nolan getting better, especially with action, with each passing film. The world building and imagination that went into that world building, just completely incredible. Again, like The Social Network, the acting is where this movie shines. The entirety of the main cast is great, so I'll have to short change some of them, because I really want to talk about two performances that are just amazing to me. The first is probably the unsung hero of this movie and a performance that gets overlooked by the more showy Eames or Arthur, but I think Marion Cotillard as Mal is incredible. I've seen her in other movies (though sadly, I have yet to see La Vie en Rose) but she was a complete revelation here. She's menacing when she needs to be menacing and she's completely heartbreaking in other scenes. A scene toward the end, it's crazy how she touches so many emotions within a few minutes, where you don't know if you want to happen to her character. She was hands down one of my favorite performances of the year.

Then of course, there's Leonardo diCaprio for the second time on this list for me. I think his performance in Shutter Island is better, but I also think it needs to better in that film. That's not slouch on his performance in this movie though, he's amazing. The scene with Cobb and Mal and they're, uh, talking to each other from across two windows, is just incredible performances from the two of them and you can feel Cobb's pain and anguish in that scene. Cobb is the heart of the film though and it's about his journey and Leo definitely rises to the occasion. So yeah, I have my theories on what's real and what's not, nothing you haven't heard already probably, so I'll keep them to myself for now, but I think they fit really well and overall, make me completely satisfied with the journey and the story of this film. I definitely have liked Christopher Nolan's non-Batman films more than his Batman films, The Prestige and now Inception are just two pieces of amazing cinema, in my opinion (though again, I love the Batman movies too!) and I'm excited to see what Nolan has next, he's quickly becoming one of my favorite filmmakers!

1.) Black Swan



Which leads us to my favorite film of the year and really, had it been anything less, would have been a bit of a disappointment to me. Darren Aronofsky, the director of Black Swan, is my current favorite filmmaker (not of all time, I mean filmmaker working today). π is the only film in his filmography that really didn't work for me and even then, I thought there were interesting things about it. I told this to Britt the other day, but I was thinking about it and if you think over Aronofsky's very short career, he's had actors who have turned out their very best work in any film. In Requiem you had Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans and Ellen Burstyn all turning out the best work of their careers and saying that, especially for Connelly and Burstyn is really saying something. In The Fountain you have an incredible performance from Hugh Jackman, a guy who turns out pretty great performances quite a bit. In The Wrestler, you had a performance so good, it revived a dying career in Mickey Rourke, but also Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood were really good in that movie. Here, again, you have multiple people turning out really good work. From Winona Ryder, who I like, but would never consider a serious actress, to Mila Kunis who again, I like, but I've never taken seriously. To the powerhouse performance from Natalie Portman, again, someone I've liked but have never loved in a movie before.

She's amazing and nearly unrecognizable at times here and I hope that she is rewarded by the Academy for her work. It's really Aronofsky's vision that makes this movie so great. It's got shades of all of his other works, from the grueling nature of ballerina's resembling what wrestlers go through, from the want of Natalie Portman's character Nina's desire to be perfect, mirroring Ellen Burstyn's character from Requiem. Then there's shades of, as many had pointed out, Repulsion. The movie is his though and no other filmmaker could have pulled it off in quite the same way. There's a twenty minute sequence where I was just on the edge of my seat with fear, which is something I did not expect and I never knew what was going to be around the corner. Then the scenes of Swan Lake being performed are just amazing. I've only seen this movie once, but it was so powerful (and I had amazing things going on in my personal life at the time and saw it when it was only in eighteen theaters in the country in limited release) that, you know, it could become my favorite Aronofsky movie. Which is saying a lot, because The Fountain is currently my favorite movie! 

 Going to be brief, but here are my picks!

Supporting Actress

5.) Allison Pill - Scott Pilgram vs. the World
4.) Rashida Jones - The Social Network
3.) Delphine Chaneac - Splice
2.) Mila Kunis - Black Swan
1.) Marion Cotillard - Inception

Supporting Actor

5.) Brandon Routh - Scott Pilgram vs. the World
4.) Dieter Laser - The Human Centipede
3.) Joseph Gordon Levitt - Inception
2.) Tom Hardy - Inception
1.) Andrew Garfield - The Social Network

Actress

5.) Jocelin Donahue - The House of the Devil
4.) Chloe Moretz - Kick Ass
3.) Charlotte Gainsbourg - Antichrist
2.) Noomi Rapace - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
1.) Natalie Portman - Black Swan

Actor

5.) Willem Dafoe - Antichrist
4.) Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
3.) Sam Rockwell - Moon
2.) Leonardo DiCaprio - Inception
1.) Leonardo DiCaprio - Shutter Island 

20.) Contagion

Don't know too much about this movie and I'm not really sure that I need to know all that much. It has Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Laurence Fishburne all of which I like to love. It's directed by Steven Soderbergh, who is a bit hit or miss for me, but when he hits, he really hits, Out of Sight is among my favorite movies.

19.) Source Code



Again, don't really know a ton about this flick and again, don't really need to. Moon was such a strong debut that I'm good with just knowing that Duncan Jones is directing this. Jake Gyllenhaal I can really go either way on, but I will say he's never the worst thing in any movie he's in, he seems like a decent and likable enough of a dude. So yeah, his presence doesn't really effect me in any way on this one.

18.) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I'm torn on this one. Because, well for one, I know this will be pretty great. This is Fincher's bread and butter and it's got a pretty decent cast (though I think Stellan Skarsgaard is a bit too on the nose, since he's the only Swedish actor most Americans would know, well and his son now from True Blood). On the other hand, I love the Swedish film and in particular I love Noomi Rapace's performance in that film. So it's going to be hard to love this in quite the same way, though I have little doubt it will be the better movie.

17.) Green Lantern



Definitely looks pretty fun and entertaining. I could take or leave Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan (though, thank God he got it over Nathan Fillion, who internet, does not need to be in every movie, as much as I like the dude). I've always dug the mythology of the comic and think it should translate pretty well cinematically. I have faith with Martin Campbell behind the camera, though his non-Bond stuff is a bit worrying.

16.) Dream House

Another one that I really don't know anything about, but again, don't need to look far beyond the acting list to get excited about this one. It stars Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts and Rachel Weisz. That's one of my favorite actors and two of my favorite actresses. That's all I need to know really!

15.) Conan the Barbarian 3D



I have little hope this will be a good movie. All I ask and I think Marcus Nispel is capable of delivering on this, is that this is a fun movie and that it feels like Conan. Conan's not something I've been a fan of my whole life, in fact it's only been in the past seven or eight years (after I got into Lovecraft, which leads to Robert E. Howard) that I've become a Conan fan, but I definitely have a fondness for the franchise now and hope that we get a decent, fun time at the movies with this one. I am a little sad to know that we'll never get King Conan with Ahnold. That could have been great. Tears.

14.) Hugo Cabret



So I know this is based on a book, beyond that I don't know a ton about this project. All I need to know is that Scorcese is directing and I'm on board with whatever he's going to film. I don't always love his movies, but they're always definitely worth watching.

13.) Red Riding Hood



This one is a bit of a gamble to put this high for me. Catherine Hardwicke has been a bit of a miss for me as a director. I'm hopeful for this just based on Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman. This one may come back to haunt me later on, but I'm hopeful for now. This past year I've actually been real interested in this fairy tale, going as far buying a woman's studies book on it. There's a lot of depth to the story and I hope this isn't just a straight up horror adaptation. Because it's got some serious competition, I love The Company of Wolves.

12.) Scream 4



Ugghh I don't know about this one. There was a day when I thought Wes Craven could do no wrong. I'm not sure outside of A Nightmare on Elm Street and the original Scream how kind time has been to his films. Britt and I watched The People Under the Stairs recently and it was terrible. There's Chosen and whatever that new one that came out this year was called that was pretty much universally panned. Add to the fact that this is kind of unnecessary. What could they possibly have to say here that wasn't said in the first three films which had pretty heavy diminishing returns? And can Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette really be your leading actors in 2010? And is Scream relevant the way it was at this point, fourteen years ago? I'm hopeful because of some of the casting, Rory Culkin and Adam Brody mainly. The stars are going to have to align for this to be worthwhile though. We'll see.

11.) X-Men: First Class



Sad, but true, my enthusiasm for the X-Men film franchise is pretty low right now. I wanted to see Wolverine, but never really got around to it. I'm hopeful that this film and definitely Aronofsky directing The Wolverine, will re-ignite my love for the film franchise. I definitely think this one has a shot. I like that they brought Bryan Singer back and I hope with the subject matter that there is still some Josh Schwartz in the script somewhere. I loved Kick-Ass so Matthew Vaughn and Aaron Johnson being involved has me stoked. Then I like James McAvoy, Rose Byrne and January Jones. We'll see if they can right this ship a bit though, Fox definitely seems like they know it's been headed the wrong way.

10.) Fright Night

Again, this is another one of those don't need to know too much about movies. Just the idea of Colin Farrell and David Tennant being in a vampire movie (yes, I know it's a remake, but it's a cult film and certainly not above remake status if Psycho can be remade) is enough to get me on board here. The two of those guys can overact with the best of them and that's really what I'm hoping for here, being that the original is comedic in aspects.

9.) Thor



Okay, so this is the highest super hero/comic related film on this list for two reasons. The ambition behind it as well as the talent behind it. I didn't get enough of an impression of Chris Hemsworth in his few minutes on screen in Star Trek that he could handle being the lead in a movie like this, but so far the people at Marvel Studios have been pretty much spot on, especially as far as casting goes. Natalie Portman definitely peaked my interest in this as well, especially having seen Black Swan recently. Of course, the real interesting part of this is Kenneth Branagh doing a comic book movie. This man has brought so much Shakespeare to films that it's just baffling he'd want to do this (not that I think comics aren't a legitimate art form, I think they are, but come on, they're not Shakespeare). On the other hand, I struggle to think of anyone else who could handle the epic feel this story will need to have. I've stayed pretty spoiler free on this so far and plan on doing so through release, so I'm definitely stoked about it!

8.) Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol



I love the Mission Impossible movies, yes, I think two even has it's merits. So already on board right there, especially coming off III which was my favorite in the series so far. Add the intrigue of having this being Brad Bird's live action debut makes this even more interesting to me. I know it's fun to clown on Tom Cruise, but you can't find an actor out there who dedicates himself more to his roles than Cruise. He may not be the best actor out there (though I think he can be really good, see Vanilla Sky or Collateral), but the man pours his heart and soul into every role and I think that shows up on screen for the most part. I love the side characters and the actors they choose for the roles and I hope this is a more team oriented movie like III. Michael Nyqvist as the bad guy (if the rumors are to be believed) is pretty inspired casting and I'm interested in seeing what Josh Holloway is like on the big screen.

7.) Immortals



I'm usually a plot guy. Plot most of the time is what I love in film (though a great performance gets me too). So guys like Terrence Malick, who are so visual heavy, usually don't do a lot for me. Tarsem Singh is the exception for me. I've only seen two of Tarsem's films and while I have my gripes about the plot of both films, the films themselves are so visually arresting that I can't help but fall for them. The Fall in particular has some of the most beautiful shots I've ever seen in a film. Call him pretentious if you will. Fine. You can't deny the man does some amazing visuals and film is such a visual medium that when that is done well, it can be so engrossing. I also was one of the few people who was a fan of Freida Pinto in Slumdog, so I'm excited to see what else she can do.

6.) Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides



While I have my thoughts on Johnny Depp and what Jack Sparrow has done to him as an actor, I won't get into that here. I will say that I love the character and I love all three of the films that are out there now. I do think there needs to be some scaling back in terms of the convoluted story. The first movie is by far the best of the three and it didn't need the convoluted story to be great. It was just such a fun action/adventure movie and I hope that's where they're going to go with this one. As much as I love Jack Sparrow, I will say that Geoffrey Rush tends to steal these movies whenever he's in them, so I'm stoked to see what Barbosa is going to be up to in this one.

5.) The Muppets



Been waiting for this one for so long. Ever since Jason Segel announced he was doing this, it's been among my most anticipated movies. It could and probably should actually be even higher on this list. The one scene of the Dracula puppet musical show in Forgetting Sarah Marshall made me just believe that Jason Segel is the right man for the job to bring The Muppets back into the spotlight. If there's one movie on this list that I hope so badly that is great and successful, well, it's the number one film but this would be close behind it. I love the cast around Jason Segel too; Chris Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Danny Trejo, Rashida Jones, Donald Glover, Amy Adams, Jack Black. It should be so much fun!

4.) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II



I, um, liked Part I. It was exactly what I feared and thought it would be though. There were a lot of good, small character moments that made the movie for me. But the problem was, in the book, all of the really exciting stuff happens in the last half of the book and before I saw the film, was worried they would have a tough time making the first half interesting and I kind of think I was right. It was good no doubt, but this is the one I can't wait for. The Battle at Hogwarts should be so intense and fun to watch and I really hope, despite that I think the film series as a whole doesn't flow together very well, that they're able to send this cast and these characters off in a great way. I haven't been the biggest fan of David Yates and where he's taken the films, I think he's competent, but I think it's pretty clear that Prisoner of Azkaban stands head and shoulders above the rest of the films.

3.) Winnie the Pooh



Traditional animation isn't quite dead yet at Disney and I'm hopeful that this is successful enough to keep it around, at least every couple of years. It's a little odd that they haven't thought to do this before now, make the animated shorts like the original and then stitch the movie together out of that. The film looks beautiful though and I hope it reminds people in the way that The Princess and the Frog didn't, that 2D animation is still viable and not every film needs to be 3D animation!

2.) Sucker Punch



I'm so into the idea of this movie and I really like Zack Synder as a director, enough to not know much about the plot beyond the initial concept and have seen the casting rumors and Alex Pardee art for the movie and other than that, nothing and still put it this high on this list. Snyder, hasn't really had a miss for me yet. Even though I gripe about 300, it's still a very fun movie to watch and I think Watchmen was as close to the book and as good of an adaptation as one could hope for. I love though that this isn't an adaptation or a remake or based on a book, that I know of. It's an original story. The cast seems pretty good too, I like Emily Browning and from what little I've seen of Vanessa Hudgens, she's a good actress. Can't wait for this one though!

1.) Red State



This might be a little long winded. So let's back up a little bit, because it was around five years ago when I was ready to give up on Kevin Smith. I was so hopeful that he had put the View Askewiverse behind him and was ready to move on into adulthood and grow as a filmmaker. Then I heard about Clerks II and immediately wrote the film off, all the way through when the DVD was released and out of sheer boredom, watched the film and was very surprised, especially by the themes of the film. It seemed more like the Kevin Smith who wrote Chasing Amy than the one who wrote Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (which is a fun movie, but I have to be in the mood for silly comedy as opposed to Chasing Amy, which I can watch anytime). Since then I've been a pretty huge fan of his, definitely rooting for him to have a huge hit. And as a side note I love pretty much all the podcasts. I uh, was not crazy about Cop Out earlier this year, but I also don't think it was the cinematic abomination that some seem to think it is. It was just like your standard Hollywood buddy comedy to me, which I'm just not all that interested in. On top of that, he didn't write the flick so he can't be blamed for it not being all that funny and I thought the directing was pretty decent.

So cut to, what, three or four years ago when Kevin Smith announced he was going to make a horror movie? Wait, what? And then you kind of see some groundwork being laid, he directed the pilot of a TV show called Reaper, which starred Ray Wise as the Devil. So okay, you think, it'll be comedic horror. Well, if you've heard any of the Red State of the Union podcasts you'll know that while yes, there is some comedic moments in Red State and even dialog that seems Kevin Smithy, there is a completely different tone and feel to this movie. Yes, some of the dialog is crude, but from what I've heard it comes off as very natural, as if real people were speaking and not movie people. He claims and seems to be able to back up so far, that the film is incredibly bleak. The audio alone of the teaser trailer sent chills up and down my spine. Then learning that, this movie actually has something to say, something that seems pretty important at that, just makes me so stoked to see this movie. I won't be surprised if this doesn't break down the Box Office doors and won't even be surprised if the film is not my favorite film of next year (though I'm open to it being that). This list is about the films that I can't wait to see and in that regard, my hats off to Kevin Smith though for putting himself out there. The Red State of the Union podcast is why this film is this high on this list, every little bit I've heard about the film just makes me more and more excited to see it! 

 Inside (2007, Brittainy's Pick)



Doug's Thoughts - Flying solo on this one, so I'll try to make this entertaining and informative. Inside is one of these new French wave of horror movies, it's brethren being High Tension or Martyrs. All these films are known for upping the scale in terms of the violence. Inside, in particular was one of my favorite movies of 2008 (which is when it was released in the US on DVD) and I pretty much stand by that. It's up there with my favorite horror films. I remember describing the movie to Britt after I saw it and she had no interest in watching a film that hard hitting. She changed her mind for this marathon, I think, because she's seen Martyrs and figured if she could watch that, then she could check this out. I agreed, except for one thing that I didn't think of until while we were watching this movie. The movie would be and is especially hard to watch if you are a female. Yes, probably even more-so than Martyrs, which is painful to watch no matter your sex.

Britt said for her, the film was harder to watch than Martyrs and with good reason. Inside, specifically, is hard to watch because of the violence done to a pregnant woman, who no matter how much men could study and know about, will never fully understand (unless the technology comes along ala Junior with Arnold). Watching the film solo, I admired it for it's willingness to "go there", without thinking about the implications. I still admire the film, I don't think it "goes there" just to shock, I think everything in the film is valid, the filmmakers are telling a story and one that the violence is necessary to hammer home the point of the film. This isn't violence for violence sake, ala Hostel or any of the recent American "torture porn" films. Everything I loved about the film, I still love.

Alysson Paradis turns in a great performance as the off-putting, just wants to be left alone in her grief, Sarah. It's easy both to hate her mean spirited attitude and completely sympathize with her. Béatrice Dalle as La femme is just incredible and this was hammered home to me this time around. You want menacing in a film? This character oozes menace in a way that characters like Anton Chigurh or the Joker could only dream about. Yet, even with that said, a small part of you can be like, well, I can see why she's doing what she does. She's in no way sympathetic, but when viewed from her perspective, without spoiling anything, you can see why she's doing what she does. The filmmaking itself is pretty incredible. For awhile, I was pulling for Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo to get ahold of either the Hellraiser or Halloween franchises. Now though, I'd rather they just stay doing what they're doing. Actually just looked and they have a movie coming out next year called Livid, once again with Béatrice Dalle, so that will be on my most anticipated list. The amount of talent behind the camera, the way they hide La femme in the background is just incredible. I can't recommend this movie enough, but this time, with a caution. If you're sensitive about violence, stay away. If you can handle being very squeamish, no matter your sex, check the film out. It's one of the most effective horror movies of the last ten years. 5/5 

 Puppet Master (1989, Doug's Pick)



Doug's Thoughts - I think it's okay for a horror film to have fun every once in awhile and that's what Puppet Master is to me, pure horror fun. This is another film that came pretty highly recommended from the Splattercast and I dug it. The humans are kind of whatever, but that doesn't really matter as this movie is all about the inventiveness of the puppets. My favorites in this film were easily Blade, who I found endearing (odd choice of words there, I know) as soon as he ran into the hotel at the beginning of the movie. Then Leech Girl, who again, I felt kind of sorry for. She does not look like she's having a good time when she's vomiting up leeches onto people. Haha, so the puppets are pretty cool characters and as a whole there's really not much out there like this movie in the genre, so yeah, I dug it! 4/5

Brittainy's Thoughts - as much as i was dreading the thought of watching puppet master, i have to admit, i didn't have too terrible of a time doing it (though it will probably be a while, if never, before i watch it again =p). i believe the majority of the reason behind it not being as bad as i thought it would be, was that i was 1.) watching it with doug (i seem to enjoy movies i disliked before more when i watch with him) and b.) because i had to throw my hands up and surrender to its complete and utter ridiculousness of cheese it contains! c'mon, it's puppets that lick nipples, puke leeches and stab people. too bad they, the most entertaining part of the movie, didn't get near enough screen time. a musical would be appropriate, me thinks. =) 1/5