Here is the Deal. I haven't done a Blog in a while. The reason behind this was a life change. Life itself got in the way of this blog. My wife Anne and I moved to her home town, which is no where near where we previously lived in the beautiful God kissed Mountains of Ol' Virginia. Where every storm was weakened by the soft cuddle of the Blue Ridge. Where the air itself was crisp and virgin. We now live in the Humid in October, Mosquito infested North Carolina coast. Where the air smells of Stale Mayonnaise and rotting slaughtered pigs. Anyway, It took a little while to get settled in, turn the internet on and get back to semi-normal. The cable company I am currently using decided to take a full week to hook up the cable. Then still charged us the hook up fee. We aren't starting out on a good foot. So back to the point.
Movies. 100 of them to be exact. I watch 100 movies a year that I haven't seen before. It doesn't matter what they are. They could be Documentaries, comedies, New releases, Old Classics. Anything, as long as I haven't seen it. So. On with the Movies. Here is the deal I have done this a for a little bit. There are lots of reviews please feel free to browse the back logs. On to Number 23 of 2012.
(23) The Avengers (2012)
I was excited about this. I loved the Marvel movies. I thought they were great. Fun and energetic. Something that a comic fan can be proud of. The movies individually find a way to not only tell a good story, but make you laugh all the way through. Thor smashing the Coffee cup and wanting another one. Stark shooting himself into the ceiling the first time he tries out the gravity boots. This movie doesn't let you down. The action is none stop it gives you everything you want. It gives you Mjolnir hitting Caps shield Quarrels between each character. Hulk Smashing in epic fashion. They used some of his smashing for some of the best moments in the movie. The Villain they used was Loki by means of a mysterious leader, who ended up to be someone very special and it makes me look forward to the sequel. ***Spoiler****(It's Thanos). Anyway, some of the special parts in this made me laugh so hard I cried. There is a great moment about half way through the ending battle between Thor and Hulk that I giggle about every time I think about it. Lets not forget about Loki vs. Hulk. Now that was a great moment.The meshing of the characters together was done wonderfully. Joss Whedon directed this. Which also had me excited. about this movie in general. I had just started watching his acclaimed "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series and find it alluring. However, nothing tops his "Firefly" which is where he came into his own. Something about Whedon that stands out not only in Buffy and Firefly but his other stuff including "Dollhouse" he tends to lean toward female character being the saving grace. Which I think fit perfectly in the Avengers movie. The Black Widow was perfect for the heroin that saves the day, however it was a point of the movie that it was a team effort. They used her as the killing blow. She was perfect for the roll. They all were. Lets be honest and give credit where credit is due. It was a well done Comic Book movie. Will it win any huge accredited awards? nope. However, it was perfect for everything that it was. I am a DC comic fan. The Comics are just better. However, when it comes to movies Dc tends to be a little too serious. This I think hurts them in the long run, Marvel treats their movies without a chip on their shoulder. DC comes in trying to make their characters come of as something they are in the Comic book world but could never be in the Movie world. Classic. In Depth. They could take a Queue from Marvel. Make the movies fun, energetic and action packed. This comes off the back of a semi-successful Green Lantern, and an Upcoming Batman. Which I have seen at this point. Green Lantern was an Utter flop. They couldn't even sale the toys. Not like the Marvel movies do. Which that in itself means something. The Marvel movies are overall more successful. There is a reason behind that. They put more effort into doing them right and don't take chances. Yes, the Avengers didn't take any risks. It was made to be a Blockbuster success with several spin-offs, sequels, and we will be over saturated with it for years to come. That's Marvel does stuff. It will shove this down our throats and then just when we can't take anymore they will shoot something else out that excites us and will shove that down our Throat. Lets take a trip down "Thank you Marvel may I have another Lane" Spiderman. Shoved down our throats until it ended with Toby Dancing in the Street and a small musical number in a Coffee shop, just to be semi-immediately rebooted. X-men. Shoved down our throats until the X-3 that no one who likes movies tends to re watch, even though they did give you "I'm the Juggernaut Bitch." Then they started the Origins movies and completely tore apart one of Marvels most popular characters Deadpool and didn't get it anywhere near correct, plus made Sabertooth Wolverines brother. Then again, not to run the course of terrible gave us "First Class" and will be spitting out yet another X movie in the near future. Then on with the current run. Two Iron man movies, Thor, Captain America, the Avengers. Only to be followed by a second Thor A Third Iron Man and a Sheild movie, right before they release Avengers 2. DC gives us a lack luster Green Lantern. A Batman movie trilogy with a controversial ending, and a Superman movie whose trailer makes you want to curl up to a cup of warm milk and some Apple Pie. There is a point to not over saturating the market, and not being annoying, but you should definitely at least put out quality stuff. Speaking of Quality The Avengers. It was quality. 5 Hulk SMASH out of 5.
(24) Hop (2011)
Hop was a movie that I have been looking forward to seeing since I first got introduced to Russel Brand and saw the trailer where the bunny takes a dump and the poo was Jelly Beans. That makes since the Easter bunnies poo is Jelly Beans. Where else would they come from. Hop was something to behold. It was a nice sweet (pun intended) movie with lots of fun to back up a silly plot. The plot was an age old tale. The Father wants to pass on the family business to the Son who wants to something else with his life. The Son runs but inevitably realizes something else. It was so cute with the Lady bunny Ninjas and the chicks. great movie for kids, with spins on classic songs like " I want Candy" with awesome drum solos. James Marsden was fun in this. I like him. He was great as Cyclops, better in Enchanted and brought it with Super Jealousy in Superman Returns. The movie had great Puns throughout that made me laugh, like him trying to stay the night at the Playboy Mansion, because it made since to him that another Rabbit owned it. Plus, the Easter bunnies house was underneath.... Where Else... EASTER ISLAND. So fun, a Instant Easter Classic for the children. It was fun and had just enough laughs and adult puns that little kids would miss to make everyone in the family happy. 5 out of 5.
(25) Lost in Translation (2003)
Has anyone notice the connection between these movies. Nothing that I did on purpose. Scarlett Johansson. In the Avengers. Marsden in both Marvels Xmen and Hop. Sorry, silly me. I didn't do it on purpose, but fun still. This movie I had seen parts of throughout, but never the whole thing and never had I sit down to watch it. It was uncomfortably uncomfortable. Which I believe was the whole point. Bill was dry and coarse, which isn't his normal character, but I enjoy it when Bill steps up to the plate. This movie didn't have a driving force which is sometime enjoyable and sometimes a little sad. It suffered from the slow pace. I liked the mid life crisis and early life crisis the characters were going through and how they used each other as crutches to carry themselves forward. The movie unlike the previous two is an emotional movie that deals with real life problems and gives real life emotion and attraction. Not that the Avengers Alpha vs. Alpha isn't a real life problem and Hops Son rebellion from Father's business isn't real. It's just that this is a different style of movie. It's a stretch to say that I liked it. I do get into these movies and I like both Bill and Scarlett. It just didn't do anything for me. It did show Japan in a wonderful light. 2 out 5.
This is the end of this blog. Come back for a better review of a worse lot of movies. 1/4 of the way through my 2012 movies. Coming up..... TWILIGHT Movies....... Pirate Radio and some cartoons.
