Saturday, July 28, 2012

Brad's Top 10 movies of 2009

Coming in at number 10


Surrogates 8 out of 10 
Right up my alley…Interesting …..Mystery ….Sci-Fi…..I love flicks like this ---from Bladerunner to Total Recall--- a movie that entertains and makes you think about things ----my kind of film……It takes Virtual reality….The Internet Real life Simms…..Like the kind of books that I read……Bruce Willis was great and the plot twists although not surprising were good….Really liked the ending..

Coming in at number 9


Adventureland 8 out of 10 2009
A great cast and a fun coming of age movie


Number 8


Ice Age 3:Dawn of the Dinosaurs 8 out of 10
The franchise steps it up a notch with a good solid story and some Exciting action and visuals


Number 7

Drag me to Hell 8 out of 10 
Sam Raimi returns to his horror roots.....The car parking lot scene alone is worth the ride

Number 6

Avatar 2009 8 out of 10
A Visual Treat---soon to be a Disney land in animal Kingdom.. The story was basically Pocahontas with Blue people...but the visuals were stunning.


Number 5

Angels and Demons 2009 9 out of 10
A thrilling sequel that is bettter than the Da Vinci Code. Much more in the class of the National Treausre flicks.

Number 4

District 9 2009 9 out of 10
A really cool Sci-Fi movie about a segregation.


Number 3

Taken 2009 9 out of 10
Liam Nesson goes all Mel Gibson and kicks some ass

Number 2

The Hangover 2009 9 out of 10
What happened in Vegas stays there---because they had a pact...


Number 1

UP 2009 9 out of 10
Pixar at the top of their game as usual.....in this uplifting story about how it is never too late for an adventure




Sunday, July 15, 2012

Mr Popper's Penguins 2011 5 out of 10 (Family film review #2)





Mr Popper's Perfectly Predictable Penguins....  Jim Carrey doing his same old act--throwing in some random moments that could have been straight out of Ace Ventura.  The Penquins were cute....(even though they pooped on Mr Popper)   The kids laughed because all kids movies seem to have the fart joke or poop joke this days.  This story has been done before (without Penguins) it is basically the same old  Dad who is out of touch with his kids that learns a life lesson when his life is suddenly changes movie  (see Game Plan, or the Tooth Fairy ---or half a dozen other  family films).  And yes the Penguins are cute....(I get that) at least these Penguins don't bust out in a rap song like the dreadful looking Happy Feet 2 Trailer.   Penquins being cute is not enough to entertain me for an hour and a half though (I actually feel asleep watching it with the kids and had to finish it the next day).  

 Mr Popper inherits some Penguins from his out of touch with him father and the Penguins end up making him go a little nutty as he turns his New York apartment (that doesn't allow pets) into a Penquin playground.  He reconnects with his kids and his ex wife and everyone is happy.  The trailer pretty much perfectly sums up this predictable penguin movie.....And yes aren't they cute.  Awwww!



Sunday, July 8, 2012

Animated Movies: Movie #2 Despicable Me 2010 6 out 10



Despicable Me is a decent Animated movie starring Steve Carell of The Office fame as Gru a Super Villian and isn't as Super as he used to be. The movie definitely has its moments --but many of the best of them like the Willie Coyote style attempts to get into a competing Super Villains lair were already in the trailers. The little unexplained yellow Miniions of his delight children every time they are on screen with comic relief. It has a very similiar theme to Megamind (imagine that--because similiar animated movies never come out around the same time coughs under his breath....A Bug's Life and Ants). The movie is good but not great, the animation decent but not excellent, the story okay but not wonderful. I can't put my finger on what is missing -but once it ended I wasn't thinking about it at all really. Maybe it was because I had seen a Pixar movie the same week, or that I was still thinking about how I enjoy Tangled a little bit more my step daughter watches it. I can't see myself watching Despicable Me again. It just didn't have that magic that a Pixar or Disney Classic does. If you haven't seen it your kids will like it....But your kids are probably already trying to drag you out to that Smurfs movie too..... And like i always say..."What do I know?---NOT SO MUCH apparently since a Sequel is already in the works because of how much money it made. So in summary enjoyable but not memorable




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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Animated Movies: Movie #1 Puss in Boots 2011 4 out 10






The animation looked good......The movie had some nice action sequences......but it just wasn't good.
A great animated movie has a really good story and characters you care about.....this film didn't have any of that for me.  All visuals and no substance.

To be honest I wasn't exactly dying to see this film in the first place.  I didn't like the character of Puss in Boots in the Shrek films to begin with---so the thought of his getting his own movie wasn't something that interested me.  I'm a dog person and not a cat person. This was a Netflix request by the kids  (and don't get me wrong I love a lot of kids movies---I'm a Disney/Pixar fan---I love Spongebob and Scooby Doo--so I have seen and enjoyed a ton of animated kids films).    Puss in Boots is just not one of those animated movies that I enjoyed.    Not liking the main character gong in never helps.....but then giving him a boring sidekick makes things even worse......I wasn't a big Shrek fan----but at least he had Mushu (I mean Donkey).   Puss I stuck with a bad egg (literally)  Humpty  (boring) Dumpty.   I can see the kids opening their kids meals now and going  "All I got is a rotten egg".    The plot itself was dull....Puss in Boots and Humpty Dumpty pulling a Jack and the Beanstalk and stealing the Golden Goose ---which later attacks the Mexican town that Puss in Boots in supposedly from.   Very disappointing!....It was unoriginal and not a lot a fun.     If you want to watch a Jack and the Beanstalk movie....check out Mickey and the Beanstalk from 1947.

So all in all...Yes kids like it ---but kids also like fart jokes The Smurfs and Alvin and the Chipmunks.
This is one Dreamworks animated movie that I could have done without.

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Aside from Wrath of Khan (which was great) Why do so many of the Star Trek movies suck?




A Couple of things made me think about this today.........First --I just saw Prometheus this last weekend, which caused me to reflect on the terrible Star Trek movie the Final Frontier---where they search for god to be totally  disappointed at the end of the film just like the films audience.  This was such a terrible Star Trek movie.   Another reason was that in Long Beach the movies on the beach series began this week and Wrath of Khan was the first movie playing......It made me think.....why are there so many bad Trek movies???  I mean Star Trek Next Generation  ( which I wasn't really even a fan of had some better individual episodes than some of these films --where is Q when you need him). So here is my list of the Time Trek movies  (I mean Star Trek---forgot the name for a second since they are Time Traveling so much in these films that you would think the Enterprise was a Delorean).


 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan  1982  8+ out of 10  By far the best Trek movie Kirk versus Khan in a scene chewing battle of overacting and action..  it was a great idea to bring back this vilian from the old TV Series.  it was like a great boxing match.

Star Trek into Darkness  2013   8 out of 10
 
Yes they went back into the Khan well yet again.  I couldn't stand the reboot.  But now excepting that this unfortunate alternate universe Star Trek world exists,  this entire into the lackluster Star Trek Movie franchise was actually one of the best.......See my full review
Here...
 


Star Trek: First Contact   1996   7 out of 10   The second best Trek movie.......Bringing back the Borg was a good idea after the lame Generations movie...  The Borg brought a sense of peril that was lacking in other Trek films.   A true villain worthy of standing up and fighting against.....Of course this film had time travel as well ---because apparently the Trek Franchise thinks it is a Time Travel series ---but still this one was a good solid fun movie.




Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country…1991  6 out of 10    A decent Star Trek film....At least it doesn't have any time traveling in it.  It was a throwback attempt at trying to recreate Khan with Kirk battling some Klingons and one of the better Trek films



Star Trek: The Motion Picture  1979.....5 out of 10     It was an okay movie until the slow.....slow pan shot of Vigor at the end the dragged the entire film to a halting stop...

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 1986  5 out of 10      Many people actually liked this one....Me not so much.....It should have been called Star Trek the Silly Time Travel movie or   Star Trek:Save the Whale.......Wissles---we need to get your wissles....indeed.



Star Trek: Generations 1994   4 out of 10     It started off pretty good for the first third of the flim.....It got worse in the middle and the ending was just plan horrible......Seriously what a lame way to send off captain Kirk...The time travel plot in this one was like a slice of Swiss cheese and their was no tension at the end of the film.


Star Trek III: The Search for Spock  1984    4 out of 10  The search for Spock???  You never should have killed him off in the first place ----the ending was so bad ....Really bad --they should have left him dead.'



Star Trek: Nemesis 2002   4 out of 10    Lame ---Okay this is the third time you have made this Trek movie....This time the Khan wannabe is a Romulan that is part Picard???.....Come up with something new already 

Star Trek: Insurrection  1999    3  out of 10    It should have been called Star Trek a complete waste of time...  Let's help the people on this planet......Not movie worthy…

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier… 1989   3 out of 10  This one was so bad that it should have been the final Frontier.....In there search for God they and the audience end up disappointed....Eeeeewwwwwwwweeeeeewww!  (Why are they putting seatbelts in theaters this summer????  Not for this movie that is for sure)

 
 
And here was my rant after the Star Trek movie in 2009  4 out of 10   came out....
Of course after making this list above ---maybe I should rethink it......I mean it definitely was maybe in need of a reboot after all........Oh well.......I put it here separate from the list above because apparently this Trek movie takes place in an alternate universe???? whatever.
Here is a look back at Star Trek the Tour from a few years ago.....

Prometheus 2012 8 out of 10: The Return of Ridley



  I was extremely excited to see the early teaser trailers for Prometheus. The Return of Ridley to Sci-Fi! How could I not be excited??   The man you brought us the space horror of aliens and the awesomeness of Bladerunner.  The man you basically set the design style of years and years of sci-fi movies to come.  That is why I was setting myself up to be slightly disappointed by the film.  It is hard to live up to classics (ask George Lucas and Spielberg about that).    Prometheus follows a familiar Sci-Fi plot of humanity's  search for answers and is a little bit of a mix of every Sci-fi movie that has come before it.  A team of scientists travel to space to answer the question of where we come from.....and end up what exactly getting the answers they seek.

The movie looked and sounded amazing.  We are definitely returning to the world of  H.R. Giger and Alien in this film (which they can't deny any longer).  It was part Alien,  part  2001 a Space Odyssey, part Bladerunner, and part about half a dozen other films.  The plot moves along fairly slow at the beginning in order to set up the characters for the horror that awaits them---which I felt was nicely done.  The problem comes in the type of story that it is.  Like an Arthur C Clarke novel it is all about asking interesting questions, but never really answering them in an way that truly delivers.    I've read a bunch of Arthur C Clarke books and felt the same way about most of them that I did about this movie.   A feeling like   ......Wow this is really, really cool and interesting ....I can't wait to see how it ends or how he answers the question.....never to really get that answer at the end of the book that I was looking for.   That is exactly how the movie felt.  A cool concept and cool delivery --but leaving you somehow not completely satisfied at the end.   It may be the fault of the film trying to use so much of what has come before it or simply the type of story that it was.  It obviously did a better job than the Star Trek movie where they search for god only to be really disappointed,  but somehow I was expecting a little more.  That being said it was still a good film.  It definitely had its moments. Ridley knows how to craft an amazing looking Sci-Fi film and loves his androids as a way to showcase humanity and its search for answers.



Sunday, July 1, 2012

Bigfoot 2012 4 out of 10 (There is no such thing as a good Bigfoot movie)

Guy in Bigfoot outfit about to be brutal killed by a giant Bigfoot at a concert that should have been cancelled, but wasn't because of what I like to call the Jawa Scenario.
I'm now firmly convinced that there is no such thing as a good Bigfoot movie......I've tried---over and over again, but Bigfoot just doesn't make for a good movie....  Syfy's latest movie titled  Bigfoot  is no better than the rest.   They were going for the over the top cheesy (So Bad it is good) and it didn't make it to that status like Mega Python vs Gatoroid did.   It starred Danny Patridge and Greg Brady....(trying to copy the success of the Tiffany vs Debbie Gibson battle)---it also featured a old (looking for a paycheck singer)  Alice Cooper getting munched by a really hungry Bigfoot just like Mickey Dolenz did in the Snake vs Gator flick.....Just like Joey Fatone in Jersey Shore shark attack----apparently old out of work singers getting killed is a new horror movie cliche.    
As for the plot.....(lol----sorry collecting my thoughts)   there was no plot other than a Giant Bigfoot that is having a really bad hair day impresonating  King Kong  (even climbing Mt Rushmore at the end ,  while Greg Brady and Danny Patridge  (recently both on Celebrity House Hunters) chase after him with different agendas.....This movie was laughable ---but not in an enjoyable way.   I should have enjoyed watching the  goofy digital  (way to big to be Bigfoot) crushing and kicking people all over the small South Dakota town---but alas I did not.  The movie also featured an old and not so hot anymore Sherilyn Finn and Howard (I thought he was dead) Hesseman.   I keep watching these bad movies in search of the occasional so bad it is good film....and mostly just get stuck with bad.....And Bigfoot just hasn't ever broken through.  Shame on you Bigfoot.  Finding an enjoyable Squatch film is just about as easy as Finding Squatch himself





Here is my old Bigfoot film blog which has some of the other bad Bigfoot films....

and here are a few more