Guardians of the Galaxy

This movie, oh man, this movie was a bit different than I was expecting, which I think was a good thing. In all honesty, I didn't know what to expect from this movie, but it did things that were quite wonderful. It is probably for the best that Marvel had waited until the end of their 2nd phase of movies to release this movie, it is based on a comic, but I honestly had no previous knowledge of the characters, although I did recently get a copy of the first Rocket Raccoon, I just haven't read it yet.

This movie does something that none of the Marvel movies to date had done by including lots of music, and I thought the music was very well selected as well, a list of the tracks can be found here. The music is a lot of 70's pop music, and I think the combination would be something that my mom would really like getting and listening to. None of the other Marvel movies have more than maybe one of two songs within them, and there are 5-10 songs played in part during the movie. I thought the music and the reasons it was so prominent helped the story and motivation within the movie.

This movie has been called the funniest Marvel movie in ads, and also on Rotten Tomatoes I will say that this could not be more true! Other Marvel movies have had humor in them, but this movie really has humor through the entire movie. There are so many good laughs, even within the action and fight scenes. This movie has such a wonderful sense of humor, but just because it is funny doesn't mean this movie doesn't also have heart. There is some sadness in this movie, in fact there is sadness in the movie for each of the main characters, some more than others, but some of them have extremely tragic moments in the movie. I was close to crying in this movie a few different times, that is just something I would not have expected from the funniest movie in the Marvel world.

I must say that this movie should be a launching platform for James Gunn the director. He has already done 2 movies that I own and love, the Dawn of the Dead remake, and also the scifi horror movie Slither, but this will likely enable him to make other studio films, that is if he wants to. Marvel announced that there would be a second Guardians movie even before the first one was released, and the movie beat projections by more than $20 million, which is crazy from a lesser known comic.

This movie was just so much fun, there really isn't much wasted time, and the pacing is fast, but just the right speed to allow the brain to follow everything that was going on. All of the characters have their moments, and also all of the characters are funny in their own way. The movie is extremely well written, with lots of funny jokes, each of the characters have their own personality which is more than can be said for some other comic book movies.

I don't think that there is a weak link in this cast. The 5 main characters are all amazing. Vin Diesel as Groot is great even though he has a limited vocabulary. I wouldn't have known that Rocket was played by Bradley Cooper from the voice, but he did such a wonderful job in that role. Chris Pratt is well on his way to being a star with 2 awesome movies out this year, and he will also be the lead in Jurassic World coming out next summer. There are also many wonderful actors in smaller roles including academy award nominees Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, and Djimon Hounsou, as well as one winner in Benicio Del Toro. Also for all of the Whovians out there we have Karen Gillan is also in the movie, with lots of makeup and prosthetics.

The movie has some wonderful 80's references in it, and it also makes fun of it self at times, such as when something convenient happens to help advance the plot. They also make fun of the fact that Groot only says "I am Groot" which is wonderful when it happens in the movie.

Because there is already a sequel in the works, I have a strong feeling that a lot of the things introduced in this movie will come back in the sequel. There are some lines that hint at more, but there so many of them it is hard to know exactly which direction the series will go. There is also the possibility of a crossover as sometimes in the comics some other marvel characters fight alongside the Guardians.

One thing that sets this apart from the other Marvel Studios movies is that these characters are not really superheroes. They are more along the lines of a ragtag group of losers than superheroes. I really look forward to where the movies go in the future, and I will gladly pay money to see the next movie.

This year has been wonderful for movies for me, I will likely buy all of the movies I have seen today, and that says a lot because I don't buy many movies anymore. This movie was just so engaging and moved at a wonderful pace that it just flew by. I have seen it twice and will gladly go see it again. Because of all of these things I had to rank it first for the year, and it is hard to imagine a movie beating it, but we will see.
2014 Movie Rankings:
1. Guardians of the Galaxy
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
3. How To Train Your Dragon 2
4. 22 Jump Street
5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
6. The Lego Movie


Rankings of the Avengers Movies:
1. Guardians of the Galaxy
2. The Avengers
3. Iron Man
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
5. Captain America
6. Iron Man 3
7. Thor
8. The Incredible Hulk
9. Thor: The Dark World
10. Iron Man 2

22 Jump Street

Holy shit this movie was awesome, I think it actually outdid the first movie, and I quite enjoyed the first one. This movie earned my love early on when they had an open and blatant discussion about how sequels are never as good as the originals. I really enjoyed the self awareness and the meta moments in the movie.

The movie was a parody of action movie sequels while also being a great sequel to the first movie. I really thought the writing in this movie was really well done. Lots of the background things are jokes in themselves, such as the cadence the quarterback is calling out includes the words color and number in the actual cadence not colors of numbers. The movie also pokes fun at the buddy cop genre a bit, and their needing to make it clear that the people aren't gay repeatedly, the movie version of saying no homo. Someone in the movie says in Ice Cube's presence "that looks like a giant ice cube." There were also jokes in the movie about how they had double the budget, and also commentary about how they were running low on the budget.

The movie was able to have some quality action like the first movie, but also had many huge laughs. I actually teared up a few times from crying in this movie, and I guarantee that I missed some of the jokes from the movie because I was still laughing at the previous jokes. I will need to watch the movie again to get more of the jokes and possible background gags.

I don't want to give away any of the details twists and turns in the movie, I will say that some are much more predictable than others. I called one of them out right away, but one of the others was a little less obvious to me.

I think that all of the performances in this movie are quite entertaining, they even brought back some randoms from the first movie that you wouldn't have thought would be back in this one. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in particular really take over the movie, and Ice Cube is great in his scenes again.

I will say all of these positive things about the movie, but everyone should know what they are getting into, there are many low brow jokes in this movie. It is quite the entertaining movie, but it really isn't a high minded movie at all. If you saw the first movie, you will know what to expect from for the level of humor in this movie. There are a few call backs to the first movie, including a covalent bonds mention.

All in all I had to rank this movie in the middle of the pack of the movies I have seen this year, I would honestly see any of these movies in the theaters again. It has been a good year all around for movies when I didn't think there would be that many that I would like. I would rate all of these movies as a B or higher on a grading scale, now coming up I might see the new Transformers movie, but it depends on where the rotten tomatoes rating lies.

2014 Movie Rankings:
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. How To Train Your Dragon 2
3. 22 Jump Street
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past
5. The Lego Movie

How to Train your Dragon 2

Wow, this movie really hit the feels hard! It was honestly a movie that would be wonderful to have seen with your father over this past father's day weekend. I was really excited for this movie for a few reasons, first I really enjoyed the first movie, it ranks up there as one of my favorite animated movies, I liked the performances, I liked the story, I liked the visuals. Second, they took their time with this movie as a sequel. Nothing is worse than a studio rushing a sequel into production because the first movie did so well. There was a gap of 4 years between the release of the first movie to the release of the 2nd movie, allowing enough time for actual writing to get done.

This is the first movie that I actually regretted not seeing in 3D, I didn't see the original in 3D either, but I feel like the movie would have looked great in 3D, I will have to see if any of my friends see it in 3D and how they felt. In general I find it a waste of money, but once in a while something could be good in 3D.

So the entire cast returned from the original movie as well as some new additions including Cate Blanchett and Djimon Hounsou not like they are famous actors or anything. Also joining the cast was Kit Harrington who is also known as Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, who I thought did an amazing job with his character.

Because I am writing this so close to the release of the movie I really don't want to give away any of the details of it. There are lots of great twists and turns that were quite enjoyable, as well as emotional. Holy cow did I get choked up during this movie, and not just once, but several times. I am not one to get choked up or tear up during a movie, but damn this movie got to me. I may have teared up more during this movie than during any other movie I can remember, just go into it knowing that.

With all of that said, this movie was awesome, the action is beautiful, there are sufficient laughs, the characters definitely grow, and it might even rival the first movie in quality. I don't know if I could recommend this movie highly enough, if you have kids, take them to this movie, enjoy it with them, just make sure you are there for them during the emotional parts.

Unrelated to the movie itself, but related to movies in general, I was not thinking this year would be all that exciting when it comes to movies, but I have seen 4 very good movies already this year, with a few more that are in theaters now, I have been quite impressed with all of those that I have seen, hopefully that trend continues.

I put this movie in 2nd place for this year, I really could not think of anything I would change about it, it might not quite have reached the intensity of Captain America 2, this movie is a very good all around movie, and I would guess it is the front runner for the animated film Oscar as of this time.

2014 Movie Rankings:
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. How To Train Your Dragon 2
3. X-Men: Days of Future Past
4. The Lego Movie

X-Men: Days of Future Past

I must say that I didn't know what to expect from this movie going in. I really enjoyed all of the X-Men movies that have come out, even the much maligned X-Men: The Last Stand. I think X-Men was my favorite cartoon growing up, so there have always been some expectations for the movies, more so than for other comic book movies.

Not to belittle the movie itself, but the most amazing feat in the movie is to get this amazing cast together, now there are a few different groups of characters, but there are so many awesome actors in this movie, and it was nice that they stuck with actors from the original series, and also have brought in some new ones as well.

This is not my favorite X-Men movie, in fact it might be 4th out of the 5 that have been made, but it was still a fun and enjoyable movie. There was not as much action as I would have liked in this movie, but I was still quite interested. I think they tried for a little bit of a different feel than other X-Men movies, and if that was the intent then it worked. They don't introduce that many new characters, but there are a few of them. I honestly would have liked to see Quicksilver a little more, he was the comic relief early in the film. I guess I had missed that Quicksilver had been in the credits of Captain America: The Winter Soldier? He was portrayed by a different actor, but that is something I would like to look at again, he will be portrayed by the same guy who played Kick-Ass in the Kick-Ass movies, so that should be interesting.

It really seems like they tried hard to show Mystique as Jennifer Lawrence a lot, when the character would have likely been in normal blue state, but I guess if you have Jennifer Lawrence in a movie you are going to show her being Jennifer Lawrence. I could really mention all of the different cast members and say that they all did a good job, which they did, but come on is there more perfect casting than Hugh Jackman as Wolverine? Even in the terribly written Origins movie he still was great as Wolverine. I am glad that they were able to work in more Beast action, in the other movies the character has been in, he hasn't been all that involved. In this movie he is part of the movie for the majority of it, he was my favorite character growing up.

I do feel like a little something was missing from this, maybe it was just some extra fighting, but when the mutants are all on the same side, for the most part, the fighting is kept to a minimum. If they mutants were to fight the humans too much it would just lead to dead humans in all likelihood. I also was happy that they actually had sentinels in this movie, I remember sentinels as much as any other things from the cartoon growing up, and the way this movie ended they could easily pop up in the future in similar ways to that of the cartoon as well.

It is really hard to try to describe this movie, and try to relate it to other things. This is a bit of a spoiler, but what this movie did is that it can actually be watched in the same cycle as the first set of X-men movies, but then its also possible that this series can get back into the events as the first series, yet both happened? It rebooted the whole thing, while also validating what had already happened in the other movies. So they could actually make X-Men movies in the past which would be following up this story line, while also making X-Men movies in today's present times, and they could all be in the same time stream. I know I am making this more complicated than it needs to be.

I have a bit of a rant to on for Marvel movies in general. I am going to create that as its own post in the next few days.

I think all of the movies that I have seen this year have been good, and borderline ownable. Its really hard to rank this, I have to put it just ever so slightly ahead of the Lego Movie this year, but that is really a toss up for me.

2014 movie rankings:
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. X-Men: Days of Future Past

3. The Lego Movie

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I had put off seeing this movie for a bit too long, it wasn't that I hadn't wanted to see it, it was that I just didn't have the want to go see a movie in the theater. I had been looking forward to this movie for quite a while, I like the first Captain America a bit more than most. I did have it as my 3rd favorite movie in the Avengers cycle.

I really like the different things that Marvel Studios has done with the different movies. The first Captain America was a war movie, and each of the movies that they have put out have had their own feeling to them. The feel of this movie was a bit difficult to explain, it is a bit of an espionage/spy movie, but also makes me think of movies like the Mission Impossible series. It was definitely a lot different of a feel than the first.

While it may have been different from the first movie, I actually think that it was even better than the first as well. Similar to Iron Man 3, this movie deals with what the characters do after The Avengers, with the added bonus of Captain America trying to adapt to the modern world after being frozen for so long in the Arctic.

This movie does pretty much everything right. The mystery and intrigue is very engaging. I really liked the performances in the movie, Chris Evans does a good job, and Scarlett Johansson does a great job in her role as The Black Widow, and actually the movie brings out a little bit of the character's back story. Robert Redford does an awesome job in the movie, and looks surprisingly spry for his age as well. I really enjoyed newcomer Anthony Mackie in his role as Sam Wilson/The Falcon, a character I knew of but didn't really know much about. I look forward to seeing him more in other Captain America movies, and possibly the Avengers. He is definitely a character that could have a peripheral role in future Avengers movies.

I don't really want to give away all of the details of the movie, but there are several twists and turns that occur, and some were more surprising than others, but they all worked well within the story. I really liked the story between Cap and Black Widow, I thought they really worked well together in the movie and their teamwork really worked.

The movie has some humor, not too much, not too little, but just right. There are a few different visual gags in the movie, the first one to look for is to read the things on Captain America's list of things he has missed, and the second is the quote on a grave. I wish I could say more about the 2nd one, but I really don't feel like spoiling any parts of the story.

I have placed below the rankings of all of the movies made by Marvel Studios, and this one is quite highly rated as you will see. I think what sets Iron Man above this movie is that Iron Man has Robert Downey Jr. in it. I like Chris Evans, I think he is great for the role of Captain America, but he just does not bring the same pizzazz that RDJ has.

Rankings of the Avengers Movies:
1. The Avengers
2. Iron Man
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
4. Captain America
5. Iron Man 3
6. Thor
7. The Incredible Hulk
8. Thor: The Dark World
9. Iron Man 2

2014 movie rankings:
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie

Well it has been a week and a half since I have seen the movie, I normally give myself only a few days to ponder something, my life has been hectic the past week plus so I am just now getting around to writing about the movie.

I really wanted to start by talking about my limited expectations for the movie originally. January and February is usually the dumping ground for movies that did not live up to their expectations, so even though I love Lego, it was something I had limited expectations for at best. The movie however got an enormous boost in my mind because of its elevated rating on RottenTomatoes.com, when I saw the movie it was sitting around 97% positive reviews. I don't go by ratings, but they can definitely make me more interested in a movie that I was on the fence about.

The movie really was everything I thought it would be and much much more. It had great casting of its characters, great imagination behind it, great jokes, great writing, and great twists involved in it. The Lego universe has greatly expanded since I was a kid with all sorts of branded merchandise including Star Wars and DC Comics. A lot of the things I grew up with were generic imitations of these things. The movie has characters that I definitely remember playing with as a kid as well as all sorts of newer additions.

I have to say that Chris Pratt has been on a roll with his movies, starting with being in Moneyball, he was also in Her (my favorite movie of 2013), and was now the leading role in The Lego Movie. I am also really looking forward to seeing him in The Guardians of the Galaxy this summer, which has a ridiculous cast in it!

This movie is honestly for anyone who like Lego or pop culture, its full of references, it has so many jokes, sometimes too many because the laughter has not yet subsided from the last joke, I am sure I missed a joke or two. I am an easy one to make laugh, but I still found this movie's jokes creative.

They honestly did a good job of creating a universe in this movie, as well as explaining how the universe works. The movie pays homage to all sorts of different generations of Lego builders and it even has some deeper cuts including numbers for certain parts that only the most in depth collectors would even get reference to.

I will be very honest and admit that I didn't think The Lego Movie would have a complex plot, but boy was I ever wrong. I did not see a lot of the different things and creative turns coming. My advice is that if you have somehow not seen the movie and still want to, do not read anything about it, I would hate it if any parts of the movie were spoiled for someone, because I really enjoyed some of the different reveals and twists in the movie.

I think that my favorite cameo in the movie would have to be Billy Dee Williams making a quick appearance in the movie as Lando himself. I mentioned liking the casting, and I really mean that, all the way down to the role that Jonah Hill plays in the movie. I could go down the entire cast list stating that everyone did a good job in the movie, but I won't do that. I just wanted to point out both Billy Dee Williams and Jonah Hill in the movie. Also what the movie did with Batman was quite amusing.

Well this is the first and only movie that I have seen so far in 2014, so of course it stands alone at #1:

1. The Lego Movie

2013 Movie Wrapup

I thought this was a great year for movies, I saw a total of 13 movies in theaters that were released in 2013, and 2 more movies at home that I didn't have a chance to see in theaters here in Green Bay. As you will see from my list at the end of this post, there are actually dozens more movies that were released this year that I would love to see at some point, and yes I spend a lot of time reading about movies on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB.

I want to say that these are rankings according to my taste in movies and my taste alone, and not everyone will feel the same way that I do. I tend to value humor in a movie even if the movie is not a true comedy. If the movie is a flat out drama with little humor, I probably won't enjoy it quite as much. I tend to lose a little bit of interest if I don't laugh once in a while at a movie, and it isn't at all difficult to make me laugh a bit.

Unranked movies I saw that came out this year:
Kings of Summer- I really liked this movie, It is available through Red Box, and possibly on demand through certain services, but at this moment it is not available on Netflix Instant. The movie is about how a small group of young high schoolers spend their summer, I don't want to give too much away, but it is a bit of a coming of age tale, while also bringing in elements of dealing with family, and friendship. I really enjoyed the movie, but I had a hard time writing about it, possibly because I have been making myself write a bit more than I have in the past by seeing more movies in the last week. I especially enjoyed the performance by Moises Arias in this movie, he is funny and a bit off beat. There are a lot of known actors that people would recognize in smaller roles in this movie, and some good performances by lesser known younger actors. If you want something that is a bit different than the mainstream selections take a chance on this movie, I think you will enjoy it.

Blackfish-This was the only new documentary that I saw this year, and it was really eye opening. I have never been to a Seaworld, at least I don't remember going to one at any point in my life, and after watching this movie, I highly doubt I will ever go to one. This movie documents the history of a whale named Tilikum, and all sorts of incidents that have taken place involving Orcas at Seaworld, showing from the actions taken to capture orca calves in the wild, to the breeding of them in captivity. If you don't feel like you can handle this subject or don't want to know about it, I understand. I found this movie eye opening, and I had a visceral reaction to certain parts of it, I really had no idea of all of the incidents, if you love animals, I would say that this is a must see to just show you the kind of things that have happened at Seaworld. I watched this movie when it was played on CNN, I have no idea if it is streaming anywhere, but there is a lot of interesting information that I had no idea about that is given out in this movie, I highly recommend it.

And Now the List of Movies I Saw in 2013:


13. Pain & Gain-I saw this movie, I paid to see this movie, why oh why did I pay to see this movie? I don't know of any other examples in recent history where I regretted not walking out of a movie. I wan't to say that I will never see another Michael Bay movie in my life, but I will probably see him ruin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before I am ballsy enough to really make that vow.

12. Thor: The Dark World-I was really bored during this movie, I can't pinpoint the reason. It may have just been the fact that the movie didn't do a good enough job of trying to get my to care. Loki was entertaining, but he wasn't in enough of the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if I don't see this movie again, there are numerous other Marvel movies I would rather be watching.

11. World War Z-This wasn't a great movie by any means, and it definitely wasn't a very good adaptation of the book, it is entertaining in parts, it was a good popcorn movie, and not much more. I don't know how excited I am about the upcoming sequels, they seem like a complete moneygrab, but that seems to be what a lot of the movie industry is doing right now anyway.

10. Pacific Rim-I thought this movie was so much fun, I think the idea is really cool and creative. Some elements of the plot somehow seem to be set up for convenience and there are some pretty bad fake accents in this movie as well, but it is still entertaining, and the monster battles are really well done. I tend to like the work of Guillermo Del Toro, he does monsters especially well. He was originally in line to direct the Hobbit back when it was still being planned out.

9. Anchorman 2-This was a funny movie, but it didn't really stand out in any other way than humor. I am not sure I expected much more than humor, I don't think there were quite as many quotable lines in this one as there were in the first, which might make it have less cultural staying power than the first.

8. Iron Man 3-I thought this movie was a great return for form, while also creating a new and enjoyable feel to the character that already had 2 previous movies. I like what director Shane Black added to the tone of the movie, I really liked the introspective take on Tony Stark in this movie. It would normally rank much higher, but I really liked many other movies this year.

7. Hunger Games: Catching Fire-I thought this was quite a bit better than the first installment, and I loved what they did with the arena especially, it looked just like it did in my mind, well except with better computer animation. I am cautiosly optimistic for the remaining movies, although turning one book into 2 movies always bothers movie, just another money grab.

6. Frozen-This, for me at least, felt like a return to the Disney movies I grew up with, it was a great movie to attend with my family. The vocal performances in this are great, and even though its not that similar to the original story, I thought they did a great job of getting some humor into the film, I especially liked Josh Gad's role in the movie.

5. Star Trek Into Darkness-I have to admit that I am not the biggest Star Trek fan, I haven't seen as much of the original series of the movies to be able to claim that about myself.  I know that this movie takes a lot of different stories from previous Star Trek iterations and changes them in ways to reflect the alternate universe. I do think that there could be a little bit of creativity put into writing any of the additional Star Trek movies, if there are going to be any.

4. This Is the End-I loved the sense of humor in this movie, and how all of the main actors were making fun of themselves in some way, I also really liked the wide variety of people they got to appear in this movie, there were very few of the extended group that they didn't get for the movie. I thought it was generally a fun idea, and the movie was hilarious. I am interested to see the movies that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg write and direct in the future.

3. The World's End-I really liked this movie, it was the frontrunner for my favorite movie for a few months there. I think this movie is just so well directed and edited, some of the best transitions and fades I have seen in a long time. It was not my favorite movie made by the core team of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and director Edgar Wright. Edgar Wright has directed 4 movies that I love so I am excited to see what he can do with Ant-Man and join the Marvel universe. I would imagine it will have quite a bit of humor along with lots of well shot action scenes. If there is one thing I can say it is that Edgar Wright is the anti Michael Bay. Michael Bay edits so that his action is too fast, whereas Edgar Wright goes with longer shots and fewer cuts, not forcing the eye to adjust so much throughout a sequence, sorry I didn't plan on ranting about Michael Bay outside of Pain & Gain.

2.Gravity-This movie is probably the most technically and visually amazing film I have seen in a long time. It used CGI but it didn't feel like CGI at all. I think that Cuaron is likely going to win the best director Oscar this year for the simple fact that he was able to do so much with  just actors in a room by themselves. I think that Sandra Bullock proved that her Oscar was not a fluke with her performance in this movie. I don't think watching it at home will do it nearly enough justice, this movie was made to be watched on a big screen and in 3D and I loved it in that situation.

1.Her-I was excited heading into this movie, and the movie was still able to exceed my expectations. I loved everything about this movie, from the idea, the performances, and the execution of those ideas. It is almost a bit of a fable for the cyber age that we are in. I think the main things that set this movie above Gravity are my belief that Her will be much more rewatchable than Gravity, and the sense of humor in Her. I stated before that I really value a sense of humor in a movie, and this movie really hit me in the perfect way on so many different levels.

Well I forced myself to power through all of that writing, now it is a new year, and I will have to start a new list from scratch, time for a fresh slate.

If I had felt like taking a lot of extra time I would have linked all of the movies below this to their IMDB pages. I may still go back and add the links in at a later time. But below is a pretty extensive list.

Movies I didn't see but probably will at some point in the future:
12 Years a Slave
Short Term 12
Fruitvale Station
The Spectacular Now
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Way Way Back
Blue Jasmine
The Wolf of Wall Street
American Hustle
Kick-Ass 2
Captain Phillips
In a World
Don Jon
Nebraska
Hell Baby
Bad Milo
We're The Millers
Elysium
The Wolverine
Man of Steel
The Heat
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Monsters University
Despicable Me 2
The To Do List
Ass Backwards
The Place Beyond the Pines
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Sound City
Muscle Shoals
Drinking Buddies
Enough Said

Her

I was a bit disappointed when the movie started and there were only about a dozen people in the theater, but it was a balmy 30+ degrees in Green Bay today, so people may have wanted to enjoy the warm weather outside of the movie theater, this was really my only complaint about the whole experience, well that and the lackluster trailers beforehand, I guess with a movie that doesn't automatically fall into a specific archetype they don't know which trailers to play before it.

I don't believe that I am spoiling anything with this, but Her takes place in a near futuristic version of Los Angeles, and writer/director Spike Jonze does a great job of both imagining and creating this world, the colors, the visuals, as well as the technology and analysis of how people would interact with such things. I need to start off saying that this movie is not a movie I would want to see with my parents, there are a few different scenes in it that I would find too awkward.

Not very often does a movie really connect with me on an emotional level, especially as much as this movie does. I was defintitely on the same wavelength as this movie the entire time, there were times where I was choked up, if I wasn't such a robot I probably would have cried a few different times, but that doesn't mean this a sad movie by any means.

The thought that was put into this movie is just so evident, and there are many different ways. The main character's job is to write personal messages for other people who are too busy to do it themself, and he actually develops a relationship with his repeat customers adding his own touch to the relationships he really isn't even involved in. In this future it really seems like trains have replaced a lot of the transportation to and from LA which is notorious for its horrible car traffic. The details of the style in this movie is also a nice touch, no explanation of why, but the characters all wear extremely high-waisted pants. There are other elements of it that I can mention, but I don't want to ruin some of the smaller things that people do in the movie, that is quite possible in the world created in this film.

I really enjoyed the adventure that the movie takes the viewer on, its funny, its sad, its happy, its hopeful, and a wide variety of other emotions. There is a great deal of whimsy and fun with the ideas in this movie as well, not only is it a look at a possible future, but it also is quite the reflection on our society as it is today, the disconnection that people feel from one another because they are stuck with their faces in their devices as they go about their day. I really wish I could get some wireless ear buds that are used in this movie, then again I would be afraid of losing them in my ears or when the aren't in my ears. There is also a look at what video games will be like in the future, by adapting some of the current technology into what could be done in the future, with a little bit of a joke about their content and vulgarity.

The performances in the movie are really great, there are really 2 main characters with a few others thrown in some. Joaquin Phoenix was amazing in this movie, he did a great job of showing the wide range of emotions in this movie. I can't say I have been his biggest fan, there have certainly been roles of his I have liked, such as his portrayal of Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, but this has to be one of best performances if not the very best performance. I don't think that there are that many actors who could have done such a great and nuanced job in this movie. Scarlett Johansson plays the female lead in this movie so to speak, although its only through voice acting. I think she did a great job with the role, and a great job a showing emotion, which is a weird thing to say about a computer operating system. I must have missed it in the trailers or maybe it just wasn't in there at all, but Amy Adams is in this movie, and her appearance is really toned down in this, after everyone was talking about her appearance in American Hustle.

I really was just blown away by this movie, it reminded me a lot of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which is one of my favorite movies in its pacing and tone. Like Eternal Sunshine it really was the type of antiromantic comedy that I really enjoy, its not a stereotypical love story, obviously, but there are many elements of a love story. I am one who appreciates originality in movies, I don't like seeing the same story over and over and will support things that i see as interesting and original. This movie might not be seen as conventional independent film, but it had a fairly low budget, and it is able to create a brilliant world without having the cost of the effects be too high.

I would highly recommend people go see this movie and support it, its funny, emotional, creative, and all around entertaining.

I won't be attaching my movie rankings in here, but I will be going a little write up about the movies of 2013 later this week.

Anchorman 2

This movie was not one of the top movies on my list of movies to see in theaters, but because of the time it was playing on bargain Tuesday I ended up seeing it anyway. It wasn't that I wasn't interested in the movie at all, it was just that I thought there were many other good movies in theaters right now that I would have preferred to see, I don't really think seeing Anchorman 2 was improved all that much by being seen on the big screen.

Coming into this my expectations were moderately high, at least for the laughter quotient provided from the movie, I didn't expect the movie to have an amazing plot, the first one certainly didn't have a great plot, but did provide quite a few laughs.

I liked this movie, it met my expectations, but it didn't really exceed them. The movie provided laughs, but it wasn't mindblowingly funny, like part of me had hoped it would be. There were quite a few good scenes, and they actually gave a non Ron Burgundy character a bit of a story in this movie, where as the last one was really just following Ron and the other characters only were in the movie with him. I will say that I had wished there had been more of both Paul Rudd and David Koechner in this movie. Like the first movie, I would imagine there were a lot of scenes that were cut from this movie and a lot of funny outtakes, that will probably be released with the movie. In the case of the first movie they actually edited the scenes that were cut into a completely separate movie.

Not only did the cast from the first movie return, but they added in all sorts of other people to this movie even if they were in small parts, and of course there was another fight scene, and this one got a little out of hand. I enjoy seeing random cameos, but I didn't feel like having Harrison Ford in this movie really added anything, it almost seemed like a bit of a power move by these people to show who they could get. I guess if I was making a movie and I could get Harrison Ford in it, I probably would though, why not?

There was only one real issue that I had with the movie, and I think the issue was the result of the format that Anchorman first created. There were a few times where there were cuts from one angle to the other and it just didn't match up, one of the times specifically there was a lot of laughter and when they cut to the other angle it had abruptly stopped, which was just a bit unusual. What the first Anchorman started was allowing actors to ad lib all sorts of different lines and taking the version that was the funniest and put it into the film. I guess the major drawback is that it can be hell to get things to always match up when you are doing several takes with different lines and different results, and editing elements of them all together. It wasn't a major thing in the movie, but I just kind of saw the strings of it in a few different situations, and I can't remember having noticed in other movies that have been done this way.

I would say that anyone who enjoyed the first one will enjoy this one as well, I wouldn't go into it expecting a great plot, but you will get laughs out of it. It was fun seeing it in the theater, but it really wasn't necessary. I think this movie might be best suited to being watched at home with a bunch of friends.

I am putting Anchorman 2 in front of Pacific Rim in my rankings, it was fun, but nothing all that amazing. I think it edges Pacific Rim out because I think it will be a bit more rewatchable in the future.

12. Pain & Gain
11. Thor: The Dark World
10. World War Z
9. Pacific Rim
8. Anchorman 2
7. Iron Man 3
6. Hunger Games: Catching Fire
5. Frozen
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
3. This Is the End
2. The World's End
1.Gravity

Frozen

I just want to start off with my reaction from leaving the movie, and that reaction was WOW! I was extremely impressed with this movie. I really haven't seen many of the Disney movies from recent years, but we went to this as a family on Black Friday. It was actually nice to go to a movie together, to a small town theater. The first showing we tried to go to actually sold out, so we came back later for the next showing, which appeared to also sell out.

The movie was loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson's story The Snow Queen. I am not familiar with the details of the story, so I don't know exactly how much they had taken from the story, and how much they had created themselves, but all in all I really enjoyed the movie. I don't recall that many Disney movies that were that dense with laughs, it almost reminded me of old episodes of the Simpsons in that respect.

I will say the story isn't quite what I would have expected out of a Disney movie, but then again thinking about it more I guess that lots of Disney's animated movies have an element of adversity in them. I guess I haven't rewatched a lot of the Disney movies I liked as a kid now that I am sort of an adult, there could be elements that I wasn't able to appreciate as a kid, because in Frozen I really enjoyed every part of the movie.

This movie has so much to it, there are parts that are sad, parts that are exciting, some great songs, and so many laughs. I definitely laughed so hard I teared up a few times during the movie. I think that Josh Gad's work as the snowman Olaf really made the film. He had possibly the 10-20 funniest lines in the movie, almost all of his lines had laughs. I was generally impressed by the number of laughs throughout the film, although of course it is easy to make me laugh a lot.

I think this is actually the first family friendly movie that I have seen this year. I would absolutely recommend this movie to everyone old and young. I know my mom and my younger brother also enjoyed watching it. I know it isn't technically an original story, but it is a very enjoyable story that would be a great thing to see with your family.

I had to put this movie in front of Catching Fire for the simple reason that even though I just saw Frozen, i kind of want to see it again right away, and I always value movies with rewatchability.

11. Pain & Gain
10. Thor: The Dark World
9. World War Z
8. Pacific Rim
7. Iron Man 3
6. Hunger Games: Catching Fire
5. Frozen
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
3. This Is the End
2. The World's End
1.Gravity

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

For reference, this was my favorite book in the series, I just liked the many elements of the story and how it added to the story of the first book. I liked the many twists and surprises that happened in the book. Along with liking the first movie, this was definitely something that made me optimistic about the execution of the 2nd movie.

I really should have written this back when I saw the movie, because it is not quite as fresh as it was when I had saw it. I remember leaving the movie being quite impressed with the it. I thought it was a bit more consistent with the book than the first movie was, but then again I read them right before the first movie and I have not revisited them since. I also just enjoyed this movie more than the first in general.

I really wish I could remember more of my thoughts from the movie, but nothing is really coming to me. I enjoyed it more than the first one, and I am very interested to see what they do with the 3rd book, although I believe they are turning it into 2 movies, which as the 3rd book was my least favorite could make for 2 bad movies instead of one decent one.

I liked the movie, and had some trouble deciding where to rank it this year, but I decided that it belonged before Iron Man 3.

10. Pain & Gain
9. Thor: The Dark World
8. World War Z
7. Pacific Rim
6. Iron Man 3
5. Hunger Games: Catching Fire
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
3. This Is the End
2. The World's End
1.Gravity

Netflix Chronicles #1

Well I thought I would start posting my thoughts on different things I have seen on Netflix, they aren't new movies, but there are many great movies, and also many great tv shows on Netflix Instant, as well as on demand on the premium channels that I get, and even some movies on DVD that I might have missed watching when they first came out. I just thought I would write about them as I watch them, not everything will get written about, but anything I find interesting. Netflix may be in the title, but this is not really limited to Netflix.

Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil- I watched this movie again recently with one of my friends, and I really enjoyed it, maybe not quite as much as the first time, but I definitely laughed a ton and jumped at the times I was supposed to. I think not knowing anything about the story going into it helps, other than knowing that it is a horror comedy, so there will be some scares and a bit of blood, while there are also some lovable characters. I highly recommend this movie.

Brick- This movie really wowed me, I really don't know where to start with the awesome things that it did. This was the movie that Rian Johnson wrote and directed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in it because they worked together again in Looper. This movie takes the classic genre of film noir and places it in a high school setting. I still got the feeling that the movie was from another time, other than the semi-modern tech like cell phones. The movie was just simply awesome, and I would advise everyone to check it out. It is available on Netflix Instant, and can likely be found through other means as well, that was just the most convenient for me. I think this move was somewhat of an independent film and did not get that large of a release back in 2005 when it came out, I definitely did not heat about it until much later.

House on Haunted Hill- This is the original with Vincent Price, I had seen at least one movie with Vincent Price in it previously, but I thought another would have been a good taste of history around Halloween. This movie, I believe was likely wonderful when it was released in 1959, there were some very scary moments. I think they chose the right times for scares and the right times for twists, I liked the story, and even some of the effects were good, I just think some of it was just too dated to hold up over the 50+ years since its release. If you want to see a classic, check it out, otherwise I think you can pass on it.

Don't Trust the B in Apt. 23- I honestly can't explain why I started watching this show on Netflix, but I did. I had always thought that Krysten Ritter was funny in a weird sort of way. I think the weirdness is what I really like about this show, you have the party girl, the quiet Midwestern girl, and James Van Der Beek playing himself, or a comedic version of himself in New York. There is a lot of strange and dirty humor in this show, but that is just my kind of thing after all. I would say it is worth watching if you want a short funny show to check out, I think there are only 26 total episodes, and I am almost half way through the series, and it has really breezed by so far.

Drive- There was a lot of hype around this movie when it came out, I guess I never took the time to go and see it in the theater, and for some reason I never really felt an urgent need to see it. I don't know if I just didn't connect with this movie, but it wasn't all that enjoyable for me. I honestly think one of my favorite parts was the opening driving scene, and how that opening chase ended, such a brilliant idea! Other than that part, I felt like the movie was a lot of flash with only minimal bang. I didn't find the story very compelling, and while there were a lot of people I like in the movie, I didn't think the performances were that great. I could be a downer, but I just thought this movie was a miss for me.

Well this concludes the first edition of my ramblings about random visual media consumption that I have to share.

My Kind of Horror Movie

I can't claim that I am the biggest horror movie fan, but there are definitely certain horror movies that I enjoy, I just thought I would give a little bit of a rundown of those movies, it is October after all. Growing up I wasn't that much of a fan of horror, I was very easily scared, and had lots of nightmares. I am not older, but I still get scared, but I do enjoy it to a certain extent at this point. I just wanted to write about some of my favorite horror movies, and even found quite a few that I love on Netflix.

Alien- I love the first 2 movies of the series, great suspense and horror in them. Also one of few horror movies with a female hero, definitely 2 of my favorite Sigourney Weaver movies.

Attack The Block- A great and original monster/alien movie made in England and produced by one of my favorite directors, Edgar Wright. If you watch it, you will want to start calling your friends Bruv.

Gremlins- Who didn't watch and love this movie as a kid? Its still very enjoyable.

Leprechaun- My favorite bad horror series, how can you go wrong with Warwick Davis as the star? A young Jennifer Aniston is in the first movie, the 2nd movie is on Netflix Instant. Later in the series the movies get more ridiculous, going into space and into the hood.

Pan's Labrynth- This is a great Guillermo Del Toro movie, with some of his most creepy and erie monsters, with the back drop of being in Franco Era Spain.

Shaun of the Dead- The movie that really helped launch the carreers of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright. A great horror comedy.

The Shining- Such an all around classic! How many times has this been parodied, but it is still great with some amazing visuals, and many very creepy parts to it.

Signs- I think this is an underrated movie, I think it does a good job of hiding the aliens while still have some suspenseful, and I like how the story actually came together, I guess I don't hate M. Night as much as many other people do.

Zombieland- I think this is my 2nd favorite zombedy, love the comedy, and characters, and who doesnt enjoy Emma Stone?

The Night of the Living Dead- The original zombie movie, always shown on tv a lot around Halloween, and I watch it on a yearly basis.

Dawn of the Dead- I have to admit that I have only seen the remake, but I love watching it, I think it pays a good tribute to the original Romero style zombies.

On Netflix
The Host- I love this movie, its a Korean monster movie about creature that start attacking people and it can be found on Netflix.

The Cabin in the Woods- This is a great meta horror movies that just deconstructs the genre, truly scary while also being extremely funny, produced and written by Joss Whedon. It is on Netflix.

Carrie-The original is found on Netflix, I really enjoyed it when I watched it years ago, I am usually of the mindset that you should watch the original version of something before you watch the remake, especially when the remake doesn't really change anything. A classic story about teenage angst gone horribly wrong.

Tucker and Dale Vs Evil- I think its a different take on a horror movie where everything happens because of a misunderstanding. On Netflix. I love both Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk in almost everything they are in.

Evil Dead 2- Available on Netflix, you don't need to see the first Evil Dead to enjoy the 2nd one. The 2nd is pretty much a remake of the first by the same group of people once they were ale to get funding for it. This helped launch the careers of Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi, a good funny horror movie. Also the sequel Army of Darkness is deifnitely worth checking out.

Slither- I love this dark and disturbing horror movie, it can be quite gross at times, I will give that warning, but its got some great people in it like Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Banks. On Netflix

The Faculty- This is one of my guilty pleasure movies, I would watch this movie all of the time when it was on TNT or TBS or USA or one of those channels quite frequently. It is a bit of a take on The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. On Netflix

Ghostbusters- Who doesn't love this movie? If you don't I am not sure why you are reading my blog, we probably don't have much in common then. On Netflix


I haven't seen but have in me queue on Netflix

House on Haunted Hill- the Original with Vincent Price, I have seen some movies with Vincent Price and thought I would check this one out.

The Innkeepers- I heard about this movie from a podcast I listen to, and it was filmed in an old inn that is supposedly haunted out east. Seemed like an original story.

Mimic- I might be wrong, but this was Guillermo Del Toro's first english language movie. It is about an ever evolving creature that was created through the use of pesticides.

Let The Right One In- A Swedish Vampire movie that was remade in the US a few years ago.

Gravity

I saw gravity about a week ago, and definitely took a little bit of time to reflect on the movie, and I think this might be the best movie to go see alone, that I have seen in a long time. I think the nature of the film, the silence of it, and just taking the whole movie in was a great singular experience.

This is the first movie where I actually thought the 3D was worth it to have, I didn't really care for Avatar all that much. I wish I could have seen this movie in IMAX 3D, it really felt like an IMAX movie that just happened to have a narrative to it. I can only imagine how amazing it would have been on the more expansive screen.

I don't really know what type of genre to put this movie into, it isn't really conventional science fiction, I guess science fiction just makes me think of aliens, or at least a far off future. This story could have happened in the last 10-20 years or in the near future, I actually enjoyed that there wasn't a year stamped on it. What makes this movie so wonderful is the fact that it is a very possible scenario. It is

I will be vague in case people are still planning to see it, but this movie does so many things that I just hadn't really seen or heard in my life. The movie does things with visual and audio effects that, for me at least, set it apart. This movie should at the very least win some Oscars for audio and visual effects, but I think it would be very deserving of pretty much all major categories. Sandra Bullock should be nominated for leading actress, Alfonso Cuaron should be nominated for best original screenplay and best director, George Clooney could definitely get a nomination for best supporting actor. Maybe this is me overstating everything, its only the beginning of Oscar season, and after nothing all that amazing came out during the Summer movie season, at least in the performance area. Maybe this is just the first of many great movies to come out this year.

I really have no idea how they were able to do some of the things they did effects-wise in this movie, but they are just so very cool. I am someone who will always support original storytelling and that is definitely what Gravity is. Its a thriller, and possibly even realistic horror, with some comedic elements, and some good characters. The movie is not exactly what I expected it to be from the trailers, but I am ok with that because i just thought it was brilliant.

I will be honest and say the only movie directed by Alfonso Cuaron that I had seen was the Harry Potter movie that he directed, I wanted to see Children of Men which got good ratings but I never got around to it. I will say going forward that this might push him into the must see director category. He clearly had a vision for what he wanted to do with this movie, and I think he was able to do the things that he wanted to. I will definitely look for a making of documentary on the Blu-Ray because it will be a making of documentary worth watching.

Below you will see that we have a new front runner for movie of the year:

8. Pain & Gain
7. World War Z
6. Pacific Rim
5. Iron Man 3
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
3. This Is the End
2. The World's End
1.Gravity

The World's End

I have spent a few weeks thinking about where I would rank this movie both in this year, and also among its related films. I really enjoy the movie as a whole, and I think it might be the best shot of the 3 films in the Cornetto trilogy.

I know I have been quite outspoken in my criticism of how action is shot in movies. I tend to think that my eyes are a bit sensitive to bright flashes of light. Michael Bay for example shoot his action scenes in ways that my eyes are just not able to adjust to and for the most part it just looks like a blur. This movie is much different. The action was crystal clear, it did not quickly transition from light to darkness, and my eyes were able to deal with everything that happened actionwise in the film, which doesn't seem like it should be a big deal, but it really is for me. I also think that this movie has some of the funniest action scenes I have seen in my life.

While this movie is a comedy, it definitely has a lot of heart to it, even more than I thought it would have heading into the theater. There are some great themes of living in the past, nostalgia, with also showing the negative parts of dwelling too much on the past. I would say it has more heart to it than the previous 2 films as well.

I would advise everyone to see this movie, it is my current favorite movie that I have seen this year, with a few more highly anticipated movies coming.

7. Pain & Gain
6. World War Z
5. Pacific Rim
4. Iron Man 3
3. Star Trek Into Darkness
2. This Is the End
1. The World's End

What made this movie so difficult to write about is that I think that it might be my least favorite of the 3 previously made Edger Wright directed movies. I would rank them:

4. The World's End
3. Hot Fuzz
2. Scott Pilgrim vs the World
1. Shaun of the Dead

I have absolutely loved all of these movies, but I just think The World's End did not quite live up to the previous films. I will say that I am really looking forward to Ant-Man, a film in the Marvel universe that is being written and Directed by Edgar Wright, I am also looking forward to seeing who will be slated to play the lead role of that, hopefully someone like Nathan Fillion.

Pacific Rim

I wanted to support this movie, it was an original idea, I really like most of the people involved with it including but not limited to Guillermo del Toro, Charlie Day, Charlie Hunnam, and Idris Elba. This movie isn't a rip off of the Transformers, its an homage to the kaiju movies of years past, movies like the old Godzilla movies, or movies of monsters similar to that.

Going into the movie, I knew it had some pretty good ratings, it was sitting at around 70% on Rotten Tomatoes. I know a lot of Guillermo del Toro's movies, and a lot of them have different monsters and creatures in them, and every single one of them that I have seen have been really well created, so I had very high hopes for what Guillermo and his team could create with this movie.

I am not the biggest fan of action movies, but this movie is definitely not a normal action movie. There are some great action sequences and also a lot more heart in this movie than I would have thought going in.

The premise of this movie is that a wormhole sort of crevice opens up in the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, that these monsters, referred to as Kaiju, are traveling through. Kaiju is also the term used to refer to the Godzilla type Japanese movies with large monsters attacking cities. In response to these monsters slowly coming through the portal the world bands together to create giant robots names Jaegers, which is German for hunter, there is a screen before the movie even starts that states this about the words Kaiju and Jaeger, so I am definitely not spoiling anything.

The Jaegers require a 2 man team, and the 2 people mind meld in order to be able to fight as one, as the neural load to control one of them is too much for one person. So teams tend to be made up of people who are related to each other, as they have had similar experiences. These teams are able to kill the Kaiju, and in many cases keep them out of the cities on the northern Pacific coastline.

When the global funding for more Jaegers is cut, the few remaining teams must band together, bringing teams from China, Australia, and Russia all together.

There is a really interesting theme in this movie about dealing with loss, and also with family. There are some very sad moments in the movie, as well as some very emotionally compelling moments. This movie does a great job of showing what drives its main character, and establishes his motivation in the movie.

The movie has a little bit of humor, with Charlie Day being responsible for most of the laughs in the movie, but I would not call it a funny movie, but there is enough humor to break the tension from time to time.

I think this movie is really what I wanted the Godzilla movie made in the late 90's to be. Its entertaining, it has some great characters, it has really cool monsters, and some amazing action scenes. This is a good popcorn movie, it isn't going to blow your mind, but it will definitely entertain you. In my movie rankings, I am putting it ahead of World War Z as I found it more interesting and movie entertaining overall, but it did not reach the levels that were achieved in Iron Man 3.

6. Pain & Gain
5. World War Z
4. Pacific Rim
3. Iron Man 3
2. Star Trek Into Darkness
1. This Is the End

World War Z- 3 Ways

This is going to be a first for me, I am going to discuss the book, the audiobook, and the movie, in the order that in which I consumed them.

World War Z by Max Brooks
As some back ground information for those who may not know, Max Brooks is the son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, this book definitely has a sense of humor to it, while also taking its subject matter seriously.

This book is one of my favorites, and it really has such a creative style. The book follows the gatherings of an investigator appointed by the UN to gather information about the world events leading up to and during the zombie outbreak.

The Narrator speaks with important people from all over the world who tell their stories of survival and in some cases how they were able to fight back against the enemy. The different characters reflect a lot of elements of different cultures as well as social critiques of our modern times.

I really don't want to tell too much about the book, but I would definitely advise anyone who likes zombies or who might be remotely interested to read the book. It is very well written and really gives an amazing perspective into this hypothetical event. After going through all of this, I think I might want to go back and read the book again, but if someone wants to read it, I might be willing to lend my copy out.


World War Z the Unabridged Audiobook
I don't have all that much experience listening to audiobooks, I remember listening to some on long road trips as a kid, but more recently I haven't really listened to any. So why did someone who hasn't really listened to audiobooks at all actually buy this audiobook? I think it has to be the fact that I loved the book, in combination with the cast they got to participate in the reading of the book.

I really think this audio book is more of what Max Brooks imagined than an actual movie, because the conversations that occur in the book would not be all that enthralling in movie format, it would have been cool if they did it in a miniseries on a channel like HBO with acting out of some of the scenes with the characters as Voiceover.

As I had mentioned the cast was great, the narrator of the book is Max Brooks himself, some of the people involved include Nathan Fillion, Simon Pegg, Masi Oka, Martin Scorsese, Rob Reiner, Carl Reiner, Henry Rollins, Jeri Ryan, Alan Alda, and many more voices. The story is told almost in an Orson Wellesian style, it gets very intense at times, and even a little bit emotional.

If you are someone like me and you spend a lot of time listening to an audio device, at work, or at home, it was worth the purchase of around $20 on iTunes. The run time is nearly 13 hours, so that is quite a good bang for the buck.


World War Z the movie
I was a bit skeptical of whether or not I would like the movie for a few reasons, the main reason being that the book involves the traditional slow zombie, but the movie actually contains a fast zombie, which for a zombie purist, like Max Brooks, is a no-no.

I guess I really need to look at the movie in to different ways, first as an adaptation of the book, and second as a movie overall.

As an adaptation of the book, I would give the movie an E for effort, but that is really as high as I can go on the grading scale. They tried to incorporate some things from the book, while also take some of those things and completely messing them up, and taking them in the exact opposite direction that they go in the book. I just can't recommend that people take the movie as an adaptation of the book at all.

As an actually movie, I quite enjoyed World War Z. I didn't love it, but it was an action movie, that was able to keep my attention, and action movies don't do that all that well. There are some very interesting action sequences, and some other dramatic scenes involving family. Overall I would probably give the movie a grade in the B-/C+ something in that range. It definitely doesn't have as much introspection and social commentary as the content of the books/audiobook. I know they are planning to make more movies in this storyline, I think they are planning to make a trilogy out of it, I am very interested to see what direction they will go with those other movies.

Star Trek Into Darkness

I really have no other way of starting this post than to say that I loved this movie. I have been thinking about it a lot since I saw it yesterday, and I think I prefer it to the first Star Trek movie in this series. It is close between the two, and I would gladly watch each of them again no question.

For me the action in this movie was amazing. Many times for me, action in movies can be be boring especially if there are many quick cuts and bright flashes of light over and over. It can almost be disorienting, and I think its one of the reasons that Michael Bay movies are just barely watchable for me, if even that. The colors are not too bright in this, the action scenes in many cases show somewhat long shots, not forcing the eyes to adjust and readjust every few seconds. I also was enthralled by the different action scenes, I have not yet heard of any news about a 3rd Star Trek, so I was not sure if any of the main characters could possible die in this one as well.

My previous knowledge of Star Trek is fairly limited, but I have watched the first two movies from the original cast. So I was able to see some of the story parallels to Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, I appreciated the homage, while also embracing the alternate universe part of it as well. There are elements that are similar to the older movie, but they have been altered in different ways from it as well.

I thought this movie really used all of the different characters to their fullest, and the chemistry between Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine really helped the movie a lot in my book. There were a few good laughs in the movie without it being an all around comedy, the laughs helped to lighten the mood, sometimes right before a big moment in the movie.

I enjoyed the appearance of Alice Eve who I have only seen in She's Out of my League, but really enjoyed the work she did in that. She was actually able to use more of her accent in this one, didn't have to try to hide it under an american accent like she did in the other movie.

I would advise people see both this and Star Trek, they have definitely done a great job of creating a new, yet similar universe for these movies.

I just wanted to also discuss the new Star Wars movies that will also be directed by JJ Abrams here as well. I really like what he has done in his movies, he has done a great job of taking a series with history, and putting his own twist on it. I hope he does something similar to this with the Star Wars movies, there are definitely existing elements in those movies, and a lot of history, but I think he can do his own thing, and he can do what the original Star Wars trilogy did so well. The action was so engaging on the originals, and I have no doubt that JJ Abrams can direct the movies well. I am cautiously optimistic about the new Star Wars series, and I hope Disney can do well with them, like they have done with the Marvel movies. I really would love to see some other Star Wars movies around the books that I loved to read in middle school. It would not be too hard to make movies like Tales of the Bounty Hunters, Tales from a Mos Eisley Cantina, or Tales from Jabba's Palace. I would love to watch them even if they are animated. I wish Shadows of the Empire could have been done with the main cast in their prime, but that is pretty much impossible now. I am looking forward to more Star Wars, and lets be honest, it would be hard to make movies as bad as the prequels again, right?

Summer Movie Explosion!

Well in this post I just wanted to highlight the movies that are coming out this summer that I plan to see, and then give a little discussion as to why I want to see them. 

Iron Man 3--Released May 3rd

Do I really need to explain why I want to see Iron Man 3 to anyone? If you know anything about my taste in movies, you would know I am going to see this movie as soon as I can, although it might not be for a little while since I will be out of town starting on the day this comes out. Maybe we will see it on my vacation? I guess that is possible. I think all Marvel movies are must see movies in my book right now. I did not know that director Shane Black was also the director of an underrated movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Star Trek Into Darkness--Released May 15th

I loved the Star Trek reboot film. I like a great many of the actors involved in this movie. I will see pretty much any movie with Simon Pegg in it. I guess if you aren't already planning on seeing this movie, I am not going to be able to convince you to see it.

Much Ado About Nothing--Released June 7th
What I said about seeing any Marvel movie also goes for any movie directed by Joss Whedon. This is Whedon's adaptation of the Shakespeare play. It has an assortment of cast members from Whedon's past. I just think this movie will bring Shakespeare into a new light, no pun was intended, I believe the movie is in black and white.

This is the End--Released June 12th
This movie has pretty much everyone who has been in a Judd Apatow movie, plus more people. This is the latest movie written and directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen. It looks to be a bit of an end of the world comedy, as the title would indicate. I think there are enough funny people in this movie for it to be funny at the very least, the plot is what I would worry would be lacking in this movie. It appears that all of the actors are actually playing satirical versions of themselves in this, including James Franco.

Man of Steel--Released June 14th
I trust in Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder to create a quality reboot of this franchise. Amy Adams is an interesting choice for Lois Lane, just based upon the looks that have been portrayed previously. I like her so I think she can do a good job. I guess this just might be the last chance a lot of people give Superman.

Monsters University--Released June 21st
I have to be excited for a prequel to one of the best Pixar movies to date. Monsters Inc. is still so great. I look forward to some more great Billy Crystal and John Goodman lines. I honestly have no idea where the actual story of the movie will go, and that isn't a bad thing.

World War Z--Released June 21st
I think the movie looks very cool, visually. The book is much more of a documentary style after the fact, explaining what happened in different places. I am very interested in seeing what adaptation of the different items will be in the movie. I think Brad Pitt chose to take part in it because he liked the script. I am quite hopeful that it will be a good movie.

Despicable Me 2--Released July 3rd
I really liked the story of the first movie, I have high hopes for the sequel to it. I think Steve Carell does a great job in the movie, and the kids were so adorable in the first movie. I am very interested in seeing where they will go with this movie.

Pacific Rim--Released July 12th
I think the preview looks awesome, monsters fighting giant machines controlled by people? Yes please! I also think that Guillermo Del Toro will create wonderful visuals in this movie, I also love the monsters he has created in some of his other movies. I look forward to seeing how this one ends up, I think the cast is a very interesting assortment of actors as well.

The Wolverine--Released July 26th
I will see any Marvel movie, but I don't want to get burned by Wolverine again, the last movie was so painfully bad. I think this movie seems very interesting, it takes place mostly in Japan, which does supposedly follow along with a story line from the comics.

Elysium--Released August 9th
This is a new movie from Neill Blomkamp, who wrote and directed District 9. I think District 9 has been forgotten, but I just love the story of it, as well as the idea. Elysium covers some issues relating to class warfare, but in a futuristic world. Matt Damon is the star, and appears to be some kind of cyborg. I just loved his first movie so much, I think the one also looks like it has great potential.

Kick-Ass 2--Released August 16th
If you haven't seen the first Kick-Ass and you like comic book movies, you really need to. This is the follow up to that first movie, with a larger cast of characters, Jim Carrey is in this movie, but he really doesn't look like Jim Carrey. He appears to be an adapted version of The Comedian. Loved the first movie so much that seeing this movie is a no-brainer.

The World’s End--Released August 23rd
This movie has a very similar to This is the End, but has a great British cast instead of an American cast. This is the third movie staring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost that is also directed by Edgar Wright, the first two were Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I love all of the people involved in this movie, really looking forward to it. The movie also has Martin Freeman from The Hobbit, The Office, and Sherlock.

I have linked all of the movies to their IMDB pages if you would like more information.

Pitch Perfect

Well for those of you who know me, you wouldn't think that this would be the kind of movie that I would enjoy, I was interested in seeing seeing it because of Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson. I went in with modest expectations and was impressed with the overall movie.

There were several big laughs throughout the movie. I was impressed by how funny the movie was overall. Kendrick and Wilson both had some great laughs. I thought the cast overall was was good in the movie. Adam Devine, who is on Comedy Central's show Workaholics, is kind of the villain in the movie and does a good job being unlikable in the movie as well.

The movie kept me interested, while also not really breaking new ground. The story is fairly predictable, but the characters are very interesting, and the songs are fun. It would have really taken me out of it if the singing was used for plot points, or to tell the story, but thankfully it isn't.

This was a cute movie, there really weren't any parts that I didn't enjoy. It was a good date movie, which is what my girlfriend and I used it for. You don't have to think too much about it, but still get some laughs and a sweet story.

I will say this as a disclaimer, there are a few gross out scenes in the movie, didn't bother me, but might bother some people.

If you have any interest in this movie, I would definitely recommend seeing it. It really left me satisfied, even if the story was not all that complicated.

I will add that I had never seen an episode of Glee before seeing this movie, but I passively listened to one after the movie, and the movie is quite a bit different. The singing plot points that I saw in Glee definitely annoyed me, but my girlfriend enjoys Glee and liked Pitch Perfect as well.