Zero Dark Thirty: I'm gonna get shit for this....

Today, I looked at the hyped-up, Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, from Kathryn Bigelow, director of the acclaimed The Hurt Locker.

Zero Dark Thirty:
The film follows CIA agent Maya, who hunts for Osama bin Laden, the infamous terrorist leader of al-Qaeda, the group behind 9/11. The film chronicles her journey, from 2002-2011. Many characters drift in and out of the plot, because the main focus is Maya. That's really all I can say about the plot. Jessica Chastain carries the entire movie as Maya, and gives a powerful performance. But, I felt at times, they tried to make her seem like a strong woman type, but it came off as bitchy, and at times she tries to swear, and it comes off as forced and unnatural. Otherwise, kudos goes to Chastain. The cast also includes some big stars like Jason Clarke (Death Race, Lawless, Public Enemies, the upcoming Great Gatsby film), Mark Strong (Syriana, Green Lantern, The Young Victoria, Body of Lies, Robin Hood, Kick-Ass, Sherlock Holmes, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Mark Duplass (co-director of Jeff Who Lives at Home and co-star of FX's The League), Joel Edgerton (Star Wars Episodes II & III, Animal Kingdom, Warrior), Kyle Chandler (Grey's Anatomy, Super 8, Friday Night Lights) and James Gandolfini (The Sopranos, True Romance, Get Shorty, Where the Wild Things Are, and Killing Them Softly, another over-hyped film that kind of bored me.) The last thirty minutes where (spoilers) they kill bin Laden are pretty true-to-life and thrilling. The film really takes you on a dramatic journey, but it's very drawn out. A lot of scenes are people making phone calls and using computers in boring office environments. The film is mostly political dialogue for two and a half hours. I feel like it was a bit over-hyped, and a little too slow. One thing I can give it props for is not taking sides, it shows the brutal interrogations of pretty much innocent men who are relatives or former friends of bin Laden. It shows that the US did bad things to catch bin Laden, and it doesn't shy away from it. The film also opens harrowingly with nothing but a black screen with a good 3 minutes of real-life audio from 911 and distress calls from 9/11. The film has some good acting, but a lot of the big name actors are just there for name alone, because the characters they play are forgettable because they constantly are drifting in and out of the plot. Although not as good as The Hurt Locker or Argo, Zero Dark Thirty is a provocative, unflinching depiction of the hunt for public enemy number one. It takes no real sides, and is a showcase of great acting and directing, even if it drags it feet a lot. 3/5 stars.

 (Images: Google)

Gangster Squad: Not a thoughtful masterpiece, a stylized action film

I look at the new action film based on the true life war against LA mobster Mickey Cohen.

Gangster Squad:
In LA in the 1940's, mobs and gangs rule the streets. The police chief has had enough of dirty cops and brutal violence, so he recruits the war vet and clean-cut Sergeant John O'Mara, who must collect five or sex men to create a gangster-hunting squad to take down mobster Mickey Cohen's operations. Meanwhile, O'Mara's young, smooth-talking, pretty-boy friend Jerry has a love affair with Cohen's girlfriend Grace. The film isn't really very smart, but is a hell of a lot of fun. It pulls no punches, but doesn't throw too many surprises. Me and my friend were watching the film and went "That inspiring comment that guy made will become important later on in the film", or "I bet that guy's gonna die and it's going to be a tragic loss." It's predictable, but it's simplicity is one of it's strong points. I've been growing tired of films like Killing Them Softly, which take themselves so seriously and are trying to be so intellectual and realistic they start to become slow, uninteresting, and too drawn-out. I'm glad we have a flashy, gory, violent popcorn movie to put a little fun back into the crime genre. It's only about 2 hours, but it delivers everything it promises. It delivers flashy gunfights, brutal and gruesome scenes of violence, cool car chases, and some subtle humor. Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling give some bad-ass lead performances, and I'll never watch a Sean Penn movie the same way again after his portrayal of the rotten, violent, psychotic, brutal, vengeful, mean, and pure evil gangster Mickey Cohen. The film also has some big name stars in it, like Nick Nolte (48 Hours, Cape Fear, The Thin Red Line, The Good Thief), Emma Stone (Superbad, The Help, Zombieland, Crazy Stupid Love, The Amazing Spiderman), Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker), Michael Pena (Crash, 30 Minutes or Less, World Trade Center, End of Watch), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Faculty, The Sopranos, Cop Land, Die Hard 2, Spy Kids, The X-Files, Wayne's World), Giovanni Ribisi (The Gift, The Mod Squad, Ted, Avatar, Sky Captain, Saving Private Ryan), Jon Polito (Miller's Crossing), and Josh Pence (The Social Network). The music is pretty cool, an old gangster movie flare to it. It reminds me of the successful and epic detective game LA Noire from two years ago. The action scenes are spectacular and stylized, in an almost Zack Snyder style. There is a gun fight in the finale with some beautiful slow motion shots. There are also other breathtaking scenes like the thrilling car chase where the heroes must dodge gunfire, home-made grenades, and other cars on the highway. There's also the spectacular club raid, the gangster squad montage showing their good deeds, and the brutal gunfight in Chinatown. The violence is over-the-top and gut-wrenching. Guys are burned alive, killed by power drills, shredded by bullets, blown up, and torn apart by cars. Although some lovable characters die, it's a happy ending, and the men responsible for the lovable characters' murders are brought to justice. Gangster Squad is a fun surprise, with violent and thrilling action, some fun characters, and subtle humor. There's not too much deep character development, but it doesn't need it. It's a fun gangster romp, and if it had come out in September like it was supposed to, it would have made my top 20 list. 4/5 stars. 
(Side notes: Both Giovanni Ribisi and Josh Brolin appear in The Mod Squad. Another piece of interesting trivia is that in the Award-winning film Milk, Sean Penn portrays the hero and Josh Brolin portrays the troubled villain.)



(Images: Google, Wikipedia)

ParaNorman: This changes my Top 20 List.

Today I look at the horror-themed animated comedy film from the creators of the acclaimed Coraline.

ParaNorman:
Norman, an 11-year-old with a love of horror films, claims he can speak with the dead. Of course, his family and peers think he's crazy. Unbenknownst to them, Norman can speak to dead people, who are his friends. When his crazy uncle shows up, he warns Norman of a witch's curse upon the town, and that he must stop it by reading from a book by sunset a few nights later at the witch's grave. When the uncle dies before he can tell Norman anything further, his ghost returns to tell Norman a few days later that he must stop the curse that night. When Norman is distracted from his reading by Alvin, a local bully, zombies of the Puritans who founded his small town return, and the witch starts to cause destruction in the town. Norman must gather his fat friend Neill, his sister, Alvin, and Neill's jock brother to stop the curse and defeat the witch. From this premise, the film actually doesn't sound all that good, but I must say, it should take the place of Frankenweenie/Hotel Transylvania on my top 20 list. The stop-motion animation is astoundingly beautiful. I was intrigued from the opening scene that parodies grindhouse films. The film also has some big-name actors doing voices, such as Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin), Leslie Mann, and Bernard Hill. Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, and Jodelle Micah Ferland
are great young voice actors, who really do a great job bringing their animated characters to life. Although not as under-your-skin creepy as Coraline, this film has some great scary moments, as well as some great comedy. Some of the jokes are actually more subtle and more adult than expected. The film's climax also has a twist that I felt was a pretty dark and bold move for a kid's movie, and the resolution is very sweet. The film has the perfect balance of horror, comedy, family fare, and drama that I think makes it one of the best animated features of the year, maybe the best. The film also has some great music, including The White Stripes' song "Little Ghost", and Donovan's hit "Season of the Witch" (used in the trailer, sung by kids in the movie). ParaNorman is heartfelt, scary, funny, and thought-provoking, an instant classic. I hope to see more of Norman sometime soon. 5/5 stars.

Top 20 BEST Movies of 2012

Here is my list of the BEST films of 2012. I still have not seen Hitchcock, Rise of the Guardians, Lawless, or Zero Dark Thirty, so when I see those films, if they affect this list, I'll let you guys know. I've listed the films I have yet to see that will not appear on the list already. The list will go from film I liked, to really liked, to loved, to the best. I will also include the runner-ups. Again, I do not give plot sypnosises, if you want one, read my original reviews or go to IMDb. (Check out JeremyJahns, PMRants, TheAmazingAtheist, and Film Brain's lists as well.)

20. The Bourne Legacy: This is an action-packed, thrilling movie. The performances are satisfactory, the action scenes are brutal and well-executed, the plot is complex, and the characters interesting. The cinematography is pretty impressive, and Jeremy Renner is proving himself quite the action star.

19. Men in Black 3: This is a damn good movie. Although a little late for a new film in this franchise, it's still a hell of a lot of fun. The plot is simple but entertaining, the jokes are pretty good, the performances satisfying, the special effects are great, the action scenes are fast-paced and fun, the ending a bit touching, and Josh Brolin gives a surprisingly good performance as young Agent Kay.

18. Brave: Although the story isn't on the big scale we usually see from Pixar, the protaganist (Pixar's first female as the main character) is great, the voice-acting is fantastic, the visuals and animation are remarkable, the comedy works, and some of the action is pretty thrilling. The music is also something I must give them props for. If you look past it's minor flaws, it's a great animated movie, guaranteed to be a classic, even if it's not as good as classic Pixar, it sure beats last year's Cars 2.

17. Flight: One of Robert Zemeckis' most touching and inspiring films, Flight is remarkable. Denzel Washington gives one of his most poignot and powerful performances as an alcoholic pilot who's life is falling to pieces. The film is like an emotional roller coaster, and constantly tricks you into thinking it's going to be a happy ending, then goes back into a depressing mess, then tricks you into thinking everything's going to be alright after all, and keeps spiralling out of control, until the final act where Washington has one of his best movie moments.

16. (Tie) Frankenweenie and Hotel Transylvania: I gave these both their own #16 spot for a reason. They both have fantastic animation and visuals, some great voice acting, and interesting messages, and are great Halloween movies. Granted, Transylvania will often stoop down and have goofy and stupid moments, and will become too sappy at moments, where Frankenweenie's jokes are funnier and the emotional moments feel a little more genuine. But both get props for their spectacular animation and being better than most other family movies out there, although I feel bad that people are so ignorant they refused to see Frankenweenie just because it was in black and white.

15. Cloud Atlas: This film blends sci-fi, comedy, horror, action, and romance together perfectly. This is the best Wachwoski film since The Matrix. The film is an epic journey through time, and the visuals are range from grimy to beautiful. It should be seen by anyone as it has something for everyone. The way they connect all the stories is clever, the way the actors are able to play several different characters is fantastic, and the music is great.

14. Moonrise Kingdom: I didn't like this film at first, but it's grown on me. It's quirky, funny, and heartfelt. The characters are funny, and the charming atmosphere helps you get past the odd way everyone acts. The music is great, the cinematography fantastic, and the plot strange but, in a way, sweet.

13. Life of Pi: This film has humor and drama, blending perfectly. The film is epic, heartwarming, and really takes you on a journey. The film brings in questions about life, death, spirituality, and shows us the bond between two unlikely friends and survivors: a Bengal tiger and a young Indian boy.

12. (Tie) Ted and Savages: I gave both these completely different films their own spot because I've grown on these films, which I originally disliked. The first is a hilarious, crude, bet somewhat heartfelt buddy comedy about a talking teddy bear and his best friend John. They take some cheap shots, but overall the film is very funny and makes you laugh at something every time you see it. The latter is a brutal, gruesome, unrelenting look at drug cartels. Although it is a bit pretentious at times, the complex plot and characters, and the brutal violence save this film from a lower spot on the list. The cinematography is also something to be admired.

11. Wreck-It Ralph: This is not as good as some stuff Pixar has done, and sometimes the little girl character can be a bit annoying, but this heartfelt film delivers everything that you want in an animated film: good characters, some good humor, and great visuals. The video game references are funny, but don't alienate viewers who aren't familiar with gaming. The ending is also very sweet, and this proves Disney can make a decent animated film without Pixar.

10.  (Tie) Magic Mike and The Master: The first is a funny, and bittersweet dramady with some great writing, good acting, and some interesting characters. The second is a disturbing drama with fantastic performances, great writing, and some beautiful cinematography.

9. Dredd: A thrilling, gruesome comic book movie. The brutal, bloody violence is great, and the slow-motion scenes are fantastic. The opening car chase is exhilirating. The character of Dredd is a total bad-ass, and the villain is disturbing and creepy. The action scenes are executed perfectly, and the ending is pretty epic. How this film didn't become a smash hit I'll never know, hopefully, there's a bigger budget sequel.

8. Argo: A great drama. Ben Affleck is a good actor, but he shines as a director. The final sequence is so thrilling I almost crushed my popcorn bag from squeezing it in anticipation. The film has some great acting, and some extremely exhilirating sequences. The film, surprisingly, is very close to the true accounts of what happened, and the make-up jobs on the people to replicate the real-life hostages is incredible, because in the credits there's a side-by-side comparison of real life and the film. This just shows how great Affleck can be behind the camera.

7. The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey: In this film, the directors have a more deliberate pace, and once more show off how beautiful the landscape of New Zealand is. The characters are great, the action is thrilling, the score is epic, the special effects are spectacular, and the mythology is more deeply explored.

6. Looper: This film goes up in the rankings of films like Moon, Pandorum, and District 9. Smart, fresh sci-fi films that take old concepts and make them cool again. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt all give great performances, the violent action sequences are fantastic, the plot is complex, the premise is fresh and cool, and the ending is bittersweet. If you look past the usual time travel inconsistencies and paradoxes, this is a mind-blowing and entertaining thrill ride you won't soon forget.

5. (Tie) The Cabin in the Woods and Sinister: The first is a funny-creepy movie that's smart, self-aware, and entertaining as all hell. The fun-to-watch, gory finale is the greatest tribute to horror ever made. The characters are likeable and funny, the writing is fantastic, and the ending is just great. The second is a slow-building, mysterious, truly scary movie that builds up until the finale, which, while a little predictable, is still as creepy and entertaining. The villain is terrifying, the main character is flawed but likeable, and the plot and premise are frightening, and this film will haunt your dreams for many nights to come.

4. Seven Psychopaths: A quirky, eccentric, violent, funny, and smart film with great characters, brutal violence, funny and clever writing, and a great ending. It balances hilarity with violence perfectly, and the villain played by Woody Harrelson is hilarious and over-the-top. Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, and Christopher Walken also give great comedic performances as well.

3.5(extra!). Chronicle: With some great action, special effects, witty dialogue, good humour, good use of the found footage format, great performances, and a fantastic final act, this film is well worth the admission price, and the price for the Blu-ray.

3. (Tie) The Dark Knight Rises and Marvel's The Avengers: Both are the ultimate comic book films, on opposite spectrums. The first is dark and brooding film, with great writing, incredible performances, engrossing drama, well-choreographed fight scenes, cool villains, fantastic dialogue, and exhilirating action. The other has the exhilirating action, cool villains, fantastic dialogue, great writing, and incredible performances as well. It also has great special effects and some great humor as well. Overall, they both deserve a #3 spot for being the epic superhero films that audiences deserved.

2.5. Lincoln: This is an amazing film. The performances, music, lighting, camerawork, dialogue, and acting are all phenomenal. I think Daniel-Day Lewis is one of the best actors working today, and the Academy should just give him the Best Actor Oscar right now. The film is just fantastic all-around, and is overall just great. Anyone who saw this film and says otherwise is just an idiot. This is an inspiring, miraculous look at what Lincoln accomplished during his presidency. It's astounding.

2. Skyfall: The best cinematography of the year. With some great action, well-written dialogue, fantastic performances, subtle humour, and fantastic camerawork, this is well worth the wait. One of the best Bond films. It combines the classic Bond formula with the gritty realism that fits the Craig Bond so well. With a catchy and epic theme song by Adele, a creepy villain, Bond girls, Bond's signatures Aston Martin, and lots of violent action, Skyfall proves that Craig's reputation as Bond was not ruined by Quantum of Solace.

(Drum roll)

1. Django Unchained: One of Tarantino's best. This is even better than Inglorious Basterds, which I loved. The lead performances are amazing. I don't say that lightly. Jamie Foxx is at his best in years. Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson steal every scene their in, and when all three are in a scene together, it's incredible. It also has some gut-wrenching moments that show just how awful slavery was, and Tarantino then allows the main character of Django to act out every slave's fantasy: brutally exact revenge upon slavers and their partners. The gruesome violence and humor blend so well together. This is a fun, hilarious, violent, action-packed movie that should win Oscar just for sheer awesomeness. In fact, if you  don't like this movie, you don't know what good is. You are officially uncool and have no taste. This is a film that takes elements of comedies, spaghetti westerns, revenge fantasies and slave dramas and blends them together beautifully. Undoubtetly the best film all year.


Runner-ups: 21 Jump Street, The Campaign, Red Lights, Project X, Killer Joe, End of Watch, Jack Reacher, This Is 40, Les Miserables (which almost made it in, just barely), The Pirates!, Prometheus, Gangster Squad (was supposed to be released in September, so it counts as a runner-up), and that's it. Yeah, Man with the Iron Fists, and Killing Them Softly were never even remotely gonna make it on this list.

(Editorial note, January 23, 2013: ParaNorman should take the spot of Frankenweenie/Hotel Transylvania, see that review for reasons.)




 (Images: Google Images)

Top 10 WORST/Most Disappointing films of the year

This is my list of the worst films of the year. The list will go from disappointing and flawed, but not that bad, to the worst. I have listed before films that will not appear on the list as I have not seen them. Also, I do not give plot sypnosises, if you want those, go check out my original reviews or go to IMDb. I will only quickly go through what I disliked about them. Below is also a list of runner-ups. If I see any other movie from this year that affects the list at all, I'll let you guys know.

10. The Amazing Spiderman: Although my original review of this film was bitter and very negative, I've grown on this film, and I believe it's pretty good. But it definitely didn't live up to the hype. Parts of the film are very rushed and I believe some of the characters are one dimensional, and the plot is very thin. The film feels somewhat unbalanced at times, and the villain was somewhat lackluster compared to villains like Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Sandman. But the film is helped by some pretty good performances (although sometimes they go over-the-top), the spectacular special effects, and the pretty well-executed action sequences.

9. The Hunger Games: Now, I actually liked this film when I first saw it, but as time went on, I've seen more and more flaws in it, and what I can say is that this film isn't as good as everyone says it is. There are many scenes that just drag on, many of the characters are just not that complex or interesting, and the action is dull. The main villains are so evil, that the characters lack depth and become one-dimensional. The film is also plagued by way too much shaky-cam, to the point where in half the action scenes, you can just barely put together what's happening. The main actress (Jennifer Lawrence) barely saves the film from a lower rating because she is a very good actress, and puts her all into a performance in even the most dull and boring script. I've also seen the dystopian society plot done so much better in other films(1984, A Clockwork Orange, Brazil, etc.) There's even a short novel by Stephen King (under the pen name Robert Bachman) called The Long Walk, which is somewhat similar to this film in the fact that there's a deadly game held in dystopian societies in which a few selected children must compete until one stands. And it's done better! The film also takes way too many things from the Japanese manga Battle Royale, and i's subsequent film adaptation. That film also had the balls to have hardcore violence as in the manga, keeping it's mature rating. This film censors all the violence from the equally mediocre book to keep a PG-13 rating to make a bigger profit. Plus, in this film there's even an incredibly predictable love triangle problem. The only saving grace is Jennifer Lawrence, the sometimes very good special effects, and the design of the world the film explores.

8. Beasts of the Southern Wild: Now this is a film that I just don't get. It's an offbeat, artsy film, but unlike this year's Seven Psychopaths, it's not fun to watch. There's no amazing dialogue scenes, all the characters are unrelatable, the film is grimy-looking and ugly, and the plot is just strange. It's been given unrelenting praise, and I hope it doesn't get an Oscar nomination. The only saving grace is that the lead child actor is really good. Oh, and the cinematography is astounding. Other than that, it's really not that good of a movie.

7. Here Comes the Boom: This is lazy comedy at it's worst. The jokes aren't that funny, the plot is completely ludicrous, and the characters are just stupid. They make the principal of the school who wants Kevin James fired into an unlikeable jackass, but if you step back and look at it, he's actually making realistic decisions, because James is the obvious jackass. And the fact that he gets Salma Hayek in the end is so cliche and unrealistic it boggles my mind.

6. (Tie) Premium Rush and The Expendables 2: Both are supposed to be throwbacks to the classic, old-fashioned, fun 80's films. The first is a comedic film, and it succeeds at being funny, but sometimes unintentionally, but the villain is so incompetent and over-the-top, it comes off as intentional. It probably was, but the film was marketed as a thrilling, fast-paced action film, but is actually a semi-self-aware comedy-thriller with few real thrills. In fact, the villain's first scene makes him out to be a real threat, and the writers just gave up on him. But the comedy works well, which saves it from being lower on the list. The second is dull, and, once more, promises all the action stars getting cool characters and equal screen time, but they don't. Some of the special effects look like Internet video-quality, and the villain is insanely stupid, and the "newcomer" character is just a throwaway character we don't care about because he's killed off in his fourth scene! Both have some funny moments, and some cool action sequences, but their thin, hole-filled plots and bad acting overpower the positives.

5. Taken 2: This was a forgettable cash-in. I was so excited to Liam Neeson kick ass again. This film promised even more of the brutal, fast-paced, realistic action we saw in the other film. But the film almost tries to sympathize with the villains, even though the entire first film depended on you hating the bad guys, and wanting to Neeson beat the shit out of them and kill them. Liam Neeson barely does anything, and except some cool chases and shoot-outs, there's not much positive here. Oh, and also, throwing grenades off a rooftop.

4. Mirror-Mirror: This was just an awful piece of crap. The characters are bland and boring, the villain is terribly miscast, it tries to be self-referencing, but fails, the comedy is agregious, the romance is stupid, and the fantasy-action scenes, while brief, are still devoid of thrills, and no action scenes should not be thrilling, or the point is lost. The special effects are cheap, and even the great visuals are ruined by the plot and characters. Oh, and the musical number at the end makes you want to shoot yourself.

3. The Possession: The plot is a rip-off of The Exorcist, but it's toothless compared to that film. The horror scenes are unintentionally funny, the characters are idiots, and the ending is stupid. Besides one or two moments, the movie is devoid of scares, it's sad to hear this film was produced by the great Sam Raimi. Also, although Jeffrey Dean Morgan is good as the father, all the other actors are dreadful. Even Kyra Sedgwick. The film also has the gall to have the bullshit claim "Based on a True Story". At least with The Exorcist or The Exorcism of Emily Rose, those claims were true. Maybe it should have said "Based on 2 better horror movies you should rent instead of paying 20 bucks to see this rotting piece of shit." Fuck this movie.

2. Paranormal Activity 4: Not only does this film tread the same ground as the last movie, it does it poorly. The film also takes all the aspects I loved from the horror film Sinister, and flips it on it's head. The plot is thin, the characters stupid, the product placement blatant, and the advertisement ("It's all been leading to this.") completely false. The entire film consists of cheap jump-scares, which aren't creepy in the slightest. The fact that the characters have to carry around their laptops everywhere (they only shoot footage on webcams) makes the premise even more laughable and unrealistic. I hoped this is the last of these films, but it made enough money to constitute a sequel coming out later this year. Hopefully Insidious Chapter 2 is more successful than that film.

(Drum roll)

1. The Apparition: It was tough to decide which was worse. This was worse because where PA4 had a thin plot, this has no plot. The film feels like it's half-an-hour long, and the monster isn't really that threatening. It's a stupid concept, and the fact that there's absoulutely no way to stop it is stupid. And the ending doesn't make any sense and the whole film is like a big "fuck you" to the audience. The only creepy scene is at the very, very beginning, before the main "plot" starts, everything after is predictable and stupid. There's even times when it tries to be like Paranormal Activity. I hate this film, and I only just saw this film in the past week. I feel bad for anyone who paid to see this in theaters. It doesn't feel like a movie, like a failed pilot for a bad TV series. Or better yet, the ABC Family TV movie version of horror. This movie is so fucking awful it makes me extremely angry. I just want to go to every copy and just burn it. Anyone who sees this film is waisting their time and money. Oh, and it shouldn't even constitute a theatrical release because it's not even 90 minutes long, even with the credits! Also, they don't respect the main characters: Sebastian Stan (Captain America) and Ashley Greene (Twilight). No, I do find the actress attractive, but they basically pander to the male demographic with her to get them to see the movie. It's shameless at best. If I wanted to look at stuff like that, I have the Internet. I hate this movie so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Runner-ups: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Safe House, The Raven, Underworld: Awakening, The Woman in Black.


 (Images: Google Images)

A musical about "The Miserable" proves to be a somewhat uplifting film

Today, I look at the epic musical based off the legendary Broadway play based off the successful novel: Les Miserables. (*Spoilers ahead*)

Les Miserables:
Prisoner Jean Valjean, a man who was condemned for the simple act of stealing bread to feed his sister's baby, is released on permanent parole, and is outcast by society. He escapes to a cathedral, where he becomes a new man, and rips up his parole papers, and starts a new life. Eight years later, he is a successful businessman, and mayor of a town. His foreman fires a poor worker (Fantine) behind his back, who is just trying to feed her daughter. She becomes a sickly prostitute, and Jean delivers her to a hospital. She dies, and he promises her that he will go rescue her daughter from two innkeepers. Unfortunately, there is a man on trial, who Javert (Jean's former prison guard, now a military man) mistakes for Jean. Jean goes to clear the man's name, but no one believes him. He returns to the hospital, and must engage in a duel with Javert, who knows it's true that he is Jean. Jean escapes and is able to pay off the innkeepers and take Fantine's daughter, Cosette, into his care. Nine years later, Cosette falls in love with a student named Marius, who is part of a French revolution group. The innkeepers return for their money, Javert begins to hunt down Jean, the French armed forces close in on the revolution group's barricade, and the innkeeper's daughter, Eponine, is torn because of her feelings for Marius, which aren't being returned. The film is nearly 3 hours, and is nonstop singing. The songs are spectacular, but, if musicals aren't your thing, you're going to hate this movie. I'm not the biggest fan of musicals, but this film was amazing. The sets are incredible, the atmosphere is great, the musical numbers are well choreographed and fantastic. The performances are convincing and touching. Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway (who's role is a lot smaller than advertised), Amanda Seyfried, Samantha Barks, and Eddie Redmayne give great performances, and have great singing voices as well. They all play somewhat miserable, torn, emotionally distraught characters, which fits the mood and title of the film. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter are good as the comedy relief characters, the somewhat villainous Innkeepers. Original actors from the play: Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle makes cameos. Ironically, at the 83rd Academy Awards (an infamously bad one, at that), Anne Hathaway did a parody of the muscial's song "On My Own", in which she complains that Hugh Jackman would not sing with her. The songs are very long, and the only non-singing parts are when characters connect the songs with bits of dialogue. The score in the film is epic. The camerawork is gorgeous, and the film is directed by extraordinary director Tom Hooper, director of the Academy Award-winning drama The King's Speech. This is a big Oscar contender, and it shows. Les Miserables is a heartfelt, spectacular, emotionally investing drama, with great musical numbers and engrossing characters. 4/5 stars.



 (Images: Google Images)