Saturday, December 31, 2011

Top 4 Movies of 2011

In 2011, I saw four movies that, in my opinion, deserve four stars. No all-time favorites this year either, but I guess I don't expect them pop up all but very rarely.

Sucker Punch **** (IMDB 6.2)

Sucker Punch certainly divided people's opinions. Some felt the movie degraded women and all that nonsense I don't give a damn about. Its depressive atmosphere certainly didn't help the audience liking it either; I think many got sucker punched by the partly sad ending, so to speak.

But the fact is, Sucker Punch has an incredible soundtrack. And the movie looks very pleasing, the action sequences being simply gorgeous. The theater version had few scenes cut off, likely to keep it suitable for younger audience. This was too bad since one of them was a pretty awesome song and dance spectacle. The DVD/Blu-ray version has the movie restored to its full length. Watching it at home is good for retaining your hearing as well -- volume was way too loud at the theater, making my movie experience slightly painful.

Fast Five **** (IMDB 7.3)

I'm not sure why the Fast and Furious movies always end up being so entertaining. Cars don't particularly interest me, so I guess it's their other assets that make me like them so.

Fast Five, the fifth movie, was extremely immersive. I rarely forget I'm watching a movie nowadays, but this one certainly did its job right. Though the safe chase at the end brought me back to reality; it was just bit too much to swallow. But it was entertaining nonetheless.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows **** (IMDB 7.8)

I went to see this one expecting (and hoping) it will be as good as the previous movie. And I'm happy to say, I wasn't disappointed like I was with Iron Man 2, another Robert Downey Jr. sequel movie. A Game of Shadows continued to entertain me by not being a film, whose happenings and ending I could predict a mile way.

I feel they might have increased Holmes's comedy factor too much, though, making him slightly too silly at times. Or maybe I got the impression because of the more easily entertained audience was laughing way too much.

Regardless, the movie has impressive acting in it, and one visually magnificient scene where the good guys are fleeing gun/cannon fire in a snowy pine forest. And like Sucker Punch, this one had a great soundtrack as well, although in a different way.

Also, Noomi Rapace (who seems to look very different depending on who she is portraying) is rather cute as Simza, her first English-speaking role. I look forward to seeing her in Riddley Scott's Prometheus, coming next year.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon **** (IMDB 6.4)

With some movies I found myself pondering if I'm really liking it, even though it has great special effects. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is one of those, and I was balancing between two and four stars. Eventually I ended up with four.

Its weak points are Shia LaBeouf's acting (or just the character) and its tiring length. But look at the special effects. Just look at them! Those big robots are not actually real! But man do they look awesome. And John Malkovich is pretty crazy (himself?) and entertaining in his supporting role

Yesterday, I accidentally stumbled upon this "trailer" for the Transformers movie. I think I very much agree with it. Now only if the movie had had Equilibrium's music in it.



This year's largest disappoitment was definitely Conan the Barbarian 3D. It was a total underachiever, and seeing Ron Perlman's face makes it hard for me to like any movie. He appears in way too many b-rated crapfests, to which I thus tend to link him.

The new Pirates movie (one of the movies I seem to have been expecting to see this year) wasn't anything great; I might have given it only two stars. Breaking Dawn - Part 1 is yet to be seen by me. Anonymous evidently had nothing to do with internet culture, and Source Code was boring and quite mistitled.

But let's see which movies might be worth seeing in 2012, aside from Prometheus.

Underworld: Awakening might be good or bad (like Rise of the Lycans was).

They promise Wrath of the Titans will be better than the Clash, and it will made for 3D right from the start, but I have my doubts.

The Cabin in the Woods has a cool poster (haha).

The Avengers is written by Joss Whedon, and has Downey Jr. in it.

The Snow White and the Huntsman's trailer looks promising. There is also another movie, Mirror Mirror, that is based on the same fairy tale, coming earlier.

The Expendables 2 might be as good as the first one.

And finally, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is coming in December 2012.

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