3rd Annual Mikey @ The Movie Awards: Part One - The Fun Stuff

This is my THIRD annual awards, but I'm going to do something a bit different. For the first time, I'm going to do this in two sections: The Serious Stuff and the Fun Stuff. Part One is the "fun" awards...stuff like best trailer, best character, etc. So without further ado:

Worst Movie of the Year
(Theatrical Released)

The Bounty Hunter
Case 39
Cop Out
From Paris With Love
The Last Airbender
Legion
MacGruber
Splice
The Spy Next Door
You Again

Worst Straight to DVD/TV Movie

The 40 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It
Don't Look Up
Fred: The Movie
Nine Dead
Tell Tale

Worst Cast of 2010
(Must be a theatrical released movie)

Killers
The Last Airbender
MacGruber
Twilight Saga: Eclipse
You Again

Most Overplayed Theatrical Trailer
(Not totally a bad movie or trailer...just got tired of seeing it!)

Due Date
The Expendables
Green Zone
Hereafter
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Biggest Let Down
(May not be a really bad movie...but was not as good as I hoped)

Alice in Wonderland
Brooklyn's Finest
Due Date
Iron Man 2
Shrek Forever After

Best Action or Adventure Movie
(I like seeing sh*t blow up!)

Inception
Kick Ass
Predators
The Town
Unstoppable

Best Action or Adventure Movie Performance

Aaron Johnson for Kick Ass
Chloe Moretz for Kick Ass
Chris Pine for Unstoppable
Denzel Washington for Unstoppable
Leonardo DiCaprio for Inception

Best Horror Movie

The Crazies
Devil
The Last Exorcism
Let Me In
Paranormal Activity 2

Best Horror Movie Performance

Ashley Bell for The Last Exorcism
Chloe Moretz for Let Me In
Kodi Smit-McPhee for Let Me In
Patrick Fabian for The Last Exorcism
Timothy Olyphant for The Crazies

Best Sequel

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part One
Paranormal Activity 2
Toy Story 3

Best Remake or Reboot
(Even though I haven't seen some of the original versions...oops)

The Karate Kid
Let Me In
Predators

Best Straight to DVD or Made for TV Movie

Crazy on the Outside
Defendor
The Descent: Part Two
The Special Relationship
Temple Grandin

Best Theatrical Trailer
(Even for movies I haven't seen yet!)

Black Swan
For Colored Girls
Inception
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Poster

127 Hours
Inception
The Last Exorcism
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
The Social Network

Best Character
(Real or Fiction)

Aron Ralston from 127 Hours
Big Daddy from Kick Ass
Hit Girl from Kick Ass
Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network
Olive from Easy A

Best Cameo or Limited Role
(Which could still qualify for a supporting nomination in my major awards)

Bryce Dallas Howard for Hereafter
Dale Dickey for Winters Bone
Juliette Lewis for Conviction
Patricia Clarkson for Easy A
Stanley Tucci for Easy A

Best Ending

127 Hours
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part One
Inception
Shutter Island
The Social Network

Best Scene

The opening scene/Dream is crumbling scene of Inception
The hallway fight/chase sequence - and Arthur setting up the "kick" in Inception
Aron Ralston cutting off his own arm to save his life in 127 Hours
"Do I have Your Full Attention Mr. Zuckerberg?" from The Social Network
Eduardo confronts Mark and Sean at Facebook headquarters in The Social Network
Hit Girl's final battle/fight at the end of the film in Kick Ass
Big Daddy shoots Hit Girl (as practice) in Kick Ass
Andy gives his toys away and has one last play session in Toy Story 3
Juliette Lewis' one major scene towards the end of Conviction
Cotton showing the tricks of how exorcisms are faked in The Last Exorcism

Keep in mind I haven't seen every movie yet, so this portion of my awards IS subject to change by my January 9th deadline (to make sure I see every movie from 2010 that may have trickled over to the 2011). My "major" awards will be announced (hopefully) around January 10th or 11th...but we shall see. I'm not going to fancy these up with pictures or anything...because like maybe 2 people read this blog lol.

2010 Reviews #102 & #103: "Tangled" for "127 Hours"!

Tangled

Rated PG
1 hour 40 minutes

Storyline:
The long-haired Princess Rapunzel has spent her entire life in a tower, but when she falls in love with a bandit who was passing by she must venture into the outside world for the first time to find him.

Voice Cast of Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi

Critics Grade: 87%
My Grade: B+

Tangled is the exact kind of movie that Disney does best. Animated, of course. These types of movies typical, but not always, have some form of princess or princess to be. Then a dashing man who is typically a thief, beggar, or some kind of low life, low class person comes in to be her savior. Of course Tangled isn't that original of a movie, but with Disney you don't and shouldn't expect that. I don't mean that in a negative way either. Their target audience is children. Children do NOT care or even realize they are watching the same kind of movies over and over again. These movies makes kids laugh and make them happy. That being said, I thought Tangled was a perfect movie for the whole family to enjoy. It has a sweet, charming little story. The main characters are funny and very likable. They get into all sorts of trouble and dilemmas that they have to narrowly escape in humorous ways. Kids eat this stuff up, and this is nothing different. I honestly believe most younger children will have a blast with this movie. The animation is great, and the movie never dulls down. It, at least I think, will keep a child's attention. The best character is probably the horse Maximus. He's awesome.

Which get's me to my next point...I as an adult had a great time watching the movie as well. Disney and Pixar as well, know how to make a movie these days that will keep not only the kids attention but the parents as well. I laughed an ample amount of times throughout the movie. All the characters had their quirky and funny little moments that adults can appreciate. It's hard for me to say anything negative about a movie like this because they are here to entertain our youth and movies like this aren't required to be fancy and artsy and blah blah...all the stuff you see in a lot of grown up movies these days. It's nice to take a step back in the old time capsule and remember when I was a kid and used to watch movies like this. I'm glad this tradition is still alive. I'm glad kids will have movies like this to remember. It is a pretty memorable movie after all. The only thing I really didn't care for was the music. Disney is also well known for making some of the most memorable and classic film songs of all time. None of them here really stuck in my head after they were done...and I don't remember a single song from the movie whatsoever. But again...not that big of a gripe. This is a good movie for everyone in your family...in my opinion. Not the best animated movie of the year, and certainly not Disney's best. Still though, a very solid addition to their wonderful and magical collection.

127 Hours

Rated R
1 hour 31 minutes

Storyline:
A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive. This is the true story of Aron Ralstons fight to live.

Starring James Franco

Critics Grade: 93%
My Grade: A-

The more I think about this film, the more powerful it really becomes to me. After first viewing, I thought, well that was a pretty decent movie with a great lead performance but I felt it was missing something. But now after some thinking I've realized: oh my gosh, I just watched a story unfold in movie form that actually happened to a man in real life. I knew going in this was a true story of course. I knew what the outcome would be. But it didn't sink in until hours after watching the film how unbelievably real and tragic this story was. The movie is directed by Oscar winner Danny Boyle (the brilliant Slumdog Millionaire) and he does a fantastic job at bringing this tale to life. With what he had, virtually a one man show about a man trapped under a rock, he does a phenomenal job making us feel part of the story.

For those who don't know, Aron Ralston was hiking back in 2003 and was climbing down a crack in the terrain. He was trying to us a boulder for support but the boulder shook loose and it came tumbling down and Ralston came with it. The boulder landed on his right arm and it became stuck. He was unable to movie the boulder and could not free his arm. He never told anyone where he was going, and he was so far down the crack that no one could hear him screaming. He spent 5 days, roughly 127 hours in this situation. He had minimal water, almost no food. His arm virtually decayed and he lost weight rapidly due to lack of water. Eventually, and this is no spoiler alert, he intentionally broke both bones in his arm and started to cut off his arm with a small dull blade he had.

The movie is probably 95% in that cave with just James Franco and the rock. The beginning we see him starting his adventure and meeting up with some girls. Then periodically throughout the film we see very brief glimpses into his life through quick flashbacks or hallucinations. But mainly...it's just him and the rock. Boyle does some master class work here. I felt totally immersed in this mans dilemma. This is easily one of the most claustrophobic movies I've ever seen. Many close shots of James Franco and we never see to much outside of what he can see. I really got a fairly accurate sense of his pain and suffering. I could not even imagine what he went through, but this film demonstrates pretty well what it was like down there for him. If you don't like movies that stay in one place for almost the whole film...you may not care for this one. It will definitely make you feel unnerved and maybe even a bit queasy.

The best part about the movie, hands down, is the performance of James Franco. I've never seen him THIS good. The movie itself may not be in my top 10 of the year, but Franco will easily be one of the best performances of 2010. He gives absolutely everything he possibly has for this role and I believed him as Aron Ralston. He shined in his scenes where he was hallucinating and talking to his video camera. It was almost as if Franco WAS actually trapped under that rock. It was one of the most remarkable and believable performances I've seen in a very long time. I've never been the biggest fan of him, although he is nice to look at wink wink. But in this movie he nails it and then some. If you see the movie for any reason, see it for Franco. He IS the movie of course, he's in every scene. This movie is about Aron Ralston, and Franco immerses himself in this guy and in this life changing situation.

The scene that got me, and will get most movie goers, is the part where he cuts off his arm. It's pretty damn graphic. Everyone should know it's coming, if you know about the story. You get everything in this scene. He had to break both bones in his arm (which we see and hear clearly) and then he had to start stabbing and slicing through the skin, muscle, tissue, etc. The most graphic part was the nerve in his arm. They showed it, they showed him cutting through it and Franco delivers some of this best work in this scene. It was as if he was actually doing this on camera in front of us. I got a little sick to my stomach watching it and listening to it but it is a very necessary scene to sit through. It demonstrates this man's will to live. His determination not to give up and to have a wife and have a child. His will to have a future and pass this message and story along to all of us.

This is a very good movie with a brilliant lead performance. It could be a movie some people may have a hard time sitting through to it's claustrophobic nature. But this was not a slow movie. I found myself glued to the screen wondering how far this was going to go and wondering what effects all of this had on Ralston. It's a fascinating story that is a beautiful example of how precious life is and not to take it for granted. If this man could live through this and still have the courage to cut off his own arm to get out and continue his life...we can all learn something from this. This isn't just a movie...this was real life, once you realize that...the more powerful this man's story becomes.

2010 Reviews #100 and #101! "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part One" and "The Next Three Days

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part One

Rated PG-13

2 hours 26 minutes

With Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint

The saga is finally, and sadly coming to an end. I remember the first movie when Harry was this tiny little, adorable tot and he got brought into this magical world full of wonder. The earlier films were light hearted, family friendly films with only a touch of darkness. As the films went on, the story became more complicated. The heroes were in more danger. The risk became greater. The fate of all wizard kind is now fading away. Cut to 10 years later and now Harry has grown into a handsome young wizard who, along with his two best friends Ron and Hermoine, try to defeat the evil Lord Voldemort. They are now on the journey to find and destroy the 7 horcrux's (spelling is off, I'm sure - I haven't read the last 2 books). Gone are the days of bright futures for the 3 friends. Gone are the lessons at Hogwarts. In fact, Hogwarts is not even shown in this film once. The last film, The Half Blood Prince, for me was the first time a Harry Potter film took itself seriously as a full blown, epic movie. I love the whole series, but the last film had such a beautifully dark feel to it, and you really started to sense the danger these characters face. You got a feel for their will to live and kill Voldemort once and for all. Nothing changes here, in fact it gets even better in my opinion.

To me, The Deathly Hallows Part One is the finest Potter film to date. Beautifully crafted on every technical aspect. Incredible set designs, an amazing score, and breathtaking visual effects. For the first time, I felt apart of this world because it most of it takes place in non wizard land...our world. We finally see the effects this battle between wizards is having on the muggle community. There is real danger here, our world could be overrun by Voldemort. The last hope is Harry Potter, the only person who can defeat him. Voldemort is getting stronger and is trying to prevent Potter from finding the Horcrux's. The story here is full of great depth and is wonderfully written. I don't know how close to the book it is, but I don't really care. It's an amazing screenplay and the story is unbelieably epic.

This is only part one of a two part film (the second half comes out in July). The whole time this movie feels like a giant build up to something brilliantly epic. I keep using that word to describe this movie...because it's very true. The way it ends was so cool but it really pissed me off. Because I want more, and I want it now! This movie roped me in from the opening scene and never let me go. I was glued to the screen at every moment and the 2 hour 30 minute run time felt like an hour! Not often do movies have me that captivated. I really cared about every character in the film. I've been on this journey with them, like everyone else, since the very beginning. You almost feel connected to them. We have watched these kids grow up right before our eyes.

In the first few films, the kids acting abilities weren't all that superb. I'll tell you what though, they have really come into their own. You believe them now. You see their emotion painted on their faces and you want them to win. They act in some scenes, in some moments without opening their mouths. Just facial expressions, and it's so unbelieably good. It's awesome how far these 3 kids have come. Emma Watson as Hermoine turns in a star performance, her best to date. I can see her in the future garnering an Oscar nom. Daniel Radcliffe gives his most vulnerable and belieable performance of the whole franchise and by God...this is the only person who can ever play Harry Potter. This is HIS role. He now owns it. Rupert Grint was also quite fantastic and he showed more emotion then ever before and did so really well. The rest of the cast wasn't featured as prominently, they all kind of just came up here and there in bit parts. This movie was all about the three main stars and their journey. They carried this film on their shoulders, with no problems at all. Good for them!

It's hard to fully review this film, because it is only really half of a movie. There is no actual conclusion. It ends, on what I think, is one the most emotional scenes in the entire franchise. Death of a well loved character. I heard some sniffles in the theater, and I think I got a little choked up. The final final scene is what cliffhangers are all about. That's how you end a two part series. It left me craving more right away!! I don't know how I will make it until freaking July!! This film (so far) is brilliant. It is, in my opinion, the best of the whole series. It is incredibly dark, it's frightening, it's packed full of emotion. It has the best performances of the whole lot. It is the most visually striking one. This movie to me, is the complete package. It's damn entertaining, there's never a boring moment. It has an incredibly epic, triumphant feel to it and you just know the conclusion is going to a tour de force and is going to be one movie experience that everyone should see. Part One is already that kind of film...Part Two should be no different. I cannot wait!! One of the best movies of 2010, no question!

**By the way, it should be noted that this is NOT a kids movie. Young children may not be suitable to watch this film. It is very dark and may scare a lot of younger kids.***

Critics Grade: 79%
My Grade: A

The Next Three Days

Rated PG-13
2 hours 2 minutes

With Russel Crowe and Elizabeth Banks

Well this movie is NO Harry Potter! Doesn't even come close...they are completely different movies as well. So it's not fair to compare Mike. Geez. This is the kind of movie that tends to go quietly into the night. It barely gets noticed. It's the kind of movie that's usually regarded as being "OK" but nothing special. And then everyone forgets about it in a week. I'd like to say that's not the case with The Next Three Days...but really it is not. This whole movie, beginning to end all feels so standard. It follows every rule in the book for escapist type movies. Characters that are in way over their head, and somehow manage to fool everyone. The first two thirds focuses on the husbands scheming and plotting to free his wife (who may or may not have actually commited the crime accused of). Those scenes are all pretty bland and uninteresting if you ask me. I never got fully invested into the story or these people. They never even touch the storyline involving the wifes guilt or innocence. It's barely even mentioned until the very end. I would have liked to see more of Russel Crowe trying to discover if his wife is actually a murderer or not...but he just didn't seem to care. The last act is definitely the better part, at least it has a lot of excitement and some moments of tension. I don't care about plausibility...which this movie has almost none of. But that should never be a reason to not like a movie. It wasn't really over the top or anything...but it started to become really predicatable and you kind of know exactly how the movie will end. We do finally get one scene at the end that shows exactly what happened during the crim the wife was accused of comitting though...so you do find out if she's innocent or guilty. It was a little silly how it was just randomly thrown in there at the end, but whatever. It has 2 good lead performances, but it just lacks in anything original or fresh. I just wasn't that interested.

Critics Grade: 42%
My Grade: C-.

2010 Reviews #97-#99: "The Joneses" "Morning Glory" is "Unstoppable"!!

Unstoppable

Rated PG-13

1 hour 38 minutes

With Denzel Washington and Chris Pine

Unstoppable was absolutely everything it should have been. It was an intense, non stop action packed ride of pure entertainment. Best part was that it was never over the top action. Actually it relied more on the tension to keep us hooked and not scene after scene of things blowing up. This isn't a loud, explosive action movie but even with that it still remains to be high octane thrill a minute fun! Simple premise: A large cargo train has gone rampant and is gaining speed and it cannot be stopped from any train yard or station. So either they try to derail it (by the way it is carrying a quite a lot of hazardous material that can wipe out a whole city) or they let it destruct in a highly populated area, possibly killing millions. OR...you have the Denzel option. He has the idea to connect to the train from the back and yank it the other direction and try to stop it. I had so much fun watching this movie. It was the perfect length, it did not run on to long. There was never a dull moment. Denzel was perfect and Chris Pine was also quite great! Rosario Dawson was very good in a supporting role as well. One of the better performed action films I've recently seen. This movie's sole purpose is to entertain us...who cares if anything in it "can't happen in real life"...it's fun! In my opinion, a must see action flick! Critics Grade: 85 %. My Grade: A-.

Morning Glory

Rated PG-13
1 hour 42 minutes

With Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton

I think Morning Glory is my little guilty pleasure movie so far this year. It's not a remarkable film by any means. We've seen stuff like this before a gazillion times. Bur for me, it was just so well put together for the most part. I never got bored watching the movie. I think the story is sweet and quite funny a lot of the times. The main cast were all excellent especially McAdams whose charm and likable character carried this film all the way. She is the type of character you just really root for the whole way through. Harrison Ford was fantastic as the grumpy legend who just wanted to retire. Diane Keaton was hilarious in her all to small of a role as the crazy co-anchor. Oh and the weather guy was hysterical as well. This is not a girly romantic movie by the way...at least I didn't get that vibe. There's a mini storyline that does involve a romance but does not in anyway overshadow the main story. As I was watching the film, I just never got distracted. I was into it all the way and thought it was a lovely little film. By no means an Oscar Contender (although McAdams might make my personal short list for lead actress). Oh and Jeff Goldblum was sadly misused in this film...he needed more screen time!! Just one of those movies I saw and loved a lot but let's face it...might forget about in a month or so. Critics Grade: 54%. My Grade: A-.

The Joneses

Rated R
1 hour 36 minutes

With David Duchovny and Demi Moore

Not many people really know about this film. It had a very limited release in some independent theaters across the country for a brief time. Now here it is on DVD. The premise of this film is actually really cool and not one I've really seen before, as far as I can remember. It's about a fake family (none of them are actually related in anyway) who work for a private advertising company. This company gives this family a new identity and sets them up in huge homes in very classy neighborhoods and supplies them with every cool gadget and gizmo you can think of. Not to mention all the latest clothing and makeup products. Their job is to "infiltrate" their community and schools and show off these products. Which in turn the unsuspecting community goes and buys these cool things. Basically they are covert sales people who don't actually push product...but just show them off to get people to buy them. Really neat concept to begin with. You also have this "family" who has to live together and we learn about all of their personal lives and also have to see them act their way through local gatherings and pretend they are a unit. Duchovny and Moore start to form a little love for each other but both know it's not a real possibility. All looks great, and this movie for the most part for me...was pretty pretty great. I just don't think they did enough with this unique premise. I would have liked to see more moments of people figuring them out and people from their past recognizing them and almost blowing their cover. We didn't see enough of the "dangerous" side of what this job could entail. At the same time, it is quite a stunning and real look at how our society feeds off each other and has to have what our friends have to be current and cool. It may be a little to forced here in this movie though, there was no real secret or hidden message here...it was right in our face. So it didn't come off as inspiring, I guess you can say. It just told me what I already knew about myself and our society and never offered a real suggestion as to how we can fix that about ourselves. It started to focus more on this fake family and all their issues...which was great! Just wish the actual job had more attention is all. Duchovny was brilliant and funny and Moore was not to shabby herself. It was definitely a good movie just didn't completely live up to the strong potential it had from the start. Critics Grade: 61%. My Grade: B.

2010 Reviews #94-#96: "Megamind" has a "Due Date" for a "Conviction"!

Conviction

Rated R
1 hour 47 minutes

With Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell

I was really looking forward to seeing this film, and I waited a few weeks while it bounced around in limited theaters to finally see it released nation wide. I love a good true story that focuses around courtroom jargon and wrongful imprisonments. I don't know if this story was very popular in the news nationwide as it was going on, I never heard of it until now. It's about a man who is allegedly wrongfully convicted of murder and his younger sister goes through years of law school and years of fighting the judicial system to free her brother. That's family right there. This actually happened ladies and gentleman. It was a story that took place over the course of roughly 18-20 years. I thought the movie was pretty good. Mainly it had two very strong performances at it's core and they were surrounded by a fairly well made flick. The problem I had was I didn't really feel totally connected to the struggle. There were times where I just didn't care what happened (even though I already knew). I kind of wanted more back story to really dive into these peoples lives to make us feel some genuine pain for them. Also I would have liked to see more investigative type stuff going on. More interviewing, more crime scene analysis. More digging into the truth. I don't know if that actually occurred in real life or not, but all we get in the movie is mainly this woman's life and her going through law school and balancing her home life. Don't get me wrong, it's an incredible story. We didn't really see any actual "murder case" stuff going on until maybe the last act or so. I feel like there was a lot of great pieces going on but some parts of the puzzle were missing for me. I also like to note that Juliette Lewis gives a freaking stellar, and very short lived performance in this film. She's mainly in one major scene and she acts her ass off and totally goes into that character and is almost unrecognizable. Hilary Swank shows great passion and delivers a solid performance. Sam Rockwell is one of the most under appreciated actors of our time. He was brilliant here once again and will also once again go completely unnoticed by the Academy. Conviction is a wonderful film about a woman's passion to save her brother, I liked the movie. I just didn't get all I wanted from it. Can't win them all...but still a good movie nonetheless. Critics Grade: 66%. My Grade: B-.

Due Date
Rated R
1 hour 40 minutes

With Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis

Well Due Date is a film that suffers from what a lot of big comedies suffer from. Way to much pre exposure. If you have seen at least 4 or 5 movies in the past few months, you have likely seen the trailer for this film before at least 4 of those 5 films. It was funny the first time, still kind of funny the 2nd, then it stopped being funny after that. Sure, you still really want to see it because of the stars and the trailer was funny so it must have more funny stuff. There is also the obvious connection between this film and the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles. People keep being snide by saying we shouldn't compare them...but it's almost impossible as they are practically the SAME film, this one is just more updated. But that's not the problem, we see like films all the freaking time. I watched this movie and halfway through realized...holy crap...I haven't laughed yet. Holy crap...pretty much no one in the audience has really laughed yet. Sure we all chuckled lightly a few times, but no hearty laughter bellowed out from the audience. Because almost ALL of the main jokes were featured prominently in the trailer. The movie itself had almost nothing fresh in terms of the humor. It was a total disappointment, I was bummed! The positive thing about the film is that Downey Jr. and Galifianakis were brilliant together! Such complete opposites and worked so amazingly on screen. Both give fine performances and both had some funny moments. It's just sad that the material wasn't that funny and that the film just had way to much revealed to us before it even came out. Grrr! Critics Grade: 38%. My Grade: C.

Megamind
Rated PG
1 hour 36 minutes

With Voices of Will Ferrell and Tina Fey

I was overall quite happy with how Megamind turned out! I mean it won't win my personal favorite for best animated film of the year, but it did it's job and it did it well. I loved the concept of the super villain who has a really soft side and may or may not have to end up saving the day. You know it's kind of a good message for kids. Some people who appear to be bad (such as kids at school) may actually be quite nice but no one gives them a chance or much hope. Anyway, Megamind is a funny movie for the whole family. Kids will love it and adults will find some nice grown up humor thrown in to please them. Will Ferrell is a PERFECT voice over actor and he was great as Megamind!! He was funny and you just rooted for the guy. It has a simple story to follow for kids and it ultimately delivers a solid message that kids and most adults can learn from. For me, I just don't think it was totally memorable. It's an animated film I may kind of forget about in a few weeks or so. But first time viewing...pretty solid movie. Take the kids! Or just go see it for yourself...no one will judge you. Critics Grade: 67%. My Grade: B+.

2010 Reviews #87-#93: "Hereafter", "Monsters", "Cropsey" and More!

#87: I Am Comic. Rated R. 1 hour 27 minutes. NOW ON DVD. This is a documentary that focuses on the behind the scenes of stand up comedy. I am a huge fan of stand up and this film features a lot of my favorite comics. I thought the movie was a pretty cool look into this world of misfits who just want to make the world laugh. I like that it was a movie about comics that was nothing but funny. Sometimes in movies like this they want to show the dark side of people like this, because they say usually comics are the most depressed people on the planet and use humor as a crutch. Maybe so, but this movie doesn't really pay any attention to that. I think some of the comics even poke fun at that concept. This film is just a series of funny and a lot of the times, very interesting interviews with various comics. Some big names, some names people don't even know about yet. That's how stand up is, some comics get immediate huge followings some need to develop over the course of many years to get solid recognition. It's not an easy job nor does it pay well. They don't live a life of luxury by any means. I Am Comic is a pretty fascinating look into this under appreciated realm of comedy. It was funny, as it should have been. I liked it. No Critics Grade. Rotten Tomatoes Fan Grade: 68%. My Grade: B-

#88: Winters Bone. Rated R. 1 hour 40 minutes. NOW ON DVD. Winters Bone is the indy sensation of 2010. In many ways it could be the "Hurt Locker" of this year. I don't think it has any chance of winning best picture, but it could sneak in a nomination. This is all according to the huge support it has from critics and indy film films all over the country. I finally saw it on DVD and I must say, it is quite an amazing little movie. For me though, I don't think it has the indy punch and oomph such as The Hurt Locker did for me last year. This is a very slow paced film and it is incredibly somber. That's all very fine and well, I enjoy movies like that. While I still loved the film overall, I wasn't totally blown away by it either. I thought it had a solid story but for me didn't grab my attention all the way. This again is just MY opinion on how I viewed the film. Obviously it's different with everyone. The part of the movie that DID blow me away was two BRILLIANT performances. First and foremost by newcomer Jennifer Lawrence. She makes this movie the sensation that it has become. Her performance is quiet and subdued and there isn't a lot of flash and bang to it, but it is one of true emotional depth that she pulled off immaculately. Fine work from her that if anyone in the academy has a brain...she will be nominated for an Oscar. The other one has gone slightly unnoticed but I thought it was incredible. That is the performance from John Hawkes, whom we all know from popping up in small roles all over the place. He was in HBO's Deadwood, you saw him in the film Identity...you know him. He has a bigger role here and he carries himself very well in a performance I thought was quite different for someone like him. He probably will go unnoticed by the Academy, but still...he was fantastic. So for me, I enjoyed the movie, I thought it was good. I just didn't think it was AS incredibly as everyone said it was. Mainly because I didn't really feel connected to the movie all the way through. My fault I guess. But again...to each is own. This is just my viewpoint. Still a really good movie though. Critics Grade: 94%. My Grade: B+.

#89: Cropsey. Rated R. 1 hour 24 minutes. NOW ON DVD. This is a documentary and a horror movie all in one. It's the true story about a group of kids who meant missing on Staten Island over the course of 20-30 years starting in the 50's/60's. One of the girls body was eventually found in an old campsite of a drifter named Andre Rand. He was tied to the murder of this girl, but to this day no one truly knows if he is the guilty party. They tried to pin another missing girl/murder on him and he was charged with that one as well. They believe he was responsible for all the missing children referenced in the film, but most of their bodies were never found so there is no real case. Apparently the term "Cropsey" was a term used for a maniac or serial killer in all the urban legends told on Staten Island. Kids grew up thinking all these missing kids may have just been a good story or an urban legend but as they grew up they learned it was more real than they could ever imagine. Movies about serial killers unnerve the living hell out of me. Because they are real in our society. They aren't some made up monster by Hollywood. They lurk our streets and cities. Some kill at random. Some kill to get off. There are numerous reasons why these evil people do what they do. They can be unpredictable and that to me is frightening. And this is a documentary about a real life series of kidnappings and murders so to me...this was a scary film. Just knowing that his Andre Rand may not even be the guilty one, that the real killer may still be out there...gives me the heebie jeebies! Even so, Andre Rand is a creepy creepy dude and is very bizarre. But like someone in the movie said...just because you seem strange or creepy...doesn't mean your a killer. This movie is sad, as it is about young children. If you hurt a child I believe you have no reason to be on this earth. So there were a lot of elements to this movie and it was a well told documentary. It can both frighten you and make you want to cry. It was brilliantly put together and is one of the best documentaries I've seen in a while. Critics Grade: 89%. My Grade: A-.

#90: Hereafter. Rated PG-13. 2 hours 9 minutes. IN THEATERS. Oscar winner Clint Eastwood is at it again. He has directed yet another Oscar bait movie, but this time he goes out of his comfort zone and gives us a movie of supernatural proportions. From the previews, this movie never truly grabbed my attention, but I felt I just had to see it. Eastwood has pretty much always been very reliable with his films. It honestly pains me to say that for me, Hereafter was a massive, HUGE disappointment. It had to be one of the most dreadfully boring movies I've seen in a super long time. I mean I debated more than once about walking out the theater (I did only pay $5.25). I simply just did not get this film. I love the subject matter. The afterlife and near death experience fascinate me. But all the near death and afterlife stuff in this film is all so damn generic and nothing remarkable. Even with the main character being a psychic...I felt like the actual subject material of the afterlife was only a vague topic throughout this painfully long film. In the very beginning we get the tragic events. The French woman drowns and "dies" only to be revived. She got a glimpse of the "white light". Then a young British boy looses his twin brother to an accident and now he's forced to go to foster care. Then we have the story of the psychic. We get glimpses of each story as the film progresses but nothing really powerful comes from this story. It was all way to subtle and I did not see this "beauty" of the film that people are talking about. It dragged on, it didn't connect at all until the very end. The woman's story was just so coma inducing boring to me and I didn't care at all about the kid. Matt Damon's story was more of just him wanting to be left alone and also a lot of it was him trying to find love through a woman he meets in a cooking class. I just simply didn't get it. I didn't like it in the least. It was well directed, meaning that it technically looked great. The story for me however, lacked severely in the heart and soul category. I cared about no one. The performances were all very standard and blah. Total swing and miss by Eastwood. A shame. Critics Grade: 49%. My Grade: D+.

#91: Monsters. Rated R. 1 hour 34 minutes. IN THEATERS IN SELECT CITIES. ALSO PLAYING ON DEMAND WITH COX. I just don't know about this movie. I saw the preview a while back and thought it looked cool and thought it had a pretty cool story. It has been compared a lot to movies like "Cloverfield" (although there is no hand held camera) and even last years Best Picture nominee "District 9". I can definitely see some vague similarities, but let's give it some credit here, it is it's own film. This was done by a first time director who essentially edited the film on his laptop, where apparently he also created all the visual effects for the film. With that being said, I thought the movie looked incredible. For what this director had, he did quite a phenomenal job piecing it all together. The few scenes we actually get to see full on monsters (who kind of resembled the creatures from "The Mist" if you ask me) were unbelievably real looking. They were huge and kind of creepy. For me though, that's kind of where my excitement over this movie ends. The two main characters were never once in any real danger. There was no thrill to this story. We barely ever saw the monsters and when they were on screen, they were just walking by or destroying vehicles or something like that. I mean yes there were a few moments when people were killed but it was never scary or basically you never felt the main people were in harms way. This was more of a "love" tale than anything. It wasn't even that interesting to me. Other people who watch it might definitely get it or like it, I just really wasn't into this story. It had a beautiful final few moments though, I will give it that. But overall this movie let me down. It wasn't really bad it just didn't do anything for me. It was a bit bland. Critics Grade: 61%. My Grade: C.

#92. When In Rome. Rated PG-13. 1 hour 31 minutes. NOW ON DVD. This will be a short review. I hated this movie. This movie did not make me laugh. It was full of stupid gags we have seen in comedy films a BILLION times before. It was predictable. It was painful to watch. Why did I watch it? Because I enjoy watching movies. ANY movies sadly. I was bored before watching the movie. This movie just made me more bored. What else can I say...Ummm...I thought it was AWFUL!!!!! One of the worst movies I've seen this year. Just the opinion of silly old me though. Critics Grade: 16%. My Grade: F.

#93: The Experiment. Rated R. 1 hour 36 minutes. STRAIGHT TO DVD FILM. Seems crazy to me that a movie starring TWO Oscar wining actors, Adrian Brody and Forrest Whitaker is a straight to DVD film. But I guess the film itself sort of speaks for itself in that regard. Anyway, I thought this was an entertaining film. It was based off a famous college experiment in Stamford in the 70's. College students were split up and one group were to be prison guards and the other were the prisoners. It was supposed to last 2 weeks but actually only lasted 6 days due to do the "prison guards" becoming sadistic and the prisoners became quickly depressed. This film follows almost exactly that. Except these aren't college kids and it takes place during present day. These guys are being paid $14,000 each to complete the experiment and are told if one person fails before the 2 weeks, no one gets paid. They have no communication to the scientists. Only thing they have is a red light that will flash if someone breaks a rule, and the experiment is over. This light becomes sort of the "God" like character. Quickly chaos ensues and Brody and Whitaker are pitted against each other. For the most part it was a good movie, and in the end I got what the experiment was really about. But also in the end, it kind of falls flat. It starts to get really climatic...then just abruptly ends. So much hate and bad happens and from it seems like...everyone gets off scott free. A person dies in that prison and you have no idea if the guilty part get's in any form of trouble. All the guys involved seem to brush off the whole experience in the end. I guess I didn't get that part. I got what the experiment was all about and I get that the characters realized it in the end. But some crazy shit still happened and everyone seemed to let bygones be bygones in the end. Eh, I don't know. Maybe I didn't get it after all who knows. It was a pretty decent movie with two very good lead performances. It just fell flat in the end for me personally. Overall, pretty entertaining movie. No critics grade. IMDB Member Grade: 6.4 out of 10. My Grade: B-.

2010 Review #86: Paranormal Activity 2

Paranormal Activity 2

Rated R

1 hour 31 minutes

Story:

After experiencing what they think are a series of "break-ins", a family sets up security cameras around their home, only to realize that the events unfolding before them are more sinister than they seem. This is essentially a prequel to the first film.

Directed By: Tod Williams

Starring:

Katie Featherston

(no other cast listed on IMDB)

Critics Grade:

68%

My Grade:

B

This film was hastily made over the course of just a few months since the incredible success of the first Paranormal Activity film. Which was a horror movie I very much enjoyed. I like subtle horror, I'm not a fan of this in your face, special effects crazy, bloody horror flick that we see all the time these days. I like when a scary movie is quiet and messes with your brain and imagination to freak you the hell out. That's how the first movie was for me. It was "real". It was claustrophobic. It relied on our fears of the unknown to spook us. It used the hand held, shaky camera effect to make it more realistic and I for one think it worked pretty darn well. It was one of the freakiest movies I've seen because it was the kind of movie that scared me. Now it won't scare everyone of course, and neither will this sequel.

The first film was huge and made a large amount of money considering it was only made for about $15,000. The sequel could have taken advantage of the success and made some big budget horror movie and could have gone away from the original concept. Much like the sequel to Blair Witch Project (Great first film, HORRIBLE second movie). Paranormal Activity 2 does not do that. It does not cheat us or try to impress us. It sticks to exactly what it's good at. There is still a hand held camera but the main difference is that now we have security cameras to go along with it, so this movie is slightly more high tech but it sticks to it's source very well. It has a cast of virtual unknowns and even has the return of Micah and Katie from the first film.

I should now say that this is basically a prequel to the original story. It takes place roughly 60 days before the death of Micah (they tell us this on screen at one point). The wife in this movie is Katie's sister and we learn the demon was affecting her family first before it tormented the couple from the first film. We also learn it effected their mother and then grandmother before that. This is the one weakness of this film, it tries to hard to develop story and characters. It delves into cliched horror movie story lines such as demons traveling through families and wanting first born sons. There's no need to try to get complicated with story elements, that's not what people are here to see. We are in a movie like this to get scared. Just put a basic story in it to give it a reason for existing and go from there. Also the transition between the stories of both films was a bit silly. But oh well. It wasn't TO overbearing of a storyline, they only threw in that stuff in a few scenes here and there.

The performances were probably on par with the first movie. Some people thought Katie and Micah were really bad in the first film, I personally thought they came off as very believable. This movie we have a much larger cast, about 6 adults and a baby (two the characters are Micah and Katie who pop up every once in a while). There is also a dog involved. I think Katie Featherston overdoes some of her scenes and you can tell she is acting a lot. The rest of them come off as a pretty believable family. There are times when it gets to be to much, especially with the dad towards the end of the movie. But again, this isn't the kind of movie we are supposed to give a crap about performances. They should be decent enough so that they aren't laughable because that can be distracting and take away from the effect of the movie. They are good enough to keep the mood of the film in tact.

The first movie was pretty creepy to me personally. They did some pretty cool things with effects, considering they had such a small budget. The scene where Katie was dragged out of the bed freaked my mind! You have a couple times here in this movie where people (or babies) are dragged or pulled and you do lose the "oh shit" factor this time, but it still remains to be a bit creepy. There are a lot of loud noises that come out of nowhere that honestly made me jump on a few occasions. The jump scenes here weren't random either. There wasn't any cats jumping out of closets or random birds flying out of rubble. They happened for a reason and they happened in scenes were I truly did not expect them at the time. There was this scene that got me good...involving cabinets and drawers opening. I won't say more than that. It startled the hell out of me. This movie, like the first, remains very subtle the whole time. There isn't really any in your face moments. No major visual effects. Just a lot of things moving on their own, some creepy loud noises and a whole lot of quietness. Quietness scares me in movies, I won't lie. There are numerous scenes here where there is dead silence and you have no idea what's about to happen. Sometimes something happens, sometimes something does it. That's why the scares are so good because they tease you. They build up tension so well. I love that. You have to build it slowly not just open with a big scary scene and go straight from there. It has to be slow to be effective, at least for me. This movie, as did the first one, does this so very well. I thought this movie was consistently scary and it unnerved me several times. I felt uncomfortable during many scenes and there was definitely an element of surprise.

I've read some reviews and heard people say they hated this movie because it was just like the first and there was nothing new. So what? If it ain't broke, don't fix it right?? Why would you want them to go on a bigger scale this time and potentially ruin it all? Stick with what worked to begin with. The "Saw" franchise also fell victim to this. The first movie wasn't all that gory, and was much more of a mind messing kind of movie. Then all the tons of sequels became increasingly gory and violent. No need to change what wasn't in need of any change. I for one hope they make a third one. So far they have been reliable. These movies are only meant to scare us not to wow us with great stories and certainly not to stray off course from what they were originally designed to do. I thought this movie was just as scary as the first movie. I liked the first one a bit better just because it was simple and didn't try to thrown some stupid story at us involving first born sons, blah blah blah. That's the only thing I really didn't like about this movie. Otherwise, I feel Paranormal Activity 2 is a very worthy sequel. I guess it's not for everyone though. It was for me.

**BTW Sorry, there weren't many pictures for this movie online that I could add to the blog**

2010 Reviews #84 & #85: "Red" and "Jackass 3D".

#84: Red. Starring Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Mary Louis Parker and Morgan Freeman. Rated PG-13 and is 1 hour 51 minutes. You can almost call this movie "The Expendables 2". Meaning it has a cast full of older, legendary entertainers that people still love and they are here doing some fun stuff. This probably has to be one of the best casts of a film this year. Not really award worthy casts per say, but just a damn fun and highly entertaining group of people. If you made this movie with maybe a slightly younger cast of unknowns and maybe one big star...this movie would be a dud. It had to these people or no one. Now onto the actual movie. I actually was anticipating a high octane, deeply unrealistic storyline full of over the top ridiculous stunts. In actuality the movie was a bit more subdued in comparison. I mean...it was still a bit crazy on the action but nothing like you would see in something like..."Live Free or Die Hard". The storyline was decent, but we aren't here for a storyline. It was good enough to give us a reason to have these actors together having fun and that's all we can really ask for and all we really need here. All the action scenes were fantastic and clever and it was fun to watch. There was a lot of good humor here, mainly from the eccentric and brilliant John Malkovich. It was freakin' sweet to see Dame Helen Mirren wield a high powered gun and shoot some bitches! Because all the while she still acted like a Queen. It was great! Just go to this movie to have fun, that's all it's really here for. I hate when people go to movies like this and over analyze them and critique them. Those people are stupid. Some movies are only here to be entertaining, not win your snide and cruel affection. I had a blast watching this movie. Critics Grade: 70%. My Grade: B+.

#85: Jackass 3D. Starring Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn and more. Rated R (there is numerous shots of full frontal male nudity, a few 3D dildos, a whole lot of cussing, and quite a bit of poop, blood and vomit to go around...do not take the kids) and is 1 hour 40 minutes. I used to kind of like the TV version of this movie. I got some good laughs out of this group of grown men injuring themselves and getting up, brushing the dirt off and having a laugh out of it. I even kind of thought the first movie was pretty funny, minus any poop stuff. I never saw the second movie. I guess I kind of grew out of my phase of enjoying this kind of humor. I have nothing against people who still find this funny, because it is still funny from time to time. And by no means do I think it's childish of an adult to laugh hysterically at this kind of film. To each is own of course! I never really intended to add this film to my repertoire of 2010 movies, but it was my best friends birthday and he wanted to see this. Hell I even paid for mine AND his ticket. The things I do for my friends. Sacrifices. I will say that Alex, my friend, thoroughly enjoyed the movie. He laughed a whole ton and I was glad for that. I however, only really laughed heartily about 5 or 6 times. I chuckled a few more times than that and maybe cracked a few smiles. No I don't think I'm better than anyone. This is not me being smug for not laughing at this movie while the rest of the audience did. I get why they are laughing, I really do. Just for me...I didn't laugh as often or as hard. I don't know what else to say. This kind of humor just doesn't appeal to me anymore, but that's just me personally. I mean there were some damn funny parts in this movie, I'm not a total prude! I got really nauseous a few times as well. I mean seeing liquid poop fly at us in 3D is revolting. Seeing a grown man drink the sweat of another man almost did it in for me. I had to turn my eyes away during that scene because I may have had to run to the bathroom to throw up if I watched. Watching these guys vomit countless times just made me queasy. I don't do well with that kind of stuff...ESPECIALLY since this is real, not a fictionalized film. Look, these guys are nuts. They have balls (some of which we actually get to see a few times...even as a gay man I was a bit grossed out at the numerous shots of penis). But they have still managed to stay relevant to a degree and people still like these guys. I don't hate them nor did I hate this movie. It's just the style of humor just goes over my head now...I don't really know why. But I am glad other people enjoy it still. I also want to say that surprisingly this had the best 3D effects I've seen in a movie so far. While the items coming at us were disgusting, at least they actually came up literally right to our faces on some occasions. THAT'S what 3D is supposed to be. So I applaud them for that. Also...nice Beavis and Butthead skit at the beginning...classic! Critics Grade: 67%. My Grade: C-.

2010 Reviews #77-#83: Secretariat, Case 39 and More!!

You know the drill...got lost in time, fell behind on reviews. I think this is how I will continue to do it. When I see a BIG movie or a movie I really really love I'll do my normal layout for one review at a time...but these things can be time consuming! At any rate, since my last posting I've watched 7 more 2010 films (6 movies that were released in theaters at one point this year or are still out now, and one straight to DVD/Made for TV movie). Oh and I'm not some serious film critic...I don't care if a movie was released in theaters or on TV/DVD...if it came out in 2010 and is an actual movie...it counts towards my "amount" of new films I see in a year. Boo ya! So here ya go:

#77: It's Kind of a Funny Story. Well this is actually a movie I was really looking forward to see. I saw the preview, and I thought it was going to a movie right up my alley and that I was going to love it. After watching it, to play with the title a little bit, I thought it was kind of a good movie. This is one of those movies you see that you think is a solid well made movie, but doesn't really do much for you. That's how I felt about it at least. It's weird...because everything about the movie from the fantastic performances and all the technical aspects were all very good. To me this was a good movie. However, as well written as the screenplay was, I felt it was all kind of flat and one note. I feel like it didn't go from point A to point B very well, it just kind of stayed at point A the whole time. I didn't get any sense of lesson learned by the characters or any hint of solid development. I guess that was kind of the point of the movie but I wish there would have been some kind of oomph to it in the end. Again, well told story...just for me, a bit dull. The main actor, Keir Gilchrist was excellent and believable as the troubled teen. The standout for me was funny man Zach Galifanakis who actually wasn't all that funny. I mean he had some humorous lines, but he was here to be serious. The man showed he has acting chops and also displayed a subdued performance and never once stole the movie from the main character. I felt he is worthy of award attention...he won't of course, but you know. I don't know, I liked the movie...just wished it had more power to it is all. Critics Grade: 60%. My Grade: B-.

#78: Secretariat. Well we have seen this type of movie a billion time before, especially in the hands of Disney. Secretariat does almost nothing different to step up the game from all the other ones. You know exactly how this movie is going to end, especially if you were around during the actual time of the real race horse this film is based. You know there will be setbacks with not only the horse, but also with it's owner, played by Oscar nominee Diane Lane. You expect this, it happens, boom. Funny thing though...the last half of this movie managed to be kind of tense. There were points where I was like...no way, he's never going to win, even though I knew he does. That is thanks in part to the director of this film. The first half is a bit slow, good...but a little dull getting out of the gate. Then the second half kicks into high gear and honestly, it turns out to be one of 2010's finest films...in my opinion. It's incredible how generic of a storyline can be turned into a wonderful and tense film in the end. The direction is brilliant, the writing is fantastic and Diane Lane gives one of her most remarkable performances that I've seen. Give this woman an Oscar already!! I also liked the horse race scenes shown from the perspective of either the horse of the jockey. Those were cool. I loved the final few races scenes, they were all shot so intensely. While Secretariat has nothing new to offer to the genre, it still manages to be one hell of a good movie. Critics Grade: 67%. My Grade: A-.

#79: My Soul to Take 3D. There are a rare few movies that were born to be in 3D. My Soul to Take is not one of those movies. The 3D here, as it is for MOST movies that are in 3D now (which is about 65% or so of all our new films) is only here for a gimmick and for the movie to studio to make more money. People pay to see 3D...they pay the extra $2-$4, depending where you live. That $2-$4 adds up. Studio rakes in the cash and we are left with empty pockets and sometimes a sense of disappointment from these movies. The 3D is this movie sucked big time. Which gave no help to the movie itself which is one of the biggest pieces of crap movies I've seen this year. For me, it was just so intensely stupid. I enjoy campy horror movies, and there are still some enjoyable slasher films left...but this one...ugh...it was just awful. You don't expect good stories from these movies OF COURSE...but at least TRY to come up with something entertaining. It was laughable. Everything from the story to the killings to the acting, all just so bad in my eyes. Teens will probably like it, I'm sure. I grew up on movies like this, but the ones of the past are stuck in the past. You just don't see slasher movies like that anymore. Well at least the star of the movie, Max Theiriot was nice to look at...whhhhaaaat? (He's legal OK...back off!). Oh and least this wasn't really a remake of anything, so that's good huh? Wes Craven used to be good at this stuff, now I'm not so sure. Well the new Scream trilogy should hopefully boost his confidence...but we shall see. Critics Grade: 8%. My Grade: F.

#80: Babies. This is a documentary about...babies. Duh. Thing is, if you aren't a parent, like me...you may not get much from this movie. Sure there were plenty of scenes of cute babies and it was cool to see how different the cultures were in terms of how they raise these infants. But I didn't really get any wealth of knowledge from this documentary or any kind of emotional connection. First of all, there is virtually no speaking in this whole film. No narrator, not even little word facts that pop up every once in a while. Just clips of 4 different families from 4 different parts of the world, raising their babies in the first year of their lives. I didn't get much of anything from the movie. So I just kind of feel indifferent from the whole thing. It was cute at times. But there was a lot of full on naked babies that after a while became a bit disturbing. There was also a lot of breast in the film. Rated PG for parental and educational nudity...but I don't know what parent would still feel comfortable letting their kids watch all of this unfold. I just kind of felt awkward the whole time. Eh, I don't know. It was OK-ish. Critics Grade: 69%. My Grade: C.

#81: Case 39. I wanted to confirm something before writing this review, so I just watched the trailer for this movie on YouTube to make sure I wasn't crazy. The version in theaters now...must have had some serious changes to it because it does not resemble the story you think this film has from the trailers. You assume that there are some kind of demons or ghosts following this little girl based off the trailer, but that is not the case from the actual movie. I know this film was made a few years ago and had some trouble being released. In some parts of the world, this movie was just a straight to DVD release and I think they all got the original version of this movie. There are numerous scenes in the trailer that never happen in the movie...in fact that are numerous scenes in the trailer where the exact opposite happens in the final film. I just don't get it. THIS version however, the one where the little girl IS the demon and is trying to kill Rene Zeleweger is just terrible. Not as bad as say, My Soul To Take, but I really did not like this movie. It was so poorly made. First off, Zelwegers character was so damn quick to believe this little girl is some kind of evil creature without having any real evidence to back it up. I know it's just a movie and I'm not one to call a film unbelievable...and I'm not doing that here. It's not the believability factor...it's just the story flipped so freaking quickly we had no time to process what was going on for sure. Later on a character hastily jumps on Zelwegers beliefs about the girl after calling her crazy for half of the movie based off one tiny little thing that happened. I guess what I'm saying is the movie was rushed. It wasn't even a good story in my eyes. This version of the film is something we have seen over and over and over and OVER again. Creepy kids trying to kill everyone...real fresh. Zelweger was not a good choice here, she seemed so out of place and her voice was more high pitched and squeakier then ever. Here eyes were clearly squirted with lemon juice before almost every scene. She wasn't all that good, nor was the movie for me. It was mainly just super silly and super predictable. Also it had jump scenes that happened so randomly and for no reason to a point where it just annoying. Ugh! Critics Grade: 21%. My Grade: D-.

#82: Assault of the Sasquatch. Okay so this a horror movie that went straight to the Chiller Network and will be on DVD next week. ONLY reason I watched it, because it has two supporting actors in it (Shawn C. Phillips and MJ Kelly from the coolduder channel) whose channel I subscribe to and watch from time to time. They are just two silly dudes who make sometimes funny videos (mainly Shawn is funny, MJ is kind of a turd). They have become a huge YouTube hit and have somewheres over a million subscribers. Now they film a bunch of random low budget horror movies (Shawn's favorite genre of film - he owns a few thousand DVD's). Anyway, this is a cheesy ass horror movie about a vengeful Big Foot character who is going around a small town mutilating people. Of course it has some pretty bad acting and some lame effects. But it's JUST cheesy enough to be kind of funny and entertaining. By no means is this anywhere near a good movie in my eyes, but I was...entertained, and that's all there is to it. Best part was Shawn C. Phillips...he was pretty funny and obnoxious but still not all that great. No Critics Grade. My Grade: D.

#83: Calvin Marshall. I think this movie was released independently in theaters this year for a few weeks and now has found it's way on DVD. It's a dramatic comedy about a college aged kid who wants so bad to be on the baseball team and thinks he is really good, but actually he is not. He keeps getting cut after all his countless try outs. No one has the heart to tell him he sucks at baseball. Yet for some reason he is GREAT at softball. He knows everything about the game, he can teach people about the fundamentals and his heart for the game is huge. He meets a star player on the girl volleyball team and falls for her. This movie is OK for me, but nothing all to recommendable. I thought Alex Frost was great as the lead and had a funny supporting performance from Steve Zahn. I thought it had an ALMOST sweet story to tell but ultimately kind of fell a bit flat in the end. This was more about one character and didn't really have any message to tell. Not that I was able to get anyway. It looked good, had good performances just didn't really go anywhere...kind of similar to It's Kind of a Funny Story I guess. Not enough Critics Grade. My Grade: C.