2012 Most Anticipated

10. The Wettest County in the World
- Good Director (John Hillcoat) and Good cast (Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, and Jessica Chastain). Well with the the exception of Shia Lebeuf.
9. Only Good Forgives
- Fresh off Drive, Refn and Gosling are back.
8. Brave
- Pixar looks to get back on track after their first failure.
7. Gravity
- Alfonso Cuaron says he wants to open this film with a twenty minute uncut shot (awesome), oh yeah Clooney is in it.
6. Django Unchained
- This seems like maybe QT most important film, he'll need to change his usual approach if he wants to make a serious film about slavery.
5. Seven Psychopaths
- In Bruges star and director reuniting, oh and that feels so good.
4. Skyfall
- James Bond is back, enough said.
3. Prometheus
- Ridley has returned to the franchise he started, but also to the genre he shaped.  He has returned HOME, lets hope he doesn't leave in total shit.

2. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- This needs no introduction

1. The Dark Knight Rises
- Neither does this

So I think we are in for one badass year.  We have some interesting properties and a lot of ambitious film makers, this gives me a lot of hope for 2012.

10 Best Films and Performances

The Ladies
1. Jessica Chastain - The Tree of Life, The Debt, and The Help
2. Rooney Mara - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
3. Saoirse Ronan - Hanna
4. Mia Wasikowski - Jan Eyre
5. Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

The Men
1. Michael Fassbender - Jan Eyre, X -Men First Class, and Shame
2. Ryan Gosling - Drive and The Ides of March
3. Albert Brooks - Drive
4. Andy Serkis - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
5. Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Films
1. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn)
2. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
3. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher)
4. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird)
5. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
6.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Rupert Wyatt)
7. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
8. Hanna (Joe Wright)
9. X-Men First Class (Matthew Vaughn)
10. {Tie} Rango (Gore Verbinski) & Hugo (Martin Scorsese)

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Brad Bird comes to live-action with sheer badassery.  This film is like a new master practicing his form, and its hard to believe that it comes from one franchise that I've really hated.  Not any more though.  Ghost Protocol stars Tom Cruise coming back as Ethan Hunt, and also stars Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and the deliciously sexy Paula Patton.

The plot is Ethan Hunt and his team are on the run after being set up for a blowing up The Kremlin.  Then they have to find a Swedish terrorist who wants to do what all evil genius villains do which is to create nuclear war. (Oh  this guy still hasn't gotten over the 80s.)   The story is very simplistic indeed.  However, simple can be good for director if he wants to visually do a lot of things.

The film exceeds with some of the greatest action set pieces I have ever seen.  One involves Tom Cruise climbing on the biggest building in the world which is intnse as hell.  Another is a foot chase and a car chase through a sandstorm.  Then one of hell of and ending showdown between cruise and the villain in a car garage while playing keepaway with a briefcase. It has one short-coming in it script, which we hardly get to know the bad guy.  However where this film exceeds where the other in the franchise has not is that comradery between the team is there. I highly reccomend this film

rating - 94%

Immortals

Okay performances, amazing visuals, one hell of an battle scene at the end, the beautiful Freida Pinto, but lacking in the story. 

Tarsem Singh who directed The Fall, he knows visuals. Amazing production design and costume design is always expected from him. Now he is delving into CGI, and the man does he succeed here. However he has a problem in understanding what makes a good story. Tarsem, unlike Michael Bay, his films craft and visual style are impressive and he is also pretty good with actors. However he needs to find a good script some time soon. However, I do reccomend the film for the beauty in it.


Rating - 59%

Predictions for 84th Annual Academy Awards

Best Picture
The Artist
- Midnight in Paris
- War Horse
- Moneyball
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- The Descendants
- The Tree of Life

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
- Stephen Spielberg - War Horse
- Bennett Miller - Moneyball
- Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life
- Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar
- Jean Dujardin - The Artist
- Gary Oldman - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
- George Clooney - The Descendants
- Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Best Actress
Michelle Williams - My Weekend with Marilyn
- Elizabeth Olsen - Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene
- Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
- Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Viola Davis - The Help

Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks - Drive
- Christopher Plummer - The Beginners
- Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Ides of March
- Nick Nolte - Warrior
- Kenneth Brannagh - My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer - The Help
- Sandra Bullock - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
-  Berenice Bejo - The Artist
- Shailene Woodley - The Descendants
- Carrie Mulligan - Shame

Best Original Screenplay
Midnight in Paris
- The Artist
- Rango
- Young Adult
- The Beginners

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
- The Ides of March
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- Moneyball

Best Score
The Artist
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- War Horse
- A Dangerous Method
- The Skin I Live In

Best Cinematography
The Tree of Life
- War Horse
- The Artist
- Hugo
- Harry Potter Deathly Hallows PT 2

Best Editing
The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo
- War Horse
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
- Drive
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Best Sound Mixing
War Horse
- The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
- Super 8

Best Sound Editing
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
- The Adventures of Tintin
- Mission Impossible 4
- Super 8
- War Horse

Best Visual Effects
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
- Captain America
- Harry Potter Deathly Hallows PT 2
- Super 8
- The Tree of Life

Best Art Direction
Harry Potter Deathly Hallows PT 2
- Hugo
- Mignight in Paris
- The Tree of Life
- Thor

Best Costume Design
The Artist
- Captain America
- Jan Eyre
- Hugo
- Anonymous

Best Make-up
Captain America
- J. Edgar
- My Week with Marilyn

Best Animated Film
Rango
- Happy Feet 2
- Arthur Christmas
- Puss in Boots
- Tintin

Best Song
Captain America
- Rango
- Winnie the Pooh
-Albert Nobbs
-The Help

Anonymous

Surprising, that Roland Emmrich can actually pull of a beautiful looking film, with great acting, and nothing blowing up. Also there is no ridiculous running from temperature scene, or a Macintosh computer sending a virus to alien computer system. Although the idea is far fetched here too, I forget that halfway through the story. The film stars the wonderful Rhys Ifans, the lovely Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, and David Thewlis. 

The film is about Edward the Earle of Oxford trying to use plays to destroy the Cecils. However a person like Edward does not write plays he needs someone else's name to be on the scripts. So William Shakespeare eventually becomes the play-write. Who is also an illiterate actor. The film features betrayal, incest, violence, more like a Greek tragedy and less like a Shakespeare play. 

Now I have enjoyed only one Emmrich film, which was The Patriot. Like that film it has good acting and looked wonderful. Also like that film it completely rapes history. However, you will completely get rapped up in the melodrama. 

The film did great job to recreate London in the early 1600s. The costume and sets are great to look at. Possible academy award nominations for best art-direction and costume design. The actors are all great, there is no weak link here. Rhys Ifans I have always been a fan of, and really shines here. So above all I reccomend this film even with its flaws. 

rating - 79%

10 Greatest Superhero Films

10. Captain America: The First Avenger

Directed by: Joe Johnston

Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, and Stanley Tucci
My Rating - 81%

9. Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro

Starring: Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Selma Blair, Seth MacFarlane, and Luke Goss
My rating - 83%

8. Superman II

Directed by: Richard Lester
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, and Ned Beatty
My rating - 84%

7. The Crow

Directed by: Alex Proyas

Starring: Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott, Bai Ling, and David Patrick Kelly
My rating - 85%

6. Superman: The Movie
Directed by: Richard Donner
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Marlon Brando and Ned Beatty
My rating - 87%

5. X2: X-Men United
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, and Famke Janssen
My rating - 91%

4. Darkman
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Larry Drake, and Colin Friels
My rating - 92%

3. X-Men First Class
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, and Kevin Bacon
My rating - 93%

2. Batman Begins
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine
My Rating - 97%

1. The Dark Knight
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine
My Rating - 98%

Honrable Mentions
The Incrdibles
Iron Man
X - Men
Blade II
Thor

Drive

Drive is one cool film, with it starring one of the coolest actors in all of Hollywood.  After watching this movie I might have little bit of a man crush on Ryan Gosling.  Not only is this film sexy and cool, it is very disturbing in the way it shows violence.  However that is expected, since this is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.  The film also features Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Christina Hendricks, and Albert Brooks.

Drive is about a stunt car driver with no name, who also moonlights as a getaway driver.  The driver begins to come interested in his neighbor girl and her son.  He ends trying to take a job after the family is threaten by gangsters.  Generally in caper films the job always makes a turn for the worst, which happens here.  The film then turns toward the ultra-violence and becomes one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen.

Now drive is not meant for everyone and it is not that mainstream action film that they have been trying to market as.  However the film had me going throughout the hole thing.  There are shots here that are so surreal still playing in my head.  The film opens up with one of the greatest car chases I have ever seen.  Probably the best one since The French Connection.  I loved the 80ish synthesize soundtrack.  Albert Brooks is also amazing in this.  He plays one charming, but then turns to a real disgusting gangster.  This is probably the best film of the year so far, and I definitely reccomend this to any film lover.

Rating = 95%

Warrior

Warrior a cliched, but well acted film is the first decent thing MMA has given society today.  MMA sounds good when someone talks about it.  However when watching a fight, its shirtless guys grabbing each other on the floor.  Not enough punching or kicking,  the way two real men fight.  The film is directed by Gavin O'Conner (miracle).  It stars Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte.

The film is about two bothers who had rough childhood with their abusive alcoholic father.  Grown up Tommy after leaving the military wants to get into MMA and has is father be his trainer.  The other brother, Brendan, his family has fallen on hard times.  He has do MMA on the side which gets him in trouble with his school which he is teaching at.  The two brothers enter a tournament to get five million dollars.  Tommy feels that his older brother and his mom for his father and for a woman.  Tommy hatred for him makes it even more epic when the two bothers have to fight each other at the end of the tournament.

The film has problems, the cliches stand in the way.  Then there is the war hero angle that takes up to much time and makes the film to long.  It feels shoved in and has nothing to do with the family conflict.  It was also hard to figure out some of the things going, because they put the camera to close in. There also are some annoying MMA sub-culture thing thrown in here two.

The performances are good though.  Tom Hardy embodies a young Marlon Brando from the 50s.  Joel Edgerton who continues impress with this also for his role in the film Animal Kingdom.  Nick Nolte gives his best performance since the The Thin Red Line.  I expect either Nolte or Hardy will get nominated for this film.  Above all I recommend this if you are fans of these actors or if you like MMA then you will like this.

rating = 64%

The Debt

The Debt is a good competent spy film directed by John Madden.  No not that annoying football announcer with all of those football video games.  (God if that guy actually directed this it would be the craziest movie, it would of been Brett Farve killing Nazis.)  No this is the John Madden who gave us such classics like Shakespeare in Love and umm..... nothing else.  The film stars Jessica Chastain, Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Tom Wilkinson, Jesper Christensen, Ciaran Hinds, and Marton Csokas.

The Debt is about three Mossad agents in 1966 said they completed a mission in capturing and killing a Nazi doctor.  Come to the 1997 there is something wrong with what they are saying and is tearing them apart.   The daughter of two of the agents has written a book about their account of what happen on their mission.  She is very proud of here parents patriotism.  This comes back to affect some set of choice they have to make about there situation.

First the complaints with the film is when its switching back in forth to the 60s to the 90s it has a problem with pacing.  Which is sad because a film like this depends on suspense, and to make good suspense there needs to be good pacing.  Some people have said the younger versions do not look like the older versions.  I never had a problem with it, because the performances all around were great each two actors playing the character were both similar in how they emoted so that was not a problem for me.

The performance are all great.  Jessica Chastain is continuing to have an incredible break-out year.  Sam Worthington was someone who always came off kind of wooden in all of his films, but here he did a top notch job showing some emotional presence.  Jesper Christensen as the Nazi doctor did a great job at being just a pure evil asshole.  Helen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds, and Tom Wilkinson all do a great job like always.  Madden's direction is good in a lot of scenes to create tension, but mainly this is an actors film.  So above all I reccomend this film.

Rating = 82%

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Ah yeah, the chimps will rise. I have to say wow going into this didn't expect much, especially after Tim Burton's last edition to this franchise. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is best film in this franchise since the original 1968 film with Charlton Heston. Its maybe the best film of the year.
The movie is about scientist played by James Franco who is trying to find the cure for Alzheimer's, because his dad (John Lithgow) is suffering from it. By doing this he has to test on apes. Caesar(who is incredibly intelligent because of the testing) a baby chimp of one of the ape subjects is born into this lab and Franco takes him in. His character and Caesar form a an emotional like a father and son. However Caesar screws up and gets locked into to a chimp shelter. Only this is no haven. Caesar sees the cruelty of how people treat animals, and says no more. Now the monkey revolution is on now.
The CGI motion capture performance by Andy Serkis as Caesar is incredible. For those who say it is not acting let me say ya'll are idiots. Those emotions come straight from him. I still think Andy Serkis should be nominated for an Oscar for Gollum and I think he should be nomiated here. He is that incredible. Not only Andy Serkis is great the people doing the CGI should get nominated too.
Most of the performance are good James Franco, John Lithgow, and Freida Pinto do a good job. Some of the side supporting human characters are kind one dimensional, but since that is all they are meant to do is advance the plot I'm okay with that because the film is not about them. Rupert Wyatt, who I never heard of till now does a good job with the action, and has a good since of pace with the editing, cinematography, sound, and music. I strongly recommend this movie.  Rating = 94%

Best CGI Motion Capture Performances

5. Bill Nighy - Davy Jones (Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest)

4. Billy Crudup - Dr. Manhattan (Watchmen)

3. Zoe Saldana - Neytiri (Avatar)

2. Andy Serkis - Gollum (The Lords of the Rings Trilogy)

1. Andy Serkis - Caesar  (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

R.I.P. G.D. Spradlin

A Great actor, best performance was playing the senator The Godfather pt. 2.  Also good small roles in Apocalypse Now and Ed Wood.  You will be missed.

The Best Movie Casts

10. L.A. Confidential (1997)
Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, David Straithairn and Danny Devito

9. Heat (1995)
Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Danny Trejo, Mykelti Williamson, Diane Venora, Ashley Judd, and Natalie Portman

8. Alien (1979)
Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, Veronica Cartwright, John Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton, and Yaphet Kotto

7. The Dark Knight (2008)
Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts, Chin Han, and Morgan Freeman

6. Spartacus (1960)
Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov, Charles Laughton, John Gavin, and Tony Curtis

5. Inception (2010)

Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphey, Dileep Rao, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine

4. The Godfather (1972)
Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Sterling Hayden, and John Cazale

3. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Fredric Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Albert Hall, GD Spradlin and Harrison Ford

2. Network (1976)
Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, and Beatrice Straight

1. The Thin Red Line (1998)
Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, Elias Koteas, Woody Harrelson, John Cusack, Ben Chaplin, Adrien Brody, George Clooney, John Travolta, and Miranda Otto

Honorable Mentions
Casablanca (1942)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
M*A*S*H (1970)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
The Godfather PT. 2 (1974)
Platoon (1986)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-03)
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
The Departed (2006)

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger is good edition to the marvel universe. Now I'm not that patriotic when comes to my country. However this film will make you want to sing that America Fuck Yeah song from Team America. Captain America is a good action/adventure film with a great cast too.


The plot is about Steve Rogers(Chris Evans) a small weakling who wants to go fight the Nazis, but to many health problems will not get him in. However when a scientists spots him and finds out Steve's true heart of gold, he gets him into super soldier experiment. Which works and turns him into the Captain America we've come to learn and love today. Captain has to go up against Red Skull(Hugo Weaving) and his minions called Hydra (A group of Nazis who haven broken away from Hitler). Red Skull has a plot to of course destroy the world (how original).


Joe Johnston might have few problems with some of the broad strokes of the film, but gives us so many interesting small details of his vision of this fantasized WWII period piece. The 3-D is great and the make-up effects for red skull are cool. Plus the visual effects to make the scrawny Steve Rogers was also impressive. Also a great emotional climax to the film makes this film worth watching.


Rating = 81%

The Thin Red Line

A few people have criticize my Tree of Life review, saying I do not understand Malick and what he trying to do with his films.  Let me respond and say his film are a meditation on natural beauty.  It has characters with an internal conflict, generally the loss of the innocence of youth.  I love Malick's ambition, and some of  his films, like The Thin Red Line.  The Thin Red Line is one of the reason why I think Malick is one of the greatest directors who has ever lived.
The Thin Red Line is about an Army Battalion in the Battle of Guadalcanal in WWII.  The leader is a stern overly ambitious Colonel is too tough for Captain Staros (Elias Koteas), head of charlie company, the two debate the idea of how many soldier is it worth to win this battle.  Also the plot centers around on a Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) who has fallen in love with the natives.  It has open him up to some kind of peace and to a beautiful light.  However his Sargent (Sean Penn) a person despaired by war often tries to bring him to what he thinks is reality. The film also explores a few other characters.  Ben Chaplin is thinking of his wife, John Cusack trying to work his way through ranks, and Adrien Brody looking scared all the time.
The film is beautiful; if its performances, its cinematography, and the music.  It also has an intensity like no other of Malick's work.  The battles scenes are masterfully structured.  The film sets a record for the amount of explosions in a film.  It is one of the greatest war films I have ever seen, a definite must see.

Rating = 98%

The Tree of Life

Oh The Tree of Life, you are the most beautiful but yet one of the most pretentious things I have ever seen.  Terrence Malick has really taken his style to the extreme here.  Along for the ride are great actors Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.  Also a beautiful upcoming actress Jessica Chastain who shows a lot of promise here.

What plot to this film is about a family in Texas in the 50s or 60s, never really specifies on the time.  Who experience the death one of their three sons early on.  Then it shows how the parents are grieving and how on the one of the sons grown up (Penn) now, also grieving still.  Then it shows the beginning of the universe and the earth.   After that, back to how this family was before the tragedy.  The mother (Chastain) is a graceful woman who wants her kids to be graceful. The father (Pitt) stern and pushes his sons too much.

There are a lot praises for this film and a lot of complaints.  The films cinematography is beautiful, some of the best I have ever seen.  The moments when Malick takes the film back into time showing us dinosaurs, and the formation of the Earth is incredible too.  Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain are both great in this,  especially Brad Pitt here.  Pitt generally plays likeable characters, but here he does a great job in wanting us to truly be angry at him. 

With all of that being said, the film needs a stronger narrative.  Some critics defending this film, calling it an masterpiece, said how can you love 2001: A Space Odyssey and not think this film is on the same level.  2001 was doing new things with special effects, production design, it was one of the first films to treat sci-fi seriously, and it influenced countless number of directors, like Lucas, Cameron, Spielberg, Nolan, and Scott.
This film is not doing anything new in my opinion. With the exception of a fifteen - twenty minute sequence on the creation the Earth and Universe.  There are shots here that are meaningless.  Every shot in 2001 had a meaning behind it.

Speaking of Kubrick, at the premier of his films he would count every person who would walk out.  I also do that too when I watch an artistic film in theaters, and I counted 23 walk outs at this showing.  I do not hate or like this film, but I do admire its beauty and its few bold moments.  If you are into Malick's films yeah go see it in theaters.  If not, then its best to stay home.

rating = 64%

Horrible Bosses

Let me ask you guys a question, is it sexual harassment if Jennifer Aniston is trying to rape you. I mean I have a hard time figuring out how that is a crime. Every guy is going to have had hard time controlling themselves just watching how sexy crazy she is in this movie. I mean wow!!!
Horrible bosses is the best rated-r raunchy comedy in recent history. Its about three guys who try to kill their evil bosses. It has a three stooges, meets the hangover, meets office space type feeling.
The three main actors Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudekis, have a good comradery between them. Also there are good small roles from Jamie Foxx, who plays a criminal called Motherfucker Jones. Two cops are played by Wendell Pierce and Ron White, they are pretty good too.
The bosses all three of them are great, Kevin Spacey who is paranoid prick. Colin Farrell who is coke-head womanizing douche-bag. Then there is Jennifer Aniston, who plays a crazy sexy horny slut who uses her sex appeal to get power over men. Now not every joke exactly lands way it should, but I pretty much laughed the whole way through. I definitely recommend this movie.

Rating = 84%

Best of the first half of the year

2011 is halfway over with, and we have had a pretty good first half of films this year.  However, looking forward to second half of the year I only see about a few films to look forward to.  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy looks awesome; David Fincher's The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo looks pretty interesting, and A Dangerous Method looks like a must see, but not really anything else is catching my attention. So this might be one of the few years where the first half is better then the second.

(I still have not seen Tree of Life, so don't yell at me for not having it on here.)

Best Actor
5. Tom Hiddleston - Thor and Midnight in Paris (showing good range in both films)
4. James McAvoy - X-Men: First Class (first film I liked him in since The Last King of Scotland)
3. Jake Gyllenhaal - The Source Code (his best performance since Donnie Darko, has to show such of an arrange of emotion here,)
2. Owen Wilson - Midnight in Paris (Owen Wilson first good performance outside of an Wes Anderson film, does good job being like Woody Allen.)
1. Michael Fassbender - X-Men: First Class and Jan Eyre (He posses everything a star needs, having one of the biggest breakout year I've seen from an actor in awhile.)

Best  Actress
5. Michelle Monaghan - The Source Code  (always good and reliable, great chemistry with Gyllenhaal)
4. Emly Blunt - The Adjustment Bureau (she is so lovely in this film, got to love her)
3. Elle Fanning -Super 8 (much better then her sister, so many moments when she owns the screen)
2. Mia Wasikowski - Jan Eyre (another rising star, in her best performance so far)
1. Saoirse Ronan - Hanna (She continues to impress, its a performance like no other, and its my favorite performance of the year so far.)

Best Film
5. The Source Code (Flawed in production and execution at times but well acted and a great idea.)
4. Midnight in Paris (A good small and sweet comedy by Woody)
3. Hanna (A great performance plus Joe Wright takes this all to familiar story to new heights)
2. Rango (Its weird that the best western I've seen in five years is about a talking lizard.)
1. X-Men: First Class (Marvel's most ambitious film to date, and the best superhero film since The Dark Knight)

Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris is one of Woody Allen's best and is definitely one of the highlights of of his latter part of his career. It is funny, smart, and sweet like most of Allen's work. The film stars Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, and Rachel McAdams. (I'm always impressed by how many beautiful women always want to work with Woody. What can I say, other the fact I am a little jealous of him.)
The film is comedic fantasy about a writer, played by Owen Wilson, who is visiting Paris and is captured by his nostalgia of the place, and easily falls for the city. While his fiancee played by Mcadams is not impressed and has a typical American view of the French. While walking the streets of Paris at night our protagonist some how travels back in time to Paris in the 1920s where he meets so many of his idols like Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many more. He now has a hard time wanting witch era to pick to live in.
The casting to the film is perfect. All of these legendary artist are casted perfectly and are constantly making you laugh. Owen Wilson fits perfectly as Woody Allen protagonist. He has great job at being constant state of awe. Rachel McAdams and Marion Cotillard are beautiful and good as always.
The film has a good message in my opinion on looking at the past and thinking that is better then the time we live in now. We tend think of the good things in the past and think of the bad things in the present even though we are attached to so many things we do not think about. I strongly recommend this film to anyone, except if you are someone who hates Paris, and if you are probably a conservative and probably do not like Woody Allen's films.

Rating = 89%

Super 8

I'm not the sort to wallow in nostalgia about the good old days about when Spielberg and Lucas were in charge of Hollywood entertainment.  I think Super 8 is still a good flick though.  Its packed with a lot classic thrills.  The film is directed J.J. Abrams (Mr. Lens Flare) and Stars Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, and Joel Courtney.

The film is about a group of kids who are making a zombie film on a Super 8 camera in 1979.  When a train crashes in their hometown which contained a monster that the air force has been hiding.  The kids manage to capture it on their camera, but it takes three days to develop the film.  The film also has romance angle between the two of the kids by Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney.  The film slowly gives away information about the monster as the kids watch their situation deteriorate in their town.

The film has problems, the kids can be annoying, with real obnoxious dialogue at times.  I also think the films are referencing are flawed and it carries over some of the flaws.  However, I had a fun time with this the visual effects, and Michael Giacchino also gives a good score.  Elle Fanning also gives a good performance too.  So above all I recommend this film even with its flaws.  Especially for kids, this could be their generations Goonies or Gremlins.

Rating = 74%

X - Men Series

This has been one weird film series, it has produced some of the best superhero films and some of the worst.  It has created stars, and it has seemed to ruin some peoples career.  However it is definitly is one of my favorite film series.

X-Men (2000)
The first X-Men film was a pretty good starting film for the series.  It is not a great film but does have a sense of campy fun to like about it.  The film is important though, because before this it seemed that audience were giving up on superhero films because of what Joel Schumacer did to the batman films.  This film was the first comic book superhero film of the decade, and seemed to get the genre on the right path (god knows last decade was dominated by superhero films.)  The film is directed by Bryan Singer and stars Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian Mckellen, James Marsden,  Famke Janssen, and Halle Berry.
Rating = 77%

X2: X- Men United (2003)
X2: X- Men United to me was the first great superhero film since Superman II at the time it came out.  It has some of the most memorable action sequences of the series, for an example we see in the opening scene with Nightcrawler a teleporter trying to assinate the president.  The reason why I think this film is great is because it is the most serious of the original films, and it was also back when we thought Hugh Jackman as Wolverine was really cool.  The film is directed by Bryan Singer and stars Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian Mckellen, Famke Janssen, Halle Berry, Alan Cumming, James Marsden and Brian Cox.
Rating = 91%

X - Men: The Last Stand (2006)
X - Men: The Last Stand is a very disapointing end to the trilogy.  It acts like it even did not watch the last two films and what they where trying to accomplish.  It has some meorable action sequences but what was been building up in my opinion was a final battle between Magneto and Proffessor X but that is not really happens at all.  Instead at the final climax of our battle we see Pyro vs. Iceman.  Who cares?  The whole conflict is not about them, it should be about the head of the two different idelologies.  Plus it has way to many characters and does poor time trying to juggle them all give us any charater development with them at all.
The film is directed by Brett Ratner and stars Hugh Jackman, Ian Mckellen, Famke Janssen, Halle Berry and Patrick Stewart.
Rating = 38%

X - Men Orgins: Wolverine (2009)
X - Men Orgins: Wolverine is an even bigger slap in the face of the audience then the previous one.  It has no sense of what makes the X - Men special.  This is a problem with this franchise is that the studio thinks what makes the X - Men films great was that the audience love to see Wolverine and they love to see all the crazy mutations. No the eaudience expects a story to make since and for some emotions .  This has none at all.  It was just a quick paycheck for Marvel and Fox.  The film is directed by Gavin Hood and stars Hugh Jackman, Liev Schrieber, Danny Huston, and Ryan Reynolds.
Rating = 21%

X - Men: First Class(2011)
X - Men First Class is probably the best Marvel superhero film so far.  It goes to a level of depth where a lot of the Marvel films just failed to go.  The movie is directed by Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake and Kick-Ass) and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, January Jones and Kevin Bacon.

The film starts out with Eric (Magneto) as a young child in the Holocaust and how this Nazi mutant Sebastain Shaw who wants to exploit Eric power as a mutant.  Then after the Holocaust Eric is out Nazi hunting to revenge for what they end up doing to him.  Also at the beginning of the film we are introduced to a young Charles Xavier (Professor X).  Xavier is a real cool guy, hes using his super powers to pick up women.  However when a CIA agent played by Rose Byrne contacts him and says she needs his help to stop a Sebastain Shaw because he wants to start World War III by using The Cold War.  She and Xavier form a mutant team compiled with characters like Magneto, Mystique, Beast, Havoc, Banshee, Angel, and Darwin.

As much as I Love this film it has its problems.  I think January Jones is attractive but is a terrible actress.  Then some of the dialogue is also at time kind of bad.  Another things is that it has so many characters in  this film that a lot of times some of them get lost in the mix. However most of these things I think are kind of nitpicks.

What works for this film really works, Michael Fassbender as Magneto is incredible in this.  When he is out Nazi hunting it is amazing, if you thought he was good confronting Nazis in that Bar scene in Inglorious Bastards wait till you see the scene where he is confronting Nazis in a Argentinian bar in this.  Whenever Fassbender and McAvoy are on screen together it is acting gold on screen.  Matthew Vaughn early James Bond style of editing also really works here too.  The ending climax to this is so amazing if its Magneto pulling a submarine out of the water, Banshee's flying sequences, or Beast and Havoc fighting off the enemy it is amazing.

The Bottom line is this film is great even with its flaws and has brought some respect back to this franchise after the studio produced two pieces of shit the last two times out.  It has made me care about the first two films again.  This series works best when have the two different mutant ideologies going head to head with each other.  Not just when we are showing off mutant powers or looking at Wolverine making growling yelling sounds when kills another man.  So go check it out.
Rating 93%