And while I have seen a couple movies since February started, the school year is back on track and its going to be hard to sit down and watch movies till I get into a flow of things. So I decided to at least give the loyal readers (if you exist) my top ten movies of January, just to give you an overview of what I did over my January instead of other more important things.
So lets start off the countdown at number 10.
It seems like a long time since I've seen this movie when really it was only a few weeks ago. This movie is just fun. Its a great cast in a movie about Magicians. Basically any movie that you've heard of about magicians, (I think) has to be at least a fun watch or otherwise you probably haven't heard of it. Its got a lot of twists and turns and while the plot may be a little too complex for it to be believable, its still a lot of fun. The ending isn't my favorite, but I didn't see it coming. I wasn't wild about Jesse Eisenberg in it but Isla Fisher makes up for that totally. Now You See Me is definitely worth at least a rental and will no doubt give you a fun watch.
I never thought I'd put one of these thousand people cast movies on a top ten list, but Love Actually does it right. Is it a cheesy rom com at some times? Yes of course it is. But I think those kinda silly and sometimes stupid moments can be overlooked by the actually legitimate stories and struggles of some of these characters.
That and the cast is phenomenal. Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman. The list goes on and I don't really think anybody was awful in this movie.
The movie made me crack up a lot and gave me a fantastic movie to watch with my girlfriend.
The movie does get bogged down with the billion characters and some of the stories that didn't really need to be in there or weren't developed enough. But again, a lot of that can be forgiven with the writing and characters. I think its definitely one of my favorite, if not my top, romantic comedy.
I think the more I think about this movie, the more I really do like it. I'm still not incredibly wild about the main character but in the analysis' I've read about this movie, I understand why the Coen Brothers went the direction they went with Marge.
Putting that aside, the dialogue and characters in this movie are a great combination with the story just in general. Its a great crime drama with a lot of dark humor and some great moments. Steve Buscemi is great in it and so are a lot of the other characters.
The only huge problem I have with this movie is the accents. And its something that puts the movie apart. It may just be a personal annoyance I have with that accent, but I wouldn't say it totally takes away from the how good of a movie Fargo really is. Definitely check it out. Its great.
I didn't really think I was going to like this movie. I was kind of worn out of Tom Cruise and didn't think he could pull off the action hero anymore. Man I was wrong. While the story isn't really the most original or incredibly creative, the charisma and performance of Tom Cruise really makes this movie just fun and a great action, crime thriller.
It feels a little weird putting this before Fargo but not only did this movie not have that stupid mid western accent, it also reignited my faith in Tom Cruise. The movie just had a fun vibe to it, kind of like an old 80's crime thriller. The plot wasn't a big conspiracy or over the top, it was just fun and kind of simple. Sure it has its problems, like what the hell Robert Duvall? But it was good and definitely worth a watch, if not worth buying.
I love Denzil Washington, I love Robert Zemeckis, and I love the movie Flight.
Flight is a story about a pilot who is an alcoholic. One of the planes he flies crashes and the rest is him dealing with the legal repercussions of the crash and his alcoholism. It gives (in my opinion) one of the best representations of alcoholism I've seen in a long time.
Denzil brings the same awesome performance he always does and the movie really is a great drama. Like I said in my review, I have mixed feelings about the ending but I think it really did tie up the movie really well. Overall, its a great film. Now one of my favorites.
I think this made my top 10 for two reasons. The first, its a great film. It was a great reintroduction to Batman and really made DC comics come back into the light and begin to start making better movies. (I'm not saying they're 100% up and running but its a start)
But not only that, it gave us a different look at comic book movies. Yes we can do them how they've been done for the past 20 or so years but at the same time, they can be grounded. Seen from a different angle, and that's exactly what Batman Begins did. It created a universe where Batman could (with some slight embellishments) could exist.
And that kind of brings me to my next reason. Its good to look at the past and see what works for this movie and what could work for the future. I love speculating. I love wondering what Ben Affleck's Batman is going to be like when that movie finally comes out and I want it to be good. I think this movie got into my top 10 list because it got me thinking about what worked for this movie and what Zack Snyder could learn from to make Ben Affleck prove me and a lot of people wrong about him. Granted this is all speculation but I put this movie here because, not only is it a spectacular movie, its given me something new to look at and think about.
We're getting into my top 4 movies of the month and really, these are movies that made the month fun. I think all the movies I watched have affected me as a movie viewer but I think we're getting into movies that may take a rank as some of my favorite movies of all time. So while fourth place may seem odd for a movie that could very well win Best Picture, its still a phenomenal movie.
12 years a slave is just gritty and real. It shows the South and slavery as it probably actually. People viewed black people as property. It just shows the terror and atrocities of slavery and just leaves you feeling like absolute shit because of what you just watched. I think Django Unchained had elements of that but that movie had the opportunity to kind of make it better with humor and satirize it with the dark humor.
12 Years a Slave is no satire. I called it, The Schindler's List of American slavery (a term I picked up from someone else) and it really is. Its hard to watch and you just feel depressed at the end of it. It does have a great ending and I think I will eventually see it again, but I think that's why I put it as number 4. I recognize, its a phenomenal movie. But, like Schindler's List, I don't really feel the need to watch it again unless someone asks me to. Its not really a bad thing. Schindler's List is a fantastic movie and maybe the fact that I only need to see that movie and this movie once says something about its impact.
The first time I saw this movie, I had kind of mixed feelings about it. I felt it was really long and overly complicated. However, there's something about it that keeps bringing me back.
Is it a flawless movie? Absolutely not. But it is a movie that keeps me thinking. Its kind of like Lord of the Rings in that I need to be in the mood to sit down and just enjoy this movie. This probably means I won't watch that often but when I do I really enjoy it more and more every time I see it.
Besides that, the acting is really great. The movie takes a lot of risks with reusing characters in different periods of time and I think I enjoy that element of the movie a lot even though sometimes it looks silly.
It kind of reminds me of Doctor Who if it was put in a movie form. It makes me think and I begin to really enjoy the characters and I can really overlook the flaws the movie has.
I don't think this rank really reflects the review I gave the movie but it really is a complex and interesting movie. Worth checking out and bending your mind for a little bit.
Now I may be a little bias as The Hobbit was, and is, one of my favorite books of all time. I've said it before and I'll say it again, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings was to me what Harry Potter was to a lot of people my age. Just a clear icon of nostalgia that a film adaptation was something that I would love immediately if they did it right.
And they did.
Now its hard because The Desolation of Smaug is adapting the middle of a 300 page book and that kind of means the movie doesn't have a definitive beginning or end. Its just the middle of the book. It's also only adapting about 100 pages of that 300 page book. So the movie needs to have some additions onto it.
And they did that too.
It took me a while to get into this movie because I kept on thinking, "That's not in the book" "Neither is that" and while some of that got to me. I do realize that a lot of the additions are really good. I wasn't wild about Evangeline Lily's character but Gandalf fighting the Necromancer was awesome. I hated that they split up the dwarves but I loved expanding on the character of Bard. Even Legolas, the part I was sure was just a way to give Orlando Bloom another chance at a career, didn't bother me. It made sense and it was thought out. Every choice, whether it was in the book or not was considered carefully and most choices worked. Even the ones that didn't were minor enough that it didn't ruin the movie for me.
And by god. Smaug was wonderfully brilliant. I think the movie did what it could and while it wasn't as tear jerking for me as An Unexpected Journey was, it was still a great adaptation of 100 pages.
Now you may be saying, I guess this means Connor wants American Hustle to win Best Picture. And while I wouldn't mind that, at this point. That's not what this means.
The fact of the matter is that this movie is really damn entertaining. Its amazing that the plot of this movie is not a plot that you would think would win or is nominated to win an Oscar. And yet, the main focus is actually on individual performances. Everyone brings it in this movie and with those performances, it just comes together to make this really fun and really well made movie. Bale is awesome, Adams is amazing. Cooper is brilliant, Lawrence is awesome. I just don't really know what it is about this movie but I immediately put it on the top of this list.
Its unexpected, its fun, its sexy, its just an all around good time. I will be buying this cause its just a movie I want in my collection.
So that's my top ten. What do you think? Do you agree? Let me know, comment and discuss below.
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