After a series of nine articles breaking down and researching the nominees, trends, snubs, surprises, and favorites from every award category, here is my finalized checklist of my 2012 Oscar predictions for the 84th Academy Awards.
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In a loose sequel to my last editorial on "romantic escapes" charting and outlining a date movie for every state in the United States of America, I offer you an international follow-up. The two-hour vacation of a good romance or a good date movie shouldn't stop at the borders of America.
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With a bit of research (thanks, IMDB), I have put together a fifty state tour of the United States of America through romantic movies. Every state is known for something (as the map above jokes) and their movies can be part of that. Listed below are some classic, favorite, unique, and sometimes odd romantic comedies and/or dramas that are either filmed in or set in each of the great states of our Union.
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The plot of Haywire kind of lives up to its name. It dances a little too much between the present and the past for the first half of the movie, taking too long for us to really get what's going on. That said, Haywire still manages to entertain us along the way thanks to blisteringly kinetic fight scenes involving Gina Carano.
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To me, Liam Neeson is channeling a darker and fiercer resolve than the other silver-haired tough guys like Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, and Steve McQueen that came before him. He's more rugged than Bronson, channels more rage than Eastwood, and is more stoic than McQueen's coolness. At this kind of game, he's better than any one of those guys would be if they were in roles like The Grey or Taken.
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Red Tails succeeds in telling a worthwhile true story of history with a flair for action that can only come from a guy who knows his way around the Force.
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, wrongfully on many levels, uses 9/11's tragedy to push a fictional story with fictional emotions to purposefully tug our heartstrings tied to a very real event. Blame the 2005 source novel by Jonathan Safran Foer first, but the 2011 film's exploitative use of such a recent tragedy is a cold ploy and a mean trick.
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To be a successful biographical film, one shouldn't veer too much from the formula. While variety is appreciated in an attempt to break formula monotony from time to time, The Iron Lady, based on the life of Britain's first female and longest serving Prime Minister of the 20th century, Margaret Thatcher, is all over the place.
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In honor of Friday the 13th today, I thought I would throw together a quick list of the best movie Fridays. We're spraying this notion to all field of Friday references, either in title, settings, events, or characters. If
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When I think of collections, I think of "hoarders," and there have been some unique, odd, twisted, funny, and great movie characters who fit the profile of either being a hoarder or a collector. The best and first example comes from cinema history's highest regarded film, 1941's Citizen Kane.
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In all of my efforts as a novice critic to see as many movies as possible, even I can't see everything and miss some winners. Here are a pair lists from me. The first list are the movies that I saw and reviewed that I feel, in the grand scheme of 2011, are overlooked and under-appreciated. The second list are the movies I myself overlooked and missed the chance to see in person.
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Here are some movies I recommend to beat the winter blues. Since two hours is not enough a vacation, I've decided to pair my suggestions up. Four hours or more ought to make for a nice winter escape on a weeknight or a weekend afternoon. Enjoy!
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