Movies of 2010

So now, that it is March, I can recap my favorite films of the previous year. I could say this is because February is full of crap releases and now I can finally look forward in the year, but it is more to do aboot laziness. I finally watched all the "good" movies and now I can do a proper list.

Do some of the Oscar nominees and winners make it into my list?!

Read more to find out.

Yes, yes they do.

SOOOOOOO here is my top 5:

1. Scott Pilgrim vs The World- My opinions on this have been made clear. It is my #10 favorite film of all time. Epic is epic is epic.

10/10

IMDB: 7.8

RT: 81%

2. Toy Story 3- I literally just explained my opinion on it on the last post. It is #22 on my all-time list. And the only other movie to get a 10.

10/10

3. Shutter Island- Somewhat hypocritically, this was released last February. It is a psychologically thriller featuring Leo DiCaprio going crazy. He is a US marshal looking into a missing patient from a high-security insane asylum. Things start going weird. There is a lot of tension. And the ending is awesome as it sure be for this genre. The last line....well penultimate line.... of the film is very awesome and resounding. The ending could have been a bit more ambiguous, but w/e. Also Mark Ruffalo is there, and he's a cool guy. But this is Leo's film as with any movie he is in. He should have totally gotten an Oscar nom.

9/10

IMDB: 8.0

RT: 68% (Whaaaaaaat?)

4. Inception- Also, discussed this yesterday.

9/10

IMDB: 8.9

RT: 86%

5. Black Swan- I totally mentioned this movie earlier.....when could it have been?

9/10

IMDB: 8.5

RT: 88%

Also, these:

6. The Fighter- Mentioned yesterday.

9/10 

IMDB: 8.1

RT: 90%

7. Kick-Ass- Nick Cage is actually awesome. Crazy violence that I wasn't expecting honestly. 

9/10 

IMDB: 8.0

RT: 76%

8. Easy A- A high school comedy that was actually great. Emma Stone is cooli-o. Has some great jokes and dialogue.

This scene problably wins it:

Parents that are actually funny, whatddaya know...

8/10 

IMDB: 7.2

RT: 86%

9. The Kid's Are All Right- I totally had a separate review for this, go find it.

8/10

IMDB: 7.3

RT: 94%

10. 4.3.2.1.- I will discuss it in the following section.

Guilty pleasures of the year:

Movies that maybe aren't so great, but I enjoyed.

4.3.2.1.- Take place over 3 days. But follows 4 friends, who are attractive ~20 year old girls as evidence of this poster. Also, they're British.....thought you'd like to know. They do they're own thing, and you see some of them in passing in interesting situations. When the plot-line of one character reaches a certain points, the film goes back to the beginning, but then follows another person. It is very entertaining. There is an overarching action-y plot, which isn't all that impressive, but the things that happen in between is interesting. Also, all of the girls find moments when they need to be scantily clad, which is always cool. It is entertaining, and that's all I need some time.

8/10

IMDB: 5.9

RT: 36%

Repo Men- A great action movie. Jude Law's character repossesses artificial organs. Then in brutal irony he gets an artificial heart and falls behind on payments. He goes on the run! Intense fighting. And the cool thing is that there is a twist at the end. Maybe I should have seen it coming if I payed more attention, but it was still pretty awesome. Just sort of mindless action for the most part, but I had fun with it.

8/10

IMDB:

RT: 22%

Disappointment:

Date Night-  Stars Steve Carell and Tina Fey so it should have been epic. But it was just mediocre. Oh well.

6/10

IMDB: 6.4

RT: 67%

Also, I was really excited for True Grit, so, eventhough it was good, I was hoping for a lot more.

Whatcha reading there?!

Picture is not related, but I think it is hilarious.

Also, Hot Tub Time Machine (7/10). Watch it!

Also, as well include the top 3 for the last decade:

2009:

1. Watchmen 10/10 (#32 all-time)

2. World's Greatest Dad 10/10 (#38)

3. Up 10/10 (#52)

Also, Mega shark vs Giant Octopus  10/10 (#57)

Such a great year

2008:

1.  Wall-E 10/10 (#28)

2.  Moon 10/10 (#43)

3. Bender's Big Score 10/10 (#47)

2007:

1. Sügisball (Autumn Ball) 10/10 (#42)

2. Jan Uuspõld läheb Tartusse (127 Kilometers) 10/10 (#56)

3. The Bourne Ultimatum 9/10

Estonia FTW!

2006:

1. The Prestige 10/10 (#2)

2. Stranger Than Fiction 9/10

3. The Departed 9/10

2005:

1. Sin City 10/10 (#34)

2. Kohtumine tundmatuga 10/10 (#37)

3. Corpse Bride 9/10

2004:

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 10/10  (#1)

2. Anchorman 9/10

3. Der Untergang (The Downfall) 9/10

Also, Mean Girls 9/10. Guiltiest pleasure.

2003:

1. Underworld 10/10 (#30)

2. Kill Bill Vol. 1 10/10 (#41)

3. Love Actually 10/10 (#46)

2002:

1. About Schmidt 10/10 (#15)

2. Catch Me If You Can 10/10 (#20)

3. The Bourne Identity 10/10 (#48)

Also, Cheats 10/10 (# 50). Another guilty pleasure.

2001:

1.  Battle Royale 10/10 (#7)

2. Amelie 10/10 (#11)

3. Monsters, Inc. 10/10 (#31)

2000:

1. American Psycho 10/10 (#40)

2. Meet The Parents 10/10 (#59)

3. Memento 9/10

Straight trickin' yo!

I don't usually buy games at launch, but when I do, those games are epic. And in this situation, the game was a game that I have actually mentioned before. From the creators of the 2nd greatest franchise of all time, Phoenix Wright:

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective- I won't go into detail, except to say that it was totally worth the day one....well day three purchase. It will most likely contend for best of 2011. I guess it mostly depends on what Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City and Ms. Splosion Man are like.

But I will discuss 2010 in gaming, not so much the industry, but rather my favorite games. I don't play that many new games due to lack of funds. Last year was surprising though, since I did buy multiple new games.

Also, this post may be boring with the lack of pics and videos, but I have still not mastered the art of video capture for games, and though some are also on the PC, I don't feel like going through the trouble of screenshots and videos, so ya...

And here are the best of the best:

1. Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley- Twisted Pixel is officially the greatest game developer. Well, if the Fire Emblem series or Ace Attorney series had a more specific group of people, instead of just Nintendo and Capcom respectively, they'd get the award, but no. Twsited Pixel with The Maw, Spolsion Man, and this.... too awesome. 

This is probably the funniest game I have ever played, outright laugh out loud. The gameplay is pretty decent,- a side-scroller where you move with one analog stick, aim and shoot with the other. It was fun, and challenging at points, but really, the reason it is so awesome is the humor. There are four differently designed levels (different types of comics). One of them is the silver age, which is an older type of comic, so there are racist and sexist jokes. How great is that! Plus being completely confused in the Manga world at Hent High lolololololololololo!

10/10 And my favorite game of 2010.

2. Halo: Reach- Halo is an awesome franchise and it got even better. The addition of armor abilities is awesome. Armor Lock FTW! The campaigns story is actually coherent this time, and I can sorta understand whats going on. There was an achievement for beating it on the hardest difficulty on solo, which was actually very tough. But on some of the more difficult parts I was able to be a brave warrior and run away.

The multiplayer is still old Halo- fun as hell. Plus, I am a beast. Bungie went out with a bang

If they only had bots for offline multiplayer......

10/10

3. Plants vs Zombies- Well technically it was first released in 2009, but that was for the PC. The xbox version came out late this year, and since it does add some new things, so it isn't just a port, I decided to include it. Plus I get to actually talk about it. It is  (mostly) a tower defense game where you command a variety of plants and you must defend the house from the zombies. Pretty straightforward. There are also other mini-games that are very fun. 

The xbox version added multiplayer, both co-op and competitive. The co-op is stupid, because with another new mechanic, which I don't feel like explaining, it makes the game tooo easy. The competitive seems a bit imbalanced, favoring the zombies, but I didn't play it enough maybe.

 I don't deduct from a games score because of difficulty, unless it is ridiculous hard which makes it unplayable, but the only real flaw with this game is that it is too easy. Once you unlock some of the more powerful plants, the later campaign missions are easily beatable. I spend most of my time with endless survival (my record is 50 waves) that gets to be pretty intense eventually. And also other minigames that are "endless" like Vase Breaker and I, Zombie.

Also, the game went Portal style for the end credits, which is always awesome.

10/10

Colossus are awesome

4. Starcraft II- I haven't played the campaign, or the trials, and I'm bad at the main multiplayer game. I'm not an Real-time strategy kinda guy. But I understand why it is considered so great, so I gave it a 10. Trying to be objective here. But that doesn't mean I don't have fun with it. I play the custom games, like Star Battle (2-dimensional space combat.....doesn't actually make sense, but whatevs), Desert Strike (I don't know how to explain it....you build the buildings, and the units spawn at certain intervals), and Nexus Wars which I have renamed Sentry Wars (its like Desert Strike, except it can be won by just building one unit, the Sentry).

10/10

5. Ace Attorny Investigations: Miles Edgeworth- The next installment in the Ace Attorney series. Unfortunately, this doesn't have Phoenix Wright isn't in it, but there are other old characters who make cameos. This game is actually very different. There aren't technically any courtroom scenes, rather you walk around the crime scene and not point-and-click as with the others. You still get to interrogate witnesses 'n junk. Story wise it isn't as great as the others. So it is one of the weakest in this fantastic series, but the new gameplay is quite cool, so it gets bonus points and gets a higher rating than Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice For All.

The humor is still there, the story somewhat, the base gameplay. All in all, it's fantastic

There is a Miles Edgeworth 2 that currently tops the Japanese sales charts, so there is hope for it to come to America, YAY!

8.5/10

Didn't make the top five, but I still want to mention:

Record of Agarest War- First RPG I've played in a while. And man, is it crazy long! I thought I beat the final boss, but nooooooooo. The plot is typical with you trying to rid the world of evil. But if follows through 5 generations and at the end of each generation you choose from 3 women to be your bride, affecting the stats and looks of the offspring. The gameplay is like Final Fantasy Tactics, which gets a bit repetitive after like 10 battles. There are a shit-ton of different monsters; weapons and equipments to forge and find. It's ridiculous. Outside of battles there are events, where you read dialogue, which is something I have no problem with, consdiering I love Fire Emblem and Phoenix Wright games (yes, I mentioned them again) It is very sexed up, which of course is awesome. 

And there is one "lady's man" character that traverses the generations (this is possible, because the main hero is human, while the side characters in the party of different races who live longer) and he just generates hilarious dialogue when talking to lady's. Also, the heroes of the 3rd and 4h generation are also hilarious. This game gets a lot of bonus points for visuals.

FF- This got the runner up award on x360a.org for hardest achievement list of 2010.

This game is also getting a prequel or sequel or something later this year. Yay!

8.5/10

Other:

Bioshock 2- Actually, started just recently playing it. The shooting and plasmids have been improved from the first one. The environment is as great as ever. I am still unsure about the story, so that's why I haven't rated it yet. I also haven't really tried the multiplayer outside of one match. But the main things are still there, so considering I gave the first one a 10, this has the potential of a high rating.

Call of Duty: Black Ops-  Didn't play the campaign at all, but the multiplayer was really fun. Not the deathmatch so much, but the other game types.....I feel like I have discussed this before.

And the following games I really haven't played, but I bought them, more so for other people. I don't think they'll get too high of a rating though.

Perfect Dark and Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Music of 2010

Well, now that's it's February, I'll try to recap the previous year in entertainment/media and whatnot. Can't do movies unfortunately, since I have yet to see most of the award season movies.....actually I've only seen (out of the best picture nominees for the Oscars) Black Swan, Inception and Toy Story 3.

So I'll start with music. It was a very solid year, considering I broke out of my shell slightly, and got some albums of artists that a previously didn't have. I usually like to stick to a couple of bands, and don't have motivation to venture too far. Though I have yet to get over my laziness and listen to Daft Punk's new album.

So here are my top albums of the year, and some others too.

1. "Night Work" by the Scissor Sisters
Not a very mainstream band. I went to their concert in Estonia last summer and it was faaaaantastic. I actually liked them before I went, though didn't actually ahve any of their albums. "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" was their biggest hit, though it is not how I first heard of them. I saw a top 10 countdown of best covers on MTV UK or something in a hotel. And their cover of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" was on the list, and it is an amazing song. BUT neither of them are on this album. The Scissor Sisters have two other albums, which aren't that good to be honest (though they do have a few great songs). But this one is amazing. The songs are much more upbeat and noticeably different from their previous albums.. For almost all (except for like 2) of them, you can't help but bobbing your head along. They are pretty reminiscent of the Bee Gees, because the lead singer, Jake Shears, sings really really high in a lot of songs. Also they are all gay, especially Jake, who is the gayest man alive, according to one of the songs below....I'll let you guess which one I mean. And I guess the genre is electropop, according to iTunes atleast.

My favorites include:

Any Which Way
Something Like This
Harder You Get

Also this one has a pretty "interesting" music video, great song too:
Invisible Light

And this song also has a music video:
Fire With Fire

I like to use iTunes' 5 star rating system....using that the average is 3.19(6).

2. Plastic Beach- Gorillaz
Maybe this SHOULD have one, but my inner-hipster would not allow me to make such a mainstream album
the victor. Also, as great as it is, Plastic Beach is not their best album. All of them are very solid, but the best is probably Gorillaz which sadly, looking back now, doesn't win the best album for its year. Oddly, their weakest album, Demon Days, which is swill awesome, wins best album of 2005. So I let somebody else win this time. Their first album had the misfortune of coming out in 2001, but I'll get to that later. Each album of theirs are different, but not in a bad way.
The first single from the album is amaaaaazing.
Stlyo -heeey, who's that person in the video? Is that...? No!
With talks of beats in the later albums, this song definitly has the best beat. It is simple and constant, yet effective.

The whole album is solid, with diverse songs, though other than Sylo, there aren't any completely amazing songs, unlike the previous albums which had 3-4. It is much more balanced

Though it does have some very good songs like:
Empire Ants
Glitter Freeze
To Binge

And this also has a video:
On Melancholy Hill

And yes, the average is higher than the Scissor Sisters' album and is at: 4 exactly.

3. Sir Lucious Left Foot The Son of Chico Dusty- Big Boi
Big Boi is on of the members of Outkast. SO ya, I downloaded Outkast's previous albums. Why? Because they are rate incredibly high on metacritic. As is this album. Though it isn't as consistantly solid, it has 3 just amazing songs.
Tangerine
Turns Me On
Fo Yo Sorrow
Big Boi raps very well; smooth. The beats are also sick/sweet/ballin/banging/etc. The lyrics are also good, considering what the lyrics of rap and hip-hop usually are

Average is only 3.43

4. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy- Kanye
What's with these long titles?
Yes, I picked Big Boi over Kanye, eventhough everyone seems to think Kanye released the greatest album of all time. Of ALL TIME!
Though he is #4 on my list, so it is a very good album.  But like the Gorillaz album, it doesn't have anything amazing. But POWER  (the song is actually 4 min, but this shortened version captures the best part) and Monster are very, very good, the later not so much because of him, but rather Nicki Minaj.
Though one of the best lines go to him:

Have you ever had sex with a pharoah? I put the pussy in a sarcophagus.
Now she saying I bruise her esophagus.


Actually, Monster is amazing. If Jay-Z wasn't there it would be epic, but whatevs.

Other good songs include
Blame Game - mainly due to the long monologue by Chris Rock at the end
Runaway
Dark Fantasy


Overall, very good beats and rapping, but there is an issue with the lyrics. Pretty minor, but he sings in his songs, about the injustice towards black people and being in coach n stuff, but he is crazy famous, I really doubt he has any worries in his own life like that. Not saying it isn't tough for blacks with racism n stuff, but he makes himself out to be the victim.

Average: 3.82...and yes, a lot higher than Big Boi, but the best songs from Big Boi's album >>>>>. Kanye's

5. Imperfect Harmonies- Serj Tankian

I was quite disappointed, consider the Serj's first solo album, after SOAD split was awesome in so many ways.  This album isn't bad, it just isn't close to the level of the last album, though the last one was one of the best albums of all time (average of 4.25).

In this album he goes away from rock, and more towards the

Borders are...
Disowned Inc
Left of Center
Wings of Summer

are all very good.
No songs are spectacular, but it is a solid album

Average: 3.82. Which surprised me, because I don't think of this as such a great album.

Oh ya, some of you may be thinking, where is the other "best album ever"?
Well, I'm sorry to say, but Eminem's Recovery is the most disappointing thing all year. The rapping is sloppy. The lyrics aren't as fun/funny/ridiculously awesome. The previous album Relapse is considered his worst, but it still had some good beats, and ridiculous songs like Insane. Also, the beats are terrible in most songs.
The only really good songs are:
On Fire an amazing beat
Cold Wind Blows
and I guess WTP



Fun fact: the best album of all time, is Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP. Average rating: 4.79, almost perfect.

Such a solid year that there was actually 5 albums worth mentioning. Of course it is no 2001 which had:


2001

So it doesn't have 5 good albums, but it does have three amazing ones.

Toxicity- System of a Down (4.29)
Probably their best album; it is hard to choose between it and Steal This Album!. But this one has the nostalgia factor, since it is the firs talbum of theirs that I got.

Mutter- Rammstein (4.18)
Probably their best album, though Reise, Reise is also very very good.

Gorillaz- Gorillaz (4.18)
Their best album as well.

So there, that's an amazing top three. 2001 was a great year for music.



Wow, this was longer than expected

Recap

Everybody love statistics right!?

Anyway, a recap of my top 20:

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. The Prestige
3. Léon (The Professional)
4. Fight Club
5. Full Metal Jacket
6. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
7. Batoru rowaiaru (Battle Royale)
8. The Matrix
9. The Truman Show
10. Scott Pilgrim vs The World

11. Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amelie)
12. The Fox and the Hound
13. SLC Punk!
14. The Nightmare Before Christmas
15. About Schmidt
16. The Big Lebowski
17. Toy Story
18. American Beauty
19.Groundhog Day
20. Catch Me If You Can


The average year for my top 20 films is: 1996.5
Not a lot of older movie there. But I believe we shouldn't hold on to the classics in the way that people do. Like Citizen Kane: Yes, it may have been revolutionary in technique and the changed the way movies are made, but that doesn't mean it holds up to today standards; technology has advanced since then. I can appreciate it, but it isn't that enjoyable to watch and does not belong on my favorite list.

Also, my taste isn't really that bad. Taking the average of their ratings on IMDB and RT we get:
8.115 and 85.9%

And since we all like statistics, I also took an adjusted average or w.e. It's like they do in figure skating, where they discount to the highest and lowest score, so it's more average I guess. Well instead of 6 judges I have 20 movies, so I removed the top  and bottom 3 and got: 8.18 and 87.1%
The consensus is in: I have a good taste in movies.

And finally, I would like to shout out to other movies that got a 10 from me (there is 59 movies with that rating at the moment)

I have a couple Estonian movies. I may be a bit lenient in giving them 10s, but nonetheless, they are great:
29. Viimne reliikvia (The Last Relic) (1971)
37. Kohtumine tundmatuga (2005)
42. Sügisball (Autumn Ball) (2007)
56. Jan Uuspõld läheb Tartusse (186 Kilometers) (2007)

Also some movies that aren't considered so great that I love:

30. Underworld (2003)- I think I've mentioned this movie enough as to why it is so awesome
(31% on RT)

35. Dumb and Dumber (1994)- I don't understand why this movie was critically disliked; it is hilarious. It does have some dumb humor, but so many great quotable lines:

Oh, and also Jim Carrey.
(63% on RT, which isn;t tii bad, but this movie deserves so much more)

50. Cheats (2002)- A low budget high school comedy that is wonderful. It is pretty unknown. The leads haven't accomplished much after, though I have noticed them in one or two other great movies. It doesn't have a rating on RT though it does have only 4 reviews all rotten. And only has 5.9 on IMDB.

57. Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (2009)- Just as the title explains, this is a movie that defines the genre "so bad it's good". Not a big fan of that genre, but this movie is hilarious. The over acting, the cheesey special effects, the ludicrous plot and inconsistencies, and this:
(RT: 16%)

SO there. That's done with.

Oh, before I forget

So Jim Carrey is the king of comedy. He hasn't done too much great comedy since Yes Man which was three years ago...also not his greatest work. However, he proved that he's still got it on SNL some weeks ago:

And there was the Black Swan parody, but I prefer the last one. The Black Swan one is a better showcase of Carrey, but this sketch is funnier overall. Plus his (and the others') face is sooo hilarious, plus the robotic motions are spot on.

But, as I probably previously mentioned, Jim Carrey is actually a great drama actor, as proved as well as my favorite movie of all time

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)-

Jim Carrey plays Joel Barish, who finds out his girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet) has gotten him erased from her memory, so he decides he might as well do the same to her. Then we take a journey, where Joel travels through his subconscious on a backwards sorta timeline. It also features a "present" reality timeline with Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood. (Fun fact: It seems, to me at least, that Mark Ruffalo became popular after this film. It was after this that he started being in more mainstream movies: Collateral, Zodiac (eventually The Kids Are All Right and Shutter Island) though he was in a bunch of stuff before)
So the plot is somewhat complex. If you don't pay attention at the beginning you can get a bit lost. It's not a dream within a dream within a dream type of deal, but it still has the subconscious involved. It has some warping things going on (visuals, special effects n junk)

It is a romance movie with comedic elements (not a romantic comedy; the drama dominates). This movie asks the age old qestion: is it  better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all? It also provides a sorta answer at the end.

Jim Carrey is great
He goes from this

to this

This movie really does fill out the entire range.

throughout the film. Of course Kate Winslet is also fantastic and was even nominated for an Oscar.


Why is it my favorite? Features one of my favorite actors, is a beautiful love story with a unique of presenting the plot (via sci-fi-ish elements), has parallel stories, and also has some comedy. *The funniest line/moment  actually doesn't belong to Carrey, rather a very minor character, though Carrey does have a very funny scene later in the movie, but I don't want to spoil theses two scenes. ESotSM also has some great lines like
"Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating. Plus the ending....well sort of ending. It is actually 20 min before the end. Anyway, there is one scene which I think is the most beautifully sad thing in cinema ever.
Also, it takes place in the greatest place on Earth: New Jersey. w00t!

And for those of you wondering about where the title comes from:

IMDB: 8.5
RT: 93%

Medalists

3. Léon (The Professional) (1994) -

So in true hypocritical fashion, where I don't like war movies and mobster films in the last post, because of the despicable protagonists, this movie is aboot a hitman Leon played by Jean Reno. It also features a 11-year old Natalie Portman.

Someone's crazy happy!

*This scene isn't in the theatrical cut.


And also there is Gary Oldman as the antagonist dirty cop. He is an enigma for me, as an actor. I am unable to recognize him in any film. I don't know it's him untill I look it up or sth. He looks so different in Nolan's Bataman movies, The Fifth Element and the lots of other stuff he's been in. Maybe it's just me.....

So Mathilda's (Portman) family gets murdered (not a spoiler, happens in the first 20 min....basically the introduction). So she seeks refuge with Leon and wants to also become an assassin like Leon to get revenge. It is an interesting relationship. In some aspects Leon is more of a child than Mathilda. Also, there is some odd sexual tension between them. Initiated more by Mathilda. This is more apparent in the director's cut.



It doesn't actually go thaaaat far.


Why this is so high on the list? I guess it's just because of its interesting, compelling story, great performance by all the leads (Jean Reno is badass to the max), and moments of great humor.



Interestingly, this movie has many references to A Clockwork Orange... also Full Metal Jacket. I guess Luc Besson (writer/director) liked Kubrick, as everyone should.

Sorry for the poorer quality. Also, I wanted to edit a couple of clips together to make like a Kubrick film v Leon comparison, but windows movie maker was being a bitch.

So all I have is text

Leon drinks lots of milk like Alex and his droogs in  A Clockwork Orange
Oldman's character mentions Beethoven an important figure in A Clockwork Orange
Mickey Mouse bullshit a line both used in this film and Full Metal Jacket
IMDB: 8.6
RT: 78%

2. The Prestige (2006) - I actually had a spoilerific post about this movie, so I'll just keep it short.
Chirstian Bale and Hugh Jackman are rival magicians who sacrifice much for their art. Their porformances are superb, especially Bale, who may have a terrible batman voice, and is a jerk, but is still one of the greatest actors. Unlike the other higher movies on my list, it lacks humor. It is pure drama and suspense.

Told you I'd keep it short.

IMDB: 8.4
RT: 75%

And soon the winner will be revealed.

I don't feel like coming up with a title

you ARE the DEMON (3:24-3:56) ....just watch the whole thing

WHY?!

Because WYNAUT!!!!`

Ahem....

5. Full Metal Jacket (1987) - Kubrick was like, da best. It's hard to pick a best movie from this, A Clockwork Orange (my #22), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (my #24), The Shining, and 2001: A Space Odyssey ....for pretentious jerks.
The reason this is my favorite out of his movies, was the successful combination of sirius subject matter and great humor.
Like this:

Full Metal Jacket suffers from the opposite flaw as Scott Pilgrim: it doesn't end. It is divided into two parts: part one being boot camp, and part two the Vietnam War itself. This movie would probably be at the top of my list, in the one spot, if those parts were considered separate. The first half had great humor as shown before. As well as one of my favorite lines - the "jelly doughnut scene" that I have posted before, and shall do again:

But the first part ends dramatically and shockingly. The movie could have ended there. Of course it would have only been 45 min long, but epic nontheless.

The second half isn't bad, it's just mediocre. I am not a fan of war movies in general. Maybe similarly to my general dislike of mafia/mob movies that are so popular. I am not a fan of depicting such killers as "the good guys". There are exceptions like this.
The second half starts out strong with this scene, which has some very famous lines:

The rest is bland enough that there isn't much to talk aboot. Just showing the horrors of war 'n stuff.



All in all the epicness of the first overrides the second half, and it falls into the 5 spot.

...le sigh... so much potential

IMDB: 8.4
RT: 96%

4. Fight Club (1999) - Well unlike the previous movie, which has some serious undertones, this one.... not so much. It's just more a bunch of entertainment from beginning to end.

Features Edward Norton as an insurance guy who meets Brad Pitt and then his life gets flipturned upside down. Mahem ensues.
It has a lot of very well known lines. Especially the rules of fight club:

Also, Helena Bonham Carter is the love interest. Personally I think she's hot in a weird sorta way. In this movie atleast

Maybe I just have weird taste...

But I guess the hottest of the film has to go to Brad Pitt.

Now that's a man.

Or maybe Meatloaf instead?

BOOBIES!

This movie also has one of the greatest twist endings. The kind, unlike Usual Suspects, that you can watch the movie again to notice clues. Sadly, it was spoiled for me the first time I watched it, but it was still superb.


It tries to have some philosophical questions asked- the whole issue of people not living their life to the fullest, potential...... but I don't really care when watching this its just a fun, entertaining movie, with great actors.

IMDB: 8.8
RT: 81%

Candy & Bloodshed

Let's dive straight into the chocolate river:

More like the chocolate river of BLOOD!

7. Batoru rowaiaru (Battle Royale) (2000)- If a movie has opening credits like this, greatness is apparent:

That also saves me explaining the premise of the movie (why shit is happening). What is happening is this: a bunch of high school senior equivilent students are but on a desrted island. They are given weapons. And the last one alive wins. Japanese be crazy! It's actually somewhat similar to the new-ish book series aimed at Hunger Games [First one is solid, second one is decent, haven't read the third one]. I guess this plot is done a bunch, not sure what would be considered the first one. Anyway, let's let this lady explain the rules in more detail:

This movie is basically filled with over the top violence. It should be a sirius movie, but instead Battle Royale  is hilarious.

So even though there is this over the top violence, people dying left and right, and humor, there is also the sense of drama. A connection is formed with the main characters and you hope for them to survive. The movie also includes some side characters with their own compelling plot lines. Also, there are flashbacks and backstory 'n stuff.
The movie is goddamn entertaining. Isn't that whats important?

Some people even find time to relax on this island of death.

Battle Royale is actually based on a book of the same name by Koushun Takami. The book is actually better in sense. You don't see the over the top violence. But the collars are more relevant and more characters have personalities. Also the ending and part of the main plot is altered for the movie, and I prefer the book version. Also, the book's cover is better than the movie's.





Sadly a Hollywood remake was scratched because of the Virginia Tech shooting and the sensitivity about killing high school students. A country of prudes I say.


IMDB: 7.9
RT: 82%

6. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)-
FF (fun fact...or frivolous ferrets or w.e): The oldest movie in my top 20. Actually, it's tied with three other movies for oldest in my top 50 (the other two are A Clockwork Orange at #22 and Viimne reliikvia (The Last Relic) at #29)

A large contrast to the previous movie. 5 children, along with their guardians are locked in a crazy man's mad house and are killed off one by one off screen by painted midgets.....wait, that may give you the wrong impression....

AAAANyway, this movie is based on Roald Dahl's (one of the greatest authors of all time) book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  It is a fantastic tale full of wonders, as per usual with his books. It makes the movie transition very well. The set design is superb.

That's a goddamn chocolate waterfall (not raw sewage)

The cast is also good. Gene Wilder is Willy Wonka. And he is fantastic. I actually don't really like him so much, as he has a tendency to yell, which is annoying. But he is a good fit in this movie. And the two main scenes where he strains his vocal chords are actually awesome.

Yes....this is a movie meant for children.....
Also Phoenix Wrong remix (6:00)

The "you lose. good day, sir" line has been remixed a bunch on youtube, btw.


The boy who plays Charlie looks like an adorable kid and plays the good, perfect little boy. Quite bland and uninteresting, as these saint-like characters tend to be. The other brats however are just that. Obviously terrible children.

The movie has great singing numbers in it (I guess this film is sorta like a musical....maybe) including four excellent songs by the Oompa Loompas (which were terribly butchered in the remake). Oh ya, there was that remake by Tim Burton in 2005 in starring Johnny Depp as Wonka. Let's just ignore that movie, since it isn't nearly as good as the old one. And lets listen to the musical stylings of midget clowns.
*Also, I guess these are pretty major spoilers, but w.e. It's not such a big deal for a movie like this.*

Also that "dance" in the last one. I'm bad at editing, so I won't point out which one specifically...I'll maybe do it in the future, who knows....

IMDB: 7.8
RT: 90%

Ummm...next week....theme....uhhhh....both movies are pretty violent. Don't live up to Battle Royale....but still...

Into the single digits we go

Let's just go for it, and not have some long irrelevant paragraph at the beginning. It just seems that at the beginning of each post I need to have some sort of joke or something. And I always manage to get off topic.... Extremely off topic. But I guess it is like in books, where the first sentence/paragraph need to catch the reader, entice them to continue on.....
......
... goddamnit! I've done it again.

9. The Truman Show (1998) - Jim Carrey is obviously one of the greatest comedy actors. It has got to be between him and Will Ferrell for the all-time best. BUT Jim Carrey also has some sirius roles, like The Truman Show. And he is so great in those movies as well. It seems a shame that he hasn't done more movies like The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, and another not-yet-to-be-named movie.
But ya, Carrey's performance is great, and considering what roles get nominated, let alone win the best actor Oscar (I'm looking at you Anthony Hopkins for Silence of the Lambs), it is astounding he didn't even get nominated. He should have won damnit!
Another movie with a very unique plot. Seems to be a trend on this list, eh? Jim Carrey is unknowingly part of a television show. A giant set has been built under a dome... well it's basically one town, with some surroundings. Truman (Carrey) lives is life, but there are cameras everywhere and all the other people are just actors. He is the only true man.... get it? HAHAHAHA. To him, his world is a stage... literally
(A Shakespeare reference!? Shit just got real).

Sounds like shows like Big Brother or any MTV reality show. But notice, that this was made in 1998. The movie makes the statement that people are too entertainment/TV driven that is only becoming more relevant as time go by. Somewhat similar to Amelie, this movie is way ahead of the curve. Obviously I'm not really listening to the message being conveyed. But that doesn't matter, as the movie is thoroughly enjoying anyway.
I may have been misleading, when I said this is a serious movie. It has a lot of comedy in it, but it isn't the usual slapstick and such that is present in most pure comedies.
It's more like the previous clip, and other such oddeties i.e. commercials

Also, the movie got nominated for 3 Oscars including Ed Harris for best supporting actor.

 

He has a beret, and he lost?! Blasphemy!

IMDB: 8.0
RT: 95%

And another story of altered "reality":

8. The Matrix (1999) -  Well, if you haven't seen it, you have to know about it at least, so I'm not going to delve into it. This movie is crazy iconic with a lot of quotable n stuffs. I'll just show a bunch of clips.

Keanu Reeves is great. Not necessarily a great actor....but he is just great, weather he is in the Matrix or on a speeding bus. But the real star of the movie, and series is Agent Smith played by Hugo Weaving. That man is bad-ass. Or maybe just has great diction. One or the other. There is just something about him. Also, he is so awesome that Agent deserves to be capitalized

These are from the first movie, the one that is so tooootally awesome:

The first confrontation of protagonist and antagonist:

Screw waterboarding, just have Hugo Weaving recite the dictionary to those terrorists:
 

These clips are from the much inferior sequels (however, Hugo is still awesome x infinity):

Best entrance ever? Yes!

Also, this little diddy:

Creepy-as-hell face anyone?

BtW, The Matrix basically invented the ever parodied "bullet time," or at east made it popular. Well, mainly these two clips.

The movie combines deep philosophical discussions by the few black people in the movie (Morpheus and the Oracle) ....and Agent Smith as well.... with pure badass action among the whites ... including Agent Smith. Take what you will from that,  I was just making an observation.
And to seal this movie review, the most badass scene in the movie:

IMDB: 8.7
RT: 86%

Oh, wait. I forgot one thing: The Matrix Has You.
Props to LegendaryFrog on all of his videos.

For next time there is no similar theme...rather too very contrasting films. Very contrasting.

And then there was two

Well these are technically numbers XI and X, but i figured, with my math genius brain, that if i do it in intervals of two, then I'll have 1st place left over for a separate post.

Also, I had finals and stuff...hence the lack of updates. Now that the winter break is starting, I'll try to be more consistent.
SOOOOO.....

11. Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) aka Amelie - Only one of two non-US films to make it into my top 20. This basically falls into the slightly over-saturated genre of indie romantic comedy, though it came out, as you may have noticed, in 2001, which is years before the genre got very popular. It features a quirky lady and some odd dude, and they fall in love. So it's like almost some Zooey Deschanel movie, except it's French. And I must say,  Audrey Tautou (Amelie) is just as adorable as Zooey.

Goddamn adorable!

The movie has a great, quirky sense of humor, via narration at times.

As I said....goddamn adorable.

A warm, happy romcom featuring a serious of odd events. The perfect film in a genre that, unfortunately, has become full of just awful movies.

IMDB: 8.6
RT: 90%

starting my top ten, I actually have a movie from 2010. How exciting:
or maybe "how fun" would be better, Hans Landa?

(Ah. He was just awesome. Oscar well deserved....we-ell de-serv-ed.)


Ahem! On to the next movie

10. Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010) - I  blogged about it, when I got the DVD....yes, I actually bought this movie. That's how great it is.
A good summery about this movie could be: The worst part of it was that it ended. I would give where credit is due, since that is not my original line. HOWever, this so called fan of the movie gave it a 9/10. How he gives any movie a 10 is beyond me.

Plot: Scott (Michael Cera) wants to date Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). To achieve his goal he has to defeat her seven evil exes. Simple.
The main criticism with this movie (other than old people, who don't understand video games/comic books) is that seven evil exes is too much; it gets repetitive. To that I say Wrong! (i think I've used that link before, but it's just too great). All the fights are different and awesome. It's complete with comic book style POWs and Street Fighter-like shots, split screen, etc. And after winning a fight Scott gets some coins.

Ready....FIGHT!

OW...My stomach lining!!

It features some cool cuts and edits accompanied with some "epic" sound effects. Similar too director Edgar Wrights other awesome movies Shaun of the Dead and  Hot Fuzz.

Also, for all you Micheal Cera haters out there, who say he plays the same character in every movie- the awkward teen. Scott is not the same. At times, yes, he is quite awkward, especially towards the beginning. But at times he gets pretty hardcore (fight scenes) and is sometimes a jerk.
The supporting cast is also great. Especially, Scott's gay roommate Wallace (Kieran Culkin). He provides some of the best lines in a movie full of epic things said. To be honest, they aren't really all that "quotable", but still in the context of the movie, there is a lot hilarity.

....all in all, everything is great. Visuals, cast, script, sound effects
oh, ya, and it has a great soundtrack. indie rock n' stuff (beck, etc).

Sadly, as I mentioned in my previous post, it wasn't a commercial success. My generation (and younger) being the target audience; people who play video games and read comic books (I don't read comic books actually, but i appreciate them). We, as a collective, don't really like paying for stuff when it's on the internet for free.

AND here... is my favorite moment:

IMDB: 7.9
RT: 80%

Next time we'll look at two movies, where what we see isn't necessarily real.
OOooo....what a tease. What could they be?! I'm excited for one.