My Top 10 movies of 2010

Sometimes I like to write pointless blogs that everyone else and their mother will also write over the course of the next two weeks.  This is one of those times.

I like movies.  Some would say it's an unhealthy obsession.  I would however say shut your face I'm watching a movie.  Clearly I win this argument.  Below is a list of my favorite movies of 2010.  As a disclaimer I have not seen True Grit, Black Swan or Yogi Bear and so they are not on this list and as a result I will state here and now that they are complete crap.  These are also in no particular order though I am sure I do have a few absolute favorites.  Click on the titles for links to their trailers if you are still not convinced of how right I am, though rest assured I am 100% right.

1. Scott Pilgrim VS The World

I would like to first take a moment to tell you all just how much I hate Michael Cera.  That man is single handedly dumbing down America and killing the art of the leading man.  If he died in a fire tomorrow I would be happy for two reasons: 1. he would be dead. and 2. People would stop talking about an Arrested Development movie like it is a good idea.  Now with all that being said Michael Cera and his whiny pathetic act are perfect here.  There was no greater reason for this horrible human being to exist than to make this movie.  All of the Evil Exes are great, Edgar Wright made the perfect graphic novel movie.  Everything about this movie is wonderful, and unfortunately it is almost all thanks to how perfect Cera fits in.  Kieran Culkin is also brilliantly cast as Scott's gay roommate and he steals every single scene he even breathes on.


2. The Town

I already had a feeling I was going to love this movie going into it because of the cast involved but I didn't realize just how much I was going to love it.  Coming off the wonderful Gone Baby Gone I was convinced that Ben Affleck just got lucky when it came to his directing but with The Town he really impressed me and he showed me some of his true talent.  He's not the best actor in the world but when he surrounds himself with the likes of Jeremy Rennar, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, and Blake Lively's breasts you see less of his failures as an actor and believe him in the role.  This is one of the movies where for some reason you find yourself rooting for the bad guys to succeed and that is all thanks to some wonderful storytelling.



3. Inception

Is it a dream or is it real?  A better question is does it matter?  The answer to that is no.  Christopher Nolan has proven himself once again to be infallible.  Traditionally when you dip yourself in the Superhero genre pool your career doesn't come out the same.  From my vantage point most rarely survive.  Meanwhile all Nolan does to follow up one of the greatest comic book movies ever is create this mind altering experience that treats our thoughts like it's own personal marionette where we have no control at all.  Dicaprio shows us once again why he is one of the finest actors of our generation without an Oscar with his leading role.  All in all this movie was designed for multiple viewings and unlike other movies you can say that about, this one is well worth it.


4. Kick-Ass

There are very few times where I can wholeheartedly recommend a Nic Cage movie.  Honestly it's really only this one and MAYBE Family Man. It's just he has a very specialized brand of crazy that either really works or REALLY fails.  Thanks to some clever writing and a really clever Adam West impersonation his crazy really works.  That said though the real star of this movie is Hit Girl played by Chloë Grace Moretz.  I mean seriously how can you not fall in love with a movie that features an 11 yr old assassin with a mouth that could teach a few sailors a dozen or so new swears?   The answer there is you can't.  It's brilliant.  It's over the top in all the right ways and is the perfect deconstruction of the comic book genre.  I'm really disappointed more people didn't see this in theaters, so to make it up to me go rent it right away.


5. The Social Network

Sure they splurged a bit with the facts.  You really can't make a biopic these days without doing just that.  You also can't make one without making the person who's life you are chronicling a complete and total douchebag. Those are just the rules of the biopic.  The dialog is crisp and mesmerizing  in a way that only Aaron Sorkin knows how.  David Fincher is able to bring emotion and life to a story that is just about as mundane as mundane could possibly be.  I managed to sit through a two hour movie about Facebook and not feel like my life was robbed of me and that is an amazing accomplishment.  Jesse Eisenberg deserves a lot of credit too for getting me to care about a man that is so pompous and self absorbed that in most settings I simply wouldn't.  And I can't not mention Trent Reznor's amazing score.  It turns out he can make music that doesn't scare me.


6. Toy Story 3

Pixar has really made this really nasty habit of making movies that make me cry like a little girl.  From top to bottom Toy Story 3 would have to be one of my favorite films from the company that can't seem to do any wrong (this sentence will be null and void once Cars 2 comes out but I digress).  In a world where the third movie in any trilogy is most assuredly the worst (Return of the King was a fluke) it is refreshing to see one that doesn't crap on it's predecessor's legacy and actually manages to complete it.  There is really nothing much else I can say except thank you Pixar for your continued dedication to brilliance and for making movies for the right reasons.  I hope eventually everyone else can live up to your example.


7. Hot Tub Time Machine

I will not sit here and tell you that this movie is brilliant.  It's not.   In fact it's quite impressively stupid.  However that doesn't stop it from being hilarious.  It's self awareness of exactly what it is is refreshing and in it's own way what doesn't let it become terrible.  Sure it focuses too much energy on John Cusak and his search for love instead of Rob Colddry or Craig Robinson but honestly you can't completely blame them.  From beginning to end this movie gave me exactly what I expected from it and it did it with charm and semen jokes.  Well played good sirs, well played.



8 Catfish

There isn't much I am going to tell you about this movie.  In fact there is nothing I am going to tell you about this movie.  I will tell you that for the 48 hours after I saw this movie I lost all faith I had in humanity.  No, I didn't have a ton of faith to begin with but this movie killed it.  You owe it to yourself to watch this movie.  Just do it.  And not just because it's marketing told you to, but because I told you to.



9. Iron Man 2

This spot was a tough choice for me but in the end Iron Man 2 won out over Tron Legacy because while Tron was beautiful to look at, IM2 was better acted and flowed seamlessly from the first one.  Also my love of Scarlett Johansson in the skin tight Black Widow outfit did not hurt either.  The chemistry that seemed to be missing from Roddy and Tony Stark was remedied by the inclusion of the amazing Don Cheadle.  Robert Downey Jr is also astounding and proved once again that he really is the only man for the role of Tony Stark.  Yes the movie had it's flaws but once again it's a comic book movie and for that I can easily forgive it it's ttransgressions and flimsy plot devices and side stories.


10. Buried

It's a movie in which Ryan Reynolds is on my screen 100% of the time.  On what planet did you people not think this would be on my list?  In all seriousness though this movie was intense and riveting.  At a little over 90 minutes it is the perfect length for such a brave and unique movie idea.  It's just you and Ryan trapped in a box in the Iraq desert with just a cell phone to survive.  The tension builds perfectly, the ebbs and flows of the emotions brought about through the ordeal are incredibly suspenseful.  Just a top notch effort all the way around.  Did I mention it's Ryan Reynolds in a box?  It's like the writers of this movie found my Christmas list and turned it into a suspense movie.



Honorable mentions:
Tron Legacy
Red
Cyrus
Four Lions
Tucker And Dale VS Evil
Trotski

New blog

Alright so I have once again entered one of my many phases where I need another blog. Once again it is a movie blog because - hey why not? I will essentially use this blog as an online catalog of my movie collection where I will write reviews of all the movies that I own.

Now I know exactly what you are thinking "Allen, if you own these movies that means you spent money on them and therefor you had to like them and so aren't reviews kind of pointless?" To which I say, shut your face. Clearly you forget that I own Alvin and the chipmunks, Alex & Emma, Blankman. No one likes those movies.

In a way this is a continuation of my resolution last year, except I don't have a deadline for watching them, and I don't have a particular order for them to go in, and the reviews will be longer and singularly reviewed instead of large groups of movies like I did with my resolution write-ups I stopped caring about after the letter F.

Anyway feel free to stop by Allen's Movie Stash and find out what I am watching this week.

I just...

deleted my movie blog. I hadn't written on it in forever and if I am going to be honest with myself I probably wouldn't. I liked the premise for my movie blog, old movies being reviewed instead of the movies of the now, but I came to the realization that it is better suited for a column on a blog instead of a whole blog. I just couldn't quite think of topics to write about and because of that it also effected a bit my writing on this blog. You might not have noticed it but, to me at least, it was there. Maybe Mom N Pop Video Shoppe (I really love that title) will be back, maybe it won't. Either way it was fun while it lasted.

On a semi-related subject I bought a new blu-ray player that can play my netflix instant queue. I'm not going to lie my kids* are going to have to be pretty awesome in order to supplant this as my greatest achievement.**



*when I have them.
** I'm kidding of course. No kid will ever be as awesome as this blu-ray player.

What the EF?

I watched a lot of movies recently so I could catch up. Here are the E's and F's of my collection.


In alphabetical order- E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, Eragon, The Family Man, The Fast And The Furious, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Fifth Element, Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Best Movie: Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I absolutely love this movie and one day hope to recreate it in my every day life.

Worst Movie: Eragon. Okay there were so many things they could have done with this to make it good and the cast was there but instead it fell flat and came across cheesy. How do you screw up Jeremy Irons and John Malcovich in the same movie? HOW?

Favorite Movie: The Fifth Element. It's a beautiful message and a wonderful story, combined with some of the most breathtaking visuals ever done in a movie either before or after it. Timeless.

Most Surprisingly Good Movie: The Family Man. It stars Nicolas Cage and yet it didn't suck. I know that's hard to believe based on his recent track record but no he actually is good in this.

Most Surprisingly Bad Movie: Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas. I am chalking this one up as simply being out of season for watching it because I know around Christmas time I absolutely love the Gift of The Magi acted out with muppets.

Most Surprising Movie I Don't Own: The Exorcist. The absolute perfect scary movie. I have already praised my love for this movie enough early on in my blog so I won't again but that is more the reason why I am surprised I don't own it.

Why In The HECK Do I Own: Honestly I know why I own every single movie on there and I am not embarrassed by any of them, yes even Emmet Otter.

And with that I am all caught up with my blog updates for my resolution. Next up, G and H. Wish me luck there's a lot of bad out there with those ones.

I can't think of a clever title for my D movies

I have a lot of catching up to do with my resolution and I am actually surprised how long this has taken me. It has become increasingly easier for me to just watch my Netflix movies instead of my own movies when I come to a movie I really don't want to watch. I also had my first scare of this whole thing when I got to Die Hard 2 the disc was missing. Turns out whoever borrowed it from me last forgot to put the movie back in the case. Thankfully Netflix was there to save the day.


In alphabetical order- The Dark Knight, Death At a Funeral, Definitely, Maybe, Deja Vu, Delirious, Die Hard, Die Hard 2 Die Harder, Die Hard With a Vengeance, Live Free or Die Hard (Note: I put this one in as Die Hard 4 because I hate the Title Live Free or Die Hard), Dirty Dancing, Dirty Love

Best Movie: With so many good movies to choose from I am going to have to go with The Dark Knight as the best movie. It is simply a wonderful dark and twisted movie that proves that comic book movies don't have to play nice.

Worst Movie: There are a few movies in there that are extra horrible but I think for worst movie I will have to pick on Deja Vu. There were too many plot holes filled in with gibberish and way too many characters saying or doing something very, very stupid in it. And it just got under my skin.

Favorite Movie: This is an easy one for me: Dirty Dancing. I have a lot of fun and wonderful memories of this movie growing up. I was continually tortured to the soundtrack when I was growing up but it is through those memories I will always have fond memories of this movie. (if I am taking nostalgia out of the equation the actual answer to best movie is Definitely, Maybe)

Most Surprisingly Good Movie: Delirious. Now I am a huge fan of stand up comedy which has already been discussed and this is a classic Eddie Murphy stand up movie. However I wasn't quite sure how well it would stand the test of time. Would the things he talked about still be relevant to today? And would it still be funny? The answer was for the most part yes. I was slightly put off by his blatant homophobia that he opens the show with but then I remembered it was the 80's and that's just how things were.

Most Surprisingly Bad Movie: Death at a Funeral. This movie had a lot of hype thrown at it from friends but in the end I just didn't get a lot of it. Maybe I just hate British humour. I did enjoy bits and pieces of it but not enough to warrant watching again.

Most Surprising Movie I Don't Own: Dogma. With my obsession with Kevin Smith and his movies one would think I would own them all. Apparently I don't, which is a shame because Dogma is quite good.

Why In The HECK Do I Own: Dirty Love?????? This movie was atrocious on all levels. The writing was weak, the jokes fell flat, the love story had no structure. I had no feeling for the characters that is required to make a romantic comedy work. And yet I own this movie. I have a feeling the fact that I once thought Jenny McCarthy was one of the hottest women on the planet played a pivotal role in me purchasing this horrible, horrible film.

So far I think I would call D my favorite of this movie watching journey, the good were really good and the bad weren't really that horrible with the exception of Dirty Love, and I will forgive them that one horrible movie for the sake of the rest.

Movies in the Key of C

Honestly I have been done with these for awhile now and I was just postponing writing about them because I didn't want you guys to think all I do is watch movies all day. I mean that is all I do when I'm not at work but still I want you to think I have a life. Anyway I have 8 movies that start with C and so here is the picture.

In alphabetical order- Catch Me If You Can, Charlie & The chocolate Factory, Charlie's Angels, Chasing Amy, Clerks, Clerks 2, Click, and Cloverfield.

Best Movie: Catch Me If You Can. Granted it doesn't have the best morals to it but I really enjoyed this movie. Tom Hanks is quite simply amazing and Leo actually made me like him which is a surprise.

Worst Movie: Charlie's Angels. Okay I remember when this one came out and really enjoying the campiness of it all, but for some reason or another I really, REALLY didn't like it this time around. Maybe I have grown past the hot chicks + Explosions = great movie phase.... or this one is just really stupid. (thinks) yeah it's just really stupid.

Favorite Movie: Chasing Amy, Clerks, Clerks 2 (tie). I love Kevin Smith. I couldn't simply choose between the 3 (gun to my head Chasing Amy) so I didn't, after all it is my movie collection so I don't have to.

Most Surprisingly Good Movie: Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Now I will admit to having very low expectations about this movie because I really haven't liked anything Tim Burton has done since Batman Returns but despite being twisted and creepy I actually liked the movie. Still doesn't touch the original but I still like this one.

Most Surprisingly Bad Movie: Click. Going in I didn't know what to expect. Sandler is touch and go in so many movies. He is either really good, or really bad. I wanted this one to be good though because the story had so much potential. One fat suit and happy ending later and I was thoroughly disappointed. I would have cut the crap about his fat slab, I would have gotten rid of the whole (spoiler but who actually cares?) it's all just a dream thing and ended it when he died. You still have the moral, and the movie would have been better for it. Not enough movies end sad these days.

Most Surprising Movie I Don't Own: Casablanca. As a certified movie nut how I don't own the single greatest love story of all time I will never know. It might have something to do with me being a boy, but as you will see later on that fact is kinda up in the air.

Why In The HECK Do I Own: Cloverfield. Okay I like monster movies. And I like romances. I do not like romances thinly veiled as monster movies. Do not give me Godzilla and turn it into when harry met sally. And yet, because I enjoyed a lot of the scenes and it did legitimately scare me at times I own this movie that as a whole I detest. Sometimes I don't get me.

Alright folks that is it for the letter C, I will be back with a Bruce Willis infused D list for you in the near future. In the mean time I suggest you check out my new side project and another blog that I write Mom 'n' Pop Video Shoppe. It's a movie blog that focuses more on older movies or lesser known movies that you may not have ever heard of. I will be essentially reviewing every movie that I watch until I get bored. This is where you see how big of a nerd I am and how I waste my free time.

I watched a movie

I know I talk about movies A LOT, but I still want to share this one with all of you. It is called "Dear Zachary, A Letter to a Son About His Father", and I discovered it through the blog filmschoolrejects.com and their little write up caught my eye and I decided I had to see this movie. I thought I was just going to watch a movie about someone with daddy issues but I was oh so wrong. What I witnessed instead was a moving, dramatic, emotional roller coaster that left me sick to my stomach with rage and confusion on how something like the events depicted in the movie were allowed to take place.

The story behind the documentary is actually quite simple. The director of the movie found out his best friend had died. As a tribute to him he decided to go around the country and interview every single person of whom his best friend had ever come in contact with. Over the course of the film it is revealed that his friend has left behind a son and now his film becomes a way for the filmmaker to share the person that was his father with his son. I am leaving out A LOT but I am doing that on purpose because I don't want to spoil any of this wonderful, heart wrenching movie. Right now it is available for streaming viewing on netflix and I recommend you go watch it. It is also available at any and every video store imaginable so if you don't have a netflix account you can still watch it. Shoot if you email me I will give you my sign in and password for netflix so you can watch this movie. THAT is how much I want you to see this film. Below is the trailer which I hope will lead you to want to see this film just as much as it did me. I can't promise you will enjoy the movie but I can say you will gain a new found love of those who care about you and love you through this movie. Please watch it.

temptation and overcoming

Confession: I love a good screwball mad cap comedy full of dirty jokes, filthy language and male bonding. Judd Aptow and Kevin Smith are two of the finniest filmmakers around and they can do no wrong in my eyes. I could watch the 40 year old virgin a million times and it would continue to be funny. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is one of the funniest movies I have EVER seen. Don't even get me started on Clerks 2. Once again they can do no wrong in my eyes and I will always support them as filmmakers in one way or another.

However, I have also recently realized that while I enjoy these movies with a passion I am constantly using this phrase with my friends "you don't want to see this movie, but it is SOOOO good!" or "this is so inappropriate but there are some good parts in it" my personal favorite was Forgetting Sarah Marshall "sure you see his penis 9 times but it was done for comedic effect and it was so awkwardly funny!" (yes I said that. multiple times in fact.) and I realized something today when I was listening to themovieblog.com's review for "I Love You, Man" a movie I fully intended on seeing this weekend, that I was most likely going to have to say those things again. I was going to tell people they shouldn't watch something because it was against standards I claimed to share with them, and yet I was fully going to enjoy and ignore my own advice.

Why should I be exempt from my own judgements? Why is it that I deemed those things appropriate for me and yet not for someone else? It was a double standard and hypocritical of me to suggest that I was above the standards I claim to follow.

Now don't get me wrong, I will still watch R rated movies. I have been and I have a feeling I always will be a believer that the MPAA is bogus and biased in their rating system (I might expound on this in a later blog if I have the urge) and that we shouldn't actually pay any attention to whether a movie is PG or R when it comes time to watch a movie. It is our duty as a consumer to pay attention to early discussions, watch trailers, read articles, essentially DO RESEARCH about a movie you have interest in seeing and judge for yourself if you think the content in it is appropriate for you or not.

Instead what I am saying is I am not going to watch a movie that I would tell any of my friends not to watch due to content.... in theaters. I added that last little bit partially because I know I will probably watch them on DVD eventually especially the ones that I already own thanks to my resolution. However I will not be purchasing them either, and with any luck I will reach a point in the near future where I will be strong enough to take all my inappropriate movies to Half Price Books and be rid of that part of my life. However until then... baby steps.

This post is brought to you by the letter B

Well this took a little longer than I thought it would but I finally finished with B which of course means it's time for another new update for my new year's resolution you have all clearly stopped caring about if you even did to begin with. Anyway here are the movies I watched.


Starting from the top Left - Bad Boys, Bandits, Barbershop, Batman Begins, A Bee Movie, Beyond The Mat, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Black Snake Moan, Blankman, Borat:Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, Bowfinger, Bring It On

I decided I was going to stick with these same categories that I set up for A just to help create some sort of uniformity to these posts.

Best Movie: Batman Begins. Quite simply this is the movie that reminded me that Batman movies can be good. Everything was excellent and just further cemented my love of Christopher Nolan.

Worst Movie: Black Snake Moan. Quite honestly I thought this movie had potential. Despite the fact that Sam Jackson appears in at least 800 movies a year I still basically give any movie he is in a chance. Throw in Christina Ricci and you have an amazing cast that usually brings the goods. Unfortunately the movie that had so much potential to serve as a metaphor for addiction and overcoming clearly just came across as a movie created specifically to see Christina Ricci naked and beaten severely as much as possible.

Favorite Movie: Borat. From the country bumpkin claiming that Borat should save his mustache in an effort to not appear to be a terrorist Muslim, and perhaps "pass as one of the EYEtalians" to the drunken frat boys acting like...well drunken frat boys, the beauty of this movie is that these people are real and it showcases the ignorance and bigotry we would like to pretend doesn't exist any longer in the country.

Most Surprisingly Good Movie: Bowfinger. All I have ever heard was how much this movie sucks. However I wound up enjoying it greatly. Admittedly this one you kinda have to be a movie buff to get all the jokes in it but they are still there, it's just a shame we live in a society where we expect the jokes to be blatant and over the top.

Most Surprisingly Bad Movie: A Bee Movie. Jerry Seinfeld what the hell were you thinking? Could you have fit MORE Bee related puns and play on words into an hour and a half? Yes I know it's a kids movie but come on! I haven't seen this much cheese and bad puns since that those horrible Flintstones movies. You could have done so much better, and yet here you are being horrible.

Most Surprising Movie I Don't Own: Bourne Ultimatum. I love the first one, I thought the second one was confusing and had way too much shaky cam though I wound up enjoying it more on my second viewing at home. I loved Ultimatum when I saw it in theaters. I am also a completest when it comes to series of movies so why don't I own this one?

Why In The HECK Do I Own: Blankman. This one I honestly do not even remember buying. It's just kinda always been on my shelf. I will admit to seeing it before and laughing a little. I was 14 most likely and as we all know most 14 year olds should NEVER be allowed to make entertainment choices. Still I sat there and I watched, and the entire time I thought to myself why did I buy this? I am not a Wayans Brothers fan. I only laughed when I was realizing just how stupid this is. Well I also laughed heartily at Derek and Kurt's reactions to watching this drivel with me as well. Though let's be honest, after watching the trailer below I am still not convinced this movie is real AND I OWN IT.


Alright that's all I've got for you today, the letter C is next and thankfully it's a little shorter than the last two groups.

It finally happened

Well to be exact I kinda thought it would happen, but I didn't think it would happen so SOON. remember that little new year's resolution I have? The one where I want to watch every movie I have in Alphabetical order? Yeah well I have watched my way through Batman Begins, which is good since it is so far into my list that I am still on pace to get this accomplished in time. Or I should say, I would be still on pace if I hadn't become me recently.

Let me explain. Since the inception of the movies challenge I have seen 16 movies. That was a great pace with me owning just 119 right? Just a little over 100 movies to go and not even a quarter of the way through the year.

Well I now own 135 movies.

In the last month and a half I have added 16 movies to my collection. I am back to square one!!!!!! Honestly I knew that I was going to be adding movies to my collection throughout the year. I even discussed it with the rules. I just didn't realize the freakish pace with which I would be adding movies to my collection. That's an average of 2.67 movies purchased a week! At this pace I will wind up adding a little over 144 movies to my collection by the end of the year. that's insane! What's worse is I am not sure I can stop myself. I mean my favorite thing to do is go to an electronic store or a video store and find cheap movies that I absolutely love and that I need to add to my collection. It's ingrained in me to ask for movies for holidays or birthdays. It is the one thing people know I would appreciate as a gift, almost as much as money.

So of all those people who questioned why I made such a silly resolution one good thing has already happened because of this silly resolution. I have discovered I have a problem. I knew it existed but I did not know the extent of it. Now that I am aware there is only one thing I can do. I need to control my spending specifically I need to stop buying DVD's. This does not mean you are not allowed to give them to me, I will always accept new movies from friends or complete strangers. Will I actually be able to do this? Probably not, but it is worth a shot.

On a side note her is a short list of movies I have decided I need to own that I don't. Feel free to get them for me.

Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Twelve
Ocean's Thirteen
Conan the barbarian
Predator
Silence of the Lambs
Fight Club
I,Robot
Castaway
The Abyss
Robocop
Commando
Black.White.
Man On The Moon
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Forrest Gump
Batman (Tim Burton)
Batman Returns
Pineapple Express
The Exorcist
Terminator
Terminator 3
Transformers
The terminal
Gremlins
The orphanage
In bruges
Son of rambow
Choke
Frost/Nixon
The Wackness
Slumdog millionaire
Close encounters
Toy story
Toy story 2
The fall
Iron man
Band of brothers
Wall-e
When Harry Met Sally
300
Braveheart
2001: A Space Odyssey
Zoolander
Godfather Trilogy
Lethal Weapon 4
Spinal Tap
Animal House
Blues Brothers
Airplane!
Good Will Hunting
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
40 year Old Virgin
Elf
Star Wars Saga
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
Chasing Amy
Dogma
Mallrats
Jersey Girl
Zach & Miri Make a Porno
Sixteen candles
American graffiti
Back to the future trilogy
Indiana jones quadrilogy
Aliens
Wizard of Oz
Stardust
X-Men Trilogy
Willow
Bourne Trilogy

I think it's lists like this that caused me to have this problem in the first place.

This post is brought to you by the letter A

Well I thought I would have had something interesting to talk about in between movie posts but it turns out no my life is quite boring. Instead I now provide you with the wonderful bit of information that is a continuation of my resolution. I have made it all the way through the A's! 12 movies down. Let me break down the viewings that I made -


Starting from the top Left - Accepted, Aeon Flux, Alex & Emma, Alien, Alvin & the Chipmunks, American Gangster, The Amityville Horror (2005), Antitrust, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, Artificial Intelligence: A.I., Austin Powers International Man of Mystery, AVP Requiem.

I've decided to break this discussion into categories in order to skip over the boring stuff and keep it interesting. Let's hope that actually works.

Best Movie: Easily the best movie in this set is American Gangster. they managed to convince me that a man smuggling heroin into the states in order to sell pure dope was a good guy. that isn't easy to do. Denzel is amazing simply put.

Worst Movie: This one may surprise people but the worst movie in this selection is Alex & Emma. It was a jumbled mess that didn't make sense. the leads had no chemistry at all. It was just horrible.

Favorite Movie: Alien. I could watch this movie every single day for the rest of my life and be content. It was a wonderful WONDERFUL relief to watch in between two steaming piles of crap in Alex & Emma and Alvin & The Chipmunks. This one is different from Best because while I thought American Gangster was a wonderful film and above the rest quality wise, I don't know how many times I could watch it and not get tired. Alien i have no such issue. Also this is my own list and I make the rules deal with it.

Most Surprisingly Good Movie: Artificial Intelligence: A.I.. I mean I knew I liked it the first time I saw it but I forgot how much I liked it. The story and subtext drives the human heart and really gets to the viewer. Sure it's a little weird and disjointed at times but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and will recommend it to anyone to watch.

Most Surprisingly Bad Movie: I wanted to like Antitrust. I really really did. Instead I found myself lost as to what was going on and what motivated the characters. The main plot point revolved around technology so convoluted and pointless that I had no idea why anyone thought it was something people wanted.

Most Surprising Movie I Don't Own: Quite simply my favorite movie of ALL TIME, Animal House. I will wind up owning this by the end of the year.

Why In The HECK Do I Own: Alvin & the Chipmunks. I mean I know how it came into my possession but I don't know WHY. I know I'm not their target demographic but I enjoy a kids movie every once and awhile so I gave this one a chance. I regret that. My only solace in my life right now is the knowledge that I can't watch this monstrosity again.

Alright well that about covers it, next up is the B's and I'm actually looking forward to most of these, it will be hard to pick a least favorite.

Revisting my Resolution

Okay so there has been a couple votes placed and since it's looking like a landslide I figured I would post a followup to my resolution. If you are unfamiliar to my resolution I direct you here.

Officially now the rules are as follows:

1. The movies must be watched in Alphabetical order. (for this purpose it's A-#'s)
2. If I watch a movie out of order I have to watch it again when it comes up in it's order.
3. Once I have watched the movie in order I CAN NOT WATCH IT AGAIN until finished.
4. The exception for #3 is if it is part of a group viewing where I have no control over the movie being played.
5. If a movie is added later in the year when I have already passed it's place in order it is added to the end of the list in alphabetical order.
6. TV shows DO NOT count, but rather will be added as a secondary goal depending on when I finish with my movies.

I kinda want to keep this short but at the same time I want to give you an update as to how I am doing. So far the rules have been pretty easy to follow though I admit that they are definitely set up to add difficulty later on in the journey.

I've watched 6 movies so far and I'm not even out of the A's yet. For some reason I expected to be out of the A's quickly and onto the B's. For those of you who are curious (and I know there probably is just me) here is a breakdown by the letter of how many movies I have for each letter:

A - 12
B - 13
C - 6
D - 9
E - 3
F - 2
G - 3
H - 5
I - 2
J - 3
K - 1
L - 4
M - 11
N - 1
O - 2
P - 3
Q - 0
R - 7
S -15
T - 8
U - 2
V - 0
W - 5
X - 0
Y - 0
Z - 1
# - 1

TOTAL - 119

I've also decided to do a blog post keeping you updated as to my progress every time I finish a letter. Just to keep me in check.

One of the main concerns from my friends was that I was putting a lot of time into this while neglecting physical activity and a social life. It is a very good and valid idea however I assure you that I am going to be doing more with my time than just watching movies. I am currently reading 2 novels, walking almost every day, still going out every opportunity that I have to be social and see people, and working 40 hours a week. If you do the math I only have to watch a little over 2 movies a week over the next year in order to be successful in this ordeal.* That's about 6 hours at most a week. I think I can spare 6 hours of relaxation time to watch a movie and not have my world fall apart.


*yes I am aware that is contingent on me not buying any more movies and the chances of that are slim and none since I have already bought/received 7 movies since making this goal.

Looking for a good scare?

Alright so in an effort to blog more I have decided to take one of my favorite subjects, movies, and apply a holiday twist to it and create a list. So here are my top 10 favorite scary movies. As far as I am concerned these movies are guaranteed to score you some quality cuddle time with pretty much any girl, which let's face it is the only real reason to watch a scary movie because it certainly isn't for the acting or the story.

#10 Jurassic Park
Alright so first things first you are absolutely LYING if you say Jurassic Park isn't scary. I know it isn't a slasher flick or a blood and guts torture porn flick that seems to crowd the movie theaters every Halloween lately but that definitely does not mean it isn't scary. All I need to say to prove my point is you take one look at the scene when Nedry dies and it's perfect arch of ealiviating all tention when he goes from a state of complete fear to letting his guard down (and the audience does as well) only to be shocked and scared when it turns out that little adorable creature he was just playing fetch with is a violent creature with a thirst for fat antagonist blood. The absolute best part of this movie though is that for the uninitiated to how scary it is you can totally pass it off as an action adventure movie and then *BAM* your date is in your lap begging for you to protect her from the scary dinosaurs.
#9 Misery
Kathy Bates is not allowed anywhere near my person EVER. it is really no surprise to anyone to say that Stephen King books make the perfect transition to the big screen and if I had to chose a personal favorite it would be Misery. The sense of helplessness that you feel for James Caan as he lays in that bed unable to call for help and at the mercy of the incredibly creepy Kathy Bates is just too much for me to handle sometimes. Throw in the sheer gruesomeness of the hobbling scene and you have yet another scarefest that doesn't require blood and gore to get it's scares in. And I for one appreciate that in a scary movie.
#8 Jaws
So every single Halloween I seem to find myself wanting to watch Jaws. I'm not entirely sure why as again while it is certainly scary it isn't your typical Halloween viewing choice. Generally it seems those are slasher flicks featuring human bad guys with knives hunting and murdering helpless humans much to the dismay of local authorities. Okay now that I wrote that I think Jaws pretty much is a slasher flick without the slasher. At my latest showing I actually had 4 people get up and leave due to the eating of a child. I would call these actions a success for any scary movie worth your time when the leaves are turnign orange.
# 7 Saw
Unlike the Saw movies that followed this one actually told a story and didn't overly force it's gore on the viewers so it is defiantely a favorite of mine. Is it gory? Yes. And while that usually is a big check in the "don't watch" collumn for me, the gore serves a purpose so i am more than willing to give this one a pass. Also the ending will absolutely blow your mind and on that alone I am saying watch this one this Halloween.



#6 Poltergeist
Another PG horror movie for me and this one I really do love. I mean not only is it scary to think about but it also serves as a warning against allowing the Television to take over your life and take care of your children for you. Maybe if Craig T. Nelson ahd been a better father the ghosts wouldn't have had the oppertunity to attack the family becuase the TV would have been off and he would have been playing with his kids. As a child raised by television I have to say that the notion of your TV coming to life and trying to destroy you is the scariest thing imaginable.

#5 The Omen
This just in: Children are scary. It's their natural state. overly stoic children are even scarier. Throw in the name Damien and I'm pretty sure you have nightmare fuel to last a lifetime. Especially if you happen to be a nanny or a maid for a family with a child named Damien.




#4 Evil Dead
Death can be funny. Death by tree rape is definately funny. Granted I am saying that as a man so maybe ladies don't find the idea of being violated by an Oak as hilarious as I do but that's okay because that means you think it's scary. Also do not get tricked, Evil Dead 2 is just the same movie with more of a budget. If you want a true sequel check out the incredibly awesome army of Darkness. Seriously if it were possible I would have Bruce Campbell's babies.


#3 Scream
So you have a scary movie with a big name actress Drew Barrymore in it. She's even on your poster so clearly anyone who has ever seen a horror movie knows she's your scream queen and she's gonna live forever. And then she gets gutted by the garage door before the openign credits. Wes Craven throws everything you know about the horror Genre in your face, explaining every twist and turn directly to you, AND HE STILL MANAGES TO SCARE YOU. Congratulations Wes, you certainly deserve every ounce of fanboy worship you recieve.

#2 Alien
So every single time I mention how much I love this movie my dad tells me the same story. When my parents were still married they went to see this movie due to my father's unantural love of all things Science Fiction. He left with bruises that perfectly matched my mom's hand on his thigh that lasted for 2 weeks. Now while it is true my mom scares pretty easily the mood and the damp dark nature of the spaceship only adds to this being the prefect scary movie. Any woman out there willing to watch this with me has my respect and will always have a date for Friday nights.

#1 The Exorcist
A few years ago they re-released the Exorcist in theaters for Halloween and I got very excited. I had never seen it before but it had so much hype behind it and so much praise everywhere I turned I had to see if it could live up to it. I went to a midnight showing all by myself. the theater was packed and everyone was ready to be scared, well except me. For some reason when something is hyped up so very much I imediately assume it's BS fanboys who have no clue what they are talking about and that it can't possibly live up to it all. I am proud to say that The Exorcist not only lived up to the hype but it exceeded it. I left the theater with chills and a distinct fear of something I don't even belive in. Success was made and a new fanboy was born. Also I got a little chuckle out of the fact that someone had vomited on the sidewalk outside the theater for some reason. This is quite possibly the only movie on this list that i would actually have to think long and hard about seeing again, not because it wasn't amazing because it was, but more because it scared me that much.

Alright so that is my list that I managed to finish 3 days late for Halloween. Now I am fully aware that all lists are subjective and you may disagree with it. That's okay. Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments. In fact please do tell me where I messed up. I want to know what you would take off the list and what you would put in it's place.

I know a good Bargain when I see one

Okay so this deserves a bit of a back story. About two weeks ago I was walking home and I pass by my favorite mom n' pop video store here in Seattle Scarecrow Video and I noticed in their window a flier that said "Huge DVD blow out sale" with a list of prices and whatnot. Quite honestly they had me at Huge DVD blowout sale. So I go in and look around to see if there is anything I want and can't live without. I wound up buying a total of 8 movies. The first three Harry Potter movies, the first 3 Saw movies, Made and Swingers. Now of these movies I will be honest and tell you I have only seen 4 of them, the first Saw and Harry Potter movie and then Made and Swingers. Still the deal was too insane for me to NOT buy them. 8 movies... $22. After tax. I decided I was gonna come back on payday and buy some of the movies I saw on sale for $30 that were regualrly $59 that were still out of my price range pre payday.

So it's the day before payday and I look into Scarecrow's windows to make sure the movies I want are still there when what do I see in their window? Why yes it is another flier. This time it reads "Even BIGGER DVD sale! All DVDs $4 or less! starting this Saturday!". Okay so I now know how I am spending my Saturday morning. There is ZERO way I am passing up this deal. There is one problem though - I lack any type of self control. My only solution was to bring someone in on my trip to the center of my wallet. I wound up recruiting Kurt to join me partially because he loves a sale perhaps more than I do, and partially because he knows my financial situation and wouldn't let me get in over my head.

Well Saturday comes and it would appear I wasn't the only one to see the flier and have the idea to come wait for the store to open to insure I get the movies I wanted. I get there right as it's opening and there are at least a dozen middle aged men there with all sorts of packaging materials from large bags to oversized boxes. Not surprisingly there isn't a woman in sight except for the ones working there. So it's pretty much a mad dash to the used DVD sections to try and get what I want and wouldn't you know it plenty of other people wanted just want I wanted (3 DVD box sets of 9 James Bond movies a piece AKA the best bargain there) and I missed out on all of them. Still I am determined to get some good movies. Before getting there I set my budget at $40 before taxes, meaning that if I assumed everything was $4 then I could get 10 items. I was content with this plan and I stuck to it until one fatal sentence was over heard by Kurt... "Pretty almost all the single DVDs are ringing up as $1, though not all of them so don't assume". I was pretty much lost from that moment on. Crap I haven't seen, and have no intention of ever seeing is now in my hand under the guise of "eh it's only $1." I went from 10 tops to just stopping once my arm felt like it was gonna fall off from holding them. one hour looking at the same 7 shelves of overstuffed used DVDs later and I came away with 26 movies which I will list later.

Anyway now with DVDs in hand I decide it's time to check out and I make my way to the counter and the wonderful young woman behind the counter takes my cases and heads to the back. I immediately felt sorry for all employees of Scarecrow video today. See the way they do it is they put empty cases on the shelves for you to bring to the front and then they go back get the disc and put it in the case. Now this isn't that big of a deal if you have one or two movies, but when 26 is deemed a SMALL stack of movies this suddenly became a daunting and annoying process. 20 minutes of looking in the back she finally found all my movies and took me to a register to check out. Now Kurt remembered the lady's dictation that some of them were $4 and not $1, so we devised a plan thanks to the intelligent plan of the old gentleman buying handfuls of used porn in front of us in line. We had them tell us how much everything rang up as so we could decide if the movie was worth it. My girl was okay with this and quite cheery through the whole process, Kurt was less lucky and it would appear his lady was definitely on the rag as she constantly lamented how much this sucked and how he should just grab the ones he knows he wants so she doesn't have to do her job.

So anyway my lovely and wonderful scarecrow rental associate, let's call her sally, makes two separate piles of DVDs for me, one pile is the $1 you might as well buy it it's so danged cheap pile, and the other is the $4 let's think about this before we go spending our life savings on this stuff pile. Thankfully I only wound up with 5 or so in the $4 pile and with a grand total after tax of $47 I was allowed by Kurt to make my purchase (he later told me $51 would have been too much over for his liking). In the middle of checking out a customer that was clearly impatient and ignorant to the intricate workings of a line cut in front of me to ask a rather simple question, and much to Sally's credit she helped him without making me feel like I was being ignored in order to appease captain jerkface. I loved Sally and I wish more retail workers were like her.

Alright so I will now be providing you with a list of the movies I bought along with their original sticker price and a ()'d price showing how much I paid for it, simply because I REALLY like bragging about how much money I saved.

1.Blade Runner $7.99 ($1)
2. The Waterhorse $9.99 ($1)
3. Eddie Murphy's Delrious $10.99 ($1)
4. Borat $9.99 ($1)
5. Saw IV $9.99 ($1)
6. Goldeneye $8.99 ($1)
7. Deja Vu 7.99 ($1)
8. Eragon 7.99 ($1)
9. Charlie And the Chocolate Factory $9.99 ($1)
10. The Ten $9.99 ($1)
11. TMNT $11.99 ($1)
12. Alvin and the Chipmunks $9.99 ($1)
13. Fastlane: The Complete Series $34.99 ($4)
14. Bee Movie $10.99 ($1)
15. The Italian Job $5.99 ($1)
16. The Others $6.99 ($1)
17. Cloverfield $9.99 ($1)
18. The Game Plan $7.99 ($1)
19. Reign Over Me $9.99 ($1)
20. Open Season $9.99 ($1)
21. 24 Season One $17.99 ($4)
22. American Gangster $12.99 ($4)
23. I Am Legend $14.99 ($4)
24. Man With the Golden Gun $8.99 ($1)
25. AVP Requim $12.99 ($4)
26. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie For Theater For DVD $13.99 ($4)