- The Conjuring - I’m a horror movie fanatic. The way I see it, there’s basically three different styles of horror movies. There’s the campy, slasher flicks like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday The 13th and Halloween, the gory brutality of the Texas Chainsaw and Saw series, and the atmospherically frightening films that rely more on tension that gutting teen girls. While I’m a fan of all types, I definitely prefer the latter. I don’t watch horror movies to cheer for the killer because he’s slaughtering obnoxious brats. I want to be made to feel uncomfortable. To squirm a little at the permeating sense of dread befalling the main characters. My favorite horror movies for the most part all do a good job of creating that emotion. I had high hopes for The Conjuring and it exceeded my expectations. Demonic-themed horror is always interesting to me. The sub-genre includes some of the greatest scary films of all-time (The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen), some very good (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Last Exorcism) and many truly awful (The Last Exorcism 2 – the name alone kept anyone from taking it seriously). Director James Wan already has some killer horror to his credit, with the first Saw and Insidious. Plus Patrick Wilson has now essentially become the male Linnea Quigley. How could this not be awesome? The Conjuring did almost everything right. If you love horror movies, I don’t see any way you can’t appreciate this. It had jump scares galore, terrifying imagery, the sound editing was fantastic, just a great movie. I can’t recommend this enough.
- Gravity - The thing about Gravity is it’s more much an experience than an actual movie. It’s basically a 2 hour space simulator ride at an amusement park. Had I only seen this in my living room I don’t know that it would make this list, or if I would even remember seeing it a week later. It’s the only 3-D movie I’ve seen that lived up to the hype and made me actually care about 3-D. The story is just okay, as Sandra Bullock has the WORST DAY EVER, to the point where when things continue to go wrong you just basically have to chuckle, but the acting is top-notch and the visuals are unlike anything ever seen in the medium. If you told me that they filmed this movie in space with zero CGI whatsoever I would have no problem believing that. It was that good. If you didn’t see this in the theater (preferably on as big a screen as possible) then you really missed out.
- Pacific Rim - I freely admit that the geek in me is the sole reason I loved this movie. How can you not love Jax Teller driving a giant robot punching Cloverfields in the face? It’s loud, fun escapism at its finest. It isn’t going to be nominated for any awards (although it should at least get a nod for visual effects) and critics hated it but the kinds of people who don't like Pacific Rim probably also don’t enjoy smiling.
- Olympus Has Fallen -When it comes to reading fiction, one of my favorite genres is the counter-terrorism thriller, mainly Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp and Brad Thor’s Scot Harvath series. A few years ago when a Mitch Rapp movie was in the earliest development stages Antoine Fuqua was rumored to be the director and one of the main names being tossed around to play him was Gerard Butler. Well various attempts at a Mitch Rapp movie with different parties involved have repeatedly fallen apart. So what does Hollywood do? They give us Gerard Butler playing a character who might as well have been named Rich Mapp in a plotline suspiciously similar to an early Vince Flynn novel DIRECTED BY ANTOINE FUQUA. And despite the insult to the now-deceased Flynn, I LOVED it. It was fast-paced, brutally violent and wonderfully implausible. But most importantly it was entertaining as hell. A sequel, tentatively title London Has Fallen has already been green lit. And if the main character is named Hot Scarvath I’m totally okay with it.
- Fast & Furious 6 - It’s probably becoming apparent that The Academy and I don’t share a lot of the same viewpoints on movies. I like my movies fun, not overly serious and self-indulgent. The F&F movies aren’t ever going to net anyone an Oscar, but there’s a reason they’ve made almost 2.5 billion dollars worldwide. If I was going to rank the franchise I’d probably go 6,5,1,4,2,3. You know what made this one top the list of awesome? The Rock and Vin Diesel hitting The Legion of Doom’s finishing move on one of the bad guys. Next.
- World War Z - The Max Brooks novel is an amazing read. It takes place after a zombie outbreak has overcome the world and humanity has started to regain some semblance of control and is told in a series of interviews with an assortment of characters that played a role in the war against the undead. When the movie was announced people were pretty excited. Then details began to emerge of a huge deviation from the source material, over-budget spending, studio panic and last minute rewrites and reshoots. And the hype all but died. All us fans could hope for was something that wasn’t awful. World War Z was a very pleasant surprise. Much like 2012’s Jack Reacher, if you divorce yourself from the fact that you aren’t getting the faithful adaptation and take the movie as a separate piece of fiction it’s actually a damn good film. The “fast vs. slow zombies” debate is one that has merit, but with the military hardware and technology available today it’s hard to envision the slow, shambling corpses as much of a threat, despite what Robert Kirkman would have us believe. So the change to the ass-hauling ghouls worked here, especially when it gave us scenes like the Jerusalem wall breach. The “cure” also did not come from the book and was a nice twist. Plus you had some very creepy acting (the zombies in the WHO lab practically induced nightmares). The ending basically said “Stay tuned for the sequel”. And I will.
- Prisoners - This movie was dark and depressing and it forced many of us to ask ourselves how far we’d go to protect our children. A lot of the talk surrounding this movie was if Hugh Jackman’s character was justified in his actions. That’s a debate for another time (hint: yes) but then dramatic tension in this movie was incredible. It’s not often I’m this emotionally invested in a film’s outcome and that’s a testament to the story and the cast. There were a few things here and there that I could nitpick about (cases of snakes….really?) but I loved this movie, despite how icky it made me feel. Extra points for being shot in Georgian near where I live. And Paul Dano’s come a long way since being 1/3 of the tripod.
- Open Grave - I had no idea expect with this one and I’m still not sure I can accurately categorize it. It’s equal parts horror, sci-fi and suspense thriller. I won’t spoil the plot for this that haven’t seen it, which I’m guessing is pretty much everyone who will ever read this, but it’s the premise is built around an intriguing mystery that doesn’t unfold until the final few minutes. Basically Sharlto Copley’s character (no this isn’t a Blomkamp film) wakes up in a pit surrounded by dead bodies with no memory whatsoever, and soon meets up with a houseful of other amnesiatic strangers who also have no idea wtf is going on. This one will keep you guessing until the very end. Definitely a hidden gem that fans of any of the aforementioned genres should seek out.
- Out Of The Furnace - My opinion of this movie may be slightly swayed due to the fact that I was blitzed on Percocet at the time I watched it (double root canal ftw). I’m a fan of Christian Bale when he’s not doing Batman voice, Casey Affleck is criminally underused in Hollywood and Woody Harrelson is so good at playing a scumbag inbred junkie that I’m pretty sure his scenes aren’t scripted, they just filmed him without his knowledge between actual takes and included that instead. My wife thought this movie was slow, but I think a better term is deliberate, and the ending left a little to be desired but I enjoyed it quite a bit, and in a down year for movies this one slips onto my list. People who will not enjoy this movie include West Virginians as it makes their state look like the biggest hellhole on Earth.
- Hours - Another movie that fell below the radar, Hours is Paul Walker’s sad goodbye. For a man who will be most remembered as Brian O’Connor this movie goes a long way in showing that he had talent and depth beyond the popcorn action roles. The story of a father trapped alone in a hospital with his premature infant during Hurricane Katrina, Hours is basically Walker, alone in a hospital room with a beeping respirator and his infant daughter struggling to live. It’s hopeless and full of despair while being hopeful and inspiring. But most of all it’s incredibly compelling. Seek it out, it’s worth it.
- Star Trek: Into Darkness - I had a hard time choosing between this and Hours so I took the easy way out and cheated. I have zero investment or interest in the original Star Trek, the characters or their legacy and not being a rabid Enterprise fanboy probably makes it easier to enjoy this film. The visuals are fantastic, the plot is enjoyable albeit somewhat convoluted and Benedict Cumberbatch has an undeniable charisma. He nailed it as Khan and Smaug this year, two villains who couldn’t be more different. The casting for these reboots has been spot-on and Chris Pine continues to show why I wish he would have been Captain America instead of the dude who dated Janie Briggs.
Fruitvale Station – A powerful and
engrossing 3rd act didn’t make up for the dragging pace of the first
two. The last half hour alone is worth
the watch though.
The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of
Smaug – If this movie didn’t take place in the world of Tolkien and I could
detach myself from my affinity for the LOTR trilogy I would have like it
more. But I can’t, so I didn’t. At least I got to see Legolas kicking Orc ass
again.
Runner Runner – Almost overtook
the last few on my list to squeeze into the final spot but I just couldn’t get
there. A good flick, but I didn’t like
it as much as the others listed.
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