The World's End

The World's End.

The World's End is an apocalpytic-ish comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and for the 3rd time are teaming up with Edgar Wright who have collectively done Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Shaun of the Dead is a great comedy and one of my favorites of the zombie genre, while I enjoyed Hot Fuzz I didn't think it was up to par with Shaun. This marks the third and what some are calling the final film in the collection of Pegg, Frost and Wright collaborations.

Firstly, Pegg and Frost are on point with their performances, Pegg plays the cocky yet lovable ass who never let go of his childhood while Frost is his counterpart as someone who's thinking of the future and trying to better himself. The two together have proven that they're British comedy gold, between the Wright trilogy and Paul they've been hysterical for near a decade together. With Wright back directing it feels as if everything's coming to a head, fitting for the final installment. In this film, "robots" have replaced and replicated the people of their hometown and have discovered that Pegg and Co. are not themselves robots and go after them. Pegg's idea to continue the bar crawl is not as insane as it sounds as he, albeit drunkenly, gives a pretty solid reasoning for his plan.

Alright, but was it funny? In short, yeah it was. There were only a few times where I was laughing out loud, a lot of it was more like laughing to myself. I know that sounds like an insult, but it's not. A lot of the comedy in the film has to do with the witty remarks and banter between characters where if you fade away from the movie, you won't catch. This wasn't as funny as Shaun of the Dead, there was something really special about that film. Segue to next paragraph.

But there was something special about this one as well, it's funny, definitely but almost more importantly, it's heartfelt. Every feeling that gets projected at us that we as an audience are supposed to feel, feels very genuine and you do feel it. The anger between friends, the looking back at your younger selves and missing it, to making amends, it all feels too real. If this is the last film these 3 make together, which I hope it isn't, it'll be an oddly fitting one. There's a lot of reflection done in the film and you get the feeling that the actors and Wright did a lot of reflecting throughout filming it.

Overall: The movie is definitely funny. If you like the Pegg/Frost comedy then you'll definitely enjoy this, if you don't then I don't think The World's End will be the one to turn you on to them. I hope this isn't the last we see of these 3 together because as of now, they've made one of the funniest trilogies of non-related films ever. Wright and his actors are able to bring such emotion that's actually kind of incredible, especially for a comedy. In a way this movie is really a coming-of-age film but for middle-aged men(sorry ladies). It's a great time and I'm incredibly happy that You're Next wasn't the final movie of the 2013 summer movie season for me, and I'm glad that it was The World's End. After the movie, all you wanna do is get some friends together and crack open some beers and enjoy life, can't ask much more than that, can you?

Rating: 4/5, A Great End to a Good Summer Movie Season, Will Buy on DVD.

The Butler

The Butler.

The Butler is a film chronicling Cecil Gaines' 34 year tenure as a butler in the White House. Forest Whitaker plays Gaines who is inspired by real life White House butler Eugene Allen. We're treated to an eyewitness account to major American events dating from the Eisenhower administration all the way to the Reagan administration as Gaines serves from 1957 to 1986. The movie has an ensemble cast who all do do great jobs.

Being a historical movie, I was really hoping I'd like it, being a history buff and all. Thankfully, it delivered. Many people my find it slow and boring but just like Lincoln(yes, I just compared this to Lincoln) it's incredibly interesting and the dialogue not only drives the movie but is the focal point of it. Most of the plot and historical events are racially charged, ranging from slavery, civil rights, equal pay to the election of the first African-American president. That being said some of the oppression shown is hard to imagine let alone watch and the fact that this occurred not even 50-60 years ago is repulsing.

This is a short review because all in all, there's not a ton to say. Oprah, I believe, deserves at least an Oscar nomination for her part, she was that good. This Oscar season is shaping up to be a really good one so I don't think she'll get it but if she ever reads this she'll know I think she deserves it. One of the other surprising things about this film was the comedy, while it's not running rampant, it's there. Mostly between Gaines and two of the White House butlers, the banter the three of them share adds a lightness and comedic tone to an otherwise completely serious movie.

Overall: I can't give this much more praise than I already have, from this review and recommending it to many people, all that's left that I can do is buy it on Blu-Ray/DVD when it comes out. I'm glad to see this movie isn't being slept on and has won the box office two weeks in a row and without a ton of competition this weekend, it could win again. Flat out, see this movie, it won't change your life but being as young as I(19), it's good to see the racial tension of the 50s/60s in a cinematic way. Also the actors who played the presidents were surprisingly good, James Marsden got JFK's way with words down pat and Alan Rickman(Severus Snape for you Harry Potter fans) does a great job with Reagan. Go see this film.

Rating: 4.5/5, A Surprisingly Good Film, Will Buy on DVD.

You're Next

You're Next.

You're Next is a horror film about a home invasion. 3 masked killers, pictured in the poster above invade a home where there are 10 people, 6 of which are related, the other 4 are significant others of members of the family. There's not much to say about the movie because it doesn't give us much to say.

Firstly, the acting is abysmal. I don't mind bad acting in a horror movie when it's a B-movie and doesn't take itself too seriously(ex. Evil Dead[the originals] and pretty much an 80's horror film) but this movie is taken very seriously and the acting is distractingly bad. The only saving grace acting wise is Sharni Vinson who plays Erin. Secondly, the movie is crazy predictable, I was guessing what would happen with accuracy and the "twist" they throw in is seen from miles away.

But was it scary? Nope. I jumped at one scare and usually I'm a sucker for jump scares, they usually get me to jump but nothing in this movie was scary. The masks the killers use aren't half as scary as the film wants them to be, especially the lamb one, they became hard to take seriously. A home invasion movie is supposed to make you paranoid/scared to sleep in your house the night after seeing it and I can tell you, I'm not, at all.

For me, there were two saving graces. One, the dark humor in this was actually pretty funny, it came at the right moments and shockingly the actors had good comedic timing with it. Second, the kills were actually pretty inventive in this. I'm not talking Saw inventive but they're not your standard horror movie kills. There's one toward the end, I won't spoil it, but it's hysterical and worth probably half the price of admission. The other kills make the whole price of admission worth it.

Overall: This had the potential to be better or at least as good as The Strangers or Funny Games, two home invasion movies that were truly scary. Nothing about this was scary, I was lucky that the guy behind me in the theater didn't find it scary cause he was cracking some funny jokes and was probably more entertaining than the movie itself. I'm not really sure why this got a theatrical release, it should've been a straight-to-Netflix release, I'd say straight-to-Syfy but it wasn't as entertaining as Sharknado or Sharktopus. Nothing about this is refreshing to the genre outside of the dark humor but that's been making a comeback in horror as of late anyway. Lack of originality, lack of scares, lack of more than one not-terrible actor makes this a horrorble movie. I think we can all just forget that pun I just made, just like we can all forget this movie was made until it comes time for the "Worst Movies of the Year" lists start taking form. Don't be next to see this, seriously.

Final Rating: 1/5, An Insult to the Beloved Horror Genre.

Elysium

Elysium.

Elysium stars Matt Damon in the sci-fi action film directed by Neill Blomkamp. This is Blomkamp's second film, the first being 2009's District 9 which was a pretty good sci-fi movie so I was excited to see what he could do with a bigger budget and bigger stars. Jodie Foster is in this but she's not at the same time, she doesn't have a ton of screen time and I think anyone more or less could have played her character. Matt Damon kills it as Max who is forced to travel from Earth to Elysium in order to save his life. Elysium doesn't have a completely original story but it's captivating and Blomkamp does a great job into sucking you in to the not so futuristic world where Earth is a dump and Elysium is where only the rich thrive.

There's really only one word to describe this movie: badass. The action scenes are done beautifully with some of the kills being absolutely beautiful. Matt Damon once he becomes all half-cyborg looks awesome, like a modern-day Terminator or Robo-Cop. Solid acting all around, I'm glad things fell through with Eminem because knowing his previous performances I couldn't see him in the role of Max at all. The film also tackles some social issues such as healthcare, overpopulation, immigration/emigration and class warfare. The score of the film is actually quite good, it plays off of the dark tones of the visuals and compliments it with equally as dark music,

SPOILER. I don't normally do spoilers but this one is worth talking about. I'm very happy that Blomkamp went the more realistic route with the ending instead of the traditional "happy" route in killing Max. As the movie progresses you begin to realize that there really is no realistic way for the movie to end happily for him and I'm glad the director had the balls to do it.
END SPOILER

Overall: It's a great sci-fi movie that leans a little too much into science-reality instead of fiction. It's dark, well acted and incredibly well directed. After District 9 and now Elysium I'm really excited to see what Blomkamp has for us next. Elysium is straight awesome.

Rating: 4/5, Well Worth a Full Price Ticket and I Will Buy it On DVD.

The Conjuring

The Conjuring.


The Conjuring is a horror movie from director James Wan who's directed Saw, Dead Silence and Insidious, to name a few. So I was pretty excited for this as I love Saw and thought Insidious was one of the better horror movies of the last few years.

The film follows a couple who are the ghost hunters of the 70's who are both skeptical about the supernatural and usually "bust" whatever people think is haunting them. Obvious plotline is obvious, and they come across a haunting that is all too real and chaos, and haunted house horror movie cliches ensues. While this film is higher up on the horror movie scale that's more because of how low horror films set the bar these days, the last horror movie that I thought was actually good and actually scary was Sinister and that came out in October. What most horror movies really lack is an interesting story, which (thank god) The Conjuring has. While it's not crazy original, the two main-ish characters being hardcore skeptics of the supernatural brings a decently fresh perspective to the movie that we don't see too much these days. The acting is good enough, it's not Leonardo DiCaprio but it's a horror movie so who really cares?

Now, like comedies, horror movies only have one job, to scare you. So the big question is: Is The Conjuring scary? In short, yes. Now for the long answer. It's probably the scariest movie of the year but again I don't think an ant could walk under the bar that other movies have set. Except for maybe Evil Dead(the remake/re-imagining). It's been getting a lot of hype as being scary as hell with people saying they couldn't sleep after they saw it and all of this other nonsense. Trust me, if you're acclimated with horror movies and are a genuine fan of them, you won't find it THAT scary. All that being said there is some scary and even creepy things in the movie but they fall at the predictable and cliche times.

Overall: The story was pretty good although nothing too special. On a scare scale it probably gets a 6 or 7 out of 10 whic is pretty good seeing as how most are at like a 2. One of the better horror movies of the year but we also have the Carrie remake and Insidious 2 to look forward to later this year, both of which could make everyone forget about The Conjuring, but as of now, it's a good horror movie but not a must-see.

Rating: 3/5, Not Bad, Won't Buy on DVD.

Despicable Me 2

Despicable Me 2.

Despicable Me 2 is the sequel to 2010's Despicable Me which was a surprise hit that gave Toy Story 3 a run for it's money as animated movie of the year. Steve Carell returns as Gru, the former villain turned hero who along with his thousands of minions now have to save the world.

The Positive: This movie is very family friendly with a few jokes in there for adults but this is an animated movie where it rivals Pixar in their ability to make a movie appealing to children and adults pretty equally. This movie is very good, as good as the first? In short, no. It's on par with the first. While the first showed a lot of growth with his 3 adopted daughters this one chooses to really grow the character of Gru mainly through the use of a love interest Lucy, who also happens to be his new crime-fighting partner. In this sense the movie is a very good companion movie to the first. We also get to see a TON more minions than ever before and they are absolutely fantastic. This makes me excited for the recently announced Minions spin-off movie tentatively coming out in December of 2014.

The Negative: Something was missing, I'm not sure what but there was and still is just something so special about the first one that this one is missing. The real heart isn't as entirely there as it was originally but it doesn't bring the movie down as it's still hilarious and a great time at the movies.

Overall: Despicable Me 2 is a great, fun and funny that appeals to adults and children alike. There's not much to complain about with this one. This makes me want them to continue with the series with a Despicable Me 3 but at the same time, once you move on from the 3rd movie to a 4th, it usually goes downhill. But that worry is years away as a Minions spin-off has been announced for 2014 which most likely means we won't get Despicable Me 3 until at least 2015, if it happens at all. Regardless, this a great movie that is well worth the money and probably some of the most fun you'll have at the movies this summer.

Rating: 4.5, Pretty Awesome and I Will Be Buying it on DVD/Blu-Ray.

UPDATED RATINGS SYSTEM

That's just a generic 5-star system. Mine will also be based off of a 5 star system.

1/5: An Insult to Film.
2/5: Could've Been Much Better.
3/5: Not Bad, Not Bad. (This is the average rating, 3/5 is not a bad rating at all.)
4/5: I'd Buy it On DVD.
5/5: Pretty Damn Awesome.

The Heat

Overview: Funnier than hell is hot.

The Heat.

The Heat stars Sandra Bullock as Agent Ashburn who is a by-the-books type agent gunning for a promotion. Opposite her is Melissa McCarthy playing Detective Mullins. At the end of the day, McCarthy is playing the same person she plays in every movie she's in. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, in cases like Johnny Depp who has more or less been playing Captain Jack since the characters incarnation in every movie he's in. Luckily, McCarthy hasn't yet worn out her welcome.

As a team the actresses work beautifully together. I'd say more about the supporting cast but there really isn't much to say, the actors do their jobs and do them well but much of the movie is shared screen time of Bullock and McCarthy.

The Positive: The movie is funny as hell. I truly had no interest in seeing this movie, the trailer looked unfunny and the only reason I went was because my girlfriend wanted to see it. I was in side-splitting laughter just a few minutes in and throughout the movie I was near falling out of my seat due to laughing so hard.

The Negative: It's so predictable. It's a buddy cop movie and they follow the formula to a tee. 2 officers get placed together and don't like each other, then through funny shenanigans they become friends, then something serious happens to one and the two become close, then one "betrays" the other, then they get thrown off the case only to reunite with a vengeance. We've seen this before a million times. The Heat does it decently well enough where you're not guessing what's gonna happen next you're just enjoying the moment now.

Overall: It's incredibly funny, with 2 actresses whom no one thought could work together but are just amazing together. I don't say this often but I actually kind of hope there's a sequel. The team works very well together and the end(NOT A SPOILER) leaves it open to a sequel but closes it enough that if there isn't one, it's alright.

Rating: 4/5: I'd Buy it On DVD.

Pixar: The Movies

Hey guys this is a little something I'm doing to hold you, and myself over for Despicable Me 2. What I'm gonna do is rate each of Pixars movies and give a sentence or 2 on why. In chronological order:

1995: Toy Story - 5/5, what can I say? It's a classic.

1998: A Bug's Life - 4.5/5, great movie but isn't perfect.

1999: Toy Story 2 - 5/5, a perfect sequel to a perfect original.

2001: Monsters, Inc. - 5/5, a great concept executed amazingly.

2003: Finding Nemo - 5/5, also a classic, everyone loves it, but will everyone love the sequel?

2004: The Incredibles - 4/5, the one Pixar movie that could really use a sequel, but nope.

2006: Cars - 4/5, a concept we've seen before from Pixar, still done very well though, minor gripes.

2007: Ratatouille - 5/5, a great story that brought the magic of Toy Story and Nemo back.

2008: WALL-E - 3.5/5, probably the weirdest film Pixar has made, it's good, just not that good.

2009: Up - 5/5, this one is fantastic yet it starts with an incredibly depressing first 15 minutes yet turns to gold.

2010: Toy Story 3 - 5/5, the movie that crowned the Toy Story trilogy my favorite trilogy of all time, this movie is perfect.

2011: Cars 2 - 3/5, not bad at all but by Pixar standards it just wasn't up to par, plus why Cars?

2012: Brave - 3/5, Pixar's first original in 3 years also failed to live up to the bar set so high by previous films.

2013: Monsters University - 5/5, for me, Pixar's return to form with a great prequel to one of Pixar's finest films.

Average: 4.07/5. That's probably the highest average out of any studio, no I'm not doing this for every studio, I do do things.

Overall, I just want to thank Pixar for the fantastic movies they've given us, they are the fabric of my childhood and like a fine wine have only gotten better with age. Here's to next years Pixar film: The Good Dinosaur!

The Hangover III

NOTE: This one's gonna be short cause I saw it a few weeks ago but wanted to get another review up between now and Despicable Me 2.

The Hangover III is the third and supposedly final installment in the wildly popular Hangover series. The original came out in 2009 was a surprise hit which jump started the careers of the 3 main actors(Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianikis) and spawned a lesser loved sequel. I personally loved the first, I liked the second, more than most people did. For this film almost everyone returns, Mike Epps (Black Doug) and Heather Graham (Jade, the stripper ex-wife) return to their roles. There's also some new cast members who bring a few fresh faces to the series, Melissa McCarthy of Bridesmaids fame and John Goodman of a lot of movies bring some hysterical scenes.

The Positive: The new and returning cast members really help the usuals feel fresh and new. The different story and plotline really help as well. It seems that the same people that complained that Hangover II was a carbon copy of the first are the ones complaining that this one isn't a copy of the first. It's a comedy so what is there to evaluate, if it's funny or not. For me, it was, I saw it twice and both times laughed for quite a long time.

The Negative: Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper kinda look bored and uninterested. Cooper is Oscar-nominated and Helms has been in some critically-acclaimed films, not to mention The Office. As I said, it is funny but there are some things that just fall flat. Alan(Galifianikis) was always a lovable ass but in this installment there's much more emphasis on the 'ass' part of the phrase and it drags the movie down a little bit.

Overall: It's not great, but it is a good fun, funny movie. Yes fun and funny are 2 different things when it comes to movies. It's between I and II for me, I liked it a lot for being different but in some spots being different in a bad way bring the movie down a peg for me.

Rating: 3.5/5 I'll probably pick it up on DVD to complete the collection.

Normally I don't do decimals but I truly thought 3 was too low but 4 was a little too high, therefore, 3.5.

Upcoming Movies

Hey y'all, just wanted to give you a quick list of upcoming movies that Im excited for and you can expect reviews of!

Despicable Me 2

Grown Ups 2

Turbo

2 Guns

Elysium

Kick-Ass 2

The Butler

The Worlds End

The Family

Insidious 2

Rush

Don Jon

Runner Runner

Carrie

Thor 2

The Wolf of Wall Street

Hunger Games 2

The Hobbit 2

Anchorman 2

The Movies I Like

This is just gonna be a quick post about the movie genres I typically enjoy. 

Comedy

Drama

Horror/Thriller

Family/Kids/Animated

I'm open to most movies, I don't enjoy action movies as much as I used to because many lack the story element that I love. 

As of right now, if I had to pick, I'd say my favorite movie is "Goodfellas". It's a classic Scorsese flick with De Niro, Liotta and Pesci absolutely killing it as their characters. 

Monsters University

Monsters University.

Monsters University is the prequel to 2001's Monsters Inc which was also made by Pixar Studios. Since its release Monsters Inc has been heralded as a classic among Pixar's outstanding repertoire. This prequel chronicles how Mike and Sully met at college and went from enemies to best friends and working at Monsters Inc on the Scare Floor. John Goodman and Billy Crystal reprise their roles as Sully and Mike, respectively. We also get a glimpse of bad guy Randall in his college years who is voiced again by Steve Buscemi. Outside of those 3 guys, most of the voice cast is all new, because there are so many all new characters.

The Positive: The voice cast is phenomenal, the new additions fit in perfectly as do their characters. As per usual, Pixars animation is absolutely amazing, that's never a let down. The story is great, while predictable it's told in a great way that doesn't feel overused. The movie is fun, loaded with humor and and the heart that Pixar has come to be known for. Cars 2 and Brave were mildly disappointing, but Monsters University is a great step in the right direction, it feels like they're back in their comfort zone and are just killing it.

The Negative: Honestly, not much. The pacing is pretty good, the movie is just under 2 hours which is a bit longer for Pixar but it doesn't feel long at all. The animation is above par. The only gripe I really have (MILD SPOILER ALERT) is that I was hoping for some kind of nod/Easter egg about Boo and I looked pretty hard throughout the movie and never found one. But besides that there are Easter eggs everywhere for fans of the first movie and Pixar really seems to reward their longtime fans.

Overall: Monsters University is not only a great family film but a great film in general. With an arsenal as impressive as Pixars it's hard to place where this movie belongs among the rest of them, time will tell if this installment will be remembered as a great one. There's really no reason not to see this movie, even if you haven't seen the first, this movie is good enough on its own. While not as good as its predecessor it fits in perfectly and is a great companion movie to Monsters Inc.

Rating: 5/5: Pretty Damn Awesome, go see this movie.

The Purge

The Purge is a horror/thriller film directed by James DeMonaco; this is he second film he's directed. The only real notable name in this movie is lead actor Ethan Hawke who, as per usual, brings his A-game and knocks it out of the park.

The Purge is set 9 years in the future in a time where for 12 hours starting at 7pm March 21st and ending 7am March 22 all crime is legal. Crime, outside of those 12 hours is at an all time low, unemployment is at an all time low as well and many believe that this purge has saved the country. Now most horror movies have the one sensible person in the group and everyone else can't seem to tie their shoes without dying, in this film Ethan Hawke is sensible and his family are idiots. His son lets a stranger into their fortified house and never redeems himself, throughout the movie I was hoping that he would get killed.

Rhys Wakefield plays the main villain, who's name is never revealed. Wakefield does a fantastic job at being menacing, clever, creepy and overall is a great villain. I hope this role lands him more villainous roles because truth be told he could knock them out of the park.

The movie, as a horror movie, kind of failed, it wasn't very creepy or scary, only once was I scared. What scared me more was when my girlfriend would scream because she was scared. Once the strangers enter the house the movie turns into a cat and mouse game since both parties have guns it becomes fun to watch. Had they gone completely cat and mouse movie with some horror elements instead of the other way around this movie could've been a lot better. Instead we get a standard home invasion horror movie that fails to scare or live up to the fantastic set up which had a ton of potential.

Negative: It doesn't fail as a film, it does however fail to live up to the hype and deliver on the promise the set up gave us. It's not as bad as some have said but it's certainly not as good as some have said.

Positive: What the film gives us is a villain who is great at what he does, and an intriguing cat and mouse type movie which creates for a fun time at the movies.

Rating: 3/5: Not Terrible, Not Great. Worth a matinee priced ticket or a video on demand watch.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This review is coming from someone who saw the film but did not read the book, so my only impressions of the story as a whole come from the movie. I had high hopes for this knowing that it was getting a lot of praise and also finding out that the author of the book wrote the screenplay and directed the film.

The story revolves around Charlie, played by Logan Lerman in his first major lead role and he does a great job. You latch onto his character and you really connect and feel for him throughout it. Charlie is an outcast who befriends his English teacher(Paul Rudd) and a senior named Patrick(Ezra Miller). Patrick is the standout character, he's likable, he's funny, he's an ass but in the best way possible. Emma Watson plays a senior girl who becomes Charlie's love interest, Sam. Like Charlie, Patrick and Sam have their fair sure of rather dark secrets. The movie chronicles Charlie's freshman year and his friends' senior year. Through Patrick and Sam he meets a few other friends and one who he dates and breaks up with in one of the funniest moments of the movie.

Seeing Emma Watson outside of the Hermione Granger character was rather refreshing as she played a high school senior all too well. Ezra Miller did a great job with the character of Patrick who needed a strong actor to play him and he knocked out of the park. Paul Rudd took a backseat role in this film as he helped Charlie and gave him books outside of class to read and was Charlie's first friend. Rudd also delivers one of the most well-known lines from the book that was definitely made for teenage girls' Facebook statuses. Rudd does a great job shifting from his normal every day funny guy to being a mentor of a character. The supporting cast does a great job too, whether they're bullying, or getting Charlie high when he doesn't know it they become a lovable group of characters.

The ending is a little odd, it seems to wrap up too fast and really makes you want more, even just an epilogue, maybe 15 more minutes of movie which would set the movie at a solid 2 hours, which isn't long, especially when you're immersed in the story. The great thing about this movie is that it makes you think of your high school days and think: "Did I have a mentor-like teacher?", or that one person that you fell in love with the moment you saw them, or that one friend that may have saved your life, and hopefully these are all good memories.


This was a very enjoyable movie, it went in directions that I didn't expect and had much darker tones than I had expected. While it was good there are definitely some flaws. The thing that irked me throughout the entire movie was Emma Watson, she's a good actress don't get me wrong, but her American accent was just not good, I could hear British accents coming out. What's worse is that there was a clear way to let her use her accent, there's a point where they're talking and one of the characters talks about her moving, all they had to say was "She moved here from England" and she can use her natural accent. Secondly the movie (Mild Spoiler Alert) has a relatively happy ending yet it leaves a sad feeling with you and for me at least, this feeling did not go away for a while. Thirdly, the high school bullies are so incredibly cookie-cutter and unreal. This is one of those films where you look back at your high school years and think "Yeah, that never happened, ever." but they usual staples are there, you know the tripping in the cafeteria, things like that. Besides those 3 things, the movie is pretty solid.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Perks, it has depth, a lovable core group of characters, good actors to portray them and an intriguing story. While there are some flaws within the film it doesn't detract too much from the film or the story.

Rating: 4/5: A Pretty Solid Movie, Worth a Full Price Ticket

My Top 10(11) Movies of 2012!

Now, I'm a pretty big movie buff but I haven't seen every movie from 2012 nor have I seen most of them, I hear Silver Linings Playbook and Perks of Being a Wallflower are great movies but I didn't get around to seeing them. All in all I count 39 that I've seen, while that seems low take into account the fact that I only really see movies that I want to see, being as movies are pretty expensive to go to now, especially as a college kid. So here are my top 10. Actually, this is going to be my top 11 because I really can't get it to 10, I'm stuck at 11.

11. Rise of the Guardians - I was between this and Wreck-It Ralph for the best animated film this year and I picked this because it truly pleasantly surprised me. I went into it not expecting much and I left loving the characters and for once, hoping there would be at least one sequel for it.

10. Sinister - I was hesitant to put this on the list being that it's a horror film but this one was a really something else, sure it had the usual pop out scares but it was genuinely creepy and burnt images in your head that stayed with you for a few days. Most importantly it had a pretty great story as well.

9. 21 Jump Street - If you know me, you know I love comedies and this one outshined them all in 2012, it's only real competition came from Ted which was funny but somehow this movie had more heart and more genuine laughs. It's a great movie to watch with a group of friends that's not too serious but no so stupid as well

8. Flight - Put Denzel in a movie, I'll see it, put Denzel in a movie and have it be gripping, well acted and hauntingly real and it'll be on my top 10. I thought I'd hear more of this movie during awards season but besides a few I haven't heard much. Despite that it's a very good movie that isn't exactly what you'd expect, the trailer depicts the aftermath of a plane crash while the overall theme of the movie dives into serious alcoholism. It's a riveting film.

7. The Avengers - It's probably the most fun you'll have at the movies in 2012, it's a superhero movie that's been built up for years now and it doesn't disappoint one bit. It's entertaining and it's just an all around good movie.

6. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - What a return to Middle Earth this turned out to be, Peter Jackson had the difficult task of making a trilogy out of one book, which in my mind is difficult in trying to make each film seem satisfying in it's ending even though it's not the true ending. I'm looking so forward to the sequel and I hope it's just as good as the first. While it's true it was more light-hearted than the Lord of the Rings trilogy it doesn't mean it's not worthy of existing.

5. Les Miserables - This was the surprise of the year for me, I enjoy a musical but this film takes it a step further with around 97% of the dialogue coming through song. At first I wasn't crazy about the movie but after I let it sit and digested it I really loved it, so much so that I bought the soundtrack to it. It's definitely not for everybody but it's something everyone should at least see.

4. Django Unchained - This movie may be my favorite Tarantino movie, behind Pulp Fiction of course. It was seriously perfect, Foxx, DiCaprio, Waltz, Jackson, were all perfect in their roles. It was a damn good time.

3. Argo - This movie was phenomenal, it was intense, suspenseful and well directed. After he directed The Town I had a new found respect for him and he knocks this one out of the park. I can't wait to watch this again and I will buy it on DVD.

2. Lincoln - Talk about well directed movies, my god. If Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't win an Oscar for this performance then I'll be very upset. This movie should've been rather boring, an 2 hour and 40 minute movie about trying to pass an amendment doesn't sound excited but Spielberg kills it and makes a movie that will last for a long time and will definitely be a part of my DVD collection.

1. The Dark Knight Rises - Like you expected anything else. Need I say anything about it? Amazing director, all star cast, a script to die for and the best ending to a trilogy since Return of the Jedi, wait actually since Toy Story 3. Bane was a hell of a follow up to The Joker and Tom Hardy stole the spotlight away from Bale in scenes, which isn't an easy task. An excellent villain, a hero for the ages and a supporting crew makes this movie the best of 2012 and quite possibly the decade, though we have 7 full years of cinema to go through. Here's to 2013!

A Quick Hello and an Intro to My Rating System

Hi guys! This is Dom here to tell you that I'm now going to be doing film reviews as well. Now please know, I can't see everything, I try to see movies that peak my interest, others that I'm not interested in, I usually don't see. I'll be doing mostly current releases, if there's a dry spell I'll look into doing either a classic/favorite of mine or I'll browse around on Netflix and see what they've got. As always, requests are always welcome and I'll do my best to see everything that I can. Welcome! My rating system if different from my music blog which is scored out of ten, these reviews will be scored out of 5. 1/5: Complete Waste of Time 2/5: Seen Worse, But This Still Sucked 3/5: Not Terrible, Not Great Either 4/5: A Solid Movie, Worth a Full Price Ticket 5/5: Pretty Damn Awesome Now those are general statements just so you get a layout of what each number will entail. I'll elaborate more on a movie by movie basis. Also a 5/5 doesn't necessarily mean that it's a perfect movie, just one that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish with minimal complaints. For starters I'll upload the reviews I've done on my other blog plus I'll be putting up my review of Monsters University! Thank you so much!