All-Time Favorites

This movie is nothing short of amazing.
They come through on every level with just a 30 million dollar budget.
Special effects like the ones in this movie with the money they had don't come around often. All the weapons, makeup, explosions and fights were all top notch.
And how about the acting. I mean, Shalto Copley... I don't think anybody could guess that he's never acted before coming out of this. What has he been doing all his life? With a first time performance like this, anyone can tell that this guy is going to be huge.
You can look at all the + $200 million blockbusters this year and agree that while District 9 may not be as flashy as stuff like Transformers 2, 2012, or Avatar, the special effects are still great even with such little money. They didn't need huge explosions or giant colourful trees to carry the movie. They put great effects in with phenomenol acting, great story, and amazing directing, and you get this marvel of a movie.
I don't know how these guys didn't get nominated for best makeup. All of Wikkus's transformations, his arm, his eye, all the spikes sticking out his back, that was ALL makeup! I don't care about how well they powdered someone's face in the Young Victoria! Why was nobody from the Academy looking at this makeup!
District 9 is one of those films that comes around only a couple times in a lifetime. I'm sure glad it came out in my lifetime!
This film just wows me everywhere. I think it's a definite candidate for best adapted screenplay. (Update: Damn, it lost to Precious...)
Anyone who tries to find anything wrong with this movie is just kidding themselves.
bts

Wow...just wow.
This movie is just so incredible on every level, it's amazing. The acting, the effects, the story...but especially the story. Christopher Nolan wrote this when he was 16 years old. Since then, he has edited and changed the plot until it became Inception, what I now consider to be one of the greatest films I have ever seen. Christopher Nolan directed the Dark Knight, still one of my top 10 favorites of all time. If you loved The Dark Knight, guess what, this is even better! Christopher Nolan succeeds here in giving us an amazing thriller coupled with an amazing SciFi concept, amazing actions, great dialogue, and a twist ending that rivals the best of Scorsese. However, unlike Scorsese, you can think back on this one and figure out what actually happend. This movie has instantly made him one of my favorite directors. I assure you, he will be nominated for an Oscar.
Now to talk about the acting, and there is so much I could say. I wish they had an Academy Award for best cast. Everyone here is just perfect for their role; Leonardo Dicaprio (Dominic Cobb), Ellen Page (Ariadne), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur), Marion Cottilard (Mal), Tom Hardy (Eames), Ken Wantanabe (Saito), Dileep Rao (Yusuf) and all the rest who were involved in this, all perfect.
The special effects are another reason why this movie was so great! The dream environment was so amazing and life-like... The fight scene with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the hotel with him spinning around with no gravity was one of the coolest fight scenes I've ever seen. I am confident in seeing them at the Oscars for the editing and effects!
A movie this great deserves a soundtrack to help it acheive, and who better to make that soundtrack than, in my opinion, the greatest soundtrack composer there is, Hans Zimmer. His powerful compositions make each and every scene all the better! This is one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a while! (Once again, you'll see it at the Oscars!)
This seems like a movie that Armond White would hate. A movie that works on almost every level, critically aclaimed, and likely to be at the Oscars... Yup, Armond could probably make up something that was wrong with it.

Something that didn't bother me, but that some people will dislike, was the length. It was 158 minutes, and during that 2h38m it got incredibly complex, however, when you get down to it, everything makes sense (on a SciFi level of course.) But here's the thing, if you accept the concept of this movie, people entering others dreams to plant or take thoughts, then everything else will make sense. The movies logic works throughout the entire thing! For example, as they kept going further and further into the layers of dreams, they stayed true to the concept of time slowing down, their movements being influenced by what went on in the previous dream... If you think back afterwards, accepting these ideas they give you, it all makes sense.
The whole concept of this movie is just one of the coolest and most well thought out themes I have ever seen!
I love movies like this where they make you think, but not so hard that you lose track of the story! It had plenty of twists and turns, but I was there with it every step of the way!

Inception is not just a movie, it is art. I haven't loved a movie or the concept to which they've taken us this much since District 9, and those of you who've known me on here long enough know how much I loved District 9!
By the time the credits rolled, it wasn't a question as to what percentage I would award this masterpiece, but where it would be in my top 10.
This is a gem of cinema, plain and simple...

Stphen King's The Green Mile is one of my favorite books ever, and they did a pretty perfect job bringing it to the screen.

Everyone was cast perfectly. I can't picture anyone but Michael Clarke Duncan playing John Coffey. He definetly deserved his Oscar nom.

They never lost any of the emotionality from the novel. Every scene that I loved from the book was just as great and emotionally wrenching in the movie; Del's execution, Healing Mrs. Moores, The ending (no spoilers), etc.

The movie was over 3hrs long, but it never dragged on. It went by very quickly for me. Never got boring.

It's pretty rare that a movie can carry the same quality as it's source material, but they definetly did it here. Frank Darabont did a great job at expanding The Shawshank Redemption novella into a movie, and I think he did an even better job with the Green Mile.
One of my favorite books ever, and definetly one of my favorite movies. The Green Mile is definetly worth a watch!

The Messanger is still a war movie, but it's not a "war" war movie. It's a war drama. Now, I haven't seen very many war movies to date, but I think that this is just as good as any war movie that shows the soldiers out doing their thing on the battlefield. It also gives you the strong message to think before you sign up for the Army, to think about what would happen if you were to be killed over seas, and then having two guys go to your family's house and break the news.
Ben Foster plays Sgt. Will Montgomery, a soldier who has been sent back from Iraq after an injury forced him out of action. In the meantime, he has been asigned to Casualty Notification with a guy named Tony (Woody Harrelson.)
As time goes on, Will starts to bond (going on drunken tyrades, getting laid with random women, etc.) with Tony and also break away from his protocol, offering more personal, heartfelt condolences to the NOK (next of kin.) He even starts to fall for one of the widow's he passed on condolences to.
Ben Foster is AWESOME as Sgt. Montgomery! The Academny definetly missed another Best Actor Nominnee with this guy(the first one of course being Sharlto Copley, District 9!) He was exellent as an military man who does what he is told, but still shows human emotion through it.
I also have to mention all the actors who played the family members of those receiving the bad news. We never knew any of them for over five minutes, with the exeption of Olivia Pitterson (played very well by Samantha Morton), but we still felt so bad for them as they showed their greif.
I'll just say that every actor in this movie is great, but the best one of all, the big #1, was definetly Woody Harrelson. I haven't seen Inglorious Basterds, but I still think that Woody definetly should've taken Best Supporting Actor. It's performances like these that are making him fast become one of my favorite actors.
This is a very powerful movie that doesn't get as much credit as it deserves becuase of it's limited release. It is powerful actor-wise, powerful story-wise, and especially powerful emotionally. There were lots of red eyes in the crowd when I left the theater that night.
I compare this to the Hurt Locker on it's greatness level and in a way, subject level. In fact, I actually liked this better than the Hurt Locker. I felt that Hurt Locker kind of slowed down towards the end, this does too, except that I was still there with it the whole time. I wanted to see it nominated for Best Picture as well as Original Picture.
The Messenger may not carry the same characteristics as most war movies, but it still rocks! It doesn't need any gunfights, explosions or any of the normal jazz. It stands on it's own level and takes it all the way.
If you are a fan of war movies, dramas, or just want to watch an awesome movie, then watch The Messenger!

Every year, there is always a movie, or maybe several movies that get released that the critics just can't get enough of. More often than not, I'll have seen some of these movies and we can all agree that they're good, maybe great flicks, but the constant praise gets very tiring. I think Avatar is a pretty prime example.
Since The King's Speech came out a couple months ago, it's been showered with almost nothing but positive reviews. After finally getting around to seeing the King's Speech on Sunday (Don't much care for the Superbowl, I can watch all the commericals tomorrow) I can gladly say that it deserves all the praise it's receiving.
All actors were cast perfectly and are all worthy of their Oscar noms. Colin Firth and Geoffery Rush especially. The sense of comradory between those two was probably the thing the carried the movie the most.
The score and screenplay were also both expertly written and were another two of the movies fortes!
The King's Speech is easily one of the best movies of the year. I'd say it's better than the Social Network, and definetly deserving of all the praise it's receiving.
It's an inspiring, uplifting story that had me from the beginning.
I can't wait to see how it does at Oscar time!

The Wrestler is a story about a Wrestler, oddly enough, named Randy "The Ram" Robertson, played by Mickey Rourke. In the late 80s, this guy is the best wrestler there is. But then, we immediatly jump forward 20 years, and see that his life isn't what it used to be; he lives in a crappy trailer park, barely able to afford rent, his body is starting to slow down, he doesn't really have any loved ones left, wrestling isn't as popular as it was, and then on top of that, one day he has a heart attack and is told his career is done, no more wrestling.
So with the biggest part of his life now gone, he starts to try to reconnect with his daughter, build a relationship with a stripper, and get himself a job to support himself.
Now starting out, I haven't seen Milk, but I really wish Mickey Rourke had won Best Actor. This is really one of the best performances I have ever seen.
As the movie goes on, you see how bad this guy's life has become and you want everything to work out for him in the end, but as the movie goes on, you realize that his life may be broken beyond repair, and you feel so bad for him!
Other mentions have to be made to the two supporting actresses, Marissa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. They both had relatively small roles, but were both great as the strppier friend (Tomei) and daughter (Wood).
Now, almost all of this movie was perfect, that is up until the last minute where it quite literally just kind of ends. There was this great build up, and I was on the edge of my seat thinking "Oh wow, what's going to happen, gasp...oh it's over." I hate it in a way, but also have to give it props for the way they did it. It was a slight twist to close it out that both pissed me off and yet I couldn't hate.
I was very sad that The Wrestler wasn't even nominated for Best Picture, but more disapointed that Mickey Rourke didn't win Best Actor.
I wasn't too fond of the ending, but I'd be kidding myself if I didn't give this film 100%.

Upon several rewatches over the weekend, I have decided to overturn my decision and name Shaun of the Dead my favorite zombie-comedy.
It was a very close battle with Zombieland, but in the end, Shaun has several key points that lifts it over Z'Land.

I think the biggest advantage Shaun has is that it has Simon Pegg and Z'Land doesn't. I want this guy to win an Oscar! He is just so funny in everything he does; his facial expressions, his reactions, everything he says and does is hilarious!
The entire cast was great in this. They had great chemistry together and I can tell they had a great time working on it.

I also loved Edgar Wright's direction of the film. That first zombie scene was genius! Shaun just walking around, and the audience can clearly see zombies everywhere, but Wright finds a way for Shaun to ignore it all, which then leads to an even funnier reveal to the zombies presence!
I also love his editing style of adding sound effects where they aren't needed or creating montages where there doesn't need to be a montage, but he makes them work anyway (like when Shaun is recounting the plan: Right...Take Pete's car, go to Mum's, kill Phil [sorry Phillip], go to Liz's flat, grab a cup of tea, and wait for all of this to blow over [wink]!)
The other big reason that Shaun is a better movie than Z'land is becuase Z'land had about an hour in the middle with literally no zombies. Here, we got zombies practically at every turn!
The only reason I didn't give this 100% was because I was a little disapointed with the ending.
Nevertheless, Shaun of the Dead succeeds in being one of the best comedies I've seen as well as the best zombie movie (sorry Romero.)

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright teemed up again in 2007 to bring us Hot Fuzz, which I thought was even better than Shaun of the Dead! I believe that they're getting back together in 2011 to make another film, The World's End. Simon and Nick will also be together in Paul, a scifi comedy which comes out early next year! I can't wait!

It's a very Forrest Gump-y sort of movie.

There are lots of big similarities between the two:
-Off-and-On Soul Mate
-Lead character born into pretty crappy life, but makes the most of it, and ending up not too bad off.
-Strong narration tying into the plot well.
...just to name a few.

Beside the strong moral ever-present, Benjamin Button is lead by a great performance from Brad Pitt, as well as a good supporting role from Cate Blanchett.
But on top of that, I think the movie is really lead by the phenomenal special effects.
I'm a big fan of big flashy action movies, giant robots, aliens, you name it, I'm there, but making Brad Pitt look like an old man, who's still just a kid, now those are effects! My hat goes off to those guys, really deserved the Oscar.

I know lots of people hate 3 hour movies, but I really don't mind. It gave plenty of space for some great character development, so that whenever the guy takes a hit (which is pretty often) you totally feel for him, and it hurts.

Smart, emotional, even funny in places, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a great movie that I think everyone should see.

I think this without a doubt, the best slasher films ever created. It would probably get more credit if people would stop focusing on the remakes and the original seven sequels.
The story starts out on Halloween night, 1963 in Haddonfield, Illonois. A young boy named Michael Myers stabs his sister to death for no aparent reason. When his parents get home and find him standing there holding a bloody knife, they ship him of to a mental facility.
Fifteen years later, on Halloween, Michael's shrink, Dr. Loomis is driving to the mental asylum when he is thrown from his car by non other than Michael. Now, this is where I have to give one of my few negative points of the movie. I just don't understand how a boy who was put in a mental hospital fifteen years ago suddenly knows how to perfectly drive a car. But anyway, back to the story.
When Michael gets back to Haddonfield, he decides to resume his old antics by robbing a convenience store of some knives, rope, and the iconic unpainted William Shatner mask.
He then returns to his old neighbourhood where he slowly picks off anyone he feels should die until Jamie Lee Curtis is the only one left. I won't spoil the ending.
This is one of the most revolutionary horro films to date and it made a couple of rules that lots of horror films still follow today.
1. If you get laid, you are the next to die.
2.Serial killers can shake of anything.
3. Keeping your mask on is a priority.
4. Lead characters will not die no matter what deadly surcomstances are in their face.

This is still the scariest movie I have ever seen. The music is so effective in keeping things tense even when nothing scary is happening. I have watched this several times now and it is still scary even though I know what will happen!

This movie definetly has it's cheesy moments and cheesy blood, but don't let that fool you. This movie is just as suspensful and creepy. Forget the sequels and remakes and focus soley on this one. It is a landmark horro film that set the bar for other classics like Friday the 13th & A Nightmare on Elm St.

Halloween is a fun/suspensful thrill ride that I would recommend to any horror/suspense fan!

Pretty much "The Wrestler" of country music, plus it's got The Dude.

Buzzkill for the ages!