The Runaways

The chick rock revolution began with these young girls. This movie came out a great time when female empowered rock is in a bit of deficit. The acting, directing, and writing fucking rocked! For once Kristin Stewart did not spend the entire movie running her fingers through her hair and biting her lip, she actually acted and it was refreshing. Dakota Fanning also should what and incredible actress she is and I’m looking forward to watching her in years to come. This was an awesome movie about chicks rocking out and owning their sexuality written and directed by a woman. Rock on!

Bitch Slap

This movie which was in theaters the first week of January and is now available on DVD is my favorite film of 2010. A wonderful homage to the sexploitation films of the 60’s and 70’s. The movie began with a quote about how men are the root of all evil and gets better from there. If you’re in the mood to watch a campy movie with hot women kicking ass, get Bitch Slap.

Remember Me

A perfect experiment to see if Twilight fans will follows Robert Pattinson after he is done playing Edward Cullen. Rob Pat plays another pale brooding character but Tyler is a little more Spike from Buffy, living on a diet of beer and cigarettes and starting random fights. The pacing was slow and the two main characters lack the chemistry needed to make the relationship believable. However, it was very funny watching their native accents slip out. The real heart of the movie was Rob Pat’s gifted artist younger sister. Her serious sensitivity truly captured what it is like for a young girl to be different in middle school. This movie is just another opportunity for Rob Pat fans to swoon.

Alice in Wonderland

Oh Tim Burton, maybe you should take a break. And oh Johnny Depp, maybe you should take a break too. In fact maybe this should be the last time you two work together. This movie had lots of potential, but fell short aiming to appeal to the teenybopper set. Instead of creating something new from the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland, it was just a horrible, gothic rehashing of the Disney movie. And what they really did wrong was show what Johnny’s Mad Hatter looked like months before the movie actually came out. When the big reveal came, introducing us to the Mad Hatter, there was no wow factor because I’ve been staring at his face for 6 months. I kept thinking what else you got? They didn’t have much else to impress with.

The Crazies

Yay Zombies! Yay Crazy People! Yay the just right amount of gore and violence! This movie was a fun time, especially while eating some excellent Mexican food that I snuck into the theater. Not a great film, but totally fun and worth watching.

Shutter Island

I love thrillers and film noirs and my best friend loves Leonardo Dicaprio, so of course we saw this film. This is Martin Scorsese best film ever. He truly demonstrated his masterful filmmaking skills creating a suspenseful film noir. Leo’s performance was also outstanding. This was the first time in a long while I actually forgot I was watching Leonardo Dicaprio. Though I figured out the twist of the film within the first five minutes, I still enjoyed watching it. This was the only predictable film I have found watchable.

Ghost Writer

A Roman Polanski thriller with Ewan McGregor and Kim Cattrall? Yes please! However, my expectations fell short, as usual. Instead of getting something exciting and intriguing, I got something slow and boring. The story was a bit cliché and should have focused more on the affairs instead of the controversy. And as far as Kim Cattrall’s performance, her fake English accent ruined any chance for her to exude any sexual chemistry.

Valentine's Day

I’m alone on Valentine’s Day, what is a perpetually single girl to do? I decided to go out with one of my only single friends to a 21 and over showing of Valentine’s Day. So because of the quantity of alcohol I had consumed, I truly enjoyed the Los Angeles version of Love Actually for what it was: a cheesy romantic comedy with no real point. Sometimes we need a little cheesy romance with an all star cast, especially when some alcohol is involved. Lol!

The Wolfman

I was already weary about this film before stepping into the theater because of the release date being pushed back three times. I should trust my instinct. Within the first five minutes I could tell they had a good, suspenseful script which needed some help with the dialogue, but twisted it and made it horrible. It was obvious that there were three cuts of the film, a slow, mysterious one, a half and half, and an action-packed, lowest common denominator that only relies on the special effects and CGI. They obviously went with the third cut, the worse cut. And top it all off, everyone had an accent except Bencio Del Torro. Not worth it!

10 Best Pictures?

THE 10 BEST PICTURES? On Groundhog Day the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences announced they’re nominations for the Academy Awards and this year instead of the traditional five nominees for Best Picture, they announced ten. Now I personally think that 2009 wasn’t the best year for movies and when the Academy announced during the summer it was going to extend the Best Picture category to ten, I kind of laughed about it. However, when I saw what movies were nominated, it turned out I saw all but three, so I made the effort to see my last three. Here’s my opinion about the movies and which ones deserve recognition and which one deserves the win. Avatar: Definitely the most talked about movie of the year and now the highest grossing movie of all time, well, depending on inflation and other factors. Does it deserve all the hype? Yes and No. The special effects and revolutionary 3D technology made me feel like I was on another planet even after the movie ended. However, the plot was a bit cliché and a little preachy, but I think an epic movie with everything from action to romance is something the world was starved for. It was good and expressed what filmmaking is supposed to be about: escapism. A contender. The Blind Side: This was one of the three movies I had left to watch after the nominations were announced because I thought it was a football movie, but it’s not. This movie demonstrates what it means to be a decent human being and since it is based on a true story, it makes it even more heartwarming. Sandra Bullock is phenomenal in it and even though I cried during it, out of happiness, the movie gave me a happy feeling overall. It gave me hope for humanity. A contender. District 9: A gritty, gross science fiction movie with a message set in South Africa. After viewing this movie I could see why people liked it. It really is an allegory about racial inequality and since the setting is South African, helps to reiterate it. What really makes the film good is the documentary style it was shot in, making the notion of discriminated aliens plausible. Should be happy it’s nominated. An Education: My personal favorite nominated movie because I’ve always had a thing of May-December romances. What makes this particular one enjoyable to watch is the depth of the young girl and how she approaches her relationship with the older man in a curious and semi-logical way. No real chance. The Hurt Locker: Yay women directors in charge of critically acclaimed films! I don’t like war movies at all, but I sat through this without getting bored. I did like how it dealt with soldiers and what they go through without bringing the politics of the Iraq war into it. A contender. Inglorious Basterds: I love Tarantino and tend to like his lesser stuff more than his critically acclaimed films, but this movie was wonderful. True to Tarantino fashion it had a strong female protagonist and a climatic end that made everybody wish that Tarantino could truly rewrite history. Also the Academy has always favored WWII and Holocaust movies so it made sense the bloody, good time of a film go nominated. A contender. Precious: This is one of those movies which are good in a “we can do better no matter what obstacles life presents” us kind of way. A minute into the film I was crying and kept crying until the credits were done rolling. The acting is amazing because of the depth each actor gives their character. However, the last plot twist takes this already tragic story over the edge. Would have more of chance without the last plot twist. A Serious Man: This was the last movie of the nominees that I saw because honestly the Coen brothers are a bit hit and miss with me. This is one of the movies I thought didn’t truly deserve the nomination. It is obvious within the first five minutes what the themes of the movie are and the movie hits you over the head with them repeatedly. I didn’t care about any of the characters and turned on my laptop to check my facebook halfway through the movie. Why was this nominated? Up: A cartoon! Animation has its own category and this just proves that there were slim pickings last year for quality films. Pixar did wave their magic wand again and create something special and unique with a wonderful beginning and it totally deserves to win Best Animated Feature, but that’s it. Again, why was this nominated? Up in the Air: After seeing this supposed critically claimed film I wanted to scream “the emperor has no clothes!” Nothing about this film was surprising, fresh, or original and had way too many filler shots to fill up the empty void of uniqueness. Why do so many people like this? Were they paid off? I think that the big contenders are Avatar, The Blind Side, The Hurt Locker, and Inglorious Basterds. My vote out of those is for Inglorious Basterds, but I won’t be surprised if Avatar or Hurt Locker win.