EDITORIAL: 2011 in Film

With the end of the year and the 2011 RROROFL awards coming up, I thought it proper to make an overview of the films that I saw this year in theaters. Admittedly, 2011 was not one of the strongest years for movies. Screens were littered with sour sequels, pointless remakes, and a plethora of downright awful cash-ins. This year it was gaming that took the spotlight, but that isn't to say that there weren't any good films out this year. In this editorial, I will split the 32 new films I saw this year into categories based on how god they were: Superb, Good, OK, and Awful, and announce the seven films competing for this year's Best Film RROROFL. The best and worst films will have descriptions, while the middling films will just have the names. Note: I have not yet seen Sherlock Holmes 2 or Tintin, and I expect I will like both of them enough to give them a nomination, but since they are not out I cannot. 

Superb Films
Rango (RROROFL Nominee)

This spectacular animated film from Nickelodeon was a breath of fresh air- a mouthwateringly beautiful cartoon shown in traditional 2D and owning an omniscient flair that set it apart from all of the other animated flicks this year. With superb voice acting, exciting action, and a tremendously funny screenplay, Rango was definitely the surprise critical success of the year.






Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (RROROFL Nominee)

The final film in J.K. Rowling's phenomenal Harry Potter series was also the most fast-paced and watchable movie of the series. It was a perfect end to the series, combining top-notch acting with impeccable production design and clever dialogue. Hopefully, this will win some Oscars.


X-Men: First Class (RROROFL Nominee)

Marvel's new "We'll do things properly" idea worked varyingly well this year, although all of the studio's films were at least decent. X-Men: First Class, the only prequel of the three Marvel films this year, was also the best. With suave acting and a fun production, First Class was a powerful Marvel film, although does the announcement of a new Spiderman film foreshadow the downfall of superhero cinema?








Super 8 (RROROFL Nominee)

Spielberg, you've done it again. While not wholly original in my opinion, Super 8 was a fun ride and somewhat nostalgic of older kids films. Gritty but witty and fast-paced yet fully emotional, Super 8 was a terrific sci-fi film. If only all family films today were like this.




The Beaver (RROROFL Nominee)

While not very popular in real life this year, Mel Gibson shone on the screen in Jodie Foster's "The Beaver", an enlightening drama about a depressed man who finds both happiness and pain in a beaver hand puppet. The film explores schisms in modern families and how anyone can be affected by depression (Gibson's character is a CEO).






The Green Hornet (RROROFL Nominee)

Seth Rogen is awesome, Jay Chou is slyly funny, and Christoph Waltz is fantastically absurd in this thrilling and fun "superhero" movie. One of the better movies in 2011's early months, The Green Hornet is well worth watching.






Paul (RROROFL Nominee)

Simon Pegg & Nick Frost once again proved their worth in Paul, another film with a hilarious Seth Rogen performance that showed just how well Pegg and Frost could write without legendary Edgar Wright. I watched Paul more (5) times than any other film this year. It was a bit over the top (especially with the profanity-related jokes), but overall it was awesome.




Attack the Block

Another film starring Nick Frost, Attack the Block was a crazy sci-fi film that was actually very timely, showing well the struggles of bored youth on the streets of London. The aliens were actually original this time (completely black monkeys with only their blue teeth visible in the dark), and the action was both hilarious and awesome.




In Time

With a few plot holes here and there, In Time shied away from perfection, and was no "Inception". But Timberlake's promising performance was highlighted and the film was deviously original, possibly the next source for science memes. (Although I don't think it was influential enough for that).








Limitless

A fast-paced film with solid acting, intense action, and a triumphant ending. One for the blu-rays with it's stunningly good editing.

Hanna
A very interesting and funny film about a girl who escapes the CIA and lives a continued and confused life on the run. A great movie about power, survival, and friendship.









Johnny English Reborn

A superior sequel to the first Johnny English movie, Reborn is not amazing but has enough funny scenes to keep kids and parents laughing throughout. A great warmup for the upcoming bond film.









Arthur Christmas

The best Christmas film since The Polar Express. What else could you expect from Aardman? This film answers all questions about how Santa does it (although later somewhat refutes them). It is cute, intelligently written, and gorgeously animated.









Good Films:

• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides
• Thor
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Cars 2
• Horrible Bosses (Would be excellent if not for Jennifer Aniston trying too hard)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
• Arthur
• Real Steel

Ok Films:

• Transformers 3
• Cowboys & Aliens
• Rio

Awful Films:

• Your Highness
• Battle: LA
• I am Number 4
• Zookeeper
• Gnomeo & Juliet
• Hop

Worst Film of the Year:

Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil

If you were to mix every rage comic in the world, Tommy Wiseau's "The Room", the thought you get when you lose the game, MLP and 4chan into one movie, it would tower above this. Hoodwinked Too is absolutely despicable, with 90's animation quality and a horrible story. Don't ever see this. Buy your kids Rango or take them to see Arthur Christmas. 

FILM REVIEW: "In Time" Is Confusing but Thrilling

   
     When I first saw the commercial for In Time, a film where Olivia Wilde plays the mother of Justin Timberlake, I was, in a picture-

     The concept behind In Time is intriguing. Timberlake plays Will Salas, a man who lives in the year 2161, where human genetics has been adapted so that everybody can live to 25 years old immune to disease, but when they turn 25, they have only one year left to live- a year that shows on a countdown clock on their arm. But wait, there's more. Time is the only currency, so the broke are dead and the poor live "day to day". The rich are immortal, but they don't live because they don't want to risk getting their time being stolen. So it's paradoxical- the poor die and the rich don't live, as character Slyvia Weis puts it. "In Time" may be the most mind-boggling film since Inception, but it's just as entertaining. Timberlake proves he can act and In Time proves to be an intense and watchable movie. 

     The plot is basically this- a random rich man who has a century of time left decides he has had enough of immortality and gives all of his time to Timberlake, killing himself. Timberlake then sets off to practically pull a Robin Hood- steal the million years that world's richest man Philipe Weis has. To sum up, I don't want to spoil any of the plot, but it's interesting and you should watch it. 

     Visually, the film is good. It's no Avatar or Inception, but it works for what it's doing. The dialogue isn't spectacular, but the acting is done well. The music is nothing special, but it is music. 

    Overall, "In Time" is a great film that sci-fi fans all over should watch. 

FILM REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The end is here. (Possibly.) The eighth Harry Potter film, summing up the events of the last third of the Deathly Hallows novel, has arrived in theaters. I saw it in 2-D at the midnight showing, and I can say that it is easily the best novel adaptation since The Lord of the Rings series. The writing does justice to the novel, the action is great, and it's a fantastic piece of cinema that should definitely be given some academy awards. The film picks up exactly where the last one left off, and features Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they search for the remaining Horcruxes. As ever, the acting is not the film's strongest point, but characters like Neville, Snape, and McGonnigall give the best performances to date in the series. There are quite a few funny moments, mostly due to the writing, which again is the best to date in the series (save maybe Prisoner of Azkaban). From the get-go,   the action scenes are awesome, and the effects are great. Many casual Potter viewers who have not read the books will likely enjoy this final Potter more than the previous few, which were mostly expositional and had little action. The director also nails the drama sequences, with Alan Rickman pulling off the final revelation of Snape superbly. I would have liked there to be a bit more "cool down" at the end, as the film seems to end a bit too early after the end of Voldemort.

So, overall, is this the ending of Harry Potter we've been waiting for? The answer: yes. Deathly Hallows part 2 is an amazing ending to a brilliant series.

FILM REVIEW: Kung Fu Panda 2

Jack Black is back in the sequel to 2008's Kung Fu Panda, in Kung Fu Panda 2. KFP2 is considerably darker than the original in it's story, as Po finds out that he is adopted, and must defeat Lord Shen, the peacock who killed his Panda parents and wishes to conquer China. KFP2 has all of the same characters from the original that survived, and the action scenes are still awesome.

KFP2 has some of the same problems of the original- like having famous actors who don't have notable voices doing voice acting for it for really no reason. Also, the jokes in it are almost the exact same jokes from the first, and I didn't laugh once throughout the whole film. Still, in 3-D the film looks awesome, and while the story may be by-the book cliche, it is pretty strong and interesting throughout. The improved technology allows the action to be much more awesome than in the first, and the brilliant fight scenes overshadow the poor comedy.

The writers have clearly, by the film's ending, readied for a third film, although I hope that does not happen, knowing the outcome of making a 3rd Shrek film (a lot of jokes from Shrek in here, too). I hope they keep it to 2.

KFP2 is a strong film, in my opinion better than any other animated film this year, but the comedy has definitely been downgraded in the sequel. Still, awesome action scenes keep Po's adventures awesome.