1. Knocked Up - 9/10 - Best comedy i've seen in a long while.
2. Zodiac - 8.5/10 - Well constructed, but a bit longer than necessary. The acting was fantastic though, probably the best I've seen so far this year.
3. Hot Fuzz - 8.5/10 - Fun, Funny, Action-packed. Also: Timothy Dalton is fantastic, and I now want to write movies where I can make him the bad guy.
4. Bridge to Terabithia - 8.5/10 - Most heartwarming story i've seen all year, based on my favorite book in Middle School
5. Grindhouse - 8/10 - Lots of fun, it has its weak points, but the sheer enjoyability of Planet Terror, and the newest Tarantino film (which includes what I now consider to be the greatest chase sequence of ALL time)... Death Proof is simply brilliant. I'll see it again if it hits the theaters on its lonesome.
6. Ocean's 13 - 8/10 - Its not quite the quality of the first one... But it's ALMOST up there... The first half of the movie I was really anxious, because it took a WHILE to get going... But when it picked up, it really picked up and I enjoyed the hell out of it... Clooney and Pitt's relationship gives this an extra point, but I might knock it down later in the year.
7. Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End - 8/10 - Satisfying ending to a well executed trilogy. I enjoyed the hell out of it, and I'll happily dish out the money for the next film on the list.
8. 300 - 7/10 - Fun. Good. But the scenes in sparta interspersed with the narrative slows the story... I need to see it again (for the fourth time), but I'm pretty sure that this is where I stand on it. Mostly Good.
9. Shrek 3 - 7/10 - Solid Enough... Not as much heart as the first, Not as much funny as the second, but still a the end of the day it was an enjoyable solid movie with fantastic CGI... There's this bit with The Gingerbread Man's life flashing before his eyes that still makes me laugh just thinking about it. Not great, Not Bad. Certainly better than I expected.
10. Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer - 7/10 - Had a lot of the flaws of the first, but rectified several of them... Johnny Storm continues to be the strongest aspect of the series, which I absolutely hope continues... My biggest Problem is with Mr. Fantastic, cuz, well... he should seem intelligent.
11. Spider-Man 3 - 6/10 - The most disapointing film experience I've had all year. This made me cringe so much with what they messed up that every time something decent happened it was ruined by the inconsistency of it all... The good parts simply showed that this COULD have been good. But they opted against it, apparently...
12. Evan Almighty - 5/10 - It had heart, but no real discernable message, and poor usage of Wanda Sykes, who I think can be fantastic when she's got a good script. I'm glad I saw it once, but doubt i'll ever see it again.
13. Ghost Rider - 4/10 - This movie made me want to make my own Ghost Rider movie, one that was good.
Movies I Plan to See This Year:
- Ratatouille (Pixar. 'Nuff Said)
- Sicko (Michael Moore movie praised by conservatives? Gotta check it out)
- Transformers (My friends are dragging me. It looks awful)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (looks like the best one yet)
- Hairspray (Actually I might be most excited about this movie, over everything else in the next few months)
- The Simpsons Movie (Looks good)
- Stardust (I suspect this might be my favorite movie of the year... I love the book, and its been getting fantastic advance reviews)
- Wristcutters: A Love Story (I <3 Patrick Fugit)
- The Nanny Diaries (It looks good)
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (the title says it all)
- Beowulf (Neil Gaiman! Woot!)
- Enchanted (The first Disney movie i've been excited about in AGES... Looks funny and charming and it might be the dawn of a new era for Disney)
- The Golden Compass (one of my favorite book series of all time... plus GREAT casting)
- National Treasure: The Book of Secrets (enjoyed the first one enough)
- Sweeney Todd (Please God, don't suck. Sweeney is one of my alltime favorite musicals, and I might die if Burton doesnt do it justice.)
