Based on... Part 2

From the 84th Academy Awards:


The Descendants*
Based on the novel The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Adapted by Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne & Jim Rash
Film directed by Alexander Payne


Hugo
Based on the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Adapted by John Logan
Film directed by Martin Scorsese


The Ides of March
Based on the play Farragut North by Beau Willimon
Adapted by George Clooney, Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon
Film directed by George Clooney



Moneyball
Based on the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Adapted by Stan Chervin, Aaron Sorkin & Steven Zaillian
Film directed by Bennett Miller


Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Based on the novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre
Adapted by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan
Film directed by Tomas Alfredson


83rd Academy Awards:

The Social Network*
Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
Adapted by Aaron Sorkin
Film directed by David Fincher


127 Hours
Based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
Adapted by Simon Beaufoy & Danny Boyle
Film directed by Danny Boyle


True Grit
Based on the novel True Grit by Charles Portis
Adapted by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Film directed by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen


Winter's Bone
Based on the novel Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
Adapted by Debra Granik & Anne Rossellini
Film directed by Debra Granik

Oscar Predictions

These are my predictions to who/what I think will win at the Academy Awards this year. Now I've come to realize that over the years it is better to predict who I think will win instead of what I WANT to win. The way I'll be doing this is by listing off the nominees for the category in order of who I think will win. Top person/movie listed being who I think will win, bottom being the least likely to win. I'm not going to do all the categories just the ones I follow the most. So let's get started.

UPDATE: 03/01/2014

Best Picture

1. 12 Years a Slave 

2. Gravity 

3. American Hustle

4. Captain Phillips

5. Her

6. The Wolf of Wall Street

7. Nebraska

8. Philomena

9. Dallas Buyers Club


Best Director


1. Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity

2. Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave

3. David O. Russell - American Hustle

4. Martin Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street

5. Alexander Payne - Nebraska 

Best Actor

1. Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club

2. Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave

3. Bruce Dern - Nebraska

4. Christian Bale - American Hustle

5. Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actress

1. Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine

2. Sandra Bullock - Gravity

3. Amy Adams - American Hustle

4. Judi Dench - Philomena

5. Meryl Streep - August: Osage County


Best Supporting Actor


1. Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club 

2. Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave

3. Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips

4. Bradley Cooper - American Hustle

5. Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street


Best Supporting Actress

1. Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave

2. Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle

3. June Squibb - Nebraska

4. Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine

5. Julia Roberts - August: Osage County


Best Original Screenplay

1. Her

2. American Hustle

3. Blue Jasmine

4. Nebraska

5. Blue Jasmine


Best Adapted Screenplay

1. 12 Years a Slave 

2. Philomena

3. Before Midnight

4. Captain Phillips

5. The Wolf of Wall Street


Best Original Score


1. Gravity

2. The Book Thief

3. Her

4. Saving Mr. Banks

5. Philomena


Best Song

1. "Let It Go" - Frozen

2. "Ordinary Love" - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

3. "Happy" - Despicable Me 2

4. "The Moon Song" - Her


Best Cinematography

1. Gravity

2. Inside Llewyn Davis

3. Nebraska

4. Prisoners

5. The Grandmaster

Based On... Part 1

This is a special series I'm starting to help promote the various books, memoirs, short stories and plays that have either won or have been nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay by the Academy Award. Now I'm not saying people should read the source material before they see the movie. In my opinion, one should not have to homework to watch a movie. The movie should be able to stand up on it's own. But, at the same time I feel that people sadly over look the source material which is a shame. So I'm putting a spotlight on them in the hopes that some people out there will pick them up. Now I haven't read all of these books and original source material, I'm just putting a spotlight on them because if these were worthy enough to be adapted into a script (And be nominated for an Oscar) than the original source material must be worth a look as well.

* = Winner

I'll do two groups of nominees at a time. First on up... the nominees this year for the 86th. Academy Awards.

Captain Phillips 
Based on book A Captain's Duty by Richard Phillips
Adapted by Billy Ray
Film director by Paul Greengrass

 Philomena
Based on book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith
Adapted by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
Film directed by Stephen Frears

12 Years a Slave
Based on the memoir 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup.
Adapted by John Ridley
Film Directed by Steve McQueen

The Wolf of Wall Street
Based on the memoir The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort
Adapted by Terence Winter
Film directed by Martin Scorsese















Now the 85th Academy Awards:

Argo*
Based on the book The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez
and
the article The Great Escape by Joshua Bearman
Adapted by Chris Terrio
Film directed by Ben Affleck

 Beasts of the Southern Wild
Based on the play Juicy and Delicious by Lucy Alibar
Adapted by Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
Film directed by Benh Zeitlin

 Life of Pi
Based on the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Adapted by David Magee
Film directed by Ang Lee

Lincoln
Based on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Adapted by Tony Kushner
Film directed by Steven Spielberg

Silver Linings Playbook
Based on the novel The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
Adapted by David O. Russell
Film directed by David O. Russell














The reason I'm not including Before Midnight in this is because it's based on characters from an original script. This series of articles is meant to spotlight books, memoirs, short stories, plays and other forms of printed stories.

Movie Review: The Monuments Men (2014)

The Monuments Men (2014)
D: George Clooney
W: George Clooney, Grant Heslov.
Based on the book The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter.
S: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray.

George Clooney directs, co-writes and stars in this based on true events story about a rag tag group of art scholars, museum curators and art historians turned soldiers who go into enemy territory during the final months of World War II to rescue pieces of art plundered by the Nazis. 
This was a film I was looking forward to for a long time. I remember hearing about the concept and I got excited. I am a gigantic sucker for World War II movies and movies about a rag tag group of people teaming up to combat a common foe. So you can imagine that I was really upset when the film was pushed back from it's original release date of December 18, 2013 to February 7, 2014. But now the film has finally been released and... it's okay. 

I will admit that this film isn't as great as I was hoping it to be and it does suffers from a lot of problems, but at the same time I still did really enjoy the film. 

One of the problems that effects the movie is drastic changes in tone. At one second it will be a very sad a somber scene involving the death of a character and then seconds later will go to comedic scene like Bill Murray's character chipping his tooth on homemade beef jerky. 

Another element that can be seen as a problem is that there isn't much development of the characters. The movie seems to rely on the actors portraying them to get the personalities across. For example, one of the Monuments Men, a sculptor named Walter Garfield, is portrayed by John Goodman, and he comes off exactly as you'd expect. He's jolly, he's friendly but can be tough and determined. And that's it the characters just come off as you'd expect from the actors. Only a few characters actual have a persona outside of the actor portraying them. One is Sam Epstein (Dimitri Leonidas) a Jewish German immigrant who signed up for the Army and the other is Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett) a Frenchwoman who has the inside scoop on where the art from France may have been taken. 

While I do see this point as flaw, it honestly doesn't bother me. I think it's because these actors do have distinct personalities that associating them to their characters isn't that bad, in my eyes at least. Though that sadly doesn't help Matt Damon's character, he really doesn't add much to his character unfortunately.  

I'm willing to admit I'm probably giving this movie a free pass because I'm a sucker for these kind of stories and it that make this a bit of biased review. But I still think this is a pretty enjoyable film and worth at least a matinee. It gets a thumbs up from me. 

The Best & Worst Movies of 2013: The Best

Again, this is more of a "Favorites" list but none the less I can say with confidence that I think these are some of the best films of 2013. Now this could be I thought it was great from a film making standpoint or from a pure enjoyment factor. Either one.

And again I haven't seen many of the stuff that's being called the best and that's getting a lot of awards buzz. Still haven't seen Blue Jasmine or Fruitvale Station and so on. But I still saw some really good films. And feel free to share your own favorites of the year. I love to hear people say what they enjoyed watching. 

P.S. Forgive any grammar or spelling problems.

First off some honorable mentions that didn't make the list, but I still really enjoyed:

2 Guns

All is Lost

Captain Phillips

The Counselor

Escape Plan

Frozen

Gangster Squad

The Last Stand

Lone Survivor

Mud

Pain & Gain (Yes, I actually enjoyed a Michael Bay film)

Saving Mr. Banks

10. The World's End

D: Edgar Wright

W: Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright

S: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine

The final part in the Cornetto Trilogy, the British comedy team of Frost, Pegg and Wright bring this remarkable clever comedy trilogy to an end with some similar themes of the previous two installments (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) mixed in with another genre the trio love, the Alien Invasion flicks. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost trade roles this time as both display great acting chops with their respected characters and work great together with themselves, as usual, and with co-stars Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman and Eddie Marsan. Of course the highlight of the film is not just the action scenes and jokes but all the little gags and tributes to movies they drew influence from. Hot Fuzz still stands as a my favorite of the three but this one is certainly worthy of being a part of this trilogy.

09. Pacific Rim

D: Guillermo del Toro

W: Travis Beacham, Guillermo del Toro

S: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi

Probably the most fun at the theaters I had this year. A film that is fully aware of the subject matter at hand and makes the best of it. While the giant monsters and giant robots are certainly a thrill to watch there is a story involved and an engaging one at that. Seeing the way the robots work and the people operating the suits is very interesting. And the people in this is what makes this stand above something like the Transformer movies. These characters and interesting and diverse enough without going over the top. Another way it stands out is that it's not about ONE singular force using brute strength, it's about people from different background having to come together and using their minds to stop this common foe. A true treat.

08. Gravity

D: Alfonso Cuaron

W: Alfonso Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron

S: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris

After watching this film with my friends we began to wonder whether or not we thought the film was actually good. We wondered if we were just liking it because it looked pretty and had great CGI. Well we unanimously agreed that not only were the special effects great but there was a good story there as well. This tense thriller has our main character (portrayed by Sandra Bullock) out of her normal environment trying to survive. I love those types of films. I get the sense of claustrophobia she's experiencing, the wanting to survive and how scared she is. And no one can blame her. Sandra Bullock gives a spectacular performance and is able to hold her in own in one of the most visually spectacular films in recent years that still keeps its story intact. 

07. Rush

D: Ron Howard

W: Peter Morgan

S: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde

I don't know a thing about Formula One racing. But that factor did not stop me from loving this film. Much like the movie Saving Mr. Banks this movie is more about combating egos. This film avoids many sports movie cliches and instead decides to show them as professionals and shows that while the two bicker and argue about who is the better racer they do have a mutual respect for each other. While Chris Hemsworth gives a good performance as the macho party animal James Hunt, Daniel Bruhl as his Austrian opposite Niki Lauda steals the show. 

06. Dallas Buyers Club

D: Jean-Marc Vallee

W: Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack.

S: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto.

First of all I say I love this new mature turn Matthew McConaughey has taken in his acting career.  Now onto the film, to quote Brad Jones of TheCinemaSnob.com "If you don't have any kind of heart in you, this movie will give you one and tug at it for two solid hours." This film, based upon a remarkable true story, shows how people can change in a good way and shines a light on a topic that is very relevant to today and worth discussing. The film is full of two power house performances. Matthew McConaughey was born to Ron Woodruff and is simply amazing in every scene. The other great performance is from Jared Leto, the physical transformation that both he and McConaughey went through is astonishing and haunting. I'm still debating who I think will win best actor, I have no doubt that Jared Leto will take home the Oscar.

05. Inside Llewyn Davis

D: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

W: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

S: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman. 

This movie almost seemed to made for me in a way. Down on his luck average Joe fighting against the elements both natural and spiritual, awesome folksy soundtrack produced by T-Bone Burnett and an amazing performance from one of my favorite actors John Goodman. Yep, I'm sold. What seems almost like a sequel to the Coen Brothers' also amazing musical odyssey O Brother, Where Art Thou?,  the story about a down on his luck folk singer just resonates so much to anyone who works in a creative field and it shows that hey you may not catch your big break, but there's no need to stop doing what you love. The soundtrack to this film is amazing, personal favorite track being Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song) sung and performed by Oscar Isaac and Mumford & Son frontman Marcus Mumford. The performance by relative newcomer Oscar Isaac is amazing and he does great justice to the Coen Brother's dry comedy and drama. Also I want to shine a special spotlight on John Goodman's performance as a heroin addicted, loudmouthed, jazz singer Roland Turner. He is simply amazing. Seriously how has this guy NOT gotten an Oscar Nomination yet?

04. Prisoners

D: Denis Villeneuve

W: Aaron Guzikowski

S: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis

This is one of the creepiest and chilling thrillers I've seen. The thing that makes it even more scarier is that it seems like this could happen in real life. The film is a jigsaw puzzle that keeps the audience constantly asking questions and whether or not the actions taken by the characters is right or not. Do the ends justify the means? It's hard to talk about this film without giving away big spoilers but it is a great story. Also worth noting are the performances, especially Hugh Jackman. Jackman gives without a doubt of the most intense and complex performances in his career. It may be his best as of right now. Yeah, better than Les Miserables, I stand by it. Also spectacular performance from Jake Gyllenhaal's experienced and smart aleck Det. Loki (he's also rather mischievous. So the name fits).

03. 12 Years a Slave

D: Steve McQueen

W: John Ridley

S: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch

This movie is without a doubt the most important film of the 2013. A movie that is a lot like Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List,  in that it deals with a subject that maybe tough to watch portrayed on screen and if given to the wrong hands could be mishandled severely. Luckily in the hands of British born director Steve McQueen, we saw the personal hell one man went through during 12 years of his life that he will never get back. Chiwetel Ejiofor gives so much in this amazing performance that it's hard to put it into words. but his performance isn't the only one worth noting. Michael Fassbender gives one of the most terrifying performances of the year and newcomer Lupita Nyong'o gives a more than a spectacular performance as the tragic slave girl Patsey. Give Nyong'o the Oscar. 

02. American Hustle

D: David O. Russell

W: David O. Russell, Eric Warren Singer

S: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams

This film was a blast to sit through. David O. Russell was definitely paying tribute to Martin Scorsese in this film but gives the film his own personal flair as well. Just based on the trailer you would assume that the film was about innocent Bradley Cooper being drawn into the life of crime by Christian Bale but it's not. Yes Christian Bale certainly does play a hustler and crook but whenever it seems like his family or friends are in danger he wants to drop out because he doesn't want to cause an extreme amount of damage. It turns out that Bradley Cooper becomes more of a villain in the film but I don't want to reveal too much. This is a film stuffed with pure acting gold. Everyone in the film brings in their all; Christian Bale giving another truly fantastic performance as the conflicted con man who wants to set things right again, Amy Adams playing a woman isn't turn sure about what she wants and show that through he hidden identity, Bradley Cooper as the crazy and self-absorbed FBI agent, Jennifer Lawrence playing the ditzy but somehow persuasive wife of Bale, Jeremy Renner as politician who goes through small bit of corruption just to make things better for his town, and an overlooked performance from comedian Louis C.K. 

What can I say, it's a treat. 

And what made my number one spot?

01. Nebraska

D: Alexander Payne

W: Bob Nelson

S: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb

What made this film earn the top spot? The character of Woody Grant. Bruce Dern brings so much subtle greatness to this role that it is hard to describe. The character of Woody Grant, even though he is a senile and frustrating old man, is a completely sympathetic and relatable person. I was stunned by the fact I was relating to this man. It's along the same lines of the Paul Giamatti character in a previous Alexander Payne film (and a personal favorite film of mine) Sideways. It pains to not tell you more about why I love this character and this film. Why? Because I want you to watch it and experience it for yourself. As hard as I may I know my words will no do it justice. Please go watch this movie, you won't regret watching it. I certainly hope you don't regret it.

So that's it for 2013. Like every year it had ups and downs but we did come out with some good stuff. Here's hoping the 2014 has great film as well. 

The Best & Worst Movies of 2013: The Worst

Now I say "Best & Worst" but really this more of a "Favorites & Least Favorites" list. I know everyone isn't going to agree with these choices and that's fine. I know for a fact that there's one choice on my "Worst" list that many are going to disagree with. But, again that's fine. Not everyone shares the same opinion on films or anything. Also keep in mind that I haven't seen ALL of the “Bad” movies. I haven’t seen any of the Tyler Perry movies, or Getaway and I still haven't seen the extremely divisive movie Man of Steel.

But enough delaying, let's start the show. I'm starting off with the "worst" of the year because I liked to get the bad stuff out of the way. 

10. Bullet to the Head

D: Walter Hill

W: Alessandro Camon

S: Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, Sarah Shahi

This was just a lackluster film. While I am a fan of Sylvester Stallone and Walter Hill this film just didn't seem to have any of the heart or passion of any of their previous films. Also this has some of the laziest expository dialogue that I've seen. It basically goes like this, 

Stallone: We need to look up info on this guy." 

Kang: Okay hang on a sec. *Dials phone* Hey could you look up info on this guy. 

*Hangs up. Five seconds later* Okay we got the info on this guy." 

I could give a pass on this film it had at least some decent action scenes but it even dropped the ball on that. Well at least there was Escape Plan.

09. R.I.P.D.

D: Robert Schwentke

W: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi

S: Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon

I stated that I saw this movie because of Jeff Bridges and he's about the only good thing in the film. A lot of people were dismissive of the film because they saw it as a ripoff of Men in Black and yes it does share similar elements of that film but that's not the reason why this made my 'worst of...' list. No the reason it's on the list is because it's just a big case of a missed opportunity. It doesn't feel like they took the time to develop this world and fully explore the potentials. We've got a segment of the afterlife where dead cops from various time streams fight demons. This should have been better. And back to the point about not developing the world, there are so many moments where I just kept questioning what was going on. For example: During the first encounter with a demon, it shows that apparently they don't like certain spices and apparently can't answer certain questions. I'm guessing that's what's happening but like I said I never understood WHY certain spices revealed who they were and I'm still not sure why they were asking random questions. Mr. Bridges, you deserve better. 

08. After Earth

D: M. Night Shyamalan

W: M. Night Shyamalan, Gary Whitta

S: Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Sophie Okonedo

Now a lot of people have put this at the number one spot on their 'worst off...' probably because it's a Shyamalan film and he is an easy target. While I do agree that this film is a rather lame film, for me the problem isn't Shyamalan, it's Smith and Son. This was clearly just an ego project to help promote his kid and I'm sorry to say this (especially since he's a kid) but Jaden is not that charismatic. The poor kid can't carry the film by himself. But that's not the only problem, much like R.I.P.D. this movie doesn't really explain the world or the environment or... anything really. 

07. The Great Gatsby

D: Baz Luhrmann

W: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce

S: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan

Oh dear I'm going to catch a lot of flack for this one. Yes people after several months since its premiere and watching it one more time I still can't bring myself to like this movie. Very rarely am I the guy who's like "The book was so much better" but in this case, yes I will become that guy. I felt like any substance from the book I respected was just gone and instead what we got was Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge set in the Roaring 20s. The only things I can say that I liked was the art/set direction and Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan. In my opinion, just stick with the 1974 version with Robert Redford. 

06. A Good Day to Die Hard

D: John Moore

W: Skip Woods

S: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch

I'm not going to claim to be the biggest Die Hard fan (I'm not going for the easy joke in this one), but I do really love the first Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard is the exact opposite of the first film. Everything that made the original film great is absent. John McClane has gone from being the regular average cop who was at the right place at the right time to an Arnold Schwarzeneggar character. Also I get the feeling that this was a plain action movie script that they slapped the Die Hard label just to sell it. Even ignoring the previous films this is still a pretty bad action film. I could barely tell what was going on because of the terrible cinematography, and most of the dialogue in the film is just Bruce Willis and Jai Courtney making father/son jokes and Courtney groaning about how Willis wasn't there for him and so forth. Just ignore it and watch the first one. 

05. The Hangover Part III

D: Todd Phillips

W: Craig Mazin, Todd Phillips

S: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis

This movie suffers the biggest sin any comedy can have. It's not funny. It is painfully unfunny. There are no real gags, punchlines or just jokes in general. While I think the first one was just okay and the second one was just a weak carbon copy of the first film, this film makes it a chore to sit through. The worst element about the film was Alan Garner (Zach Galifianakis) and Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong). Both of these character are just so remarkable unfunny and unlikable that I was seriously rooting for the villain in this movie. Now I know comedy is comprised of a lot jerk and smart alecks, (Rodney Dangerfield, Groucho Marx and Don Rickles come to mind) but a lot those comedians were at least funny. 

04. The Host

D: Andrew Niccol

W: Andrew Niccol

S: Saoirse Ronan, Jake Abel, Max Irons

I'm not putting this on the list because it's a Stephanie Meyers related film. I'm not. I'm putting this on the list because it was a dreadful sit through. With the Twilight films I could at least get a laugh factor from some of the scenes. I could get some enjoyment out of the gleefully over the top performance of Michael Sheen as Aro. But with The Host there's none of that. Which is a shame because the lead is played by Saoirse Ronan, who is a legitimate good young actress and the villain is played by Diane Kruger, who is also awesome. But they are given nothing to work with. But that's just the tip of the iceberg and to continue on... well I've got three others to list and my best of so let's just move on.

03. Free Birds

D: Jimmy Hayward

W: Jimmy Hayward, Scott Mosier

S: Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Amy Poehler

I can already hear the comments, 

"It's a kids film. Don't be hard on it." 

"It's not for your age demographic." 

etc. etc.

Yes,while it is a children's movie and it is technically true that's not for my age demographic that is also true for Frozen and I thought Frozen was an amazing film. Plus there are still countless other films from my childhood that I still love today as an adult (The Great Muppet Caper, Beauty and the Beast, Davy Crockett King of the Wild Frontier, and so on). Outside of some of the lame jokes, concepts and a drastic tonal shift, Free Birds features an element that truly, TRULY bothers me. It's vilifying people who are trying to survive. The pilgrims are not blood thirsty meat eaters, they are people who are starving and many of them have died. They need food and sorry to say there is no alternative vegan diet for them to take. The only thing I can I enjoyed about this was George Takei. Because... well... George Takei. 

02. Battle of the Year

D: Benson Lee

W: Brin Hill, Chris Parker

S: Josh Holloway, Laz Alonso, Josh Peck

Any subject can work in a movie, as long as it's given to the right people to work with it and those people make the movie a way for people to digest and take in. This movie didn't have the right people unfortunately. Again it's not the subject matter that's the problem, the problem is the way it's done. I wasn't expecting this to be a completely original film, I figured there would be a lot of cliches but this movie is pretty much NOTHING but cliches with no real sigh of development or growth. And that's what puts it so high on this list. The fact that nothing is truly developed and that the film is just an amalgamation of sports/dance movie cliches is why I found it that bad. 

And what could be Number 1?

1. Grown Ups 2

D: Dennis Dugan

W: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler, Fred Wolf

S: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock

Yep THIS movie. Why? Because this movie, in my opinion, features so many elements that make a film bad. There is no main plot there is just a bunch subplot that don't amount to anything. It's not helped much by the fact that a big chunk of the characters are unlikable. The biggest example I can give is that Kevin James' character has felt neglected by his wife because she's been focusing on the two kids they have a lot. Yeah, how DARE she act like a parent. So he's been going over to his mother's house for meals and watch soap operas with her and essentially to get more attention. Of course in the end she finds out they have a brief little spat and suddenly everything is okay. To quote MST3K "We hope you enjoyed No Moral Theater."

Well that does it for my least favorites of the year. Are they the worst? Well from what I saw yes. But others may see differently and that's fine. Feel free to give your opinion.