Worst of 2014

Time for the annual best and worst of the year lists. I'm going to start with the worst of the year because I want to get all of the negatives out of the year.

I've probably stated this before but when I make these kind of list it really is more of a 'least favorite' list. I'm sure others were weaker in writing, acting and etc but it just comes down to whether or not I would sit down and watch this movie again.

Also keep in mind I haven't seen a good chunk of the films that have been called "bad". For example: I haven't seen Left Behind, the Endless Love remake, Annabelle and I sure as hell haven't seen Saving Christmas. Because there is no way Kirk Cameron is getting any of my money.

Also, this is just my own personal opinion. If you disagree with my opinion that's fine, I will never take away any amount of enjoyment you got from a movie.

Before we get to the top ten I'd like to present you with my pick for...

OVERRATED MOVIE OF THE YEAR:

This year that "honor" goes to Interstellar. Yeah, I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of comments about this choice (I'd expect that for this category in general) but I'm sorry folks I just didn't enjoy the film as much as everybody else. I'm not saying that the movie is bad. It is shot well, it has some great special effects, and some wonderful performances (Jessica Chastain was the best in my book) what killed it for me was the forced 'love conquers all' stuff that just made me roll my eyes. I'm not opposed to love being a theme in a movie I'm not a heartless prick, but in this film it just hammers it into your head. There were so many moments when Nolan crams in unnecessary dialogue about the power of love and yet he still wants the movie to be taken seriously from a scientific standpoint. I'm sorry but no. In my book you can't be all "this is a super duper serious science movie" and then be all "Emotions are great! There's no greater power than love! The meaning of this scene is..." Also, a robot with a humor chip... seriously. I could go on about this film but this is segment is far longer than it should. If you liked it that's fine, I just didn't.

Now to the main attraction:

10. The Legend of Hercules
This is a last minute entree into the list. This film has been on practically every critic's worst of the year list, and with good reason. I am baffled as to how this movie was released into the cinemas. The cheap special effects, the hammy acting, how on Earth did this get a wide release? I'm sure some of you are wondering why this is so low on the list when it's apparently an extremely terrible film. The main reason is because this movie was HILARIOUS! If anybody out there has a bad movie night then do yourself a favor and watch it. Also, I hope Rifftrax releases a commentary for this movie. 

09. The Expendables 3
A PG-13 rated film, in a franchise that put a lot of pride in its R rated violence. They apparently forgot that "PG-13 is for p***ies!" Ignoring the watered down action the film still pretty disappointing in the story. Yeah, you heard me. The other two films had very basic plots that could keep the audience interested in them and care a least a little bit, this film just tries to juggle too much. By that I mean the cast. The movie has a total of 17 cast members that get crammed into this plot that is trying to be about old vs new but just comes out a jumbled mess and doesn't really do anything with the theme. The closest it comes to old vs new stuff is with Jason Statham and Wesley Snipes (who was technically an 'old' member). Also, I can't remember the young cast members. Nothing makes them stick out, and they don't even have the name value that at least some of the cast members have. So this is without a doubt the weakest link of the series. By the way, The Expendables 2 (2012, dir. Simon West) is the best of the trilogy.

08. I, Frankenstein
The first 2014 movie I saw this year ended up on this list and that shouldn't surprise anyone. The film's story is just boring which wouldn't make it too bad but the supposed allies of our protagonist are just awful! They turn their allegiance for the hero on the turn of a dime, and the fact that every single bad thing that happened to them was their fault makes it stupid when they place blame on Frankenstein (Aaron Eckhart)! Outside of that, the film is just lame.

07. The Identical
An Elvis Presley biopic except not. This is one of the most bizarre films that I've seen this year, and that's saying something considering I've seen a film about a world of where the inhabitants were Lego people, talking apes, and a movie with a talking raccoon and his tree body guard. This movie expects us to believe that the main character could make an extremely successful career for himself by being an impersonator of a guy who is essentially an Elvis ripoff. Also, we're suppose to believe that neither of those two find it odd that the two look and sound exactly the same! Like I said, it is a bizarre film.

06. Transformers: Age of Extinction
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Michael Bay is on the list I'm sure you guys saw that coming. But in this movie's defense I will say this, it isn't as bad as the other films. Which I know isn't saying much but trust me I would rather watch this film than the second film (I can't say the same about the third movie, because I haven't seen it). Mark Wahlberg is a much more appealing lead, and I can actually tell the Autobots apart, though sadly its only because of their voice actors. But outside of that the movie still has a lot of Bay's usually tropes. Annoying characters who serve no real purpose in the movie, extremely cliched emotion cues through camera shots or slow-motion, and an overly complicated plot involving some ancient plot device. Seriously, why not just a basic 90 minute film with the two teams of robots fighting each. Is it that complicated? Just stick with Transformers: The Movie (1986, dir. Nelson Shin) and Pacific Rim (2013, dir. Guillermo del Toro). 

05. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
While this is in no way the worst thing in the Ninja Turtles franchise it didn't really do it any favors. The biggest problem with this film is that it rushes. It doesn't take the time to rest and let the audience get to know these characters and what's going on. It feels like they used the first draft of the script for the film. And say what you will about Michael Bay as a director, I can at least tell what's going on in his action scenes. Whereas Jonathan Liebesman moves things so fast I can't tell which turtle is fighting or where they're at in this fight in relation to other characters. As I said, while this installment is far from the worst thing in the franchise, it was a big missed opportunity.

04. Maleficent 
I'm going to get some flack for this. I know that there are people out there who really like this film, many of whom are friends of mine. As for me, obviously I couldn't stand this movie. I'm not going to pretend that the original Sleeping Beauty was a work of really deep art or that it was a movie that broke a lot of tropes and was a groundbreaking movie but it made up for it with charm and a great style that hasn't been duplicated in any other Disney film. I'm not opposed to having a back story for villain characters but instead of making an interesting and complex story involving Maleficent, the King, and the Fairies (By the way, I LOATHE what they did to the three fairies) we got a really cliched story that is trying to be the "real story" of Maleficent where she's just a bland misunderstood outcast. Oh, and it tries to cram in a plot twist that Frozen did better. If you ask me, obviously I'd say stick with Disney's original film which, again, admittedly isn't that deep and complex story wise but it makes up for it with really compelling performances, music and animation.

03. Sabotage
While David Ayer is listed as one of the writers and the director this movie I think the blame for this film's disappointment goes to the co-writer Skip Woods. Given that he's also the writer responsible for X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009, dir. Gavin Hood) and A Good Day to Die Hard (2013, dir. John Moore) there's enough evidence to support my hypothesis. While many elements of Ayer's style and writing are present this film just has an extremely confusing plot involving the murders of DEA squad members, cheating spouses, drug use, avenging a loved one's death, and a mystery involving stolen money. Also, the characters are so annoying with their overly macho personas that I can't find any sort of sympathy for them. Even if you don't like other David Ayer movies you could at least say you understood where the characters were coming from and find them enjoyable in their own way. These guys? Nope I couldn't care for them in the slightest. The only character I really liked was Olivia Williams.  I recommend you go check out Fury or End of Watch as an alternative.

02. Transcendence
A movie that basically asks the audience to root for terrorists towards the end of the film. The film itself is just blase and kind of boring but towards the end we're suppose to believe the stuff spouted by a group of people who are responsible for the deaths of several innocent people are right and should be rooted for. And the people at the beginning who were killed by them, they had nothing to do with what Johnny Depp's character was doing. True they were working for him and doing research on A.I. material but they weren't involved with him uploading his brain into a computer, or the shady stuff he was supposedly planning. Yes, they try to do the whole "look at what you've done" sort of thing, but there isn't even anything saying they got arrested or even that sense that they were wrong. Other than that the movie tries to be all about we're too dependent on technology and stuff like that but it doesn't really go anywhere with it. And again, it's boring. I say just watch the South Park episode "Trapper Keeper". 

01. A Million Ways to Die in the West
Basically take every weak element of Seth MacFarland's work in recent years and you've got this movie. A plot that barely exists, jokes that go on far longer than they should, unlikable characters, pop culture reference that don't add anything, and countless other things. But I think one thing that kills it for me is that this was a Western, my favorite genre. I know that sounds like a lame reason but I can't lie, it does bum me out. Westerns are a rare thing to see in movies, they usually get a limited release or are on demand. Well, we finally get one in theaters and it's this one! Nope, not The Homesman the movie with an all-star cast and was made by filmmakers who have a more than decent resume and has been getting decent reviews. No, that gets a limited release and in the instead we get the film with an acid trip like scene involving CG peeing sheep! Aaahhhh!!

And that's my ten worst of the year. Again, if you liked any of the movies on this list then that is perfectly fine. I will in no way take away your enjoyment of the movie. For me personally these films just didn't cut it.

Feel free to list what you thought were the worst of 2014. Stay tuned for my best of 2014 list.

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Quadruple Feature Part 1: Big Eye & The Imitation Game

As the year comes to a close I finished up the year with four, yes FOUR, reviews. Three of them were the winners of the poll I sent out and the fourth film is one I saw with my sister earlier. First up...

Big Eyes
D: Tim Burton
W: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
S: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, Jon Polito, Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, Terence Stamp

Tim Burton brings us his latest film which is based on the real story of Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) and her famous Big Eye paintings, and the scam involving her now ex-husband, Walter (Christoph Waltz), stealing the credit for the paintings. I would give a spoiler warning but chances are you've probably looked up this story or you've seen the CBS Sunday Morning special about it. But I digress.

This is a film I've been really looking forward to seeing since I first heard about it earlier this year. It's a Tim Burton film that doesn't star Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, it isn't a reboot or remake, and the script was written by the same guys who wrote the screenplay for not only my favorite Burton film but one of my favorite films of all time, Ed Wood. By the way, if you haven't seen Ed Wood, as soon as you're done reading this post go out and watch it!

How was it? It was pretty damn good. A fairly strong script, great performances, and did a pretty good job at portraying the psychological torment that Margaret Keane went through.

The biggest theme of the film is without a doubt lies and deception, which was the thing that probably bothered Margaret Keane the most in her career. At first she compromised with the lies just to help get money so she could help support her daughter, from her first marriage. But as the paintings grew more popular she had a hard time not only dealing the fact that her husband was stealing credit for something she created but she was lying to her daughter which bothered her more than anything else.

Now I'm not sure if this next part is intentional or I'm just over thinking but it seemed to me that there was a lot of focus on the character's eyes. Something about the lighting, or maybe it's the way it was shot, but it seemed to have focus on the eyes. Margaret points out in the film that she sees the eyes as, "windows to the soul," and you can get the emotions from the characters just by the look in their eyes. It could just be me.

This is probably Burton's strongest film since Sweeney Todd. I don't think the movie is as strong as Ed Wood but I do still recommend it.


The Imitation Game
D: Morten Tyldum
W: Graham Moore
S: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Charles Dance, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Rory Kinnear

Another biography film, this time it's about the famous British mathematician Alan Turning (Benedict Cumberbatch). The movie tells of his achievements during World War II when he helped create a machine that decoded the German's signal codes. It also looks at bits of schoolboy days and his post-war life when he was arrested for tried for "gross indecency" aka being a homosexual.

As this film stands, well it is a very basic biography film about a guy that is worthy noting. The problem is the script. It does contain very similar tropes that appear in a lot of biography films. He's a loner, there's a disapproving authority figure, potential love interest, a rival who then becomes a friend etc. etc.

Also the script tells the story in a non-linear style. It starts off in the 50s then goes to WWII then to Turning's chilhood and keeps jumping around almost randomly. Maybe that's how it was done in the original book that the script is based around but it just seemed weird to me.

So why are people going nuts over it? Well I can say that it is pretty much due to the performances, mainly Benedict Cumberbatch. I am convinced that this man can do no wrong. Every moment with him is outstanding. He is able to make Turning sympathetic, frustrating, and portrays him as an actual person. So many biography films the creative team just make their subject matter an angel. But with this film I think we can credit Cumberbatch a lot with for the performance.

While it doesn't do anything grand or new with the script the film is still worth watching for the performances, mainly from Cumberbatch. 

Quadruple Feature Part 2: Into the Woods & Wild

Into the Woods
D: Rob Marshall
W: James Lapine
S: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Johnny Depp

The Tony Award winning Broadway show Into the Woods by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim goes from the stage to the silver screen. The story takes place in a magical world where almost every fairy tale characters seemed to live and in this magical land lives a baker(future Late, Late Show Host James Corden), and his wife (Emily Blunt) who wish for nothing more than to have a child but are sadly unable to. That is until their neighbor The Witch (Meryl Streep) pops in a tells them that she placed a curse on their house preventing them to have a child and that she'll lift the curse if they can bring them a list of item needed to make a potion. Through their journey they come across Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), future beanstalk climber Jack (Daniel Huttlestone), Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), and many others.

I remember seeing my high school put on a production of this back when I was in middle school and I recall liking it a lot. I guess it was because I liked the idea of these characters existing in the same universe and how far it extended. Like maybe they'd run into Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, or the Seven Dwarves, stuff like that.

But what about the film? Surprisingly I dug the hell out of this film, a lot more than I thought.

I can't speak from the aspect of Broadway lover, as I said I've only seen a high school's rendition of it 10 years ago, so I won't be surprised if there are fans of the original show who find this movie absolutely terrible.

But I think a big reason I enjoyed it is the themes and what it does with the story. This is a story that shows that 'Happily Ever After' may just be a short term result, that their maybe long term consequences. That's a pretty mature message.

Now I'm not some pessimistic Mr. Grumpy Gills who thinks life is all sad and torture and life sucks cause a girl turned me down and so on. The film shows that fairy tales are good for getting a message across, there maybe other conflicts down the road, emotionally or psychically.

I think my favorite moment in the film is in third act, SPOILERS, when the Giant's Wife (Frances da la Tour), is causing mass destruction throughout the land to avenge her husband's death, Cinderella is told that her now husband, one of two prince charmings in the film (Chris Pine), was flirting with the Baker's Wife. They part ways with the Prince saying, "I shall always love the maiden that ran away." and Cinderella responding with, "And I the faraway prince." That speaks to something very realistic that happens in the world. We do want those who are out of reach, and we'll do whatever it takes to get them. But happened if we do get them? But even then we'll always love the idea and keep it within us as a little bit of hope.

Also since this was produced by the Disney Company I really appreciate how they didn't just make the characters look like the Disney equivalent and kept the dark tone, especially with Cinderella's story.

But that's only part of a musical, the other parts are the performances and songs. I can speak as a song expert but I did enjoy them in their own way, and the performances were pretty good. Everyone who sings does a pretty good job with their respected roles. The most surprising was Chris Pine as Cinderella's Prince. I mean when you head about the new Captain Kirk acting in a musical you all thought he'd be just there because he looks the part and probably won't sing. But he does a pretty good job in the role and is a pretty good singer. I won't lie I actually pulled out my phone a checked to see if there was anyone dubbing his voice, it has happened in the past even with the most notable musical films. But I've seen nothing to indicate otherwise, so bravo to you Captain. You're certainly better than the previous commander.

But as I said the others are just as good. Meryl Streep continues to be a non-stop source of talent and the massively underrated Emily Blunt fits her role perfectly. I think the only one that wasn't as grande in my book was Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood. She didn't give a bad performance its just that she seems to be stuck in Broadway mode. The best way I can describe it is like that this, guess when Red's part comes in.

"Into the woods to sell a cow-"

"Into the woods to get the money-"

"Into the woods to lift the spell-"

"To make the potion-"

"To go to the festival-"

"INTO THE WOODS TO GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE"

See what I mean?

The only other complaint I have would be that there doesn't seem to be any real boundaries for the song. Also, Johnny Depp's portray as the Wolf, it is so bizarre. I usually like bizarre and weird but it just sticks out like a sore thumb. I get they're going for a stage show feel by having an actual human portraying the character but having him dressed as a combination of a Tex Avery wolf and wolf from the BBC version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. And I think I just got +10 in obscure references. 

Other than that I did really enjoy this film, more so than I thought I would. 

Wild
D: Jean-Marc Vallee
W: Nick Hornby
S: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Thomas Sadoski, Gaby Hoffmann

The finally the fourth film, Wild. Jean-Marc Vallee, dips into the biopic pool again with noted English novelist Nick Hornby as writer and Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon as the lead in Wild. The story of Cheryl Strayed (Witherspoon) a woman who went on a 1,100 mile hike as a way to rediscover herself following the death of her mother (Laura Dern), her divorce, and after years of drug abuse and other destructive behavior.

This in a lot of ways this film does have a lot in common with Vallee's previous film, Dallas Buyers Club. Both stories are based on true events and both films deal with flawed humans who act reckless and think they have stuff figured out in a way only have a unfortunate event (for Strayed's case a series of unfortunate events) and then having to rediscover themselves. This is not me saying they're the same film, they aren't. Each film have their own elements and are good films on their own. 


Dallas Buyers Club dealt with the subject the of oppression against the LGBT community while the film studied our overly macho cowboy lead, while Wild looks at a woman who is trying to proove herself while going through the mourning process and tries to rediscover herself during a rough part of her life.

This film starts the hike when Strayed started the hike and ends when she finishes, during her hike we get a series of flashback which tells her back story, I think it is honestly really clever. We go on the hike with her, we see her thoughts and we hear her internal monologues as she hikes. On that note, we have to be honest with our selves we'd be saying the same thing she says in the movie. I'm not talking about the deep thoughts about her parents, ex-husband and such but I mean her almost endless fountain of frustrated swearing.

The whole hike itself can be seen as symbolic. Its symbolic of a person's road to recovery or bettering one's self. One of the first scenes is Strayed checking into a hotel and preparing herself for the hike can parallel us prepping for to make a change in our lives. Then her trying to put on her heavy backpack can be seen as a parallel as us trying to get actually started. Finally, her first couple miles as she struggles she says to herself, "I can quit at anytime," and looks back at her starting point but keeps going because she'd probably kick herself for giving up. That's something I'm sure we all have been through.

There's also I nice motif going on with songs. Several points in the film she sings to herself and it transition into a flashback. Probably the best example of this was with the Simon & Garfunkel song Homeward Bound.

If I did have any little problem it would be that some moments the dialogue and inner thoughts basically become exposition for the audience. But that's a pretty minor thing.

This is a really good film and it is definitely worth seeing, especially around the beginning of the year.

Originally I said I enjoyed Into the Woods the most out of all these films I saw but thinking about it more, I think this was my favorite film of the four.

What about you?

31 Favorite Songs of 2014

Here's a little something out of the norm. My favorite songs of 2014. Seeing as I'm a movie guy I can't really rank these from what I find as the best in any particular order. But I figured I'd share with you all my favorites songs of the past year. The only qualification it needs is that I must have downloaded in 2014. So here you go, in alphabetical order, my favorite songs of 2014.

 Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up (acoustic)

Big K.R.I.T. ft. Raphael Saadiq - Soul Food

Black Fire Pistol - Run Rabbit Run

Constantine & Ricky Gervais - I'm Number One

Epic Rap Battles of History - Steven Spielberg vs. Alfred Hithcock

Eric Church - Dark Side

Imagine Dragons - I Bet My Life

James Newton Howard & Jennifer Lawrence - The Hanging Tree

Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash - Don't You Think It's Come Our Time

Kate Miller-Heidke ft. Passenger - Share Your Air

Katie Herzig - Walk Through Walls

Kendrick Lamarr - i

Kid Cudi - Going to the Ceremony

KONGOS - Come With Me Now

Lake Street Dive - Bad Self Portraits

Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk

MKTO - Classic

Mr. Probz - Waves (Robin Schulz Radio Edit)

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Rifftrax Guys - Swing Away

Here's a link to the song. If it doesn't work then you can hear some of it in this video

The New Basement Tapes - Kansas City

Old Crow Medicine Show - Firewater

Pharrell Williams & Justin Timberlake - Brand New

Ryan Bingham - For Anyone's Sake

Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox - We Found Love

The Secret Sisters - Rattle My Bones

St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Sugar Dyed

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Red River

Tove Lo - Habits (Stay High)

Trampled by Turtles - Come Back Home

WALK THE MOON - Shut Up and Dance

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Sports Song

So there it is. My favorites of 2014. What were some of your favorites? Feel free to share.

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Thank you for reading. 

What 2014 film should I see before the year ends?

With the year coming close to an end I want to check out at least two more movies before we enter 2015. With so many films to check out I decided to ask you guy: What movies should I see?

This list is of the movies that are showing at my go to theater, PLEASE CHOOSE AT LEAST THREE MOVIES. Even if you haven't seen it, what movies would you want me to check out and give an opinion about. Leave your picks in the comment section or at my Facebook page or at Twitter @DocJohn90.

Thank you for your input.

Here's the list:

Annie 
D: Will Gluck
W: Will Gluck, Aline Brosh McKenna
S: Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhane Wallis, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Cameron Diaz

Big Eyes 
D: Tim Burton
W: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
S: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, Joe Polito, Kysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, Terrence Stamp

Exodus: Gods and Kings 
D: Ridley Scott
W: Jeffrey Caine, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Steven Zaillian
S: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley

The Gambler 
D: Rupert Wyatt
W: William Monahan
S: Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Michael K. Williams, Jessica Lange, Anthony Kelley

Into the Woods
D: Rob Marshall
W: James Lapine
S: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Johnny Depp

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
D: Shawn Levy
W: David Guion, Michael Handelman
S: Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Dan Stevens, Ben Kingsley

Penguins Of Madagascar

D: Eric Darnell, Simon J. Smith

W: John Aboud, Michael Colton, Brandon Sawyer

S: Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Conrad Vernon, Christopher Knights, Benedict Cumberbatch, John Malkovich

Top Five 
D: Chris Rock
W: Chris Rock
S: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson

Unbroken
D: Angelina Jolie
W: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Richard LaGravenese, William Nicholson
S: Jack O'Connell, Domhall Gleeson, Miyavi, Garrett Hedlund, Finn Wittrock

Wild
D: Jean-Marc Vallee
W: Nick Hornby
S: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Thomas Sadoski, Gaby Hoffmann

Thank you for your input. Like the blog on Facebook. And follow the blog on Twitter @DocJohn90

North Korea vs The Interview

I'm sure some of you have already heard about the Seth Rogen and James Franco movie The Interview (2014, dir. Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen) being pulled from theaters due to threats made by a group of hackers.

Now I've usually tried to avoid political stuff from my blogs but seeing as how this is dealing with movies, and I've been asked about my thoughts on the incident by a friend of mine, I thought I'd say a few words.

I didn't really have much interest in seeing The Interview, not because of its politics or anything but because it just didn't look that funny to me. But when I heard it got pulled from theaters I thought it was a bit much. But when ever something like this comes up I try to look at every angle.

Grant it I'm still not sure about all the ends in and outs on this whole thing, I'm sure there's finer details I'm missing but here's my thoughts on it as of right now.

On one hard, I oppose it being pulling it from theaters. I mean, we've released movies, shorts, and television shows that have been nothing but making a mockery of a foreign and domestic leaders. Charlie Chaplin made a complete mockery of Adolf Hitler in his film The Great Dictator (1940, dir. Charlie Chaplin). The Three Stooges even took their jabs at the Axis party in countless shorts. Even in recent years, countless TV shows have thoroughly destroyed America's leader, it would take forever to count all the shows and movies that made fun of George W. Bush. The biggest examples in recent years of extreme political satire comes from Trey Parker and Matt Stone who have had a ball with their show South Park and their movies South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999, dir. Trey Parker) and Team America: World Police (2004, dir. Trey Parker), the latter of which take no prisoners in its satire and featured satirizing of North Korea's Kim Jong Il. So why was The Interview pulled and not these movies? I'm sure these movies got a handful of threats but they still premiered. Hell, after You Natzy Spy! (1940, dir. Jules White) The Three Stooges were pretty much put on Hitler's death list after that. Maybe Kim Jong Un doesn't have a sense of humor. 

But the threats were made after Sony Studios were hacked and many of their classified info was leaked to thousands, and these people were making threats about bombing theaters releasing the movies and given how hackers are becoming more of a threat considering how we have 'Hacktivists' who have come through with their threats. This day and age we do have to take into consideration the idea that threats made online can come to flourish.

So, to summarize its a really complicated issue. One the one hand I do believe they should have released the film, but at the same time we can't take threats lightly this day and age. So this is a mixed bag for me, but then again I may not be the proper person to talk about this.

What do you guys think?

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Review

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
D: Peter Jackson
W: Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh
S: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Orlando Bloom

It is now the end of an era. Academy Award winning director Peter Jackson has released his final entree in his Lord of the Rings franchise with The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. I obviously saw it and... it isn't as grand to me.

Before I go any further I should probably let you people know what my thoughts are on the other films. Now the The Lord of the Rings films I at first didn't care for that much but I've grown to really like and appreciate them. It could be that at the time when they came out I was in my pre-teens and I didn't want to like anything popular or "main stream" or whatever pretentious mood I was in. But now that I'm older I definitely like them, probably not as much as everyone else but I do like them. Though I do still have problems with them, mainly that Frodo (Elijah Wood) just seemed too helpless at some points. And a bunch of other things but that's a whole other dicussion. I do like these films, just not as much as other people.

But what about The Hobbit films? Well, they're frustrating. While I do enjoy them in their own way there are a lot of elements that just bother me from a story telling and film making angle. I know what I'm about to say is something a lot of people have said but it does bare repeating in my book, this story should not have been three movies.

A good chunk of the stuff that was added to these films just seems completely unnecessary, and these things kind of reach their peak of pointlessness in this film. The two things that just come off as completely unneeded are the subplots involving the orcs, mainly Azog (Manu Bennett), and the love triangle with Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Kili (Aidan Turner).

Let me just get this off my chest right now, this movie has WAY too much CGI. I mean, way, way, way, WAY too much. It gets to the point where it looks like a video game instead of a movie. This isn't me being anti-CGI because I'm not, I'm fully aware that there are things that have to be done with computer graphics but Jackson just goes overboard with it. The one thing you can say about the original trilogy is that while there was a good amount of CG work there were a lot of practical effects and makeup being used. You got the sense that there was something there. But in this case there's just so much that I don't feel a real sense of being there. All the villains are CG which takes their threat levels down a whole lot. But the worst case of over done CG is with the dwarf character Dain portrayed by one of my favorite comedians of all time, Billy Connelly.

Now when I first heard about Connelly being in this film I got excited. I was like, 'Oh man! The loud and bombastic Billy Connelly is going to be playing a dwarf character called Dain Ironfoot! This is going to be awesome!" But then I saw that he was all CGI. I'm not talking about scenes where he's riding his war pig or something (yeah, he rides a giant boar) but I mean, everything with him, which is just so bizarre to me. Now grant it, Connelly isn't as spry as he used to be and last I checked he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. But even still they couldn't have him stand in for a scene where's he's just talking to people? They couldn't have him stand in and talk to Thorin, his bloody cousin?! Well, at least we get to hear him tell the Elves to, "Sod off" that was awesome. Shame we didn't get to hear him play the banjo.

Okay so I've ranted about the effects and such but what about the actual story. Well its just a mess to me. There's no real sense of pacing to me. It all seems rather rushed with some big editing problems. Also a lot of the additional story elements just don't have a big impact. For me the whole thing with Thorin and Azog just didn't have anything really powerful, also (SPOILER) having Thorin die due to wounds he got from Azog just didn't do it for me. I really wish it happened during the titular Battle of the Five Armies. The battle just seems like an after thought. Which seems like a hard thing to do considering how we have a character, Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt), who turns into a giant bear and fights off the villains. Why would you not show that?!

Then there's the Two Elves, One Dwarf love story. I understand why it was added, it was meant to add a little more character to the story with the other dwarves who don't really have a story in the original book. But instead of adding something it comes off as a cliched and really, really cheesy. How cheesy? Well one of the lines from Legolas after being told to report to his father, Thranduil (Lee Pace) the Elevenking, he says, "He can control me... but he can't control my heart." I am not joking. That line was spoken. That is George Lucas prequel films love scene level corny.

Again, I'm sure everyone else has said this but Tauriel and Legolas are pointless. I give Jackson credit for trying to add more female characters to this story, but she just gets boiled down to love interest girl who just happens to be a bad ass because she fights, even though she still needs to be rescued. Yeah she really didn't add anything, Lilly did a good job acting, but the character just wasn't that great.

Speaking of the Elves, my biggest problems with the Elves themselves is that they're just too invisible, mainly with Legolas. The fight scenes with him just get ridiculous and, again, just comes off as a video game boss battle. There was no tension.

Okay, I've done nothing but complain throughout this whole article but there are good things. It is nice that they had an arc with Thorin and his dragon sickness, and I've probably said this before but I like how the dwarves are given unique personas, though I think Thorin was done a bit better in the Rankin/Bass version (Spoilers). But still what Jackson did was more than what Tolkien did in the book. My favorites of the bunch are Ken Stott as Balin and  James Nesbitt as Bofur. It could be the hat for the latter and it could be that Scott sort of reminds me of Jon Pertwee, I don't know I just like these two. Though I do wish Bilbo gave them more of a personal goodbye to them, espcially to Bofur. Mainly because of this scene. Even if it came down to a Dorothy-Scarecrow 'I think I'll miss you most of all' kind of thing. But anyway they're still cool, and that hat is still cool.

And the performances from Ian McKellan and Martin Freeman are good. But my favorite moments are with Luke Evans as Bard. I really dug this guy and I felt for him. I especially love the intro scene with him confronting Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). That scene was probably the best of the whole film. 

So in the end, these films have been frustrating. They have been kind of like the Star Wars prequels. While there are good elements they just fall short of what the originals were. But I'm sure if you're already a big big fan of these movies, then you'll dig it. As for me, while I certainly have my problems with the films, I can't say I'd be oppose to seeing them again.

What did you guys think? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

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