Movies for 2011

The Green Hornet - We had free passes, and for the second time we had to walk out of the movie. The first time we walked out of Land of the Lost. This time we had to leave for the same reason. One of the dangers of free screenings is that there is not a lot of time to determine if the content is appropriate for Dude. If we had looked at IMDB and seen that Seth Rogen not only starred in, but also wrote this movie then we probably would have know that language would have been on par with Superbad.

Even if we had stayed I was disappointed in the film. I didn't care about any of the characters. Cameron Diaz has no reason to be in this film other than to serve as motivation for the Hornet and Cato's drooling. Christoph Walz loses any menace that carried over from Basterds and turns into a one note joke.



Rango - Absolutely brilliant I will predict right now that it will not only be nominated for the Best Animated Oscar, but it will also upset the Pixar offering of Cars 2.

Rango pays homage to all of the western that came before from the Sergio Leone/Ennio Moriconne style score to the John Ford visuals. Roger Deakins, cinematographer for True Grit and No Country, consults on this film and you can definitely see his influence.

This is not a kids movie, though Evan definitely enjoyed it (he also enjoyed True Grit), this is a real western with all of the dirt, death and violence you would expect.

The acting is brilliant and though there are name actors in the cast I didn't spend the entire time trying to guess who they were.

Ip Man (2008)

Legion (2010)

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Inside Job (2010)

2012 (2009)

Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides

Bridesmaids - First of all I would like to mention that I was one of like 5 guys in the audience. This is okay because Colette is usually one of the few girls in the audiences at the geekfests that I drag her too. This was like Superbad, but for adult chicks. I laughed out loud several times, and was entertained throughout. Colette informed me that many of the incidents resonated with her, not however the food poisoning in the bridal shop.

Book of Eli (2010)

Mars Needs Moms

Cedar Rapids

50/50

Source Code - Saw this before when it was called 12 Monkeys.

Rio - I can't believe people pay to see these things. With Eisenberg as the voice, they managed take the most annoying thing about Jesse and magnify it.

The Expendables


Daybreakers


Everything Must Go


Paul


X-Men First Class - Like the help it used the 1960s as its backdrop. I will say that I am more likely to believe that the X-Men were instrumental in preventing the Cuban missile crisis than that a white lady and a bunch of maids were able to overcome cartoonishly racist women.


Thor


Moneyball

Captain America

Cars 2

Gnomeo and Juliet


J. Edgar


Submarine


The Descendants


Melancholia


Hugo 3D


The Muppets


Idiot Brother


Machete - "Machete don't text"

The Help - Seriously? I mean there was some good acting and I laughed a couple of times, but I don't understand how a collection of cliches thrown against a canvas of facile historical nuggets could win such acclaim. Heaping praise on The Help instead of Bridesmaids is the misogynist equivalent of give Miss Daisy the Oscar instead of Do The Right thing.

Tin Tin


War Horse

Tree of Life


Midnight in Paris

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Young Adult


Real Steel

Use this space to list your five favorite Buddy Movies

What is a buddy movie? It is a movie that is primarily about the relationship between two people. The relationship cannot be romantic and thus will not end with a kiss, marriage, or same sex union. The buddy movie usually only involves two main characters, but The Hangover would count as an ensemble buddy movie (as would Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but nobody would ever pick that.) The buddies can be outlaws or cops, on the road or homebodies, smart or insanely stupid, real or fictional. Please use the comment section to list your choices and don't forget to take the polls to the right. Also check below for my reviews of movies I saw this year. I have hidden the comments so that we can guess at the party.