This Year In Movies . . .

So it's been a fairly alright year for movies so far. I've only seen five new releases this year so far, but I've enjoyed the majority of them, and the rest of the year seems pretty promising.

I believe the first movie I saw this year was The Hunger Games. This is the first of the two movies that I didn't care for too much. I have yet to open the books from the series, but I've heard that they have a pretty strong following. The movie in itself presented a fairly neat concept, but it didn't give me enough of the history to really get sucked in, and a majority of the movie felt forced. When a moment presented itself that I knew was supposed to be emotional, I just couldn't get into it, and the action scenes were just awful.

I think the second movie I saw this year 21 Jump Street, and it was definitely one of my favorites this year. I didn't really know what to expect from the Tatum/Hill duo, but they really brought the film to life. It was definitely the second funniest movie that I'v seen this year.

Cabin in the Woods was the third, and by far my favorite. Joss Whedon put together a hilarious satire on the classic slasher situation that included many hilarious references to classic horror films. I sort of felt awkward at certain moments in the theater though since I knew I was one of the few laughing at scenes that would otherwise hold very little comical value.

The long awaited Avengers movie was fourth. Ever since we saw Samuel L. Jackson at the end of Iron Man we've been awaited the arrival of this one. It did a great job of making a team of supernatural heroes working together despite their differences and inner turmoils believable, and the action was just wonderful.

The most recent movie that I've seen is probably my least favorite so far. Snow White and the Huntsman left me leaving the theater with very few good things to say. The film lacked continuity, proper dialogue, and any sort of believable plot. The entire thing did a great job of showing just how much money we're trying to milk out of old titles that did well back in the day. This movie will probably be the first in my series of video reviews, and I apologize again for the delay. The only excuse I can really give is that I'm incredibly lazy.

Now let's talk about some of the movies coming out later this year, starting with the three that I'm most excited about: Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises, and Les Miserables.

Ridley Scott has released so much footage for Prometheus that I sort of feel that I've already seen the movie. It's presenting itself as a prequel to the original, and that has me more excited than anything since the original is one of the best in the series. In all honesty though, I'm trying to hold back my excitement. I'll just say that it's good so long as it's better than Aliens 3.

The Dark Knight Rises is the third, and final, installment in Nolan's trilogy. With a strong villain like Bane coming to the screen and some potential involvement with the League of Shadows from Begins, I think this movie will be pretty awesome. Nolan's realistic take on the franchise has done a lot to breath some fresh air into the character, and it'll be nice to see a broken bat on the screen to hopefully get rid of some of this "In Batman We Trust" (not an actual title for the hype) nonsense that we've seen all over the internet.

I didn't know what to expect when I heard that Hugh Jackman would be taking the lead role in the new Les Miserables production set to hit theaters this winter, but after seeing the trailer on the big screen, and hearing Hathaway sing I can completely say that this movie is going to be just wonderful. See for yourselves:



There are many other films set to release this year that have me pretty excited, but none as much as the above three. Pixar's new feature, Brave, releases later this year, and it looks visually astounding (eat it Avatar. You never impressed me anyway). I haven't seen anything else by the directors, but Lawless and Great Gatsby have me a little excited. The new Bourne movie with Jeremy Renner looks like a fun sequel in the franchise, and I'm hoping to see a Damon Renner team up in the future.

I'm certain there were more releases to discuss, but I need to get some rest before work. I apologize again for the delay in the reviews, and the sudden change from Kick Ass to Snow White, but I'll do my best to set some solid deadlines and adhere to them once I get a couple videos under my feet.