New Years Eve. This is it. We've had one late comer. It's not on the list. It's called American Hustle. Since it was just okay, it's not on the list.
And now, the winners of the Clara Awards (since these went live in 2010)...
Best Action Picture of the Year
Star Trek Into Darkness
Reasons: Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 were cool but not the best, and The Hobbit 2 has long stretches of nothing happening. The movie does hit the marks and is a fine action ride, even though it is not pure Star Trek.
Best Fantasy Picture of the Year
The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug
Reasons: The other fantasy pictures like Oblivion and Elysium weren't all that good. Hobbit is a world. It's like an experience.
Best Horror Picture of the Year
The Conjuring
Reasons: The others weren't watched but since Marx liked it, it counts.
Best Picture of the Year
Captain Phillips
Reasons: The Butler wasn't the best, and 12 years a Slave was not seen.
Best Drama of the Year
Gravity
Reason: It was crowd pleasing, intense, interesting and kept the attention of the audience, and the acting was good (even for Clooney and Bullock) and the directing was good. It will likely get an Oscar for something.
Best Comedy of the Year
Jackass: Bad Grandpa
Reasons: An audience that actually really, really laughed, and the two movies about the end of the world were brilliant and at times cleverly shocking, especially At World's End, they were not the best.
Best Animated Movie of the Year
Frozen
Reasons: Epic was good but the Croods was not, and Planes was a vanity piece, and really since this is Disney, why not? The trouble might lie in that it doesn't really strike every chord right and at times is slow and mean spirited. It's just better than the other choices.
Dishonorable Mention
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Reason: The movie completely misses the point. Mitty has to have fantasies the whole time because he never leaves the city to go on aventures! If he really goes then it's stupid. He's not just nuts.
Worst Comedy of the Year
Movie 43
Reasons: Too many to count, but mostly it's just not funny, at all, and tries so hard to be. It's a manic badly written mess miscasting actors that are an embarrassment.
Worst Fantasy of the Year
After Earth
Reasons: M Night Shlayaman, Will Smith and his son. Nepotism gone wrong on a planet for 2 hours. Many more. Olibivon was close for being nothing more than another vanity piece for Tom Cruise. With enhancements, he doesn't look bad for 50.
We don't have a worst horror movies or worst drama. Pick any self centered thriller movie sequel this year for horror, or any self centered and pretentious drama.
We don't have a best director, actor, actress or that kind of stuff.
Dumbest Premise of the Year
Movie 43
Reasons: Sketch comedy is best left to the likes of SNL grads who actually kind of can do that, Happy Gilmore, Vacation, or to the old school guys who actually made stuff like Kentucky Fried Movie and Airplane.
Pity Party
Gravity isn't going to get best picture come Oscar time next February, but it will likely get technical awards.
Big Dumb Robot Movie of the Year
Pacific Rim
Reasons: Monsters versus giant robot battle suit mechs! Why not give it an award for something, because it is a fun movie and completely proves a Robotech movie would work if this guy directed it. The movie is fun and entertaining. Leave your logical mind at the door.
Vanity Piece of the Year
One Direction This is Us
Reasons: It likely beats our Justin Bieber 2 Believe, for sheer popcorn star action, and it proves the adage that even if you get second place on X Factor you can be a star. It also helps to know the old guy that runs the thing, and to make your sloagan playing to the premise you are the next Beatles. Uhm, no, but so what? This is a true vanity piece, tying into the mosic video that goes with the theme. (They are not even close to being the Beatles, but we'll give them that they're InSync from Britain).
Also that title is bad grammar. You cannot have a singular and a plural descriptor. It is either These are Us, or This is Me.
Scenery Chewing Fantasy of the Year
Hunger Games 2: Catching Fire
Reason: The actors in this love their work and chew the screen time to a pulp. The story is demented but fun. It's even more like Battle Royale. There I said it. But in that movie it was a horror film. This is more of a dystopian thriller/
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
The 2013 Clara Awards Nominees
The Clara Awards come in on Christmas Day with some familiar ranting and very little drama, at least in movies.
The worst is first. It seems that even though we haven't seen "After Earth", it's a shoe in for worst science fiction film of the year. It actually can't be called a film really, more like a Smith vanity piece.
The most horrid comedy of the year, and possibly movie also, is "Movie 43", a train wreck of a sketch movie that makes "Kentucky Fried Movie" look like "Gone with the Wind". It is truly, truly awe inspiring bad.
The best comedy of the year is a toss up between "Bad Grandpa" and "Anchorman 2".
A slew of action pictures are making the best category busy, and very few other movies have even been seen this year.
We mention the two White House disaster movies, "White House Down" and "Olympus has Fallen", which were not viewed.
We also mention three end of days type movies, most notably "World's End" and "This Is The End". Both were decent comedies but lacked jokes often, and came off as just okay in the end.
Although we did not see "Jobs" we find this movie odd for deliberately excluding Wozniak, who did most of the work at Apple.
Despite the bad press about Orson Card, "Ender's Game", was one of several just okay science fiction flicks, from "Oblivion" to "Elysium".
Action adventure had a few dives, like "A Good Day To Die Hard" and "GI Joe Retaliation" and "Jack the Giant Slayer". And although "Man of Steel" was better than "Superman Returns", it was still not "Superman".
The best action of the year appears to be a toss up between "The Hobbt 2", "Star Trek Into Darkness", "Iron Man 3" and "Thor 2". The Star Trek movie was not really Trek, and the Hobbit movie was a little better than last time, but the Mandarin was deliberately not right in the Iron Man movie.
"Hunger Games Catching Fire" will get a mention.
Although we didn't both see the horror movies, "The Conjuring", gets high marks. "Mama" was also good.
Drama will probably be handed to "12 Years a Slave" or "The Butler" but they were not reviewed. "Captain Phillips" and "Gravity" will chase the award for best drama, and for action in some sense.
Best director, actors, actresses, story, etc, might actually be hard to pick this year, due to most of the films nominated being just action fantasy films.
Animated movies include "Epic", "Frozen" and "The Croods" and "Escpae from Panet Earth" but really it's been a slow year, so Frozen is a shoe in to win.
Worst of this category are "Planes", "Turbo" and "Monster's University" with a special smell to them because they're just bad ideas.
The worst is first. It seems that even though we haven't seen "After Earth", it's a shoe in for worst science fiction film of the year. It actually can't be called a film really, more like a Smith vanity piece.
The most horrid comedy of the year, and possibly movie also, is "Movie 43", a train wreck of a sketch movie that makes "Kentucky Fried Movie" look like "Gone with the Wind". It is truly, truly awe inspiring bad.
The best comedy of the year is a toss up between "Bad Grandpa" and "Anchorman 2".
A slew of action pictures are making the best category busy, and very few other movies have even been seen this year.
We mention the two White House disaster movies, "White House Down" and "Olympus has Fallen", which were not viewed.
We also mention three end of days type movies, most notably "World's End" and "This Is The End". Both were decent comedies but lacked jokes often, and came off as just okay in the end.
Although we did not see "Jobs" we find this movie odd for deliberately excluding Wozniak, who did most of the work at Apple.
Despite the bad press about Orson Card, "Ender's Game", was one of several just okay science fiction flicks, from "Oblivion" to "Elysium".
Action adventure had a few dives, like "A Good Day To Die Hard" and "GI Joe Retaliation" and "Jack the Giant Slayer". And although "Man of Steel" was better than "Superman Returns", it was still not "Superman".
The best action of the year appears to be a toss up between "The Hobbt 2", "Star Trek Into Darkness", "Iron Man 3" and "Thor 2". The Star Trek movie was not really Trek, and the Hobbit movie was a little better than last time, but the Mandarin was deliberately not right in the Iron Man movie.
"Hunger Games Catching Fire" will get a mention.
Although we didn't both see the horror movies, "The Conjuring", gets high marks. "Mama" was also good.
Drama will probably be handed to "12 Years a Slave" or "The Butler" but they were not reviewed. "Captain Phillips" and "Gravity" will chase the award for best drama, and for action in some sense.
Best director, actors, actresses, story, etc, might actually be hard to pick this year, due to most of the films nominated being just action fantasy films.
Animated movies include "Epic", "Frozen" and "The Croods" and "Escpae from Panet Earth" but really it's been a slow year, so Frozen is a shoe in to win.
Worst of this category are "Planes", "Turbo" and "Monster's University" with a special smell to them because they're just bad ideas.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
We are 16 days from Oscar time limit
Every year there are a bunch of Oscar movies in late November and December so that the senile old academy members will recall the movies. This year, I can only think of a few that even make the list. Sure there are some obvious choices, "12 years a slave", (not seen it yet), "The Butler", (not seen either), and "Gravity" (but it is not likely this two people stranded movie will get all the Oscars, because it is set in space).
"Captain Phillips" is a tense dramatic thriller, but is it the best of this year, and we know Oscar doesn't like thrillers.
The slew of science fiction movies and superhero movies over summer means that there will likely be some nods to those, "Star Trek Into Darkness", "Gravity", "Oblivion" (doesn't deserve it though), and "Eysium" (which doesn't deserve it either).
If we'd have to guess now, the Oscar people are going to give it all to "The Butlet" which apparently isn't all that awesome.
They might give it to "Frozen" even though the reviews have melted away and there is only thoguhts of oh, nice Disney movie, but not a great movie.
I did not see the upteenth sequel to Fast and Furious. Meh.
They will likely faun all over Gravity's acting performances, although Clooney was just being Clooney and Bullock was half way decent, even if it was a fun thriller. The problem is it's the same formula as those couple stranded at sea stories, except it's in space. Just last year we had a young man stranded at sea on a boat with a CGI tiger.
Maybe next year it can be two people stranded in space, at sea, with a CGI dragon. :)
The 2013 Clara Awards, coming New Years Eve 2013.
"Captain Phillips" is a tense dramatic thriller, but is it the best of this year, and we know Oscar doesn't like thrillers.
The slew of science fiction movies and superhero movies over summer means that there will likely be some nods to those, "Star Trek Into Darkness", "Gravity", "Oblivion" (doesn't deserve it though), and "Eysium" (which doesn't deserve it either).
If we'd have to guess now, the Oscar people are going to give it all to "The Butlet" which apparently isn't all that awesome.
They might give it to "Frozen" even though the reviews have melted away and there is only thoguhts of oh, nice Disney movie, but not a great movie.
I did not see the upteenth sequel to Fast and Furious. Meh.
They will likely faun all over Gravity's acting performances, although Clooney was just being Clooney and Bullock was half way decent, even if it was a fun thriller. The problem is it's the same formula as those couple stranded at sea stories, except it's in space. Just last year we had a young man stranded at sea on a boat with a CGI tiger.
Maybe next year it can be two people stranded in space, at sea, with a CGI dragon. :)
The 2013 Clara Awards, coming New Years Eve 2013.
Review: "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" returns darkly to the lone mountain
"The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug" PG 13
Talk about immersion into another world for a long time. Peter Jackson's spread out sequels attempt to make what should have been a single 3 hour movie into yet another 3 hour movie, and there will be more to come. This is a drawback, but the journey is thoroughly enjoyable. If Jackson's intent is to show virtually everything, then okay, why not. They sure don't need an extended cut. In this sequel, the wizard Gandal, the 13 dwarves, the Elves of Mirkwood and the Elvs of Rvendell team up to save a village near the dragon's mountain, and along the way, Bilbo the Hobbit finds his courage, but it may just be the One Ring he pocketed in the last movie. Meanwhile, Gandalf an Ratagast go in search of the Necromonger. The dragon does appear, as in the teaser, and it is a spectacular CGI dragon, with the deep voice of Benedict Cumberbatch. Actually some of the critics are being unfair to the movie for use of CGI. Most of the vistas are actually New Zealand. You can tell when it's CGI only because of the high frame rate. See it in 2D. Watching it in 3D for 3 hours might melt your eyes. Then you will have the lidless eyes of Sauron.
Review by Adam Browne
Talk about immersion into another world for a long time. Peter Jackson's spread out sequels attempt to make what should have been a single 3 hour movie into yet another 3 hour movie, and there will be more to come. This is a drawback, but the journey is thoroughly enjoyable. If Jackson's intent is to show virtually everything, then okay, why not. They sure don't need an extended cut. In this sequel, the wizard Gandal, the 13 dwarves, the Elves of Mirkwood and the Elvs of Rvendell team up to save a village near the dragon's mountain, and along the way, Bilbo the Hobbit finds his courage, but it may just be the One Ring he pocketed in the last movie. Meanwhile, Gandalf an Ratagast go in search of the Necromonger. The dragon does appear, as in the teaser, and it is a spectacular CGI dragon, with the deep voice of Benedict Cumberbatch. Actually some of the critics are being unfair to the movie for use of CGI. Most of the vistas are actually New Zealand. You can tell when it's CGI only because of the high frame rate. See it in 2D. Watching it in 3D for 3 hours might melt your eyes. Then you will have the lidless eyes of Sauron.
Review by Adam Browne
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Review: "Frozen" is really nothing like The Snow Queen but fun
Frozen PG
New Disney movies need to appeal to adults and those with minds like adults by including puerile jokes on occasion, which is something lacking in Frozen, their latest tent-pole. That said, Frozen is loveingly crafted, has feminist themes, a heroin who fights for love, and the whole 'Brave' deal. The story is by the numbers. Some fun to be had with the goofy snowman.
The lackluster cartoon short at the beginning was annoying, not at all fun, as Mickey Mouse avoids a brutish Bluto rip off who steals Minnie, playing Olive Oyle. Come on.
Then we gut to the film set in Scandinavia circa perhaps 1820 or so, around the time of Hanz Christian Anderson, the author of The Snow Queen from which is it is very, very loosely based. It's not a bad adaptation. It doesn't fail like Emperor's New Groove failed to even be close to Emperor's Now Clothes. But after the wonderment of seeing another Disney movie as good as Tangled, and days pass, you realize the glimmer has worn off a little.
The story centers on, without giving it away, a young queen to be who is given magic powers that freeze things, and is locked away until she is older. In this time, the King and Queen are killed, leading to her eventual rise to be queen, thus The Snow Queen of the story.
In the Anderson story, the Snow Queen is something really quite different, there is an evil mirror that breaks that sends evil shards into the world and corrupts this boy and girl. (Snow White like idea).
In the movie, the girl is the queen's little sister, who eventually becomes a princess and on her coronation falls for an obviously over eager prince, and the Queen refuses to let her marry him, but during the ensuing argument causes the town to freeze and runs off. This causes the girl to go off in search of her.
This doesn't give away what happens from there. Along the way, the Queen, Elsa, brings a snowman to life, who becomes a sidekick to the girl, Ana and to a friend, Cristoff, she meets.
The two men in the story are partly a wink to Hanz Christian Anderson, as they are Hanz and Christoff.
Stay after the credits for a silly part involving an abominable snowman.
Anyway, as not to give away anything else, it has pretty visuals and looks dreamy and holiday festive, is worth owning later on bluray, and is a nice cute story about sisterly love and devotion.
I might still eventually own the bluray of this movie anyway, as it is a better film then Pocahontas and as good as Enchanted.
By Adam Browne
New Disney movies need to appeal to adults and those with minds like adults by including puerile jokes on occasion, which is something lacking in Frozen, their latest tent-pole. That said, Frozen is loveingly crafted, has feminist themes, a heroin who fights for love, and the whole 'Brave' deal. The story is by the numbers. Some fun to be had with the goofy snowman.
The lackluster cartoon short at the beginning was annoying, not at all fun, as Mickey Mouse avoids a brutish Bluto rip off who steals Minnie, playing Olive Oyle. Come on.
Then we gut to the film set in Scandinavia circa perhaps 1820 or so, around the time of Hanz Christian Anderson, the author of The Snow Queen from which is it is very, very loosely based. It's not a bad adaptation. It doesn't fail like Emperor's New Groove failed to even be close to Emperor's Now Clothes. But after the wonderment of seeing another Disney movie as good as Tangled, and days pass, you realize the glimmer has worn off a little.
The story centers on, without giving it away, a young queen to be who is given magic powers that freeze things, and is locked away until she is older. In this time, the King and Queen are killed, leading to her eventual rise to be queen, thus The Snow Queen of the story.
In the Anderson story, the Snow Queen is something really quite different, there is an evil mirror that breaks that sends evil shards into the world and corrupts this boy and girl. (Snow White like idea).
In the movie, the girl is the queen's little sister, who eventually becomes a princess and on her coronation falls for an obviously over eager prince, and the Queen refuses to let her marry him, but during the ensuing argument causes the town to freeze and runs off. This causes the girl to go off in search of her.
This doesn't give away what happens from there. Along the way, the Queen, Elsa, brings a snowman to life, who becomes a sidekick to the girl, Ana and to a friend, Cristoff, she meets.
The two men in the story are partly a wink to Hanz Christian Anderson, as they are Hanz and Christoff.
Stay after the credits for a silly part involving an abominable snowman.
Anyway, as not to give away anything else, it has pretty visuals and looks dreamy and holiday festive, is worth owning later on bluray, and is a nice cute story about sisterly love and devotion.
I might still eventually own the bluray of this movie anyway, as it is a better film then Pocahontas and as good as Enchanted.
By Adam Browne
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