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Call CSI Because Your Mind Is About To Be Blown

There is a reboot in the works for Mortal Kombat. Before looking at this sneak peek I thought to myself "why are they doing another MK movie?" and then I saw this. Holy cow this is ball shaking awesome, and I think my nipples are hard.

I Totally Get It Now

Hey guys, if you, like me, have almost gone brain dead from watching a Twilight movie that you were forced t sit through by your girlfriend, and cannot for the life of you figure out why she is so obsessed with this mind numbingly boring franchise. This might help.

If You Like Iron Man or Babies, You Need To See This

Is This For Real?

There's just no way a movie can be as awesome as this trailer makes it look. I'm still on Earth right? WOWZA! I am stunned by a trailer.

This Has Nothing To Do With Movies But...

...this is all seven shades of awesome sauce.

My Top 5 Favorite Fight Scenes of All Time

A good fight in a movie is one of my favorite things about watching movies, there's just nothing more fun than watching two people punch each other in the face. A good movie fight can bring a story together, make a bad movie watchable, or just plain blow your mind. So I decided to put a list together of what I think are the best fight scene ever put to film, but instead of just telling you why, I'm also gonna show you with videos of the fights. Hope you enjoy, now lets get to the ass kicking!

5. Keanu Reeves vs. Hugo Weaving in The Matrix

The Matrix movies are an action fans wet dream. These movie had everything from mech vs robot battles to martial arts to car chases to amazing shootouts. Yet out of all of this mind blowing action, my favorite fight scene out of all three movie is still the first fight between Neo and Agent Smith.

THE STORY HERE: After going back to rescue his mentor and friend Morpheus, Neo was located before he could get out of The Matrix and instead of running he chose to fight.

WHY IT'S GREAT: It was just one of those movie moments that the audience has been waiting for and got your heart rate pumping when you realized it was about happen.

4. Ewan McGregor vs. Hayden Christensen in Star Wars Ep. 3: Revenge of the Sith

Star Wars is the most popular franchise of all time. The originals are brilliant, the prequels aren't, but that doesn't mean they didn't have some decent action. I mean Yoda with a lightsaber is fanboy heaven, but that's not the scene I chose. The final fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin I think is the only reason George Lucas even started the prequels, because he had this in mind.

THE STORY HERE: Obi-Wan is devastated after realizing that Anakin Skywalker has been fully seduced by the dark-side of the force. He tries to convince Anakin of his wrong doings, but after realizing he can't he has to fight someone he considered a brother.

WHY IT'S GREAT: It's one of those fights where the opponents are so evenly matched that it's really hard to tell whose going to win the fight until it's over. Also because the fight's environment gets smaller as the fight progresses, starting in a hanger and ending on a platform just barely big enough for them to stand on.

3. Tony Jaa vs. Everyone in The Protector

The Protector if you haven't seen it is one of the best/worst action movies I've ever seen. What I mean by that is the action in this movie is hard hitting, creative, and non stop, but the story is so incomprehensible that your head will explode trying to put it all together.

THE STORY HERE: There isn't one, something about a stolen elephant.....yeah.

WHY IT'S GREAT: The is a sort of two part action sequence so I'll give you two reasons. The first part of this fight scene is one continuous shot. Every time I look back at this scene I'm just in awe that they were able to to that all in one take, just amazing. They could have just ended there, but after the one take wonder we get a furious and fast fight that ends with a bang.

2. Michelle Yeoh vs. Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the most beautiful films ever made, and who knew that such a beautiful film could kick so much ass. At it's core Crouching Tiger is an art film, filled with beautiful camera shots, a sweeping epic story, and an amazing score. This movie would have been good without the fight scenes, but adding that element to it made this a excellent and classic film that begs for multiple viewings.

THE STORY HERE: There's a lot going on here, but I'll try my best to narrow it down. Jiao Long (Zhang Ziyi) has stolen a very powerful sword called the Green Destiny Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) believes it should be returned to it's rightful owner. Jiao Long agrees that if she can take it from her, she can have it.

WHY IT'S GREAT: The Green Destiny sword is so powerful that whoever wields it is unstoppable, Yeoh tries many different weapons to take out Ziyi and the fight gets more dramatic with each choice of weapon, also the choreography is just stunning to look at.

1. Jackie Chan vs. Brad Allan in Gorgeous

This is not your usual Jackie Chan movie, it more of a romantic comedy than a action movie, which makes it so ironic that the Jackie Chan movie with the least action has one his best fight scenes.

THE STORY HERE: Honestly I think this fight is an excuse to use Jackie Chan in a fight scene for this film. This is a prearranged fight between the two guys and that's pretty much all you need to know.

WHY IT'S GREAT: This is the type of fight scene that truly showcases what the two actors are capable of, it's one of a kind. It also shows that even though Jackie is getting older he can still keep up with the young guys. Of all the Jackie Chan fights out there, this one is a thing of beauty.

So there you have its, there are lot of fight scenes out there, but these are my 5 favorite fight scenes of all time. What are some of your fav fight scenes? Let me know at twitter.com/antoinnej or facebook.com/antoinnej

Amazing Fan Made Lightsaber Duel

Most of the time fan made lightsaber duels are pretty awful, but I think this was a really good effort at a decent lightsaber fight. I really wish they used costumes, but the choreography is very solid and unexpected. Nice job guys.

Iron Man 2

Most of the time, no wait, ALL of the time a sequel is just an excuse for Hollywood to cash in on the success of a great film. They're usually not bad, but sometimes a sequel can ruin a good thing. Yet sometimes, on rare occasions they get it right. There are those rare sequels that don't try to top or outdo the last one, don't sacrifice character development or story for explosions, and don't try to be bigger for the sake of being bigger. Examples of this are The Dark Knight, Halloween 2 (1981), Aliens, The Godfather Part 2, Spiderman 2, Lethal Weapon 2, Terminator 2, and now Iron Man 2 can stand alongside these great films as one of the greatest sequels ever made. So now let me explain why. At the end of Iron Man, Tony Stark confessed to the world that he is Iron Man and the movie picks up right where we were left off. The government claims that the Iron Man suit is an extremely dangerous WMD and needs to be turned over to the military. Of course Tony Stark is unwilling to hand it over saying the is suit is not a weapon and that he "is" Iron Man and that there is no threat to anyone. Stark also mentions that no one is close to being able to imitate the technology used to build anything that can compete with his suit. Little did he know that waiting in the works was Ivan Vanko who blames the Stark family for his fathers misfortunes and wants to destroy the Stark legacy. He is just as smart as Tony and he wants blood. While Tony is once again doing on of his billionaire playboy stunts by taking over his companies stock car in a race Ivan comes onto the track and shows the world that there is someone out there who can take Iron Man. After seeing this Tony Stark's business rival Justin Hammer played by the ever talented Sam Rockwell breaks Ivan out of jail and enlists him to help embarrass Stark even further. There is a lot of other conflict in the story that I wont give away here, but let me explain why I mentioned earlier that I think this is one of the greatest sequels ever. The best example I can think of to make my point is the second Transformers movie. Transformers was a fun and interesting modern take on a classic cartoon, but the sequel forgot that with all the explosions it was supposed to tell a story as well, so instead we got a movie so bad that all the robot action was pointless and the whole thing was just stupid. Whereas the filmmakers for Iron Man 2 realized that the reason why people love the first one so much wasn't because of the action, but because of the story it told, and the great characters that came along with it, and instead of making a bigger movie, they made a movie that reminded us why we fell in love with Tony Stark and the gang in the first place. The characters in Iron Man 2 all have their own growth that they have to go through and we learn more about them in the process. So instead of giving the audience more eye candy and over the top action, we get everything we loved about Iron Man in the first place. Everything that made the first one great is present in the sequel without overshadowing the first one so much so that you cant revisit it. I think that's what makes a good sequel, and just like when they introduced us to Iron Man, they got it right.

4 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook, let me know there.

one luv, Toinne

The Losers

So...The Losers. I had a lot of fun watching The Losers despite the fact that it's kind of a bad movie. The story is one we've seen a million times, a team of special ops soldiers get betrayed by someone during their mission and while they are believed to be dead they regroup and try to devise a plan for revenge, then out of nowhere a person who can or cant be trusted offers help but with their own motives. It's pretty much the same old song and dance. Yet, for some reason even though this film was completely predictable and had that "been there before" feeling, I still enjoyed it. I think the credit goes to the characters in the film. All the characters were pretty cliche but the actors playing them gave these paint by numbers characters charm. Hot off Avatar the unbelievably sexy Zoe Saldana played a pretty badass, ball-busting, bazooka toting chick, and then there was Chris Evans who is to me always fun to watch (he made those atrocious Fantastic Four movies somewhat tolerable) who played a geeky guy who is aware yet somehow at the same time completely unaware of his total geekiness and he was just hilarious. Dean Morgan and Idris Elba were the two kinda head guys of the group, the ones who put the plans together, and their buddy on screen chemistry was fantastic. Newcomer Oscar Jaenada (at least I think he's a newcomer, I'd never seen him before) played the really cool guy who said few words but had a strong presence, and last but certainly not least Jason Patric (who was great in this movie) played exactly the type of villain a movie like this needs, a wisecracking know it all with a plan for destruction. So I guess if it isn't obvious by now, I didn't enjoy the movie so much as I did the characters and performances being as they're the only thing I really remember about this movie, I mean The Losers is a decent action flick, but it's really nothing you haven't seen before. Not worth the ticket price, but give it a rental when it comes out on dvd because The Losers is a bad movie that is a whole lot of fun to watch.

3 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

one luv, Toinne

Kick-Ass

What I originally intended to do with this review was to simply write: Kick-Ass, does. Score it and leave it at that, but I feel like I need to explain why Kick-Ass is one of the greatest movies ever made. Dave Lizewski is just a normal kid in high school. He wonders why nobody has ever put on a costume and tried to help people like superheroes do, you would think with all the comic books and movies out there some idiot would have at least tried it by now, well one day Dave decides he was going to be that idiot. As a comic book fan this is something that I to have fantasized about, I'm just not stupid enough to do it, so Dave creates an alter ego named Kick-Ass and goes out to fight crime. After getting his ass kicked all over YouTube, what he does is inspire other people to do the same, well not get beat up, but to throw on a costume and fight crime . Every action has a reaction because the towns head mob boss doesn't like the fact that there are so called superheroes out there making him look bad. Suddenly Dave's little fantasy world becomes bigger than him, and he quickly starts to realize that he's in way over his head. I expected Kick-Ass to be a fun and entertaining action flick, but what I didn't expect was such a well written story with great characters and serious conflict. Not only does Kick-Ass, well, kick ass, but it's a truly great movie and far surpasses any movie in its genre. Forget Spiderman, X-men, Batman, even Ironman, Kick-Ass has set a standard for what hero movies should be, and has raised the bar high, like astronomical. It's so good because it's relate-able, especially for a comic book fan such as myself. Even though the aforementioned characters have films that are pretty entertaining, none of them can really be related to, I love superheroes, but I have always felt kind of a disconnect to the characters simply because non of that was possible in real life. Kick-Ass on the other hand had real people with no powers, just the tenacity to get out there and help others for the greater good. The story progression and character interaction felt very natural and realistic, and it's because of this that when these peoples lives were in danger, you felt it on a primal level and not just as a bystander. I can't finish this review without mentioning Chloe Grace Moretz who plays Hit Girl. She owns this movie. This little girl is the highlight of the film, watching this 11 year old kick so much ass was so inspiring. Hit Girl is a character that will no doubt be controversial, but makes the movie in every way. People will say that having a little girl put in such dangerous situations, and killing people in such violent ways was irresponsible of the filmmakers, but I look at it this way, I could see if this little girl was vulnerable and the situations she found herself in caused her to be afraid or in over her head, then yeah the naysayers would be right. But Hit Girl was not vulnerable in any way, shape, or form, in fact she made grown men with guns cower in fear, my girlfriend said seeing that was empowering to her as a women, to see this little girl handle her own in the face of death, it made her feel like if Hit Girl could handle herself so well, then so can she. I think that says it all. After seeing it only once Kick-Ass is one of my favorite films of all time, its just a nonstop, roller coaster ride. This movie is made of pure adrenaline, and even as I'm writing this review, I'm still feeling the rush.

5 out of 5

Agree of Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or face book let me know there.

one luv, Toinne.

In From Netflix: The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day

If you saw the first one then you know how much uber cool ass that movie kicked. Well guess what, the second one kicks more. This time around "The Saints" have been hiding out in Ireland for the past nine years, and after all this time someone wants to draw them out. A priest in their neighborhood was murdered in the same fashion they used to kill criminals. This pisses them off in a major way and brought them out of hiding, and back to Boston. One of the best lines in the film is "Whoever wanted to bring them out of hiding only had one small flaw in their plan, it worked." Boy did it ever because they hit Boston with the vengeance of God. This movie is not just as good as the first one, it's better. It uses the same formula that the first film had, which really works for the film because it switches things up on your expectations by doing the same thing in a different way. There's no doubt that this film will have the same cult classic status the first one did. Look if you saw the first one then I really don't have to convince you to see this, in fact you might have already seen it, but if you're not aware of these cult classics I strongly recommend putting them in your netlflix queue because they are totally awesome, adrenaline injected, testosterone filled movies.

5 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter of facebook, let me know there.

one luv, Toinne

OMFG!!!!!!

The Comedy Match-Up I've Been For!

Trailer for The Losers

I love cool shit like this.

OK, I'm In.

I love espionage thrillers, and say what you want about Tom Cruise, but the guy knows how to make a decent action movie, so count me in on this one.

This is really a no brainer.

Oh Pixar, how I love thee, let me count the ways.....

Yes, yes, yes and yes! Did I say yes?

Based on the ever awesome comic book series, I have been waiting for this one for a while, and it looks like they stayed true to the source material. YES!

Wait, what?

I don't know who came up with this, but thank you.

It's time to Kick Ass!

I know I've already posted this trailer at least twice already, but I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS MOVIE!! Violence, action, swearing kids with guns, comedy, McLovin'....it has everything anyone can ask for in a movie! April 16 can't get here faster!

HOLY CRAP!!

Just watch.

Trailer for The Other Guys

I know movies like this are totally corny, but I love cop comedies, they just crack me up. So I'm in line for this one, bring it on Will Ferrel.

Why Did I Get Married Too?

I cant tell you how many times I've watched a Tyler Perry movie and thought to myself "Isn't this the exact same movie he did last time?" It's not a secret, I don't like Tyler Perry movies. I've never really seen one that I considered to be a well done film with fleshed out characters. His films are always so predictable to the point that within the first 20 minutes of every one his films I have figured out every characters actions down to the very second. That is until now. You may not believe these words coming from me, and honestly, I almost don't believe them myself either, but 'Why Did I Get Married Too?' is an outstanding film, and hands down the best Tyler Perry film to date. There I said it, now let me tell you why. This time around Perry doesn't just give us the formula that we have all become used to in his films, you know it just as well as I do. A broken, scarred, and mentally shatter women learns a lesson through love and faith in God and suddenly becomes a better person. Throw in a few scenes with Madea, a church scene, some rebellious kids, a friend with great advice that is never taken, an abusive husband, and that one perfect guy who will magically make everything better and you have a Tyler Perry movie. None of that is present here. Perry really explores each couple in the film with such depth and emotion that I was totally taken off guard, I knew I was watching a Tyler Perry film, but it didn't feel like it. It's almost as if he knows what we have come to expect from him and said, not this time. I usually would give some details on the story, but it's just so well done that I really don't want to give anything away. The performances in this film are also top notch, everyone brings their A game in this one, even Perry who I never really considered much of an actor. I'm still in shock and now finally I'm a believer. I always felt like Perry had a great film in him, he just had to step away from his formula to give it to us, and that is exactly what he does here. If he can continue to make films like this, then I will be just as excited to see his films as everyone else I know. If you miss out on this film than you will be missing out on Tyler Perry's best work yet.

4 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

one luv, Toinne.

How To Train Your Dragon

In my eyes Dreamworks Animation Studios has always been unable to find its way from under Pixar's giant shadow. Dreamworks has made some entertaining movies, but has never reached the greatness in storytelling that the guys and gals at Pixar give us every single time. Well now we have How To Train Your Dragon, and this time Dreamworks got it right. It tells the story of a kid named Hiccup, he's a Viking but you wouldn't be able to tell it by looking at him. He's scrawny, timid, and not really good at doing what Vikings do best, killing dragons. One day he actually ends up trapping a dragon that no one in his village has even seen, but when he goes to kill the dragon, he just cant do it. This was crushing to him inside knowing he didn't have it in him to do the one thing Vikings were born to do. After this crushing blow something happens between him and the dragon the he eventually names Toothless that made him look at dragons in a completely different way. What I like about 'Dragon' so much is the fact that the story develops so well, it's always natural and never feels hokey or forced like most Dreamworks films do. Hiccup really has to earn the trust of Toothless before the dragon even let's him interact with it, and there are a few surprises and plot twists that truly keep this story very interesting. It never stays in one place to long and we find out something about the dragons near the end of the movie that ends up changing the whole film. As I was watching it though it had occurred to me that this is Avatar with dragons. One person finds himself on the inside of a misunderstood society and ends up trying to protect them, it's the same thing. I'm not complaining, Avatar was awesome, and so is How To Train Your Dragon. Dreamworks best film to date, and it's about time. Pixar you now have real competition.

5 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook, let me know there.

one luv, Toinne.

Clash of the Titans

Thank God Why Did I Get Married Too was sold out or else you would be reading a review for that film. So after managing to avoid yet another Tyler Perry movie I was able to check out Clash of the Titans. The story is based on Greek mythology, Perseus played by Avatar's Sam Worthington is a demigod, half man-half god, the son of Zeus. After men have declared war on the Gods Hades comes to Zeus and asks him to "let loose" on them. Zeus agrees to Hades inquiry not knowing that it was all part of a plan to dethrone Zeus, Hades was just waiting for the right moment. Down on Earth Perseus has just discovered that he is a demigod and at first doesn't know how to deal with the news. After Hades gives an ultimatum to the people of the city of Argos they turn to Perseus for help, he doesn't hesitate on the offer so that he can have a chance at taking down Hades for killing the man who raised him, the only father he's ever known. It's a familiar story because at some point or another we have all came across Greek mythology in our lives, this is just an updated version with big CG creatures. The script for Clash is very solid I really had no problems with the story at all, my beef lies with the fact that the script was just too big for director Louis Leterrier. Don't get my wrong, I enjoyed the film quite a bit, but it just wasn't as epic as it could have been, and coming from Greek mythology this movie could have been EPIC. I just felt like if this script was in the hands of Steven Spielberg or Peter Jackson this would've been a great movie, but it's just a popcorn flick that could have been so much more. Overall Clash of the Titans is a pretty decent flick and worth the ticket price. I didn't see the 3D version of this film only because I heard the 3D conversion was terrible and takes you out of the movie, but I would recommend Clash if you just want a decent action flick and really nothing more.

3 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you think about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

one luv, Toinne.

HELL MUTHAF**KIN' YEAH!

Remember the badass glory days of action movies? When shit blew up, and a whole lot of people died in one scene. When the dudes were big and burly and punched other big burly dudes in the face? Well apparently so does Stallone and crew, which is why they have given us this......

Welcome back actions movies, we missed you.

Hot Tub Time Machine

So the premise for Hot Tub Time Machine is totally ridiculous. Three best friends who have lost contact with each other played by John Cusack, Craig Robinson, and Rob Cordury decide to take a weekend vacation to get away from life after one of them "tried" to commit suicide. They bring along Cusack's nephew played by Clark Duke of Greek and Sex Drive fame to the place that used to be their favorite vacation spot when they were in high school. When they get there its not the awesome spot they remember it to be, they cant help but wonder what happened and there's nothing else to do but get in the hot tub and get drunk. Somehow they end up back in 1986, and hilarious hijinks ensue. The idea for this movie is so silly and ridiculous and everyone involved takes advantage of that. They know it's silly and they just don't care, and that's why Hot Tub Time Machine is so much fun. Even when trying to figure out how they went back in time, they use theories from other popular time travel films. It's just so funny, and what a better time to set this film than in the 80's, America's most hilarious and weird decade. 80's joke never get old and this movie is proof of that. Every since The Hangover came out last year every comedy I've seen since has been compared to it, and HTTM didn't make me hurt myself laughing the way The Hangover did, but it still had those WTF LOL OMG moments that keep me laughing the entire time. There is some great stuff here, and really shouldn't be missed by anyone who loves to go to movies and have a laugh.

4 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you think, or of you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

one luv, Toinne.

Repo Men

Anyone who knows me knows I like different, and Repo Men is certainly different. The premise for the film is very grim and dark. In a not too distant future a company called The Union has invented a breakthrough in modern medicine, they have created artificial organs. No more waiting on a list for a liver transplant, just go to The Union and get a liver, just that simple. Well not really, you see these organs are ridiculously expensive, so expensive that its a life decision in more than one way to get one. Just as any big investment, if you cant make the payments it gets taken away. If you can't pay for your house, the bank takes it away. If you cant pay for your liver, that's where Jude Law and Forest Whitaker come in, they track you down and literally take your organ out of your body, and they love their jobs. Now with a premise as dark as Repo Men Whitaker and Law manage to give it a lighthearted buddy movie feel. The first act of this film is hilarious, and given the subject matter, that's pretty impressive. Speaking of the first act, it pulls no punches the very first scene in the film is very graphic and really lets you know what you're in for, if I had a gripe with Repo Men it would be the second act. After a pace that was fast, action packed, and just funny it drags in the second act slowing things down a bit to explore the world of the film. I'm usually all for exploring characters, most of you know this, but for some reason this film misses the mark just slightly. Once we get into the third act, the climax of the film picks up that energy again and never really stops until the end of the film, which leaves us with a very unexpected twist that you will never see coming. All in all Repo Men is a very enjoyable fun film to watch. It won't stick with you or blow you away, but for two hours I can guarantee you'll be entertained. The onscreen chemistry between Law and Whitaker is worth the ticket price alone.

3 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook, let me know there.

one luv, Toinne.

2012

I'm just going to get right to it, 2012 is one of the MOST EPIC movies I have seen in my entire life. It's so big, so intense, and so chaotic that it was almost to much to watch. This movie is a pure adrenaline rush. Yet, what I liked about it the most is among all of the chaos, death, and destruction, at it's core 2012 is a human story. Jackson Curtis is a divorced father who doesn't get a lot of time to spend with his kids, but looks forward to their annual vacation at Yellowstone National Park. While he's there he and his kids discover that a portion of the park has been restricted to the public. Curiosity gets the best them and they decide to cross the line and continue hiking. Almost immediately they are surrounded by Army personnel asking them why they were in the area, they don't get into any real trouble, but are told that they cant be there. Someone in the park witnessed this and asked Jackson what did those army guys say to him. Turns out this person was aware of the Army's presence in Yellowstone. He was a conspiracy theorist and also knew why they were studying the park. He tells Jackson about the whole Mayans thing that we all have heard about by now. When Jackson and his kids arrive back home in LA the s**t hits the fan. Now Jackson's only mission in however long he has on this Earth is to make sure his family survives the planets horrible fate. What follows is some of the biggest, scariest, just plain intense sequences ever put to film. This is the movie director Roland Emmerich has always wanted to make, seeing as a few of his past movies are Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, but those films are reruns of The Magic School Bus compared to this movie. While I'm on the subject of Emmerich, whats his deal with destroying the Earth in movies? Anyway, forget those movies because you ain't seen nothing yet. I can't say this enough, 2012 is epic on a scale that I've have only seen in one other movie, and that movie is Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It doesn't reach the epic heights of LOTR, but it get pretty damn close. Like I said earlier what makes this movie work so well isn't the big of it, but the small of it, the heart. If the film didn't take the time it did to connect us to these characters it would have just been a big movie with no lasting impact, but because I really cared about Jackson and his family, everything happening around them was so hard to watch because just like Jackson the only thing I wanted was for them to survive, because if it were me I wouldn't give up no matter how insurmountable the odds may have seemed. I would try until the was no more breath left in my body, and then keeping trying for about two minutes after that. It's a story of human hope, and how we as humans are our best in the face of adversity, even when faced with something as harrowing as the end of the world.

5 out of 5

I gotta start seeing some bad movies, I feel like I've been giving out to many good scores lately, whens the next Twilight movie coming out? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

one luv, Toinne.

The Princess and the Frog

There is a list of Disney movies that hold a special place in our hearts. Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Aladdin and now The Princess and the Frog can be added to that list. I gotta be honest, I was skeptical about this one, I was wondering if Disney would be able to recreate what I consider to be the golden age of Disney films. Those movies had a magic about them that couldn't be explained, but was felt worldwide, and The Princess and the Frog has that same magic. The setting is jazz era New Orleans which works in favor of the film in every way. The jazzy southern tunes of the film really give it a life of it's own and set it apart from the classics, while at the same time earning it's place to stand aside them. Disney returns to it's roots with a vengeance, when Toy Story was released in 1995 it was the beginning of the end for films like this, but nostalgia is a funny thing, and can help leap some of the best ideas. The Princess and the Frog is like a trip back to the early 1990's and is a dream come true for anyone who has ever enjoyed the films I mentioned earlier. Disney is back in full form and I hope they can continue this tradition and teach a new generation of moviegoers what the Disney's films of my day taught me. That magic is real, and it exist inside of all of us.

5 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie or if you follow me on twitter or facebook, let me know there.

one luv, Toinne

Up In The Air

In a modern Hollywood where everything is explosions, aliens, car crashes, secret agent babysitters, pirates, superheros, sight gags, fart jokes, brooding vampires and shirtless werewolves. It's refreshing to see an adult film with adult themes made for adults. Up In The Air is the story of Ryan Bingham, a man who has nothing in the world to weigh him down. No real home to speak of, barely a connection with his family, no wife, no kids, and none of this bothers him. In fact, he loves his life and the choices he has made, making his job that much more easy to do. He works at an agency that is hired to fire people. When companies are downsizing they call Ryan's company to do their dirty work for them, and given the recent state of the economy, business is booming for Ryan's company. You would think a guy like Ryan has a cynical the world is against me attitude, but on the contrary Ryan is a pretty decent guy who loves people, and life in general, but he doesn't have a preconceived notions of where he should be or what he should be doing with his life. He does what he does not because he likes it, but because he's good at it, he enters a persons life on one of the worst days of their lives, and helps them find a way to get through it with a encounter that may only last for about fifteen minutes. George Clooney gives a great performance in this film. Anyone else might have played Ryan cynical, because at times his dialouge is, but Clooney gives Ryan a sense of complacency that just makes him a regular guy like the rest of us. About some of those themes I mentioned earlier. Loneliness, relationships, losing your job, whats expected of us in life are just some of the themes this film touched on. It handles and examines these things that were fear or cherish in life with such elegance and grace its almost mesmerizing, in such a way that when the film was over, it took me a second to realize it. And even after I realized the film was over I still sat there watching the credits roll taking in what I had just saw. It takes a great film to make me do that, and Up In The Air is certainly a great film.

5 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

one luv, Toinne.

Black Dynamite

Forget Shaft. Forget Dolemite. Forget Coffy. Black Dynamite is the greatest blaxploitation film ever made. The reason for this is because it takes all of the crazy elements from those movies made back in the 70's and 80's and puts them all into one movie. If you saw the trailer for this movie you would first think it was a parody of these film, when actually its and homage, a tribute to a genre of film that has a huge cult following to this day. In true blaxploitation fashion the film is grainy, the color is off, the directing is bad, and the actors can't act, except it's all done on purpose. There are so many things that could've gone wrong with this movie, but they got it right, they got it so right. From boom mics being left in shots, to actors suddenly becoming out of focus, to the jive turkey talk and way over the top action, they got it right. Starring Michael Jai White as the title character this film is apparently a labor of love made by people who love this genre of film and just wanted to make a movie in tribute to those films. If this was just an attack on those movies this movie could have been stupid and offensive, but Black Dynamite is quite possibly the most entertaining film I've ever seen. You may not have even heard of this movie before reading this review, but I'm telling you now, find it and see it, you will not be disappointed.

4 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you think about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

Sherlock Holmes

Completely awesome from start to finish. That's all you need to know.

5 out of 5

one luv, Toinne

I Am So There

If you watch SNL then I'm sure you are too.

The trailer for MacGruber

Video Games - E3 2010 - Movies and TV

The 2010 Oscar Noms

It's my favorite time of the year. It's Oscar season! For the first time since some time in the 1940's there are ten noms for best picture this year. Every other category still has five, but like it said in an earlier post, 2009 was a great year for movies. It was hard for me to pick just five in my best of list, and you might notice that some of my picks are in the Best Picture category. Here's the list of nominees for Best Picture.

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglorious Basterds

Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by 'Sapphire'

A Serious Man

Up

Up in the Air

That is a tough list to choose from. Having seen all of the movies on the list except for The Blind Side, A Serious Man, and An Education (I've never even heard of that one) I gotta say this is a great list. If I had to choose though I would have to go with Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece Inglorious Basterds. I know that may surprise some of you thinking I would have chose Avatar, but James Cameron is nominated in the Best Director category, and he deserves it more than any director has ever deserved and Oscar. Most likely Avatar will win for both though. Later I will be posting the noms for some of the other categories, I just wanted to get the big one out of the way. What are your thoughts on the Oscar noms? Let me know in the comment box, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

one luv, Toinne

In From Netflix: The Hurt Locker

A lot of people like The Hurt Locker, it was one of the most critically acclaimed films of last year, and probably will be nominated for an Oscar. I just can't seem to jump on that "great movie" bandwagon with this one, don't get me wrong, The Hurt Locker is a good movie, but not a great one. The setting is Iraq in 2005 and we follow a bomb squad who's mission is to find and disarm IED's in the field. That's pretty much it, there's isn't a real story to speak of except for maybe in the first scene the squad leader of the bomb squad gets killed in action and was replaced by a new squad leader who takes a cowboy approach to disarming bombs. He doesn't like using the bot and isn't afraid to get in there with the bombs and get hands on. These moments in the film are really intense and very well done, just great stuff because with every second until the bomb is disarmed you are on the edge thinking it will go off. The fact that director Kathryn Bigelow was able to do this over and over is amazing, and she came up with some pretty creative and unpredictable situations. My problem isn't with the bomb disarming scene's but with the scenes in between. There isn't any real character development, and it all just kinda felt like something to fill in time until we get to the next bomb. It's kind of a let down because I felt like if we got to know these characters better we would care more whether or not that bomb went off, instead we just got really cool action moments. So for me The Hurt Locker just felt like moments of intensity followed by moments of..meh. Overall though it's a pretty decent movie and I would recommend it, I just felt like there was something missing and it didn't turn out to be the great film that I was expecting. If it weren't for the great action scenes I don't think I would have liked this one, those scenes make the movie, so much so that I don't feel like I'm scoring the movie itself, but the action sequences. Oh well.

4 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie.

one luv, Toinne.

In From Netflix: Surrogates

There are only two reasons why I would fall asleep on a movie. One, I was really tired; Two, it was really boring. In this case Surrogates is the latter. Set in a futuristic world where humans no longer interact with each other, but through robot surrogates controlled by computers or their minds or something like that (think Avatar but the opposite of awesome) humans don't have to live with fear anymore. Surrogates give them the ability to live out their wildest dreams. The premise for this movie is pretty solid I must admit, I guess it tries to be a commentary on how we live behind our computers, and sure, it has some resonance, but the message doesn't really come across as intended. Back to the story, someone has found a way to kill humans using the surrogates through a device that fries the robots chips therefor frying the brain of the human using it. Since this has never happened before its kind of a big deal, and the person responsible has to be found. This is where Bruce Willis comes in, who tries his best to save this movie, but just cant. The thing about Surrogates is it starts out pretty interesting with some pretty cool ideas but after about maybe twenty minutes in I started to realize that this movie wasn't going anywhere and all the ideas of the film had been burned out. In a Sci-Fi film we constantly have to be introduced to something new to give us a sense of the world of the film. Sci-Fi movies that did that best in recent memory were Star Trek, Avatar, and District 9 there was always something to give us a sense of the world and ground the fantasy of the film in reality. In the case of Surrogates that's it, the surrogate robots are pretty much all we get and the novelty wears off pretty quickly. Another thing is about this movie is, in the end our character really had nothing to lose. If our hero gets to a point where he/she has nothing to fight for then everything the film has worked towards in creating suspense goes right out the window. It's a shame to see a movie with such potential be such a throw away film, but Surrogates just isn't worth the time. I'll give it some credit for it's potential, but if you missed out on this movie, it really wouldn't hurt.

2 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie.

one luv, Toinne

This Has Nothing To Do With Movies But...

I have seen a lot of things on the internet, but none as perfect and as great an idea as the YouTube channel I am about to present to you. This channel puts together two of my favorite things. Cute things, and explosions. Without further ado, I give you Cute Things Exploding.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CuteThingsExploding#p/c/9473EBA9AEB547F1/1/fXvU3cE8KO0

Seriously, this is the greatest thing to ever show up on the web.

Ok, This Just Looks Awesome!

Trailer for a movie called Kick Ass. Best. Movie title. EVER!

The Book of Eli

Just when I thought the post apocalyptic thing was getting old directors The Hughes Brothers give us the first great film of 2010. The Book of Eli follows a man with something very important to protect. Taking place 30 years after a nuclear war Earth has become a wasteland, and humans have become worse. Eli played by Denzel in what I think may be his most physical role is in possession of the last bible on Earth, and he will stop at nothing to protect it. He has been travelling alone since after the war, running into some violent people on his travels and as we learn very quickly, he can take care of himself. For the most part Eli has never ran into any real trouble until he passes though the only place for miles that can be passed for a functioning town. The man running this town is our villain played by Gary Oldman who always plays a good villain. He has been having his men search for books over the years looking for one in particular. I'm pretty sure you've figured this out, but if you haven't, Eli is in possession of the last one on Earth. The plot thickens. The Book of Eli is more than what you are expecting from the trailers, so much more. In a world that is so politically correct and afraid to discuss religion The Book of Eli does just that with no fear of how audiences my react. It is a story of faith. Eli continues on his mission with no fear because he is led every step of the way by faith. It also explores the fact the some people want to use the bible as a weapon instead of a way to get closer to God. I love this movie for the way it makes us think about how much more grateful we should be for all the things in our lives, and how it shows us that through faith so much is possible, even the impossible. The Hughes Brothers have explored so boldly the state of religion today and gives us a different and honest perspective of where we are heading. This brother director team also knows how to move the camera during and action sequence, using some of the most interesting camera work in a action movie I've seen since The Matrix. As far as Denzel of course he is good in this movie, but with him being so physical he gives us something we've never seen from him, he kicks some serious ass. The Book of Eli is great movie from start to finish and rivals any movie with a message to give.

5 out of 5

one luv, Toinne

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie?

My 14 Favorite Movies of 2009

First off all if you guys haven't noticed its been a very very long time since I got a chance to update my blog. I finally got a new laptop so the first thing I had to do was this list. So now on to what to we all came here for, the movies! 2009 for me has been one of the most interesting years in film in a long time. Hollywood stopped being so "Hollywood" and started making movies again, of course there were a few stinkers (we'll get to that later) but for the most part this has been my favorite year for movies since 1999. Here are the ones if found to be the best and most interesting. Usually I would do a top five list, but like I said earlier this was a great year for movies. So here we go!

14. Drag Me To Hell

Holy crap this was a thrill ride! This first thing this movie did was broke one of the golden rules in Hollywood, kids don't die. A kid has been cursed by a gypsy for stealing something and we are thrown right in to the last moments of his life, a demon has been following and taunting him for three days and now he's here to drag him to hell, and he does. It was a little jolting, but solidified in our minds that this movie is not playing around. Now we meet cute southern belle Christine Brown a loan officer going for a promotion. Little does she know her life is about to suck. A gypsy woman by the name of Mrs Ganush comes into the bank for an extension on her mortgage, but being as she has already had several extensions Christine could not give her one, even after Mrs. Ganush gets down on her knees and begs her. Mrs Ganush has been terribly shamed and places a curse on Christine. This time we get to see the demon's tormenting, slowly driving Christine into madness and desperation for her life. What I loved about Drag Me To Hell is it doesn't pull any punches. Director Sam Raimi really turns the scares, surprises and omg moments up to eleven. This movie is non stop, and doesn't have a fairytale ending, which is why it made this list. If you love horror movies this is not one to be missed.

13. 9

9 was a very interesting animated film. The first thing I noticed about it before even seeing it was that it was PG-13, in other words, not for kids. This is a dark movie, which might be why it didn't do so well at the box office, because for some reason, to most people "animated" means "kid's movie". I'm pretty sure parents didn't like this one, but who cares about them they shouldn't have took their kids to see it anyway. I on the other hand, loved it. 9 gets a tight grip on you from the very first frame and doesn't let go until the credits roll. Taking place in a post apocalyptic world after humans have been wiped from the face of the Earth by machines. We follow these little people made of, I guess burlap sacks, all with different numbers on them. Our main character 9 is our eyes into this strange world. He wonders what happened to the humans and most importantly where he and the others came from. The big reveal in the end made this one of the smartest animated films I have ever seen. Learning what happened to the humans and how these little sack people came to be turn what was already a good movie, into a brilliant one. I'm sure you've never heard of this movie, but trust me this is well worth a rental, and remember, just because a movie is animated doesn't mean that it's for kids.

12. Zombieland

Forget everything you know about zombie movies. Zombieland is something I've never really seen before. Most zombie films start at the beginning of the outbreak, this one starts at the end. The world is overrun with zombies and there are little to no humans left on Earth (the end credits name like six people, I didn't realize there was so few until the credits rolled). The film centers around a nerdy loner named Columbus. The reason he has survived so long by himself is that he has created a set of rules that he follows, I wont go into detail but they make a lot of sense. He decides to head to Columbus, Ohio to see if some family is still alive there. This is why we know him as Columbus, to avoid getting to close to each other the humans left don't call each other by their real names, but where they are headed, I thought this little detail is just one of many little things that make the world of this film feel real. On his journey he meets Tallahassee an all American zombie killing machine played by Woody Harrelson in what might be his best role ever, he's too funny. Tallahassee is the opposite of Columbus, he doesn't have any rules, he's survived so long simply because he's really good at killing zombies, along the way they meet sisters Wichita and Little Rock and also a surprise cameo by Bill Murray, which is the best cameo in cameo history. The reason why I liked Zombieland so much is because it throws all the seriousness of a zombie film out of the window and just has fun, even more so than Shaun of the Dead. I got a kick out of this movie, in a genre that repeats itself over and over again Zombieland is fresh and original and as much fun as a day at the carnival.

11. (500) Days of Summer

In a year full of originality across all genres (500) Days of Summer is no exception. Taking the romantic comedy genre and turning it on its ear, as the poster suggest, this is not a love story, it is a story about love. What that means is 500 Days is essentially telling two stories at once. The first, a story about two people meeting for the first time, learning about each other, having fun and spontaneous moments, a story of new and blossoming love. The second story, a great relationship nearing it's end, how hard that is to deal with and how hard it is to let someone you love go. I know, that doesn't sound original at all you may be thinking. Normally, you would be right, but its that way these two stories are told. Simultaneously about the same relationship, the two stories are inter cut, so at one moment we would see a cute intimate moment in an Ikea and the next moment we would see argument over something ridiculous. On day (35) they would be in a record store looking at music, and on day (355) they wouldn't even want to talk to each other. That is where the title comes from because the girls name is Summer played by the adorable Zooey Deschanel. Also I have to point out Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays Tom. He shines in this film, he plays his role with such class and such heart that which Hollywood hasn't seen since the days of Gene Kelly, watch out for this kid because if he keeps getting roles as good as this and knocking them out of the park the way he did this one, he's gonna be a force to be reckoned with. I love 500 Days not only for its originality, but also because it tells a really good story that everyone can relate to. We have all loved and lost and this is one of the very few love stories out there that is honest about how that feels.

10. The Taking of Pelham 123

Ok first off this movie doesn't waste anytime getting started, I love it when movies do that. It seemed like almost immediately we're throw into the fray. A few men hijack a subway train in NYC and a man who calls himself Ryder (played by John Travolta in his best role to date) contacts the dispatch center and finds Walter Garber an ordinary everyman (played by Denzel Washington) who's about to have a really bad day. Ryder give Garber an hour to contact whatever city official he can and asks for a ransom of 10 million dollars. Now I seen a whole lot of movies with hostage situations, but this one takes the cake, all the credit goes to Denzel and Travolta, because this movie is essentially one really long phone conversation, and I don't know of any other actors would have held our attention the way these two did. This is Travolta's movie all the way, he is outstanding, he's so good that he becomes one of those villains that you actually root for, and he gives us what I consider to be one of the best movie deaths EVER. If you saw the movie than you know what I mean. Like I said earlier to be a movie that is at it's core a two hour phone call, this is gripping stuff.

9. Coraline

Originality is starting to become a theme in this list, because now we have Coraline. A surprisingly dark tale about a little girl who wants a different life. Her parents ignore her and her life is boring, she finds a small door in the fashion of Alice in Wonderland in her new home and it leads to just that. It is her life in bizzarro world. Her parents give her more attention she can handle and everything is exciting. She loves this world far more than her real one, but if she wants to stay she has to have buttons sewn into her eyes. When she decides that is not what she wanted suddenly her perfect world isn't so perfect anymore, and she now has to fight her way out. I love this film for it's pacing, its very deliberate and still, at first. I could feel the kids in the audience back when I saw this in theaters getting antsy. So many animated films are big loud and fast pace that this one took even me off guard with it's quiet approach to storytelling. Of course once the plot thickens things certainly pick up, but if it weren't for its deliberate pacing earlier Coraline's fight to get back to her world may not have meant as much to the audience or even had the same impact. I also love this movie because it so visual. Every shot in this film is pleasing to the eye, there was never a shot in this film that didn't wow me visually. I gotta give the filmmakers major credit for achieving that, and I also gotta give them credit for making the kids squirm a bit and pay attention.

8. Where The Wild Things Are

Where The Wild Thing Are is a beautiful movie. It's one of those rare films that really captures your imagination and speaks to your inner child. Based on "the most beloved children's book of all time" I put that in quotes because that's what it says on the poster. I personally have never read the book so I have no reference, but if the book is anywhere near as good as the the movie than I can see why its a classic. It tells the story of a kid named Max who is just well, a regular kid, with a great imagination. His big sister doesn't really pay attention to him, and his mom is starting to meet other guys after her divorce. He's a kid who is confused about his feelings and doesn't really have anyone to talk about them. So one night in a fit of rage he runs away from home, and finds a wooded area away with creatures that have a resemblance to animals we see everyday, but still look odd enough to be out of this world. Before I go on I was never certain whether or not these creatures and the world they lived in were real or not, but because the movie never makes it clear I think that was the point. Ok so when Max gets to this new land with these strange creatures he fits right in, because even though they're big and scary looking, they all think like kids. As the film goes on I started to notice that each one of these characters is a different mirror of one of Max's anxieties or insecurities or simply a personalty trait of his own or someone in his life. That is why this was such a beautiful movie, underneath the surface of this fun kids adventure, it really was is a film about dealing with our own problems and ourselves. I love movies that are deeper than whats on the surface, and that's why this is one of my favorites of the year.

7. Watchmen

(this pic isn't from the movie, i just think its pretty cool)

They said it couldn't be done, they said it was the unfilmable graphic novel. Well guess what? They were wrong. Very wrong. The source material for Watchmen is the most popular, loved, and critically acclaimed graphic novel (or comic book) of the past 23 years. It even made TIME magazine's All Time 100 Novels list. So needless to say, the hype around this movie was astronomical. I read the book myself, I never considered it to be unfilmable, but I realized that they were going to have to change some things to make it viable for a film. To my surprise they changed almost nothing, this is the closest adaptation of anything. Whether it was a book or a video game or whatever, what is in the movie is exactly what was in the book. Every image, word, and minor detail. The fact that Zack Snyder pulled that off is in itself incredible. Not only is this a faithful adaptation, it's an amazing film, the dark and twisted morals of the film set itself apart from the saturated hero movie pack. Although some people who haven't read the comic book and weren't "in" on some of the things that was happening in the movie, it still seems to be loved all around, and for such a convoluted movie, that says something. If you did find Watchmen confusing I would suggest renting the directors cut, there are some things that fill in some of the gaps that the theatrical release left out, making a little more sense of it all. Other than that Watchmen stands out as a hero movie that asks the questions should people be saved if they don't deserve it, and it is wrong to harm a few in the quest to save many?

6. District 9

When I first was the trailer for District 9 I thought "Wow that's great idea!" then I was disappointed to find that I had to wait until the end of the summer until it came out. Having been mentally fatigued by all the bad action movies that came out, by the end of the summer I was so ready for something different, and with District 9 I got more than different, I got the most original film I had seen since Memento. Taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa aliens find Earth, but not in that Independence Day they're going to kill us way, they're were lost and they're ship was damaged and Earth was the nearest planet. At first humans welcomed these creatures onto our planet and treated them in the fashion of immigrants, but after a while we started to treat them like refugees, banning them out of the cities and containing them to one area District 9. This vastly different approach to a movie about aliens grounds the scenario in reality. Suddenly we're not watching a movie, but in some ways an alternate reality. Humans have treated each other the exact same way many times in the past, so it only make sense that we would treat aliens the same. The film is an excellent parallel to our own reality, a political film that doesn't directly address politics. Not to mention this movie is f**king awesome. Besides the thought provoking and very smart story with parallels to our own human nature and society, there is some seriously kick ass action in this movie. I don't know how the director balanced such a deep and involving storyline with such a fast and relentless pace, but somehow he did and the result is maybe the best science fiction movie ever made.

5. Up

I loved Up. Let me say that again. I loved Up. I generally fall in love with all of the movies that are done by Pixar but I LOVED Up! This is by far Pixar's best to date, and I know I say that every time Pixar releases a movie, but they just keep finding a way to outdo themselves, every friggin time. Up is the story of and old man who blah blah blah, you've seen the trailers, and I'm so glad the trailers didn't tell us the REAL story. It's the story of a man who has lost the only love that he has ever known, and doesn't really know how to deal with that. The first ten minutes of Up is truly Pixar at its best. We meet a kid named Carl who wants to be an adventurer, he meets a little girl named Ellie who also want to be the same. They grow up together fall in love and spend the rest of their lives together until Ellie's unfortunate passing. Imagine going to buy a ticket for a fun filled Pixar evening and ten minutes in everyone in the audience is reaching for a tissue. After this very touching opening of the film it moves on to what we bought out tickets for, and now that we are emotionally involved in the story it makes it all that much better. Carl's journey in coming to terms with losing Ellie is something that we all have to deal with, we sympathize with Carl so we care about his journey. Of course there is the usual Pixar fanfare of laughter, thrills, and chills, but I loved Up because it made us look past what we've come to expect from them and reminded us that the guys and gals at Pixar are the best storytellers in the business.

4. The Hangover

My original review of this film reads as follows:

FUNNIEST MOVIE EVER MADE! Nuff said.

5 out of 5

That was my entire review, and I'm sticking to it.

3. Star Trek

First of all I want to make it clear that I am not a fan of the Star Trek franchise. I always thought that it was so boring it could make me vomit, so I wasn't predestined to love this movie before even seeing it (which honestly might be true in Watchmen's case) I didn't even really want to see this movie. Now having said that OMFG this movie frakkin ROCKS! From start to finish this movie is nonstop, but not only that, it has a great story. A movie can be action packed with a story so bad the action doesn't even matter anymore, that is certainly not the case here. Starting from the beginning of it all, we are meeting the now iconic Star Trek characters for the first time, which was a great choice to introduce Star Trek to a new audience. I would love to explain the story, but its really complicated and has to do with time travel, but trust me its awesome. Director JJ Abrams as humble of a guy as he is, has pretty much said to every Hollywood director alive "Step your game up, bitches." Because this is the most elegant action movie I have ever seen. I use the word elegant because the transition from dialogue to action sequence and back is seamlessly and without effort. I firmly believe that from now on this is how ALL action movies should be done, but in reality that's never going to happen. At least I can trust JJ Abrams to deliver immensely on whatever he does, I'm pretty if he was to do a Strawberry Shortcake movie it would be friggin awesome.

2. Avatar

I know some of you are reading this and thinking "What? I was sure Avatar was his number one pick." and after the way I talked about it you would be right to think that. Trust me, I had a really tough time choosing between Avatar and my number one pick, but I'll get to that later. Avatar. What can I say about this movie? Whatever I say it won't be enough. Avatar is simply stunning. Awe inspiring. Breathtaking, and every other cliche thing you would hear in a commercial, and in this case all of it is true. The world that James Cameron has created in Avatar is astounding, and almost to much to take in at one time, this films begs for multiple viewings. To say it is excellent is an understatement, but unfortunately when a movie is this good its hard to find the right words to describe it. Even right now I'm still second guessing my decision to put this at number two....but in a moment I wont....

1. Inglorious Basterds

Holy s**t this is a good movie. In usual Quentin Tarantino fashion this film is multi-layered, but never before has he put these layers together so perfectly. Inglorious Basterds is a perfect movie. Flawless. Starting with what has to be one of the best opening scenes in film history and ending with the best 35 mins ever put to film, this movie isn't near perfect, isn't almost perfect, it IS perfect. The film plays out in five chapters sort of like the way Kill Bill did. The title of the first chapter is the tagline of the film "Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France..." Where we meet our villian, who is more far cunning than he lets on, and in the second chapter we meet the Basterds lead by Lt. Aldo Raine played by a Brad Pitt who seemed to love this character so much it only took four minutes for me to realize he deserves the Oscar for it, and Lt. Aldo Raine has put together a small team of Jewish American soldiers who's mission is to ambush the Nazi's in different areas, and in a way exact their own personal revenge. There are a few other plot points that I don't really want to give away, but Quentin Tarantino is at the top of his game here, with a script that explores so many different characters and storylines that seemingly don't have anything to do with each other, until that 'aha' moment brings it all together in your mind. Tarantino doesn't just slow down after the 'aha' moment either because now that you realize what is going on and how it all comes together you are brought into the best film climax in recent memory. That last 35 mins of this film is perfection, and as one of the characters says in the very last line of the film "I think this just might be my masterpiece." Yes it is Mr. Tarantino, yes it is.

Honorable Mention: Paranormal Activity

None of the things suggested in the poster are true. It's not the scariest movie ever made, its not going to make you lose you mind with fear, its not going to keep you awake at night. Yet, what I did like about this film was its execution. Paranormal Activity had a minuscule budget of only $11,000 , and every penny was put to good use. There are some genuinely creepy moments that had me thinking "How did that do that?" Most of it was pretty straight forward with bumps and noises, yet the film was still able to create an atmosphere of tenision, and for that I give it credit for achieving its ultimate goal. Even if the ending was kinda lame.

Honorable mention: Ninja Assassin

Ok so the story in Ninja Assassin isn't the greatest, in fact it's kinda silly, but this movie kicks so much ass that doesn't even matter. It's violent, it's gory, it's balls to the wall high octane nonstop action and I loved every single second of it.

The 5 Worst films of 2009

I know its kinda backwards to do this list after the best of list, but these movies don't deserve their own post, and since I made you read all that other stuff I will keep this list down to two word reviews.

5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Childhood ruined.

4. Fast & Furious

Seriously why?

3. My Bloody Valintine

Stupid Gimmick.

2. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Corbra

Stupid everything.

1. New Moon

T

So mind numbingly boring I wanted to burn down the theater just so it would end. (put on a shirt douchebag)

So there you have it, the movies I loved, and the ones that were like a terrorist attack on my cerebrum. 2009 was an extraordinary year in film and in a way change a lot of things about the way movie's should be made. Originality was the theme for 09 and I hope it only gets better from here, and that the Twilight franchise would burn in hell.

one luv, Toinne.