2010 Movies in Summary

As a farewell to 2010, I'm going to list out every movie I saw in theaters and give each a quick review and rating. Ready? Go!

01/01/10: Avatar

While this movie has stunning graphics, the message in it reminds me too much of Fern Gully for me to enjoy it as much as everyone else seemed to. 2.5/5

01/16/10: The Princess and the Frog

It was nice to see a 2D film again, but this one was nothing special. 3/5

02/05/10: Dear John

I laughed my way through this movie. Unfortunately, I don't think that's what they had in mind when they made it. 1.5/5

04/02/10: How to Train Your Dragon

Love this movie. It's the best animated movie I've seen in a long time. The plotline of it reminded me a lot of the movies from my childhood in the 90s. 4/5

04/10/10: How to Train Your Dragon

What? I liked it that much and my family wanted to see it.

05/07/10: Iron Man 2

Not nearly as good as the first one. Still, it was better than a lot of other superhero movies out there. 3/5

06/25/10: Toy Story 3

This was such an incredibly sad movie. Pixar has always been a hit and miss thing for me, and sadly I didn't like this one as much as I had hoped to. 3/5

07/23/10: Inception

I love movies that make you think, and this is certainly one of those movies. This was my favorite movie that I saw this summer. 4/5

08/02/10: Despicable Me

A cute, if predictable movie. I try not to ask too much of my animated kid movies. 3/5

08/13/10: Inception

I can safely say that it was still confusing even after a second viewing. And now months later, I can say that it does make a little bit more sense after a third.

11/18/20: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)

That title is a mouthful. A faithful adaptation of the book, I think this was one of the better HP movies. 4/5

11/19/10: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)

It was watchable for a second time in 24 hours, which is more than I could say for The Half-Blood Prince.

11/25/10: Megamind

The realm of kid's animated movies seems over-saturated with superhero type movies, but this one wasn't too bad. 3/5

12/24/10: Tron: Legacy

A much better movie than I had expected. I wouldn't mind watching it again. 3.5/5

Movie Review: Tron: Legacy (PG)

I had to be forced to go to this movie. Both my mom and my brother wanted to see it, and since I really didn't want to sit at home by myself on Christmas Eve I decided against my better judgement to go anyway. Every review I had read about the movie up to that point except one had slammed the movie, so I didn't have high hopes.

I had known that I was going to go see it eventually. Ever since my mom first saw the trailer she said she wanted to see it. In preparation, I was going to watch the original. Since it was nowhere to be found on netflix instant play, and the DVD cost a ridiculous 80 dollars on amazon, I resorted to the less than reputable method of watching it in ten minute chunks on youtube. I couldn't make it past the first 10 minutes. Not a good sign, but it could just be due to the dated feel of the technical talk in the film.

After I left Legacy, I was pleasantly surprised. True, the scripting was still a bit forced (in different ways, at least), but the visuals were stunning and I even enjoyed the electronica soundtrack. It actually ranks pretty high on the list of movies I've watched in theaters this year.

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (PG13)

I'm over a month late reviewing this, but here it goes.

Watching this movie just reminds me that the era of my life that started back when I was six or seven is finally drawing to a close. Not to be dramatic, but these books were my life when I was a kid. I would read them over and over and over again, so now that the last few movies are now being released I'm a bit sad.

I rode to the movie theater with one of my teachers (her blog is here). She was dressed like Trelawney, a sharp contast to my own muggle attire. I think we drew some weird looks on the walk into the theater, but we were among our own kind when we stepped into the theater. There were about 20 of us there together, stretched out over a row and a half. We had Tonks, Hermione, Darren Criss' Harry Potter (from A Very Potter Musical), Rowena Ravenclaw, George Weasley sans ear, Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin girl, plus many more. As I settled into my seat, I took to watched the other costumed people walking in. There was a woman dressed as Umbridge who had her outfit spot-on. The costumes are always my favorite part of midnight premieres.

When the movie itself started, I noticed immediately that this was going to be unlike all of the previous ones. The mood was darker, and not in the teenaged-angsty way of the sixth movie.

The movie was over two hours long, but I think the pacing wasn't too bad. There weren't parts that I felt like just getting up out of boredom like there had been in the previous movie.

It's been nearly three years since I last read the final book, but aside from a couple of scenes it stayed pretty true to the original. Now, I'm not one of those book purists (at least, not anymore) who cries foul if it strays even the littlest bit away from the source material. I've come to realize that the novel and the movie are two completely different media and what works in one doesn't always work in the other. I think Deathly Hallows part 1 successfully avoided the pitfalls that come with adaptations. They succeeded in making a movie (albeit a bit long-winded) that didn't completely alienate the fans of the books.

I'll definitely be staying up past midnight for the premiere of the last movie. It's the definitive end of an era in my life, and I think that justifies an all-nighter.

Movie Review: Megamind (PG)

Going to see this movie was a last-second thing. I was doing other things at the time, but when my family called and said they were going I decided to give it a shot. I'm not much for animated superhero movies, especially since they all seem to be repeating the same plot.

Megamind does fall into that category, just with a more modern twist. It was an interesting twist that I saw coming from a mile away, but there ya go. I won't say more just in case.

This movie wasn't unbearable and it was cute at some parts. Overall, I wasn't too disappointed but I wasn't too impressed. One of those movies that could go either way.

Would I watch this again? If it was between this and other recent superhero movies, yes.

My rating: 3 out of 5

NaNoWriMo 2010!

Success! I even finished with more time to spare than I did last year. I always love doing NaNoWriMo, but it's such a wonderful sigh of relief when it's over. I actually have free time again. I might post a review of a movie soon.