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Benedict Cumberbatch to Play Villain in ‘Star Trek’ Sequel- Netflix Instant Watch Weekly Roundup – January 3rd
Over 50 Million Rankings Decide Flickchart’s Top 20 of 2011- Netflix Instant Watch Weekly Roundup – December 27th
In Theaters
Posts Tagged ‘2008’
Parental Guidance Not Needed
17, May 2011
A local theater screens cult favorite movies every other Saturday night and recently played The Goonies. I got to talking with a friend of mine about it, and how it represents the movies of our youth that targeted us as viewers. Looking over the list of films that have played during this midnight series I see Beetlejuice (1988), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985), Gremlins (1984), The Princess Bride (1987), Ernest Goes to Camp (1987), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Return to Oz (1985), The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986). Every one of those movies was released in the 1980s and rated PG. Other films include both Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), the Back to the Future and Indiana Jones trilogies, most of which were released in the 1980s as PG films. I’ll grant you that some of these are “lesser” cinematic achievements (Return to Oz will scarcely be discussed in the same breath as The Wizard of Oz), but many are bona fide classics.
- In: User Showcase
- Tags: 2008, movies
The Guilty Pleasures: Dragon Edition
27, Apr 2011
by Nigel Druitt
Dragons. Are there any cooler creatures in all of mythology? Unfortunately, in the world of celluloid, these great creatures of imagination have not really gotten their due. (At least, not in live-action cinema; why I have not yet seen How to Train Your Dragon is still beyond me.)
Is there any live-action film in which dragons have truly come off as cool as they deserve? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire wasn’t too bad, but the dragons aren’t the stars. As I impatiently await the day when Peter Jackson brings his vision of the ultimate dragon, Smaug, to life in The Hobbit, I think about other dragon-themed movies that I have enjoyed in the past. None of them are deserving enough to be called “great”, but I’m very forgiving of movies I want to like. In one of these cases, I was the perfect age to see a dragon with real presence brought to life on the big screen – even if the movie he inhabited was far from perfect. Without further adieu, I present, in ascending order on my Flickchart, my picks for Guilty Pleasures starring dragons.
- In: Guilty Pleasures
- Tags: 1996, 2002, 2008, 300, Beowulf, Christian Bale, David Thewlis, Dennis Quaid, DragonHeart, Elektra, film, films, Flickchart, Gerard Butler, Harry Potter, heath ledger, Hellboy, How to Train Your Dragon, Howard McCain, James Caviezel, John Hurt, kevin spacey, Matthew McConaughey, movies, Outlander, Peter Jackson, predator, Randy Edelman, Reign of Fire, Rob Bowman, Rob Cohen, Ron Perlman, sean connery, Star Trek: First Contact, Sucker Punch, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The X-Files, Vin Diesel
In Search of Best Picture
17, Feb 2011by Nigel Druitt
As the Oscar telecast creeps up on us again, it begs the question: How many times has the Academy really gotten this “Best Picture” thing right, anyway?
Think about it. How many controversial decisions are there in the Academy’s history? How many times is a movie other than Best Picture long remembered as the best of the year?
- In: User Showcase
- Tags: (500) Days of Summer, 127 Hours, 1941, 1977, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 28 Days Later, 3:10 to Yuma, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, A Serious Man, academy awards, adaptation, Alfonso Cuarón, American Beauty, An Education, Ang Lee, annie hall, Atonement, Avatar, Babel, Batman Begins, Best Picture, Big Fish, Black Swan, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Casablanca, Catch Me If You Can, Chicago, Children of Men, Chocolat, Christopher Nolan, Citizen Kane, City of God, Clint Eastwood, Crash, Crouching Tiger, District 9, Donnie Darko, Eastern Promises, Erin Brockovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Exit Through The Gift Shop, Fight Club, film, films, Finding Nemo, Flickchart, Forrest Gump, Frost/Nixon, George Lucas, gladiator, Gone Baby Gone, Good Night and Good Luck, Gosford Park, Guillermo Del Toro, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, heath ledger, Hidden Dragon, hot fuzz, How Green Was My Valley, How to Train Your Dragon, Howl's Moving Castle, In Bruges, In the Bedroom, Inception, Inglourious Basterds, Iron Man, Juno, Kick-Ass, Kill Bill, Let The Right One In, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, Lost in Translation, Luc Besson, Martin Scorsese, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Memento, Michael Clayton, Mickey Rourke, Milk, Million Dollar Baby, Moon, moulin rouge, movies, Munich, Mystic River, No Country For Old Men, Oldboy, Orson Welles, Oscar, Pan's Labyrinth, Peter Jackson, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Pulp Fiction, Reese Witherspoon, Ridley Scott, Ron Howard, Russell Crowe, Sandra Bullock, Saving Private Ryan, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Seabiscuit, Sean Penn, Serenity, Shakespeare in Love, Shutter Island, Sin City, Slumdog Millionaire, Spider-Man, Star Trek, Star Wars, Steven Soderbergh, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Aviator, The Blind Side, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, The Departed, The Fighter, The Hours, The Hurt Locker, The Kids are All Right, The King's Speech, The Lives of Others, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, The Pianist, The Professional, The Queen, The Reader, The Shawshank Redemption, The Social Network, The Town, The Wrestler, There Will Be Blood, Tim Burton, Toy Story 3, Traffic, True Grit, Up, Up in the Air, Walk the Line, WALL-E, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, William Hurt, Winter's Bone, Woody Allen, Zodiac
Reel Rumbles #26: “The Spiderwick Chronicles” vs. “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”
16, Dec 2010by Nigel Druitt
In This Corner…
Following the success of Peter Jackson‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy (the third installment of which went on to become only the second entry in that elite “Billion Dollar Club”), it seemed like every studio wanted to jump on the fantasy-adventure bandwagon. And increasingly, the inspiration for such films has seemed to come from books targeted primarily at younger readers. The more popular franchises to arise from this trend were the Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia series. (The seventh and eighth Potter films are in theaters now and next summer, and the third Narnia film hits in December.)
But for those tired of the big franchises and looking for more one-off adventures, there is a pair of films that were produced by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies in the past decade that offer plenty of thrills and spills, and entertaining journeys into fantastical realms. They are clearly targeted at family audiences, but it is my opinion that there’s plenty to enjoy in them for adults as well, and I like them both more than the average Potter or Narnia film. So step into the Reel Rumbles ring for a battle of fantastic proportions as we take on The Spiderwick Chronicles vs. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.
- In: Reel Rumbles
- Tags: 1995, 1998, 2004, 2008, 2009, Billy Connolly, Brad Silberling, Casper, Catherine O'Hara, City of Angels, David Strathairn, Dustin Hoffman, Emily Browning, film, films, Freaky Friday, Freddie Highmore, Harry Potter, Jim Carrey, Joan Plowright, Jude Law, Land of the Lost, Lemony Snicket, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Liam Aiken, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Waters, Martin Short, Mary-Louise Parker, matchup, Mean Girls, Meryl Streep, movies, Nick Nolte, Peter Jackson, Reel Rumbles, Sarah Bolger, Seth Rogen, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Tim Burton, Timothy Spall
Scenes I Love… In Movies I Don’t
1, Dec 2010by Nigel Druitt
There are some films on my Flickchart that rank higher than they might have, simply because they contain just one scene that held me captivated. Overall, I may not have cared for the movie, but one particular scene or sequence just caught my attention, and I had to admit: I wish the whole movie could have been like that.
Here are a few films that find themselves pulled from the dregs at the bottom of my Flickchart, buoyed in the middling middle on the strength of one or two effective scenes. One is the first R-rated film to win the Best Picture Oscar. One is considered a modern-day masterpiece. One is a mediocre action flick from a director best known for mediocre action flicks. They all have one thing in common: I didn’t love them…but I loved something about them. (Caution to those who might not have seen the films discussed; there may be a few minor spoilers.)
- In: User Showcase
- Tags: 12 Rounds, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1993, 2004, 2008, Al Pacino, Best Picture, Brian De Palma, Carlito's Way, Cliffhanger, Cutthroat Island, Daniel Day-Lewis, Deep Blue Sea, Fernando Rey, film, films, Flickchart, Gene Hackman, GoodFellas, Inglourious Basterds, Jaws, John Lithgow, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, movies, Paul Thomas Anderson, Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Renny Harlin, Samuel L. Jackson, Star Wars, Sylvester Stallone, The Departed, The French Connection, The Godfather, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Lord of the Rings, There Will Be Blood, Uma Thurman
Directors Who Dominate: Christopher Nolan
21, Oct 2010by Nigel Druitt
It doesn’t get more dominating than having directed the highest-ranked film on Flickchart’s list of The Best Movies of All Time. But the man behind The Dark Knight is not only responsible for the highest-grossing movie of 2008 (and a member of that elite billion-dollar club). Every one of the seven feature films he has directed has been a hit with critics, and several have been big hits at the box office. They’re also hits on Flickchart. In this entry of Directors Who Dominate, we shine the spotlight on the dark figure of Christopher Nolan.
- In: Directors Who Dominate|User Showcase
- Tags: 2008, 2009, Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan, film, films, Flickchart, Following, heath ledger, Inception, Inglourious Basterds, Insomnia, Iron Man 2, J.J. Abrams, Kick-Ass, Memento, movies, Oscar, Shutter Island, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Toy Story 3