1. Apocalypse Now – This movie is not just a movie but an entire history lesson. I’m not talking about the content of the movie so much as the history and details surrounding the making of. I was intrigued by the making because the movie not only has many classic [often imitated and parodied] scenes but the settings, acting, and story cause you to wonder how in the world this thing became an actual movie that came out. Trust me, the reality of this movie is probably more strange than the movie itself, and that’s saying something.

2. Bladerunner – I was convinced I wouldn’t like this because my roommate, Lucas, told me it sucked and was really boring. One thing he failed to mention is how TOTALLY AWESOME it is. It’s not for everyone. It’s a bit slow at times, but two things I think it has going for it. 1 – the dystopian universe created by Ridley Scott is believable and immersive. You will feel depressed as you are sucked into the futuristic world that seems void of hope (and soap!) 2 – there is a major plot point that is open for interpretation that even the makers and original cast do not agree upon. Though it isn’t specifically spelled out in the movie it will change how you think/feel about every major character. I won’t spoil it for you in case you decide to check it out, but trust me it will keep you thinking long after the credits roll. (think: spinning top at the end of Inception)

3. Precious – I was ready to cast this baby off as the typical Oscar bait that just shows a bunch of folks crying over hard-living. Civil rights blah blah blah heavy handed message blah blah blah. I’m not wrong. That’s exactly what this movie is. However, I can’t stress the profound impact Precious had on me. Education. This movie is about education. Education is so vitally important in combating crime and poverty and I don’t think I realized that until I watch this. And the “speech” at the end. Wow. If you’ve seen it, you know what I mean.

4. How To Train Your Dragon – Not Disney. Not Pixar. Not good, right? Wrong. I really liked the art style and the story was just all around good. Also this movie is good for the whole family. A win-win!

5. The Karate Kid – This movie surely has no chance to be good right? First of all, it’s called the Karate Kid but the fighting style is Kung Fu. Strike one. Second, I think Jackie Chan is great but he’s kind of the Charlie Chaplin of kung fu movies and maybe a little too goofy to follow up a role mastered by the stoic Pat Morita (he won an academy award for his role as Mr. Miyagi). Third, Jaden Smith is just riding off the fame of dad Will Smith, and won’t be able to pull off a convincing performance. Fourth(!), the original karate kid was all about bullying from (fully grown) high school students. The kids in this movie are more like pre-teen. Even with all that stacked against it, the movie is great. It absolutely shocked me. The acting was excellent, the story wasn’t too unbelievable, and I found myself really caring about the characters. Seriously, give this a chance.

6. Easy A – I thought this looked like a terrible teen movie. Well it’s a teen movie but it’s far from terrible. It’s about a girl that isn’t popular until she starts lying and bragging about sexual encounters with her classmates that she starts gaining attention. In an obvious reference to The Scarlet Letter she sew’s a large red ‘A’ on her clothing as she’s now become the school tramp. This movie is funnier, smarter, and more sincere than you could possibly imagine by the description or the trailer. See it.

7. The Game – I don’t think I’d ever seen a movie starring Michael Douglas until I rented The Game on a whim. This movie completely blew my mind. If you don’t know anything about it, I suspect it will do the same for you. See this now.

8. Catfish – Last year when The Social Network came out and gained lots of critical acclaim and success this other movie about facebook came out. Catfish. It is bizarre, scary, and fun. It’s best you have little expectation going into this movie but I promise you, it is fascinating.

9. Footloose – a movie about dancing….THAT IS AWESOME. I would never have expected like this, but it was a joy from opening to closing credits. It makes me want to angry-dance in a warehouse.

1. Battle: Los Angeles – The real problem with this movie is that the trailer was so stinking cool. It wasn’t misleading, it just had this real cool vibe that wasn’t matched by the movie.

Aaron Eckhart delivered a great performance but the supporting cast…not so much. They were all very predictable and the movie as a whole was formulaic. I could almost guess the dialog before it came out of any of the actors’ mouth. If you seen one generic war movie and heard the cliches you’ve seen this movie. Aliens didn’t really make up for it.

2. X-MEN: First Class – I’ve already written about this movie and why I think it’s not good. The problem is that I really wanted it to be good. I had read a review from a guy that I normally agree with on movies and where it’s one of his top 10 movies of the year, it just seemed blah to me. It’s nothing compared to the atrocity that is X3: Last Stand but something just doesn’t click. I even watched it again last week just to be sure. When Eric and Xavier are treading water and Xavier asks Eric “how did you do that?!” and Eric replies with, “you’ve got your tricks, I’ve got mine”, I just rolled my eyes. I hadn’t been mistaken.

3. Hugo – Hugo is actually an amazing move. I mean, it’s awesome. But one thing it is not….it is NOT about a robot. I was tricked on this one. If you see the trailer, you honestly believe that it could be about a cool robot. Like some kind of steam-punk Pinocchio (minus the whole lying/nose thing). Actually after seeing it again, only the first half of the trailer is about a robot. But I only saw the trailer once and the most compelling thing I walked away with is that it was a cool movie about a mystical robot. Again, NOT what it’s about. Over an hour into the thing I realized I had been paying attention to the wrong story. I was watching out for clues about the robot and was missing the movie in the meantime. Seriously, this movie was great, but when I saw it, I didn’t realize what I was seeing and it made the whole experience disappointing. I wasn’t disappointed in the movie as much as with my lack of understanding.

4. Cowboys and Aliens – I know that this movie has no chance of being good. But it SHOULD be enjoyable to someone like me who eats up this kind of content. Seriously, how do you mess up a movie where cowboys face off against aliens starring Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, and Harrison (friggin) Ford. HARRISON FORD! Well, John Favreau is how. I’m declaring it now. Iron Man was a fluke and everything else this guy touches is going to disappoint (me).

5. Raging Bull – Yeah, yeah, a classic…Robert De Niro…blah blah blah. Some of these gritty, depressing movies from the 70s/80s just don’t really resonate with me. I had the impression I would walk away just amazed at what I was seeing. Maybe I’m just too immature in my hobby, but I don’t get it.

6. Following – This is one of Christopher Nolan’s earliest films. I think the history and making of the film and how it ties into and influences his later films is more entertaining that this movie. I was jazzed to see some of Nolan’s earlier work only to get the impression he’s come a long way since those days. You don’t need to watch this movie, really. It’s not bad, but if you have The Dark Knight and Inception-quality movies in your mind you will likely be as disappointed as I.

7. Road Warrior – I keep thinking that somewhere along the lines these are supposed to be good movies. Mad Max was bad, really bad. Road Warrior isn’t much of an improvement and I was disappointed yet again with a movie that seems like it should be right up my alley.

8. Despicable Me – Normally, I only watch the cartoons that I think have some value beyond the targetted-at-small-children aspect. Normally, I get it right. With Pixar and Disney cranking out amazing movies (did you see Tangled?) I figured Despicable Me would be good. I wasn’t expecting Toy Story quality, but I figured it would be like Mega-Mind. Not as spectacular but a great way to spend 2+ hours. Wrong. This movie drags. And it doesn’t make sense to me to get a celebrity voice but then have the celebrity do a character voice. The whole point is for people to recognize the voice! Steve Carell is certainly a funny guy and has the right kind of voice for this role…but a Russian accent? Just get a Russian.

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Of course all of this is very subjective. Sometimes I enjoy not agreeing with someone about a movie if it will spark a conversation about specific things about the movie that resonate with certain individuals. I often get into discussions with my brother about a movie we don’t agree on. It helps me see things in a movie that maybe I never thought of before.

the guy on the left is why we're here

1. The Fighter – it took me a bit to warm up to this movie and more importantly to Mark Wahlberg. He really only has two modes. Angry and whiny. Thankfully, that’s his character in the movie. BUT this movie isn’t about him anyway. The real magic is with Christian Bale. You will believe he is a legitimate crack-head. It’s odd to watch him so masterfully nail his role all the while remembering “this is batman!” His performance alone is worth your time but it turns out the movie is pretty dynamite all around. Major props to Amy Addams and Melissa Leo for their strong roles as well.

nothing. but. talking.

2. The King’s Speech – This is easily my favorite movie of 2011 and it was the favorite of the Academy Awards in 2010 as well. I only saw it in 2011 so I’m a bit behind in giving this praise, but seriously this movie is astounding. This movie has nothing in it but talking and the movie is about talking. How could a movie with only talking about talking be so good? You got me, but it is fantastic. If you haven’t seen it yet, go see it!

where's that little asian kid with the gadget belt?

3. Super 8 – Super 8 is basically a tribute to Steven Spielberg and to 80s movies featuring kids with a surprising lack of parental supervision and an equally surprising sense of adventure. It’s basically Goonies + E.T. + Cloverfield (Abrams!). Everything about this movie just felt good. They sure don’t make them like they used to. I also felt like the young actors were superb and not annoying.

no washcloths at Hogwarts?

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part.2 – I loved every second of this film (minus a few book-snob gripes). It’s not just a good movie but closing of a story that’s been in our lives for over 10 years. It was sad to see it end but such a joy to know that this project and (many of) the people who made it great hung in until the end. If you have yet to step onto the platform of 9 and 3/4 for this final chapter, you owe it to yourself to conclude the story.

give him an Oscar already.

5. Moneyball – I don’t like baseball. I don’t really like sports movies. So it stands to reason that I would not care much about this movie. It really was excellent and I really enjoyed seeing Jonah Hill do something that didn’t make my eyes (and brain) hurt. You can enjoy this even if you don’t know anything about baseball.

my precious?

6. Rise of The Planet of the Apes – The worst part about this movie is the title. The second worse thing is the impression you get from watching the trailer. But do not be fooled, this movie is amazing! It stars James Franco (that’s probably the only name you’ll recognize) but he’s not the main character. The focus of the movie is on Caesar, the chimpanzee. By now the name Andy Serkis should be a household name and the only reason it isn’t is because Hollywood doesn’t go out of its way to recognize the folks behind motion-capture and CGI acting. You’d recognize one of his more notable roles as Gollum/Smeagle in the Lord of the (friggin’) Rings trilogy. I write this without a hint of irony, but the guy deserves an Academy Award for the life that he brings into these characters and one of the reasons that Rise of The Planet of the Apes is one of my favorite movies this year.

7. The Muppets – Song and dance, romance, action, comedy….puppets?! This movie has it all. Sure its a little cheesy and it aimed at a younger (or broader) generation but unless your heart is black and cold (more on that later) then you can’t walk away from this movie without a swing in your step. If you watched the muppets back when they were on TV, you will get a surge of nostalgia that will last a few days minimum. Puppeteering is a lost art in film and I couldn’t have been more happy with how this movie turned out. A must see!

8. Black Swan – Ok so if your heart is black and cold you will really enjoy this movie. To be honest, I wouldn’t even use the word ‘enjoy’ to describe how I felt after seeing it. So how can this be on my top list? Well, I have no problem saying that this movie was amazing. It was quite disturbing, but amazing nonetheless. Natalie Portman delivered a powerful performance, Mila Kunis was spot on, the physical condition the actors had to be in for the film is notable and the dancing was thrilling. Honestly, can a movie about ballerinas be compelling? I wouldn’t think so either, but I was on the edge of my seat and gripping the arm rests with furious anticipation. If you can stomach it, this should be watched.

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It’s movies like the eight above that make movie watching such a fun and exciting hobby. You don’t just see moving pictures on a screen. The good ones tell a story. Those stories stick with you and our stories give us such a profound feeling of purpose and meaning in our life. So stop reading, and go watch!