My Top Ten Movies of 2013 Part 2

Pacific Rim

If you twisted my arm, I might whisper that *this* was my favourite movie of the year.  A shallow reading of the movie would reveal that it is about giant robots fighting giant monsters and destroying cities in the process- which are ALL of my least favourite things combined into one movie.  But this movie is so much more than that.  This movie belongs to MAKO MORI who is the bee’s knees.  She is a female character who wants to avenge her family’s death and who manages to do so.  She has a love story arc that is played out so sweetly AND THEY DON’T EVEN KISS AT THE END!  THEY REST THEIR FOREHEADS TOGETHER WHICH IS INFINITELY BETTER!  Her love interest thinks she is the coolest person on the planet (which she is) and you’re supposed to think the movie is about him, but even HE doesn't;t think the story is about him.  He’s all like “Yo!  You should be watching Mako Mori instead because she is rad!”.  Then there’s Idris Elba playing s stern authoritative figure in uniform.  And well, I could watch Elba read the phonebook so to get to watch him make a “We are cancelling the apocalypse” speech is even better.  And there are kooky science guys.  And terrible Australian accents that made the audience in my (Australian) cinema start laughing- both times I saw the movie.  AND WORLD BUILDING!!  Such good world building, you guys.  SUCH WORLD BUILDING!!!!!!!!!!!

About Time

I feel like nobody else saw this movie.  Except my dad who pestered me about twice a week for a month until I saw the movie.  I’m not a Rachel McAdams fan but because I adore Richard Curtis (the writer), I was willing to give it a try.  This movie tricks you into thinking that it’s going to be about romantic love but it is ALL about family love.  I dare you to watch this movie’s final scenes without a huge fat lump in your throat.  Just try.

Thor 2: The Dark World

THIS MOVIE!  Ok, so, I’m actually not that big a fan of the first movie.  I’ve only seen it once.  It didn’t grab me.  But I think this movie took all the things I liked from the first movie (parental angst! Darcy! Idris Elba!) and gave me more of that.  I still feel like Jane Foster is more a plot device than a love interest in the Thor world and I would be much happier if she went off and did rad sciencey things without Thor.  But I digress.  This movie belongs to Tom Hiddleston who again, I would watch read the phone book.  Loki is such an amazing character that it bums me out that this is a Thor franchise and not a Thor and Loki franchise.  The movie passed by in a blur of enjoyment.  And the end scene credits where *SPOILER* the big monster thing that has been left on earth is prancing after birds like a giant big cat, is 10/10.

Doctor Who: The Day of The Doctor

Oh hey.  Just casually sneaking this in.  Thought you might not notice that I’m putting a TV special into my ‘Top Movies’ list.  Well I did see this at the cinema and I have the ticket stub to prove it.  I hadn’t realised just how much I missed Tennant’s Doctor and watching him and Smith go head to head was everything I didn’t know that I wanted.  The cinema was full with fellow Whovians and I dressed up as the TARDIS and it was just fun. 

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

I saw this two days ago and I’m still reeling from it.  It was everything I wanted the first installation to be.  It trickled merrily from scene to scene, plot point to plot point.  Nothing felt like it could have been cut out, whereas I think in the first movies there’s quite a bit you could cut and still have a great movie.  The star of the show was undoubtedly Smaug.  I have a major dragon love and it’s so easy to do crappy dragons, even if you have lots of money so I was very eager to see Smaug.  And he was everything a dragon should be: beautiful and terrifying, charming and absolutely cold blooded.  And of course it helps immensely that he is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.  I can’t imagine anyone else doing justice to that dragon. 

And I just have a lot of feelings about the dwarves and that little hobbit and the events that will unfold.  And there were things in this movie that made my little heart twinge as I thought about what will happen later on down the road.  But yes.  Smaug forever.  I can’t wait to see the movie again!

My Top Ten Movies of 2013 Part 1

I kept all my ticket stubs from the movies I saw and these were my favourite ones.  Placing them in the order that I saw them in rather than “best” or “favourite” because that’s impossible to choose.

Silver Linings Playbook

I really liked this movie about two broken people coming together and working on a project that helps them (somewhat) sort through their issues.  I thought Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence both shone so brightly in this.  I saw this on a miserable rainy day and the audience consisted of middle aged women who clapped loudly during the dance performance at the end.  Despite the matters that the movie deals with, it made me really happy.

The Host

I had absolutely no interest in seeing this one.  All I knew was that it was Stephenie Meyer and that was enough for me.  But then I saw a trailer and I thought “ooh, interesting plot” and so I roped a friend into seeing it and we were both pleasantly surprised by it.  I thought the storyline was interesting and it posed some really quite deep questions about what is good and what is evil.  There was a fantastic fresh take on the tired old love triangle of teen romances and I thought the movie did a great job of world building, which- if you can build me a convincing world in your movie, I will always give you the time of day.  If you let this movie pass you by because of the Twilight connection, I think you should give it a chance.

Star Trek Into Darkness

I have been very grateful to JJ Abrams for his Star Trek reboot.  I am too afraid of the immensity of the Star Trek canon to delve into the TV shows and I have enjoyed that the film series has given me a window into the Star Trek world, without having to sacrifice hours and hours of my time. 

Seeing this on the big screen, you realise just how blue and dreamy Chris Pine’s eyes are.  Which is pretty much worth the price of admission alone.  I saw this movie twice at the cinemas because of Benedict Cumberbatch wearing a long coat I enjoyed it so much.  I really like the “world” of Star Trek and I enjoy the characters.

World War Z

So apparently this movie was absolutely panned by critics and audiences… I don’t know why!  I don’t think it’s any worse than any other action/horror movie ever made.  I CRAZY enjoyed it!!  I sat on the edge of my seat most of the way through it, especially at the end when I chewed through most of my fingernails!  I did get sidetracked by thinking about how darn jetlagged Brad Pitt would be as he flew around the globe, chasing the zombie trail.  But it was really fun and isn’t that what movies are supposed to be?.

The Way Way Back

Oh man, I really loved this movie!  I think I might be one of the only people who saw it but it was so sweet and funny.  It’s a coming of age movie made be the same studio that did “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Juno” and it’s definitely in the same vein of those movies.  So if you liked those, you’ll like this one.  Sam Rockwell takes a great role in this, as does Steve Carell who is thoroughly unlikeable.  And you know how much I love him. 

Fresh Start

I neglected my old blog something shocking so I thought I would cut ties with it and start afresh.

I started this one up because I am trying a new journey into positivity.  To paraphrase myself, my friend Kristy and I are always talking about how we’re going to make stuff happen.  Invariably we fail.  But we have a new plan and I really and truly believe that it might work.  And hope is good.  We have called it “2014: The Year of Making it Happen”™. 

Yeah, that’s right.  I trademarked it.

So I’m hoping that this blog will be an honest look into the year that comes, and all that follows.

I want to join a local archery club and have joined a few groups through meetup.com.  Who knows if I will be brave enough to actually turn up, but I felt like I’d achieved just as much by signing up than I did if I’d actually gone!

Not to mention two weeks in the US at the holy grail of San Diego Comic Con.

I will probably just talk about movies I saw and books that I read. 

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