Best
The World's End, final episode in the Edgar Wright Trilogy. Felt just like watching Sean of the Dead or Hot Fuzz again, and also had definite elements of Scott Pilgrim in it in the fight scenes. I went in totally blind, so I did not know about the robots taking over the town. When that happened, I was totally caught off guard and didn't know where the movie was gonna go with that. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost kinda reversed rolls for this one (although Pegg is still the lead.) They're still as funny as ever though. Dragged Dodie to see this with me. She was glad that there were robots and it wasn't just about drinking beer the whole time, haha.
Star Trek: Into Darkness I also felt was a great movie. Probably the best action movie of the year. I think it was this movie that finally inspired me to watch Sherlock; I had already seen Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit: AUJ last year, and that had sparked my interest. Then I saw Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan, and that tipped me over. I thought he was great as Khan; played him like a total badass. An eloquent badass no less. I also already liked the rest of the cast from the last Star Trek movie, and they were great in their respective rolls again. Looking forward to seeing Chris Pine star in the new Jack Ryan movie.
The Conjuring was the best horror film I've seen in years, mostly because it felt highly nostalgic to me, as if I were watching Poltergeist or something. I cared about the characters and what happened to them, and thus got some genuine frights at times. It also inspired me to sleep under my covers so as not to get my leg pulled by a demon witch at night, haha.
I don't really feel like going into a lot of detail about every movie I saw this year, so I'll just say that Anchor Man 2, Thor 2, Bullet to the Head and Side Effects were at the higher end of the spectrum for me, Pacific Rim, The Last Stand, The Wolverine, and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone were middling ventures, A Good Day to Die Hard, and The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug were disappointing, and Hansel and Gretel and Identity Thief were entirely forgettable. I also saw bits of Elysium, and while it seemed pretty good, I was kinda asleep for half of it, so...
For me, my least favorite movie going experience this year was probably A Good Day to Die Hard. It was just all action and not enough exposition. John McClane is no longer an every man at all; he's like one of those indestructible members of the Expendables. This really felt like a solo movie for one of those characters, and the only reason those movies are worth watching is to see all the action stars. I took Dodie to this one too... lol.
Most disappointing award goes to The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. Gah. I already talked about it elsewhere, but I will say that it felt more like they were following a loose outline of the book than the book itself. There was way too much action, and way too much focus on side characters/made up characters for the movie. There was hardly ever any focus on Bilbo-he almost felt like a side character, in fact. I did love his initial confrontation with Smaug, but then...I swear I was ready to leave when there was like 30 or 40 minutes left of the film. I mean, I kinda knew this was gonna happen, so I'm not really sure I can say it was "disappointing." AUJ was more disappointing, but I still enjoyed it much better. This was like The Hobbit: The Filler Movie.SPOILER!!:
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