Tag Archive: Movie of the Year

Guardians of the Galaxy

Because it was fun for the whole family (with a galaxy of colorful stars).

Honourable Mention:   The Lego Movie

Because Thing 2 said so, and Thing 2 doesn’t say much about anything.

What everyone else liked based on Box Office Receipts

No winner.  There were a few entertaining nuggets; however, nothing jumped out as worthy of an award (although I did find myself dodging a few 3-D thingies that jumped out from the Hobbit).

Notable or Different:  The Hobbit pt 2; Now You See Me; White House Down; Pacific Rim; Sharknado  

…The rest at the box-office

John Carter of Mars

An excellent rendering of one of Edgar Rice Burroughs pulp fantasy classics that lost some of its luster at the box office because many might have thought it was a cheap remake of the Avatar franchise whereas, in fact, Avatar was more likely an expensive adaptation of Burroughs’ Martian Chronicle.

Honourable mention:  Dark Shadows

…The rest at the box-office

Most Memorable Movie Scene of the Year:  The scene from The  Avengers (an otherwise been there, seen that flick) where Hulk casually backhands Thor across the room after they successfully save the day.

This might just have been the poorest year for the silver screen in recent memory (i.e. since I poured my first glass).  It was more of the same old, same old  vampire-zombie-werewolf flicks, comic book hero rethinks, remakes of remakes and other Hollywood franchise parts^infinity+1 – e.g. “Final (?) Destination – Part 5(??)” pretty much summed up what the year had to offer.  All the special effects, gore, dirty language and sexual in(and out)uendo that they could pack into that one, cannot hide how blatantly wrong such a concept should come across in the prior to previously preliminary first place.

Honourable Mention:   “Cowboys and Aliens”

Sci-fi in the old west.  An innovative combination of old genres.  A sweet Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (“you got chocolate on my peanut butter”) moment for Hollywood among an otherwise tasteless smorgasbord of blah.

Avatar a genre defining 3-D sci-fi of epic proportion.

Runners Up:  Zombieland, a survival guide for the apocalypse (and the  flood of other zombie movies and video-games that were destined to eat our brains over the past year).  RED (Retired & Extremely Dangerous) and From Paris with Love also provided fun for the whole family.

From the archive: Memento, a surprise thriller from some years ago that was perhaps the best (defined as most unique) movie I saw last  year.

“Eagle Eye“

This one was wall to wall action with lots of special effects and more than one or two scenes that were (gasp!) actually shot during the light of day. It is the story of how things can get out of hand in a world that is becoming more and more invasive through the advent of automation and digital surveillance

Runner Up: “Journey to the Centre of the Earth”

Not so much for its story or acting, but more for it’s unveiling of a new 3-D venue that could be the biggest movie innovation since the introduction of sound.

“300”

Runner Up:  “(Live Free or) Die Hard IV

 Honourable Mention:  Casino Royale (James Bond); The Transformers

Best Movie filmed by a camera crew comprised solely of persons with “Attention Deficit Disorder” using only cell phones (or so it seemed): The Bourne Ultimatum.

“Who Killed the Electric Car”

A relatively unadvertised documentary that is “electrifying” and a must see story that will “shock” you (not because you did not already hear enough rumours to relegate the story to, at worst, mass paranoia and, at best, urban myth but) because you have never seen the facts through, any of the fair and balanced media outlets that we have come to rely on for the “reality” that surrounds us.  Who new the cars actually existed, looked like any other car (and not the flimsy solar energy death traps we regularly see in most alternative energy news bites) and were sharing the streets (from 1998 to 2003) with your average gas guzzling variety (until they were repossessed at the end of their leases and summarily crushed by the automakers). This is a must see for everyone, in spite of the fact that I guarantee you will not like what you see.

Runner Up:  “Happy Feet” – an animated family story with a message that both entertains and touches young and old alike – “dare to be different or nothing will change and bad things happen to those who can’t change.”

Honourable Mention:   “Click” – a (reverse engineered, special effects version of the “It’s a Wonderful Life” theme) comedy about a man who uses a universal remote control from God to mute, fast forward and otherwise get what he wants from life without paying much attention to the details; also “Snakes on a Plane” for pure mindless entertainment that appeals to all the senses; and “Lucky Number Slevin” an action mystery with enough character twists to keep everyone guessing.

No clear standouts here.  Star Wars III provided some closure, however it was a little too far to the dark side. Batman Begins provided a different twist on an old tale.  Smith vs. Smith was fun.  War of the Worlds provided all the special effects and a nice tribute to the 100^th anniversary of Jules Verne’s passing, but….

Statistic:  Movie ticket sales worldwide plunged 11 per cent in 2005 despite the fact that studios released 527 films in 2005 versus 507 in 2004.