2012: The Year in Reviews (Part VIII: Observations & Wrap-Up)
So I’ve gone over everything, now let’s tally shit up.
Here are all my articles of all the films that came out in 2012, whether I’ve seen them or not. For reference.
This article is basically gonna be me mediating between what I thought I’d think about the films and what I did think about the films. Compiling all my ratings, January and now, and seeing how close I ended up being. And I can see which films surprised me for the better and for the worse, and see which films I was way too overeager on.
At the bottom of all the films in the articles, I did the “How close was I?” section, which is basically where most of this article is coming from. This list really has no importance except to me. But whatever. It’s my blog. So let’s see how close I was/wasn’t: (more…)
2012: The Year in Reviews (Part VII: Films That Didn’t Get Released)
I went over all the films that did come out in 2012 (for the most part. Anything I missed in those articles isn’t something that will be missed), now let’s talk about all the films that didn’t come out in 2012.
I’m talking specifically of all the films that I previewed back in January, in my series of Film Release Calendar previews of 2012 films. When you preview as many films as I do, there are bound to be a bunch of ones that don’t end up coming out. Plus, just going through the year on its own, there’s stuff that gets pushed for whatever reason. The Great Gatsby, World War Z, Gangster Squad, 47 Ronin – stuff gets pushed. It happens.
So, I’m taking a moment to go over all the ones that didn’t come out. I’ll say when it was scheduled for 2012 (if it was at all), when it’s scheduled to come out in 2013 (if it is at all), what I said about it when I previewed it back in January, and some final thoughts on it before I move on.
Let’s finish up 2012, shall we? (more…)
2012: The Year in Reviews (Part VI: November & December)
Today, we finish the year with the films of November and December.
To run down the intro quickly — every January I go over all the movies that are scheduled to come out that year (as they are scheduled — or not — at the time). I try to get as much in as I can. I preview the films and try to guess what I’m going to think of them when I do see them. (I don’t look at what I write after I write it. Until I do these articles, of course.) Then, over the course of the year, in April, in August, and in December (which will go up later today), I post reviews of all the films I saw by that point in the year.
Then, what I do is, at the end of the year, to recap, I take every film that came out that year, post what I wrote about them in January (if anything), post what I did think about them when I saw them (if I saw them), and then post what I think about them now, having had some time to think about them (either a few days or a few months, depending). And I also post all the films that didn’t come out that year (pretty much all of which I’ll have previewed), so that way no film goes unaccounted for. (No Film Left Behind.)
I’m doing this two months at a time, and in the final article, I’ll go over how I did throughout the year — which films I guessed correctly, which films surprised me for the better and which films surprised me for the worse. All of this leading into my two favorite articles of the year, the Unforgivables list and the Top Ten list.
Here’s November and December: (more…)
2012: The Year in Reviews (Part V: September & October)
Today, we recap all the films of September and October.
To run down the intro quickly — every January I go over all the movies that are scheduled to come out that year (as they are scheduled — or not — at the time). I try to get as much in as I can. I preview the films and try to guess what I’m going to think of them when I do see them. (I don’t look at what I write after I write it. Until I do these articles, of course.) Then, over the course of the year, in April, in August, and in December (which will go up later today), I post reviews of all the films I saw by that point in the year.
Then, what I do is, at the end of the year, to recap, I take every film that came out that year, post what I wrote about them in January (if anything), post what I did think about them when I saw them (if I saw them), and then post what I think about them now, having had some time to think about them (either a few days or a few months, depending). And I also post all the films that didn’t come out that year (pretty much all of which I’ll have previewed), so that way no film goes unaccounted for. (No Film Left Behind.)
I’m doing this two months at a time, and in the final article, I’ll go over how I did throughout the year — which films I guessed correctly, which films surprised me for the better and which films surprised me for the worse. All of this leading into my two favorite articles of the year, the Unforgivables list and the Top Ten list.
Here’s September and October: (more…)
2012: The Year in Reviews (Part IV: July & August)
Today, we recap all the films of July and August.
To run down the intro quickly — every January I go over all the movies that are scheduled to come out that year (as they are scheduled — or not — at the time). I try to get as much in as I can. I preview the films and try to guess what I’m going to think of them when I do see them. (I don’t look at what I write after I write it. Until I do these articles, of course.) Then, over the course of the year, in April, in August, and in December (which will go up later today), I post reviews of all the films I saw by that point in the year.
Then, what I do is, at the end of the year, to recap, I take every film that came out that year, post what I wrote about them in January (if anything), post what I did think about them when I saw them (if I saw them), and then post what I think about them now, having had some time to think about them (either a few days or a few months, depending). And I also post all the films that didn’t come out that year (pretty much all of which I’ll have previewed), so that way no film goes unaccounted for. (No Film Left Behind.)
I’m doing this two months at a time, and in the final article, I’ll go over how I did throughout the year — which films I guessed correctly, which films surprised me for the better and which films surprised me for the worse. All of this leading into my two favorite articles of the year, the Unforgivables list and the Top Ten list.
Here’s July and August: (more…)
2012: The Year in Reviews (Part III: May & June)
Today, we recap all the films of May and June.
To run down the intro quickly — every January I go over all the movies that are scheduled to come out that year (as they are scheduled — or not — at the time). I try to get as much in as I can. I preview the films and try to guess what I’m going to think of them when I do see them. (I don’t look at what I write after I write it. Until I do these articles, of course.) Then, over the course of the year, in April, in August, and in December (which will go up later today), I post reviews of all the films I saw by that point in the year.
Then, what I do is, at the end of the year, to recap, I take every film that came out that year, post what I wrote about them in January (if anything), post what I did think about them when I saw them (if I saw them), and then post what I think about them now, having had some time to think about them (either a few days or a few months, depending). And I also post all the films that didn’t come out that year (pretty much all of which I’ll have previewed), so that way no film goes unaccounted for. (No Film Left Behind.)
I’m doing this two months at a time, and in the final article, I’ll go over how I did throughout the year — which films I guessed correctly, which films surprised me for the better and which films surprised me for the worse. All of this leading into my two favorite articles of the year, the Unforgivables list and the Top Ten list.
Today is May and June: (more…)
2012: The Year in Reviews (Part II: March & April)
Today, we recap all the films of March and April.
To run down the intro quickly — every January I go over all the movies that are scheduled to come out that year (as they are scheduled — or not — at the time). I try to get as much in as I can. I preview the films and try to guess what I’m going to think of them when I do see them. (I don’t look at what I write after I write it. Until I do these articles, of course.) Then, over the course of the year, in April, in August, and in December (which will go up later today), I post reviews of all the films I saw by that point in the year.
Then, what I do is, at the end of the year, to recap, I take every film that came out that year, post what I wrote about them in January (if anything), post what I did think about them when I saw them (if I saw them), and then post what I think about them now, having had some time to think about them (either a few days or a few months, depending). And I also post all the films that didn’t come out that year (pretty much all of which I’ll have previewed), so that way no film goes unaccounted for. (No Film Left Behind.)
I’m doing this two months at a time, and in the final article, I’ll go over how I did throughout the year — which films I guessed correctly, which films surprised me for the better and which films surprised me for the worse. All of this leading into my two favorite articles of the year, the Unforgivables list and the Top Ten list.
So let’s get to March and April: (more…)
2012: The Year in Reviews (Part I: January & February)
Another year, another set of movies to go over.
Every January, I go over all the movies that are going to come out that year, as they are scheduled at the time. Or not. I’m usually thorough enough to get 90% of the stuff that’s coming out. Usually the only stuff I miss are those independent movies I know nothing about that pop up after hitting all the early film festivals, like Sundance and Cannes and etc. Or ones that just pop up out of nowhere without that. And that’s usually countered by me previewing certain films that just don’t come out by the end of the year or ones that I just don’t really care about that I preview and then never see. Point is — most of what comes out, I’m ready for.
Then, over the course of the year, I keep track of every movie I saw from that year. Every third of the year, I post reviews of all the films I saw, once in April, once in August, and once in December. (The December article will go up tomorrow night. Don’t worry, it won’t factor into today’s article at all, I don’t believe.)
I post links to all those articles in case you don’t believe what I write in these ones and want to double-check me. Don’t worry, you don’t need to have read them at all. Because what these articles are is me excerpting what I wrote about the films in January (which is pretty much what I expected I’d think about them when I saw them, which I do not look at after I write it), excerpting the reviews I wrote as I saw the films, and mediating the two. I post the two sets of comments, then I write my final thoughts on the film, having had time to digest my feelings about them, either over a couple of days or 11 months, depending. Then I’ll decide how close I felt I was in guessing what my opinion of the film was going to be. This is mostly so I can see how accurate I was overall and also so I can get a good handle on which films surprised me for the better or for the worse.
I’ll go over the films two months at a time, and even post an extra article of the films I previewed that didn’t come out at all, and discuss those. And by the end of that, I’ll post my stats for the year, all as preparation for the big end of the year lists — my Unforgivables list and my Top Ten list. (more…)
The Movie Year in Review (The Final Third)
Back in April, I posted mini-reviews of all the 2011 films I’d seen up to that point. You can read that here. In August, I posted the second part. You can read that here. This is the third part. For reminder purposes…
I try to see everything that comes out. I believe that if you love movies, you should be open to seeing anything and believe you can get something out of any movie. You never know when a terrible movie will have something to teach you (however minor), even if it’s what not to do. Also, since I have this wonderful narcissism enabler, why wouldn’t I post what I thought of all the films I saw for people to read?
Not to mention, in like a week, I’m going to post the official Year in Review articles, where I go over everything. Back in January, I previewed what I thought I’d think about all the movies, as they were scheduled at that time. I’ll compare what I thought I’d think with what I actually thought, as well as what films changed dates, weren’t released at all, and what have you. These reviews are easy reference for that. I just posted them throughout the year because it was more topical to post them around when the films were released. (more…)
Mike’s Movie Reviews: Crazy, Stupid, Love.
I’ve tried to avoid these as much as possible, just because, the purpose of the blog at this stage is the Oscar Quest. I’d love nothing more than to write reviews for things, but for now, I really need to get this Quest out of the way as soon as possible. Trust me, though, once that’s done, more of these will happen. The more practical reason I avoid these is because — I’ve kind of become infamous among my friends for them.
One day last summer (almost exactly a year ago), I watched The Switch. It was after midnight, and I put it on as one of those throwaway movies before bed. One of those ones that don’t require you to think. New releases are perfect for that. And, instead of the movie getting me ready to sleep, as was the plan, it made me angry. Very angry. And, as I watched it I wrote a rant about the film that was — pretty memorable. It became the basis for my Unforgivables list. But because of that list, I’ve become hesitant whenever I wanted to write up my thoughts for a film (at least, anything more than a paragraph), just because, what if it turns into something like that Switch rant? I figure, just wait, and do it in January for the Unforgivables list. But, sometimes anger finds a way. (Dr. Malcolm taught me that.)
I don’t stop writing down my thoughts on films when they come to me (that would be a waste of material), so what I do is write them down to my friends in Facebook messages, so that way I can limit the audience to a handful of people who would enjoy it most, and then in a few months, throw it up on here, because then it’s just something funny I did once that more people should see. Here, though, my rant was a little on the long side. (10 pages in Word!). It would have taken 5 Facebook messages to post. And I have the habit of being a bit verbose (in case this intro wasn’t enough of a hint), so I try not to write things that are overly long, so as to not piss off the people in that thread who already feel overwhelmed by my constant honey badgering. Which means this had to be posted here. Because I can’t sit on this for another four months. Not gonna happen. So, enjoy my complete bashing of review of Crazy, Stupid, Love., a crazy, stupid, movie.: (more…)
Tron: Legacy, and What Is Wrong with Movies Today (Part 3)
Hey, Tron is back. I decided to take more than those couple of days off on this. Just because, like all things, once I’m done with them, I cease to be interested in them. I move onto the next thing. Sure, I’ll go back and revisit thing again and be like, “Ah, this is why I like this,” but, once I’m finished with something — especially something I’ve written — I’m no longer interested in it. Which, poses a problem when it’s something you’re technically not finished with.
I wrote those first two — which, here’s Part I and here’s Part II, just so you’re not confused — and just lost interest in it. I should have kept going continuously, perhaps this entry would have been more interesting. But, this will be like the Godfather III of the bunch. But, when it’s done, we’re done. So, you got that going for you.
It took a few days to get back up to speed on this. At first I didn’t want to continue, but, I figured kind of had to. I had that feeling of being out on the shaky drawbridge without a parachute (hear that, Sam? Without a parachute), of, “Am I doing the right thing?” Then I thought, “Fuck it.” As I often do. So we’re gonna continue to the bitter end. Which is what I say every time I finish a Manhattan.
There are bitters in a Manhattan. Just checking.
When we last left Tron: Legacy (not Tron. Still checking.), we hadn’t even gotten onto the Grid just yet. Sam had just pulled his whole Encom stunt and had gotten “arrested.” This “arrest” lasts for about — oh, I don’t know, how many frames does it take to transition from one scene to the next? That many. (more…)
Tron: Legacy, and What Is Wrong with Movies Today (Part 2)
Today’s the day we actually start the analysis on Tron. Tron: Legacy. Not just Tron. That would be weird, analyzing a film from almost thirty years ago. That would be like analyzing a film from the 40s or something. Fucked up, right?
Anyway, I’ll be analyzing Tron: Legacy today. I was going to italicize Legacy to show that it was to be inflected, but, it was already italicized. So I’m just telling you after the fact, because then when you read it later you’d know the correct way to say it. Those last two had no meaning whatsoever. I just felt I got robbed out of using italics when I wanted to use it. Then I used it the second time to show you what it was supposed to look like even though it wasn’t supposed to have the inflection on it. I’m all about the equilibrium.
Yesterday was like that first day of classes where the professor is like, “Well, we can’t really do anything, so let’s just state core concepts and go over the syllabus. Then we’ll start the work next time.” It’s my favorite class of all (next to the last one). I think I did a good job getting the points across (hopefully I repeated myself just enough to make you feel like I was beating you over the head with my points. Because that’s what it feels like to me when I watch these films). Now, let’s get into the film itself.
Tron: Legacy, and What Is Wrong with Movies Today (Part 1)
Notice the comma. This is not an attack on Tron, but rather a review of it, and an analysis of what is wrong with movies today. I’m merely using the film as a jumping-off point.
I could never write an article like this about a movie I didn’t enjoy. Because just simply berating a piece of shit movie is fun, but it doesn’t lend itself to heavy analysis. Not that what I’m doing is either analysis or heavy. Though I guess by definition this actually is analysis. Suck it, Freud. (more…)
Mike’s Movie Reviews: Retro Edition
A long time ago, back when I was a fledgling writer, that wasn’t yesterday, I would write things that I thought were funny all the time. Of course, some of them were, I’m sure, but a lot of it was just me constantly writing, writing, writing. And back in the heyday of Facebook (remember those days?), they had a bunch of applications and such that you could play games, or whatever they did. And one of them was a Movies application. I forget the name of it. But on it you could take stupid quizzes and stuff, rate movies, judge your tastes against your friends’. Things like that. At this point, I was pretty pretentious about my film tastes. It was my first year away from home, and I was used to people who watched the shittiest dribble possible and loved it. And I, having seen like thirty more good films than they did, felt I was better than them. Naturally, those movies I saw were the same thirty films that anyone getting into film sees and loves when they’re first starting out. But, the point there is, because I had that chip on my shoulder, it allowed me to start berating other films. And we all know how that turns out.
In fact, for those who enjoy my beratement of movies — good movies, bad movies, whatever. I take humor where I can get it — these reviews are essentially an earlier version of what I do now. Any kind of wordplay or minor flaw in logic that I can find is blown up, exaggerated and made fun of. That’s just how I am. I find it fun. I don’t care if you do. (more…)
