I will mark The Painted Veil as the best movie I may have *never* seen. A friend and I talked about how much we each love (500 Days) of Summer, and she said I needed to see The Painted Veil, her second favorite movie. She and I have very similar tastes in pop culture, so I told her I would give it a chance. I remember seeing the preview back in 2006 and thinking it was just another typical romantic period piece that I would probably find boring. I was more than pleasantly surprised. This movie was incredible, and I’m so grateful my friend and I had the conversation we had, and she encouraged me to see it.
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Elysium (2013)
The best summer movie of 2013? I’m divided between World War Z and Elysium. Let me preface this by saying I have seen fewer movies in the theater this summer than in any summer in recent memory, but that was by choice, not the options for movies. I’ve been concentrating on other writing avenues and have taken a break from my blog. I’ve seen a few movies this summer that I probably will not review, but I’m committed to reviewing movies that will end up in my end-of-year top 10. Even with all the amazing movies this fall, I don’t see a scenario where Elysium or World War Z finish outside the top 10. I’ll venture to say they will finish in the top five.
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Mud (2013)
Back in 1996, adaptations from John Grisham novels were the big thing. Tom Cruise starred in The Firm. Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts starred in The Pelican Brief. Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones starred in The Client. All were critically acclaimed and performed exceptionally well at the box office. A Time To Kill was Grisham’s first novel and the next the fourth to be adapted for film. Arguably, it is Grisham’s best novel, and the buzz surrounding the film was tremendous. A host of Hollywood A-listers wanted the lead role of Jack Brigance. The question was who would get the lead in the movie that also starred Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kevin Spacey. There was a lot of head-shaking when the lead part went to a little-known actor named Matthew McConaughey (Frailty, Amistad). McConaughey nailed the role, and the movie was critically acclaimed and earned over $100 million domestically. The film put McConaughey on the map, and many considered the part of Jack Brigance the role he was born to play.
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Iron Man 3 (2013)
So continues other comic book franchise on the big screen. The norm these days is if a movie can make $150 million domestically, sequel after sequel will continue to be made. I understand that. It makes sense. However, it doesn’t mean I have to continue supporting the franchise even if I consider the first movie in the series awesome. I usually give the series the benefit of the doubt if I like the first one. While I loved Iron Man, Iron Man 2 could have been better. There wasn’t the same kind of wow factor. It was still an ok superhero movie, but I never felt like what I watched was anything special. Such is the case with Iron Man 3. It is a very entertaining movie, but as will be the case with the almost certain Iron Man 4, Iron Man 5, etc., that unique originality feature that comes with every first movie in a series will be eliminated. So while I appreciate that attempts to make Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, etc., entertaining movies, I won’t have much feeling other than been there/done that. I expect I will like each new film in the series a little less than the preview. That has certainly been the case thus far.
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Hall Pass (2011)
2011 was a great year for comedies. You had Bridesmaids and Crazy, Stupid, Love., both of which finished in my Top for the year. You also had Horrible Bosses and The Hangover Part II, each of which finished just outside my Top 10. Hall Pass is the fourth great comedy for that year and a movie that will cause me to re-evaluate my list shortly. Right now, I’m uncertain whether this finishes just outside the Top 10 of 2011 or if it finishes ahead of Bridesmaids (my current #3). Wherever it falls, nothing will change the fact that it is a hilarious movie. It’s also a movie I almost did not watch because I didn’t like the concept. I like the raunchy humor movie, but the idea of two wives giving their husbands a week-long hall pass where they could do what they wanted to whoever they wanted didn’t appeal to what I valued in a movie. With that said, I’m glad I gave the movie a chance because it was also a really good movie in addition to being an absolute comic gem.
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