Top 5 Favorite Movies (2012 List)

Here's my top 5 favorite movies list. I change my mind constantly, so next year I'll probably do a new list.

5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

It's got a great story, great characters, great action sequences, the soundtrack is great, it's all around just GREAT.

4. Gojira (1954)

I've already talked about this film. See my review here.

3. Batman (1989)

This is what Batman should be. He's dark yet heroic, Joker is totally crazy, the Batmobile design is great, and the actors are just phenomenal! It's got atmosphere, and probably the best superhero movie soundtrack ever. It's a really great film.

2. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

What sets this film apart from other slasher movies like Friday the 13th, is that it's pretty original, and it actually has likable characters. It also has atmosphere, a nice soundtrack, Freddy Krueger is one of my favorite monsters ever, and it has great actors too, like Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp, plus this was also Johnny Depps first movie.

1. Mothra VS Godzilla (1964)

It has everything a Godzilla movie needs: Destruction, a good fight, a bit of goofiness, nice characters, the whole shebang. I guess King Kong VS Godzilla also has those qualities, but I consider this my first Godzilla movie, so it has some sentimental value too.

The Wolfman (2010) Review

*******************************************SPOILER ALERT!**********************************************

  I am a big fan of the original 1941 Wolf Man movie. He's my favorite Universal monster, so I got interested in seeing the remake from 2010. As far as remakes go, it's not totally horrible. I've definitely seen worse.
  Plot goes like this, Lawrence Talbot is visiting his father and gets bit by a werewolf, he kills a bunch of people and goes to an asylum, he finds out his father is also a werewolf, he kills some more people, he fights his dad and kills him, and then gets killed himself.
  It starts out pretty good, it feels like a Wolfman movie, but they change the storyline a bit. In the original Larry is testing a telescope and spots a girl, he goes to her shop to talk to her and buys a special cane with a silver wolf head on it. He takes her and her friend to get their fortune told by some gypsies, and they get attacked by a werewolf. He kills the werewolf with the silver cane after getting bit, and that's how he gets the curse. In this he meets an old man on a train who gives him the cane, and then it doesn't appear again until the very end. It doesn't really have much to do with the story, I think it's really just there because they wanted to pay homage to the original movie more.
  He does meet a girl, but she doesn't have a very big effect on the plot, unlike the original where the girl is a lot more important and indirectly caused him to be bitten by the wolf.
  Kinda like Tim Burton's Sleepy Hallow, they try to make the main character more interesting by giving him more background story. And like Sleepy Hallow, it was unnecessary, and didn't make me like the character any more. If they wanted to make him more likable, they needed to try to replicate what Lon Chaney Junior did. His acting was just much more dramatic, and I liked the character more. But in this Benicio Del Toro was just kinda blah through the whole movie, and I really didn't care about him much.
  There's a lot of boring parts, and a lot of scenes that try to make you jump, but they don't really work too well.
  The end was cool when both him and his father were werewolves fighting each other. I always wanted to see two werewolves fight. And then when there was an angry mob with a bunch of torches going after the monster. That's when it started to feel more like a Universal monster movie.
  At the end he catches his girlfriend and hesitates killing her. I didn't really like that too much. He's not supposed to have feelings for her when he's a wolf, all he wants to do is kill, or at least that's the way it should be.
  So anyway, she ends up killing him with a silver bullet, he turns into a human and they have an emotional moment together, and that's really it. Of course it's going to have flaws, and it's not going to be as good as the original, but as far as remakes go it's not too bad. At least it doesn't demolish the Wolfman's good name like some other remakes have done to other characters. And I'm glad it only uses CGI when it really needs to. If you are a fan of Universal Monsters and the Wolfman, go ahead and check it out. Just remember it's not going to be that great.

My Rating: 6/10

Gojira(1954) Review

GOJIRA(1954)
  Gojira, aka Godzilla, is the first a a long line of giant monster movies by Toho
Co. Ltd in Japan. In a nutshell, the film's about a prehistory creature who is unleashed upon the world by an atomic explosion, and attacks Japan. It was created as a metaphor for the dangers of nuclear weapons, and is much darker and more serious than later movies in the series. 
  The special effects are nothing compared to today's standards, but I still appreciate all the work that went into the miniature sets and all that the suit actor had to go through. Did you know that the Godzilla suit was originally over 200 pounds? The actor, Haruo Nakajima, passed out from the heat every now and then.
  The music by Akira Ifikube, is magnificent. One of the greatest soundtracks of all time. 
  If you don't have the patience for slow movies it might not be for you, otherwise it's highly recommended. Also if you don't like reading subtitles, than you might want to watch Godzilla, King of the Monsters! instead. It's more or less the same movie, just with scenes of an American guy added in. I personally think the Japanese version is better, but if you don't like reading subtitles than you might like that version more.


My Rating: 8.5/10