2013: Year In Review + Recommendations

Hey movie fans! First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their support, for following my blog, and for continuing to visit my little corner of the web. It's a pleasure to share with you what I watch every week and what I think you'll like as much as I did.

Another year has come on gone and The Ultimate Movie Review has flourished! People tell me all the time that it's so much easier to come here and add the stuff I recommend, rather than scrolling through menus, and that makes me very happy! It's the whole reason I run this blog!

As for statistic junkies...

This year we managed to bring you 155 reviews and had 15,521 visitors!

...and now what you've all been asking for, my year end recommendations!

Favorite Films of 2013:

It's not easy to get a 5 star rating from me. A film has to be very special and really make an impact and for me, these were the best films I saw all year!

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Marvel's The Avengers

Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone

Bones (2010)

Sleepers

Jumper

Captain America

Repeaters

The Thirteenth Floor

A Bronx Tale

Favorite TV Shows of 2013:

I love TV also and as with movies, these aren't all FROM 2013, but these are the shows I most enjoyed IN 2013.

The Killing

Bates Motel

Under The Dome

The Following  

 Haven

The Chicago Code

Breaking Bad

Fringe

 Everwood

Kyle XY

Favorite Books of 2013:

While I don't review books, I am an avid reader of mostly Science Fiction (big surprise!), and these were the few books that I really feel anyone will like. Of course there's a ton of weird Science Fiction stuff I could recommend, but not everyone will like it. These on the other hand have something for everyone!

Variant by Robison Wells 

The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore (Part of the I Am Number Four Series)

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Jericho: Season 3 (Yes! THAT Jericho is being continued in graphic novels)

Masterpieces of Science Fiction by Orson Scott Card

That's all for now, I want to wish every one reading this a happy and healthy new year and I look forward to delivering more reviews and hearing more of what you have to say in 2014!

Haven

Starring: Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant, Eric Balfour, Richard Donat, & John Dunsworth

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

In 2010, the Syfy channel had an interesting idea, to take one of Stephen King's lesser known works, a rare dramatic mystery, The Colorado Kid, and turn it into a Science Fiction story. A lot of Syfy's original shows are way out there, but Haven is more grounded and has quickly amassed a cult following. While there are similarities to the book and other King works are referenced, the show is surprisingly original.

Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) is an FBI agent, who gets a tip that one of her fugitives has been spotted in the small town of Haven Maine. Parker is a terrific agent, because she knows nothing of who she is or where she came from. This beautiful, but introverted girl has put everything into her work and it has become her whole life. Once she gets to Haven, she realizes that something about this town isn't quite right, but she has no idea what she's in store for.

During her investigation, Parker meets two brothers who have run the towns newspaper for 40 years. These brother show Parker some old stories from a unsolved case 25 years earlier, the murder of the Colorado Kid. Why would Audry care about it you ask, well there is a photo in the paper, showing a woman at the crime scene who could pass for her twin. 

With the chance to discover who she is and where she came from Parker takes a leave of absence from the FBI and joins the Haven P.D. only to discover that the town and it's people are afflicted with something known as the troubles. These troubled people, for some unknown reason, have ailments that allow them to do the seemingly impossible, such as shape-shifting, destruction with a thought, murder by shadow, the ability to star fires, even an artist who control things simply by drawing them. 

Parker is paired with the towns only Detective, Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant) who himself is a troubled person. His affliction is that he can't feel anything, an adaptation of a real disease in which people can't feel pain, Wuornos can't feel a thing. Together Parker and Wuornos investigate these troubles, trying to find out what's causing them, while at the same time, Audry tries to solve the Colorado Kid case in the hopes that she might one day find out who she is and where she comes from.

This show is fantastic and it's not just about the Science Fiction mystery that I love so much. The troubles are a big part of it, but there is also a great mystery to the whole thing, that is really left to the audience to figure out along with Audrey. The show is further boosted by the small town element, as Haven is one of these quaint towns, where everyone knows everyone else. It makes for some fabulous recurring guests, side stories, and the occasional hilarious moment.

Emily Rose is out of this world! She has always had bit parts in TV series here and there, but she's never been a star before, but when it comes to Haven she is truly the perfect one to play Audrey Parker. She brings such a different personality to a sci-fi/cop show and the way the mystery and troubles follow her really draws the audience in.

Lucas Bryant is just as interesting as we try to figure out what draws this man into this work. Sure he's trouble, but his lack of feeling has left him emotionless. At times it seems like he's doing a job he doesn't want to do, but for some reason has to.

The only other regular cast member is Eric Balfour who at the ripe age of 37 is a Science Fiction veteran. Balfour has done a ton of Sci-Fi, but finds himself in a different role in Haven. Balfour plays Duke Crocker, a petty criminal and smuggler, with a terrific sense of humor, who always seems to get caught up in these troubles cases.

Haven is amazing, it's just one of these addictive shows that draws you in right from the very first episode. The writing makes you feel like you're riding along in your hometown, trying to figure out the mystery along side the two detectives. Every episode is better than the one before it and it's just one of those shows you never want to stop watching. It is one of the best shows I have seen in ages and I really can't recommend it enough!

Flypaper (2011)

Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Judd, & Matt Ryan

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

This is one of the strangest films I have ever seen and I really liked it. When Flypaper first started, it was absolutely ridiculous, to a point where I almost turned it off. If it wasn't for a huge cast I really like, I would have. The story starts off simple enough, a man is making a deposit at a bank and hitting on the pretty young teller, when armed men attempt a robbery, which is halted by another crew robbing the same bank at the same time. Suddenly, a customer is murdered by a mysterious third party and chaos ensues. From there the film is broken into three parts, including the hostages trying to figure out what's going on, the trained crew trying to break into the vault, and the redneck crew trying to get into the ATM's with massive amounts of plastic explosives. The story is crazy and hard to follow at first, but then it actually becomes pretty funny. Tripp (Patrick Dempsey) is convinced that something strange is going on and decides to investigate. Dempsey's OCD personality and crazy antics are funny, but the way the rest of the cast responds to him is what's really funny. As for the two crews they each have problems of their own, which also leads to some funny moments. The rest of the cast is full of stars, something you wouldn't expect in a film like this. Ashley Judd, Octavia Spencer, Jeffery Tambor, John Ventamiglia, and Mekhi Phiffer all have bit parts that in the end turn out to be important to the story, because as it turns out, Tripp is right, there is something really fucked up going on. The weirdness and hilarity build to an Ocean's Elevenesq ending that was a pretty surprising twist. Right from the beginning, Flypaper seemed like an absolute bomb, but I stuck with it and it resulted in a ton of laughs, a somewhat interesting mystery, and an unexpected ending that will leave you speechless.

The Ryan White Story

Starring: Lukas Haas, Judith Light, George C. Scott, & Ryan White

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Ryan White became the face of AIDS in 1985. He was a 13 year old boy who was denied the right to go to school, because he had AIDS. Back then, people didn't know that AIDS was relatively hard to contract and that you couldn't get it from casual contact. When this young High School boy tried to attend school, in Kokomo Indiana, the towns people fought back. The hatred and torture this family had to go through was utterly shocking and eerily similar to the plight of the first African American students, who tried to attend all white schools. Lukas Haas stars as White in this 1989 film. Even 5 years later, there was still a major stigma attached to AIDS and it must have been an extremely difficult role to play. Judith Light, of Who's The Boss Fame, plays his mother. As is the case with most of these made for TV films, she was pretty good, but gave a performance that was way over the top. Being made for TV, especially in the 80s, films had to be extremely toned down. They would make up for what they couldn't show, by really playing on your emotions and really pushing these over the top performances, to the point where they become almost laughable. The cast is rounded out by the legendary George C. Scott who plays White's attorney, a man who took the case for free and gained none of the recognition that he deserved. Finally, White himself makes a cameo as another AIDS patient in the pediatric wing. Today, we don't see many people in the final stages of AIDS, as people with the disease can now live for 20-30 years without complications. To see this young kid with his pale skin, weighing about 100 pounds, featuring lesions on his face, and showing everyone his feeding tube was truly heartbreaking. Sometimes it takes the most unlikely of heroes to open up the minds of the public. Ryan White never made it out of his teenage years, but was still a man of tremendous courage who will be remembered and honored for generations to come.

Last.fm Presents: My Top Artists & Songs of 2013

As many of you already know, I am just as passionate about my music as I am about my movies. To keep track of my music, I use an amazing service called Last.fm

Last.fm uses an app, called the scrobbler, to not only track the artists, songs, and albums you listen to the most, but it also creates your own social media page with your own radio station! If you have a song on your device that is in the last.fm library, when you scrobble it, it gets added to your own radio station. People can then go to your page and listen to the music you listen to! Additionally, they let you know when your artists are playing in your area, when they release new material, and they'll even recommend similar artists you might really like, Last.fm really is a terrific service that is 100% free! You can check out my last.fm page and radio station by clicking the link in the links section.

So, check out my page, listen to my radio station, and create your own Last.fm page with your own radio station for free!

Todd's Top 30 Songs of 2013:

1) Live - I Alone

2) Local H - Bound For The Floor

3) Marvelous 3 - Freak of The Week

4) Buckcherry - Lit Up

5) Stone Temple Pilots - Sour Girl

6) Fuel - Bittersweet

7) Matchbox Twenty - Push

8) Filter - Hey Man, Nice Shot

9) Stone Temple Pilots - Big Bang Baby

10) New Politics - Give Me Hope

11) Live - All Over You

12) Stone Temple Pilots - Interstate Love Song

13) Papa Roach - Last Resort

14) Stone Temple Pilots - Plush

15) New Politics - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

16) Fuel - Shimmer

17) Foo Fighters - All My Life

18) Everclear - I Will Buy You A New Life

19) Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta

20) Live - Lakini's Juice

21) Danko Jones - Dance

22) Royal Republic - Be My Baby

23) Lifehouse - Hanging By A Moment

24) Local H - Back In The Day

25) Seether - Remedy

Todd's Top 100 Artists of 2013:

TOP 25:

1) Local H

2) Green Day

3) The Offspring

4) Buckcherry

5) Foo Fighters

6) Stone Temple Pilots

7) Sick Puppies

8) Live

9) Papa Roach

10) Nickelback

11) Nirvana

12) Marvelous 3

13) Alice In Chains

14) Everclear

15) Danko Jones

16) Silverchair

17) Oasis

18) Seether

19) New Politics

20) Fuel

21) Sugarcult

22) Shinedown

23) Hoobastank

24) Eve 6

25) Matchbox Twenty

TOP 50:

26) Collective Soul 27) Fountains of Wayne 28) Weezer 29) Royal Republic 30) Goo Goo Dolls 31) Pearl Jam 32) Puddle of Mudd 33) Lit 34) Our Lady Peace 35) Creed 36) AC/DC 37) The Living End 38) Unwritten Law 39) Lifehouse 40) Rob Zombie 41) Marilyn Manson 42) The Pink Spiders 43) Anti-Flag 44) Oleander 45) Maroon 5 46) American Hi-Fi 47) Bon Jovi 48) The Smashing Pumpkins 49) Goldfinger 50) Red Hot Chili Peppers

TOP 100:

51) Filter 52) The Exies 53) Cage The Elephant 54) Bush 55) Stroke 9 56) Billy Talent 57) MxPx 58) Tom Petty 59) Lansdowne 60) GOB 61) The Red Lights 62) Third Eye Blind 63) Bowling For Soup 64) Finger Eleven 65) Aerosmith 66) Dishwalla 67) My Chemical Romance 68) Zebrahead 69) Incubus 70) Blink-182 71) Three Days Grace 72) Harvey Danger 73) Sound of Urchin 74) Josh Todd 75) Sugar Ray 76) Rage Against The Machine 77) Black Stone Cherry 78) Godsmack 79) Vains of Jenna 80) Saliva 81) The Hydrants 82) Sum 41 83) Subline 84) Yellowcard 85) Linkin Park 86) Ultimate Fakebook 87) Drive A 88) Social Distortion 89) SR-71 90) 311 91) Velvet Revolver 92) All Time Low 93) Fall Out Boy 94) The Bankok Five 95) New Medicine 96) Soul Asylum 97) Bad Religion 98) Vertical Horizon 99) Nine Days 100) Arctic Monkeys

World War Z

Starring: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, & Daniella Kertesz

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

When the first World War Z book was published it took young readers by storm and climbed to the top of the New York Times Best Sellers list. It was destine to become a movie, especially now, with the popularity of zombies, but ultimately, the highly anticipated film fails to deliver anything different. U.N. Employee, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), is out with his family when a recently discovered virus hits the United States and all hell breaks loose. The first 45 minutes of this film were literally like the pilot of The Walking Dead. No one knows what's going on, people are panicking, it was all very predictable. The film does go into a different direction after that, but how many different ways of doing a zombie film are there? Lane starts traveling the world seeking a cure for the disease, while at the same time trying to avoid being attacked. The unfortunate fact is that no matter how good the acting or the writing, there is very little you can actually do with a zombie film. The zombies and the circumstances behind the outbreak are always a little different, but ultimately it becomes about survival or the race to find a cure. Brad Pitt is terrific, and as I have been saying for year, it doesn't matter how good looking the guy is, he belongs in action films! This is the genre where he excels and even though World War Z was painfully predictable, Pitt makes it worth watching. He is the focus of the story and it takes a lot of quick thinking and tremendous stunts to keep him alive. For me that was the best part of the film. There was a lot of hype behind World War Z and it was a very intense film, but like I said, there is very little you can do with an end of the world/zombie film that hasn't been done over and over again. While some what entertaining, World War Z is ultimately just another copy cat.

Oblivion (2013)

Starring: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, & Melissa Leo

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

When Tron 2 Screenwriter, Joseph Kosinski, started shopping for a Publisher for his graphic novel, Oblivion, they told him it was so good that he should bring it right to the big screen. Before you know it, some big names signed out and the film was released as a big budget blockbuster. There are a ton of cool gadgets in a story about a futuristic world, that has been destroyed by war. What initially turned me on to this film was the trailer, which show you the technology, but tell you almost nothing about the story. The films description is the same way, it tells you very little and really gets your curiosity going. The story starts by telling us what has become of the world, 65 years in the future. The planet has been destroyed by war and the humans have left the planet for one of Saturn's moons. All that's left is a bunch of technology meant to harvest Earth's resources for the people on Titan. The remaining rebels mean to sabotage this technology and it's the job of Jack and Vicka to repair and protect the technology from the last remaining terrorists. Tom Cruise stars and by now we all know how I feel about Tom Cruise. Fortunatly for Mr. Kosinski, this was a film that Cruise was really into and he does give one of his strongest performance since Minority Report. Cruise is terrific and is the main reason this film works in the beginning. With the extensive back story, it takes a while for anything substantive to happen and that's where Cruise and the unique technology come into play. They carry the film from the shocking beginning into the heart of the story. Once this film gets going it is one of the best pure Science Fiction films to come along in years. To his credit, even though the film is weird and starts out slow, Kosinski wouldn't let Hollywood touch it. The result is an old school type of Science Fiction film, done with modern technology. The geeks will love this movie, but there is also enough of a side stories and some amazing special effects that will help gain the majority of audiences. Oblivion was a terrific ride and something you don't see everyday, I really can't recommend it enough.

Evidence (2013)

Starring: Torrey DeVitto, Caitlin Stasey, & Nolan Funk

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

In the desert of Nevada, police uncover one of the most brutal crime scenes they've ever seen. There are a ton of bodies that are so badly mutilated, that they can't even tell if their victims are male or female. There is also an overwhelming lack of evidence, that is except for one small mini-cam found amongst the ruble. Evidence was one of those films that wasn't great, but wasn't terrible either. There is enough going on that you will keep watching it and you will be glad you did! Watching as many movies as I do, I tend to figure things out pretty quickly, and I was sure I had this film figured out early on. As I got to the end of the film, I was sure I knew what happened, and I was somewhat disappointed at the predictable story. Then, the writers throw a huge twist into the plot that you will never see coming and it really makes the whole film. Evidence quickly becomes one of those films that will keep you thinking about it long after the credits role, and too me, that is the best kind of movie. No one of name really stars in this film and there really aren't any stand out performances, it's just one of those movies that stands on a strong story. I usually hate these cheaply made, found footage films. The plots are lazy and they rely on cheap scares and effects to make people jump, but Evidence wasn't like that. The film starts off really slowly, but gets better and better leading up to an ending that no one will ever see coming. If you like a good mystery with that amazing twist in the end, Evidence will delivery exactly what you're looking for.

Bully (2011)

Starring: Alex Libby, Kelby Johnson, & Ja'Meya Jackson

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Today kids are killing themselves and each other at an alarming rate. The one thing all these cases seem to have in common is bullying. There was bullying when I was a kid, but 3 PM meant the end of the trouble. We had the rest of the day, the weekend, and the summer to recover. The advent of social media and cell phones has made the respite obsolete, as now, bullies can torture their victims 24/7. Bully is an award winning documentary that looks at the problems of bullying and shows the effects it has on children's lives. What I like about this film is that it showed a whole group of students from different economic, social, and ethnic backgrounds. What I took away is that anyone who is even slightly different in anyway, could be a target. What I didn't like was the solutions the film offers. Their solution is to tell someone and to stand up for kids you see being bullied, but anyone who has been bullied will tell you that those are not good ideas. Often times telling someone will anger the bully and make it worse, and as for standing up for other kids, often times that makes someone who wasn't previous bullied, a target. I think the answer is two-fold, in that first, parents need to tell their kids, from a very earlier age, that being unique, different, and even weird are admirable qualities in a person. I also believe the schools need to be tougher, because honestly, does anyone really think that giving a bully detention, telling them they're not nice, and that their hurting other kids really does anything? I think bullies need a taste of their own medicine, to feel those powerful emotions for even for just one day. You can talk until you're blue in the face, but you don't really know what something is like until you've experienced it for yourself.

Identity Thief

Starring: Jason Bateman & Melissa McCarthy

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Melissa McCarthy is one of the funniest females in Hollywood. After wasting her talent for 7 seasons on Gilmore Girls, she finally got her big break and hasn't slowed down since. One of her latest films is Identity Thief, which is also Seth Gordon's follow up to the hit comedy, Horrible Bosses. Much like his last film, Identity Thief has a whole bunch of funny scenes and outrageous characters, but fails to deliver a solid story to go with it. Sandy Bigelow Patterson (Jason Bateman) is a man with a girls name, making him the prime target for a female (Melissa McCarthy) who makes a living stealing from everyone else. The laws surrounding identity theft make prosecutions very difficult and it can sometimes take years before everything is straightened out. Patterson, with his new job and home on the line, can't wait for that and decides to confront his assailant. As I said earlier there are some real funny moments in this film, but the story is sadly extremely predictable. Identity Theft is something that has never really been done in comedy before. With the right story behind it, this really could have been the next Hangover, but sadly, the Hangover it is not. As usual Bateman and McCarthy are both terrific and to my surprise, had some pretty good chemistry together. Identity Thief is not a movie that sticks with you long after it's over. It is a good way to kill a few hours and good for a few laughs, but not much else.

Daybreakers

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, & Sam Neill

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I hate vampire movies! From Dracula to Twilight I find the whole genre absurd and have never enjoyed a film that has featured vampires, until now. I chose Daybreakers, because it is a new idea in an otherwise stale genre. It's about a modern day utopian society where the bad guys have actually won! Modern society has adapted, from industry and technology to entertainment, to accommodate a society run by vampires. Humans are nearly extinct and the vampires are looking for a blood substitute to sustain their population. On the other side, the small groups of remaining humans think they may have a cure, but need some willing vampires to help them. Even though this film features vampires, it's more of a science fiction film. about two groups trying to deal with the problems of a futuristic society, and it was really well done. Ethan Hawke stars as a vampire, who refuses to drink human blood. He feels empathy for the humans and doesn't like what his race has become. Hawke was one of these young actors who had nothing but looks. When he first started he was really nothing more than eye candy for bad movies. Since then, he's really worked at becoming a better actor and today, he thrives in Sci-Fi movies like this. He's paired with some veterans of the genre, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill, both of whom add that aged wisdom needed to support this young cast. This film is a terrific example of how innovative and entertaining science fiction can be, but it's so much more. There are action scenes, romance, and even some gore thrown into the mix, and the result is one of the best Sci-Fi film I've seen all year. The violence and blood may turn some people off to the film, but for me, this really became a can't miss gem.      

Storm of The Century

Starring: Tim Daly, Debrah Farentino, Jeffery DeMunn, & Colm Feore

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Stephen King is a great writer, but even die hard fans of his work will agree that his films are hit or miss. Storm of The Century was one of his better novels, but was made for the big screen, not some PG rated mini-series. As a small island off the coast of Maine is hit with the most devastating storm in it's history, a stranger shows up and kill a beloved fixture on the island. The strange is quickly apprehended, but continues to wreak havoc, calming that he will go away if the towns people give him what he wants. I get that this was made for TV, but the fact is that if any of King's works deserved to be a regular R rated big screen film, it was this one. Almost everything worth while is cut out or toned down. Not to mention that in order to expand the story, to cover nearly 4 and a half hours worth of time, they had to put in a lot of things that wouldn't normally make it into a screenplay. There is so much unnecessary garbage in this thing that it completely destroys the story. Tim Daly was cast in the lead and all I can say is really? Honestly, Don Knotts made a more convincing cop than he did. The one bright spot in the film was Colm Feore, playing Andre Linoge, the mysterious stranger. He really was terrific and creepy at all the right moments. Aside from Feore, Storm of The Century wreaks of television and lacks all the suspense and horror of the original story. This is a fantastic read, but as a movie, Storm of The Century really doesn't cut it. My only hope is when they eventually remake it, they do it in the way King intended it to be.

Oz: The Great & Powerful

Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, & Michelle Williams

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

When I first heard that Disney was doing a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, I was kind of annoyed. Then I remembered that they did a pretty decent job making a sequel to it, 25 years earlier. My hopes got even higher when I heard that James Franco would star in it. To me, he was such an interesting choice to play the wizard. Franco is a very versatile actor, but he's known more for action and comedy, not family films, but he brings a very interesting dynamic to the movie. Much like the Wizard of Oz and Return To Oz, this film is taken directly from the original Oz stories of L. Frank Baum. Once again, instead of just adapting a book, the screen writers picked and chose from several stories to create this one, and if I may say so, they did a very good job. Of course there is a bunch of Disneyizing to it, as seen with the spunky china girl and the talking monkey, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Franco is terrific and really carries the story. He combines his charms and looks with goofiness and ingenuity to make his character come alive in a way that L. Frank Baum would have loved. He's paired with Mila Kunis who is also really good and used to playing unlikable characters...Shut up Meg! What I especially liked about this film is how they played off the original. Starting in black & white, in an old box format, before opening up to the tradition high def. widescreen view was ingenious. I also loved how people from the black & white story had roles in Oz, just like the original. What was strange though is that they made Oz out to be a real place and discounted the whole dream aspect of the stories. In all of Baum's writings it was never known for a certainty weather or not Oz was a real place. The fact of the matter is that nothing in this genre will ever be as good as the original Wizard of Oz, but The Great & Powerful answers a lot of questions, is taken directly from the writings of the original author, has a great cast, and really does an impressive job of connecting to a film that was made 75 years earlier.

The Lovely Bones

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, & Stanley Tucci

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Lovely Bones was an award winning novel, turned into a major motion picture in 2009. Peter Jackson signed on to Direct and Steven Spielberg was the Executive Producer, so the budget for this film was massive, but it didn't do so well, leading people to believe it was a bad movie. While it was different from what the readers expected, the film was still better than average. The story is told by Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), a 14 year old girl, who was murdered. Susie introduces us to her family and to her killer in what I saw as a mix between Ghost and What Dreams May Come. The story is extremely strong and very well written, but it isn't without it's problems. For instance, we learn the identity of the murderer almost immediately. There are also huge gaps in the story between when we see Susie in purgatory and when we see her families again. Saorise Ronan plays Susie and continues to amaze me. I honestly haven't been that crazy about most of the films I've seen her in, but she never seizes to amaze me. It really is only a matter of time until she's in the right film and gets national attention. By then, not only will people know her name, but they'll know how to pronounce it too. She is supported by some big names like Stanley Tucci, who at this point in his career has convinced me that he can play just about any role. The Lovely Bones is a great story, but it wasn't done in a way that appeals to mass audiences. The scenes in purgatory were never ending and there are big holes in the story, but the cast is terrific and the story is really good. If you're into films that stray from the norm, you might really enjoy this one.

The Chicago Code

Starring: Jason Clarke, Jennifer Beals, Matt Lauria, Devin Kelley, Todd Williams, Billy Lush, & Delroy Lindo

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The creators of The Shield introduced an even better show to Fox in the Spring of 2011, The Chicago Code. You probably never heard of it though, because in their infinite wisdom, Fox only gave the show three months. The rating weren't spectacular, but they weren't bad either. In June, The Chicago Code became part of Fox's mass cancellation, which saw Dollhouse, Lie To Me, Human Target, and Alcatraz gone in the blink of eye. It begs the question, did the Fox executives ever bother to watch these shows? The Chicago Code was well written, fast-paced, and featured a tremendous cast of new and established talent. If it had been on cable, I have no doubt that this show would still be on the air and at the top of the ratings.

The Chicago Code features Jennifer Beals as Superintendent, Teresa Colvin, hired by the Chicago Mayor to help clean up the police force. Colvin has greater ambitions though, as she plans on cleaning up local government and taking on the Irish mob as well. To do this, Colvin covertly puts together a team, that has the power to choose it's own cases and make a case against their prime target, Alderman Ronin Gibbons (Delroy Lindo). Gibbons has been on the city counsel for half a century and thanks to his mob connections, he is considered to be the most powerful politician in Chicago. Everyone knows he's dirty, but the hard part is proving that in a court of law.

Colvin's team is led by Detective Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke), who has a scarred past, that has led him to his own unique and chaotic way of doing things. Wysocki is paired with a young, ambitious, clean cut college boy, Caleb Evers (Matt Lauria), who tries to keep Wysocki in check, while putting everyone else to shame with his incredible good looks. The third member of the team is an undercover officer, who has infiltrated the mob and is trying to work his way up to the politicians. 

Every episode contains different stories that follow the shady dealings, some case the pair is working on, the fallout for the Superintendent, and of course the undercover who has an in with the wrong crowd. The stories are edgy, intelligent, and really entertaining. A lot of shows get cancelled every year, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why this show wasn't given more of a chance. The chemistry the cast has, along with the terrific writing, and edge of your seat police drama made The Chicago Code one of the best shows to come out that year.

Two years after it's cancellation, the show is still on my mind and in fact, I just recently watched it again, as it's streaming on Netflix. The story of The Chicago Code teaches us one very important thing about network television, it's all about the money! You can have an original idea, a great cast, and the most entertaining show to come along in years, but if it doesn't make more money than it costs, it's as good as gone.

Did You Hear About The Morgans?

Starring: Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker, & Sam Elliott

Rating: 1 out of 5

...if you didn't consider yourself lucky! In this film, Hugh Grant is paired with Sarah Jessica Parker in perhaps the worst pairing since Vanilla Ice and Naomi Campbell in Cool As Ice. They play a fashionably separated, New York City power couple, who are forced into witness protection after witnessing a murder. These two city folks are put in the care of an elderly U.S. Marshall and his wife, in the middle of nowhere Montana. Let the fun times begin! Didn't Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley do this a decade earlier in Amish country? At least For Richer or Poorer could get a few cheap laughs here and there, but not the Morgans. The Morgans have no chemistry what-so-ever and their film is painfully slow and predictable. Hugh Grant is usually funny, but in this film, every attempt at humor is snuffed out by Sarah Jessica Parker, who has no idea what she's doing. Parker is just one of these people who was lucky enough to find her perfect role and she was amazing in it, but everything I've seen her in since Sex & The City has been awful! Did You Hear About The Morgans has been done, more than once, and if you watch this movie and can't tell what's going to happen, twenty minutes a head of time, then you haven't seen too many movies. This has got to be one of the biggest waste of money in recent Hollywood history and if you decide to watch it, then you're dumber than the casting director who thought pairing Grant and Parker was a good idea.

Stoic

Starring: Edward Furlong, Shaun Sipos, Sam Levinson, & Steffen Mennekes

Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

Stoic explores the question of weather or not prison turns minor offenders into hardened criminals, by telling a true story that happened in 2006. The story is most defiantly an eye opener, but the truth is that it doesn't make for a very good movie. Four inmates are trapped in the same cell, twenty-three hours a day. Most of them are in prison for minor offenses, with sentences ranging from six months to six years. As the men play cards, three get suspicious of the fourth, and once they decide he's a cheater, they begin to torture and humiliate the man until the next morning, when one of them winds up dead. Edward Furlong is the only actor of recognition in this film, usually one of my favorite actors, but even he has a hard time making this story work. The truth is that no matter the situation, anytime you place four guys in a room and watch them for an hour and a half, it's bound to get boring. Stoic goes to extreme lengths to be beyond boring, because of it's perfectionist director, Uwe Boll. Boll has a reputation of doing things his own way and being a perfectionist about it. The constant changing of the camera angles as well as the inmates telling their own stories in cutaways, is somewhat clever, but ultimately there really isn't much here to base a film on. Stoic was a good idea, that poses an important question, through a shockingly true story, but it lacks the substances needed to entertain an audience. In other words it was one big bore of a movie that you should absolutely avoid.

Boot Camp

Starring: Gregory Smith, Mila Kunis, & Peter Stormare

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

The 1970s saw the rise of so-called "tough love" camps. Places where well to do people would send their spoiled kids to learn how to behave. The camps were often in remote locations around the world and completely unregulated. Violence, torture, and even death were used as methods of intimidation and thousand of kids were scared for life. Boot Camp is based on one of these places, but is told in the current era. Sophie Bauer (Mila Kunis) is sent to this camp in Fiji, because she's spoiled and doesn't get along with her step father. She could be there for up to a year, but that doesn't sit well with her boyfriend Ben (Gregory Smith). Ben gets sent to the camp to save Sophie, but when he gets there, he has no idea just how bad it really is. I really enjoyed this film, but they didn't spend enough time on the characters and as a result, the audience really doesn't have much empathy for the kids. What we see, really isn't bad enough to warrant them being sent away to such a place. Mila Kunis is terrific, finally playing something besides a whiny love starved introvert. She's paired with Gregory Smith, who I have enjoyed watching since he was a kid. As always, he gives a terrifically intense performance, that really makes this film as good as it was. Finally, the cast is rounded out by Peter Stormare who has been tight cast as a criminal/mafia type. Honestly, it was a little strange to see Stormare playing a doctor into meditation and rehabilitation. Overall, Boot Camp is a somewhat strange movie, but it has a terrific pair leading the way. The events are shocking, but in and of itself wouldn't make for a great film, that's where Kunis and Smith come in. The combination of the unique story, shocking events, and terrific cast lead to a film that was surprisingly enjoyable.

Technical Difficulty

Hey guys, I wanted to let you all know that there won't be any new reviews for a couple weeks.

My computer decided to give up on me a week before finals! I am in the process of getting a new one, but it's going to take 2-3 weeks. 

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Triangle (2009)

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Starring: Melissa George, Michael Dorman, & Liam Hemsworth

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Have you ever seen a movie that you really wanted to like, but didn't? Triangle has a really great cast and some very memorable scenes, but the story goes around in circles, to a point that's beyond Groundhog's Day, stopping at frustration. The story follows a group of friends that go sailing on a boat called the Triangle. While they are leaving from Florida, there is never any mention of the Bermuda Triangle. Everything is going well, when a sudden freak storm appears, capsizing the small vessel. As they hang onto the remains of the boat, they find a cruise ship passing by and hop on, but to their dismay, they find the huge ship to be empty. The story here is very cleaver and original, I was really into this film at first, however the Writer/Director, Christopher Smith, goes too far, making it one of those film, you really want to just be over and done with. Melissa George plays the lead and she was terrific. It's George's performance that kept me watching the movie, even after I had become bored with it. In Triangle, she's paired with a very young, Liam Hemsworth, in his first major film role. Even at the young age of 19, you can see just how good he is. Acting seems to come natural to him and after the Hunger Games series, I expect big things from him. Triangle is an extremely interesting idea, but it's not for everybody. It's one of those weird Science Fiction films that tows the line for a while, but ultimately goes too far, and becomes unusual to a fault.

Assault On Wall Street

Starring: Dominic Purcell, Erin Karpluk, & Edward Furlong

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

Assault On Wall Street is nothing like you expect it to be, at least not until the last 15 minutes. Jim Baxford (Dominic Purcell) is a normal, hard working, family man, until his wife gets sick. Through a series of hardships Jim and his family go bankrupt, leading to an unspeakable act, that causes Jim to lose control. This film had all the makings of a terrific action movie, but that's not what we got. For over an hour, we watch the story of Jim's life slowly pass us by. What should have taken 25 minutes, takes up almost the entirety of the film, it was absolutely ridiculous! We meet Jim and his family, see what the issues are, and then, nothing for quite a while. Prison Break's Dominic Purcell stars in this thing and he is one of the best young action stars they could have gotten to star in this movie. It just really drives me crazy to see how obtuse the writers of these films can be. The lead character was cast, almost to perfection, while at the same time, you have a relatively good story to build upon, yet the film goes nowhere! By the time anything actually happened here, I was already fed up and disinterested. Assault On Wall Street looked like it was going to be a can't miss action/thriller. Instead, bad directing and perfectionist writers just completely destroy everything they have going for them and deliver a film that eventually becomes unwatchable.

Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, & Robert Pattinson

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Since I got into the Harry Potter series a few months ago, I've been asking people what they think of it. To my surprise, most of them said they stopped after the Prisoner of Azkaban. Personally, I think Azkaban was the best one so far, so why not continue? The unanimous answer was that they didn't really want to see the kids grow up. In the Goblet of Fire, they aren't quite there yet, as in their 4th year at Hogwarts, the kids are 14. The story this time isn't centered around some mysterious artifact or person, but rather a world wide competition of student wizards. The Goblet of Fire decides who the best of the best are, allowing only one student from each school to participate. This film was special, but also lacked some of the intrigue that got us addicted to Harry Potter in the first place. Finally, a Harry Potter film focuses entirely on Harry and we get to see some of the great things that he is supposedly capable of. In fact, Ron and Hairmony's roles amount to little more than bit parts, where as in the other three films, they were all on equal ground. The fact that this was a competition takes something major away from the film. In the Goblet of Fire we aren't introduced to any new artifacts, games, or spells, there really isn't anything here that will amaze you. While it's a small thing, it's an expected thing, that does take something away from the film. What makes up for it is a terrific ending, that has to be seen in order to continue on with the series. For years, I thought Harry Potter was just overrated, pop culture, bull shit, but once I sat down to actually watch it, I came to realize that this series is as magically as the world it portrays. Every one of the first four films has been fantastic and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for the wizards of Hogwarts.

The Iceman

Starring: Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder, & Ray Liotta 

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Between 1964 and 1986, Richard Kuklinski killed as many as 250 people for the mafia. His cold, callous style and willingness to do anything, earned him the nickname, The Iceman. In 1992, The Iceman granted HBO an exclusive interview, where he talked about his life and described his crimes, the way someone would describe their job. This film is the dramatization of Kuklinski's story, based entirely on what he said during his interview. Boardwalk Empire's Michael Shannon stars as Kuklinski and was absolutely the perfect choice to play him. Some actors, even ones like Shannon,  seem to be destine to play certain characters, it's how they make a name for themselves. Shannon is often knocked for being too cold and emotionless in his other roles, so he was essentially the perfect choice to play the Iceman. Shannon is paired with Winona Ryder and all these years later, she still manages to annoy the hell out of me. I really don't get what people see in her. The cast of this film is rounded out by some terrific cameos, by the likes of Ray Liotta, James Franco, and David Schwimmer, all of whom are terrific and add to the mystique of this film. I really did enjoy this film, but it is confusing and somewhat slow at times, slower than you wouldn't expect a film about a mafia hit-man to be. This films throws so many names at you and jumps from scene to scene and time to time so quickly, that it is a little difficult to keep track of who's who. Other than that, the performances are terrific and it's amazing how they were able to piece together a film from a simple interview, definitely worth checking out.