Albums // Basketball Games // Blogs // Books // Comics // Live Shows \\ Movies \\ Purchases \\ TV Shows \\ Video Games
Home

BEST: The Dark Knight (2008)
There was a lot of buzz about "The Dark Knight," especially about the late Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. That was only the icing on the cake, however, as I knew I wasn't going to turn down a Batman movie. So, one weekend I shuttled down to the Mayfair Triplex - a local New Jersey theater that was short on nice equipment but long on atmosphere - to see the film for myself. I was pretty impressed overall though I must admit I was a bit confused about several things and I wasn't a big fan of the Two Face character. About a week later I had a few hours to myself so I decided to go see the movie in a state-of-the-art theater in Union Square for a second viewing. I won't repeat myself: here's my review. Let's just say that second viewing sealed the deal. Sure, the Two Face character is a stumble but it's the smallest total stumble I've seen in a superhero movie since Superman II.

                         

RUNNER-UP: Fargo (1996)
This was on my Netflix queue, so when El Stever brought it over Christmas Eve I jumped at the chance to watch it. With "Fargo" being over 10 years old I'd heard many friends say how they had liked it but I really didn't know anything about it except for the final, woodchipper scene. And, not knowing anything about the movie going in was the way to go. It's so subtle and funny and dark all at the same time; the whole point is to just throw you into the middle of a situation/atmosphere that is so foreign. It's almost like an experiment ... the movie is watching how the audience will react: will they laugh, cringe, leave? Sure, there's a murder plot that viewers can grab and hold onto but the rest of the film is so bizarre it's as if you're on another planet. A great, unique film.

WORST: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
"Crystal Skull" was the definition of a turd. Remember when George Lucas redid the three Star Wars movies during the late 90s ... oh, and completely ruined them?! Well, he and (un?)willing partner, Steven Speilberg, decided to give the same treatmen to Indiana Jones - one of my childhood role models. I was wary of this, but hoped against hope during the first half of the movie. Sure, it seemed like nothing more than a bunch of old men trying to make an action movie, but at least it had some smart dialogue, an interesting beginning and some funny scenes. Then the second half began and I realized that 1) there was no saving this sinking ship and 2) boy was it sinking! The fencing? The killer ants? The swinging with monkies? THE ALIENS? Sorry, but just like the second Star Wars trilogy - I will never fully recognize "Crystal Skull's" existence as part of this great movie series.

                         

RUNNER-UP: Jumper (2008)
I had to come back to work at around 9 PM one night to push some website changes live for a client. This was back when I was still living in New Jersey so taking a subway to a bus to my house and back just didn't seem a feasible way to waste the time. How was I going to spend a couple of hours? So, some coworkers of mine who were also staying late joined me at a dinner and then decided to see "Jumper." It was just supposed to be a crappy throwaway movie about people who have the power of teleportation. But it was so much worse than it appeared to be from the trailers. The dialogue didn't make any sense. The acting was college-play level! And the story was just a pile of crap. In fact, "Jumper" was so bad that the only thing that kept me in the theater was the fact that I had to waste the time doing something.