2013 Movies - Definitely not on the list

Something good about the 2013 movies? There weren't any movies that I really hated, such as The Tree of Life, Benjamin Buttons, Babel, or The Lovely Bones (Brad Pitt gets 3 out of 4 on that list) from previous years.

Something bad about the 2013 movies is that I didn't see any documentaries. I only saw one foreign film, though I saw two with subtitles. The foreign film was Amore. I wrote about it here after seeing it in time for the Oscars. I think I still stand by that review.

A few movies I saw this year weren't bad, but they were possibly something worse: forgettable. Usually, I keep track of the movies I see as I see them. I didn't this year, and had to go back to a list of movies released to remember all of them. There were a few that I even scrolled past at first.

Blue Jasmin was the first of these. I guess this was more about expectation, though. Woody Allen has made some pretty good movies lately. And this one stars Louis CK? I'm in. Well, it doesn't star Louis CK. He's probably in three scenes. The rest of the movie was good, I guess, but I don't remember too much.

It's a Pixar tragedy that Monsters U was also in the forgettable category. I've generally enjoyed everything they've made without Cars in title, so it's rather sad that I barely remember anything about it.

The Book Thief was good, and I've even offered it as extra credit for my World History students. But perhaps its forgettability is worst for a couple reasons. I just saw it about a month ago, and it's a WWII Holocaust movie. You shouldn't forget that type of movie.

Next are the movies that I at least remembered I had seen, but didn't really care that I had. I think I spent more time watching The Great Gatsby looking at the sets and style that I did caring about the characters or what was going on. And I don't meant that I loved the style, either. I spent the time during the party scenes thinking about what a nightmare that would be to go to. After all, one of the best reasons to time travel back to the twenties would be the music. Why mostly leave that out?

In most years I wouldn't have seen Now You See Me. There's only one reason I saw it. See the picture to the left? That was my view to the left while I watched it. I took that one during this movie. One of the popular evening activities for locals in Greece is the outdoor theater. This one was on a roof with an Acropolis view. How was the movie? It was surprisingly entertaining.

I read Ender's Game for the first time earlier this year. The movie was a pretty faithful adaptation once you factor its time constraints. I wonder if it might have been a flaw, however. It didn't do anything to establish its own personality.

 I didn't care much for Iron Man 3. I guess I liked it better than 2, but that's about it. Mostly, I didn't like The Mandarin. I thought the comic version, I guy with magic, was a great foil for Iron Man, especially after the Avengers. His fight with and alongside Thor gave him conflict about his very neat, scientific world. The whole alien invasion left him even more messed up. How about we throw even more non science at him? The two arguments I've heard are that the comic version would be too racist (woudn't that be easy to fix?) and that magic wouldn't fit in this world (then it isn't the Marvel Universe, is it?). Perhaps I didn't like this enough that the rest of the movie became more... forgettable.

I'll write about the movies I liked more (but still didn't make the list) later today.

2013 Movies - NO top ten list!

There will be no top ten list this year. It's going to be a top five. Two reasons why.

How I spent my summer vacation.

The first is that I didn't see nearly as many movies. I was still pretty busy planning two new curricula in the spring, so I only saw a few of the big movies. And then I was in Europe for almost seven weeks in the summer. When school started again, it took a bit to get going. I've been catching up for the last few weeks, but not enough. While I usually see 40-50+ movies, I saw 23.

The second is that the movies I saw just weren't as good. Quite often I have a top ten that I'm happy with, then a few runners up that might have made it. This year, I have five movies I really liked. I have a few more that were all right, but I just don't think they make it to a top list. The rest? Meh.

I'm trying to do a little catching up on missed movies via Netflix, but first I only count movies I saw in the theaters, and second, they aren't that great, either. I recently caught This is the End and Pacific Rim, two movies that I likely would have seen in the theaters if I hadn't been on vacation. This is the End had some funny stuff, but it was skip worthy. Pacific Rim would make a top ten list of movies that might cure my insomnia. It was a three nap movie.

One of my favorite movie going experiences didn't count. I saw Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at the Paramount last Friday night. It was the first time I had watched it all the way through in a long, long time. It turns out that it's a great movie to watch with a crowd that loves the movie. Everyone laughed at the funny parts, laughed at the cheesy parts (plenty of those), laughed at Grandpa Joe's tobacco addiction that is ruining in family, and cheered for Veruca Salt with every tantrum. And for the most part, people didn't sing along.

So tomorrow I'll write about the movies I didn't pick, then start the top five countdown on 1/1 as usual. With only five days, there's no way I miss a day, right? It's not like I would ever finish a blog project later than scheduled.

Day 101 - 101 Days of Awesome

Vacation. Summer vacation, winter break, spring break, or just a day off here and there. Vacation is awesome.

Don't get me wrong. I like my job well enough. But I also love sleeping in. I love watching TV. I love reading. I love watching movies. I love going outside. I love doing the stuff I've talked about for the last 100 days.

Tomorrow I leave for six and a half weeks to head to Greece, Turkey, Italy, and France. It's going to be awesome. See you on the other side.

Day 100 - 101 Days of Awesome

Superman. I really love the character. I love the fact that his character is flawed due to his perceived perfection. Several writers have gotten this right. The movies have had to rely on Kryptonite to be his flaw, but comic book writers are often much better than others.

I think he has the best costume design. Sure, he doesn't need the cape or the underwear on the outside of his pants, but it works on him. I think the S shield is a great work of art. That's probably mostly because my name begins with an S and I prefer to think that it's for me, though. If I were to ever get a tattoo, it would be of the S. It wouldn't stand for Superman, though.

I saved this entry for today because I knew I would go see The Man of Steel. Unfortunately, it was not awesome. Still, just because Zack Snyder's Superman was not awesome does not mean that everything else wasn't.

Day 99 - 101 Days of Awesome

They Might Be Giants.The Might Be Giants. They might be rain. They might be heat. They might be frying up a stalk of wheat.

Not only are they my favorite band, but I'm going to see them tonight. That is probably the best way to end the school year. I've seen them several times before, and I've loved it each time. They have a live album. Give it a listen.

I know I've written this before, but just about every album does the same thing. I listed to it the first time and think "meh." Then I listen again and find a song I enjoy. Then I find another on the next listen. And another. And another until I think it's their best album ever.

Much like with The Beatles, I could not name my favorite song because it's probably the last one I heard. So I'll leave this entry with my most recent favorite song from their recent album, Join Us.

Day 98 - 101 Days of Awesome

I've mentioned a couple comedians in this list. But George Carlin has to be the best. Not only is he hilarious, but he's politically correct in his political incorrectness. He's right about everything. With Lenny Bruce too much before my time, George Carlin has to be the man.

I've embedded a few Youtube videos for your benefit. But here I'm going to do something better. First, here's a link to a list of some of his best quotes. Read. Enjoy.  Next, here's a link to all of his videos. Watch everything. Laugh. Learn.

Day 97 - 101 Days of Awesome

Every year, I show Glory. This was the first year that I haven't shown it. I have a feeling that it will be back next year, as it's not only the best Civil War movie, it's one of my favorite movies.

Some day I want to write something lengthy about Glory, but today is not that day. I want to write about the things I've noticed in the well over 50 times I've shown it and/or watched it in class. For example, and this is an easy one, why does Col. Shaw yell at Major Forbes to train them properly with the rifles? Because of the guy's head blowing up at the beginning of the movie. If that part is cuy out, as it is in the edited version, it makes no sense.

Here's another. In one of the absolute best scenes,  Morgan Freeman yells at Denzel Washington to "You watch who you call a nigger! If there's any niggers around here, it's YOU. Just a smart-mouthed, stupid-ass, swamp-runnin' nigger." After that, the word isn't used by anyone in the movie at all.

And I can't go this far without mentioning the soundtrack. Here's the full soundtrack. Just listen. And if you've seen the movie, try to listen without shedding a tear. It won't work.

Day 96 - 101 Days of Awesome

I need to take a moment to discuss one of the most awesome things on the internet that most of us, myself included, take for granted. Wikipedia. I use it regularly. Probably daily. Where did I find the image to use in this entry? Wikipedia.

At first, it was a gamble to use it with any seriousness. But depending what you're checking out, you will now find good and accurate information just about all of the time.

As a teacher, I was all over the "never use Wikipedia academically" kick until just a few years ago. Now I tell kids to go there to do research. Should they site it? No. Still no. But read the page. Learn the basics. That's what we used to do with a regular encyclopedia, and we probably shouldn't have sited that, either. When you're done reading and understand the topic (and if you aren't writing a paper, that's probably enough), go to the bottom of the page. See the sources cited for the Wikipedia page? Go follow those.

So... one of these, days, I should probably actually donate a few bucks to them just like they ask for every once in a while...

Day 95 - 101 Days of Awesome

I've mentioned a few comic books in the previous days, but nearing the end, I have to discuss the best comic. Ever.

Calvin and Hobbes is what all comic strips should be. It's one guy drawing new stuff every day. It's funny. It's heartwarming. It makes you think.

It's a tragedy that the anti-Calvin and Hobbes, the Family Circus, is still in newspapers while Watterson's isn't. But I'll happily spend money for reprints and collections of Calvin and Hobbes. It was sad when Bill Watterson stopped the strip. But his reasons are totally justified. I wonder how many kids today know Calvin from anything more than a bumper sticker of him peeing that a total douche would put on his car?

Day 94 - 101 Days of Awesome

If you've been doing your 101 Days of Awesome homework, you should have checked out Preacher back on day 14. It's time for your second comic book assignment. You need to find Strangers in Paradise.

If HBO or another network really wants an adaptable comic book for its next great series, Strangers in Paradise might just work. Francine and Katchoo are great characters. Get the right actresses and you have a gold mine of material.And seriously. Go straight to the source.  Tell Terry Moore's story. Don't make up your own adventures. He did it right the first time. I remember some stuff being confusing when he switched publishers and went to color and back, but that can be fixed.

It's going to be awhile. So for now, get thee to a comic store and pick up I Dream of You, the first collection.