The Year in Review (So Far...)

I would like to present a roundup of the year in movies so far this year. Here goes.

Top 10 movies:

10. Hugo
9. Midnight in Paris
8. Magic Mike
7. The Amazing Spider-Man
6. The Cabin in the Woods
5. The Hunger Games
4. The Avengers
3. Bernie
2. Prometheus
1. Moonrise Kingdom

Top 10 performances:

10. Kathy Bates in Midnight in Paris
9. Robert Downey Jr. in The Avengers
8. Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-Man
7. George Clooney in The Descendants
6. Donald Sutherland in The Hunger Games
5. Charlize Theron in Prometheus/Snow White and the Huntsman
4. Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games
3. Michael Fassbender in Prometheus/Shame
2. Everyone in Moonrise Kingdom
1. Jack Black in Bernie- If Jack Black doesn't get a Best Actor Oscar, or at LEAST a nomination, I'll be very surprised.

I'll post my actual Year in Review at the end of the year, complete with The Dark Knight Rises!!

Movie Review: The Cabin in the Woods

Finally, through the very creative mind of Joss Whedon, they have made a smart, scary, and funny scary movie. This film proves that all horror movies don't have to be gore and guts to be entertaining, or frightening. The story follows the usual horror movie crew: the dumb blonde, the jock, the stoner, the token black guy, and the girl who is too smart for her own good. They travel to, you guessed it, a cabin in the woods. There, they are tricked and controlled by unknown operators in a building, who monitor and regulate everything (and I mean everything) that goes on in the house. Unfortunately, I cannot give away too much more information, as the ending is very well made and provides for a twist that M. Night Shaymalan would blush over. There were some fantastic performances by everyone involved, the standouts (in my opinion) being Richard Jenkins as one of the operators, Chris Hemsworth as the jock, and a (very) surprising cameo by Sigourney Weaver as "the Director". Also, near the end, there is an 8 minute gore fest in which everything from your worst nightmares is released, and they decimate everything in their path. This movie was very smartly made, and provides a very fun and scary movie-going experience. An underrated movie that deserves a lot more praise and attention than it has received.

Rating: A-