The First Annual Underrated Film Awards (2012)

What does it mean to be underrated? More often than not there are numerous films which people define as "underrated" meaning people often underestimate the value of the film.  A film often becomes under estimated because a studio may not pay enough for marketing causing a low box office, and while critics like the film the film gets no push.  While critics may bring up their names, these nominees are underrated in my book because there are not enough folks singing the praises of the films, performances etc.

Most of time this is the reason films end up within this bracket.  Every year there are a good amount of films, performances, and even the technical aspects of films, which fall into these brackets.  Here is my first annual Underrated Awards, for films released in 2012.

What films were the most under appreciated this year? There were certain names you heard all the time, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln and so on.  While all of these are great films which films were not talked about enough?  Or which films should have had a wider release?  The Independent Spirit Awards and critics awards attention are not enough for most of these films.  This list may be defined as the best you have not seen, but this boils down to underrated in a general sense of things (before you all argue with me).

Most Underrated Films of 2012

21 Jump Street
The Cabin in the Woods

End of Watch 

Middle of Nowhere

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Safety Not Guaranteed 

Seven Psychopaths 

(Middle of Nowhere)

Most Underrated Performances of 2012

Emma Watson-The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Liam Nesson-The Grey

Edith Scob-Holy Motors

Michael Fassbender-Promethues

Seth Rogen-Take this Waltz

Rebel Wilson-Pitch Perfect

(Emma Watson-The Perks of Being a Wallflower)

Most Underrated Technical Aspects of Film (Writing, Direction, Editing etc)

Jacqueline West's Costume Design for Argo

Reinhold Heil, Johnny Kilmek, and Tom Tykwer's Original Score for Cloud Atlas
Terrence Davies Direction for The Deep Blue Sea

The Visual Effects Team for The Impossible
Arthur Max's Production Design for Prometheus

Martin McDonagh's Screenplay for Seven Psychopaths 

Channing Tatum Voted People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive (and GQs Movie Star of the Year

On to a little pop culture fluff.  Channing Tatum was named People Magazine's Sexiest Man of the Year.  After last year's awful snub of Ryan Gosling (the magazine did not want another riot) they picked the right man this year.  Tatum was also in fact the movie star of the year, while his films were not all "Oscar caliber" they were some of the most entertaining, and all made over one hundred million dollars, they were: The Vow, 21 Jump Street, and Magic Mike.  Channing Tatum should also be considered the "move star of the year namely because of his box office prowess, and the mere fact that the G. I. Joe sequel had killed his character off in the the beginning of the film, and had to postpone the re-shoot, to add him back into the film, that shows power.

Tatum joins the following men for People's Sexiest Man Alive title:
1985-Mel Gibson
1986-Mark Harmon
1987-Harry Hamlin
1988-John F. Kennedy Jr.
1989-Sean Connery
1990-Tom Cruise
1991-Patrick Swayze
1992-Nick Nolte
1993-Sexiest Couple Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford)
1994-Hiatus
1995-Brad Pitt
1996-Denzel Washington
1997-George Clooney
1998-Harrison Ford
1999-Richard Gere
2000-Brad Pitt
2001-Pierce Brosnan
2002-Ben Affleck
2003-Johnny Depp
2004-Jude Law
2005-Matthew McConaughey
2006-George Clooney
2007-Matt Damon
2008-Hugh Jackman
2009-Johnny Depp
2010-Ryan Reynolds
2011-Bradley Cooper
2012-Channing Tatum

Closing Time: Time for May Sweeps and Season and Series Finales

As another school year comes to an end, and I close the doors on another chapter of my life it makes me think about all of the wonderful times I had with the RAs I supervised, and the students who lived in the building I worked in.  There were also some crazy moments, but I am excited for some relaxing summer moments where I do not have crazy students damaging my building.  This is also the time of the year when many shows end their seasons or they end completely.

This time is traditionally referred to as May sweeps.  During this time there are lots of shows that end big, with weddings, graduations, deaths, births, elections, or other momentous life events.  The traditional television season has morphed with non basic cable networks, so they do not fit within this typical model, but here what is going on and what we may find out as the shows seasons/series come to an end.

April 29th

The Good Wife-The season has flown by with Alicia struggling with her relationship with Will, becoming friend with Kahlinda again, and trying to find a nice balance with her relationship with Peter.  This season ender has two of the firms most diabolical enemies Patty Niholme (Martha Plimpton) and Lewis Canning (Michael J. Fox) attempting to bankrupt the firm.  Peter is facing an uphill battle in the gubernatorial race potentially against Matthew Perry's character.  Kahlinda has had to face a lot of challenges as well and tonight she will get a major surprise.

May 6th

GCB-This shows pilot made it seem as though this show had no potential but with the show hitting its rhythm I am happy to say I am hope that this show returns next season.  As the season has progressed Amanda has moved forward to try and create a good relationship with mean girls Carleen and Cricket.

May 8th

The Voice-Does the winner even matter?  This show loses so much steam after the chairs stop turning around.  The show is different from American Idol, but at this point I have lost so much interest and honestly do not care who wins.  I do enjoy watching the judges.  I guess I like Jamar Brooks.

May 10th

Parks and Recreation-Will Leslie Knope win the election?  That's the big question on everyone's mind. This show is pitch perfect and has done something The Office could not do keep the the quality, because they do not try too hard.

May 13th

Desperate Housewives-This is end!  Last summer, I stated that this show should end, and ABC and Marc Cherry listened.  This show ran it's course, and I gave up a couple of seasons ago.  I will tune in to see how the 4 ladies will end their time on Wisteria Lane.

May 14th

How I Met Your Mother-Who is Barney going to marry?  We better find out who the bride is in the season finale.  It will be fun to watch Lilly give birth too.

May 15th

Grey's Anatomy-I gave up on this show the same time I gave up on on Desperate Housewives, but this is going to be an interesting finale.  There are a lot of contracts up on Grey's, a lot of doctor's will have offers to leave Seattle Grace, and someone is going to fail their boards.  Mix this up with another crazy ending like the gunman in the hospital, and you have one crazy cliffhanger ending on your hands.

May 21st

House-After many years on the air this show is coming to an end.  How will it end?  The last episode is called Everyone Dies, this cryptic title has a dark an ominous tone for the series ending episode.

May 22nd

Glee-The kids from McKinley High are graduating.  Where will they all go, and what will their futures bring?  Who will be back next season, and who is gone for good?  I think this will bring the show to an important cross roads that will make or break it for me next year.

May 23rd

Modern Family-Will Mitch and Cam adopt their second child, will Haley go to college?  No cliffhangers on this show, just good ole fashioned fun comedy.

Revenge-Amanda knows who killed her dad, and it's on!  The Grayson's are in even bigger trouble with her.

March Must See Movies and Movies to Skip

As the post Academy Award drought begins March has many promising films that could be entertaining.  During the months of January and February I looked forward to catching up on smaller films, and begrudgingly suffering through films like The Woman in Black with friends.  I can honestly say there are some decent prospects this month.

March 2nd

The Lorax

Project X

Being Flynn

The most promising release for this week is The Lorax, which is from the creators of Despicable Me.  This Dr. Seuss tale will be a big hit at the box office drawing in drones of families, but will it be worth your time?  I am not excited by this film, but I do think it could be solid.  X looks like its trying to hard to a teenage rip off of The Hangover.  With poor marketing this film will do poorly and sink slowly.  Being Flynn is another DeNiro vehicle that seems to have being angry and yelling.  While the preview is not bad this looks to be a waste of everyone's time.

March 9th

John Carter

Salmon Fishing in Yemen

Friends with Kids

A Thousand Words

Silent House

John Carter always seems to have people baffled while watching the preview.  Everyone I know asks who is John Carter, and not with intrigue, more with a sense of who cares.  I predict this film to be a mess and a box office flop.  I saw Salmon Fishing and I liked the film, I did not love it.  I think this will hit a small population, the film is charming but will not draw large crowds-worth seeing.  Friends with Kids looks hilarious, more like a sitcom, but but worth watching on the big screen.  Eddie Murphy's latest film looks like a waste of time and money.  Silent House looks like the thing thrillers are meant to be made of and Elizabeth Olsen is a great find!

March 16th 

21 Jump Street

Casa de Mi Padre

If you do mind movies that are both stupid and funny go see 21 Jump Street, it was pretty hilarious.  Casa looks like another Will Ferrell movie I will try and avoid, while I do not hate him I think his schtick is getting tired the same way it has done with Adam Sandler.  Time to grow up and find a new modus operandi. 

March 23rd

The Hunger Games

No one wanted to compete with the film that outsold Twilight.  I read the first book, and liked it.  I think the film looks solid, and it has a great cast and great director.  I do not want it become the next Twilight where it was rushed to the big screen to make money.  Even though Twilight was always going to be a terrible film series.

March 30th 

Wrath of the Titans

Mirror Mirror

Bully

Was a sequel needed for Clash of the Titans?  I do not remember the first film being that successful.  The sequel looks awful.  Mirror Mirror looks campy, and not in a good way, what happened Julia?  I have to put Bully on this, this is a documentary about a young boy who was bullied, not because of his orientation, but because he was different and highlight his parents crusade to help others.  This looks fantastic.

Must See Movies: Bully, The Hunger Games, The Lorax, 21 Jump Street,  Silent House

Movies to Skip:A Thousand Words, Wrath of the Titans, Mirror Mirror, John Carter, Project X

21 Jump Street is Stupidly Hilarious!

21 Jump Street (3 out of 5 Stars)

Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy withe a Chance of Meatballs)

Written by Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World)

Starring Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ice Cube

After a long week of writing about the Academy Awards and some pretty great films I decided I would write my review for this film which I saw last Thursday night.  I do not remember watching the television show which last for about 5 seasons and Johnny Depp, and Holly Robinson Peete.  I honestly think I was too young, and this was not a show my parents watched.

The premise of the film is similar to the premise of the show.  The film centers around two guys Jenko (Tatum) the high school jock and popular guy and Schmidt an Eminem wannabe loser in high school.  The two graduate and leave their high school labels behind as they eventually join the police academy.  While at the police academy they start to utilize each other's strengths and become best friends.  As they start their lives as cops they think things will be like television, but as they are riding bikes patrolling the park they soon realize this is not the case.  When they attempt to catch some drug dealers in the park things go wrong and they are assigned to work in an undercover squad, on you guessed it, 21 Jump Street.  The two are sent back to high school when they realize that high schoolers are different and they have to learn a whole new way of being.

The movie is pretty hilarious, and self aware of how stupid it actually is.  They make fun of the cliches that exist within television shows and films that center around the same type of shows and films.  My favorite running gag is when Hill and Tatum keep waiting for things to explode because they should, and the explosions fail.  Hill and Tatum have good chemistry, they complement each other well, and are both pretty funny.  This is not one of my favorite Hill comedic go arounds, but that is more based on the character.  While Tatum is not a good actor he has proved in this film and his latest job hosting Saturday Night Live that he does not take himself too seriously and is going to milk the work while he still has the body to do so.  

None of these things can hide the fact that the movie is not that great, but be prepared to just sit back and laugh at the stupid humor, and some great cameos by the original cast members from the television show.