Brandon Muramatsu

2011 Movie Picks

Here’s my 2011 take on Movie picks. (I meant to do this last year since I started posted twice in 2009, but managed to avoid doing it for some reason.)

I’ve been lucky to have seen quite a few movies this year, mostly for $6 before noon at a local AMC. And thanks to Kris in my office for suggesting I see Harry Potter 7.2 on the IMAX at Jordan’s Furniture (though I still question why a furniture store has an IMAX theater…). This isn’t an exhaustive list of all the movies I’ve seen this year, but rather the ones that fall into the various categories (top, disappointments, skipped).

Here are my top movies for 2011 (thus far):

  • The Adjustment Bureau: One of the better adaptations of a Philip K. Dick short story (along the lines of Blade Runner and Minority Report). I loved the chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][IMDB: 5.9 | Rotten Tomatoes: 72% | Metacritic: 60]
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (7.2): A satisfying end to the seven-part book series by J.K. Rowling. I still think there are inconsistencies and continuity problems in the story line, but they don’t detract from this conclusion to 10 years of Harry Potter. (Though I have a friend that refused to watch them after how bad the first movie was.) [IMDB: 8.3 | Rotten Tomatoes: 97% | Metacritic: 87]
  • Battle Los Angeles: Who can’t resist a movie with Santa Monica and Downtown L.A. overrun by aliens? As far as movies go, it won’t win an Academy Award, but it is fun to watch. [IMDB: 5.9 | Rotten Tomatoes: 37% | Metacritic: 37]
  • Cowboys & Aliens: Just an entertaining movie. Don’t think too much about what the Aliens are doing in the wild west. [IMDB: 6.5 | Rotten Tomatoes: 45% | Metacritic: 50]
  • Captain America: The First Advenger: Cap’n America turned out to be reasonably good, even if it’s just a vehicle to get to The Avengers in 2012. [IMDB: 7.3 | Rotten Tomatoes: 78% | Metacritic: 66]
  • Fast Five: Fifth installment in the Fast and the Furious series. These are one of my guilty pleasures, I really liked #1, #4 and #5. [IMDB: 7.5 | Rotten Tomatoes: 78% | Metacritic: 67]
  • The King’s Speech: So this probably counts for 2010, but I saw it in 2011. It’s just a good movie. [IMDB: 8.3 | Rotten Tomatoes: 95% | Metacritic: 88]

I’m still not quite sure what I think of Super 8.

Disappointments:

  • Cars 2: This is the third Pixar movie that I haven’t been that hot on–A Bug’s Life, Ratatouille (though I eventually grew to like this one).
  • Thor: Despite having Natalie Portman, it’s just an excuse to introduce Thor for The Avengers< ./li>
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes: I was hoping this was going to be better than it was and they didn’t spend enough on CGI/VFX, though it reviews highly [7.9|82%|68].

Really should have skipped it:

Skipped them:

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