Top 5 Movies Directed by Tim Burton

#5. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

#4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

#3. Big Fish (2003)

#2. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

#1. Ed Wood (1994)

Top 5 movies seen this summer (June-August)

I haven't watched movies regularly this summer, which is the reason why I haven't been active on the blog.

So, here's a list of the five best movies I've seen this summer, chosen from about forty seen movies.

#5. Patrik 1,5 (2008)
 aka: Patrik, Age 1.5

#4. Absentia (2011)

#3. The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

#2. Moolaadé (2004)
aka: Dalecarlians

#1. Masjävlar (2004)

Top 5 Movies Seen in May

#5. Dazed and Confused (1993)

#4. Strangers on a Train (1951)

#3. A Hijacking (2012)
aka Kapringen

#2. Women in the Dunes (1964) 
aka Suna no onna

#1. Hot Fuzz (2007)

Top 5 Scenes in Movies Directed by Quentin Tarantino

#5. KKK mask scene 

in Django Unchained (2012)

#4. Superhero monologue

in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

 

#3. Pub scene 

in Inglourious Basterds (2009)

#2. Bill meets the Bride at the Church in Two Pines

 in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

#1. Foot Massage conversation 

in Pulp Fiction (1994)

What's your favorite scene(s)?

Top 5 Movies Directed by Quentin Tarantino

 













#5. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
#4. Django Unchained (2012)
#3. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
#2. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
#1. Pulp Fiction (1994)

Top 5 Movies Seen in April

#5. Body Heat (1981)

#4. My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989)

#3. Paha Maa (2005)
aka Frozen Land

#2. Das weiße Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009)
aka The White Ribbon

#1. Jagten (2012)
aka The Hunt

Top 5 Chain Gang Movies

#5. The Chain Gang (1930)

#4. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

#3. The Defiant Ones (1958)

#2. I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932)

#1. Cool Hand Luke (1968)

Another 5 Great Piano Songs In Movies

Prequel to this list: Top 5 Piano Songs in Movies

This is not a toplist, just another five great piano songs.

#6. Carter Burwell - Prologue

from In Bruges (2008)

And here's my cover/tutorial of the song.
Note: I noticed after publishing that I made some small errors.

#7. Philip Glass - Truman Sleeps 

from The Truman Show (1998)

 

#8. Danny Elfman - Victor's Piano Solo

from Corpse Bride (2005)

#9. Clint Mansell - The Last Man

from The Fountain (2006)

And here's my cover/tutorial of the song:

#10. Jan A.P. Kaczmarek - The Foot
from Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)

Celebrity look alikes 2

Prequel to this post: Actor look-alikes 
Nr 1. Peter stormare - Massimo Ambrosini 

Nr 2. Joe Pesci - Terry Jacks

Nr 3. Joan Allen - Michelle Fairley 

Nr 4. Keira Knightly - Natalie Portman

Nr 5. Peter Jackson - Guillermo del Toro

Okay, it might be the style, not the face, that does it in this case.

Top 5 Movies Seen in March

#5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Director: John Ford

#4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
 Director: Stephen Chbosky

#3. Stalag 17 (1953)
Director: Billy Wilder

#2. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Director: Wes Anderson

#1. In the Name of the Father (1991)
Director: Jim Sheridan

Top 5 Saddest Movie Scenes

As you sure understand, this list contains spoilers. These are the movies included in the list:
The Straight Story, Dancer in the Dark, The Thin Red Line, Hachi: A Dog's Tale, Requiem for a Dream

I suggest you watch the full movies first, because all these scenes are better when built up.

#5. The Hanging

from Dancer in the Dark

#4. The Letter to Jack
from The Thin Red Line

#3. The Reunion 
from The Straight Story

#2. Hachi Waiting
from Hachi: A Dog's Tale

#1. Sara Goldfarb
from Requiem for a Dream

I could include many scenes with Sara Goldfarb, but this may be the saddest.

Top 5 Most Anticipated movies 2013

#5. Serena

Director: Susanne Bier (In a Better World aka Haevnen)

Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper

Susanna Bier is a great director, I've liked all her films I've seen so far. This may well be her biggest project so far which makes it really interested to see what we'll get.

Plot copied from here: The film follows newlyweds George (Cooper) and Serena Pemberton (Lawrence) who travel from Boston to the mountains of North Carolina where they begin to build a timber empire in 1929. Serena soon shows herself to be the equal of any man: overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man's life in the wilderness. Together, this king and queen rule their dominion, killing or vanquishing all who stand in the way of their ambitions. But when Serena learns that she can never bear a child, she sets out to murder the woman who bore George a son before his marriage. And when she starts to suspect that George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage begins to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning.

I think I'll rate this: 8

#4. Only God Forgives

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive)

Stars: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas

My high anticipations on this one is mostly because of Ryan Gosling and the director Nicolas Winding Refn, who made Drive together, but the plot sounds promising too.

Plot from Wikipedia: The film follows Julian, who runs a Thai boxing club as a front organization for his family's drug smuggling operation, as he is forced by his mother Jenna to find and kill the individual responsible for his brother's recent death

Sounds like it's going to be quite violent.

I think I'll rate this: 8 

#3. Gravity

Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men)

Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney

I like space movies, especially if there are no aliens involved. It's fascinating to think of space and its infinity and how small you'd be out there. I really hope the movie focuses on something like this, something psychological rather than a lot of action sequences.

Plot copied from here: Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth...and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.

I think I'll rate this: 7

#2. The Place Beyond the Pines

Director: Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine)

Stars: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes

Both Derek Cianfrance and Ryan Gosling did a great job in Blue Valentine. This movie sounds a little different than Blue Valentine, but nothing about it sounds bad. I like the plot and my anticipations are high.

Plot copied from here: Luke (Ryan Gosling) is a professional motorcycle rider who turns to bank robberies to support his newborn son, but when he crosses paths with a rookie police officer (Bradley Cooper) their violent confrontation spirals into a tense generational feud.

I think I'll rate this: 8

#1. Twelve Years a Slave

Director: Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame)

Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbinder, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch

Steve McQueen is one of the most interesting directors of this century. His movies are not mainstream, they are challenging movies with real emotions. So if a director like him makes a film about slavery, it has to be great, though maybe a bit painful to watch.

Plot copied from here: Tells the true story of Solomon Northrup, a New York citizen who was kidnapped in Washington in 1841 and rescued from a cotton plantation in Louisiana in 1853.

I think I'll rate this: 9


Again, like last year, I will follow up this post at the beginning of next year. Hope you'll still be here then.

Top 5 Movie Soundtracks

#5 Ennio Morricone - Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

 

#4 Hans Zimmer - The Thin Red Line (1998)

 

#3 Neil Young - Dead man (1995)

 

#2 Clint Mansell - Requiem for a Dream (2000)

 

#1 Clint Mansell - The Fountain (2006)

Top 5 Movies Seen in February

#5. Purge (2012)
Original title: Puhdistus
Directed by: Antti Jokinen
Genre: History, Thriller

#4. Before Sunrise (1995)
Directed by: Richard Linklater
Genre: Romance, Drama

#3. Life of Pi (2012)
Directed by: Ang Lee
Genre: Adventure

#2. The Impossible (2012)
Original title: Lo imposible
Directed by: Juan Antonio Bayona
Genre: History, Drama

#1. The Sessions (2012)
Directed by: Ben Lewin
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance

Movie Clichés

Hi, check out my other blog I started last week: Movie Clichés 

Doesn't mean I've stopped working on this blog. You can always find the link to the blog under pages: "Movie Clichés"

Blog description

This site is all about the fantastic world of movies and more precisely about its huge amount of clichés.

In almost every movie I watch there is something very "familiar" and from now on, every time I notice it, I will write it down on this blog.

For the moment, you could divide my posts into six different categories:
1. Quotes
Example: "It's not you, it's me"
2. Characters
Example: The stupid teenage horror character
3. Scenes
Example: The ripping-off-each-others-clothes sex scene
4. Places
Example: The local gas station
5. Links
Example: A blog post from another blog
6. Random
Example: Unrealistic Morning Routines

Special days:
Every Monday I will post a new quote
Every Wednesday I will post a new link to a page/article dealing with movie clichés

Every Friday I present to you a well known movie character
Scenes, places and random posts will come irregularly for now.

I will name my posts like this "Quote/Character/Scene #1, 2, 3" etc. and label them in their respective categories. To the right on the blog, under labels, you can click the tags and that way display all posts in that certain category.

Please comment and give feedback, it helps and gives me motivation to keep on writing.

Most Anticipated Movies 2012 FOLLOW-UP

In April last year I created a list of my most anticipated movies to be released 2012. I said I would do a follow-up to see if I was right or wrong.

I wrote:
"I will try to guess what I will rate each of the five movies in this list and when I have seen them all I will make a post where I follow up how it went, which will be sometime at the beginning of next year."

Nr. 5: Dark Shadows

Directed by: Tim Burton
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Release date: 11 May

April 2012: Tim Burton + Johnny Depp + Helena Bonham Carter. Sounds familiar? This is a vampire movie, which there aren't a shortage of nowadays, but I don't think this will be just another one of them. Nothing really indicates that this will bad, but not much indicates that it will be great either. I think it will be a good movie, but maybe not a favorite. I'd say it will be a strong 7 or a weak 8.

February 2013: It was funny, but only for the first hour. The last 30 minutes was almost painful, too childish for my taste. I've got to say though that it's typical for a Burton movie. The idea is great, it's funny and interesting, but he goes too far. A small, but expected disappointment.

I thought I would rate this: 7
I rated this: 6-

Nr. 4: The Dark Knight Rises

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Genre: Action, Crime
Release date: 20 July

April 2012: The movie itself is maybe not one of the personally most anticipated movies of the year, but I'm very curious to see what kind of respons this one will get. The Dark Knight is by many considered one of greatest movies ever, but I think many can agree that Heath Ledger's amazing performance as The Joker was the big reason behind that. Really interesting however to see how good the final entry in Nolan's Batman trilogy will be. Commercially it feels as if Christopher Nolan will never fail.

February 2013: I'm not sure what I thought, it's hard to watch a movie with so much anticipation. I liked it, but I wasn't very entertained. There were memorable moments and performances but it didn't feel too interesting. It sure was a commercial success though. I think I have to watch it a second time before I honestly can say what I thought.

I thought I would rate this: 8
I rated this: 8-

Nr. 3: Seven Psychopaths

Directed by: Martin McDonagh
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Release date: 12 October 2012

April 2012: I don't think Seven Psychopaths will be even close to as good as In Bruges was, but I really hope so. It's hard to guess as Martin McDonagh is a new director, but this is what I believe.

February 2013: This movie was good, but only occasionally. The humor felt contrived, which is bad for a black comedy. I have definitely not lost interest in the director, I just hope he lets the humor develop more naturally next time.


I thought I would rate this: 8
I rated this: 6+

Nr. 2: Django Unchained

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Western, Comedy
Release date: 25 December


April 2012: I love westerns and I love Quentin Tarantino's movies, so I don't think it can go wrong. Also the actors are great and Tarantino always seems to get the best out of them.

February 2013: This movie did not fail my expectations, it was about as good as I thought it would be. The first half was perfect, the second half was not as good, but still great.

I thought I would rate this: 9
I rated this: 9

Nr. 1: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Directed by: Peter Jackson
Genre: Fantasy, AdventureRelease date: 14 December

April 2012: I'm a big fan of this The Lord of the Rings and there's really nothing that indicates that this won't be great. It's such a huge production that it couldn't go wrong. I think I will rate this 10 or possibly a 9. Anything else would be a huge disappointment.

February 2013: The Hobbit feels more like a children movie than The Lord of the Rings, and maybe I would have known more what to expect if i would've done a little more research. It was well-made as usual, but they're trying to make a 9 hour movie out of a single book, and it's obvious that the story isn't as epic as The Lord of the Rings.

I thought I would rate this: 10
I rated this: 8-

List of upcoming movies from known directors

(I will create a list of my most anticipated movies 2013 soon.)

Survival in Nature

Top 5 Survival Movies
The best 5 movies where survival in nature is a major part.

#5. Quest For Fire (1981)

#4. The Grey (2011)

#3. Alive (1993)

My favorite survival story, and the movie was well-made, but not perfect.
I read the book "Miracle in the Andes" recently, a book I strongly recommend.

#2. Kon-tiki (2012)

#1. Cast Away (2000)

Watch more: IMDb List

Top 5 Movies Seen in January

#5. A Royal Affair (2012)
Original title: En kongelig affære

Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel
Genre: History, Drama

#4. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
Directed by: F.W. Murnau
Genre: Drama, Romance

#3. The Third Man (1949)
Directed by: Carol Reed
Genre: Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller

#2. Flight (2012)
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Genre: Drama

#1. Django Unchained (2012)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Western, Action

Top 5 Movies Seen 2012

#5. Festen (1998)

Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg (Uncredited)

Genre: Drama

 

#4. Dancer in the Dark (2000)

Directed by: Lars Von Trier

Genre: Drama, Musical

#3. Dogville (2003)

Directed by: Lars Von Trier

Genre: Drama

Sub-genre: Revenge

#2. Baraka (1992)

Directed by: Ron Fricke

Genre: Documentary

#1. Adams æbler (2005)

 Directed by: Anders Thomas Jensen

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Sub-genre: Black Comedy

December

Top 5 Movies Seen in December

#5. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (1999)

#4. End of Watch (2012)

#3. Breaking the Waves (1996)

#2. Dogville (2003)

#1. Adams æbler (2005)