Skyfall

4.5/5

It's officially Bond at his best. This is possibly my favorite James Bond movie. It felt real, but it felt like Bond. It was silly, but it was easily taken seriously. I loved the little Bond silly moments, the one liners were all fun, it was just so enjoyable. There was a really fun sense of suspense and adventure. It had some great action scenes, but the best scenes were the slow paced thoughtful moments of character development. I especially loved the opening sequence, which might be my favorite opening to a Bond movie now (with the first Adele song I actually like! How about that). It's really got a great tone, and it left me feeling not just good, but it left me feeling really excited for the next bond films. Daniel Craig is phenomenal as usual, of course.

Flight

3/5

Everyone thinks this movie is great. Roger Ebert gave this movie a 4, his highest rating. I don't know...I liked it? But I definitely didn't love it. I felt the acting was good enough to get by, but far from being dynamite or Oscar worthy. I thought the story was interesting, but too predictable for my taste, even at the parts trying to be unpredictable. The direction shined in some places, and fell flat in others. Musically, it wasn't too interesting. Seriously, I thought the best part was John Goodman, who wasn't in it too much anyway. There were one or two scenes in particular I remember the audience laughing at. I'm pretty sure no one was supposed to be laughing during those scenes. It was good, it was interesting enough, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it brilliance or Oscar worthy.

Wreck-It Ralph

5/5

I. Loved. This. Movie. The best animated movie I've seen since Toy Story 3. It was passionate, honest, and real. It was a story that wasn't terribly original, which let the audience latch on, in a world that left me itching to learn more, filled with clever and funny moments, as well as a few great heartfelt ones. I loved the idea of internal gaming-societies viewing glitches, the idea of a bad-guy support group in particular was incredibly funny to me. I managed to catch the movie in 3D, and let me say the 3D was also phenomenal. It really sucked me into this video game world, with enough change to recognize when I was supposed to be in it, and when I was supposed to be on the outside looking in. I loved the obvious passion for video games that went into this. The division of world by genre was flawless, with the obvious enjoyment of each video game style from each being perfectly captured. Clearly, the creators loved the video games they referenced and tried their hardest to make the greatest video game movie ever made. And they succeeded. It's exciting, fun, clever, and lovable. I'll be getting this the day it's on bluray, and if it doesn't win the Oscar I'll be shocked.

Cloud Atlas

3.5/5

I liked it. I did. It's a brilliant idea translated well to film. The idea works. The connections of all the lives are interesting, passionately told and acted, and relevant. That being said...I didn't care about anyone. I was sucked into the concept like I was listening to a well written lecture on the idea - but I had no care for anyone except far future Tom Hanks and his family and Sonmi 451. The movie was large, but not large enough to generate any real emotion other than perhaps a touch of situational drama (sure, forbidden love is sad, but why should I care about you inparticular?). I also hated the terrible Asian makeup. That made no sense to me. The movie is about souls connecting, and people reincarnating. NOT about physical bodies reincarnating. And that brought confusion - how was it Sonmi 451 was related to Tom Hanks, but Tom Hanks of that time period wasn't related to any other version of himself? I dunno. Maybe I'm overthinking it? But a movie that wants to be incredibly intelligent has to be analyzed. And I find a bit too much wrong with this movie to think of it as brilliant. It's an interesting topic presented well, but not emotionally interesting.

Argo

5/5

This movie was nothing short of an absolute success of filmmaking. It was tense, organic, suspenseful, and there was barely any action in it. Ben Affleck, who I used to hate, has proven himself again to be an incredibly talented film maker, really mastering suspense and embracing his own tone even through the relatively straightforward (albeit monumentally important) story. This movie had a dynamite cast, all giving exactly what was needed to make their character memorable and important. I loved the pace, which was matched by a soft tone that kept me intrigued. There's really not much else to say - this was amazing. Go see it, it's my new favorite of the year!