Great lists Doug however I'll just say that Airbender was definently the worst of the year for me, it was a fan killer and an all-together awful experience.

Definitely.

Great reviews. Keep it up, and happy new year! I can't wait until 2011 to see what you have.

Love your work.

HAPPY GOD DAMN NEW YEAR DOUG!!!
I hope to kick your ass (or you kick my ass either way is an honor) on Marvel vs Capcom 3!
Enjoy your 3 button command interface Walker

Dinner For Schmucks was kindof funny though

i don't think he saw that one.

Agreed.

I agree. I was kind of disappointed that the film wasn't on the list, but then again, I'm not surprised. He does seem like the type to stay away from movies with a reputation for being so bad, unless he's doing a Bum Review. Plus, in one of the NC reviews, didn't he say he's never seen the TV show? If he hasn't seen the show, he's not going to have much interest in the movie... But yeah, I agree. That movie was a trainwreck and was awful on every level.

Anyway, on the Worst list... I am SO glad Alice in Wonderland made it onto the list! All my friends saw it and liked it, but I hated it, and for the reasons Doug stated. They were doing this rebellion, and there was this prophecy, and ugh... It was too serious, kind of takes away the point of Alice in Wonderland, really.

As for the Best list... I'm glad How To Train Your Dragon made it on the list.

Haven't seen Black swan yet, but If it gets too freaky, I can just remember SHE'S TURNIN' INTO A CHICKIN!

As much as I like the NC, it's always nice to see Doug just being Doug once in a while.

Hope 2011 is a good year for everyone.

I'm real lazy when it comes to wacthing movies and I doubt I would be any good at picking anything good witch is why I love seeing everybody be them selfs and talk about what they liked and hated it makes it easier for me to pick something considering many diffrent opinions being show I can only trust the people on this site for what would be fun to watch

I wish there was just one special part of the website that's only on when a certain season is upon us(Like for example Merry Zodmas). So yeah,cool video Doug (butchering lame meme aww yeah)

It's also nice to see him give his analysis on something without being prejudiced or pandering to the mainstream; even if the critiques he's using are a little biased

The old man story kept me laughing for 6 minutes.

Has anyone done a "Where are the Wild Things Are" review? I love that movie.

worst:

I agree with dinner for smhucks. Horrible film, not funny, I just felt so sorry for the guy who has to deal with the Steve Carrel character. Also, the movie is basically 3 really unfunny scenes that go on for far too long and it's too the point where I wanted to walk out.

best:

Agree, I agree with all of it, except those I haven't seen which are your top 2 and toy story 3

Wow, Doug is officially the only other person I know who had the exact same opinion as me about Kick Ass. My other problem with that film would probably be that it was meant to be a comedy about putting a hero in real life...except it ends with the most unrealistic cock riding sequence for the hero. Derp?

You know what I hate about people like you. They always say Kick-Ass is so raunchy and they swear a lot. But you all love Watchmen.

I should have trusted you that you knew what you were doing, and watched the videos in the order you presented. But I assumed the bad movie video would be funnier, so I saved it for last. Boy was I wrong.

That thing about the guy at the end was freaking hilarious. Why would the guy think of a chicken of all birds? I mean, I guess they do have webbed feet, but I never even thought about it.

Chickens have toes that are separated, not webbed. Only water birds have webbed feet, but hey, that's funny too. XD

It wasn't quite meant to be funny, he was just giving his opinion.

I meant the thought of a chicken with webbed feet would be pretty funny. :)

I'm surprised you didn't like Kick-Ass. I loved this movie. I thought it was awesome. I admit that it did get unpleasant at times, but trust me: the comic book was worse.

LOL so you noticed it too Doug? I hope the extreme left can appreciate the irony of mocking the extreme right for being extreme, and vic versa.

I really wish I could go to the movies more often so I'd have an actual opinion to share, but all I really have to say is "I agree about Toy Story 3".

They ending, I thought the same thing. I didn't think the holding hands scene was "too much" (I didn't cry when I watched it, but I didn't really think much of it) but I definitely agree about the ending. It was just a bit unrealistic for the character.

I never thought about it before, but I guess it's kind of true. At the same time, though, I think most people at that point became Andy and never thought about how the character "should" act.

I know I did. I cried so hard but tried equally has hard to not do so loudly that I thought my head would explode.

Perhaps it was a little over-the-top and unrealistic, but not by much. You'd be surprised how much someone that age can feel like a reflective old man.

As far as "let me in" is concerned.

I agree, but the thing is that Doug didn't mention is that its a remake of a Swedish film "let the right one in" That was MUCH better. The bullies had reason for what they were doing, things were much more unique and done from a different perspective. Everything was subtle, it wasn't till the ending that the girl went ape shit and you really saw what she could do.

I agree with "let me in" but the movie it was based off of was actually a really good film.

He DID say it indirectly, when he mentioned there was an "original version".

Your lists have to be the ones that surprised me the most Doug. I wish I had seen most of these so I had a better idea of what you're talking about. I did see Alice in Wonderland, Toy Story 3, and How to Train Your Dragon and I completely agree with you on those. Alice in Wonderland especially. I really enjoyed the movie when I watched it but the more I think about it the more disappointed I get.

Thanks for sharing your picks with us and have a Happy New Year.

aww i really loved the fact of how real kickass was great comedy but with a feel of "you cant be a super hero unless you know the danger" it wasnt watered down at all.......then again when me and my friend saw it we kinda laughed at the torture scene it was funny maybe that why i loved it

I'm not liberal either (I'm registered libertarian) but I really didn't mind Easy A. It was not great, but I thought the film did its job for what it was. I agree that the one dimensional Christian Right character is getting very stale. It was the one thing that really kept the movie from being good. I'm embarrassed to say that I've only seen about half of the movies on either list. I really enjoyed your lists.

Everyone likes to see the most exaggerated forms of a group of people, but for the Christian Right characters the hate towards them is so unnecessarily vile that I'm ashamed to be called a human being.

To Hollywood, Christians are just easy pickings for insults. Look on the internet and whenever someone online (regular people, critics, etc) talks about Christians they'll show the generic picture of the Phelps family with their "GOD HATES FAGS" signs and say, "Look, Look! This is what ALL Christians are like!"

Meanwhile the Christian faith calls it's believers to turn the other cheek when attacked and insulted. To these hate-filled writers Christians are only Right-wing bigot, nut cases and never get a fair trial in cinema. Their just punching bags for worn-out and hate-filled jokes; if their shown in any positive light it's called preachy, trite, or boring. It's appalling and should be put to rest. (Of course then MacFarlene would lose half his jokes).

Sorry, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" (Be nice on the thumbs down)

Speaking as an atheist, I agree. If all or mabye even most Christians acted like this, then they could get away with it. But they don't. Today's Christians are becoming more tolerant and less militant about their beliefs. Sure, there's a few incidents, but Christians are more undderstanding of even those they disagree with.

SkullCap - Was that a reference to "Network" at the end of your comment? I've never seen the movie, but I do recognise the quote.

Yes it was a reference to "Network" and I too have never seen the movie, but I love the quote. Good job.

"Christians are still the majority in the US"

But that doesn't excuse the fact that they are used as fodder for some hollywood hack's revenge fantasy.

Demonizing a population of people is wrong, no matter who does it.

What about places where they are a minority? Where they are regularly persecuted and oppressed?

Iran? Egypt? China? North Korea? Iraq? Need I go on?

Saying, "oh well, they have majority in the US and other parts of the world" does not invalidate the complaint that this broad stereotype is still stale, stupid, and a gross generalization.

Only Major disagreement was let me in. I love both films and the book, so I may be bias, but I cannot fathom being bored with the movie.

Other than that, great list.

The story about the old man made me laugh so hard. XD Thanks, Doug.

I haven't been seeing movies in theatres lately so thanks for the update on what I missed. I'll be sure to check some of those out.

Happy New Year.

LAST!! I mean-- shit...

Anyway, my friend saw Social Network a little while ago. Now I wanna see it, but I really don't care about Facebook or the origins of it.

I loved Inception, but then I really love that "dream or reality" sort of stuff.

That Black Swan story cracked me up. Not sure how I'd feel about the movie though, because its premise really doesn't interest me.

Well, it's just Speculation at this point, but there's a strong possibility of Toy Story being incorporated into Kingdom Hearts in the next or the major sequel. Whether that interests you or not is another matter.

The Reason why it was serious(Kickass) Is due to the original story in the Comic, I love Kickass for it being Dark true it was really Dark but even some of the Dark scenes it was funny. Like the scene were the badguys thought Batman was real,that was funny. But Hey it isn't the Dark in Batman Returns eh?

I think Doug missed the point on Let Me In, it's not really about Vampires, a vampire just so happens to be in it, but it's not meant to be the focus on it. But that's his views and this is mine.

A few of your "worst of" choices really surprised me. Those were Easy A and the Chloe Moretz movies.


I didn't see Easy A, but I haven't heard a bad word about it until now. The "super liberal friend-parents being portrayed as the right way to parent" thing has been done before, but I can't remember where, and yes, it is annoying. But I still plan to see Easy A and when/if I do see it, I'm sure I will enjoy the experience of watching the onscreen parents and thinking about your objections.

Kick Ass and Let Me In were two of my favorite movies released this year. But I can definitely see why you don't like them. The mean spirited heart of Kick Ass can be a downer (you should get a load of the comic. whoo-boy.) and the convenient cruelness of the bullies at the end of Let Me In feels shoe-horned and tacked on.

As for the complaint about "the vamps suck blood and can't go out in the daylight...We've seen this before, there is nothing new here." point that you made:

Well Doug, the movie should not have points taken away for working within the conventions of classic vampire mythology. That's not fair. After all, it is a VAMPIRE movie. If the girl could go outside in the day unharmed and didn't rely on blood to survive then she wouldn't be a vampire, would she?

Granted, the rules of vampirism can be changed for a story, and have been (Lifeforce, anyone?) but that is not a prerequisite for a good vampire movie. No one claimed this movie would change the vampire myth. No, the filmmakers just tried to tell a good story. I think they succeeded.

I do understand your one good reason for not liking it, though: You were not interested in the particular story that was told.

[spoiler ahead for 'Let Me In'. sort of]

You, Doug, were more interested in what happened they day the two "kids" left town. That's fine. But the filmmakers tell you what happens to them, in an indirect way: Owen and Abby's relationship will end the same way that it did with Abby and her previous keeper. Abby is not a little girl and this wasn't a story of young love. She's a very old being who's been there, done that, and she manipulated and prepared that boy to be her daykeeper: a slave who goes out and procures food for her at night. For the rest of his life. That is what he will eventually become, unless he breaks free of her. That's it.

"Hey! She's TURNIN' INTO A SWAAN!!!"

:D I expect that to appear in a review.

Happy New Year everyone.

I couldn't agree more with Alice in Wonderland. One of the things that never made sense to me was the ending. So, the entire movie, or at least the beginning, is about Alice and how she doesn't want to go along with what other people want and expect. So how do we summarize this theme for the end? By having her defeat the monster that everyone said she would defeat in the way that everyone said she would defeat it. That's so completely contradictory it's not even funny.

I understand your point, but I actually thought that theme was handled well. At first she said "I don't have to do this, I make my own path". But ultimately, she decided that was indeed what she wanted to do, regardless of whether it was fated or not.

I thought the movie did a really good job of representing its themes, but Doug is right: there isn't enough nonsense, so it's not really Alice in Wonderland. If you can get past that, though, there is some great value in it.

If the devil is near when toast goes jelly side down, then we've had quite a few breakfasts together. I always said "God damn it" when the toast fell, but I didn't think it would be taken litteraly.

Just so you know, Burton only DIRECTED Alice in Wonderland, kinda like how Kevin Smith only directed Cop Out. The script was written by Linda Woolverton. Another thing people fuck up is blaming Burton for Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. Again, it was directed by Burton but written by John August.

Imagine what Burton could have done if he made it without Disney & wrote the script himself. (I was hoping he'd be the one to direct American McGee's Alice the Movie). This is also the only Disney movie where a woman rejects marriage, skips romance, & focuses on her career in the end.

Never even heard of "Let Me In."

Wanted to see Kick Ass, but no one would go with me. I'm going to rent it tomorrow, before I forget again.

Didn't Dave Corel used to be on The Daily Show?

Never heard of Easy A, but Liberal comedy + cute redhed = interesting enough to rent.

Out of your best list, I plan to rent Scott Pilgim, because I love looking for obscure & outdated pop culture references, & Black Swan; I understand it's like Perfect Blue.

Burton should get the "blame" for both Alice and Charile. He is the overwhelming creative force in both movies. If he didn't approve the script, it wouldn't get made. He didn't see the obvious flaws in both scripts, his direction of Charlie was atrocious. They were "his" movies.

I don't buy that "Disney" shit, as if Disney could force Burton to make bad movies. Even Robert Rodriguez told Disney to go stuff it when he disagreed with them on"Zorro".

And what about this 'Alice' being the only movie that showed an independent woman (to hear you tell it) So are you crediting Burton with the direction of 'Alice' or not? Beautiful looking movie, but the story almost makes worthless.

I know this is a couple months after your post but when I saw your comment about Tim Burton directing a movie version of American McGee's Alice in Wonderland, I had to interject.

Although I feel like I'm the only person that knows or believes this, IMDb had listed under Tim Burton's In-Development productions that he was going to be directing a movie version of the American McGee pc game. It even listed Sarah Michelle Gellar as the one that was going to play a grown-up Alice, or the Red Queen. Mind you, this was back in mid 2007 when I heard about this, way before the current version of Alice in Wonderland was announced. Though about a year or two later, I saw that it was changed and that Tim Burton was joining up with Disney again to direct the newer Alice movie.

Although whether or not Burton had originally signed on to do an American McGee movie, I can't say for sure since the page was removed but I think for me, that's what ruined the Alice movie that everyone knows today for me. I liked it to a point, the scenery was good the characters and story...not so much. But when I saw the movie in theaters, in the back of my head, I couldn't stop thinking of what the Burton/American McGee Alice movie would have been like if it had actually happened. Honestly, the morbid gothic atmosphere and look of the movie reminded me so much of the game.

The only movie I regret seeing in 2010 is (sigh) "Skyline." It didn't get bad until the very ending. To me, it was the biggest "F#ck you (middle finger)" I have ever seen in the theatre, and I went to see "Kazaam" and "Batman & Robin."

This was awesome. I haven't heard of Black Swan but now I'mma check it out.

Well it wasn't much of a plot. In fact, possibly the laziest plot I've seen in a long while. They could have added a some sort of point to it, of course, but an epic battle of good and evil? Wtf no. It made no sense, not even within the movie itself.

They could have done a more traditional simple adventure... maybe add Alice learning how to use Wonderland logic and beating all the locals at it. Or they could have played more with the idea of her having been there before -- finding her lost memories of childhood. Or perhaps show Wonderland as an allegory of her life: a recurring dream in which she fights real life problems that take an absurd form.

In any case, there's no point in making an Alice in Wonderland movie if you aren't going to use the original material at all. This movie could have been any generic fantasy story, it was just dressed up as Alice in Wonderland. Plus it wasn't even any good AS a generic fantasy story. It was just lots of pretty pictures and pretty sets and pretty actors and pretty music and pretty everything. It was so empty it might as well have not had any plot at all.

First off, I wouldn't call Megamind a "major movie". It was a funny, and very good, movie, but it wasn't a big blockbuster nor did it recieve heaps of critical acclaim. Second, doesn't he usually just see movies that are recieving a lot of praise and/or just made a lot of money?

And I agree with him on the Alice movie. The lousiness wasn't necessarily because it had a plot, it was that it had such a SERIOUS plot. Saving Wonderland? Being part of a "prophecy"? The whole point of Wonderland is that it's a surreal world of nonsense. In this movie, it's just a REALLY bland plot with a slightly trippy setting.

Happy New Year TGWTG.com!

I really didn't see a lot of movies this year, but the one's I did see I agreed with you on. I'd probably say my favorite movie of the year was Inception, though Toy Story 3 was an amazing animated movie.

I must be the only person that thought that "The Social Network" was really over rated. I thought it was ok, but not great. I didn't care about the main character at all, and thought that Justin Timberlake kind of punched him in the face and stole the movie from him.

darthdave, no, you're not alone, I also thought The Social Network wasn't that big a deal, it just let me feeling like "meh", I couldn't care at all about any of the characters.

But about the videos. Now I have to see How to Train your Dragon, I hadn't been interested at all in that movie, but now I'll have to see it. Also Black Swan, another one that I would have let go, now I'll have to see it.
I was expecting a mention of Skyline as the worst of the worst, mostly because that line about how Let Me In should have started where it ended, was exactly what I thought about Skyline.
And about Alice in Wonderland, I have such a poor opinion of the original that I think any change is an improvement.
Now I want to see the "she's turning into a swan!" guy becoming a new character, a minor one, a throw away one, okay, just the voice and the general cluelessness, but it would be funny.