End of the Year Review 2020

This year was an exceptionally bad year for the film business because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Films with scheduled release dates in March and beyond, were either delayed or realsed on streaming sites. Most of delays were pushed into 2021. This disease may have sped up the inevitable fate of movie thesters dying. I look foward to watching movies on a large movie screen agian. Until then, here is my "End of the Year Review" list. 

The Best:

1. The Trial Chicago 7
2. Soul
3. Mank
4. Tenet
5. The Invisible Man

Broken Down By Genre: 

Action: Extraction
Adventure: N/A
Animation: Soul
Comedy: Guns Akimbo
Comic Book: Wonder Woman 1984
Crime / Mystery: Enola Holmes
Drama: The Way Back
Fantasy: Onward
Historical or Bio Pic: The Trial Chicago 7
Horror: N/A
Indie Film: N/A
Musical: Hamilton
Sci-Fi: Tenet
Thriller: The Invisible Man
War: "Greyhound"

Commentary & Notes: With a very light release schedule, Im only doing a top 5. These lists in the past have been a top 10. Not goona lie, I only wanted to fill my movie viewings with films that would bring me joy or make me feel good. There was more than enough negative things happening in real life.

The Worst: 

1. Dolittle
2. Artemis Fowl
3. Fantasy Island
4. Bloodshot
5. The New Mutants

Commentary & Notes: These films wernt really all that bad. Some of these films I enjoyed but they just dont hold up.

Most Anticipated of 2021

1. Untitled Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel
2. No Time To Die
3. Black Widow
4. Dune (2020)
5. The Suicide Squad
6. Eternals (2021)
7. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
8. Last Night in Soho
9. Ghostbusters: Afterlife
10. The Matrix 4

Best / Worst 2015 + Most Anticipated 2016

Preface: I haven't seen as many films this year as years past. This is partly due to the size of the town I live in and the availability of films at my local theater. Therefore, my list of the best and worst film of 2015 may not reflect the "popular" view. Before giving my list of best movies of 2015, let me share with you, my favorite films separated out via genre.      

Action: Mad Max: Fury Road 
Adventure: Tomorrowland 
Animation: Inside Out 
Comedy: Ant-Man 
Comic Book: Ant-Man  
Crime / Mystery: Mr. Holmes 
Drama: Tentatively: Spotlight 
Fantasy: Star Wars: The Force Awakens 
Historical or Bio Pic: Straight Outta Compton  
Horror: It Follows 
Indie Film: Ex Machina 
Musical: Straight Outta Compton  
Sci-Fi: The Martian 
Thriller: Mission Impossible Rogue Nation 
Western: Tentatively: The Revenant

Notes: I still have a lot of films to catch up on that came out in 2015, hence why Spotlight and The Revenant have "Tentatively" attached to them. As far as Western go, The Hateful Eight could give The Revenant a run for its money, but then again I'm more anticipating The Revenant. The Drama genre has quite a few films that could slide in as my favorite, but Spotlight looks the most promising. The weakest genres this year was comedy, horror, and musicals. Most of the "pure" comedies in 2015 were stinkers critical, therefore, I didn't buy a ticket and watch them in the theater.

Best:

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens 
2. Ex Machina 
3. The Martian 
4. Inside Out 
5. Ant-Man  
6. Mission Impossible Rogue Nation 
7. The Peanuts Movie 
8. Mad Max: Fury Road 
9. Kingsman: The Secret Service 
10. Straight Outta Compton  

Honorable Mentions: 

Avengers Age of Ultron 
Jurassic World 
Mr. Holmes

Notes: Let me start with my honorable mention. Avengers Age of Ultron and Jurassic World got me in the theater and gave me a good time while I was there, but didn't quite make my top ten. Mr. Holmes just barely made my list. Mr. Holmes was by far in my top films of 2015, but when I narrowed my list to 10 it didn't make the cut. Star Wars: The Force Awakens might not be the "best" film overall, but it impacted me on all levels. Personally, I think Ex Machina is a better film than Star Wars, but I was more entertained by Star Wars.

Worst: 

1. Fifty Shades of Grey 
2. Pixels 
3. Pan 
4. Jupiter Ascending 
5. Minions 
6. Fantastic 4 
7. Chappie 
8. Pitch Perfect 2 
9. The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials 
10. Tomorrowland

Notes: I got to be honest, I didn't watch half of these movies. Primarily because they had bad reviews across the board, including the people in my closest social circles. Some of you may be confused at seeing Tomorrowland on my worst list since it's on my favorites list above. Well, Tomorrowland, had really good adventure qualities, you may say the best of the year. Heck, overall Tomorrowland wasn't really that bad of a film, but it was very disappointing, hence why it's at the bottom of the list. Fun fact: Pixels was on my most anticipated list of last year, but sank to the bottom of the barrel after seeing the trailer.

Most Anticipated 2016: 

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 
2. Captain America: Civil War 
3. Deadpool 
4. X-Men: Apocalypse 
5. Warcraft 
6. Suicide Squad 
7. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 
8. The Jungle Book 
9. Doctor Strange (not sure if this trailer is the REAL official or not) 
10. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Notes: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice started near the top of this list but drop drastically once I saw the full trailer, and it revealed what seems to be the entire movie. I'm equally pumped and nervous for Captain America: Civil War. On one hand, it could be just as good Captain America: The Winter Soldier or it could swing the other way and just be Avenger 2.5 and focus too much time on the ancillary characters.   

A Series of Genres: Sci-Fi

I think it’s about time to wrap up this series. This genre study has been an adventure, to say the less. I want to end this series with my all-time favorite genre, Science Fiction (Sci-Fi). In my Fantasy post I defined Sci-Fi as being, “rooted in science or scientific theory that usually has an outer space setting.” I would like to take that definition and expand upon it. Science fiction films use science, pseudoscience, and / or scientific theories as their primary plot device. The “science” in these films tend to be partially fabricated, if not totally fabricated. Along with “science”, the Sci-Fi genre usually showcases these characteristics: outer space as a setting, time or interstellar travel, new technology, aliens, mutants, androids / robots being used as characters, or exploration of an else-world scenarios. Sci-Fi films give the audience an outlet to escape reality, much like the Fantasy genre dose, hence why most combined the two genres as Sci-Fi / Fantasy. 

There have been many visionaries, throughout history that have given us that escape. In the modern world, movies and their director are the ones responsible for proving that form of entertainment. I would like to share a handful of directors that have given us some of the best Sci-Fi worlds in cinema. First off there is J.J Abrams, he started his career as a television producer, creating shows like Alias, Lost, and Fringe. He then made a jump to the silver screen directing Mission: Impossible III, from there Abrams flexed his geek muscles and made the reboot to Star Trek. J.J. Abrams has continued down this Sci-Fi path directing Super 8, and the sequel to Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness. His latest project is none other than Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. 

The next director I have to mention is James Cameron, the father of The Terminator. Looking at James Cameron’s filmography he has written pretty much everything in the Terminator universe. James Cameron is also responsible for Avatar (not the Last Airbender) and their sequels, which he is currently working on. His plan is to film Avatar 2, 3, and 4 all back-to-back. Other Sci-Fi films James Cameron has been a part of include, The Abyss and Aliens. Before James Cameron there was Ridley Scott, who made Alien, the preceding film to Aliens. His very next film was Blade Runner, which is arguable one of best Sci-fi films ever made. Ridley Scott didn't touch the Sci-Fi genre again until 2012 with the film Prometheus, which was a prequel / spin-off to the Alien franchise. As far as, Ridley Scott future career goes, he is in talks of producing an Alien movie directed by Neill Blomkamp, along with a sequel to Prometheus. 

I’m going to move from Ridley Scott to Steven Spielberg. Spielberg is synonymous with filmmaking, his name has been attached to many different projects, spanning across film, television, and video games. I’m sure you have heard of this guy, but if not, let me rattle off some of his films: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, and, War of the Worlds (remake). Those are only the Sci-Fi films he has directed, which is only the tip of the iceberg, especially if factor in all of the films he has produced. Form his resume it seems like he know what he is doing when to come to Sci-Fi. As a matter of fact, some of my all-time favorite Sci-Fi films were directed by Spielberg. 

If you have been paying attention, so far, then you may have realized that a lot of the films I have mentioned are big budget summer blockbuster films, with intense visual effects. To bring these vast worlds to life on the big screen, filmmakers have to create them digitally and sometime partially. For me, good VFX is a perfect balance of “real” and “fake” some may even call it, seamless. I found it interesting that most filmmakers that work on Sci-Fi films usually have to create new ways to capture visual effect shots. One of those filmmakers is George Lucas, who founded Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in 1975 while working on the first Star War film. ILM should sound fairly familiar because that company is responsible for most of the visual effects today. One of the films that stick out in my mind, which made major breakthroughs in visual effects and “CGI” is Tron (1982). 

Tron is credited as the first film to use extensive computer animation, but because of the capacity of the computers, at that time, the film only uses that form of technology for about twenty minutes of the film. The rest of the visual effect shots had to be done more traditionally by filming in black-and-white with an all-black backgrounds. The color bits were added in later with rotoscopic techniques and cel-animation. It’s been said that because of the process and cost, that form of animation hasn't really been used again in a feature film. The next film to have similar ambitions as Tron, visually speaking, was Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which was nearly ten years after Tron. T2’s visual effects, advanced the applications of CGI by being the first film to utilize natural human motion from a CG character. These advancements landed the film an Academy Award in the Best Visual Effects category. 

At the end of 1990’s, 1999 to be exact, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science gave The Matrix and Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Personally, I think The Matrix has heavily inspired visual effect artists today, by popularizing the effect known as “bullet time” See this effect for the “first time” in the Matrix was one of the coolest things in a movie. I remember being in full amazement at point in the film. Now days, that effect or a variant of that effect is used quite often, case and point, Zack Snyder. 

I could spend a whole post talking about visual effects and CGI, and I may in the future, but we are here talking about Sci-Fi films. Well, Sci-Fi films and visual effect go hand-in-hand, especially films being made now. The visual effects in a Sci-Fi film tend to be its best quality, so much so, the Academy takes notice awarding them the Best Visual Effects Oscar. This category and other visual categories like Best Make-Up is really the only love the Academy shows towards Sci-Fi films. Every once in a while a Sci-Fi film is nominated for the Best Picture category. In 1982, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was nominated for Best Picture but, Gandhi took home the prize that year. In recent years, the Best Picture category has expanded its potential list of nominations to ten nominations. Since that change, only five Sci-Fi films have been recognized as one of the greats: Avatar, District 9, Inception, Gravity, and Her. 

What Sci-Fi films are considered great? We have already examined some of the great directors that have produced great Sci-Fi films. We have even explored the world of visual effects and how Sci-Fi films have evolved that area of filmmaking. This exploration leads us into the many accolades these films have received for breathtaking visuals, some have even been nominated for the most prestigious film awards, The Academy Award (Oscar). Now, I want to share with you my favorite Sci-Fi films.

My favorite Big Budget Sci-Fi films are: 

1. Guardians of the Galaxy 
2. Tie: Interstellar / Inception 
3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey 
5. Independence Day 

My favorite Indie Sci-Fi films are: 

1. Moon 
2. District 9 
3. Donnie Darko 
4. Sunshine 
5. Attack The Block 

• Recommendations: Her, Snowpiercer, and Ex Machina

Top Franchise in Sci-Fi:

1. Star Wars 
2. Back to the Future 
3. Jurassic Park 
4. Star Trek 
5. Terminator 

• Honorable Mention: Planet of the Apes 

I have mentioned before in this series that Star Wars was a Fantasy set in space. I still hold that to be true. The story element line up with many fantasy tales, but there a lot of Sci-Fi elements as well. Star Wars become a full Sci-Fi film, if you compare it to the definition I stated back in the first paragraph. I have been a Star Wars fan for quite some time, well since the 90’s when I first learned about Star Wars. My parents had the original Star War trilogy on VHS. I was part of the millions who watch every single prequel film at their midnight release. I understand why die hard Star Wars fan disown the prequels. As I aged, I began to sway with that line of thinking more and more because Star Wars became very kiddie. My excitement of Star Wars has been rekindled because of The Force Awakens. If you are a huge Star Wars fan, like me, than I suggest checking out AMC Jedi Council. It’s a weekly show, hosted by cast members of AMC Movie Talk, which covers everything Star Wars. 

Back to the Future is by far one of my all-time favorite movies. The funny thing about Back to the Future is that it could have been on any one of these genre lists. It is first and foremost a comedy, with the premises, what would it be like to hang out with your parents when they were a teenagers. To achieve that goal a time machine is in order, and if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style? This film franchise first takes us back to 1955, were Marty has to hang out for a few days while Doc Brown figures outs how to send Marty back to 1985. The second film shows us the future, 2015, that right the future is now. In the third film, Doc has become trapped in 1885, the old west era, and Marty has to rescue him before Biff’s descendant kills him. Overall Back to the Future is a great action / adventure comedy with sci-fi elements. 

Have you ever been to a museum and seen dinosaur bones, or even a model of a dinosaur and think, “I want to see a real dinosaur?” Well, the Jurassic Park franchise made that dream come true. Steven Spielberg brought, a world where dinosaur can be visited by humans at a theme park named Jurassic Park. Our amazement is shared with the character Dr Grant (Sam Neill) when the first dinosaur is revealed. By the end of the film our opinion to see a real dinosaur, changes because of the apex predator known as the T-Rex. He reigns king of the dinosaur until the third movie, when the Spinosaurus becomes the new big bad dinosaur. The next film in the franchise is Jurassic World, it’s kind of a reboot. The film’s synopses: In an attempt to boost visitor’s attendance, park scientist create a new dinosaur by mixing the DNA of many different dinosaurs. This new species of dinosaur, Indominus Rex, escapes its enclosure causing death and destruction upon the park. It’s up to Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to save the day before too much damage has been done. 

I didn't really get into the Star Trek universe until the rebooted movies directed by J.J Abrams. These movies brought an updated version of the original Star Trek series / films, and revitalized the franchise. I personally liked The Next Generation television series a little better than the original series, but original series had a better set of films. Arguably, the best film in that franchise is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, some even claim it to be the best Sci-Fi film ever made. Star Trek is what I imagine when some say Sci-fi, because the characters have to use their own wits and science to solve the problems in the universe. Star Trek also screams Sci-Fi because of the tech. The original series didn't have that big of a budget, so the show’s creators had to be creative in creating “futuristic looking tech.” I know that some of these effects were achieved in the sound design, who could forget those classic beeps and bops. 

I almost didn't include The Terminator franchise because this film series hasn't made that immense of an impact on my viewing experience. I think I speak for most film fans that The Terminator, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day are the best of the franchise. Let’s be honest guys the only real reason we watched Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is to see Kristanna Loken in tight leathers. Besides the eye candy I didn't think that film was that good. Terminator Salvation was a decent film. I’m personally NOT the biggest fan of McG’s work. I kind of enjoyed his television show, Chuck, but that’s about it. I’m kind of looking forward to Terminator Genisys, primarily because of the cast: Jason Clark (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Lee Byung-hun (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), and Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator). For me the one person that keeps The Terminator franchise alive is Arnold Schwarzenegger. He made The Terminator / T-800 an iconic character. This movie made Arnold Schwarzenegger a cool action hero that you don’t want to mess with. 

Honorable Mention: Planet of the Apes nearly made it to my top five over The Terminator. The main reason I didn't include this franchise is because I haven’t really been that invested into the films. Much like Star Trek I was more or less introduced to the franchise with the reboots. I do remember watching the 1963 film with my father, one of the times it aired on the television network TCM. I barely remember the first rebooted film by Tim Burton, starring Mark Wahlberg. The newest incarnations of Planet of the Apes are really good. I think Andy Serkis should have gotten at least a nomination for best supporting actor for his work in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. I also think that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes should have won the Oscar for best visual effect last year, over Interstellar. 

What are your favorite Sci-Fi films?

A Series of Genres: Comic Book Movies

We are about one month away from the opening of Marvel’s Avengers Age of Ultron and the beginning of the summer blockbuster movie season. What a perfect way to get excited about the latest comic book movie, by dedicating this post, which is a part of my genre series, to comic book movies. My original plan was to save this genre to the end, so I could save the best for last. The last post in this series, animated film for those of you keeping track, through that plan out the window. There were a few other factors to focusing on this genre now, rather than later. One of those factors was a buddy of mine’s podcast title, Informal Talks. This podcast should sound somewhat familiar because this series was inspired by a post on their site. Anyways, in this past week’s episode Devon and friends began by talking about the latest movie news, which consisted primarily of comic book movies. Comments during the podcast were mostly about the new X-men, Batman, and Superman films and how they are “shit”. These comments got me heated, and jump started this post. 

I personally disagree with their comments, sort of. My disagreements are with the premise that those films are “shit” in general. I typically reserve that declaration for the worst of the worst, since that jargon is referring to defecation. I may be a little more empathic to the notion that the films didn’t do the characters justice. This area of expertise is where I have to tip my hat to Devon and the guests of Informal Talks, because they know WAY more about comic books than I do. Rightfully so, they have more creditably to how well the filmmaker adapted the various comic characters. With that being said I think a problem has arisen. In the sweaty nerd culture this problem is called the “Um, Actually” syndrome. This is the constant correction of people who spout the wrong information about the subject matters popular in the geek / nerd culture. These corrections are almost always prefaced by the phrase “um, actually.”  

For the well read this problem manifest in the form of, “The book was better” which is usually followed by a laundry list of inaccuracies. Simply, this is a bad argument when talking about movies, because movies are a different medium from books / comics. There may be a strong case to be had when talking about movies adapted from other materials, especially if major plot points or character were changed significantly. There is a debate waiting to be had on what constitutes as a significant change. Mr. Pedantic will get caught up on every little change and call them significant, whereas Mr. Apathetic is willing to let some details slide, as long as the core attributes are intact. I really don’t want this post to focus primarily on this subject, but I do want to showcase my line of thinking, when determining the best comic book movies. I attempt to measure all the attributes of a film, include the truthfulness to its source material, to get a better picture of their strengths and weakness, therefore receiving a more accurate analysis of the films. 

Hopefully this will give you a better idea on how I look at movies adapted from other materials. So, when I reveal my list, you know the metric of my measuring stick. Before I share with you my favorite comic book movies let’s explore this genre's history. A history that is the epitome of a roller coaster ride. A history that showcases a fight between DC Comics and Marvel Comic, as they race to the top of the box office. A history that start back in the 1940’s. 

In the 1940’s there were a number of Serial Films being produced featuring DC Comics two main superheroes, Superman and Batman. Batman made his first appearance in the 1943 in a Serial Films title Batman, staring Lewis Wilson as Bruce Wanye / Batman. Superman followed in 1948 in its own Serial titled, Superman, staring Kirk Alyn as Clark Kent / Superman. Other superheroes serials from the 1940’s included Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), The Phantom (1943) and Captain America (1944). 

The 1950’s was the decade for Superman with the TV series, Adventures of Superman, staring George Reeves, which spawn a movie titled Superman and the Mole Men. The following decade, the 1960’s, Batman took the spotlight with the TV Series, Batman, staring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin. The cast of this television show would reprise their roles in 1966 with a full length feature titled, Batman: The Movie. DC Comics rode Superman and Batman to the bank throughout the 60’s and 70’s. Marvel tried to interject with their TV-made movies: Spider-Man (1977), Dr. Strange (1978), and Captain America and its sequel (1979). Marvel’s efforts were crushed in 1978 when Richard Donner released Superman (Superman: The Movie), starring Christopher Reeve. I would say this film kick started the comic book movie craze, which lead right into the 80’s 

Four, Superman related films came out during the 1980’s: Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983), Supergirl (1984), and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Unfortunately the Superman films progressively worsen both in popularity and financially. Superman made a little over 300 million, while Superman IV made about 15.5 million. Marvel had success with their television show / TV made movies, during this time. Marvel only had one feature length film produced during the 80’s, that wasn’t TV made or direct to video, and that film was Howard the Duck. As the 80’s were coming to a close Tim Burton released a dark toned Batman film starring, Michael Keaton. The film's tone was heavily influenced by Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. It was this version of Batman that we as fans wanted, so much so, a film franchise was built upon it. 

The 90’s was a dark time for comic book movies, even for Batman, who had three films released in this decade: Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), and Batman & Robin (1997). Batman & Robin is arguably the worst Batman movie ever made. George Clooney has been known for giving fans back their money for that film. DC Comics also produced Steel starring Shaquille O'Neal as John Henry Irons / Steel. Steel made less than 2 million at the box office. Marvel for the most part made their first major dent into the film world with Blade in 1998 which made about 131 million at the box office. It would take another two or so years before they revitalized the comic book movie genre. 

During The summer of the new millennium Bryan Singer gave us X-Men. X-Men made just shy of 300 million at the box office, with those numbers Marvel produced three more sequels / prequels: X2: X-Men United (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). Marvel continued to steamroll through the competition, producing at least one film every year. Primarily under the 20th Century Fox banner Marvel attempt to bring to alive many of their properties: Daredevil, Hulk, The Punisher, Elektra, Fantastic Four, and Ghost Rider. Some of these films were fairly successful, while the majority of them were not. Marvel had their most success over at Sony, with their Spider-Man franchise, starring Tobey Maguire. 

While Marvel was focusing on cranking out many films a year, DC focused on putting out “quality” films. In 2005, Christopher Nolan rebooted the Batman franchise. Then three years later, in 2008, Nolan gave us a sequel titled, The Dark Knight, which is arguably the best Batman film, if not the best comic book movie. During that same year Marvel launched their first two movies in what will later become the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) these two films were Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk, which was more of a reboot of Ang Lee’s Hulk from 2003. Also right around that same time we got our first taste of Zack Snyder’s style with the films 300 (2007), and Watchmen (2009). Zack Snyder could one of the main driving forces behind The DC Cinematic Universe as we enter the 2010’s. 

Well, we have made it to present time and comic book movie are a staple of the summer movie season. Right now, Marvel rules the box office with their films in the MCU, which is being led by The Avengers (2012), with 1.5 billion dollars at the box office. The 2010’s have also brought with it a great deal of reboots. Sony rebooted Spider-Man starring Andrew Garfield called The Amazing Spider-Man. 20th Century Fox “rebooted” the X-Men franchise, using a younger cast, titled X-Men: First Class. Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. rebooted Superman, as the Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill. The reboots don’t end there, Fox plans on releasing a rebooted Fantastic Four film this summer. Also Marvel has a legal hand shake to use Spider-Man in the MCU which will lead to a reboot of the reboot. As far as the future goes, Marvel has a rough outline of movies to be released from now until 2019. DC has a similar plan, but focusing on establishing a cinematic universe themselves. 

There has been a fair amount of comic book movies throughout history, but which ones hold up as the best of the best. I’m going to give you my favorite comic book franchise. Before I do I want to warn you all, I’m a bit Marvel bias, so you may not see as much love for DC on this list. 

1. Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU) 
2. Christopher's Nolan's Batman Trilogy 
3. Sam Raimi’s Spider-man Trilogy 
4. X-Men Franchise 
5. Superman Franchise

At first I didn’t want to include the whole MCU because there are a lot of films included in that list. As I began to think of the films in the MCU only Iron Man has a full trilogy, so I decided to include all the films in the MCU. I will give you my top five films in the MCU: 

1. Marvel's The Avengers 
2. Guardians of the Galaxy 
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 
4. Iron Man 
5. Thor

Christopher Nolan raised the bar of what it means to be a comic book movie. The Dark Knight alone tops most people’s lists as one of the best comic book movies ever. I personally think the series ended on a weak note with The Dark Knight Rises. The Dark Knight Rises is one of those films that is good overall, but has enough issues that it doesn't rise to greatness like its predecessors.

Sam Raimi has given me the better set of Spider-man films. The second Spider-man film in this trilogy is by far the best Spider-man movie, period. I believe Tobey Maguire gave us a better Peter Parker than Andrew Garfield. I’m not saying Garfield did a bad job, but he was too much of a “Chic Geek” or “Hipster”. Let’s be realistic here, the success of the Spider-man and X-men’s franchise had to be a big confidence boost for Marvel to create a cohesive cinematic universe. 

Do you remember the 90’s X-men cartoon opening theme? I’m not sure how much of that show influenced Bryan Singer, but from my perspective, most of the mutants showcased in that opening were placed in the first X-Men film. Then a few years later an even better X-Men movie came out. I can safely say X2: X-Men United is in my top ten favorite comic book movies. Then Bryan Singer left to direct Superman Returns, which lead to a major downgrade in quality. Matthew Vaughn was going to replace Singer at the helm, but left early on into production for personal reasons, his replacement was Brett Ratner. Ratner turned out a bad X-men film. Fox’s plans after X-Men: The Last Stand was to make a few origin stories, including Wolverine, Magneto, and “The First Class” (Cyclopes, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Iceman). X-Men Origins: Wolverine more or less tanked. So, Fox brought back Matthew Vaughn as a director and allowed him to make his X-men film. He combined the Magneto origin story with his First Class story to create a prequel / “reboot” to the first X-men film. This film was going to take place in the 60’s and focus on a younger Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. The film had success and revitalized the franchise. A sequel titled, X-Men: Days of Future Past, was made with Bryan Singer at the helm. I thought DOFP was one of the best movies of this past summer, one word, Quicksilver. 

Superman is by far the most recognizable superhero, he is beloved by many including his films. Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman (Superman: The Move) pretty much defines who Superman was climatically. Yes, there were a few actors to bring Superman to life before Christopher Reeve, but it’s his take on the character that sticks in our minds. Like most comic book movies franchises, the films had a rapid decline in quality. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is arguably one of the worst comic movie ever made, and by far the worst Superman movie. Superman didn’t make another appearance on the big screen until 2006 with Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns. It was a decent movie, but not the greatest Superman movie. I enjoyed the cast: Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, and Kate Bosworth but I didn’t enjoy the story. Just a few years ago, summer 2013, we almost got a Superman film that was as good as the 1979 film. For me the Man of Steel was a good film, but the last 45 minutes gave me battle fatigue. Even with the “bad” I can’t wait for the next Superman film, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. 

What are your favorite comic book movies?

A Series of Genres: Animation

AMC Movie New launched their March Movie Madness Torment this past week. Last year they did the Best Comic Book Movies, this year they are going to do Best Animated films. Now that the brackets are released, movie fans, like you and me, can vote for the best animated films to proceed in the torment. John Campea, Editor-in-Chief, over at AMC Movie New explains it a bit better than me, in their video titled, “Animated Movie Madness Tournament Round 1 - AMC Movie News” On the surface, this post may seem like an advertisement for AMC Movie Talk, even though I highly recommend all of you to check out their new shows: AMC Heroes, AMC Jedi Council, and AMC Rewind, but it’s only an introduction to my next post in my genre series. 

Back in October of 2014, I set out a goal to write a series of post focusing on movie genres. I was determined to write at least one post each week, revealing my favorite movie franchise in each genre. A few weeks in, it turned into a bi-weekly project. Now it’s more or less a monthly project. With that being said I only have about three or four genres left to cover, which should lead us into the summer blockbuster season. Before I finish out my original plan for this series, I want to focus on animation films. I know there are a lot of people that categorize animation films as their own genre, but they’re not a genre. Animation is simply another medium for storytelling. Animation takes on many different forms, traditional 2-D animation, Stop-Motion / Claymation, and 3-D animation, to name a few. 

Animation is important to film history, we basically wouldn't have live action movies without it. Animation dates back to the Paleolithic cave painting era. We have found various cave paints with animals “in motion” symbolized by many legged creatures. In the 18th century, many spinning devices were created to achieve the illusion of motion of an illustration, most notably the Zoetrope. Animation evolved again in the form of flip books. In the 1900’s the flip book idea was expanded upon, which created what we know today as, traditional animation. Back then, each scene was drawn by hand, then photographed, then played back in rapid succession. Those techniques were improved upon spawning many short silent animated films. Walt Disney and the Warner Brother entered the animation game in the 20’s and 30’s, changing the industry forever. They brought color and sound to this new medium. Disney ran with this new medium, creating one of the first full length animation films, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. After that, animation evolved over the years, revealing different techniques, including stop-motion and computer animation. 

Now that you know a brief history of animation, let’s explore some of the greatest animation films. I want to let you guys know I’m a fan of Pixar and the films they produce. A few years back you may have caught me saying something along the line of, “Pixar is perfect.” During that same time frame I had to write a paper on a pioneer in the computer graphics world. I chose Edwin “Ed” Catmull, the president of Pixar, who helped design the software Pixar used to create their movies. I’m going to stray from my Pixar bias by not making a top 10 list complied of noting but Pixar films. Instead, I’m going to compile a hand full of top five lists that exemplify each of the animation styles. I have the lists broken down, more or less, by production companies: Pixar, Walt Disney Animation, DreamWorks Animation, Studio Ghibli, and Stop-Motion Animation. Let’s Get To It.

Pixar:

1. Toy Story Franchise
2. WALL-E
3. Up
4. The Incredibles
5. Monsters Inc.

Disney:

1. The Lion King
2. Aladdin
3. Mulan
4. The Jungle Book
5. Pinocchio

DreamWorks:

1. How to Train Your Dragon 
2. Kung Fu Panda 
3. Shrek 
4. The Prince of Egypt 
5. Megamind

Studio Ghibli:

1. Princess Mononoke 
2. Spirited Away 
3. Castle in the Sky 
4. Grave of the Fireflies 
5. Kiki’s Delivery Service

Stop-Motion Animation Films: 

1. The Fantastic Mr. Fox 
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas 
3. Coraline 
4. Classic Christmas Claymation Movies 
5. James and the Giant Peach

This is where I normally write a short paragraph as to why each movie is on my list. Because of the sheer number of films I have included in this post, I have opted to only give explanations for the five number one’s. 

I would call the Toy Story franchise Pixar’s main flagship because that is where Pixar got its start in the animated feature film business. Before Pixar was an animation company they were a computer graphics company for Lucasfilms. George Lucas sold the technology rights to Steve Jobs for five million dollars. Jobs became the main investor of the new division. Dr. Edwin Catmull and Dr. Alvy Ray Smith ran the company as President and Executive Vice President. Walt Disney Studios took notice and started incorporating the “Pixar” technology into their projects. When “Pixar” was at its all-time low they hired on the Disney animator John Lasseter, who made a good case for the “Pixar” technology by making animated shorts, including Luxo Jr. This started a good relationship between Disney and Pixar, which lead a $26 million three picture deal with Disney. The first movie in this deal was Toy Story. Toy Story was inspired by one of Pixar’s animated shorts, Tin Toy, that tells a story from a small tin toy’s perspective. John Lasseter took that idea and expanded upon it, making a wonderful film. 

The Lion King is by far my all-time favorite animated Disney movie. If you have been following this series at all, you may recall The Lion King took my number one spot for best Musical Movie from the 90’s, rightfully so, with all the great musical numbers. There are many elements of this film that just work perfectly. I personally love the story the most, which draws inspiration from the biblical stories of Joseph, and Moses as well as the Shakespearean play Hamlet. I find it fascinating that The Lion King was one of the last movies, Disney made in the traditional way, before putting their faith in CGI animation that Pixar brought to the animation game. 

I tend to jokingly say something along the line of “DreamWorks animation makes one good movie out of ten.” Sadly, this is more or less true, I would even go as far to say they only have two or three great films, one of those being How to Train Your Dragon. What I like the most about How to Train Your Dragon is the personalities attached to the each character, including the dragons. Personally I think it was the personalities of the dragons, especially Toothless, that sold this film. 

Let’s talk about a group of animated films that I believe less people, including myself, have seen. I’m talking about the films that have come out of Studio Ghibli / Films by Hayao Miyazaki. These films are always very beautiful. It becomes fairly hard to describe the intricacies of these films. Most of these films are living paintings. With that being said, these films tactical serious themes and tell very human stories. Personally the film from Studio Ghibli that best exemplifies all those qualities is Princess Mononoke. 

I have a great deal of respect for a stop-motion animator. It takes a great deal of patience to work in that medium of animation. It’s safe to say most people would place The Nightmare Before Christmas at the top of their stop-motion animation list. That’s a fair placement because The Nightmare Before Christmas revolutionized that style of animation / storytelling. Even though I enjoy The Nightmare Before Christmas I personally like The Fantastic Mr. Fox, maybe it’s because they change all the curse words to “cuss”. The film also has a stellar cast and that’s another contributing factor to why I like this film. It’s such a fun movie. 

Well, you have seen my top animated movies, what are your favorites?

A Series of Genres: Musical / Dance

My love for the theatrical arts rivals my love for the cinema, especially in high school and college. In high school I performed in my fair share of musicals, including Hello Dolly and The Wizard of Oz. In college, I work as a stagehand for the Honeywell Center, which is a local stage theater in central Indiana. While working at the Honeywell Center, I helped out with many performances including Annie and Cats. As you can see the theatre has left an imprint on my life, therefore I couldn’t skip the Musical / Dance genre. This genre typically doesn’t have sequels, so no real franchises have spawned out of this genre. Unless you want to count the bad sequels to classic Disney films. So, like before, I am going to do a top ten list, but this time around I’m going to put a bit of a spin on it. I’m going to do my favorite musicals throughout history. Let’s get started. 

2010’s: Les Misérables (2012) 

I know this decade hasn’t even reached the half-way point yet, but there have been a lot good movie to come out already. Les Misérables is by far the best musical film of the decade so far. Over the past five years or so, these are my favorite musicals to contend with Les Misérables: The Muppets (2011), Pitch Perfect (2012), and Frozen (2013). Even though Frozen and The Muppets had better songs (“Let It Go” and “Man or Muppet”) Les Misérables was a better film overall, which it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. 

2000’s “Modern Musical Era”: The Phantom of the Opera (2004), Moulin Rouge! (2001) 

The 2000’s was a great decade for musicals, just look at all these contenders: Chicago (2002), The Producers (2005), Rent (2005), Dreamgirls (2006), Across the Universe (2007), Enchanted (2007) Hairspray (2007), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Mamma Mia! (2008), and The Princess and the Frog (2009). There were a lot of choices from this decade. From a personal stand point most of these films came out while I was in high school and college, when my love for the theatre was at its peak. The merit of these film were also good. Chicago won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2002 and, Moulin Rouge was nominated for Best Picture in 2001. Dreamgirls and Enchanted both had three of their songs nominated for Best Song. I personally didn’t enjoy those films as much as The Phantom of the Opera. The factor that placed The Phantom of the Opera at the top of my list was it visuals. It was nominated for Best Cinematography, but was beaten out by The Aviator. 

1990’s “Modern Disney Era”: The Lion King (1994) 

The 90’s was the decade that housed a good amount of Disney movies with great songs, thanks primarily to Alan Menken. Here are the songs that won Best Song at the Academy Awards, that were produced by Disney: “Beauty and the Beast”, "A Whole New World", "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", "Colors of the Wind", and "You'll Be in My Heart". I’m going to lump in "Under the Sea" even though that song won in 1989. Both The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast had three songs nominated for best song during their respectful years. Beauty and the Beast one-upped The Lion King and earned a Best Picture nomination in 1991. Beauty and the Beast may have bested The Lion King at the Oscars, but The Lion King is one of favorite Disney movies, so it has Beauty and the Beast beat in my opinion. 

1980’s “Dance Era”: Footloose (1984) 

You couldn't have two left feet in the 80’s because there were a good amount of dance themed movies: Fame (1980), Flashdance (1983), Staying Alive (1983), and Dirty Dancing (1987). All of these films were good to groove to but some better than the other. The songs “Fame”, “Flashdance…What a Felling”, and “(I've Had) The Time of My Life” all won the Oscar for Best Song. The song “Footloose” was nominated, but was knocked out by “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder. I believe Footloose had the better story out of the dance movies in the 80’s. 

1970’s “Silver Age of Musicals”: Grease (1978) 

There were a lot of musicals released in the 70’s, three of which were recognized as great films by being nominated for Academy Awards, those are, Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Cabaret (1972), and All That Jazz (1979). Some of the other musical released in the 70’s that I thought were good: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), Pete's Dragon (1977), and The Muppet Movie (1978). Some of these movies had Best Song nomination with these songs: "Candle on the Water" and "Rainbow Connection". Grease is a classic movie musical with good songs. 

1960’s “Golden Age of Musicals”: West Side Story (1961) 

Musical movies in the 1960’s brought home the golden Oscar many times, four musicals won Best Picture in the 60’s. Those Films are as followed, West Side Story (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), and Oilver! (1968). Other musical movies were nominated for Best Picture but didn't win: The Music Man (1962) was beat out by Lawrence of Arabia, Marry Poppins (1964) lost to My Fair Lady, Funny Girl (1968) was defeated by Oilver!, and Hello, Dolly! (1969) did make the cut verse Midnight Cowboy. If you have been counting that’s eight musical movies nominated for Best Picture. Marry Poppins may have not taken home the Oscar for Best picture, but it takes home the Oscar for Best song with “Chim Chim Cher-ee” I want to say Marry Poppins is second favorite musical of this decade, mixing animation and live action was spectacular, especially for that time period. 

1950’s “Classic Era”: Singin' in the Rain (1952) 

This decade brought with it a lot of classic movies in general, naturally the musical movie world followed suit release some classics of its own. Gigi (1958) won Best Pasture and Best Song, were as, The King and I was nominated, but was bested by Around the World in 80 Days (1956). A hand-full of classic Disney film also came out during this decade, Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland, (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Sleeping Beauty (1959), granted these films are less known for their musical numbers. Overall this decade produced many musical that are seen as classic films today. 

1940’s “Classic Disney Era": Pinocchio (1940) 

It could be argued that 1950’s is the “Classic Disney Era” because of the Disney film that came out during those years, but I’m going to make a case for the 40’s. Disney was making his mark in the 40’s with films such as, Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), Make Mine Music (1946), Melody Time (1948) and, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). Again not all these movie are 100% musicals, per se, but they do have great music that is beatifically worked into the stories. I think Pinocchio dose this best with all of its songs, but most noteworthy with it songs, "When You Wish Upon a Star” and "I've Got No Strings.” For those of you who might be thinking, “He has spent a lot of time on Disney films”, well Disney has produced many movies and a large percentage of them have been musicals, and good musical if I may add. Tommy from Informal Talks might argue I didn't spend enough time on Disney movies. With that being said, I may do post on animated film in the future, keep your eyes peeled. 

1930’s: The Wizard of Oz (1939) 

Going to be honest, I have seen many films from this decade and beyond. I know that I really like The Wizard of Oz as both a musical and movie. The film was nominated for Best Picture but lost to Gone with the Wind. The Wizard of Oz’s song “Over the Rainbow” won the Oscar for Best Song. What else do I have to say about this classic timeless musical movie? That’s right nothing! 

What are your favorite Movie Musicals?

A Series of Genres: Horror

The horror genre is our next stop on the journey through the various film genres. This is a genre I rather skip because I have little knowledge of the films in this genre. Even with being a huge film fan, I haven’t seen that many horror films compared to other genres. What I’m trying to say is that the horror genre is my least favorite. With all things being equal, I’m going to give my best shot of putting together a top five list of the best horror film franchise.

Before we get to that list, let’s define fear, or at least paint a better picture of fear. I personally like how Stephen King breaks down fear. He explains that there are three types: The Gross-out, Horror, and Terror. The Gross-out are things that gross you out like blood, gore, or slime. The ooey-gooey and yucky bits, as it were. Horror is the scary “monsters” in the world, ranging from giant spiders to zombies. From my understanding Terror is the unseen monsters, the supernatural, or eerie things in the world. Have you ever had the feeling like someone or something is standing right behind you, but when you turn around there’s nothing there, that’s terror. Oddly enough Horror films follow that model fairly close, creating a few different sub-genres.

The sub-genres of Splatter Films or Torture Porn brings with it, a whole lot of blood and guts. These films tend to focus on the survival of a character or group of characters as they endure many tests, usually involving torture devices. These sub-genres best exemplify the gross-out because of the exorbitant amount blood and guts used.

Slasher films are in between the gross-out and horror on the “fear scale” Slasher films became very popular in the 80’s and 90’s with classic killers like Jason Voorhees, Micheal Myers, and Freddy Krueger. The films in this genre, usually deal with a killer running around killing teenagers, who are up to no good (those partaking in sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll). This genre uses a good mixture of gore and the fear of being chased by a killer to scare its audience.

Creature Features / Monster Movies I think best describes Horror on the “fear scale.” The classic horror film featured many of the common monsters that we know and love today, monster such as, vampires, werewolves, mummies, zombies, ghouls, ghosts, and Frankenstein. The monster genre has evolved over the years, sadly, into movies that aren't even that scary, Thanks Twilight. I’m glad that giant monsters and H.P Lovecraft-esk movies haven’t been glossed over by pointless teenage love stories. It is fun to see a kaiju wreck a city, every once in a while.

Terror best comes from the Supernatural and Paranormal films. This sub-genre has blown up in popularity in recent history with film such as Paranormal Activity. These films scares its audience to jump-scares that were built up via the film’s ambiance. Filmmakers in this genre achieve their scare tactics by making the “camera man” the most ominous person or thing, on screen.

Now that you have a basic idea of the different fears and how they play into the horror genre, l can reveal my top five horror franchise.

1. The Evil Dead
2. 28 Days Later
3. Scream
4. Saw
5. Paranormal Activity

I have great respect for Sam Raimi and his filmmaking genius in his 80’s classic horror flick, The Evil Dead. The Evil Dead has an inserting backstory. Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi have been friends for quite some time, creating many short films together. Raimi, Campbell, and their close friends, and family made a short horror film called Within the Woods. They hoped this film would get enough buzz to make a bigger budget horror film. The film didn’t really impress, so Raimi and Campbell ask for donation from friends and family. Eventually the two of them raised enough money to make The Evil Dead. They took their small budget to a cabin in the middle of the woods near Morristown, Tennessee. The production had many issues because of its small budget, which included getting lost and hurt. Raimi found creative ways to achieve certain shots that would require equipment they couldn't afford. One of those shots was achieved by taping a camera to a bicycle. Raimi stretched his dollars by using his own arms and legs for close ups. Basically Raimi and friends endured the elements, to create a “realistic” horror flick, sounds a bit crazy. Their hard work paid off, the film is one of the best low-budget horror movies ever made. Critically, it has done well, Rotten Tomatoes have given the film a 96%, while another review site place the film above the 70% mark. The Evil Dead is only the beginning, Sam Raimi counted his legacy in the horror genre with Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness. The franchise was rebooted in 2013 with a remake titled Evil Dead directed by Fede Alvarez. Even with Raimi and Campbell on as producers the remake didn't have as much charm as the original film.

28 Days Later brought to life a new way to look at the zombie genre. The classic zombie is a re-animated corpse with a healthy appetite for brains and human flesh. In 28 Days Later, humans are infected by a highly contagious virus that causes rage in its victims. The film follows the hero character, Jim (Cillian Murphy), who awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic version of London. Jim is saved from a group of infected by Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley). The rest of the film focuses on the three of them surviving this treacherous new world. 28 Days Later’s sequel, 28 Weeks Later, follows another group of survivors of the “Rage Virus”. Danny Boyle, the director of the first film, has shown interest in returning to this franchise but has been busy with other projects. I personally wouldn't mind seeing a 28 Months Later film, especially if Danny Boyle returned as director.

One of the Kings of Horror, Wes Craven, best known for the Nightmare on Elm Street / Freddy Krueger franchise brought us another set of successful Slasher films in the late 90’s. This film series changed the rules of the Slasher genre. For starters the film was more or less a satire of the Slasher genre. The film did this by making most of the main characters wildly familiar with “Scary Movies” and their clichés. The killer, Ghostface, broke the rules set forth by Slasher films, he loved, in doing so creating a new set of rules to kill by. The opening scene of the film set the tone of how the killer operates. His first victim’s death set into motion because a high school girl fails at a scary movie trivia question. I personally didn’t fall in love with this film like other Slasher film aficionados, but this franchise is one of my favorite Slashers. Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street may have paved the way for these films, but they weren't as entertaining as the Scream films.

Saw is another low-budget success story. Oddly enough, Saw’s beginnings were similar to The Evil Dead. Saw started out as a short film with the same titled with intentions to attract film studios. Unlike The Evil Dead, Saw had some success at this stage and caught their eyes of some producers at Evolution Entertainment. These producers decided to make a horror division called Twisted Pictures, allowing James Wan and Leigh Whannell to expand their short film into a feature length film. (Note: One of the producers at Twisted Pictures is Oren Koules, that such a good name.) The Saw franchise was born along with the “Torture Porn” genre. Saw isn't the first film to use gore and torture as the main element in a film, but it sure did popularize in the modern era of filmmaking. Saw was released on Halloween 2004, becoming a hit. Saw took its new popularity and created a fairly successful franchise spanning seven films, each taking the top box office spot of the Halloween weekend. To put this perceptive numerically: The seven films have made roughly 873 million worldwide (Highest: Saw III with 165 million, Lowest: Saw VI with 68 million, Average: 125 million) Compare those numbers to their budgets (Highest: Saw 3D with 17million, Lowest: Saw with 1 – 1.2 million, Average: 9 million). As you can see, the films did well at the box office. Critically the film was pretty bad. Saw has the highest review on Rotten Tomatoes topping the charts at 48% and the lowest is Saw V with 12%, giving the franchise an average rating of roughly 25%.

To be honest, I really dislike the Paranormal Activity franchise. One of the main reasons I dislike these films is the teenagers that made my job harder. I worked at an AMC theater throughout college and every new Paranormal Activity brought with it a list of problems from the crowd. Even if I didn't have those bad experiences, the films didn't really turn my crank. These films may have perfected the jump-scar, but I wasn't that scared. With all the negative remarks, you may be asking yourself; why are these films on your top five list then, surly there are better suited films? I wanted to make an effort to include at least one franchise from each horror sub-genre, also I have to give credit where credit is due. The Paranormal Activity franchise is by far one of, if not the most profitable horror film franchise. The average budget of these films is roughly 3.5 million and the first film was made for 15,000 dollars. The Paranormal Activity franchise has made just over 811.5 million. That’s a good amount of dough for a “found –footage” film. (Note: These films are directed by Oren Peli, such a good name.)

A Series of Genres: Fantasy

We are back to the old regiment. This week I’m going to explore the magical lands set forth by various storytellers throughout history. These lands provide many opportunities to rise as a hero. Riding shotgun through the hero’s journey we, the audience, empathizes with the hero; experiencing the vast unknown world yet to be explored, together. On our journey we may be joined by a company of friends and allies compose of the following: a wise old mentor, a brave warrior, a man of the cloth, or a charismatic scoundrel. Our company of adventures will be tested both physically and mentally on the perilous journey head. If fate is in our favor we will return home unscathed, but as change individuals with inspirational stories of heroism.

For those of you that have been following this blog recently may recognized this anecdote as an adventure, and may be wondering why I’m not talking about fantasy as the title suggest. Let me recall my adventure post where I said “…adventures are usually paired with other genres. Personally, I think adventures pairs nicely with fantasy and sci-fi films.” Most people, including myself, lump fantasy and sci-fi together, because they tend to share themes and motifs. This week I want to focus just on fantasy. So what separates fantasy from sci-fi? The primary thing that separates the two genres is setting. Science Fiction (sci-fi) is rooted in science or scientific theory that usually has an outer space setting where as fantasy is set in an imaginary world, ruled by magic and mythological beast. Those descriptions are not hard definitions of the two genres, but good generalization that both genres usually follow.

Now that you know what basically separates fantasy from sci-fi, let’s delve into some of my favorite stand-alone fantasy films. I’m going to start off with some classics and then move into the modern ear.

First off is one of the first fantasy film, The Wizard of Oz. The Wizard of Oz is based loosely off the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The Wizard of Oz follows Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) and her dog, Toto, as they explore the colorful Land of Oz in an attempt to find a way back to their home in Kansas. Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (a fairy godmother type character), and the Munchkins (jolly halfling people) instructed Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, were Wizard of Oz resides. This would be their best bet on finding their way back home. On her way she encounters a scarecrow, who want a brain, a tin man, who wants a heart, and a lion, who wants courage. The road isn’t easy because the Wicked Witch of the West, foils their plans by sending her flying monkeys. Dorothy defeat the Wicked Witch and save her friends. Upon returning the Wicked Witch’s broom, The Wizard of Oz “grants” their wishes, in the form of tokens of gratitude. Modern fantasy film uses an exuberant amount of CGI to create their fantasy world, were in 1939 they used color and detailed set piece to distinguish the difference between the dream world (Oz) and reality (Kansas). That level of filmmaking give me great respect of how they did things back then.

The next two films on my list also have that same level of respect because the films were made primarily with puppets. Those two films are The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. In the 1980’s, Jim Henson had a crazy idea to make a film with nothing but puppets. His first attempt was The Dark Crystal. The film did decently at the box office, taking home a little over forty million. What would happen if they made a film like The Dark Crystal but bringing in star power? Jim Henson’s next non-Muppet film was just that. Labyrinth brought with it David Bowie and, newcomer, Jennifer Connelly. Even with the star power, Labyrinth tanked at the box office, making less than thirteen million, about half of its budget of twenty-five million. To make matter worse the critic ate the film up saying things like, “it was awful.” Labyrinth didn’t gain its popularity and cult following until its release on home video.

Fast-forward a few years past Labyrinth to the year 1988. A little gem of a film titled Willow, came out that year. This was Ron Howard’s first full length high-fantasy film. The film was written by George Lucas (Star Wars) and screenplay by Bob Dolman. Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) is a humble farmer who stumbles upon a human a baby girl, which he places in his protection. The village is attacked by a hound during Willow’s ceremony to become the apprentice to the village wizard. Willow is then tasked with returning the baby to the humans. On his journey he allies himself with a human swordsman named Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), a sorceress named Fin Raze, and two brownies named Franjean and Rool. This company all join forces to protect this baby, named Elora Danan, from the evil Queen Bavmorda, and her armies lead by her daughter, Sorsha. What I like the most about this film is it light heartiness, and fun spirit.

Throughout the 1990’s there were numerous Sci-fi film, and handful of fantasy films. In the early 90’s, 1991 to be exact, the film Hook was in theaters. Hook stared Robin Williams. The film takes place many years after the original telling of Peter Pan. Peter Banning (Robin Williams) is fairly neglectful father to his children, Jack and Maggie. While visiting their grandmother Wendy in London the two children are kidnaped by a mysterious figure and taken to Neverland. Tinkerbell shows up and tries to convince Peter that he is Peter Pan. He doesn’t believe so Tinkerbell has to forcibly take Peter to Neverland. After seeing his children with Captain Hook, he decided to fight for them by remembering that he is Peter Pan. With the help of the Lost Boys and Tinkerbell, Peter becomes Peter Pan. Peter fights Hook and wins the hearts of his children. The three of them return home and live happily ever after.

In the 2000’s many films were experimenting with visual effect, making many breakthroughs in CGI. One of those major breakthroughs was Motion capture (Mo-cap). Mo-cap allows the visual effects team to capture an actor’s motions / performance and use that as the framework for a CGI character. During this era movies were filming full scenes with nothing but CGI, blanketing sets in green screens. Then came along a Mexican filmmaker named Guillermo del Toro, who become known for using a healthy mix of practical effects and CGI. I believe that the film, El laberinto del fauno ( Pan’s Labyrinth) is the best example of Guillermo del Toro’s style. The film was beautiful, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would back me up on this, awarding the film Oscars in the Art Direction, Cinematography, and Makeup categories. Apparently, Pan’s Labyrinth didn’t make the mark in the Visual Effect category that year, instead the category was filled with the following films, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Poseidon, and Superman Returns. Taking home the prize was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Pan’s Labyrinth merit, not only lie in its visuals, but in it story as well. Pan’s Labyrinth follows a little girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her quest to become the rightful princess of the Underworld. To do so Ofeli must complete three tasks given to her by a faun. These tasks lead her into a dark fairy tale world filled with eerie monsters. The reason why I spent the so much time on Guillermo del Toro and Pan’s Labyrinth is because del Toro has a connection to one of the franchise in my top five list.

I don’t need a better segue than that, here is my Top Five Franchise in the Fantasy Genre that you all have been waiting for:

1. Tolkien Film Franchise
2. Star Wars Franchise
3. Harry Potter Franchise
4. The Chronicles of Narnia Franchise
5. Shrek Franchise

• Honorable Mention: The Neverending Story

The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films bring Professor Tolkien’s classic novels alive. J. R. R. Tolkien is known for elaborated histories and world building. Tolkien started his work in the early 1930’s with his first tale in Middle-Earth drawing inspiration from many mythologies, including: Finnish, Norse, Greek, and Christianity, among others. What I like most about Tolkin’s work is he gave each race in his stories their own history, culture, and language. He not only does this for the normal fantasy races like dwarves, elves, and men, but for the monstrous races like goblins, trolls, and orcs. This attention to detail can also be seen on screen, in the story and in the craftsmanship. Peter Jackson utilized a native New Zealand special effects and prop company named WETA. One example of their detailed work is the armor they crafted for the film. They hand crafted each piece of armor and weapon in the film, bring aboard blacksmiths and leather-workers. The film also uses quite a bit of CGI, creating creatures such as the Balrog. Some of the CGI creatures, one in particular, came to life via motion capture. Andy Serkis brilliant mo-cap performance brought the creature Gollum to life. The level of acting talent doesn’t stop at Andy Serkis. The cast list in The Lord of the Ring is fantastic: Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan. All their hard work didn’t go unnoticed either; The Return of the King alone racked up 11 nominations at the Oscars. Roughly ten years after the release of The Return of the King, Peter Jackson would return to Middle-Earth and produce The Hobbit, with Guillermo del Toro at the helm. Guillermo del Toro left the project because of filming conflicts, passing the reins back to Peter Jackson, but he retained a writing credit for his conurbation to the film. I could talk about the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films all day, but it is time to move on.

Star Wars is seen as Sci-fi because of its setting and its use of scientific looking things like the lightsaber. Personally I would classify the films as a space fantasy. The themes and motifs line up more with fantasy. George Lucas drew inspiration from many different sources, including old war and samurai films. Examining the heart and soul of Star Wars, its story, one will realize that it’s modeled after Joseph Campbell’s theory, the hero's journey. For a better explanation of the hero's journey, check out this diagram. The original trilogy did a lot to advance the technology of visual effect, which spawned a company. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is one of the large visual effect, if not the largest. ILM has worked on many film over the years, averaging about 8 to 10 films a year. ILM has worked on most of the films I have mention in this post. What I’m try to get across is ILM has been a big part of the visual effects world. Star Wars in general didn’t really see a lot of love from the Academy, except for A New Hope, winning 6 out 10 of their nomination. All three films in the original trilogy won a Special Achievement Award for visual effects. I personally love Star Wars and I can’t wait for The Force Awakens.

Harry Potter hold a special place in my heart. I read all the books. I was one of those Potter nerds that stood in line for hours on end waiting for my copy of the newest book. I repeated that process for every movie once they started making them into films, except for the years I work at a movie theater. Harry Potter is a coming of age story with magic. Harry goes from being a “normal” boy to a great wizard powerful enough to take down the big bad wizard named Voldemort. In the Harry Potter world, magic is real, but its usage has been hidden from us Muggles, those lacking in magical abilities. Harry Potter’s only picking up Academy Award nominations in many of the artsy categories like Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Costume, but where it lacks in prestigious awards it make up in finances. The Harry Potter franchise has made just under 8 billion dollars worldwide, placing it in the top three most successful film franchise, financially.

The Chronicles of Narnia is another special childhood / teenage memory for me. The Chronicles of Narnia was the first time I was exposed to a fantasy world. In the books and later in the films, the audience follows a group of children as the journey to the Land of Narnia. This land can only be entered by magical means, the first of which was through a magical wardrobe. The first time I watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe I was impressed with how they handled the Christian undertones that C.S. Lewis wrote in his books.

Sherk is one of those animated films that works for both children and adults. I personally thought Sherk was clever and fun, but then it turns bad, with all its sequels and spin-offs. Shrek is produced by DreamWorks Animation. I jokingly say DreamWorks Animation put out one good film for every ten films. Form my personal tastes, that statement is kind of true. From that production company I enjoyed: Sherk, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon. There maybe a few more that I liked, but not love. I’m a Pixar guy through and through. I haven’t really seen a bad Pixar film, well in my opinion. With that being said I’m excited for Pixar’s newest movie Inside Out.

Now for my Honorable Mention: The Neverending Story. I haven’t had an honorable mention before because the race wasn’t as close as it was this week. Sherk barley made it in my top five because I didn’t like its sequels and spin-offs. The Neverending Story is based off a novel with the same name written by Michael Ende. The Neverending Story brings out the same love I have for the other fantasy films from the 80’s. I like how the story comes to life as the boy reads the words. It’s just one of those films I have a special place for, even though it’s not the greatest films cinematically.

This post should be going up on Christmas Eve, so I would like to wish my readers a Happy Holiday. I will end by asking, what films is everyone planning on watching this Holiday season? Maybe, Into the Woods, would be fitting because it is a fantasy film opening on Christmas Day.