Top 10 Worst Movies of 2010

....Once again, according to me:

10. Skyline

9. Pirahna 3D

8. The Last Song

7. Vampires Suck

6. Resident Evil: Afterlife

5. The American

4. Eat Pray Love

3. Sex and the City 2

2. Get Him to the Greek

1. The Kids Are All Right


-Ethan Brehm

Top 25 Movies of 2010

....According to me, of course--because we all know that know one else will agree with me:

25. The Ghost Writer

24. Let Me In

23. The Town

22. Tron: Legacy

21. Devil

20. Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

19. The Fighter

18. She's Out of My League

17. The King's Speech

16. Tangled

15. The Tourist

14. The Sorcerer's Apprentice

13. Salt

12. Dinner For Schmucks

11. Flipped

10. Percy Jackson and the Olympians

9. The Social Network

8. Hereafter

7. Secretariat

6. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Gahoole

5. Shutter Island

4. The Book of Eli

3. Despicable Me

2. How to Train Your Dragon

1. Toy Story 3


-Ethan Brehm

....All Done!

Wow! This year went by so fast! This New Year's resolution of mine wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. Yeah, there were times where I got kinda stressed because there would be like, 8 movies out that I hadn't seen. But, it taught me discipline and that if I put my mind to it, I can accomplish something--even when I didn't have a job for half the year, and even when I did, I was only getting paid minimum wage for 8 hours a week. But it was a good year and I'm glad I did it.

I will probably continue to see most movies this year--except for the horror movies that I wouldn't go see anyway. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep blogging, because I got really behind on it this year and it took me a long time to catch up. We'll just see how it goes.

Throughout my experiences this year, I have learned a lot about myself as a movie critic and about movies in general:

1. I'm not a very good movie critic because I'm too easily entertained. Although, I am a little bit more critical than I was at the beginning of the year.

2. Kid's movies are not judged very fairly by professional critics, and they tend to critique them as if the films are marketed towards them.

3. It shouldn't matter how the film compares to the previous films in the series, because if the movie is good, then it's good.

4. If a movie makes me cry at the end, I am more likely to give it a better review.

5. If a movie is boring, poorly acted, and badly written, but the ending is really good, I will give it a better review (although I'm trying to get better at that).

6. I'm not AS scared when I see scary movies as much as I was at the beginning of this year--although I still get scared.

7. You have to differentiate whether or not you are giving a movie a review based off of how good the movie was versus how much YOU liked the movie. Because, in the end, they are two completely different things. However, the most important of the two is how much you liked the movie, because if the movie is well made, but you didn't like it, then it may prevent you from watching it again. But when BOTH aspects are a positive, then it makes the movie even better!

8. I can never give a film an F grade because they were always some persons vision, and if they accomplished the task of fulfilling that person's vision, then they can never be a failure. Movies are art, it's just that some art is more appealing than others (and some have bad paint brushes).

9. Don't read reviews before you see a movie because it will always give you some sort of preconception of how the movie will be. It will always be in the back of your mind.

10. Everyone should watch bad movies, because without watching bad movies, you don't know what they good ones really look like. (Something I already knew, but thought it was important to share).

So, from now on, every time someone mentions 2010 in film, I can say that I was there and that I saw every movie that year. I will be unstoppable if they make a "Trivial Pursuit 2010 Movies Edition."

It's been a great year and I've learned so much! Thank you to all who read my blog (wherever you are). I'll keep blogging as long as I'm still reading them.


-Ethan Brehm

Gulliver's Travels

Wow! I did it! Last movie of the year!

This film, loosely based on the 18th century novel of the same name by Jonathan Swift, is about Lemuel Gulliver, who tries to be a travel writer to impress a girl (don't we all) and ends up taking an assignment near Bermuda when things go wrong and he winds up on an island called Liliput where he is surprised to see that all of its citizens are the size of his pinky.

If you are looking for a story that would give the original book justice, than be surprised when you watch this. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film, but wasn't expecting it to be like anything except for a family film. It takes place in modern times and has humor, at times, similar to Monty Python bits. Jack Black is his usual self, and the rest of the actors actually do a great job (Amanda Peet, Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, Billy Connolly, and Chris O'Dowd). The film is full of silly humor which I, personally, was laughing at--however, some may find it childish (which is probably why I enjoyed it).

Anyway, I would watch it again, because it has many clever scenes and it makes me laugh.

Overall Grade: A


-Ethan Brehm

Little Fockers

This is the third in the trilogy following the relationship between Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) and his father-in-law, Jack Burns (Robert De Niro)--although the films are about a lot of other things as well, the main storyline revolves around Greg and Jack. In this film, which takes place 6 years after the second film, Greg and his wife, Pam (Teri Polo), have 5-year-old twins--one boy and one girl. Jack and Greg further their relationship as Jack, the family patriarch, appoints Greg as his successor, and then further analyzes him to see if he can live up to this title.

Now, this film may not be as good as the first two, but I still think that it was a good film (partially because I just love all of the characters and could probably watch them in any scenario presented to them). But the reason why this film may not be as good as the first two could be because there is a new director, and half of the screenwriting team did not come back for this one. The jokes in this one were of the same taste, but not AS funny as the first two. Don't get me wrong, I still laughed out loud several times during this one, its just that the jokes weren't as memorable as the first two. If this film never had the first two films to compare it to, it would have been better received by the critics. The thing that I love about these films is that they don't rerun jokes over and over again from the prior films--they all have jokes that are unique to their individual storylines. It cheapens the sequels when films rely on successful jokes from the previous film to ensure an "easy laugh," when all this does is kill the joke. But these films don't step into that territory--they are all well written. I love these films so much and could watch these characters over and over again, as they have so much depth and personality.

As a film, this one was good, but don't say I didn't tell you that the first two are better--just don't think about that if you go see it. Nonetheless, if you are a big fan of the first two films, this one is worth seeing.

Overall Grade: A


-Ethan Brehm

The King's Speech

This film, based on a true story, is about King George VI (Colin Firth) who has a bad stammer when he talks. Geoffrey Rush plays speech therapist, Lionel Logue, who tries to help the King with his problem.

I loved this movie! It's so inspirational and powerful! Both Firth and Rush give amazing performances as the two leads. It keeps your attention the whole time and is never boring, nor is it more serious than it has to be (there are some really funny parts). This movie was brilliant! It was clean, classy, and straight-to-the-point. There was some brief cursing, but that's about it. It has a great message about overcoming your fears. It's not some over-artsy film-snob film, but a film that everyone can enjoy.

Don't judge this film by its synopsis, because it is very interesting and entertaining.

Overall Grade: A+


-Ethan Brehm

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

This is the third film in the Narnia series, and it is the last in the Pevensie children trilogy. It takes place 3 years after the events in the second film and only features the youngest 2 kids (Lucy and Edward) because the oldest kids have gained everything they could from Narnia and can no longer return. In this film, Lucy and Edward are joined by their cousin, Eustace, who is very skeptical and doesn't get along with Lucy and Edward. The three are set out to find the seven lost lords, with the help of Prince Caspian, in order to save Narnia from becoming corrupt. All the characters are tested as they journey to Aslan's country.

This film is on par with the rest of the films in the series. One of the things that I like about these films are that the acting is great--even on the children's part. The character development was fantastic! The story was very well executed in this film. It presented a very darkening feel to Narnia as they get closer to corruption. The effects were great--probably the best so far out of all the films. I think this film--moreso than the second film in the series--has great potential of recruiting new Narnia fans and expanding its audience. People don't necessarily have to see the second film in order to understand this one--it kind of stands on its own. Although, it could help with certain references. This film also will go over well with the Christian fanbase because of some dialogue towards the end of the film.

I love these films and hope they continue the series!

Overall Grade: A+


-Ethan Brehm