'Life Of Pi' movie review

Life Of Pi is Ang Lee's family saga of a boy who found himself stranded in the middle of the ocean on a small boat, shared with a tiger. The movie is nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and pretty much every technical category to exist on the face of these marvellous awards. Now I've heard a lot about this movie, from the first trailer I even remember an article in the Huffington Post or The Guardian or some other serious newspaper like that saying this is 'the most controversial movie of the year'. I haven't heard anything similar about this adventurous drama since, and I sincerely hope that was some really weird typo, or the editor might have embarassed himself a bit. What I've heard about from the book that it's based on and after seeing the trailer, the film looked remarkably cheesy and I wasn't even planning to see it. And how is it really?

Well...it's still very fucking cheesy. Honestly, I went seeing this movie with a handful of doubt. The whole story of a boy bonding with a tiger semt really cheesy and stupid, and after the first 30 minutes, I genuinely tought to myself, hmmm, maybe this isn't as bad as I tought it would. Really, the first half an hour is great, there are these amazing underwater shots, the story starts to revolve in an interesting way...and then he gets on the boat. And there is nothing wrong with getting on the boat...besides it being very boring and cheesy. The movie is 2 hours long and I knew the boat part would probably be very long, and it wasn't too long, it was plain boring. And then, well then came something that crushed this movie even more. I must warn you, that these are major spoilers, so if you don't want to get the movie spoiled for you, do not read on. But seriously, I woudn't care if it was spoiled for me. Your call, it's really tough to explain this without spoilers.

So basically the titular character and the tiger bond over the boat or whatever and I didn't really care much about the movie failing to emotionally connect me with the tiger's character, because I rarely emotionally connect with characters, but the moment Pi says "The tiger broke my heart" and "I love you, Mr. Parker", the film lost all credibility to me. Seriously, and then this gets a Best Screenplay nomination?! And then in the end, Pi actually reveals, that he made the whole tiger story up. In the movie, we see the hyena eat the zebra and scare the monkey, and then the tiger scares them both off or something, and basically the hyena was the evil cook, the zebra was the sailor, the monkey was his mom and the tiger was Pi. Okay, that's really great and everything, I really like the twist and all, but if he was the tiger, WHO THE HELL WAS HE?!??! I mean, who was he in the tiger story?! If you don't undestand, read through it all again or try to live through the not-exactly-misery-but-not-exactly-fun-time-either that this movie is.

I mean, honestly, it's not really that bad, as you might have got the impression. But it's far from what I've expected, what it deserves from all those critics and Oscar nominations. I mean, visually it is one of the most stunning films I've ever seen. The way the CGI tiger blends into the screen, the mesmerizing meduses and suricates and whatnot, the film is really a feast for the eyes at its finest. And I would honestly wish it would be weirder, that it would go more into the hallucination territory, with more green whales and other breath-taking visuals. But it didn't. You have a bit of these spectacular scenes, but mostly boring boat scenes. So the result is a heavily overrated, visually groundbreaking, remarkably cheesy, in many ways unlogical, for the first 30 minutes very cool and the middle 45 minutes very boring tale of an Indian named after a number and his weird trippings in the ocean.


Total rating: 6.5  /  10


So what did you think of Life Of Pi? Did you see it, like it, dislike it, why? Do you think it deserves all the praise and awards? Comment below, let me know!

'Silver Linings Playbook' movie review

One of the top Oscar contenders, David O. Russel's dramedy Silver Linings Playbook has finnally arrived to my torrent folder (before you judge me, the movie hasn't been distributed in my country, among many other great ones) and I decided I had to review this one, being one of the main acts of the Oscar season and everything. I was also looking forward to it a lot, as I really like Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence (duh) and it really semt like this kind of quirky, comedy-drama, ironic-one-liners kind of movie that I usually enyoy. So the movie focuses on Pat, a bipolar guy with anger issues who returns from a mental institution to finally get back from his life, but with the arrival of other, also not so normal characters, his life gets anything but normal again.

Now the movie is really fucking great. And I mean really great. It would have quite probably made my Top 10 of 2012 list, if I would have seen it in the past year. First of all, something preceeded by all those awards and Oscar nominations is for sure - the acting is beyond amazing. Bradley Cooper gives the performance of his career as the bipolar Pat, and gives us an incredibly realistic depiction of the disease, while also allowing us to relate to his character greatly. The way he rages out, the way he says innapopriate things, he doesn't says them like House or sounds like he's being mean or sarcastic, but he really says them like he can't help myself and like he would be bipolar. Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro are in spectacular form as well, making this movie be quite worthy of being the first movie since I-don't-know-when to be nominated in all four acting categories at the Oscars.

But it does deserve awards in other categories, too. This film really is the definition of a dramedy, and should be a role model for all other dramedies. The way it balances the comedy and the drama is unbelieveably perfect, just as much as being balanced in the word "dramedy". It manages to be so funny and positive-spirited at the same time, while also being something, that I can't call exactly dark or sad, but simply life-like. Just like real life is, full of comedy and drama, positive and negative, this movie pulls it off perfectly. The director's visual style, the editing, the music, everything builds up to this poignant, hilarious, amazingly acted, emotionally affecting and realistic dramedy, as what Silver Linings Playbook definitely is.

Total rating: 9 / 10

So what did you think of Silver Linings Playbook? Did you like it, dislike it, why? Do you think it should win any of the Oscars it's nominated for? Comment below, let me know!

'Kick-Ass' movie review

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR "KICK-ASS" AHEAD

Interestingly, the first movie I will review this year turned out to be an older movie, the 2010 superhero film Kick-Ass. Because the movie is a couple of years old and some other plot-related reasons, I've decided I'd review this movie best in detailed and spoiler-filled ways, so if you haven't watched it yet, I advise you not to continue reading. Unless you want the movie spoiled for you, but honestly - it was spoiled for me and it didn't ruin the experience much. So Aaron Johnson stars as Dave Lizewski, a regular high school student, who decides to become a superhero. He first learns that being a superhero is not as easy as it seems, but after a few supporting characters, such as bad-ass Nicolas Cage as former cop turned superhero Big Daddy, Chloe Grace Moretz as his even more bad-ass daughter turned ninja, Mark Strong as douchy crime boss Frank D'Amico and his Christopher Mintz-Plasse as his son, wanna-be crime boss turned fake superhero Chris D'Amico enter the mix, you've got one explosive and hell of a fun movie ride in front of you.

First of all, I think Aaron Johnson as Dave Lizewski / Kick-Ass was great. He pulls off both the awkward, comedic and more serious, inspiring moments of the characters. He also looks like the kind of guy who would try to be a superhero, but is also likeable enough to root for and for the girls to cherish. Now I know everyone is praising Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit Girl, and I have to do that as well, as she is unbelieveably bad-ass and the best actor in the film, but I still don't want to waste too much time on her, as everibody knows she's awesome and I can't adress that furthermore. Mark Strong is as always an effective villain, Nicolas Cage gives his best performance in years, and I also admit that I really liked Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Red Mist. I don't know if it his extremely cool name or his ironically-cool appearance, but I did feel kinda sorry for him in the end. 

But what really makes the movie is the way it's stylized. This is probably the second most stylized film I've ever seen (right behind Scott Pilgrim vs The World) and it really makes it look like a comic book. Not like a comic book movie, a real comic book turned into film. Kick-Ass isn't triying to be anything more then that, and it very much suceeds, as with all those awesomely directed action sequences, costumography and music it just makes you believe and want to believe into a world where teenagers are superheroes and beat up people with battons, ride around in Mistmobiles and fuck up bad guy's places with jetpacks. It just deepens down that hidden wish inside you to be a superhero, but at the same time showing enough inflicted pain into the characters to turn away anyone who might have been seriously thinking about doing something like this.

Another thing I have to touch on is the violence. Even tough some scenes are really tough to watch and as previously adressed, really turns you away from ever being a superhero, the movie woudn't have been nearly as good and stylized as it is without the violence. Seeing a guy flapping around with battons and beating up people by mistake, a man's body exploding in a microwawe, a man taking down a warehouse in epic slowmotion-to-fastmotion blending, an 11-yr old girl ripping out people's throats and shooting them through other guy's mouths with spaghetti western music in the background just makes it all so more stylized and deepens the comic-book feel. It is a little weird in the beginning tough, when Kick-Ass gets stabbed and hit by a car, and you don't really as you're supposed to laugh or not, as you've been laughing at people crashing on cabs off skyscrapers and getting aneurysms during breakfast for the past few minutes, but further on the movie does nicely border the serious and the comedic violence. 

Overall, Kick-Ass is a very funny, spectacular and stylized comic-book tale, as comic-book tales should be, if they ever want to be anything more than comic-book tales. I am now also in further anticipation of the movie's sequel, Kick-Ass 2: Balls To The Wall, that is supposed to hit theatres this summer. I can't wait to see more Kick-Ass and Hit Girl working together, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as a full-fledged villain, known as The Mother Fucker and Jim Carrey in an actual movie. I really hope they do keep the feel of the first movie and everything as it should be, even tough Matthew Vaugh won't be directing. To be honest, I'm kinda angry at that motherfucker - I tought he would have to choose between the sequel of this and the sequel of X-Men: First Class, but he decides to drop out on both. Oh well.

Total rating: 8.5 / 10

So what did you think of Kick-Ass? Did you like it, dislike it, why? Are you in anticipation of its sequel? Comment below, let me know! 

Top 10 Movies to Watch in 2013

I wanted to start off this with some kind of a cliched and cheesy sentence, of how we must stop looking at the past (and at the same time of course, shamelessly promote my Top 10 Best Movie Trailers of 2012 and Top 10 Best Movies of 2012 lists) and how we must take a look into the future or some other stupid excuse to start off a list of most anticipated movies of 2013. But I figured this could do just as well. So anyways, as always, I must warn you that this list is highly subjective, as it's a list of the 10 movies I'm looking forward to most this year. But I also think that I share some of these "anticipations" with a lot of other people, so it could be taken as a general list as well.

10. Anchorman: The Legend Continues

I can't help it but to admit that I simply love the modern American comedies involving Ben Stiller, Will Ferell, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and the rest of the idiotically-hilarious crew and that I laughed and enyoyed pretty much each one of those movies (This is 40 is the only one I'm sceptical about), so a sequel to the amazing Anchorman with director Adam McKay and the main cast returning is pretty much big shit to expect. 

9. This Is The End

When I first heard of a comedy set during the supposed 2012 apocalypse, starring celebrities as themselves, I had some kind of an odd and very lame tought about one of those kind of movies, which end with the word  

movie, but the hilarious and chaotic red band trailer actually makes this look like one of the best, if not the most promising comedy of the year. Plus, Emma Watson's in it.

8. The Great Gatsby

I wasn't expecting this movie at all, but when I saw the incredibly modern, yet vintagefully mesmerizing, in short excellent trailer, I am just really fucking hyped for this. I kinda can't forget Tobey Maguire as Spiderman just yet (he looks pretty much the same), but still - this has good chances of being some kind of a new Romeo + Juliet.

7. Kick-Ass 2: Balls To The Wall 

Do I need to say more here? Great movie, same cast, a lot of expectation for the sequel. 

6. Iron Man 3

I'm really interested in what will the Iron Man franchise do after The Avengers. Will its build up to its sequel, or take on a darker twist, as suggested in the trailer? Any way it turns, with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang's Shane Black and Robert Downey Jr. on board, an entertaining film is a 100 % result (check out my review of the first trailer here).

5. Warm Bodies

The trailer for this zombie-comedic-love-story looks very promising, and it's really weird how everyone is talking about how this will be the next Twilight, not noticing, it's pretty much a parody of such stupid stories. So far, it looks like a very funny, sweet and cool movie. 

4. Star Trek: Into Darkness

I don't think I need to say a lot more here as well. The first movie was awesome, the trailers look awesome, the director and composer and the rest of Bad Robot's acquainted crew is awesome and fucking Benedict Cumberbatch is in it. Sounds awesome (check out my review of the first trailer here).

3. Man Of Steel 

A lot of people, including me, are hungry for a dark and realistic version of Superman, and this really looks like it. Just the credentials of the film promise something epic - just imagine a Superman story Nolan style, with Zack Snyder's visuals. And when a nice cast and epic trailers back that up, you can't help but to be excited (check out my review of the second trailer here).

2. The Hobbit: Desolation Of Smaug 

Even tough the first movie received far more mixed reviews as many have expected, I am one of those who have loved it. The story now drops into full-awesomeness and finnally introduces as the vicious dragon Smaug, whose both appearance and voice by always excellent Benedict Cumberbatch is rightfully one of the more anticipated things in the world of entertainment in 2013 (check out my review of An Unexpected Journey here).

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

                             

My hidden fanboyism just can't help to admit, that this is the movie I'm looking forward to most this year. I simply can't wait to see Jennifer Lawrence be Katniss one more time, I can't wait to see my favourite character of the series, Finnick Odair be portrayed by Sam Clafflin, I can't wait to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarh Heavensbee, I can't wait to see the awesome salt lake arena battle and I could go on for quite some time. What can I say? I love the books, I loved the movie, I would love to see the next one. It's that simple. 

So what are your most anticipated movies of 2013? Comment below, let me know!

Top 10 Best Movies of 2012

The year is round and the time is right to make Top 10 lists. After finishing my, more unconvential list of the Top 10 Best Movie Trailers , here comes the classic list of the Top 10 Best Movies of the year every (wannabe) blogger / (wannabe) movie reviewer has to make, and luckily, I also enyoy doing these.  Of course this list is purely in my opinion and I also haven't seen every movie that came out this year, so don't complain to much. I decided not to watch some, some didn't come to my country, most of them will come in 2013. Most notably between Oscar contenders, I didn't see Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Life Of Pi, Les Miserables and Django Unchained, but I highly doubt they would have influenced the list much. Silver Linings Playbook and Celeste & Jesse Forever seem like having good choices to crack it, but sadly they weren't released in my country and I'll just have to wait to see them sometime in 2013. Also, beware for tons of shameless self-promotion! What can I do, I am happy for anyone who stumbles upon this.

10. Battleship

No, this isn't some weird joke. At first, I hesitated to put this on my list, but when I saw it in the same place on this same kind of list on some serious newspaper, like The Huffington Post or something, I was like "Fuck it! If Huffington Post can do it, so can I!" So yeah, I actually enyoyed Battleship and I was surprised most people didn't. It was more then just a Transformers-type mindless action flick, it knew what kind of a movie it was, it took advantage of that with tons of references and funny dialogues, making fun of itself and other mindless action flicks. Someone during the production of this movie must have said: "People! We're making a movie based on a Hasbro board game! Nobody's gonna take us seriously!" And to that person, I tip my hat off.

9. Looper

In general, I believe this movie is highly overrated. People saying like it was some kind of a new Inception, I tought it would be and it just didn't reach my therefore extremely high expectations. In the end, I still had to admit, that even if Looper isn't the new Inception, it still is an fresh, entertaining and intelligent sci-fi film, with great acting and some killer make-up (check out my full, spoiler-free review of the movie here).

8. 21 Jump Street 

The self-aware, sort-of remake of the 80's TV series (more of a parody, actually) about two idiotic cops who go undercover in high school featured fresh humour and two bright comedic performances by Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. I had a really hard time picking out the funniest movie of the year and taking up this spot on the list between this and Ted. I definitely laughed more with Ted, but I did see this alone and Ted in theatres, with my slightly immature friends. I finally decided for 21 Jump Street, as Ted will probably crack a lot of other similar lists, and I also felt this had slightly more intelligent humour, better acting and Foster The People on the soundtrack. 

7. Skyfall

This movie was recognized by many as one of the best James Bond films of all time, and it deserves that honor. It succesfully tackled one of the biggest problems of the Bond movies: Some people like the dark, gritty and realistic Bond we have known from the Daniel Craig films, and some people like the campy, cartoony Bond we have known from the Pierce Brosnan films, for example. Skyfall combined the two in a surprisingly crafty way and gave us a perfect mix with a few stunning action sequences and a very memorable villain (check out my spoiler-free review of the movie here and my spoiler-filled discussion here).

6. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Even tough some people critized Peter Jackson's newest trip into Middle Earth for being overlong and full of CGI and whatnot, I simply loved it. With a few great comedic moments, mostly set up by Martin Freeman as Bilbo, a bunch of backstories and subplots to truly showcase everything the expanded story has to offer and some stunning visual scenes, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey might not be exactly like LOTR, but it definitely is a fun and exciting fantasy epic for all ages (check out my full and spoiler-free review of it here).

5. The Hunger Games

Some might not agree on this one with me, but I simply cannot deny of what an effect this movie made on me. A mesmerizing dystopian tale, which critizes capitalism, yet gives young adults enough things to think about was a huge surprise for me and also made me a fan of the books. With a perfectly chosen lead actress, a few incredibly intense and psychologically-realistic scenes and a stylized soundtrack, The Hunger Games just give out a certain vibe and thankfully, take over the world. 

4. The Avengers

A superhero superspectacle uniting several majestic comic book characters into one movie might seem like a big shot, but Marvel pulled it off perfectly. With 4 years of build-up, nerds and geeks have been getting boners since the second Iron Man movie, but The Avengers just kicked it up a notch with amazing action scenes, hilarious dialogues and a great lead performance by Robert Downey Jr. (while also not overshadowing other characters), in order to satisfy geeks, action-movie fans, families and critics (check out my toughts on the clash of the 2012 superhero blockbusters here).

3. Cloud Atlas 

The 3-hour film, directed by 3 directors, starring some actors in up to 7 roles, spanning centuries and telling us six different stories throughout past, present and future was recognized by many as an over-long, over-ambitious mess, but some of us agreed, that it is a crafty-made masterpiece. Unbelieveable make-up, incredible visual effects (this actually is an independent film), a way to make six different stories logically tie into one another in a surprisingly good way, Cloud Atlas is simply a mesmerizing and epic film, worth watching every minute of (check out my full and spoiler-free review of it here).

2. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Without doubt the sweetest, cutest and most sentimental movie I've ever seen, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower surprisingly bombed at the box office, but has been rightfully recognized by some critics as »the coming of age film of our generation«. With being a bit geeky and asocial becoming pretty common nowadays, a lot of people could relate to the fresh, funny and deeply affecting story of Charlie, a highly intelligent, yet socially awkward high-schooler, who is taken under the wing of two seniors and welcomed into their little group of outsiders, who listen to mix tapes with old music, perform at the Rocky Horror Picture Show and make artsy magazines (check out my full and spoiler-free review here). 

1. The Dark Knight Rises 

At the beginning of the year, I made a bet with myself, that this would be the movie of 2012. I didn't cheat or anything or put this here just to win the bet, but it's just how it is. Screw haters, I say and rightfully declare this the best film of the year. The grand finale of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy definitely is epic in every way possible. With the best performance by Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Batman in the trilogy, a few unbelieveably spectacular scenes in scope and size, thrilling side performances by Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle and Tom Hardy as Bane, an exciting story full of twists, open endings and things to keep our heads scratching about and as always, but this-time especially monumental score by Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight Rises is the definition of an epic movie at its finest. 

So what are your top 10 best movies of 2012? Do you any good ones I might have missed? Do you think 2012 was a good year for movies? Comment below, let me know! 

Top 10 Best Movie Trailers of 2012

Top 10 lists is an usual thing to do by the end of the year, and I also enyoy doing them, but before I take on the classic list of the top 10 best movies of the year, why not try a more uncovential, but still interesting list, such as a list of the top 10 best, most memorable, interesting and attention-catching trailers of the year. Any trailer, that came out this year is eligible for this list, and to warn ya - it's pretty subjective. I mean, it's my fucking list, I can write anything I want on it, so some of these are here and they're higher on the list, because I liked the movie more and such. I mean, they are cool trailers and all, but I believe some of you might find some other really awesome trailers which I just haven't seen, or didn't like the movie or something like that. Also, there's a lot of shameless self-promotion in here, but what can I do, I'm happy for anyone who stumbles upon this.

10. "Moonrise Kingdom" Official Trailer

This trailer, along with the movie that it's made for, is the definition of quirky. With self-ironic, semi-sarcastic one-liners, unconventially fitting classical music and a presentation of the whole wacky and surreal Moonrise Kingdom has to offer, this trailer wowed pretty much everyone that the movie wowed later, including me (check out my spoiler-free review of the movie here).

9. "Star Trek: Into Darkness" Teaser / Trailer #1

I'm not sure if this is a teaser or a first trailer, as Bad Robot productions (in their style) released another trailer a few weeks earlier, which turned out to be the teaser for this teaser...Whatever, all I know is that this trailer is awesome and as much as the line "You think you are safe? You are not." is very cliched, Benedict Cumberbatch says that line, so it's awesome by default. I also confess that I do not hate the Inception-horn sound and fading to black that much, and they're pretty nicely used in this one ( check out my other toughts on the trailer here).

8. "The Dark Knight Rises" Trailer #3

When you're looking at epic trailers, choosing trailers for movies like TDKR and The Avengers might seem a bit of an easy choice, but you have to admit this trailer is epic with a capital "e". With that peaceful piano piece at the beginning and the rest of Hans Zimmer's always amazing score, this final trailer for the Batman trilogy closer just builds and builds tension onto its finale, showing both the epic and dark side of the Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy that we already used to love, but also referencing the themes of hope, heroism and the rise of a legend that surrounds the film itself (check out my spoiler-filled articles, discussing the film here, here and here).

7. "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" Trailer #1

Even tough later trailers revealed more of the story and more glimpses of this fantasy epic, the first trailer still remains the best for me. The reason is the awesome song that the dwarwes sing, that should definitely get nominated for Best Original Song. The murky, atmospheric vocals just put you into the dark mood of listening to ghost stories by the campfire and when its epic orchestral version kicks in, you're just like "Fuck yeah, we're in Middle Earth again!" The part at the end with Gollum and the little flute melody, that reminds you of LOTR a bit more is also very cool (check out my spoiler-free review of the movie here). 

6. "Skyfall" Teaser Trailer

This is a teaser trailer by all means and it shows you more of the dark, gritty and realistic side of Skyfall instead of the perfect mix of the classic Bond and the new Bond that we've grown to love in the film, it's still pretty awesome. The orchestral build-up rises tension perfectly and even tough the "BANG BANG" and fading to black get annoying soon, that fucking awesome 10-second-Bond-theme-techno-riff-remix part at the end saves the trailer. I really wished there would be an extended version of it on the film's soundtrack, but sadly it isn't (check out my spoiler-free review of the movie here and the spoiler-filled discussion here).

5. "The Great Gatsby" Trailer #2

I have no idea, if I will like this movie or not (I've never read or seen anything Gatsby-related in my life), but this trailer looks just awesome. Just like Romeo + Juliet, also directed by Baz Luhrmann, this trailer seems to breath life into the classic tale, with so oddly fitting music (especially the metal song at the end), that you just can't believe how fresh and modern this film looks with such music. Just exploding into an costumography and set design epic, the trailer for 2013's The Great Gatsby is mesmerizing and unconventionally appealing, even if you have no idea what the book is about.

4. "Man Of Steel" Teaser Trailer 

If you're going to make a teaser trailer that doesn't reveal any of the story at all, at least do it in style. And Lord Of The Rings music, two different trailers with two different voiceovers by each of Superman's dads (done by Kevin Costner and Russel Crowe, respectively) and an epic shot of Superman launching off into the sky and breaking the sound barrier definitely is in style (check out my toughts on the newest trailer here).

3. "The Hunger Games" Trailer #2

Now there is a lot of fanboyism here for picking this trailer, as it from an objective point from view isn't anything special. But to me, as a fan of the books and the movie, is just amazing. The awesome song "Deep Shadows" by Lorenzo Montana and Tying Tyfanny is so fitting to the story and simply epic. The moment, when those bagpipes start playing, I get goosebumps.

2. "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower" Official Trailer

This is also influenced a lot by the fact, that I simply loved the movie. But even before I saw it, when I was just reading the book, I knew that this film will be its rightful adaptation, as the trailer alone made me laugh, smile and feel sentimental. With funny and memorable quotes, but still not revealing too much of them and amazing music that you hope to hear on the radio in the morning to make you feel better, this is the perfect trailer for the perfect movie, based on the perfect book (check out my spoiler-free review of the movie here).

1. "Cloud Atlas" Extended Trailer

Even tough some trailers on this list make me more emotional and sentimental, I still have to admit, that this is the best trailer of the year (in my opinion, the best I've ever seen). A 5-minute trailer is just right for a 3-hour movie and is just undescribable. From the peaceful piano piece at the beginning, to the Two Steps From Hell-like music at the middle and the amazing song "Outro" by m83 at the end, all of the music fits perfectly and really makes you feel like everything is connected and makes you want to see the movie this instance, even if you have no idea what it's about (check out my spoiler-free review of the movie here).

So what did you think of this list? What are your top 10 best, most memorable and intriguing trailers of the year? Do you think 2012 was a good year for trailers (really, I actually wrote that)? Comment below, let me know!

'This is 40' movie review

The last movie I will probably see in theatres this year is the Judd Apatow dramedy This is 40, a spin-off the 2009 hit Knocked Up with its supporting characters Peter and Debbie filling the slot of the main characters. Now I like Judd Apatow movies and I've enyoyed pretty much every movie that has any or more members of the so-called modern frat pack in it (Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Will Ferell, Zach Galifianakis...), so I was looking forward to this. And was it funny? Yes, yes it was. Was it overlong, poorly paced and unsteadily dramatic? Fuck yeah. But first things first. The acting is solid, Paul Rudd is his usual funny-himself and Leslie Mann, an actress who seems similar, but on a second tought didn't actually play in any other movie I saw before is very likeable and just generally does her job well.

The movie is actually very funny. It has that typical Judd Apatow humor that pretty much everyone, including me loves, but contrary to his previous directed or produced movies, it's overfilled with drama. Sure, none of his movies is a complete comedy (if that is even possible?), but This Is 40 just takes the word "dramedy" to a whole new level. It has these scenes, which are completely comedic, rare ones, that are completely dramatic and a lot of some, which just try to overlap the two and in some cases suceed, and in some cases don't. I'm not a huge fan of family-drama movies or whatever, so I didn't particularly enyoy these dramatic scenes, but they are (as far as I know, I'm 14), a pretty realistic depiction of marriage, having kids and adult life in general, from what I see from my parents and other grown-ups. But the whole movie is fucking 2 hours and 15 minutes long, as it should have been at least half an hour less. It's basically like this collection of hilarious comedic scenes and semi-enyoyable drama scenes weirdly knit together into a movie.

 Like a depiction of the 40's, but not like in Marley & Me, where it takes on at least a whole decade, but instead focuses just on these two weeks or something. It doesn't even actually have a story, just a bunch of subplots, which try to cover up each other, and none of them really shine. You have Pete's financial problems, Debbie's general 40+ woman problems, her lost father, his money-begging father, their rebellious teenage daughter, their typical younger daughter, usual problems and some unusual ones. Instead, they have a fight again, and when you think this is the depressing, downfall part of the film, they fight again and then something happens (nothing much, just avoiding possible spoilers, but it's not really that kind of a movie) and then it just ends. You just feel like that happy, get-along part would go somewhere there. But nothing really like happens. I mean, it does, but...I think ya know what I mean. There is this part, where Pete and Debbie go on a vacation and get all wild and stuff, and you just see, that this part should have gone at the end.  Otherwise, I have made this *creative* graph, depicting pacing and the general "movie rhythm", to rightfully describe the film's general flaw.

Total rating: 6 / 10

So what did you think of This is 40? Did you like it/dislike it, why? What's your favourite Judd Apatow movie? Comment below, let me know!