Jared Miller

Totally agree, but +1 for using some real instrument(s)!

I didn't even notice that Iron Man 3 or Man of Steel even had 3D. I had to take off the glasses a few times to make sure it was. I agree Star Trek had great 3D. I skipped 3D for WWZ and Monsters University. I don't really care for the effect anyway, and basically avoid it (unless it is the only way I can watch an IMAX showing)

I totally agree with your main point, but... this seriously needs to happen.

I don't mind long movies at all. I feel like 2.5-3 hours gives adequate time to really make you care for the characters and realize the stakes in the film. Plus I feel like I'm getting more film for the money =) As long as it isn't super slow paced (like watching 3 straight episodes of The Walking Dead), then I'm on board.

Great list!

This is how I'd rank them. Haven't seen Skyfall so it isn't on my list. LotR:RotK and Toy Story 3 are in my absolute all-time favorites list (with the rest of the Lord of the Rings films!) 1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - 10/10 2. Toy Story 3 - 10/10 3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - 9/10 4. The Avengers - 8.5/10 5. The Dark Knight - 8/10 6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - 7.5/10 7. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 7/10 8. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - 7/10 9. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - 7/10 10. Avatar - 6.5/10 11. Iron Man 3 - 6.5/10 12. Alice in Wonderland - 5/10 13. The Dark Knight Rises - 4/10 14. Transformers: Dark of the Moon - 3/10 15. Titanic - 2/10

I think the script is probably a little more important than the actor/actress. A great actor can't do much with a bad script, but I feel like a great script can bring out the best in what otherwise may be mediocre actors. I think that's why we see some actors who are terrible in some films (think Star Wars) but receive wide critical acclaim for other films. Both are definitely important, but I would weigh in favor of the writer, because the script has to be good before the actor can be.

Wow, go Star Trek! 9.5% drop from last Monday with way less theaters!

I'd definitely put it above Cars, Up, Brave, Toy Story 2, and even the original Monsters Inc. My Pixar favorites are Toy Story 1/3, Bug's Life, Ratatouille, and Nemo, and this one was right on par with all of those (except TS3). I thought it was really good, and was a breath of fresh air! I wasn't even looking forward to it, because Monsters Inc wasn't one of my top Pixar films (I like it but it didn't click with me as well as the others for whatever reason). I was worried when they announced this one, because I wondered why Pixar picked their two weakest films (in my opinion, Cars and Monsters Inc) to make sequels/prequels to.

I don't really see how Monsters University doesn't win this. The animation was gorgeous, the voice acting and score were excellent, it had a solid story and it's a Pixar film. If Brave can win, I see no reason this film shouldn't. The only thing I can see holding it back is that its predecessor didn't win, one of the few Pixar films that didn't.

Just saw this tonight, and loved it! Definitely felt like old school Pixar (Toy Story, Bug's Life, etc). Young Mike at the beginning was super adorable But I really loved it. I too thought it was better than the first one. I like the first one, but for some reason it doesn't really stand out to me that much, but this one did. Not sure if it was the story or the characters, or maybe the excellent animation and score, but I thought it all came together really well to form a pretty enjoyable film. And it was fun watching in an audience full of kids, don't get that much laughter in most film showings!

June 28th - July 4th 1. Catching Fire 2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 3. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 4. X-Men: Days of Future Past 5. Thor: The Dark World 6. Despicable Me 2 7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 8. Pacific Rim 9. Jack Ryan 10. The Wolverine

Amen to that. And that main theme never really makes a full appearance until the credits... mostly it is just a chord progression throughout the actual film. I couldn't help but feel that during the learning to fly sequence it was actually the music pulling Supes down, not the gravity... seriously, that scene deserves a soaring cue, and instead we get this heavy, high-gravity theme that never really takes off, and it is sorely disappointing. How Zimmer was chosen to score not one, but two film series with previous iconic scores is unknown to me. Elfman's "Batman" and Williams' "Superman" are infinitely better than anything Zimmer brought to the table for these films.

June 21 - June 27 1. Catching Fire 2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 3. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 4. X-Men: Days of Future Past 5. Thor: The Dark World 6. Despicable Me 2 7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 8. White House Down 9. Pacific Rim 10. Jack Ryan

I was really surprised by it. Nearly everything worked really well for me, with the exception of the zombie effects in the research facility. They drew a lot of laughs in my audience, which kinda took away from the moment (but it wasn't a huge issue). I thought Brad Pitt did a great job here, really enjoyed him in this role. I love how quickly everything started, and they did a great job of making the zombie pandemic seem incredibly dangerous and unexpected. Several scenes had some intense gravity to them. I gave this an A, mainly because of how surprised I was. I'm not sure how "good" of a film it is, but I generally loathe zombies and came out of this one really pleased. Great film!

World War Z June 22, 4:20 PM, 95+% full Auburn, AL Trailers RIPD Anchorman 2 The Conjuring You're Next Insidious 2 The Wolverine The Wolf of Wall Street Crowd was really into it. Some laughs at the zombies toward the end (funny movements/sounds, etc). Seems like most people liked it, lots of talking right when it ended.

Man of Steel - 2D June 17, 5:30 PM, 95% full Auburn, AL Trailers Pacific Rim RIPD Gravity Anchorman 2 The Lone Ranger RIPD got a lot of laughs, big laugh at the Anchorman 2 teaser ("Be sure the parents are around when you hug a child"). One guy clapped at the end of the Pacific Rim trailer. Crowd was pretty great. Seemed really into the film. Lots of laughs and Probably the last time I'll see this in theaters (went and saw it with different people each time), but each showing was great and the crowd was really into it. Hope it continues to do really well!

Man of Steel - 2D June 17, 5:30 PM, 60% full Auburn, AL Trailers Pacific Rim RIPD Gravity World War Z The Lone Ranger RIPD got a lot of laughs, some mild chatter for the others. People were laughing at Gravity, the trailer is unintentionally funny. Crowd was better than the first showing I had. There seemed to be more kids and families here than the first one. Lots of laughing (and awkward chatter after the "measuring dicks" line). Some applause at the end of the film. There were some people that were laughing at random times, kinda distracting from the film.

1. The Avengers2. The Amazing Spiderman3. X-Men First Class 4. Man of Steel5. Iron Man6. Batman Begins7. The Dark Knight8. Spiderman 29. X210. Thor

Thought I'd revive this topic (was going to post a new one, but saw this one was already here) I think my favorite Potter film score is Goblet of Fire. However, ironically, I think it is probably the one that works least well with the film. But it is absolutely gorgeous! Those strings are just fantastic, and it all has a very romantic and lush sound to it. I think Williams' scores work well for the first films, and Hooper's for OotP and HBP, but overall I think the best synergy between score and film is achieved by Desplat's scores for DH1-2. Something about Doyle's score for GoF just seems odd in context of the film, but it is a beautiful score. I do wish he had another score for the series (if only to balance it out so each composer gets two films!) I'd rank them like this (some favorite album tracks in parenthesis, series favorites bold): 1. Goblet of Fire (Harry in Winter, Hogwarts Hymn, Neville's Waltz) 2. Deathly Hallows 2 (Lily's Theme, Courtyard Apocalypse, Dragon Flight, Severus and Lily) 3. Sorcerer's Stone (Prologue, Hedwig's Theme, Harry's Wondrous World) 4. Deathly Hallows 1 (Obliviate, Snape to Malfoy Manor, Ministry of Magic) 5. Half-Blood Prince (In Noctem, Wizard Wheezes, Slughorn's Confession, Dumbledore's Farewell) 6. Order of the Phoenix (Fireworks, Flight of the Order of the Phoenix, Professor Umbridge) 7. Prisoner of Azkaban (Secrets of the Castle, A Window to the Past, Finale) 8. Chamber of Secrets (The Chamber of Secrets, Reunion of Friends)

I LOVED the flashbacks! I thought the pacing was great (once we left Krypton). Sure the story could have been told linearly, but I thought the way the flashbacks were set up were much, much more interesting.

Good catch! I hadn't thought of that. I guess they just didn't care, or used it as a device to help the audience know who was who. I'm not sure! It was pretty obvious haha to me anyway. When she uses the "arresto momentum" spell (or whatever it is) to stop their fall, she is directly in front of the camera and it is sort of a weird shot.

Man of Steel - IMAX 3D June 16, 7:00 PM, 75% full Hoover, AL (Birmingham metro) Trailers The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Pacific Rim Ender's Game Gravity Pretty much no reaction to any of the trailers. Crowd was pretty good. Lots of laughs at the funny points of the film. Looks like a lot stayed around for the credits (maybe thinking there would be a post-credits scene). We had previously tried to go to a 3:30 IMAX 2D showing, but when we went to find a seat there were hardly any left at all and couldn't find any together, so we changed our tickets and came back to the 7:00 PM showing. I'd say the 3:30 showing was well over 90% full.

Just got back from seeing Man of Steel. The score works better in the film, but is still very forgettable. It complemented the film, but never really enhanced it. I don't know if Zimmer has simply lost his touch or if he is just getting lazy, but his recent stuff hasn't been all that good. I want the "Lion King" Zimmer back =/ Hopefully "The Lone Ranger" will be better. Anyway, so far this year I'd rank the film scores I've really paid attention to as thus: 1. Star Trek Into Darkness - 4.5/5 2. Oz the Great and Powerful - 4/5 3. Epic - 4/5 4. Iron Man 3 - 3.5/5 5. Oblivion - 2.5/5 6. Man of Steel - 1.5/5

June 14 - June 20 1. Catching Fire 2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 3. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 4. Thor: The Dark World 5. Despicable Me 2 6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 7. White House Down 8. Pacific Rim 9. Monsters University 10. World War Z