By Quinn Levandoski
The movies are getting more expensive all the time. I feel old because (and sad) because I can say “I remember when a large popcorn was only 5 bucks” and have younglings looks at me with magical wonder (and/or scared confusion). Tickets at my theater range from about 7 bucks to 12 or 13 depending on the show and time, and food costs an arm and a leg. Literally, I go to a theater for zombies. With going to the movies turning into less of a fun past-time and more of an investment every day, here are five movies (plus a few honorable mentions) that I think will be well worth your time and cash. The following list is in no particular order, because they’re all going to be awesome.
1. The Hobbit
Truth be told, the trailer released a while back for The Hobbit left me unimpressed. Something about the look of the dwarves rubbed me the wrong way, and the whole thing just didn’t portray the scale and intensity that it probably should have. That being the case, there’s not much doubt in my mind that the final product won’t be a pretty great flick. Peter Jackson, the man behind the three Lord of the Rings movies, is entering back into the realm of Middle Earth, and nothing up until this point gives me reason to believe that he won’t be just as skilled with Bilbo’s tale as he was with Frodo’s. Those that have read The Hobbit (which takes place before The Lord of the Rings) know that while the story may be a bit smaller in scale, it does offer some great moments and a suitably awesome concluding battle.
I’ve wanted this movie to happen ever since I saw the first X-Men movie (yes, I know the X-men aren’t in it, but it showed me that superhero movies could be as awesome as they deserve to be), but I never thought that it could actually happen. The sheer logistics of getting this movie to make sense is nearly mind-boggling. Each hero would have to be well known enough to not need much of an introduction, the characters would have to have inhabited the same universe so it makes sense when they come together, and a bunch of well-known actors would all need to be paid. Well, with the sad exclusion of Ed Norton as the Hulk, all of this happened. Marvel did something crazy starting with Iron Man, and weaved an interconnected thread through all of its subsequent movies to lead up to this one. You guys probably aren’t as big of nerds as I am, but just looking at the posters including all of Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury are enough to make me pump my mental fist. Here’s to hoping that Ant Man can have a roll in sure-to-be-made.
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3. The Dark Knight Rises
As I explained in my post the Top 7 Superhero Movies Ever Made explains, The Dark Knight is the best comic-to-film adaptation the world has ever seen. It was not only great as a superhero movie, but could also be viewed by people who normally shy away from masks and capes as an excellent psychological thriller or action movie. I’m still bitter to this day that it didn’t get nominated for Best Picture by the Academy. Well, The Dark Knight Rises is looking to continue Christopher Nolan’s excellent take on the bat-universe, and it looks like it’ll succeed nicely. Heath Ledger gave one of the most memorable villainous performances I’ve ever seen as The Joker in The Dark Knight, and following his lead is sure to be a tough act, but Tom Hardy seems to be doing an admirable job as the hulking Bane. Not only is Bane just as smart as bats, but he’s much stronger, making him an equal match tactically as well as in direct combat. The trailers released so far seem to show a scale above and beyond what was in the previous two films. I mean when Batman is locking fists in broad daylight, you know things have gotten serious.
4. The Amazing Spider-Man
You may have noticed a trend that there are a lot of superhero movies on this list. Part of that is due to the fact that I love superhero movies, and part of that is becaue this is going to be the biggest year for superhero movies yet (not in terms of quantity, but definitely quality). The Amazing Spider-Man is a movie that I wasn’t excited about at all until recently. I love the character, but it hasn’t been that long since the alst one, and i felt that a re-boot shouldn’t come any sooner than 10 years after the last one. The fact that it seems this movie will be re-telling the origin story that we’ve already seen was salt on the wound. Then I saw the first real trailer and most of my fears melted away. Yes, the origin story is there, but it seems different enough to keep my attention. Also, Garfield is a MUCH better fit than McGuire ever was. Spider-Man is supposed to be a sort of sarcastic jerk when he’s fighting bad guys. His taunts and teases are his way of staying calm in extreme situations. These one-liners are a huge part of the cahracter’s personality, and one that the previous three movies never touched on. Add in the fact that the fighting seems much more Spider-Manish and less Power Rangers-esque, and a villain (Lizard) that could be a pretty sweet villain and this thing might just have a chance. Oh, and Dennis Leary is awesome.
5. The Great Gatsby
This one may seem strange in lieu of other hugely popular movies coming out this year like The Hunger Games or Braking Dawn Part 2 (I kid, I kid) coming out since not a single trailer has been released yet, but that doesn’t stop me from getting pretty excited. I’m an English major in school, soon to be an English teacher, which means that I’ve read a lot of books and quite frankly most of the classics have left me wanting. I could hardly force my way through The Grapes of Wrath, The Scarlet Letter may be my least favorite book ever, and most of the others just didn’t live up to the hype. That being said, I love The Great Gatsby (just for the record, some of the other classics I love are Dracula, A Tale of Two Cities, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and everything by Poe). It doesn’t have a crazy deep plot, it isn’t laugh-out-loud funny, and it doesn’t excel in any one particular area specifically, but I never wanted to put it down. Plainly put, it’s just the perfect mix of entertainment and education about an era past. That, mixed with some great actors in Joel Edgerton and Leo DiCaprio, should make me one happy camper.
Honorable Mention:
Brave
Skyfall (James Bond)
Prometheus
.Jeff, Who Lives at Home
The Hunger Games
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