7 Days in May | Atomic Blonde and Robert Mitchum

Atomic Blonde (2017)



Great spy story with a super cool agent. I like that it's set in the Cold War and I love the heavy use of '80s New Wave music. I even like how the song choices fit with what's going on onscreen ('Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry," for instance, when two characters are trying not to be overheard), but I understand how that might be annoying for some.

The plot is complicated, with a lot of double- and triple-crossing to keep track of, but while I was often kept guessing, I was never confused. And it all tracked for me in the end. Looking back after all the reveals have been made, I have some questions about why certain characters did what they did, but I'm not calling that a flaw until I've been able to see it again with the knowledge of what everyone's up to.

The selling point is the action sequences. There are a few big fights and they're all staged differently and even have different tones from each other. One is a brutal, very prolonged fight in a stairwell, for example, while another in a posh hotel is slow motion and operatic.

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Continuing to rewatch some of my favorite movies from 2016. This was my third or fourth time watching The Magnificent Seven and I like it more each time. I already thought it was a fun movie the first time, but some things that bugged me then don't bother me anymore. It's not that there aren't flaws, it's just that the things that I like - certain characters, set pieces, and the way the villain gets his comeuppance, as examples - smother out the nitpicks that I originally had. It's still not as good as the original, but it doesn't have to be.

Doctor Strange (2016)

One of these days I'm going to need to comprehensively rank the Marvel movies, but I suspect that this will be in the upper part of the middle tier. I enjoy it a lot, appreciate its inventiveness about what spells look like, and like that it opens up a corner of the MCU that hasn't been explored before. I also like how Strange defeats the villain and what that says about him as a character. It's all cool stuff done in a new way.

But even though it's done in a new way, the story that it's telling doesn't feel new enough for me to totally fall in love with the movie. It's essentially Tony Stark's character arc again. And as much as I love Cumberbatch and love him in this role, that sameness keeps me from putting Doctor Strange with very favorite Marvel films.

Moana (2016)

Not just my favorite movie of last year; it's headed towards being one of my favorite movies of all time. There's more to unpack than I want to put in this post, but the short version is that it doesn't just push the nautical/island adventure and awesome female character buttons for me. There's serious, spiritual depth to this movie and a great discussion to be had about mission and identity and how those things are connected. Need to come back to this at some point.

The Ice Pirates (1984)

I've wanted to see The Ice Pirates since 1984. I missed it in the theater and somehow never got around to watching it later, but I've always been a big fan of Robert Urich and of course space opera and pirates, so how could I not enjoy it?

Little did I know.

Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but as much fun as the cast is (had no idea Angelica Huston and Ron Perlman were in it), it's much sillier than I expected and I didn't actually like any of the characters. Urich is playing the scum bucket that everyone thinks Han Solo is, but without the heart of gold. At least, no heart of gold had been hinted at by the time I gave up and turned this off.

Lady Jane (1986)

So next week, Diane and David and I are taking off for a couple of weeks to go see Britain. It's been a lifelong wish of mine to go see the home of so many of my childhood heroes: Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Ebenezer Scrooge, Tarzan, James Bond, the Loch Ness Monster... it's a long list.

That means that I won't be updating this blog during that time and there might not be any podcasts with me on them either. If you're with me on Facebook though, I'll be posting there as much as possible, but otherwise, I'll pick up here when we get back.

It also means that we're watching some movies to prep for the trip. Lady Jane has been a favorite of mine since I fell in love with Helena Bonham Carter in the mid-'80s, but it's a downer and I knew David wouldn't love it, so I haven't shared it with him before. We're going to go see the Tower of London, though, and Lady Jane is largely set there and covers an important event that took place there. I figured it would be a good touchstone to have for our visit.

True enough, David wasn't thrilled, though I think he appreciated what he was supposed to about the story. I don't agree with every decision that Jane Grey and her husband make, but I'm not supposed to. They're kids and they make a lot of immature decisions. But I love their passion and I love the questions that the movie raises about how far we're willing to go for things that we believe are important. It kind of goes back to the themes of mission and identity from Moana and I love thinking about that stuff.

When Strangers Marry (1944)

I love me some Robert Mitchum and this has a bunch of other cool people, too. I see Dean Jagger get weepy every year in White Christmas, Kim Hunter went on to play Zira in the Planet of the Apes movies, and Neil Hamilton of course is Commissioner Gordon in the Adam West Batman series. And it's directed by William Castle (House on Haunted Hill, 13 Ghosts).

When Strangers Marry is a good thriller in which Hunter marries a guy (Jagger) she's only known a short time. The cops (led by Hamilton) want to bring Jagger in for questioning about a murder in the last town Jagger was in, but he's doing his best to stay off the grid. Hunter starts to wonder what she's gotten herself into and whether she shouldn't have married her childhood sweetheart (Mitchum) who's recently re-entered her life, instead.

Like I said, it's a good thriller, but it's not great. I was able to predict the outcome, but the bigger problem is that I never for a second believed that anyone would choose to marry Jagger over Mitchum.

Crossfire (1947)



Another early Robert Mitchum movie. I liked this one better though. It's a psychological thriller disguised as a murder mystery. From the start, there are really only a couple of options for who the killer might be, so the real mystery is about the potential motives of the primary suspects. Both are recently discharged soldiers, but one's a hateful bigot and the other is a sweet, but stressed out kid who may not be responsible for all of his actions. Robert Young is the main cop on the case, with Mitchum playing an officer who knows both suspects and wants to prove the kid's innocence.

There's no surprise as to who the killer really is, but that's okay. As the poster's tagline suggests, the movie's more concerned about hate and bigotry. It's heavy handed about delivering that message, but it's also great at humanizing the murder victim and driving home the tragedy of the crime. And sometimes - especially recently - heavy handedness in preaching against hate is exactly what we need.

The Paradine Case (1947)

I'm a big fan of Gregory Peck and Alfred Hitchcock, but I couldn't finish The Paradine Case. Peck plays a married lawyer who falls in love with the woman (Alida Valli) he's defending for murder. The movie hinges on selling the Peck-Valli romance, but that's exactly where it falls apart. Valli is supposed to glamorously mysterious, but she's dull as a mop and there's no reason for Peck to be tempted by her. Especially when his wife (Ann Todd) is utterly charming and far more interesting as a person. The script and performances do no work to transition Peck from happily married to grumpily considering adultery, so when he suddenly and inexplicably started exhibiting feelings for Valli, I was out.

Rio Grande (1950)

The third in John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy." I accidentally skipped the second, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, because I forgot that Rio Grande was part of it. There are way too many Westerns named after rivers, ya'll.

This is a bona fide sequel to Fort Apache. It doesn't reference any of those events - and I'm not even 100% sure that the timeline works out - but John Wayne is playing the same character in both movies. I like how different the two films are, though.

Fort Apache is about authority and the military structure and what happens when good people are given bad orders. Rio Grande is a more personal movie. Some of Fort Apache's themes show up here, too, because Wayne's character once had to carry out a difficult order that directly affected his relationship with his wife (Maureen O'Hara). But Rio Grande is mostly about that relationship, with both characters trying to decide if they want to repair it. Complicating the situation is that their son has enlisted in the army and been assigned to Wayne's command. O'Hara of course wants the boy out, but Wayne's feelings on it aren't so simple.

It's a lovely story of guilt and repentance and the possibility of forgiveness, which doesn't just play out in the family of main characters. There's also a soldier who's wanted for manslaughter, so when the US Marshal shows up to bring him in, the film adds justice to the mix of themes. What role, if any, should the government play in forgiving crimes? Pretty great stuff.

Winchester '73 (1950)

I'm not typically into movies that follow props around. Most of the time they're thinly disguised anthologies and I'm just not crazy about anthologies. But that's not Winchester '73. The characters who come into contact with the rifle are already connected in other ways and none of them leave the story completely unless they die. It's really about Jimmy Stewart's trying to get the rifle, but more importantly - and for reasons unrelated to the rifle itself - get his hands on the guy who stole it. The other characters are clever diversions who weave in and out of that main plot, but all of them are worth the time the movie spends on them.

Song of the Week: "Electric Love" by BØRNS

No one reads this far down, do they?

My Top 10 Movies from 2015

1. The Force Awakens



I feel like I've talked enough about my feelings for Force Awakens. My initial reaction was on Starmageddon, with a deeper dive on Nerd Lunch, and then some follow-up thoughts on Starmageddon again. The short version though is that no, the movie isn't perfect. Yes, there are flaws. None of which matter to me when I'm watching it. I just love these characters too much. Exactly how I feel about the original movie, by the way, and Force Awakens is easily in my Top Two films of the series.

2. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation



I loved Ghost Protocol, but Mission: Impossible III was the one to beat for me and I think Rogue Nation did it. Sean Harris isn't as scary a villain as Philip Seymour Hoffman was, but he's still terrifying and extremely watchable (unlike Michael Nyqvist's relatively generic bad guy in Ghost Protocol).

And as much as I love Keri Russell, Rebecca Ferguson's character is way better and I want a whole series of Ilsa Faust movies, please. Plus Alec Baldwin in a great role, plus an extended role for Simon Pegg, plus some amazing action and stunts. The Mission: Impossible movies are making better Bond Movies than the Bond movies lately.

3. Inside Out



Pixar has been so uninspiring the last few years that I wasn't at all convinced that a Herman's Head remake was going to be anything I wanted to see. But then reviews rolled in and the word "masterpiece" was used a lot, so I got my hopes up and checked it out. "Masterpiece" is an accurate word. Inside Out is touching and profound and measurably makes life better for its existence. It's the best movie I saw in 2015.

The only reason it's not at the Number One spot on this list is that it's not tapping into childhood nostalgia the way the first two are. I mentioned in an earlier post that these are listed in order of my enjoyment of them, not in terms of objective quality. Not that quality is all that objective anyway, but just thinking along those lines would have made this a different list. My head values what movies like Inside Out and Black Sea are accomplishing from scratch, but Force Awakens and Rogue Nation make my heart soar. This list is about my heart.

4. Mad Max: Fury Road



This was a lot of people's Movie of the Year and it's the one I'm rooting hardest for in the Best Picture Oscar category. I have not a single negative thing to say about it. It's awesome and beautiful and I love that it exists. But as much as I love Imperator Furiosa, I love Rey, Faust, and Riley's feelings more.

5. The Man from UNCLE



I'm still a fan of Guy Ritchie, including RocknRolla and the Sherlock Holmes movies, so I was very much looking forward to The Man from UNCLE. And I wasn't disappointed. It's got all of his style used in wonderful service to '60s spy movies. It's a gorgeous film, too. Every shot of Henry Cavill looks like a GQ ad come to life. And his delivery is as awesomely square-jawed as his face.

I didn't buy some of the initial attempts to build relationships between the characters, but once those were established I loved watching the team interact. It's a pleasant change to watch a spy movie that's more about rhythm, relationships, and revelations than stunts and set pieces. Not that there's anything wrong with stunts and set pieces, but not every movie has to be focused on that.

The soundtrack is also amazing. I don't buy many soundtracks anymore, but I got that one.

6. Mr. Holmes



A wonderful character piece with an even more wonderful performance. If I have one criticism, it's that the mystery story isn't as strong as I want it to be, but it's really not about the mystery story. It's about the kind of man you might expect Sherlock Holmes would become, and whether or not that's someone he wants to be. Lovely movie.

7. Avengers: Age of Ultron



This gets rated way higher than Ant-Man, because it is the wham-pow epic of a movie that I want Marvel films to be now. But it's not as solid as the first Avengers, probably because it's just trying to do so much that it can't do everything well. I have no problem with Black Widow and Bruce Banner's becoming romantically involved in concept; it's just that the movie doesn't do a good job of selling them as a couple. Seeing Hawkeye's family is very sweet and I loved it, but it doesn't really add anything to this story. I'd rather have that Thor stuff added back in, because it does bear on the plot.

But I liked it so much more than I didn't. There are some super fun moments (that party!) and I love that it takes the time to show our heroes being heroes.

8. Jurassic World



I think the only Jurassic Park movie that I truly don't care for is the second one. And even then, it's been so long since I've seen it that I only have the fuzziest recollection of what I didn't care for. Something about the T-Rex's city adventure not being as awesome as it could've been. Maybe I'd like it more now. Or maybe I'd remember other things I don't like. My point is that I'm a pretty easy mark for these things.

If there's something I like better than dinosaurs, it's theme parks. Well, mostly Disney World, but there are other good ones. I even have a weird thing I do when I visit zoos and Japanese gardens where I think about how I'd design them differently. There should be a concession stand there, a tram that runs along here; that kind of thing. So to see a Jurassic Park movie with a fully functioning theme park was exactly what I wanted. Not because I loved all the attractions they came up with - I didn't - but because I love thinking about how I'd improve them. It taps into a specific kind of nerdom that lights me up.

Add to that Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, both of whom I love for different reasons, and let Pratt lead a pack of raptors from his motorcycle... I agree that the gender politics of Jurassic World aren't good and I agree that the death of Claire's assistant goes on way too long. I don't like either of those things. But between some favorite actors, theme park nerdery, and giant lizards, there's way more about it that I love.

9. Crimson Peak



Excellent gothic romance. A bit more graphic than I'm used to from the genre, but it works. And I suppose there's precedence if you take the Hammer films into consideration. Easily my favorite Del Toro film so far and I expect to find even more to like about it when I watch it again.

I took along Diane and David for this one. Diane's not into horror and David's skittish about some kinds of scary movies, but they both loved it. Looking forward now to seeing if David will also enjoy stuff like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Northanger Abbey.

10. Ex Machina



Smart, fascinating movie about a guy who's brought in by a reclusive tech genius to test a new AI system. At least, that's what it appears to be about. The film quickly raises questions about who's actually being tested and why.

It's not a twisty-turny movie in the sense that it's trying to "getcha." It's very clear from the start that something is up. But it rewards keeping an open mind and not trying to outsmart it. It played with my perception of what the movie is even about, so that by the end I was watching a different movie from the one I started. I'm eager to watch it again from this new perspective. Betting I like it even more.

10 Movies from 2015 That I Liked a Lot

11. Creed



Fantastic. Hard to see the final fight through my tears, though.

Actually, I could say that about most of the Rocky movies anymore. Something about where I am in my life right now helps these movies hit me hard. Exceptions are III and IV; not that I don't love III, but it's not as emotional for me as the others. I rewatched all the numbered ones and finally saw Rocky Balboa for the first time shortly before watching Creed and loved the whole experience, but I wonder if I wouldn't have liked Creed even more if I didn't have all the others in such close proximity to compare it to. Especially Rocky Balboa which was pretty much perfect and a bigger surprise.

Still, wonderful movie.

12. The Martian



I have a knee-jerk, negative response to survival films, mostly because I dread spending two hours with just one character. I know that that's almost never the actual case in these movies, but it's a Pavlovian reaction by this point. Many reviews told me that The Martian spends a lot of time with the people who are trying to rescue Matt Damon, but I still had to push myself into the theater. And of course I'm glad I did.

Damon's character faces his problems with intelligence and humor. That's true of all the characters, really, so the whole movie is refreshingly positive and inspirational. It's the movie that Tomorrowland was trying so hard to be. The drawback is that its lightness dilutes the tension and suspense somewhat, but The Martian is inspirational science fiction first and survival thriller second. It totally succeeds at that primary purpose.

13. Trainwreck



A drawback to seeing this later than a lot of people is that it couldn't possibly live up to the hype I was hearing. It's a funny movie and I cared about the characters, but I wanted to be laughing harder than I was, not just chuckling quietly. A very good romantic comedy, but not one I'll be revisiting a lot.

14. Ant-Man



Another very good superhero movie from Marvel. I love that it has its own tone and stands apart from the other Marvel films, while totally fitting in with them at the same time. I had a lot of fun with it, but the bar on Marvel movies has been raised so high at this point that I'm sort of disappointed if I'm not losing my mind over how awesome they are. Not fair, but that's where I am.

15. SPECTRE



As huge a Bond fan as I am, I was frankly unexcited to see SPECTRE. The trailers emphasized themes that have been thoroughly explored in the previous three Bond films: distrust, Bond's going rogue, etc. And the lackluster theme song did nothing to draw me to the theater on opening night. That said, once I saw it, I immediately went back the following night.

The first time, I spent the movie trying to figure out the plot. It felt lighter in tone than the trailers suggested, but was that a decoy? How much could I trust Madeleine Swann? Was Christoph Waltz playing Blofeld or not? I ended up being satisfied with the answers to those questions and looking forward to seeing the movie again the next day.

And I liked it even better the second time. Knowing what to expect plot- and tone-wise, I was able to focus on the themes and characters. I love what it says about Bond and how he's grown since Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. His final confrontation with Waltz' character - the self-styled "author of all your pain" - is remarkable and wonderful. Waltz wants to be so consumingly important in Bond's life, but Bond's not having it. I love that he's matured to that point, even though I absolutely dread the potential repercussions in the next movie.

The reason it's not higher on my list is that not only is it nowhere near my favorite Bond movie, it's not even the best spy movie I saw this year. If you're interested in more detailed thoughts about it, I wrote those up, too.

16. Pitch Perfect 2



Might even like it better than the first one. The humor is still uneven and I really don't care for the way it resets the group's success to zero so that they can repeat their climb to the top again, but the addition of Hailee Steinfeld, Keegan-Michael Key, and for the love of God: Das Sound Machine...

Look, sometimes a sequel just needs to do what the first one did and do it a bigger. I don't say that often, because it doesn't work that often, but it sure works in this case.

17. What We Do in the Shadows



My expectations were too high. The concept is hilarious and the trailer had me rolling, but the movie never made me fall out of my chair in laughter and - fair or not - that's what I thought I was going to get. Still, super funny and highly recommended. Looking forward to the just announced sequel: We're Wolves.

18. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials



Don't know if the Maze Runner movies are getting lost in the mass of other YA dystopia adaptations or if I'm just reading the wrong film coverage. It feels like no one's talking about these, though, and that's a shame. They're solid adventure stories with interesting characters who have complex motivations and are played by appealing actors. Ready for the next one.

19. Spy



Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy do it again. This time, they made a great spy spoof that also became one of my favorite Jason Statham movies. What keeps it from being higher on the list is the amount of time it spends on McCarthy in sad, cat lady disguises. It does that so that she can break free of them and be awesome - and once she does, it's great and I love it whole-heartedly - but I had to get through that stuff to get to the great stuff, so that keeps me from loving it.

It also doesn't help that all the US marketing for the movie focused on cat lady. I had to go to Korea to find a poster of McCarthy looking cool. It makes me very sad that US marketers didn't think anyone wanted to see that.

20. Black Sea



An excellent, undersea heist thriller. Not nearly as much about the tension between the English and Russian halves of the team that the trailer would have you believe, but that stuff is certainly in there. My issue with it has nothing to do with the movie itself and everything to do with what I wanted it to be. The thriller stuff is totally in there and it's very good, but ultimately the movie is more interested in the emotional journey of Jude Law's character and that takes the story in a specific direction I was sorry to see it go. If this list were about objective quality and not about my personal reactions, Black Sea would be in a different spot.

7 Days in May | Spy-ron Man 3 (Sorry)

Spy (2015)



I didn't have high hopes for Spy. I love spy movies and I love Melissa McCarthy/Paul Feig team-ups, but the trailers focused on the awkwardness of her humiliating disguises and that's not what I wanted to see. I should've trusted Feig more, because that's only a running gag early in Susan Cooper's (McCarthy) mission. It doesn't take too long for her to take control and start doing things her own way. That includes dropping her timid demeanor and becoming more like Mullins from The Heat than Sookie from Gilmore Girls. (Hey, I love Sookie, but she ain't no spy.) If the movie had been marketed more like it is on the Entertainment Weekly cover, I would've been more excited for it, but I'm thrilled it exceeded my expectations.



In addition to McCarthy's being hilarious, Spy is also the best Jason Statham movie I've seen in years. He's playing a parody of himself, but it's the perfect amount of over the top. He's the funniest part of a movie that's already full of really funny parts.

Iron Man 3 (2013)



The Merry Marvel Rewatch continues with Iron Man 3, a movie I enjoy more and more every time I see it. I liked it well enough the first time, but it was different than I expected. I thought I'd learned everything I was going to learn about Tony Stark, but that wasn't the case. It's still an exciting film, but it's surprisingly character-driven, dealing with Tony's paralyzing fear after the events of Avengers. There's nothing in the way of furthering the overall plot of the series; no Infinity Stones or anything like that. It's more epilogue to Marvel's Phase 1 than it is the first film in Phase 2, but that's fine with me. I'm definitely going to have to come back and do a full series on the Marvel movies at some point, concentrating on the characters.

In the meantime, I'm about to give Agents of SHIELD another shot, so we'll see how that goes next week.

31 Werewolves | Dell's super spy

At the height of the monster nostalgia craze in the early '60s, Dell published a series of one-shots adapting Universal's most popular monster movies: Dracula in 1962, then Frankenstein and The Wolf Man in 1964. A couple of years later though, they decided to turn the characters into monster-themed superheroes. 

Dracula and Frankenstein were no problem as long as Dell didn't use the Universal likenesses. They even continued the numbering from the one-shots, starting the superhero versions with #2 issues. Since the Wolf Man name was trademarked by Universal though, Dell renamed that series Werewolf and started with a new #1.

Unlike Dell's Frankenstein and Dracula heroes, who had some story ties to their namesakes, Werewolf was an all-new character with no connection to the monster of folklore. In fact, with Bondmania in full swing all over the world, Dell broke further with the other two by making Werewolf more superspy than superhero. He was an Air Force pilot named Wiley Wolf who got amnesia and was adopted by a wolf pack after he crashed his plane. Traveling with his wolf pal, Thor, he used the skills he learned with the pack to join the CIA and become a secret agent in a black bodysuit with high tech enhancements.

Like the Frankenstein and Dracula series, Werewolf only lasted three issues.

Back in 2010, my pal Pax Holley at Cavalcade of Awesome wrote about Werewolf during his lycanthrope-themed Halloween countdown. He's got lots of additional details, plus scans of the issues, including a schematic of Werewolf's suit. Check that out, but then also check out the rest of his posts from that month. It's great companion reading to 31 Werewolves.

Superman's coolest trick

While Superman was busy with Ultra in Action Comics (and the Superman solo series was just reprinting Action stories), WWII was heating up in the daily newspaper strips. The January 1940 storyline had Clark infiltrate a gang of spies from the fictional nation of Blitzen. The spies hoped to pull the U.S. into the war by committing crimes on U.S. soil and blaming them on Blitzen's enemy, the country of Rutland.

Superman puts a stop to it of course, and in the process pulls off the coolest use of his superpowers ever. When an assassin tries to kill a U.S. senator, Superman foils the attempt by throwing the assassin's gun at the already-fired bullet and knocking the bullet from the air! It's badly drawn, but an awesome idea.

10 Honorable Mention Films from 2012

20. The Five-Year Engagement



I lost patience toward the middle when it took some really stupid decision-making to prolong the engagement to five years, but even when it stretched credibility, the movie never stopped being funny or having Jason Segel in it. It wins points for both of those things.

19. John Carter



Nowhere near the mess that lots of people claim it was; just not as spectacular as it should have been for the talent involved. It's a fun, scifi escape with a couple of legitimately great moments; we just all hoped for so much more.

18. The Amazing Spider-Man



"Expectations" are a recurring theme on my honorable mentions list this year. I didn't have high ones for The Amazing Spider-Man and like most people, I questioned the fundamental existence of the project. It was made for purely cynical, We Have to Do This or Lose the License reasons.

But though it contains some highly unnecessary rehashing of the Sam Raimi material, it also found some new things to do with its tone and the central relationships. It's worthwhile for Peter and Gwen alone.

17. ParaNorman



I love the theme in ParaNorman about being your own person and not letting other people define you. Also: the animation is amazing. I wasn't totally in love with the character designs though, and since that's what I was looking at for most of the film, that's what keeps it out of my Top 10.

16. The Hunger Games



I'm disappointed that this isn't in my Top 10 for the year, either. I totally thought it would be, but during the second viewing I found myself getting bored. I kept myself entertained by focusing on Jennifer Lawrence's wonderful performance, which communicated very well the horror of Katniss' situation. Without her internal monologue though, it was hard to get what I wanted from her moral struggle over how to act in the arena.

Still looking forward to Catching Fire, but I'm more detachedly curious about it than wildly enthusiastic like I was for this one.

15. Underworld: Awakening



In a year that brought a disappointing entry in the Resident Evil movies, I'm thrilled that we got a worthy film in my other favorite horror/scifi adventure series starring a woman. Awakening pretty much punts and launches a Bold New Direction for Underworld, but it's a good direction with some likable, new characters and I enjoyed it very much.

14. 21 Jump Street



I want to say that this is so much better than a movie based on an all-but-forgotten TV show has the right to be, but even though that's true, it's not really fair to suggest that that's all 21 Jump Street has going for it. It's just a very funny movie, period. That it gets a small part of that humor from pointing out and making fun of its sordid roots is just frosting for the cake. I'd probably rate it higher if not for the skeevy romance between Jonah Hill's character and a high school student.

13. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted



Listen: After the horrible piece of derivative crap that Madagascar 2 was, I'm as surprised as anyone to find Madagascar 3 on this list. In fact, I didn't want to see it at all when it was announced. It wasn't until it got a 79% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes that I had to see what the heck was going on with this thing. To my surprise, it was hilarious and - more importantly - original. It also pretty much wrapped up the saga with a nice bow on top, so I don't expect to be interested in a Madagascar 4, but never say never.

12. Haywire



No, Gina Carano is not a great actress. And the plot of Haywire is nothing new. But the movie makes up for both of those things with heart and authenticity. I wrote a full review of it, so I'll point you there for more thoughts, but it really was one of my favorite movie experiences of the year.

11. Moonrise Kingdom



This was my first Wes Anderson film since Rushmore, which I never quite forgave for stealing Bill Murray away from movies like Groundhog Day and The Man Who Knew Too Little. Seeing Moonrise Kingdom makes me want to find out what I've been missing. It's a small movie, but a lovely one, and makes great use of its setting and awesome cast.

10 Movies I Could Take or Leave in 2012

If you're just now tuning in, I'm counting down the 43 movies I saw in the theater last year. The bottom of the barrel was in this post, so we pick up with Number 30 this week: the part of the list where I found things in each movie to like and dislike, in more or less equal amounts.

30. The Bourne Legacy



I was more eager for this than I should have been. I hoped it would be a decent placeholder for the series until Matt Damon found a reason to come back, but it was a tired plot with very low stakes. Nice performances from Jeremy Renner and Rachel Wiesz, but they didn't have much to work with except for a couple of really effective action pieces.

29. Man on a Ledge



Another thriller in which the excellent cast is wasted on a generic, predictable script. Genesis Rodriguez steals the movie and brings Jamie Bell along with her though. I want another, better movie about just the two of them.

28. The Woman in Black



An effective, spooky movie with a welcome performance by Daniel Radcliffe. That ending though... It's designed to clear the road for Woman in Black 2, but is so cynical and obvious about it that it not only kills my interest in a sequel, it also makes this one un-rewatchable for me.

27. Men in Black 3



I'm not a fan of the Men in Black movies. They're disposable entertainment that I tend to forget about as soon as I leave the theater. This one actually stuck with me, but I haven't made up my mind about if that was for the right reason or not. The movie's point is unclear, but whatever it is, it makes it in a memorable way.

And Josh Brolin is super entertaining as Young Tommy Lee Jones.

26. Hotel Transylvania



I would've liked it a lot more if Dracula didn't sound like Adam Sandler doing a Lugosi accent. I mean, that's exactly what's going on, but I wish it wasn't so distracting. Other than that, it's a funny movie with some amusing interpretations of classic monsters.

25. The Expendables 2



The first one was pretty miserable, but they got me back to the theater by adding Chuck Norris to the mix and promising to expand the roles of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. There were still some huge, ridiculous plot holes, but I loved the finale as everyone used their best moves (and best lines) to show each other up. What it has over the first one is "fun."

24. Flight



Not the movie I expected. I thought it was going to be more of a legal drama, but not being that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. Taken on its own terms, Flight is a powerful, effective film about addiction and the lengths people go to deny it and cover it up. I liked it a lot for that and enjoyed being surprised by it, but it's a difficult movie to watch and I can't imagine I'll ever want to see it again.

23. Argo



Nice thriller with some laugh out loud moments, some harrowing ones, and a couple of great, touching ones when reluctant participants in the escape plan decide to commit to it. Unfortunately, the script goes to great lengths to ramp up the tension in unbelievable and cheesy ways that kept reminding me this couldn't be how it actually happened.

22. Prometheus



I already wrote a long post about this one, but short version: There are some truly great and fascinating ideas in this visually stunning movie. It's just too bad that they're executed so very, very sloppily.

21. Brave



I just rewatched Brave the other night and liked it better than I did the first time. I don't know if I liked it well enough to move it out of this section of my list, but maybe. I'm certainly not as disappointed this time.

The biggest thing is that I was able to spot the moment where Merida and her mom resolve their conflict. It was right where it was supposed to be, but the first time around I missed an important, but subtle line of dialogue and some equally vital body language. Turns out, the point of the movie really is about compromise and the bravery it takes to do that when you haven't yet exhausted all the stubborn tantrum-throwing you'd planned on doing. It's a much sneakier message than I was prepared for, but I liked it more for that. Maybe next time, I'll like it even better.