#4: Resident Evil

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Oh boy, where do I begin. An acquaintance of mine recommended the Resident Evil movies, because she heard that I like zombie films. Um, wow. Boy was she wrong on so many levels. First of all, this was not in fact a zombie movie. Yes the dead "came back to life," but I don't care what people say, this was so not what a zombie film should be. Let me just say, that I really do like Milla Jovovich, and she was amazing in The Fifth Element. She was honestly the only decent actor in the entire set of Resident Evil. Everything about this movie was just wrong, from the plot to the graphics and actors. The story line of the movie is that there's an underground government facility that contains highly trained scientists along with their experiments, until one day when someone breaks in to one of the labs and steals a very toxic virus along with the antivirus. During this process, the thief purposely drops one tube of the virus, releasing it throughout the facility through the air vents. The entire facility is ran by a central computer system that starts killing people to stop them from leaving with the virus in their system. Of course, Milla Jovovich's character, along with Michelle Rodriguez, shut down the system and reboot it. When this occurs, all of the scientists that were killed by the computer system come back as "zombies," and start attacking whoever is left alive.

Some films can have an extremely unrealistic plot and make it work through execution and details, but this was not one of those films. Nothing in this movie made believe that this could really happen, and it was all done so poorly that I still don't understand how there are so many sequels. The moral of this story is, Milla Jovovich should have just said, "No."

#2: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

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Guy Ritchie has been one of my favorite directors for a while now. In fact, in my eyes, the only mistake he ever made was marrying Madonna, but that's a whole different blog. I absolutely loved the first Sherlock Holmes film, so when A Game of Shadows came out, I knew I wanted to see it immediately. Of course, I realized that when the movie would be coming out, I would be in a very small town on top of a mountain in North Carolina with my family. The local movie theater has one screen and shows one movie at a time. However, as luck would have it, that one movie was Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and I dragged my family out in 20 degree weather just to see it.

Compared to the first Sherlock Holmes film, A Game of Shadows was much more intense and fast paced. We all knew that no matter what he said, Dr. Watson would return to Holmes' side. So much of this film focuses on their friend/relationship, and how that effects each of their lives. Rachel McAdam's character, Irene Adler, did not have as big of a role as the first one, which makes me think there will definitely be a third movie where she makes a return. Jared Harris, also known as Lane Pryce from Mad Men, plays a genius professor (James Moriarty) who doubles as the evil villain. Moriarty's plans for global rule and extreme wealth, which is always the main priority of evil doers everywhere, are actually very well planned out and intelligent, but evil none the less. It's up to Holmes and Watson to figure out Moriarty's plans and stop them before the world is in real danger. There's also a new female lead character introduced who has become my new idol. Noomi Rapace plays Madam Simza Heron, a gypsy vigilante. Madam Simza joins Watson and Holmes to stop Moriarty and help save her brother who has become entrapped in Moriarty's evil plans, and is quite a badass while doing so. This movie kept me in suspense half the time, and laughing hysterically the other. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law were magnificent as always, and Jared Harris was the perfect slimy evil genius. The end of the film leaves the viewers in suspense, and it seems to me that there will definitely be a third movie. *Fingers crossed!*

2012 New To Me Movie #1: Rango

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I have always been a huge fan of Johnny Depp, but when the movie Rango first came out, I wasn't really interested, because it seemed like another generic children's movie. However, my uncle (who is in his late forties) confessed to me that this was his favorite movie of 2011, and saw it three times in the theaters. Keep in mind my cousin (his son) is 22 and did not see it with him. So, I decided to give Rango a chance, because if my uncle would risk looking like a creeper three different times at our small town movie theater, then I could at least try to watch it.

What starts off as a somewhat "Finding Nemo" type of story line, turns in to a play on an old western comedy. The main character, Rango, is a chameleon that is accidently thrown from his owner's car in the middle of the dessert. Upon meeting a very quirky type of lizard named Beans (played by Isla Fisher), Rango is then taken in to her town where he meets some intimidating characters. Trying to mask his fear of these new strangers, Rango puts on a front as an outlaw and through a chain of pure accidents, becomes the towns local sheriff. His first task is finding more water for the town, which is their form of currency, and overthrowing the major and his bandits. Without giving too much away, this movie has a cute and happy ending with a hidden lesson of overcoming self doubt and finding yourself. Pretty heavy stuff for little kids, even if they don't get it. Anyway, Rango was better than expected, but not a movie I would probably watch again. Sorry Uncle Freddie, you're alone on that one.