2012 King of the Hill Finale: Round 1

2012 King of the Hill Bracket Time:  Round of 8

Brackets courtesy http://challonge.com/

It has been a very long, exciting year with movies.  I've reviewed them all.  Now it is time to see which of the twelve best movies is the official 2012 King of the Hill winner.  The highest seeded movie of the year was Brave with a whopping four direct defeats.  The lowest seeded movie was Avengers which happened to be the only movie in May that I watched.  For the single elimination bracket to work, four movies were give Byes to advance them automatically to the second round.  Those movies are Brave, Paranormal Activity 2, Hanna, and, The Dark Knight Rises.

I will be reviewing each movie in this round all in one post.  As I'm comparing eight movies in Round 1, the descriptions will be shorter.  If you want more detailed information on the movie, be sure to click on the matching movie label.  That will bring you to the original reviews involving that film.  It is a great way to get more detailed information.

Whip It v Hunger Games
These two movies have very little in common outside of having a strong female protagonist.  One is a distopian world in which kids are sent off to fight each other to the death.  The other is a contemporary piece in which the protagonist is trying to set out to find out who she is in the world.  What makes this comparison so difficult is that both genres are unique in their own right.  Science Fiction is about exploring the possible and asking the question:  "what if?"  Contemporary creates a slice of life about our modern day society and makes us think about the world around us.

Hunger Games is going to stand the test of time.  Of that I have no doubt.  However, Hunger Games is not the complete story.  It is the first movie of a trilogy.  While some of the "What if?" of science fiction has been asked in the first film, the movie does not fully address the question in this movie.  There are aspects that will come in later movies.  And those movies will bring the full question to a head.  However, when looking at the movies to determine the winner, it is important to look at the movie as a whole.  Hunger Games did not tell the full story.  Whip It did.

Winner:  Whip It

Tucker and Dale vs Evil v The Avengers
This comparison is a pretty easy one to make.  Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a movie that both mocks horror films, but pays homage to them at the same time.  The Avengers is an action packed blockbuster that combines all of the big name super heroes from the Marvel Universe that has been in theaters recently.  While I probably would have had a higher appreciation for Tucker and Dale vs Evil had I been more involved in horror, the movie does not compare to The Avengers.  The Avengers is a movie I have sought out seeing a second time and will definitely seek out again.

Winner:  The Avengers

Back to the Future v The Little Princess
One of these films is a cult classic.  The other movie is a cute movie about a girl who is thrust from one worldly experience into another.  Back to the Future is a classic for a reason.  It is a damn good movie about a boy who accidentally goes back in time and has to fix the future before he ceases to exist.  The film has lots of secrets hidden in.  The movie is extremely accurate.  The movie is great for discussions with friends.  The Little Princess is simply entertaining.  I'd watch it again, but it holds no special strength in my heart.

Winner:  Back to the Future

Super v War of the Worlds
Forgive me Ellen Page.  I love her role in this movie.  I love the movie Super.  It is definitely a cult classic and will stand the test of time.  This movie is about the drive to be a hero and change the world.  It is a dark comedy, and those always do better as time goes on.  However, the story of War of the Worlds is much older and has already survived as long as it has.  Unfortunately, the story has never had a chance to get a proper shining in movie format.  That changed with this version.  And for this reason, this movie will be remembered for being the first War of the Worlds rendition to get it right.

Winner:  War of the Worlds

The Hunger Games Midnight Showing

This isn't going to be a standard King of the Hill post. This is a post on the midnight showing of The Hunger Games, a movie I've been waiting for a long time to watch. In preparation for this, I decided I'd do a costume for the first time on a midnight showing. If you are familiar with The Hunger Games at all, you know that costume selection varies from the drab to the outlandish. I decided to go with an outlandish look and dressed as a resident of Capital District.

My outfit isn't as outlandish as some of the people from the Capital District. Effie, for example, pushes it to the extreme. I wore a custom fit rest vest, homemade jabot, black pants, boots, and hair pulled back in a ponytail with a ribbon tied into a bow. It gave me a nice, stuffy look that I did my best to play up for the photos.

We arrived very early for the showing. Specifically, we showed up at 8:00 PM for the 12:01 AM showing. There were people there dressed up, most of them from our party and all of them teenagers. In fact, it should be noted that almost everyone at the movie was a teenager. I had a couple of kids approach me and ask about my costume. I explained why I was wearing my outfit and what it was for. Most of the fans of the movie didn't see it until later. Our movie line was inside the theater. We stood in line until about 9:30, when they kindly let us go into our screen.

Waiting was both entertaining and very difficult. It was two-and-a-half hours of listening to teenagers talk, scream out the time left until the movie in fifteen minute increments. Someone else in the theater, one of the many teenagers, approached me and complimented my outfit. The final, and most surreal compliment came after I returned from the restrooms. One of the kids in near the backroom shouted out, “Hey, I want you to know your costume is cool!” He started to clap his hands and it resulted in everyone clapping. Yes, I got an applause for my outfit. Crazy teenagers.

There was a brief moment of panic in the theater when the project didn't run properly, it pushed back our screen time a few minutes, but then it was time for the movie to begin... I should probably put up my disclaimer here, but you know it by now. Blah, blah, blah, every movie for the year. Blah, blah, blah brackets at the end of the year. Let's get the damn comparison going!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes v. The Hunger Games

This is your last chance to avoid spoilers. Stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled. I'm strictly reviewing this based on the movie, not the book. The movie didn't vary too much from the book except for a few very notable exceptions. The biggest difference was the riot at District 11 which doesn't happen until Catching Fire. But, again, this isn't about the adaptation.

If you aren't familiar with the movie, The Hunger Games is a movie about Katniss Everdeen from District 12. Every year, the Capital District holds a contest to “honor” the history of Panem's survival. One boy and one girl from each district is selected by lottery or volunteer status to participate in a death match. 24 children enter and only one leaves. Katniss volunteers when her sister is selected at random to participate. Her partner is the local baker's son, Peeta.

Katniss and Peeta struggle with the fact that they both can't leave the game and, at the same time, struggle with the fact that District 12 doesn't have careers. Careers are children from District 1 and District 2 that spend their days at special schools for fighting. About 45 minutes of the movie leads to the point of them entering the game and then, the movie erupts in shaky cam violence. Yes, shaky cam. I can't stand that crap. I have read that the shaky cam was a method to keep the violence of the movie down enough to maintain a PG13 rating, which is unfortunate. Shaky cam makes me nauseous and detracts harshly from the movie for me. This is part of the reason I hated Transformers and never returned to catch future Borne movies.

Stepping away from the camera techniques, the movie was phenomenal. It spent most of the time focusing on Katniss and, occasionally, moving away to the control room for the games or the broadcaster, where it explained a bit of what was going on. The technique was a great way to cover knowledge that Katniss might have thought about internally, but couldn't speak aloud due to a lack of available character to interact with.

There was really little to complain about in the end with this flick. I felt most of the characters were well portrayed and developed adequately. I do think the casting for the characters were too old, especially for the part of Gail. That guy looked like a mini-giant in a pack of rabid teenagers. He didn't convince me he was a kid for a second.

Summary:

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a nice, entertaining flick, but it doesn't stand up to the might of Katniss Everdeen when armed with a bow.

Winner:

The Hunger Games

Director: Gary Ross

Writer: Gary Ross based on the novel by Suzanne Collins

Katniss: Jennifer Lawrence

Peeta: Josh Hutchenson

Gail: Liam Hemsworth

Hunger Games Pre-Game Show

I'm going to be attending a midnight showing of Hunger Games tomorrow.  I guess you could technically say it is the day AFTER tomorrow.  And, for the showing I'm dressing up.  This will be a first for me.  I have never dressed up for a movie showing.  So, for this blog post, I'm going to do a rundown of my outfit and how ridiculously crazy it is.

My main outfit is built around an awesome red jacket I rarely get to use.  I have an epic Elegant Gothic Aristocrat Faux Rider's Jacket from Fanplusfriend.  I've used the jacket before, but never like this.  The jacket itself has a nice Capital District feel to it, so I decided I'd be one of the bad guys for the movie.  I'm not anyone in particular, just a citizen from Capital District.

After consulting with a friend of mine, I'm focusing on a Red/Black combination.  I've got a pair of black pants the compliment the jacket well and will be wearing my nice black boots.  I sewed a black lace jabot to give my outfit a more elegant and rich person feel to it.  I'll have black gloves and my hair will be a bit crazier than usual.  The details on the last are a bit sketchy, that will be determined tomorrow.

As for the movie, I don't expect much.  The characters cast are way too old for the role.  Specifically the casting of Rue really disappoints me.  Every single promotional trailer makes me feel that the characters look older than they should be.  I'm going to give the movie a fair chance, however.  We'll see what happens.

Photos will be shared for the event, probably on Friday or Saturday.  For now, this is all you get.

2012 King of the Hill Movie Challenge

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes v. Puss in Boots

After a series of older movies, it is time to move back to modern flicks. This time, I return with an animation from Dreamworks and the Shrek spin-off movie, Puss in Boots. It should be noted that the winner of this match is going to face Hunger Games next. I'll be catching a midnight showing of that and I don't foresee me catching another movie before then.

For those who do not know, the 2012 King of the Hill Movie Challenge is my system for determining the best movie of year that I saw. One movie from each month will be selected and, at the end of the year, I will do a tournament style showdown where they will take each other on until the final movie has been selected. Bracket placement will be determined by the number of movies the monthly movie faced and won.

Challenger: Puss in Boots

Director: Chris Miller

Writers: Charles Perrault and William Davies

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, and Zack Galifianakis

Puss in Boots, is the story of Puss (voiced by Antonio Banderas) from the Shrek series and his adventure to recover the legendary fabled magic beans. This movie focuses on the back story to Puss from his earliest days including his upbringing by means of a flashback. In the story, Puss has finally managed to locate the magic beans, something he and his childhood friend, Humpty Dumpty (voiced by Zack Galifianakis), have been questing for before fate separated them.

Puss in Boots is entertaining, but is not noteworthy. The plot is dry and fairly predictable. Puss is betrayed, must fend for himself, and eventually wins over the misguided Kitty Softpaws (voiced by Salma Hayek) to the side of good. This obvious plot doesn't make this a bad movie, in fact, I enjoyed it emensely. It just doesn't make it particularly noteworthy. The Shrek formula was already used and brought everything new to the table long before Puss in Boots. The high energy of the three main stars and the clever writing make it a movie you should watch, but not a movie to knock down Marilyn Monroe.

Winner: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes