2012 King of the Hill Finale: Round 2

Four movies have been eliminated and eight remain.  This time the winners of Round 1 are up against the movies that were fortunate enough to get a Bye the previous time around.  Can Whip It, The Avengers, Back to the Future, and War of the Worlds survive one more round of elimination, or will Brave, Hanna, The Dark Knight Rises, and Paranormal Activity 2 stop them in their tracks.

This is the second round of the 2012 King of the Hill Movie Challenge.  For the last year, I reviewed every movie that I watched and I have pitted those films against each other to determine the best movie of 2012.  This is the finals bracket where the best of each month is squaring off to be crowned champion.  All movies were seeded based on the number of direct movies they compared with and defeated as well as when I saw them during the year.

Brave v Whip It

Brave was Pixar's release of the year and it was a powerful film bringing one very unique princess to the movies.  Brave and Whip It share a lot in common.  They are both movies about young girls on the verge of adulthood who are struggling with their mother.  The first major difference between the two films is the supernatural element.  In Whip It, Bliss runs away from home when it is discovered that she is defying her mother and going out to Rollerblade behind her mother's back.  In Brave, Merida curses her mother in her attempt to gain independence.

There are other differences between the film.  The question, however, is which of these films is the better of the two.  Whip It, despite it's story of parent/child struggles, is focused more on the aspect of the world of roller derby.  it is a broader picture and less focused on the narrative of family.  Brave is also set to target a younger audience.  This gives Brave a stronger place in my mind.  It gives a great moral lesson to children, particularly young girls, and is more accessible to the audience where as Whip It deals with a darker story and is not appropriate for all ages.

Winner:  Brave

Paranormal Activity 2 v The Avengers

So, let's be honest for a second.  Do you really expect the sequel of a supernatural horror flick to stand a chance against one of the biggest blockbusters of all time?  Marvel planned this out perfectly.  It would be a waste of your and my time to compare these two films.  Let the real comparisons begin in the quarter finals.

Winner:  The Avengers


Hanna v Back to the Future

Hanna is an amazing movie with some incredible stopping power.  Unlike most of the movies I've seen this year, Hanna uses a ton of visual tricks to help carry the story in addition to the story itself.  It is a movie that is both well written and excellently filmed.  Back to the Future is a cult classic and has aged well over the years.  The story is highly entertaining and has put a lot of effort into getting all of the details right.  Comparing the two movies is difficult because I want them both to win.  In the end, Hanna is the better movie.  While Back to the Future is flawless, Hanna carries a better story because below the surface of the film, there is an imagery of the loss of innocence.  And that depth gives it the edge it needs to advance.

Winner:  Hanna


The Dark Knight Rises v War of the Worlds

See my discussion on The Avengers above.  This was the long-planned conclusion to the Batman trilogy.  And while it is great to see a War of the Worlds movie done right, it was even better seeing a Batman series come to an end.  Otherwise, it would have been just another freaking story line reboot.  Yes, I'm looking at you DC Comics!

Winner:  The Dark Night Rises

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

2012 King of the Hill: November Part 2

Historical Linchpins
It wouldn't be me, if I wasn't late on my movie updates.  It would also help if I made these posts go live instead of letting them sit in draft format on blogger.  Oh well, it is better to be late than to not show up at all. November was a slow movie month.  I only saw one other movie this month and, with all likelihood, won't see more than two or three movies during December.  My budget is very tight and my time is very limited.  Still, I managed to keep the November theme of history as I compare a time traveling movie with a historical story of one of America's greatest presidents.

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.

Back to the Future v Lincoln

History is a fascinating subject.  Back to the Future plays with the concept of the linchpin and how one small change can result in an entire timeline changing.  Lincoln, on the other hand, is a detailed look at the historical details surrounding around one of the toughest fights from one of America's most famous and perhaps most influential presidents of the United States.

The movie is an all star cast with super star director, Stephen Spielberg.  The movie focuses not on the civil war, but the efforts of Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) to pass the 13th Amendment of the Constitution through the House of Representatives.  The movie shows the great lengths that Lincoln took to pass this Amendment, not because it would end the war, but because it was the right thing to do.  Though I am no historical scholar, I can say that there are a great number of people who to this day swear that Lincoln's motivation for the 13th Amendment was to punish the Confederate states and end the war.  In Lincoln, this doubt is put to rest.  Whether or not it is historically accurate is another story entirely and not one that I am in a position to debate.

Lincoln is a refreshing look at a story of a president that is often overlooked.  Lincoln is mostly known for his leading the United States against the rebellion with the Confederate States.  He is known for his life and his death at Ford's Theater.  But the other work of his is mostly unknown.  And this makes Lincoln a nice introduction into the long list of movies of this historical era.

Is Lincoln a better movie than Back to the Future?  That's another one of those close calls that is hard to tell. Lincoln is filled with a top not cast and has phenomenal directing.  Back to the Future is twenty-seven years old and still perfect.  Lincoln has not had a chance to stand the test of time.  Lincoln could contain inaccuracies and exaggerations.  While it is a phenomenal movie it will need time before it can stand on it's own.  And even then, in twenty-seven years, I doubt that it will have the strength to stand the way Back to the Future does.

Winner:  Back to the Future

2012 King of the Hill: November Part 1

Remember Remember the 12th of November
Last night, my roommate and I sat down for a mini-marathon of Back to the Future movies.  Monday is one of the better nights on television for shows, so we were not able to get through all three movies.  We did at least manage to sit through the first two films.  This movie trilogy have always been a favorite of mine and it's time to a good old fashioned review of these two classic 80's films and determine the current King of the Hill winner for November.

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.

Back to the Future v Back to the Future II
I would love nothing more than to consider the three Back to the Future films one giant movie and end it at that.  While the second movie does end on a cliff hanger, they definitely are each their own movie and need to be treated this way.

Back to the Future was the movie that started it all.  Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) and Doctor Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) are close friends with a former relationship to each other that is not established on camera.  Doc Brown, after thirty years of work, has invented a time machine in the body of a Delorean.  While fueled, the Delorean needs to only hit 88 miles per hour before it sends the occupant in time to the designated location.

In the first movie, Marty accidentally goes back in time to the day Doc Brown comes up with his invention.  Stranded, he has to enlist the help of Doc Brown from the past timeline to return home.  The mission is relatively simple, Marty needs to drive the DeLorean into a wire at the second it is hit by lightning so that the power can be used to travel back to the future.  However, the timeline is messed up when Marty accidentally prevents his parents from falling in love.  Before he can return home, he needs to fix the timeline.

In the sequel, Marty and Doc Brown go to the future to prevent Marty's son from getting sentenced to jail which starts a ripple effect of horrific purposes.  While in the future, Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) travels back in time to 1955 to give his younger self a sports almanac.  This almanac allows Biff to win countless fortunes by gambling in sports.  In this new dystopian future, only Doc Brown and Marty McFly remember life before Biff became a wealthy megalomaniac.  They travel back in time to 1955 to prevent Biff from using the sports almanac.

While both movies are great in their own right, there is no doubt that the first Back to the Future wins out as the better film.  The first film is filled with all kinds of small Easter eggs.  If you know where to look, you can find small timeline changes that even long-time fans of the film might have missed.  For example, I'm not sure I ever noticed before that Twin Pines Mall becomes Lone Pine Mall after Marty destroys one of the pine trees.  Back to the Future is also a treasure trove for discussions with friends.

There is also one, very damaging continuity error in the second film.  According to the very words of Doc Brown, Biff Tannen of the future should not have been able to return to the same future that Doc Brown and Marty were in.  That timeline ceased to exist the second Biff brought back the sports almanac.  So, while the second movie did make me want a hover board and a flying car, it doesn't have the epic nature of the first film.

Winner:  Back to the Future