Basically it was a year of Ke$ha, Gaga, Rihanna, Glee, and Katy Perry. I've compiled a list of my 50 favorite songs from this year (some from last year that carried over into this year due to popularity). The list is in no particular order whatsoever and I've linked each song to the iTunes store. So beware, if you click... iTunes will open.
With the year/decade coming to an end, I decided to compile a list of movies that I feel made an impression, will be remembered, and, essentially, defined this decade. The list is in alphabetical order so there is no ranking system. If there was, Harry Potter would take the top spot because it is a series that lasted throughout the entire decade.
These movies that are listed are movies that I have seen so if you're questioning why some aren't on there, it's probably because I haven't yet seen them, they didn't fall into the time restraints (2001-2010), or I just didn't like them. Haha. I also tried to be fair... so I included Twilight, much to my dismay, and I also tried to find movies from each year instead of focusing on those that were released recently. Also, each series represents one movie. For example, all 7 Harry Potter films count as one movie.
Honorable mentions: Easy A (2010), The Hurt Locker (2008), Kick-Ass (2010), the Paranormal Activity series (2009 & 2010), Borat (2006), Mean Girls (2004), The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
I'm now going to countdown my top fifteen villains from Disney films. Make note that 1. Disney / Pixar villains do not apply, and 2. it's my list and I'll do what I want with it. ;) Enjoy.
Basically, I'm just adding the Queen of Hearts to the list because she is a main villain. But she's at the very bottom because I don't much care for her. She is so annoying and just needs to shut up. Stupid bitch!
Voiced by: Verna Felton
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
One of two villains (besides Kaa) in the Jungle Book, the famous tiger doesn't have much screen time compared to the other characters but the way they talk about him builds up your fear of him long with the eerie shots of him stalking in the jungle. He still gives me the creeps.
Voiced by: George Sanders
The Jungle Book (1967)
It's really sad that this movie was so underrated. It is a decent movie, and the villain is pretty up there with the classic Disney villains. It's Disney's first witch-doctor villain who has friends "on the other side." He's freaky as he is, but then he has these even creepier shadows following him around.
Voiced by: Keith David
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
The queen is actually pretty stupid. She's just a heartless bitch. It's when she becomes the old hag. That's when she becomes a creepy villain. To this day, I can't watch the scene where she pitches the apple to Snow White, she's just so creepy and that image of her stays in my mind.
Voiced by: Lucille La Verne
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Basically, you can read my movie review of The Great Mouse Detective to read about Ratigan. In it I say how Ratigan is "smart, vile, heartless, and smooth." He retains this smoothness up until the Big Ben scene where he just becomes a monster. It's pretty intense.
Voiced by: Vincent Price
The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
How can you not love Gaston? Everybody loves a good narcissistic Disney villain. Until the end of the movie, he comes off as the cocky quarterback and then he becomes a heartless villain out to kill the one that Belle loves. "Nooo ooonnneee's slick as Gaston... no one's quick as Gaston."
Voiced by: Richard White
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Frollo isn't a very memorable Disney villain, but I feel like he's the most evil. But I think this 'evil' comes from the fact that the things he is shown doing is more vicious than other villains. For example, he keeps a abnormal looking man locked in a tower, he approaches that man with a knife behind his back, he has gypsies executed on-screen in many ways including being burned at the stake. He's just incredibly heartless and violent.
She is the Queen of Disney Villains while the Chernabog from Fantasia (although he doesn't have that big of a part) is the King. She has awesome powers, a pet crow, an army of minions, AND she can turn into a dragon. AWESOMEEE!!
Voiced by: Eleanor Audley
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
This chick is just a bitch witch. I honestly can't put into words what I like about her. There's just something that makes her so unique and fun while being the evil monster that she is. Plus she has the best song in the movie (in my opinion of course).
Voiced by: Pat Carroll
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Devil is in her name. She is just mad and she kills animals for their fur. I don't even think it gets much worse than that. Lol. She's also a smoker, so, naturally, she must be stopped!
Voiced by: Betty Lou Gerson
One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
I love Captain Hook in this movie as week as other movies that portray him such as Peter Pan (2003) and Hook. He's a pirates so that gives him a lot of points and he has a hook for a hand so he gets bonus points.
Voiced by: Hans Conried
Peter Pan (1953)
I'll probably lose some credibility for having Yzma so high, but remember that this is my list and I can put it any way I want. Don't like? Make your own. The Emperor's New Groove is also one of my top Disney movies. I think Yzma is such a hilarious character. Her storyline is typical and similar to Scar's, Ursula's, Ratigan's, and the Queen's.
Voiced by: Eartha Kitt
The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
Ah, the ruthless Jafar. Another one of those character's out for power, but to gain his power, he needs the genie and eventually becomes one himself. Jafar would fall into the smooth category and has a personality very similar to Scar's. He also has a cool staff that he uses to hypnotize people and a smart-ass sidekick, Iago, the parrot.
Voiced by: Jonathan Freeman
Aladdin (1992)
Is anybody surprised like this? I mean what normal person would make Hades their top Disney Villain. But in all honesty, Hades and Jafar are neck and neck. Hades is also a favorite god of mine (along with Poseidon). Unlike Jafar, Hades is funny and comedic.
Well this series and I have a difficult relationship. You see, I was very young (okay, twelve years old) when the first movies of the Harry Potter series and the Lord of the Rings trilogy came out, so naturally you favored one over the other because they're both fantasy novels.
Naturally, I sided with Harry Potter because, at the time, I related more to the eleven year-old who found out he was a wizard.
For the first three years (2001-2003) it seemed to be a war between HP and LOTR. They each released one movie a year. 2001: Sorcerer's Stone vs. The Fellowship of the Ring, 2002: Chamber of Secrets vs. The Two Towers, 2003/04: Prisoner of Azkaban vs. Return of the King. Each year was a competition for me.
Eventually, the Lord of the Rings movies ended, and it was just Harry Potter, but then in 2008 Twilight was released and I had no idea the craze that would come because of it. Now, it's Harry Potter vs. Twilight. Harry Potter is better hands down. Critics agree.
Anyways... back to Lord of the Rings...
I don't understand the craze that is Lord of the Rings either! Some people live by it and I just don't get it. They're entertaining movies to watch, but not to live by. I'm just a sucker for epic battle scenes.
And for some reason, Peter Jackson became famous because of it... which I don't understand. Ya, he made these movies and they were good, but then he went on to make King Kong and The Lovely Bones which were both very good and entertaining movies, but not because his name was attached. And he didn't get any Oscar nominations for those two. Whatever.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy are decent movies. Great visual effects, great epic battles, lots of blood which the Narnia Chronicles lacks, but they're not the greatest things on the Earth. And they did not deserve any Best Picture awards or nominations. Ugh.
I have compiled a list of my top ten favorite aliens from movies. Keep in mind that I have not seen ALL of the alien movies out there and these are the ones I have seen and stand out the most. Let the top tens begin...
10. Transformers from Transformers
Surprised? Let's not forget that the Autobots and the Decepticons are not from this planet. They simply came here looking for the Allspark after the destruction of their planet.
9. Kryptonians from the Superman series
Essentially, the ninth spot belongs to the Man of Steel, Superman. I was having a hard time deciding whether to include him or not because he looks human. There are plenty of aliens that look human such as Klaatu from The Day the Earth Stood Still or the Twins from Race to Witch Mountain, but Clark Kent / Kal El stands out the most.
8. Aliens of Independence Day from Independence Day
This species invaded Earth in an attempt to exterminate the human race... conveniently on the Fourth of July. They communicate through telepathy.
7. Insectoid Aliens of District 9 from District 9
As disgusting as they look, the aliens from District 9 are pretty awesome and unique. Not only are they unique, but the movie they come from is unique. We start by hating them and finding them gross, but learn that they have families and they are just trying to get home.
6. Stitch from Lilo & Stitch
Probably the cutest alien on the list. Stitch is a mindless little monster experiment who crash landed in Hawaii and was adopted by Lilo. Aw.
5. Aliens of War of the Worlds from War of the Worlds
They have a cool background story. The aliens buried their vehicles used to destroy mankind many, many years ago all around the world. The vehicles are called Tripods and the aliens are also, in a way, tripods. They have three legs.
4. Predator from the Predator and Alien vs. Predator series
I've never actually seen a Predator movie in its entirety, but I have seen the Alien vs. Predators series and Predator is a badass.
3. The Na'vi from Avatar
The only aliens on this list that have not come to Earth. The Na'vi are the indigenous species of Pandora.
2. E.T. from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
The iconic little alien that was left stranded on our planet and befriended a boy who helped him phone home.
1. The Alien from the Alien and Alien vs. Predator series
Nothing can top this alien. It is so scary and so awesome! Everything an alien should be. From having acid for blood to creating facehuggers to having a mouth inside its mouth... it's freaking awesome.
We all love Anna Faris. She is a very talented actress and is most notable for her comedic roles. So I've decided to count down what I think are her funniest performances. I'll note that I'm judging her performance in these movies, not the movies.
Number 5: Hannah Lewis in My Super Ex-Girlfriend
This is why I made that note about judging her and not the movie. This movie sucked ass, but Anna was really funny... especially when she too because super with Uma!
Number 4: April in The Hot Chick
Rob Schneider is pretty much the focus, but Anna the next in line. This is one of her first acting roles in a major motion picture and naturally she portrays the best friend April. "Can I see it? Come on, it's not everyday that my best friend grows a penis."
Number 3: Cindy Campbell in The Scary Movie series
This was her first major hit. The one that launched her career. She plays the lead character Cindy Campbell (based off Sidney Prescott from the Scream series) who, along with her group of friends, is being stalked by a killer. She is the only character (minus the amazing Brenda) who returns for all four movies as the lead. She'll be also in the 5th movie coming out in the relatively near future.
Number 2: Shelley Darlingson in The House Bunny
This is pretty much the first movie where Anna Faris is the headlining name. She is the only big-named lead actress in the movie. Emma Stone (an up and coming star) and Colin Hanks (only famous by his father) co-star. Anna is a Playboy bunny thrown out on the street who becomes a house mother for an unfortunate sorority. She was perfect for this role. She is so fine as a Playboy bunny! Very hot!
Number 1: Samantha James in Just Friends
And number one goes to Just Friends where Anna plays a stuck-up pop star. A total airheard, dumb blonde. She plays her perfectly. And although she is not the leading character (she's behind Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart), she stands out significantly. Check out a couple clips from the movie below.
So I've been watching Star Wars on Spike for majority of the day today and I just wanted to make some comments about the saga. It'll be things I find stupid, interesting, stuff I've never noticed, etc. So enjoy!
1. Why the hell is Darth Sidious sitting at a desk in Episode III when Yoda comes to confront him? I know Family Guy makes fun of this, but what is he doing? Is he doing payroll for the Stormtroopers or making a down-payment on the Darth Star? It's just odd to me.
2. General Grievous is freaking awesome! I wish he had more of a part. According to Wiki, he was a creature from some planet and was in a shuttle crash which left him deformed. That's why he's half-robot and a jedi! Pretty sweet!
3. While filming the Empire Strikes Back, George Lucas tried his absolute hardest to keep the ending (ya know, "I am your father") a secret. Even from the cast. While filming, he had the actor portraying Vader's' body say "Obi-Wan killed your father," then they went back and had James Earl Jones dub the line as "I am your father." Only six people knew that Vader was Luke's father: George Lucas, the director, two writers, Mark Hamill (Luke), and James Earl Jones (Vader's voice).
4. I hate these special edition versions of the original trilogy. They went back and added in some "cool" visual effects, such as the deleted scene of Jabba and Han Solo talking in the hanger in Episode IV. At the time they released that version (which was in the 90s), it looked cool, but today it just looks bad. Jabba's in high-def and looks awkward against the background of the original film from the 70s. The original film is all faded and Jabba is all fake looking. It's just stupid. They should've done more subtle things.
5. After Episode III was released, they went back to Episode V and replaced a hologram with the original Emperor to a hologram of the actual Emperor. See, the Emperor in Episodes I, II, III, and VI are all the same actor, even if they are years apart. But in Episode V, they filmed an old lady in make up and a hood, and replaced her eyes with chimpanzee eyes and voice with the actors voice. They replaced monkey-eye-old-lady-face with the Emperor from the other films and I think the new version looks bad. I don't know why, but that particular scene stands apart from the rest of the film.
6. I like that one Jedi chick from the prequel trilogy. The one with the greenish-blue skin. I wish she had more of a part.
7. Why the hell is Obi-Wan nicknamed Ben? I don't get it and they never explain it.
8. Natalie Portman is amazing, throughout. That is all.
9. Blood and gore. In Episode IV, Obi-Wan cuts off some asshole's arm in a bar and it's all bloody. We don't see him actually cut it off. We just see a struggle, hear the lightsaber noise, and finally cut to a shot of an arm on the ground with blood on one end. People thought this was so horrible, so George never put blood in the movies again. Kind of a bummer. People get things cut off all the time. Both of Anakin's arms and legs; Luke's arm; Qui-Gon gets stabbed; Leia gets shot; Jengo Fett, Count Dooku, clones, and Vader (in a dream) get beheaded; Darth Maul is cut in half; Obi-Wan is like tapped by Vader then disappears; Anakin burns (but that's pretty realistic). Get what I mean? All of that happens and no blood. I understand it a little. 5/6 of the movies were PG. But a little blood wouldn't hurt (ha!). You don't want to be in the same boat as Narnia and their absence of blood.
10. The guy that flies the Millennium Falcon with Lando in Episode VI reminds me of a Mexican. That may sound back, but he's speaking another language and it looks like he has a thin gangster mustache. Not trying to be mean, but that's what it reminds me of.
11. How do you pronounce Han Solo's name? Hon (like H-on, as in the light is on) or Han (like H-An, as in look at the Hancock building). I like Hon. Or Hawn. So from now on it's Han Solo, pronounced Hawn Solo. Deal? Good.
12. As much as I'd be interested in seeing Episodes VII, VIII, and IX made and released, I'd rather they not do that. I loved the prequel trilogy, but so many hated it. Let's just leave it at six.
13. What are my favorite episodes in order, you ask? Well I'll tell ya. Return of the Jedi (VI), Revenge of the Sith (III), Attack of the Clones (II), A New Hope (IV), The Empire Strikes Back (V), and Phantom Menace (I). They all change though. The bottom three vary.
14. Scenes I love the most because they're so amazing: Yoda vs. Dooku, Yoda vs. Sidious, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon vs. Darth Maul, the escape from Jabba's barge, the Ewok battle, the Pod Race, General Grievious' scenes, Obi-Wan vs. Jengo Fett, Mace Windu vs. Darth Sidious, the entire ending of Attack of the Clones, R2-D2 flying, Anakin vs. Obi-Wan... maybe more, idk.
15. If you haven't seen Blue Harvest or Something, Something, Something, Dark Side, you need to. They're the Family Guy spoofs of Star Wars and they nail it perfectly.
16. They're supposed to make a new series on like Fox or something that is the time between Episodes III and IV. It's been in pre-production forever and I wish they'd get a move on it. It should be good. And it'll be live-action. GET TO WORK!
17. I like Hayden Christiansen as Anakin. Many people really hate him. Yes, he's kinda plain and emotionless, but I feel like Anakin would be just like that.
18. How could they not know Palpatine was the Sith lord?! When I first saw Episode I, I didn't pick up on that. I was like 10. But now that I'm older and watching these movies, how could they not speculate that he's evil. Everybody's dumb!
19. I think the prequel trilogy was a little heavy on the visual effects. Yes, it was new and fresh, but I think some of the space scenes from the original trilogy were more realistic looking than those in the prequel trilogy. I think they downgraded when they thought they were upgrading. And it's not even the space scenes. Even scenes where they're sitting in front of a window and you see all the commotion outside: the prequel trilogy fills the window up with stuff that draws you away from the dialogue and the original trilogy never has windows so we don't have to deal with that bullshit! And you'd think that the prequel trilogy's technology and settings would be less technologically advanced than the original's... Not true here. It seems like they get dumber over the years. That's like Thomas Edison inventing the iPod a hundred years ago, and us not figuring out how he did that today. It's all backwards.
20. Yoda. Yoda was a puppet in Episodes V and VI and some scenes of Episode I. Then in Episodes II and III, he was completely CGI. In Episode I, he looked so ugly. SO ugly! I don't know why they made him look so different. Even the puppets in V and VI and the CGI versions look the same. He just looks completely different in the first one and he looks 100 years older. I don't know if that's just me, but it bothers me. Anyways, I liked him CGI. He looked very real, but at times he did look fake. The puppet versions were good. George Lucas even campaigned for Frank Oz to be nominated for an Oscar for Episode V (but apparently a puppeteer can't be up for Supporting Actor). Rumor has it that George Lucas will rerelease all of the films in 3D (which is fine and totally expected at this point in the movie industry) but he'll also replace all of the puppet Yodas with CGI Yodas instead. That I think is stupid. It should be illegal.
I HAVE NOT seen this movie. Let's just throw that right out there.
I'm just like Peter Griffin in that one episode of Family Guy where they're locked in the panic room and it's flooding and he spills that he hated the Godfather and couldn't even watch the whole thing. That's me.
I watched the first fifteen minutes, had absolutely no idea what was going on, so I turned it off. It didn't hook me. So yes, I gave it a try and couldn't do it.
I also don't care for Marlon Brando. What an asshole! This is what it says about him playing Jor-El in the first Superman movie on Wikipedia (and this is legit!):
"Brando then portrayed Superman's father Jor-El in the 1978 Superman: The Movie. He agreed to the role only on assurance that he would be paid a large sum for what amounted to a small part, that he would not have to read the script beforehand and his lines would be displayed somewhere off-camera. It was revealed in a documentary contained in the 2001 DVD release of Superman, that he was paid $3.7 million for just two weeks of work.
Brando also filmed scenes for the movie's sequel, Superman II, but after producers refused to pay him the same percentage he received for the first movie, he denied them permission to use the footage. However, after Brando's death the footage was reincorporated into the 2006 re-cut of the film, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut."
What a conceded asshole! Excuse me? You're no Anthony Hopkins, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, hell I like Orson Welles more than this douchebag! I laugh everytime he appears in Superman Returns. They had to wait for him to die to put him in another Superman movie! Good for them! DUMB!!!!!!!
Well this series and I have a difficult relationship. You see, I was very young (okay, twelve years old) when the first movies of the Harry Potter series and the Lord of the Rings trilogy came out, so naturally you favored one over the other because they're both fantasy novels.
I have compiled a list of my top ten favorite aliens from movies. Keep in mind that I have not seen ALL of the alien movies out there and these are the ones I have seen and stand out the most. Let the top tens begin...
