Movie Preview: September 2012

2012 has been a good year for movies thus far, with a lot of surprise hits. That trend is certain to continue, but not until there is a break for a few months. That break started this past month in August. August of 2011 was fairly big with hits like Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Help, but all this August has to show for Box Office wise is The Bourne Legacy (98M in August), The Campaign (74M in August), and The Expendables 2 (68M in August). Some movies like ParaNorman and Premium Rush got surprisingly high reviews, but that didn't translate into Box Office results. This all means that September of 2012 will probably be pretty dismal as well, especially since September is normally an off month anyways. But don't stop reading yet. Even if nothing earns a ton of money this month, there's certain to be a few gems hidden that you will enjoy, so let's go searching for those!

September 7th - 9th - In all honesty the first week of September was last week being that it was Labor Day weekend and the long four day weekend had three days of September, but it started with the first day of August, so that's where I put it. In case you missed what happened, The Possession scared away the competition last week with the second highest Labor Day weekend opening ever with 21M. And chances are that with the weak openings this weekend, The Possession will enjoy a surprising second week as king. Out of the two new openings this weekend, The Words wins the largest opening game and thus will probably be the most lucrative of the two. However, that title is rather vague and won't do a very good job of attracting movie goers. After studying the plot and watching the trailer, you might be a little more clear as to what this is about, but that still may not be enough to get you to the theater. Well, making your life easier, what this is is a drama. A romance drama. It's about a guy who finally achieves success as an author, but the problem is that he stole this work. And he spent too much time focusing on success while neglecting his girl. In order to have success, this movie will have to get some good word of mouth. The most intriguing aspect of this is that it has a loaded cast with Olivia Wilde, Dennis Quaid, Bradley Cooper, and Jeremy Irons. The second movie is a last second addition to the nationwide release board. Because of this, you may have never heard of it. It is called The Cold Light of Day. From the initial look at it, it seems like a movie that could've stayed at a limited release and no one would've cared. It is a Bruce Willis movie, but certainly won't be one of his most memorable ones and more or less stars Henry Caville in the lead role as he goes jumping off buildings and dodging bullets to try to save his kidnapped family. Seems pretty cliche and unoriginal, but if you are in a huge need for an action kick, then go for it.

September 14th - 16th - Up to this point, the Box Office will have been quite lame for about a month. Even the movies in August that opening decently were sequels / remakes that failed to reach the levels of their predecessors. This weekend is where it gets a bit exciting. Not summer level exciting, but as about as exciting as you can get in September as both releases could challenge Sweet Home Alabama's September opening record of $35M. I'm not quite sure which one of them will come out on top, but my guess is that it will be Resident Evil: Retribution. Resident Evil fans don't really need an explanation for this. The Resident Evil franchise began back in 1996 when the original Resident Evil game debuted for Playstation. After that happened, the rest is history as the franchise has taken off like wildfire with tons of games, comics, toys, books, and movies. All of which are pretty well liked by Resident Evil fans. Now games don't always convert well to movies, but this game has converted well. None of the movies have earned an epic amount of money, but for R-rated action horror movies they have done just fine. Most impressively, each sequel has opened up bigger than the previous movie, which means that this 5th installment is about in line for a debut in the upper $20M range or low $30M range. As perfect counter-programming to this we get Finding Nemo (in 3D). Last September, Disney experimented with the 3D re-release game by sending The Lion King back to the theaters in 3D. That being the phenomenal success that it was, Disney got super excited and immediately scheduled four additional movies. Unfortunately Beauty and the Beast only did half as good as Lion King, so who knows where Finding Nemo will end up at. Now Finding Nemo is the first Disney/Pixar re-release and in terms of Pixar, Nemo is Pixar's second highest grossing movie in theaters and the highest when you adjust for ticket price inflation, so I could see this working out well for them. Also as a quick laugh, in limited release this weekend you have the brilliant movie called Stolen. Nicholas Cage stars in this action thriller wherein Cage's daughter has been stolen and he is given 12 hours to steal $10M in order to get her back. Hahaha! What a complete joke. Yeah, it's a great idea for a movie. It's just been made already. It's called Taken. And it stars Liam Neesen. They kinda stole the idea. I really hope it stays in limited release and doesn't go wide.

September 21st - 23rd - The previous weekend will most likely have the two biggest September movies, but this weekend is the most loaded in terms of number of new releases. While it's quite realistic that none of these four movies breakout, I'm sure that at least one of them will. The best candidate in my opinion is Trouble with the Curve. This is another baseball movie and so to predict how it will do I look at last year's baseball movie 'Moneyball'. The thing that makes Trouble with the Curve intriguing is not necessarily the fact that it is a baseball movie, but that it stars Clint Eastwood. Eastwood in this plays a baseball scout in his older age and the movie seems to be more about the relationship with his daughter than about the actual baseball scout story line. Clint Eastwood has only acted in two movies in the last eight years, the last one being Gran Torino in 2008. None of his movies have been incredibly huge Box Office hits, but the last two movies he has acted in both earned over $100M. Granted they were both December movies, but there still be some definite star appeal in this one. Last year's Moneyball ended it's run at around $75M, so a grand total somewhere between $50 and $75 wouldn't surprise me. The other three releases are all grab bag. They might surprise, but I half expect them all to bomb. First of those three is Dredd, which continues the Superhero movie craze. This however is much different. Most of the other Superhero movies get no more than a PG-13 rating and are directed towards a broad, family audience. Dredd is a strong R and is directed for a very mature audience. The character Judge Dredd is a police officer in a violent, futuristic city wherein the police are the judge, jury, and executioner. And if you didn't know, this is a remake. The original Judge Dredd came out in 1995 and was a pretty big flop, even with a good cast. Next we have the odd looking crime drama End of Watch. It's yet another movie coming out in the found footage style. This time it's a police officer carrying a camera around with him as him and his partner are out patrolling. And of course it will most likely attempt to do what Chronicle did by having something crazy and trippy happen while the two officers are working and who knows, maybe it will work out as well as Chronicle did, but I don't have a whole lot of faith in it. It is also pulled off an R rating for multiple reasons, so yeah. Last new release of the week is House at the End of the Street. This one is a horror movie starring Jennifer Lawrence. I'd say it's her first movie since she played Katniss in The Hunger Games, but technically this movie was filmed before The Hunger Games, it's just debuted a while after for certain reasons. But nonetheless, we'll see if she has the ability to draw crowds since her huge Hunger Games debut because this seems like another generic horror movie. You could probably guess the plot just by reading the title. But if you are in a mood to get scared, then check it out. Now, I did say that is the end of the new releases, but a couple limited releases for you to be made aware of. The Master is a movie that opens up in limited release on the 14th and will be expanding this weekend. It is the next movie directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, whose most recent movie was There Will Be Blood back in 2007. Anderson fans have been excited for this new movie for a while. Finally, another highly anticipated movie that opens up this week is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is a movie based on the book of the same title about the life of some high school students. It is generally a well liked book and the movie stars Harry Potter star Emma Watson. But don't get too excited yet, this is a limited release movie. I'm sure it will get a nationwide expansion, but not quite on this weekend.

September 28th - 30th - Now after that loaded weekend, September will end on an interesting note. Possibly the most anticipated movie of the month comes out this weekend and that would be Looper. It stars Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and Bruce Willis playing the same character, Bruce Willis playing the older version of JGL. The plot sounds quite trippy honestly, which makes it intriguing. Set in the future, when the mob of 2072 targets someone, that someone gets sent back 30 years in the past where a group of killers called Loopers shoots the target. In this situation, one of the Loopers is Joe and has troubles doing his job when his future self gets sent back because he obviously has troubles killing himself. This leads to quite the intense, action packed thrill ride. Quite the serious action movie, too, as it got an R rating. Providing some good counter-programming to this is the animated family movie Hotel Transylvania. Now it will be interesting to see which animated Halloween movie comes out on top as Tim Burton's Frankenweenie comes out the very next weekend. Hotel Transylvania is a movie that is about Dracula as the head of the monster hotel, Hotel Transylvania. The conflict arrives when a human being hikes his way to the hotel and starts falling for Dracula's daughter Mavis. It has quite the cast of voices, led by Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, and David Spade. Adam Sandler being Dracula and Kevin James being Frankenstein are especially intriguing to me. The wildcard of the weekend that will most likely get lost in the weekend is the drama Won't Back Down. It stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis and is inspired by true events of two parents and a teacher joining forces to try and make a difference in the lives of their children by improving the education system of the local school. Sounds like an inspiring story, but I don't see it attracting a huge crowd, but I have been wrong about that before.

2012 NFL Season Preview: NFC

(continued from AFC preview here)

NFC EAST:

While the AFC West in my opinion is the toughest division to predict, I think the NFC East is the second toughest division to predict. Yes, there is the Super Bowl champion Giants in this division, but predicting them to repeat as champions is not as easy as you may think,  mainly because they barely won the division and thus barely made the playoffs last year. Every season with Eli Manning thus far hasn't been a great dominant season, but they seem to be talented at pulling themselves together at just the right time. Even though Eli Manning has never really been considered one of the elite quarterbacks of the league, he has proven many times over that he is a very clutch quarterback, so you can never count the Giants out. Fighting against them are three underachieving teams that hope to break that trend. Leading that squad will be the Dallas Cowboys, who are always so consistent at choking. Every year in the last 10 years or so, the Cowboys have either made a push for the divisional title or won the divisional title. They have made the playoffs 6 times since the 1998 season, three of those being divisional titles, but have a playoff record of 1-6 in that span. Ouch. Tony Romo has especially taken the hit many times. He's always considered one of the best quarterbacks of the league and always puts up amazing stats, but has never been able to win when it mattered most. The Eagles have about the same story, but the major difference is that they've proven that they can actually win playoff games. In the same span that the Cowboys went 1-6, the Eagles have gone 10-9, meaning they know how to win playoff games, they just have troubles winning the most important playoff games. They've been predicted to win the Super Bowl many seasons by experts, but can't ever do it. Recently they've started to skid even worse. The last time they won a playoff game was back in the 2008 season. The Redskins on the other hand have been as disappointing as the Cowboys and Eagles. Instead they have been just plain awful. This year they have been given some hope in the form of RGIII, Robert Griffin III if you haven't been paying attention to football recently. While I think in the long run Andrew Luck will turn out to be the better quarterback from this year's draft, I think RGIII will start his career off better and could boost the Redskins to having a surprisingly good year in his rookie season. I don't think they will make the playoffs, but they could fight for a spot and give some teams some big headaches.

NFC NORTH:

This here is the powerhouse division. It would not surprise me to see three teams from this division making the playoffs. The lone team out would of course be the Minnesota Vikings, who still really don't have an identity and in a division with the Packers, Lions, and Bears, they are certain to be stuck in the NFC North Basement. The other three, like I said, will dominate. Helping their cause will be the fact that the NFC North is matched up against the NFC West and the AFC South, the two weakest divisions in football right now. The Packers last season went 15-1 after winning the Super Bowl the year before. They bring back the same dominant team as last year while adding Cedric Benson and Jeff Saturday, which means they could have running game they always wanted. The Lions had their breakout year last year as Matt Stafford stayed healthy the whole season and threw for over 5,000 yards. Megatron (Calvin Johnson) also proved to be one of the best receivers in the league, if not the best. This year Megatron has a goal to get 100 receiving yards every game, which means that even if he doesn't make that goal, he will be working his tail off, making things scary for opposing defenses. Then you have the Bears. The Bears started off last season really strong at 7-3, but thanks to injuries to several key players they sputtered off and landed at 8-8. This year they will have those players healthy and in addition the Bears added Jason Campbell, Brandon Marshall, and Michael Bush. The Bears should be a scary team this year.

NFC SOUTH:

The big question here comes with the Saints. The bounty scandal was the huge story of the offseason and now that all the dust is settled, the aftermath is that the Saints lose their head coach Sean Payton for the entire season as well as linebacker Jonathan Vilma for the entire season. Assistant coach Joe Vitt and defensive end Will Smith get suspended for part of the season. Those are the suspensions that will effect the Saints. Can they recover from that? Sure they can. The biggest hit will be losing Sean Payton, the coach who essentially made the Saints what they are. If they can still win the division and make a playoff run, it will be the success story of the season, but it's my personal opinion that the other teams in their division take advantage of this setback and knock them out. I think it will be Matt Ryan and the Falcons that will take the division title. Ryan and the Falcons are still working out the whole idea of actually winning playoff games, but in his four years in the league, Ryan has led his Falcons to three playoff appearances, so I imagine them as the team to beat. The Panthers will also make some noise, that is if Cam Newton learns how to not turn the ball over. His rookie season was easily one of the best rookie seasons that a quarterback has ever had, so there is a lot of hope for the Panthers' future. Then there is the Bucs. A couple of years ago, the Bucs surprised a lot of people with a 10-6 record. With a young, talented team, most thought they would do just as good last year, but they ended up at 4-12. Quite the setback. That Bucs team learned what happens when you go from having a really easy schedule one season and a really hard schedule the next. However, they do have a good young team that I think can bounce back from last year. Plus, that's what happens in the NFC South. The team that got last place the year before often turns it around and has a good season the next year.

NFC WEST:

I really feel bad for this division. In the last while this has been one of the worst divisions in football and honestly I don't see that changing because the worst division in football gets blessed with the hardest schedule in football with the NFC North (Packers, Bears, Lions, Vikings) and the AFC East (Patriots, Jets, Dolpins, Bills). I think that Jim Harbaugh's 49ers will make it through that schedule, but the Rams, Seahawks, and Cardinals will struggle. Speaking of the 49ers, I don't think that they will match the 13-3 they pulled off last year, but Jim Harbaugh is still there, so Niner fans should be fine. Essentially last year he took a 5-11 team and without making any huge changes, he turned that into a 13-3 team. How many coaches can claim they did that in their first year? Without much competition, the Niners should reign as kings of this division for at least a few years. Honestly though, the team that I think will come second is the Rams. I don't say this because I am a Rams fan, I've tried to be pretty unbiased with this whole thing. I say that because of the Rams new head coach Jeff Fisher. If you remember his tenure with Titans, he had this talent of taking a team that looked terrible on paper and somehow bringing them to a decent to great record. The team never did exceptionally well in the playoffs, but they got there or got close to being there almost every year. With Sam Bradford and Steven Jackson, along with a defense that they've done a decent job in building up this offseason, Jeff Fisher could realistically resurrect this Rams team that has been buried in the NFC West basement for a while. The other teams I don't have a lot of faith in. Neither the Seahawks or the Cardinals have a team with an identity right now. Sure the Seahakws won the division two years ago, but that was with a 7-9 record. The Cards have gone back to being awful ever since Kurt Warner retired. Both the Seahawks and Cards are having quarterback issues at the moment and with the schedules the way they are, I think both will suffer this season and both could be looking for new head coaches at the end of the regular season.

2012 NFL Season Preview: AFC

This post is in conjucture with my 2012 - 2013 season predictions. The difference as you will shortly see, is that this post gives my thoughts in words as opposed to my thoughts in records and predictions. Hope you enjoy!

AFC EAST: 

It is pretty much a given that the Patriots will dominate this division. I don't see the Jets, Bills, or Dolphins giving them much of a challenge for the divisional crown. While the Patriots defense is a bit weak, their offense is killer. One NFL.com writer has now claimed that Tom Brady is the best quarterback to ever play the game. While I don't agree with that, it's hard to argue that he is one of the best currently playing. With targets such as Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, Wes Welker, and Brandon Lloyd for Brady to throw to, it should make the Pats pretty hard to stop this season. The big question this season is what is going to happen with the rest of this division? Who will come in second place and who will make the playoffs is the tricky thing to predict. The Jets are certainly on the media spotlight even more than ever with Tim Tebow drama added to the already annoying media drama of Rex Ryan. Honestly I think they are going to blow up. One wrong move by Sanchez and the crowd starts chanting Tebow. If Sanchez doesn't step up and/or lets it all get to his head, he is going to get pulled and the Tebow era will start. And honestly, when that happens, the Jets season will be over in my opinion. The Dolphins have completely started over with a new head coach and a new starting quarterback. I can see Ryan Tannehill having a decent outing in his rookie season, but I can't see the Dolphins doing much damage as I see them ending mediocre as always with somewhere between 6 and 8 wins. In my opinion the surprise team to look out for is the Buffalo Bills and here's why. While I wouldn't consider them a great team, I would say that they are a good team and when you look at their schedule, it is almost ridiculously easy. In addition to playing the Dolphins and the Jets twice, they also have games against the Chiefs, Browns, Cardinals, Titans, Colts, Jaguars, Rams, and Seahawks. Finishing with anything less then 7 - 9 wins for the Bills will be extremely embarrassing. That schedule could even help them sneak into the playoffs.

AFC NORTH:

With the Ravens, Steelers, and Bengals in this division, it is always one of the tougher divisions to both play in and predict. This season each of the four teams will get the honor of playing the AFC West (Broncos, Raiders, Chiefs, Chargers) and the NFC East (Giants, Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins). While that doesn't make for an incredibly difficult schedule, it should make for a challenging schedule for each team as all 8 of those teams are teams that should make a run for at least a playoff spot. Ravens and Steelers should come out on top as always, although in which order they will finish always seems to vary. The Browns should finish last as always. It's been since 2002 since the Browns made a playoff appearance and 1994 since they won a playoff game and they didn't do enough in the offseason to make me believe it will be they will end those streaks. Sure the Trent Richardson addition will be nice, but Brandon Weedon and Colt McCoy headache should hurt them and with still no receivers to throw to, neither quarterback will do well. The Bengals are the most interesting team to discuss out of these four. They surprised most people last season by making a playoff appearance, but when you look at their schedule from last year that becomes less impressive. They didn't have a single win against a playoff team last year and so the schedule for this division that I mentioned before will hurt them the most I think. They do have a great young team to build off in Andy Dalton and AJ Green, but it's been over 20 years since the Bengals have made two straight playoff appearances and I don't think that streak ends this year.

AFC SOUTH:
It shouldn't be a huge shocker to you when I claim that this division will be the worst division in the AFC this year. The Jacksonville Jaguars are a real mess this year and will be one of the top teams in the Matt Barkley sweepstakes. Blaine Gabbert had no one to throw to last season, but even with that in mind he looked especially bad. You would've thought that he was a 6th or 7th round pick with the way he was throwing, not a 1st round pick. He could get the official bust label as early as midseason this year. The Jags did attempt to get one good receiver for him to throw to by drafting Justin Blackmon, but he immediately added character issues to his resume by getting arrested shortly after. The only thing the Jags have going for them is MJD, but there are even troubles there as he was holding out for a new contract and the Jags refused to pay him. Yes, he did end that recently, but he may not be playing with his whole heart this year. The Colts are also a disaster, but yet they do have promise with Andrew Luck. The story with them will be how well Andrew Luck does this year. I think he'll give them some promise, but the Colts will have to actually put a team around him before the Colts start contending again. The Titans could surprise people as they didn't do that poorly last year, but it will require Jake Locker to make a huge step forward if they are going to win the division. I don't think that it is being too bold for me to predict that the Texans come out on top once again. The issue they have is staying healthy. Sure they lost Mario Williams on defense and that hurts, but Wade Phillips in his first year as defensive coordinator led that defense to being one of the top in the league, which is impressive. Then there's that offense. If Matt Shaub, Arian Foster, Ben Tate, and Ande Johnson all stay healthy the whole year, which is actually a lot to ask out of that crew, then the Texans could actually make a Super Bowl push.

AFC WEST:

This is the toughest division to pick this year. Coming off a year where there was a three way tie for first place, all at 8-8, with the fourth team just a game behind at 7-9, literally anything could happen and I wouldn't be surprised. In my opinion the Broncos have the heads up with Peyton Manning now running the show there. The biggest concern with him is obviously being completely recovered from neck surgery, but if healthy he has the ability to make everyone around him good. He got the Colts playoffs countless times with almost no help and the Broncos have a better corps of players than the Colts did. They managed to make the playoffs and even win a game with Tim Tebow at the head, so Bronco fans should be happy. Last year Oakland fared decently well until the crashed at the end of the season. However, a lot of the games they lost were close games they could have won, so if quarterback Carson Palmer steps up his game, they could be in for another good run this season. Now that's a big if as Carson played pretty poorly last season. In his defense, though, he thought he was retired until he got the phone call midseason that he was going to play for the Raiders. With an offseason to prepare, he could easily be back to his old self. The Chiefs are essentially the same team this year as they were last year, so what they do is up in the air. The biggest change is that they will have Romeo Crennell on full time as their head coach and so how you think the Chiefs will do will essentially rely on how well you think Romeo will do as a head coach. Many think they will win the division, but I don't think they will. He's proved to be a great coordinator, but his only stint as a head coach didn't go very well. Yes, it was with the Browns, who are pretty much a cursed franchise anyways, so you could see this as his first real head coaching job. We'll see how he does. Last but not least is the San Diego Chargers. Once upon a time the Chargers were the kings of this division, but now that the division has caught up to them recently, they are on a two year skid of missing the playoffs that could very well continue this season. Phillip Rivers is a good quarterback who has recently forgotten that he plays for the Chargers (33 interceptions in the last 2 years - 20 last year). They did a good job of scaring off their best receiver in Vincent Jackson and only hope that the WRs the brought in this year can fill the void. There is also a lot of hope on the thus far underachieving Ryan Matthews. They could either pull themselves together or fall completely apart and neither would surprise me.

(continue with the NFC preview here)

2012 NFL Predictions: Preseason

Those of you who know me real well will know that I have been doing NFL season predictions for several years now and a few of you out there know that I have quite the elaborate system in making these predictions. Most of you, however, don't know and so now you are being educated. Here is my system in a nutshell. Sometime before the regular season starts I copy all of the 32 NFL teams' schedules into one Excel file. Once that is done, I pick the winners of each individual game and do that for all 17 weeks. That makes it so I come up with a predicted set of standings and using the NFL tie breaking rules, I determine the playoff match-ups based on my predicted standings and I thus predict the playoffs game by game and come up with a Super Bowl champion. Yeah, it does take up some time, but I enjoy it and there are some Excel shortcuts and codes that make it go faster. I think it provides a much more realistic set of predictions than what I could've come up with otherwise because not only does it implement how I think each team will perform, but it also implements the teams' schedules into the equation. Every year there are always teams that underperform because of a really hard schedule and teams that overperform because of a really hard schedule, and that is often portrayed in my predictions. Sometimes people will ask me why I predicted a team to do so good or bad and I can't respond because I surprised myself with the pick. So that's how it rolls. I update my Excel file weekly on my own time and re-predict monthly. When I re-predict monthly, I will post it on my blog. I hope you enjoy! And feel free to question me about any pick I made. It will kindle some fun football debates.

P.S. - This being the preseason edition does not mean I am predicting the preseason. It means I am predicting the regular season and playoffs before the season begins. My preseason predictions.

Regular Season Predictions

AFC

AFC East
*-New England Patriots - 13-3
y-Buffalo Bills - 9-7
Miami Dolphins - 7-9
New York Jets - 6-10

AFC North
z-Baltimore Ravens - 10-6
Pittsburgh Steelers - 8-8
Cincinnati Bengals - 6-10
Cleveland Browns - 6-10

AFC South
z-Houston Texans - 10-6
Tennessee Titans - 7-9
Indianapolis Colts - 5-11
Jacksonville Jaguars - 4-12

AFC West
z-Denver Broncos - 10-6
y-Oakland Raiders - 10-6
Kansas City Chiefs - 8-8
San Diego Chargers - 6-10

NFC

NFC East
z- New York Giants - 10-6
Dallas Cowboys - 8-8
Washington Redskins - 8-8
Philadelphia Eagles - 8-8

NFC North
*-Green Bay Packers - 13-3
y-Detroit Lions - 12-4
y-Chicago Bears - 10-6
Minnesota Vikings - 6-10

NFC South
z-Atlanta Falcons - 11-5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 8-8
New Orleans Saints - 7-9
Carolina Panthers - 7-9

NFC West
z-San Francisco 49ers - 11-5
St. Louis Rams - 8-8
Seattle Seahakws - 5-11
Arizona Cardinals - 2-14

x- Clinched Playoffs
y- Clinched Wild Card
z- Clinched Division
*- Clinched Division and Homefield Advantage

Top 30 Lost Deaths

Lost is by far my favorite TV show. No TV show like it. Just over two years ago when it finished, I was watching the finale live on TV. Shortly after I decided to create a list of the top 30 Lost deaths inspired by a YouTuber that had done the same thing. After watching his, I wanted to create my own. So I did and I kept it in an Excel file. Well, recently me and some friends decided to watch the whole series again, because some of them hadn't seen it all the way through. Watching it the second time through, I picked up on a lot more details and a lot more questions that I had were answered to the point where I have no questions about what happened. It all makes perfect sense to me. And there are so many reasons to love the show that I won't even go there. But during this process of rewatching the show, I also redid my list of top lost deaths, but this time I created it as I went, updating it as each death came up and switching up the order on occasion. I have just recently finished watching it for the second time and thus my list is done. If you have watched the series like I have, this will provide you with a good trip down memory lane as you go through this. If you haven't seen Lost, I recommend you skipping this because there are a ton of SPOILERS. Here is how I will do things. I will give a brief explanation about each choice and then provide you with a link to watch the death (embedding all of the videos in this case was too much of a headache).

30- Anthony Cooper - There are a lot of great actors in this show and Sawyer (James Ford) is certainly one of them. Haunted his whole life by the death of his parents due to the con man Anthony Cooper, it is rather awesome when we finally get to see him face up against Cooper on the island in the third season.

clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emMq_r1BrGE&feature=related

29- Cladia (Jacob's birth mother) - How extremely brutal it is for Jacob's "mother" to help a young mother give birth to twins, beat the mother to death with a rock, then raise the babies as her own. It puts an interesting spin on the Jacob / Man in Black story. Before it was all white and black, but after this episode you kinda feel for the Man in Black. All he wanted to do was go home and escape this lady, while Jacob is just willing to do what she says. So who is bad and who is good?

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaFSic6c4A4

28- Danielle Rousseau and Karl Marin- You really feel for Alex in this one as she watches her boyfriend and mother get shot within moments of each other by Keamy's men. It's especially surprising to see Danielle get shot and killed just like that after being invested in her character since the very beginning.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnIgU7e5s78

27- Anna Lucia Cortez and Libby Smith - What lengths will a man go to in order to save his son? I don't know about you, but killing two innocent women is going a little to far. Too bad Michael came to that realization long after he did this. It's interesting to note that Lost probably wanted to keep Michelle Rodriguez longer, but she got herself into some trouble in real life and they had to write her off. The Libby death is devastating because her and Hugo had just begun to fall in love, but it gets cut short abruptly right before their first date. It was awesome that they got to have that date later on in the 6th season during the flash sideways.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPuqF-jmBy0

26- Caesar - Caesar wasn't a huge character, but his death at the hands of Ben was pretty cool. "This gentleman and I are taking a boat. Anyone else have a problem with that?" No, you don't mess with Ben Linus. Unless of course you are the Man in Black, then you can do what you want.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwTH4SCr-do&feature=related

25- Michael Dawson - As mentioned in #27, Michael goes really cold in the name of Walt. After he finally realizes what a horrible mistake he made, its great to see him come back and do his best to make up for what he did and die saving some of the main characters from the show.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Er1uPYwK8 (4:08 - 6:50 in this one)

24- Dogen and Lennon - Dogen was pretty boss and it turns out he knew what he was talking about. Sayid killing him and his translator Lennon was pretty brutal considering it directly caused the Man in Black to enter the temple and kill the people remaining there. And Sayid knew exactly what he was doing. That's him being in one of his "I don't care about the world" phases before he changes and tries to fix things again.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1x3TQ3iWNM

23- Ethan Rom - Ethan was a great season one villain as we are just beginning to learn that the survivors of the crash aren't the only ones on the island. The Charlie and Claire story line throughout the season is one of the best romances in Lost and it is rather awesome seeing Charlie get his revenge here after Ethan had kidnapped him and Claire. This fight beforehand in the rain is also pretty epic.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOCI2FzvDQc

22- Boone Carlyle - This death is monumental as it is the first death of a main character. It also teaches us for the first time that Lost isn't afraid to kill off main characters, which keeps us all on our toes as we continue through the series. Watching him go right at the same time Aaron is being born is rather touching. Although not shown in the following clip, it is probably the most fitting scenario with the "Life and Death" song that always plays when a character dies because we experience a life and a death.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AItvHZwTSBc

21- Martin Keamy - If we were to rank Lost villains, Keamy would certainly be up there. He is a great actor and does such a good job of being a cold-hearted killer that you hate and want gone. He actually died twice, the second time being in the flash sideways in the second season, but for purposes of this list, it will be the first death focused on. Ben gets his revenge over Alex, but Keamy had the bomb detonator strapped to him so when Ben couldn't resist, the freighter exploded killing Michael amongst others. I apologize for the following video and the music, but it's the best I could find for Keamy.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST1gpRmp1Ew

20- Charles Widmore and Zoe - If we hadn't figured it out before, this scene showed us that the Man in Black was purely evil in the way he killed Zoe. Years of being trapped on the island really got to him. In this the second to last episode, we also once again question if Ben is good or bad after seeing him shoot down Charles Widmore, one of the few remaining disciples of Jacob.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7RJrYzrmFA

19- Jacob's "mother" and the Man in Black's body - This right here is a very critical scene in Lost. We once again feel for the Man in Black. All he wanted to do was leave the island and live a normal life. He had found a way to leave, but yet that was squashed when their mother ruins it all. He kills her in a moment of rage and thus Jacob gets mad and throws him into the heart of the island, thus in essence killing his old body and transforming him into the Smoke Monster. So who is the victim in this whole scenario? This scene is also cool because we learn who the "Adam and Eve" skeletons were that were found in the caves in season one.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQTPtqwYciQ

18- Ilana Verdansky - This isn't the first or best death by dynamite scene, but it is a pretty good death. With the role Ilana had as a follower of Jacob, you didn't expect her to get blown up like that but she did and suddenly that was the end of Ilana as she got scattered all over the beach. Moral of the story: be careful with dynamite. Don't carelessly throw your bag on the ground when you have four sticks of it.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWmci6-Ke2E

17- Daniel Faraday - One of the more tragic deaths on the island right here. Daniel was awesome and Eloise his mother was a very creepy lady. And how about those last words. "You knew this was going to happen. You always knew. But you sent me here anyways." "Who are you?" "I'm your son." Ouch. That's gotta hurt.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzEsJ-pCs38

16- Neil (Frogurt) - Frogurt wasn't a main character, but nonetheless his death was one of the coolest deaths. It was a cleverly written death. Right as he is complaining about fire, specifically right when he says the word fire, he gets shot with a firey arrow. I mean, come on. How awesome is that?

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6_M2n19YJM

15- Gary Troup - Who? Gary Troup was the first death shown on Lost. Yup, the guy that got sucked into the engine, causing it to explode. That was a pretty boss death and I bet you didn't know that the writers of Lost were creative enough to give that guy a name and a background that is mentioned in passing. Check him out on Lostpedia to learn more about him. In the meantime, enjoy this awesome 15 second death clip.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bT_oap_jg

14- Goodwin Stanhope - Goodwin was the less epic version of Ethan for the back of the plane. He was an "other" that is quickly forgotten once you get passed the second season, but despite being an unimportant character, the manner in which he died was rather epic. Anna Lucia was definitely boss during this fight. The only clip of this I could find was from the YouTuber's countdown that I mentioned in my introduction. My list is much different, so just ignore the number 27.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf9I225lj04&feature=plcp

13- Ryan Price and Tom Friendly - This scene here is quite the funny and awesome turn of events. Stuck in quite the sticky situation, Hurley comes in and saves the day by running over Ryan Price, Sayid then snaps the neck of the other unnamed guy, then Sawyer shoots Tom Friendly after he had surrendered. Way to go Lost writers!!

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jpMlWGpGRA

12- The Pilot - Frank Lapidus was supposed to be the pilot of this plane, but lucky for us he wasn't because his character was awesome and what happened to this pilot was gruesome. When I first saw this part, I jumped pretty good as he was snatched from the cockpit by the Smoke Monster. Our first of many experiences with the Man in Black in his black smoke form leaves the pilot all bloodies up in the top of the trees. Yikes.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg107BbAcsk

11- Leslie Arzt - Ok, I mentioned back in number 18 that despite Ilana's awesome death by dynamite it wasn't the best death by dynamite. Here in the season one finale is where we see the best death by dynamite scene. The crazy science teacher is lecturing the group about dynamite safety when it explodes and send him all over everyone. Then comes the epic line by Hugo, "You've got some Arzt on you." Haha!

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35kWxQCTuWA

10- Mr. Eko - The death of Mr. Eko was a very sad death because Mr Eko was such an awesome character and it was hard to see him go. He was really only there for just over a full season, but yet he was a character that everyone really liked. Combined with that I put this death so high because it is the first major clue we get about this mysterious Smoke Monster thing that we are really confused at this point in the third season. When you watch it over again knowing what you do about the Man in Black, this death becomes quite epic and foreshadowing. You realize that the Lost creators weren't just drunk. They knew what they were doing and where they were going with everything.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNnnyLac_8s

9- Jacob - You hear so much about Jacob throughout the whole series and one of the many questions you have is that is he or is he not real? The season five finale comes around and you realize that he is indeed a real person guarding this island. At the end of the episode when Ben and the Man in Black confront Ben, you don't think Ben is going to follow through with what he's been asked to do my the Man in Black, but the shock factor hits you pretty good when Ben actually does kill Jacob right there and suddenly this character who has been spoken of for so long dies in his first episode appearing.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxCe0biKq8E

8- Alex Rousseau - This is such a brutal scene that makes you really hate Keamy. It is really well acted and extremely emotional. You feel bad for Ben and can empathize him when he kills Keamy later on, despite the consequences that came with killing him. And how terrible is it for the last thing your daughter hears you say is that she doesn't matter to you? Ouch. Poor Ben. You thought the whole scene that Alex was going to make it, but the shock factor his really hard when she doesn't.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGVRQ4_Oqas

7- Juliette Burke - Getting close to the top 5 deaths, we have the very sad death of Juliette. Season 5 was a little odd and pointless at times. Specifically the 1977 storyline - the 2007 storyline was great. But one good thing that did come from that storyline is Sawyer and Juliette. Some of the best acting and best chemistry come from those two, the finale being especially great. The fantastic acting between the two when Juliette is slipping down the well is what makes this scene so sad and emotional.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rBS0HTIsNY

6- Sayid Jarrah - One of the greatest aspects of Lost, if not the greatest aspect is the character development of the main characters in the show. Sayid's progression is one of the most interesting storylines along those lines. It is great to see him go out as a hero in the way he did when he died after just recently in season 6 as well as season 5 being this cold hearted killer who doesn't care about anything. Great progression for him.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDu51r14754

5- John Locke - This scene is quite amazing because it doesn't really hit you as extremely emotional and sad until the fifth season finale a few episodes later and I think that is brilliant writing. You get the impression in the episode that despite being murdered in a cold hearted way via Ben (it seems like a lot of the great Lost deaths are at his hands), he gets resurrected by the island. Nope. It turns out it was just the Man in Black taking his form and suddenly you are saddened at the deaths of one of the greatest characters on the show.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNwS8DBgDB8

4- The Man in Black - The unnamed brother of Jacob is referred to as the Man in Black. It is revealed in the final season that Jacob got angry at his brother after he murdered their "mother" and shoved him to the heart of the island, thus transforming him into the Smoke Monster that has appeared in the show since the pilot (see death #19). When Desmond unplugs the light in the heart of the island and turns the Man in Black into a mortal man once again, the ensuing battle between him and Jack is quite awesome, finished in an epic way as Kate comes to the rescue and saves Jack's life. It turns out that Jack never fully recovers from injuries he sustained in this fight.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFUPMI-WFRI

3- Jin and Sun Kwon - If there is one scene in all of Lost that would make you cry, this is the scene. There are several good love stories in Lost, but I think that this one is the best and it gets topped off in this scene when Jin shows a true act of love. They spend all of season five and most of season six apart from each other, a total of three years in the storyline of Lost. Shortly after reuniting they find themselves in the sub trying to escape the island only to find out in is a trap. The whole group gets saved from death by Sayid's sacrifice, but the explosion traps Sun. Sun begs Jin to save himself, but instead he decides to stay with her and they die together holding hands. How romantic!

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_SxoS-Gd_s

2- Charlie Pace - The dearly beloved Charlie was easily one of the best characters on the show. Him and Claire also would contend for best love story in Lost. With this said, seeing Charlie get killed off was really sad and devastating. Not completely surprising, though, as they built up to this moment for a good part of the third season. I had this death listed at number one for the longest time until I decided to change my mind at the last moment.

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-KaR5NUrws

1- Jack Shephard - As I just barely mentioned, I didn't originally have this as the top Lost death, but after going through and watching Lost for a second time and contemplating on the series, I had to put this as number one. Many people didn't like Lost and were frustrated at how it ends, but I would strongly disagree with them. I personally believe that the ending to Lost is really epic and I don't know if I will ever find a TV series that I like more. Now is not the time to discuss the details as to why, but if you wish to discuss this with me on a personal note, feel free to do so. The death of Jack is incorporated into the final scene as they flash back and forth between him dying and the reunion in the church and so my choice to put Jack as number one is because both of those scenes together, not just the death of Jack. But in speaking of the death of Jack it is totally awesome they did it. Lost begins with Jack opening his eyes while lying in the bamboo field, Vincent the dog walking up to him and licking him, then Jack getting up and wandering out. It ends by him wandering into the bamboo field, lying down, Vincent walking up and licking him, then finally ending with Jack closing his eyes. Very well done!

clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3D6EG35WP0

The Bourne Legacy Review

The Bourne trilogy in my opinion is one of the better trilogies ever made. Jason Bourne is so totally boss and Matt Damon will be forever a legend in my eyes because of his portrayal of Bourne. Also added to that is that the story line that arches over the three movies is very intriguing. And it is a complete story. As in it ends perfectly. So why do a fourth movie? Well, easy. The Bourne movies are based of the Bourne books and there aren't just three books. There are ten. However, the first three were written by Robert Ludlum and those three are deemed the Bourne trilogy. Then what happened is that Robert Ludlum died in 2001 and when that happened Eric Van Lustbader continued the series and since 2002 has written seven additional Bourne novels. Now I have not read any of the books, but from what I hear, the original three are better than other ones. So with that in mind, Hollywood sees that there are 10 books and decides that it is a good idea to make more than just three movies. The funny thing is that while The Bourne Legacy is the title of the fourth book, the fourth movie is not remotely based off of the book. The only similarity is that they share a name. The fourth movie doesn't even have the character Jason Bourne in it. Now that wasn't the original intentions I don't think, but when Paul Greengrass, the director of Supremacy and Ultimatum, decided he didn't want to continue, Matt Damon decided not to as well and so they decided to go a completely new direction. Now Legacy is not a remake or reboot by any means, rather it is a spin-off with completely different characters for the most part. I compare this project to the fourth Pirates of the Carribbean. The fourth one of that is the beginning of a new Pirates trilogy separate from the first trilogy, but also not a reboot.

With all of that intro out of the way, I have to admit that I was extremely nervous about this movie. I thought that it would be a good idea to leave it at Ultimatum and not do more. I was sure that without Matt Damon or Jason Bourne this movie would be terrible. However, I had a change of heart in May. After being blown away by Jeremy Renner's portrayal of Hawkeye in the Avengers, I suddenly became excited about Legacy because it was Renner that would be the main role. Now after seeing it, what do I think? Well, it was a slight disappointment for sure. A step down from the first three Bourne movies, but at the same time it wasn't a terrible movie. It gets a pass in my book.

The tagline of the movie is 'there was never just one'. They shoved that down our throats in the trailers and advertisements for it to try and justify to all of us why they are doing a sequel. It worked enough to get me excited. Here's the deal though. It felt like they were shoving that down my throat the whole movie as well and it frustrated me a bit. Don't spend the whole movie justifying another sequel. Just make a good sequel with a good story line and that will justify the movie to the audience. But alas they didn't follow that last piece of advice and thus the story line of the movie was just weird, messy, and forced. I mean we start out in Alaska. Then we jump to Virginia. Back and forth between that and Alaska for a while before we decide to throw in a flashback and suddenly Renner has made it to Virginia. Then we are Chicago. But before that we had to flash to Korea and Pakistan for a few moments. Now suddenly we are off to the Philippians. Add to that, our main characters are suddenly on the chopping block wanting to get killed by a bunch of people.

It seemed like this nonsensical story line continued on for the whole first half of the movie, with only a few brief periods of awesomeness with Renner. Then in the last half of the movie, the ball finally got rolling and despite me still wondering why we are doing what we are doing, the movie started to become awesome and fun to watch. This last half of the movie felt like a true Bourne film to me. And man Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross was so totally awesome. Not quite as boss as the legendary Jason Bourne, but still very boss. And the lead female that was running with him was also fantastic. She of course was Rachel Weisz playing Dr Marta Shearing. Not only were they great in the action / chase scenes, but the acting was superb. Especially when Aaron was trying to convince her to help him out with the issue he was trying to get solved. The ending was satisfactory and left you wanting more from Renner and Weisz. Which knowing Hollywood, we will probably will get.

Overall, if I were to award number grades to the first three Bourne movies, they would all get either an 8, a 9, or something in between. Like I have been saying, Legacy isn't quite to their level, but it is still an enjoyable movie. I give it a 7 out of 10. And that's pretty generous. If you are a Bourne fan, my recommendation to you is to give it a shot, if for nothing else to watch Jeremy Renner be awesome.

Top 10 Superhero Movies

In case you didn't get the memo, Hollywood is on a Superhero craze right now. Now there has been Superhero movies for a long time, but until the new millennium Superman and Batman were the only Superhero movies that were really popular. X-Men in 2000 and Spider-Man in 2002 were really the two movies that changed that and ever since those two we have had ten years of what seems like non-stop Superhero movies. And it's not about to stop anytime soon. Next year we get another try at a Superman movie and if that works out well, Batman may get another reboot in order to attempt a Justice League movie. And of course Avengers phase two will begin as Marvel has already announced it's lineup of Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ant-Man. We'll also get the sequels to the newest Spider-Man reboot and I'm sure plenty more. With all that we've experienced and all that we are now looking forward to, I feel it's time to pause and reflect for a second on my personal favorite Superhero movies thus far in the form another top 10 list. Like always, these selections are my personal choices, so don't hurt me if you disagree.

#10- Spider-Man 2- There was much debate in my mind over this choice. The first nine spots were pretty easy to pick, but in my mind there was a bit of drop off after those. I contemplated The Incredible Hulk or Captain America. I also thought about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) since that was one of my favorite movies as a child. I even thought about putting Megamind here, but in the end I decided to give some credit to Sam Raimi and his Spider-Man trilogy. Yes, X-Men came two years earlier and had decent success, but it was probably Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002 that turned everyone's heads in Hollywood as it earned 403M here in the states. That total at the time was not only the highest grossing Superhero movie of all time but the fifth highest grossing movie ever behind only Titanic, Star Wars, ET, and Star Wars: Phantom Menace. Yes, the trilogy had it's problems with questionable lead roles, a story line that strayed from the comics quite a bit, and an awful third installment, but I still enjoyed the first two and the second one especially deserves credit as I thought it was a really good movie with a movie story and an amazing villain.

#9- The Dark Knight- WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?! The Dark Knight comes in at number 9 on the list? Am I on drugs? I realize that this will be a controversial selection and I risk the chance of getting stoned because The Dark Knight is at least in the top 3 of 95% of people's favorite Superhero movies. But not mine. I had issues with this movie. Main reason is that it was really dark. Nothing happy happened the whole movie as it was just bad luck after bad luck after bad luck for Batman, ending with him being seen as a criminal or a villain in the eyes of most people from Gothom. The other main reason was what they did with Rachel. First off, the casting change from Batman begins. Sure, Katie Holmes leaving wasn't really in their control but they could've cast someone a lot better because Maggie Gyllenhaal was awful. Second, they blew her up after building up that romance story line for a movie and a half. It kinda shows that Nolan sucks with romance in his movies. But with that said, this wasn't a bad movie. I did enjoy it as you can see it made this list. I just thought it was a bit over-rated as it is not good enough in my eyes to be any higher than this.

#8- Iron Man- I don't imagine there being much question with this choice. Now I am not a huge comic book fan, but I know enough to say that Iron Man isn't exactly up there in popularity with other superheros like Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man, so this movie being such a big hit is impressive. Robert Downy Jr. made Iron Man legendary as his performance was brilliant. The second movie had it's issues, but the first movie was an all around good movie in addition to Downy Jr.'s excellent performance and definitely deserves a spot on this list as one of my favorite superhero movies.

#7- Thor- Now I know that this will be my second controversial pick at least because for some odd reason, a bunch of people hate Thor, but I really liked that movie. It was my favorite of the pre-Avengers movies. The movie had a great story line with amazing special effects. Thor was great as a superhero. He was both funny and awesome and his character went through great character development. Loki was one of my favorite villains and the scenes between him and Thor were fantastic. Natalie Portman as Thor's girlfriend was a useful girlfriend I thought as opposed to the girlfriends that do nothing but get captured and need rescue. Can I also compliment an excellent cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kat Dennings? Thor defended.

#6- The Incredibles- I didn't think about including this one at first, but when I thought of it, I couldn't leave it out. This list isn't my favorite Superhero movies based on comic books. It's just a list of my favorite Superhero movies in general and the Incredibles certainly fit the bill. It's funny when I think about Pixar movies they have recently been attempting to join the sequel kick, but doing sequels of movies that don't make sense. Of course the Toy Story sequels worked out brilliantly, but Cars 2 was a disaster. The Monsters Inc prequel Monsters University doesn't make sense in my mind and neither does a Finding Nemo 2 if they go forward with that. Pixar needs to realize that if they are going to do a sequel kick, an Incredibles sequel would make the most sense. This movie was just brilliant.

#5- The Amazing Spider-Man- As you will shortly see, I was a huge fan of all three Superhero movies that came out this year. It was really a good Superhero movie year. As far as The Amazing Spider-Man goes, I was really skeptic for a long time. It didn't seem right to reboot Spider-Man after just five years, but it happened and it turned out to be a great decision. Yes, the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies were groundbreaking and all were all box office monsters, but this version was surprisingly better. It was a lot more true to the comics. Andrew Garfield is a much better Spider-Man than Toby Maguire was. And Emma Stone. Oh my goodness. I am in love with that girl. She was so awesome. Also, while a lot of Superhero films are nearly 100 percent action oriented, this one had depth and character rather than just forced action. And when the action did come, it was well. Being cliche, this movie was amazing.

#4- Superman- Yes, the 1978 version. You honestly can't create a list like this and not include this classic on the list. It was pretty much the father of Superhero movies. Sure, it wasn't the first one, but it was the first hugely popular one earning 134M back in 1978 which is equivalent to 450M today after adjusting for ticket price inflation. No this isn't a list of most well done Superhero movies because it wouldn't necessarily make that list, but this is a list of my favorite Superhero movies and I do really enjoy this one. It was one of my dad's favorite movies to watch and so I thus watched it a lot and it is enjoyable movie and certainly a classic. Classic to the point that when you think Superman, you think of Christopher Reeve and when you think of Christopher Reeve, you think of Superman. He is Superman. Superman is a tough comic book character to adapt to the big screen and make it done well, but I think this one did a good job and so far no other Superman movie has come close to topping this original Superman movie.

#3- Batman Begins- There have been a lot of Batman movies made, but now that Christopher Nolan's trilogy is complete, we can officially crown Nolan the Batman King. He totally rocked this one. True I was mildly disappointed with the second one, but it still made this list and so did the most recent one (a precurser of things to come on this list), meaning that the whole trilogy made my list of favorite Superhero movies, which is impressive. It's also rocked the box office as The Dark Knight was the second movie to ever pass $500M domestically and now The Dark Knight Rises is closing in on that list as well. Batman Begins was a very good start to the trilogy and provided a great message that just sat well with me. While not as epic as the Joker or Bane, this movie still provided great villains with Liam Neesan and Cillian Murphy portraying Ra's Al Ghul and Scarecrow respectively. It also had a great story arch that just left me feeling great afterwards and a great romance story line that sadly got ruined in the second one, but was great in the first.

#2- The Dark Knight Rises- I just gave praise to this trilogy, so no need to do that again, but I must say that in my opinion, The Dark Knight Rises was the best movie of the trilogy. Sure there were several things negative things that I could point out about it, but the level of epicness certainly outweighs those negatives. It's still early in it's release, so I won't say much right now so that I won't spoil anything if you haven't seen it, but this movie was just so epic. And by epic, I specifically mean the ending. I praise how Nolan closed this. I praise Bale for being a great Batman throughout the trilogy as well as Michael Cane and Morgan Freeman for their excellent performances throughout. Lastly for this specific movie I praise Tom Hardy, Joseph-Gordon Leavitt, and Anne Hathaway for making this movie what it was.

#1- The Avengers- I'm sure you knew by now that this was on top. Either you talked to me, read my Avengers review, or noticed that this movie wasn't in places 2-10 and thus had to be number one. This movie was just so totally awesome! Ever since Nick Fury appeared at the end of Iron Man, I knew that The Avengers movie was going to be a thing and I was very excited about that for the whole four years that I had to wait. Making it that hugely anticipated and making five movies to build up to it was certainly a high risk thing, but in this case high risk turned into extremely high reward as it was just as epic and possibly even more epic then I even thought. Seeing Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Hulk alongside the SHIELD squad, specifically Hawkeye and Black Widow, was so awesome because they all did so good. I went and saw it four times in theaters and loved it every time. In fact, I just recently saw a trailer for it in the dollar theater movie that I went to and got excited again. Definitely the best Superhero movie of all time and also easily one of my favorite movies of all time in general. Go Avengers!!