2010 Movie Project: March Data

The March edition of the 2010 Movie Project data is in! It took me a while to crunch these numbers–mostly because it’s nice outside and we’ve been busy livin. The most surprising thing I found was that it was March madness, indeed. So far, this is the most movie-tastic month of the year, and I can hardly believe we’ve done so much in 31 days. We’ve been reading more, exercising more, listening to more music…and obviously watching more movies.

What a difference some extra sunshine makes! As always, the listing of all the March movies at the end of the post (after the jump) & ZRose will do her trailer pack rundown tomorrow. On with the numbers!

Movie Delivery Vehicles

I generally enjoyed myself at the movies last month. My picks for best theatrical releases: How to Train Your Dragon and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (I also liked Alice in Wonderland, The Ghost Writer, The Runaways, and Hot Tub Time Machine). The worst: The Bounty Hunter. Fun sidenote: Gerard Butler was our most seen actor in March–he showed up four times, in fact. Technically, his fourth appearance was his voice work in How to Train Your Dragon, so we only saw him three times (The Ugly Truth, Gamer, and The Bounty Hunter). Incidentally, the more time I have to think about The Bounty Hunter the more I hate it (except for Siobhan Fallon–she was hilarious as per usual).

We’ve also been having a good time at home, too. Dipping into our personal collection and enjoying Netflix Instant Queue on our Blu Ray player–which in my opinion is the only good thing about a Blu Ray player. Surely the most shameful thing we did last month was watch Year One…twice.

The Genre Breakdown

It’s pretty simple; I just scored the first two genre tags from IMDB for each movie I saw and plopped them in the pie chart…Mmmmm pie chart. There was a lot of drama this month. Yes, I know this little pie is clearly full of comedy, but you should know that’s only because we watched some INTENSE dramas last month–we needed something to break it up. I had my own personal struggle with how much I enjoyed The Ghost Writer considering it was directed by the odious Roman Polanski (the same struggle I had when I saw The Pianist back in the day). Movie karma got me good, I think. Allow me to apologize for the awful segue, but speaking of sexual assault/exploitation…I read and watched the rather brutal and utterly gripping mystery of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, watched a crew of hard-nosed teens get exploited in The Runaways, and sat through an uncomfortable coming-of-age journey in Fish Tank. Happy Women’s History Month!

Average Rating

I don’t know if it’s an accomplishment, but we watched a lot of R rated movies in March (all the dramas for the most part).

Random Bit of Trivia

Last month, we broke out one of my all-time favorite movies: Can’t Hardly Wait. Minnesota’s own, Charlie Korsmo–yes, the kid from Dick Tracy and Hook–made a return to acting after retiring in 1991 at the ripe age of 13 for this, his seventh and final credit. Korsmo was attending MIT when he was offered (and subsequently nailed) the role of the overachieving, super geek, William Lichter. He went on to graduate with a 4.0 in Physics from MIT and gain a J.D. from Yale Law School. He’s worked for the EPA, the Missile Defense Team, the House Republican Policy Committee, and as a visiting professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. Way to go, Billy!

Full list o’ movies (in order):

Humpday Reviewku: Comic-Con is my co-pilot

Remembering Comic-Con 2009:

Lines were plentiful.
Sometimes, plans are for suckers
Change it up. New bits.

I must say, I was so stoked when I set out the Comic-Con 2009 schedule and perfectly plotted all of the things I was going to see there. But as things tend to work out, that plan didn’t happen. Fortunately, I packed my rose colored glasses and wound up going off script and introducing myself to some unexpected delights.

Junkie1′s Top 5 fave things from Comic-Con 2009 she didn’t see coming

1. Solomon Kane
   This was the ultimate example of something I knew zilch about, but wound up completely geek-out/excited for it once the panel was done. Basically, it is a film based on the character created by prolific American author, Robert E. Howard–the man credited with creating the “Sword and Sorcery” genre. Solomon Kane , the film, is the first of hopefully a trilogy following the title character, a ruthless 16th century mercenary for the British empire that renounces violence after meeting up with The Reaper (it’s either redemption or a first class ticket to Hell). After converting to puritanism, circumstance occur and violence ensues. And he wears a kick ass Pilgrim hat! I don’t think I need to say more. Note: I only saw this panel/preview, because of Antonio The Great (see below).
   Bonus: I got to coin a new nickname! The lead role is played by James Purefoy (Rome). After seeing/hearing him at the panel for the film, he shall heretofore be known as “New Jackman.” ZRose25 calls him the glorious lovechild of Gerard Butler and Hugh Jackman. Check out the poster!
2. Exploration
   My original plan would have kept me in a panel ballroom all day. Since most of my plan was stomped to bits by the man, ZRose25 and I found ourselves in the intimidatingly awesome exhibitor hall…everyday…for a few hours. It’s the giant space where all of the vendors, artists, studios, and finest costumed attendees go to frolic and play. Freebies, freaks (with love), and fotografia! Oh, my! It is a madhouse, and I loved every minute.
   Bonus: Chatting with the strangers, and celebrity sightings (Leonard Nimoy! Lou Ferrigno! Thomas Jane! Pacey!! The cast of The Guild!!!!) I am still working on them, but check out my photos (more coming soon)!
   …
   

Where is the love for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?

Shia takes a break from carrying the movie. Michael plans another explosion.

Junkie 2, wtf was up with your review?! Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was awesome! I’ll respond to each of your points, but first let me say a few things: these movies are based toys from our youth, since when did playtime require anything more than fun? You know what I miss? The Hollywood hayday when people would go to a movie, allow themselves to be immersed in the story, and escape. For those of you that have seen UP, remember the opening scene where young Carl Fredericksen is vigorously reacting to what he’s watching. That is how I see a movie. I go not expecting the best acting, writing, etc. I go expecting to enjoy myself, and 99.9% of the time I do. If I am supposed to laugh, I laugh. If I am meant to cry, you bet your sweet bippy I’ll be weeping like a baby. If I go to a movie about two contingents of space robots staging their epic battle on Earth, I will sit on the edge of my seat, eager to see what happens next, and have some fun goddammit!

Sure, if you decide to kick back and analyze something you are going to find the faults. Although, I can rip something to shreds and still love it (like my retro review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The things I am addicted to (movies, books, television, music, graphic novels, comic books, magazines, blogs, etc.) are meant to entertain, and sometimes they even make you think or emote (of course the best ones do all of the above). I’m not saying everything I see/read is brilliant. But I appreciate things for what they are meant to do. So what’s with all the “disappointment” with this movie?

Now, on with my rebuttal…::spoiler alert::