Movies 2013

Another year has come and gone and it is once again time for my post of movies to be excited about for the year! But, before I go ahead and get into that, let us take time to also reflect on the movies I was looking forward to last year and how they measured up:

The Lorax - It was pretty good. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

The Hunger Games - Did not let me down. Jennifer Lawrence did a great job. Excited for the next one.

Mirror Mirror -  Wasn't that great.

The Avengers - Great movie! Really enjoyed myself. Keep those comic book movies coming (and they are).

Snow White and The Huntsman - Boring. It was ok.

Brave - I wanted to like this movie. Didn't happen. And it even just won a Golden Globe. Eh. Her hair was amazing.

The Dark Knight Rises - What a great movie, possibly my favorite of the year. Nolan knows what he is doing and Christian Bale is the best Batman ever. Anne Hathaway actually made out to be a great Catwoman. Tom Hardy did a great job with Bane, but I think we all missed Heath Ledger as the Joker. Great conclusion. Sad to see the movies end. Let's hope Superman this year will surprise us all with a great flick.

The Hobbit - Yeah! I really enjoyed the first installment of The Hobbit trilogy. I too was kind of disgusted by the fact that they were turning it into 3 movies. The Hobbit is a pretty short and straight forward book, but I like the fact that they are building up on the Lord of the Rings and providing some nice background too. Very well done, didn't notice anything weird with the speed of the filming. A little more reach for humor in this movie than the Lord of the Rings movies it seemed like to me. And the little messenger goblin on a zip line - what were they thinking?

Les Miserables - Very well done. Great story, great cast, and it was perfect.

The Amazing Spider-Man - Even though I don't believe that this should have been remade so soon, it was actually really good. Liked the cast a lot in this one. Don't get me wrong, I actually still really like the Toby in the first ones, but Emma Smith is a nice upgrade.

MIB3 - Out there fun. A nice ending.

I didn't even get around to watching these movies: John Carter, Madagascar 3, G.I. Joe Retaliation (pushed back 'till March 29th - might still watch this if there is nothing else to watch from redbox and I have a free rental), Ice Age: Continental Drift, The Bourne Legacy, and The Great Gatsby (which was pushed back 'till May of 2013 and is no longer on my list - it is going to be trashy). I did see the first 30 minutes or so of Continental Drift (wasn't great). Still would like to see John Carter and The Bourne Legacy.

Also, still need to see Lincoln and Life of Pie.

Now that we have that out of the way, bring on what is upcoming this year!

January 25th - This will be a "redbox movie" when it comes out. Could be a good time, especially with Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as leads.

March 8th - Again, big stars and should be pretty cool. Visually will be great and I enjoy a good background story. They could make a really great one here. Hope it doesn't turn out to be a flop.

March 29th - Now that Stephenie Meyer is done with her twilight movies (for now...) movie makers must feel the obligation for some reason to make all of her books into movies. I would like to watch this one just out of curiosity. From the trailer, I can foresee this type of story line to be more interesting to me than vampires.

April 19th - Tom Cruise is not really a great actor, but this movie looks like one that I could enjoy.

May 3rd - Iron Man being my favorite of the marvel characters in The Avengers, I am definitely excited for this one. Also, Ben Kingsley is one of my favorite actors, and to see him as the villain this year will be grand.

May 17th - Has it already been 4 years since the last Star Trek movie? Remember that one? It was awesome, and with that cast returning and you throw in Benedict "Sherlock" Cumberbatch into the mix and you have yourself a sequel that could be even better! Very excited!

June 7th - An "Ocean's Eleven" type movie that has the big names such as Isla Fisher, Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine, and Woody Harrelson. Then you add magic tricks to the equation...nice!

June 14th - It is about time for a great Superman movie, and I have faith that this will be it. A little worried about Amy Adams as Lois Lane, but I know that I will enjoy this one a lot!

June 21st - Boo!

July 3rd - "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!"

July 3rd - Johnny Depp gets out his old Jack Sparrow makeup. Hi D Hoe Silver!

July 19th - A snail who wants to win the Indy 500. After watching the teaser trailer, I can look forward to this one.

July 26th - The X-Men movies are great and so was the X-Men Origins Wolverine movie 4 years ago. Hugh Jackman is the perfect actor to play Wolverine - keep them coming.

August 9th - What do you do when you feel just about done with movies about talking cars? You start making movies about talking planes of course!

August 23rd - This one is similar to The Host; I am curious to see what they hype is all about.

November 1st - Ender's Game finally hits the big screen this year. I was always a bit worried how this amazing book would translate to a movie (and I still am), but they do have some great younger actors (Abigail Breslin, Asa Butterfield, and Hailee Steinfeld) and Harrison Ford with Ben Kingsley doesn't hurt either. Excited to see how it all turns up.

November 8th - Chris Hemsworth is back as Thor along with his girlfriend Jane (Natalie Portman). For Nathan who didn't like the first Thor movie, but loved the show Chuck - we will see if Zachary Levi can make this movie more enjoyable for you.

November 22nd - The second Hunger Games' book comes to life this November and it will be intense. The first movie adaption was pretty good and I'm sure this will be likewise.

December 13th - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Sherlock and Dr. Watson are at it again. These guys are great. Martin Freeman continues his journey as The Hobbit Bilbo and Benedict Cumberbatch gets to be the bad guy yet again (see the Star Trek movie above this year) as he plays The Necromancer/Voice of Smaug. Going to be epic!

The year starts off a little slow, but it sure picks up and that is How Lou Sees It. What movies are you looking forward to this year? 

Coming Soon...

Coming Soon!

Lou's list of 2013 movies to get excited about (movies coming out in the year 2013, the list will not include 2,013 movies).

Game review of "Friday" by Friedemann Friese (now that I have actually won the game at least once and have played it a bit more). Could even be my first video review.

More original Cornelius fly comics.

Drop me a line and let me know what you would like to see soon.

Russell Javert and Harrison Graff

Les Mis and Ender's Game

Okay everyone, I am so excited for these two movies! The clip below shows us a little insight on Russell Crowe's vocal talent and the picture is the first glimpse of the Ender's Game movie (set to come out November 1, 2013). We will have to see if the movie can compete with the second Hunger Games movie also scheduled for release that month. With Ben Kingsley and Harrison Ford, I have some pretty high hopes for the movie, and Asa Butterfield I think will be a great Ender. Anyway, we have a long time before that movie comes out, so let's focus back on Les Mis. Merry Christmas! Les Mis is out on the 25th of December and is going to be incredible. Its star power is unbelievable; Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, and Helena Bonham Carter. I am currently reading the abridged version of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables (abridged, so that I can finish it before the movie comes out). I have seen the show done live, and have listened to special Broadway anniversary editions on T.V. and in French class. The story is amazing, and the songs are transcendent. Be excited and that is How Lou Sees It!

Batman Blooms

The Dark Knight Rises

An amazing movie to end an amazing trilogy. The best batman movies of all time and the best superhero trilogy ever made. The Dark Knight Rises does not disappoint. It is true that Heath Ledger's role as The Joker couldn't be topped by Bane or Catwoman, but Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway really hold their own in the film. I was actually very pleased with Anne as Catwoman even though I was worried. That gives me hope for the new Superman movie Man of Steel as well, because even though there are big names, I am a bit worried to see how Amy Adams does as Lois Lane. Anyway, not totally off topic, there was of course the Man of Steel teaser trailer in front of The Dark Knight Rises. The trailer was a bit confusing to everyone I think, but I still think that this new Superman movie has great hope.

Knowing a bit about Bane from my comic book reading and Batman novel reading, I was pretty pleased with how the movie was done. Joseph Gordon-Levitt also does a great job as a supporting cop/detective role. The movies are just so well done, and this last movie ties all the movies nicely together. Very happy with it.

Garden Turned Flowers

Well, for those who knew of my pot garden last year (a garden grown in pots...not a literal pot garden), this year I decided to just plant flowers. I am very happy with that decision. My Dahlia plant is especially doing well, and it is by far my favorite. Anyway, check it out! The pictures turned out great too.

Remember to take time to smell the Dahlias and only 6 more days until the beginning of AYPAD (A Yoga Pose A Day) and that is How Lou Sees It.

Mastermind on a Ledge

Day 37 - Mastermind
Designed by Mordecai Meirowitz

Mordecai, I thank you. Wikipedia says that you were a postmaster. I have always wanted to be a postman and I believe you have inspired many to follow in your footsteps. I also have the desire to create some sort of board game. It's like we are very connected souls you and I. Tonight The Wife and I played your game Mastermind. Fantastic game.

About 8 days ago, The Wife and I played Three of a Crime which is a simplified version of Mastermind. In the game players take turns creating codes or breaking codes. The code is represented by using little colored pegs and once the code maker is ready, the other player (code breaker) guesses at the code. The code maker then gives the player some information on that guess (he will put out a red peg for each peg that is the correct color and in the correct location, and a white peg for each peg that is the right color, but that is in the incorrect location, and no peg if the color and location is wrong). This continues and players get points for how long it takes the other player to come up with their sequence of pegs. Great travel game for two players and another way to help children with deductive reasoning. I would suggest starting your young kids with Three of a Crime and then when they get the hang of that, upgrade them to Mastermind. Fantastic fun. Oh, and I won tonight creating a tie between The Wife and I!

Man on a Ledge

This movie came out to theaters at the beginning of this year and I picked it up from the Redbox a few days ago. I was intrigued by the trailer and I actually enjoyed the movie. It was an entertaining film even though I thought some parts of the movie didn't have the greatest acting. The movie stars Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks. PG-13 rating due to language, violence, and an underwear scene. A fun idea for a movie, but I feel that it could have been better and that is How Lou Sees It.

The Royal Miserables

Day 32 - Royal Palace
Designed by Xavier Georges

To establish oneself in a point of influence in a royal palace can get very complicated and it makes for a great game. While playing this game, I thought about all of the movies that have a royal palace or court atmosphere and the movie The Three Musketeers especially (there is a Cardinal in this game as well). A great game for a French themed evening in fact. Would be nice for a French Club activity. Anyway, this game is for 2 to 4 players and takes a little over an hour to play. The game pieces are of a very nice quality and the rules are very well written. The object of the game is simple enough - have the most victory points at the end of the game. To accomplish that object is made difficult by how many things you need to keep track of and the numerous things you are trying to do. For a beginner gamer this game is just too much. The first time you play this game (like a lot of other games) you definitely are spending a bit of time trying to figure out the best way to play. The game relies heavily on the placement of your servants which determines the amount of other servants you can place, how many spaces you can move, how many nobles you can obtain, and how many cards you can get. The game is great and I really enjoyed it, but if your looking for a relaxing Sunday afternoon game, you may want to go with something else a little bit less busy and that is How Lou Sees It.

Les Miserables

While the Royal Palace is hopping with servants, out on the streets of France the peasants are revolting. Lou and I are VERY excited for the upcoming Les Miserables film scheduled to premiere on Friday, December 14 of this year. The musical, based on the moving book by Victor Hugo, is awe-inspiring, and this movie is bound to be a tremendous event you won't want to miss. Enjoy the first official trailer.

Cheers!

The Wife

Olympic Mistborn Animals Avenge Homer Simpson

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the first Sanderson novel that I have picked up. I decided to check it out from the library after hearing multiple people say how they enjoyed them. I have to say that I am very impressed, and you can count on me reading Sanderson's other books - with the rest of the Mistborn series on the top of my list. Sanderson does everything well with this book. He creates such an amazingly descriptive world and has some great character development. Some moments were predictable, but not necessarily in a bad way. The story is fantastic and the intriguing abilities of the Mistborn and other Allomancers are very cool. The book is pretty violent (just a heads up) with many brutal killings, but the book is clean of bad language and sexual descriptions. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to read a good fantasy novel. Fantastic. (View all my 'goodreads' reviews)

The Avengers

I saw The Avengers this last weekend (with about a half million others probably) and I really enjoyed it (surprise surprise from the man who still goes and buys a comic book every once and a while). With the success of comic book hero movies over the past decade, Marvel used the oldest trick in the book to make this movie the huge success it is - combine many great things into one great thing. Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, and throw in Hawkeye and Black Widow and you have an amazing line up of comic book heroes (The Avengers) and some great actors (and actresses - including Cobie Smulders who plays some prominent agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.).

The Avengers is a non-stop action type flick with some witty one-liners, in other words, a comic book brought to life on the big screen. The story line could be simplified to the following: the world is in danger from an evil villain and these super heroes have to band together to save the world. You don't really need to see the other movies before seeing this film, but I would highly recommend doing so (not just because they are great movies, but it will help you get some of the jokes throughout this film). For story line purposes, the movie Thor would be the most important in understanding the movie a bit more because the evil villain in this film is Loki (Thor's brother). If you were not a fan of Thor, I don't think you will enjoy this movie either (maybe you will a bit more than Thor, but since the story line is heavily based off of Thor...). The fact is, I love comic books and I love the movies that Marvel has done. This is definitely a winner in my book, and I'm not surprised that Disney confirmed The Avengers 2 is already in the works. There is also Iron Man 3 to look forward to next year and other sequels coming out like Thor 2 and Captain America 2. Stay 'till the credits are done to get a couple more quick clips. It looks like Thanos will be the next villain The Avengers will have to face (or he may end up in some of the other sequel movies before then). Thumbs up for The Avengers.

Lou Compared to Homer Simpson

I was recently compared to Homer Simpson and I was very flattered (Mmmmm....Fat). Other than the fact that we have a similar work environment, I'm overweight, and I'm on my way to baldness... Homer was once a food critic who gave reviews like me. Let me explain. Homer Simpson loves food, but not only that...he loves everything he eats. I guess you could say we are similar in this regard as well. Not only do I love food, but I love board games. Now, contrary to popular belief I bet there are some board games out there that I may not like so much - I just haven't played them yet. I own games that I really enjoy, and hence the good reviews (and if we learned anything from that Simpson's episode, bad reviews can bring some unwanted attention). I may start including more reviews from The Wife along with mine to give readers a different perspective now and again.

Day 13 - Animal Olympics
Designed by Heinz Meister
Illustrated by Uwe Schildmeier


With the London Summer Olympic Games starting July 27th, tonight The Wife and I played Animal Olympics. 2-4 players, ages 7 and up, and taking 5-10 minutes to play, this is a great little game for teaching children to think critically and about ordering with numbers. Each player is dealt eight cards, face down in front of them in a line. The goal of the game is to get the cards in order from the lowest on the left to the highest on the right. This is accomplished by drawing a card either from the discard pile or the draw pile and replacing one of the face down cards in front of you. The first player to successfully have 8 cards face up in the proper order wins the whole enchilada. The Wife and I played best of three. I won the gold medal. The game is a little too simple for my liking but is a great teaching tool for youngsters. I thoroughly enjoy the illustrations. The hippo in 31st place is my favorite and that is How Lou Sees It.

THE AVENGERS VANS GEARS SANG SAVE GRANS GRAVE

The Avengers movie hauls in more than 200 million dollars in one weekend! Take that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2! I can't wait to see this movie. That is some serious money people. It makes me wonder how the final Batman movie will fair this year (I think it will be right up there with The Avengers for opening weekend, but I'm not sure if it can catch 200 million...we will see.) Impressive. I hope to see The Avengers myself this next weekend.

Day 4 - Bananagrams
Designed by Rena and Abe Nathanson


THE AVENGERS VANS GEARS SANG SAVE GRANS GRAVE!

Bananagrams sells itself by the clever packaging, but really it is playing Scrabble without the board, playing a crossword puzzle without clues, playing Words with Friends in person, and a game to stretch your mind and vocabulary. The game suggests playing options for 1-8 players and the time of the game can be pretty short depending on the abilities and number of players. Each player starts with a set number of tiles, and when they are flipped over it is a race to see who can use up all of their letters first. When one person has used all of their current tiles, he yells "Peel" and everyone gets another tile from the middle. A player may "Dump" one tile into the middle by drawing three to replace it. When all of the tiles from the middle are gone, the first done yells "Bananas!" Quick and portable word game which is fun for all ages. Me and The Wife played tonight and The Wife came out victorious (as always during this game). It was pretty close near the end, although she was the one calling out "Peel" every 3 seconds. I thought I was catching up when I drew an "x" with only 3 tiles in the middle. I took a risk and "Dumped" the "x" into the middle taking up the last three tiles. Unfortunately, The Wife had an "a" available for "ax" and left me with two letters remaining when she yelled out the delicious yellow fruit's name. Everyone have a great day and try and come up with as many words as possible that you can create from "THE AVENGERS." Post either the list of words and/or the number of words to see who can come up with the most! See you tomorrow everyone - sometimes life is a peach, sometimes it's a banana and that is How Lou Sees It.

Hunger Games V.S. Twilight Movie Announced

With the huge success of The Hunger Games movie, movie makers are already trying to plan the next step to rake in the dough (looks like Peeta Mellark will have his work cut out for him at the bakery). Today was announced the beginnings of a huge movie project - The Hunger Games vs Twilight. Andy why not combine two huge money makers? Ever hear of Alien vs Predator? The details are very slim at the moment, but more is to come I'm sure. General plot line rumors say that the vampires from Twilight live into the Hunger Games time period and are in the hierarchy of The Capital and District 1 and 2. Scheduled to come out in 2015 (after all three Hunger Games movies have come out) many are already deliberating who will come out the victors. My bet is on The Hunger Games and that is just How Lou Sees It.

Counting Down the Days

Movies 2012

Movies of 2012
Its that time again, the time to look forward to all of the movies coming out this year. I'll start by listing all of the movies that I'm most looking forward to seeing in order of the scheduled release date and then I will list some runner ups:

March 2

Dr. Seuss - Awesome. Despicable Me - Awesome. Looking forward to this one.

March 23

The world will be watching, and the movie makers will be making the big bucks on this one. I would say that this is the most highly anticipated movie of the year.

March 30

Could be interesting. The Snow White movies come in full force this year. Which will be the big success? Which will stay forever in a coma.

May 4

The Avengers assemble...can't wait. DC should be working on a Justice League movie. As far as I'm concerned, Marvel needs to learn a thing or two from DC in the comic book world, and DC needs to learn a thing or two from Marvel in the film world.

June 1

I think this one will be the Snow White money maker of the two. Its got the big names and action on its side.


June 22
Disney Pixar. Crazy cool hair. Should be an enjoyable one. Pixar is amazing.

July 20

The poster says it all. The conclusion to the greatest comic book movie trilogy ever comes to theaters end of July. Christopher Nolan has his work cut out for him with this movie. Lot's of high expectations after the success of The Dark Knight (not to mention Inception). These movies continue to amaze with great actors, lets see if Anne Hathaway really has what it takes to be a good Catwoman. Bane will be a great villain, but it will be hard to compete with Heath Ledger as Joker. 

Les Miserables

December 7

Big names. Big musical. I think this will be a much better success than The Phantom of the Opera movie. Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway star in one of my favorite musicals ever.

December 14

Before The Lord of the Rings, there was The Hobbit.

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Runner ups worth a mention. I will probably want to see these movies, but I'm not on the edge of my seat waiting for them to come out:

March 9

I really have no clue what this movie is all about. It sounds crazy.

May 25

Loved MIB when it came out way back when. The movies are entertaining, what else can I say other than "I make this look good."

June 8

Funny movies. Love the penguins. I like to move it move it.

June 29

Eh. Mindless action film.

July 3

Big names, but a remake so soon? Kind of crazy. Didn't like the teaser trailer, but let's be honest...I'm going to see it anyway.

July 13

Great movies. I'm sure Scrat won't disappoint.

August 3

Another Bourne movie, sure I'll probably see it. I need to read the books.

The Great Gatsby

December 25

Read the book in high school; it was interesting. Now all the other high school students will have yet another movie to choose from to watch instead of reading the book (the 1974 version or the 2012 version). I'm sure it will be somewhat like the book (probably different enough that you will still need to bite the bullet and read the book...it really is pretty good).

Looks like a pretty decent year all around folks. My top three being The Hunger Games, The Avengers, and The Dark Knight Rises (that's why their movie posters are bigger :). I look forward to another year full of great entertainment. I'll be sure to let you know what I think, and that is How Lou Sees It!