QUICK CUTS – Most Pleasant Surprises – 2011
Featuring the Cinema Knife Fight Staff!

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  Today, we’re asking our panel the question:  What movies were the most pleasant surprises for you this year?

Not necessarily the best films of the year, but those movies you weren’t expecting anything from but really liked.

DANIEL KEOHANE:  I was very happily surprised with GREEN LANTERN.

(A collective groan breaks out among the rest of the panel.)

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  GREEN LANTERN?  Really?

DANIEL KEOHANE:  I know.  People panned it, but I really liked it.  I wonder if the DVD version was slightly altered.

L.L. SOARES:  Stop making excuses for yourself!

DANIEL KEOHANE:  No, really.  Everyone said the back-story was too long in the beginning, but it was only about a minute long on the DVD.  I watched it, alone, and really found it an enjoyable DC Comics movie.

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  Whatever you say, Dan.

DANIEL KEOHANE:  I sense I’m being patronized.

JENNY OROSEL:  I’m going with SOURCE CODE.

There’ve been a ton of “go back into the past and make changes” flicks made since the advent of sci-fi. But this one totally kept up with the suspense, which is impressive considering just how much of the movie is the same scene being repeated over again.

L.L. SOARES:    One movie that surprised me in a good way was RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. As a long-time fan of the original series of APES films, I was crushed when Tim Burton ruined the concept with his horrible 2001 remake of PLANET OF THE APES. It was so bad that I feared it would bury any chance of the series continuing, and for a while there, it looked like I was right. But RISE gave us a prequel to the first film, telling us how intelligent apes were created and how they began their “conquest” of humankind. While it had a lot of CGI effects, RISE gave us a straightforward, smart little movie without the grandiose trappings of Burton’s failed remake, and breathed new life into the series. Let’s hope RISE leads to more good APES films to come.

To a lesser degree, I was also surprised by SHARK NIGHT 3-D. I went into this one with no expectations. It was rated PG-13, it had cheap CGI effects, and it was yet another movie made in 3D. And yet, I had a good time watching this one. It was a lot more entertaining than it had any right to be.

NICK CATO:  For me, the most pleasant surprise for 2011 was CONAN THE BARBARIAN (2011).

As a life-long fan of all things CONAN, I went in to this 2011 CGI-enriched epic not expecting all too much. But halfway through the film, when I realized they had taken parts from several of Robert Howard’s classic Conan stories, I couldn’t help but love this film (CGI and all). The early scenes of young Conan making his mark among his clan are fantastic.

MICHAEL LOUIS CALVILLO:  The movie that took me places I didn’t expect to go (I felt a lump in my throat a few times), was HUGO. We all know Scorsese is the man, a master of cinema and all, but this family film blew me away. Hands down, it’s the best “kid’s movie” ever made.

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  You liked HUGO more than I did.  While I thought it was a really good movie, I wouldn’t call it the best “kid’s” movie ever made.  I actually found it more of a movie for adults than for kids.

L.L. SOARES:  I think HUGO appeals to kids and adults alike.  I liked it, but it didn’t grab me like it should have. And I wouldn’t call Scorsese “the man” anymore, unfortunately. His glory days have been over for a while. That’s not to say he won’t find his mojo again someday, however.

MICHAEL LOUIS CALVILLO:  I stand by my high opinion of HUGO.

MARK ONSPAUGH:  My turn to get in on the action.

Both CAPTAIN AMERICA and THOR are my picks.  I was never a fan of the comics, but I’ve always loved Norse mythology and anyone kicking Nazi butt since I was a kid…

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  You can’t go wrong with kicking Nazi butt.

MARK ONSPAUGH:  Both movies are well done and a lot of fun – especially CAPTAIN AMERICA.

L.L. SOARES:  I liked both of them. I’m a longtime fan of Marvel Comics and it was cool to see these characters come to the big screen. But I’m much more partial to THOR. Not only did I like the comics a lot more as a kid, but I just think he’s the more interesting character.

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  I liked these movies, too, but I was expecting to like them, so they didn’t exactly surprise me.

COLLEEN WANGLUND:  I was really looking forward to HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 but I’m generally leery about sequels. I have to say I enjoyed it even more than I thought and I liked it better than the first HUMAN CENTIPEDE.

(L.L. SOARES & NICK CATO both applaud):  Great pick!

MICHAEL ARRUDA (rolls his eyes):  Puh-lease!

As for me, there were a bunch of films that surprised me this year, but the one that surprised me the most, in terms of how bad I thought it was going to be and how good it turned out, would be the FRIGHT NIGHT remake.  I was dreading this one big time since I’m a huge fan of the original, and I had no faith in Colin Farrell as a vampire, but I was proved wrong.  The folks who made this one got it right, and Farrell made an excellent vampire.

SUPER 8 was another movie I expected not to like, but I ended up liking it a lot.  RED RIDING HOOD was another.

And then there were DRIVE and X-MEN:  FIRST CLASS, two movies I had zero expectations for, high or low, and both turned out to be among the best films of the year.

So, there you have it, our picks for the most pleasant surprises for 2011.  We’ll see you next time on another QUICK CUTS.

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