2013 Movies so far

I decided while updating my Letterboxd account, it was also time to update the blog as well. So here I am. Just finished watching Primer and now currently viewing Centurion. I have recently discovered the greatness that is VOD (Video On Demand - I use Amazon on my 360)). It has also rekindled a Netflix addiction I haven't had in a while. The list will be every new movie seen in the theater, VOD, and Netflix. That is even old movies, new to me.



Jan
Zero Dark Thiry - Ace
Mama - Par
The Last Stand - Par
The Hobbit pt. 1 in HFR - Odd but still an Ace

Feb
Warm Bodies - Birdie
A Good Day To Die Hard - Shot Limit Exceeded
Die Hard Marathon(All 5 movies). Here is my ranking from best to worst -
      Die Hard
      DH With A Vengeance
      Die Hard 2
      Live Free
      A Good Day To Die Hard - Should be - A Good Day To Call It Quits McClane
Dark Skies - Bogey

Mar
Oz - Birdie
Olympus Has Fallen - Birdie
Spring Breakers - Shot Limit Exceeded
GI Joe Retaliation - Par
The Place Beyond The Pines - Ace

April
Evil Dead - Birdie
42 - Birdie
Oblivion - Eagle
Pain and Gain - Eagle
Alien(Classic Series) - If you didn't already know, ACE

May
Iron Man 3 - Birdie
Star Trek Into Darkness - Eagle
Furious 6 - Birdie
After Earth - Bogey

June
The Purge - Eagle
This Is The End - Ace
Man Of Steel - Eagle
World War Z - Birdie
The Heat - Eagle
White House Down - Par

Jul
Pacific Rim - Ace
The Conjuring - Eagle
The Wolverine - Eagle
The To Do List - Birdie

VOD 
   - Europa Report - Ace
   - Only God Forgives- Birdie
   - Running Scared(2006) - Eagle (Best Paul Walker has EVER DONE)

Aug
2 Guns - Par
Elysium - Birdie
We're The Millers - Eagle
Kick-Ass 2 - Bogey
You're Next - Eagle

Netflix
   - Primer - Eagle
   - Centurion - Birdie
   - Dale and Tucker vs. Evil - Birdie
   - Safety Not Guaranteed -  Eagle

Sept

 Netflix
   - Solaris - Pretty much an Ace.

January Browns

In my first post of the year, I set list of goals for 2013's fishing adventures. #1 was start Steelhead fishing. I did that and caught a beautiful fish. Goal #1: Achieved. The next 2 are ones I can't really do yet; Fly Fishing (#5) and Kokanee (#2) are spring, summer, and fall only. That only leaves #4; Catch my first Monster Brown. What would fishing be without great stories to go along with it? Well, our quest for my Monster left me with exactly that, A big fish story.

We made our first quest for big Browns on January 19th Dave and I want to learn the ins-and-outs of New Melones. Big lake and, apparently, a decent populations of Browns. The first rule I have learned is; Big Fish eat the other fish. I believe NM Browns populations are so healthy and big because of the vast Kokanee population of the lake. 10-12" Kokanee fill this lake in summer. What big Brown would not like to feed on those little minnows? So the key to targeting these big fish is big lures.
 

On our first trip we got Dave his big Brown, right out the gate. 5 lber in the boat within a half hour. Caught on...You guessed it. A BIG lure. An F18 Rapala to be exact. This lure is 7" imitation minnow. Rapalas have been around for ever and have always a go-to lure when chasing trophy Trout. They require a precise presentation to attract the big boys. Dave has fished with Rapalas exclusively, his whole life. He's training me well. We ended up getting a handful of Largemouth Bass that day. They also feed on little fish and go crazy for aggressive moving lures like Rapalas. The first trip was a success for Dave. We got his big fish and now I want one.

The next Saturday, January 27th, Dave could not join so his father Jay joined instead. I prefer Saturdays so I can at least attempt to sleep in one day. Jay spent some time fishing with Brownbaggers back in the 90's and he had some more tricks to teach. Jay spent the day catching most of the fish as he was teaching me these things. He caught 5, I caught 2. I showed him how I downrigger fish and he showed me how to rip for trophy fish.

Speaking of trophy, this was also the first day I tried Trophy Sticks for the first time. These are locally hand-crafted lures. He orders them from overseas but, does his beautiful custom paint himself. Some people mistake his "Hand-Crafted in the USA" for "Made in the USA". Which is not the case and he does not advertise that. I have read lots of hate for this guy because these lures are expensive. Anywhere form $15 - $50 per lure. Is that expensive? Absolutely. That much for something that is just going to break on get lost is a little crazy. Until you see the amazing quality look of these lures and their action, which there is nothing like it. They can be "Tuned" for different action. To be trolled slow or fast, with different action both ways. Then take into account, Rapalas are imported from Finland. Nothing is done to them the USA. TS plug bodies may be imported from Asia but, he puts good old American work into them. I will pay extra for that. I know people don't agree with me on this but, I could care less. I only bought two of them to try. One of which broke on the first few runs. After the trip, I emailed him and said what happened. I had a new lure in my mail box the next day. That made me a repeat customer. I don't see the hate for this company. So far, I have been treated nothing less than great.

6.5" Trophy stick

Okay, I wondered off on the Trophy Stick rant a bit. Back to the fishing stuff. We had a pretty good day fishing up the arm. Last part of the day I suggested we troll the dam area. This is where my true "Fish Story" starts. Dave and our friend Mike were out with me just before New Years here and Dave hooked a very large fish in the same area. It was worth another shot to try. We got 2 okay Rainbows here and a whopping 4 lb bass. When we were leaving the the last point, I look back and my toplining Trophy Stick rod was doubled over. I yelled to stop the boat cause I was snagged. The rod was bent over so much it had to be snag. I grab the rod, yank it back, and out goes 50' of line...almost instantly. Not a snag. This is my monster Brown. She was definitely huge. After the initial run she stopped and my rod tip stop moving. "Oh Shit", I said. "She got off". Jay asks " Can you feel the pull of the lure?" I could not. "Reel fast, it's running at the boat". Sure enough some fast reeling and I caught up to it. Just then, we see it behind the boat. A MASSIVE tail and dorsal fin sticking out of the water. I couldn't stop shaking. This was one of the most exciting fishing moments in my life. Almost near the boat now, it thrashed a few times so we could see it. Man was it beautiful. The most gorgeous brown and gold colors I have ever seen. I moved to the bow of the boat and just slowly pulled her to make netting easier. Jay reached down with the net, goes to scoop and it only goes half way in the net. It then freaks out, thrashes violently and in the process the lure snagged in the net. The fish made one last splash and off it went. Lots of four-letter words and then dead silence. Horrible, gut-wrenching, dead silence.

The bent hooks were the ones stuck in the net. Must have been a heavy fish to bend hook like this.

Jay was far more bummed than I was. That was great fight and I fought it the whole way. Chances are I would have just taken a picture, got some measurements(this was surely an 10 pound fish and worthy of a wall mount) and would have been released. The fight is whats fun. A fish that big and old doesn't have the best meat. Better to let it out and make more little Browns so we can keep doing this. After repeated apologies and endless discussion about the size of that fish, we called it a day.

I had a great trip with Jay and learned a lot. I even have my first Big Fish story. That was it for this fishing weekend. Or was it? I have a vendetta now against that fish. I made a call to Jay's son, Dave "Are you ready to fish tomorrow? Your Dad lost my 10 pound Brown and I want to go back for more." Of course I knew the answer, Dave is ALWAYS down to fish. Part 2 of this fish story is now a go.

So back at it. 4:45 am on Sunday morning. Tired from 10 hours in the boat and 4+ hours of driving the previous day, I am ready to it all over again. All to catch my first Trophy Brown. We launch and headed straight up the arm towards the river. This is a 25 minutes run by boat. A very cold, 30 mph run. We made it up, lines down and off we troll. We did this all day for not a bite until 130.

It was a full moon the night before. Jay and I did so well because it was over cast and that hides the moons effects on the fish. Dave and I were not so lucky, we had a beautifully clear morning. All day for nada and at about 1:30 pm the downrigger with Trophy Stick pops and there it is, "FISH ON". Not normally so exciting but, on a slow day, those words are glorious. Landed a nice 17' Brown. Good, now the skunk is gone off the boat.

Trolled all are normal spots for nothing. I think we only managed one Largemouth. it was definitely a slow day. It's now 2:30 so we decide to troll out of the canyon and head in. Set my toplined F18 Rapala out. I was getting the downrigger ready when I look over and my topline is bent over and bouncing hard. As loud and angry as possible, I yelled it "FISH ON". It was big. Calmed the nerves and then started fighting. She ran a bunch. So much that I almost ran out of line. I had to thumb my reel, which you never want to do...unless you are going to run out of line. Fearing she would snap line insantly, I did it only for a few seconds and it was enough to make her stop. I started reeling and in she was heading in. Dave brought in all the other lines. We decided that with the big ones, all lines HAVE to be cleared. Sure glad we did. I got her to boat and we caught a glimpse. Yep, she's a big one. When she came boat side, she dove under the boat twice. This is the extact reason we bring in the other lines. The fight would've been short lived had we not. I walked to the bow and Dave slowly brings the net from behind her tail and scoops her up. Goal #4; Acheived. 7 lbs, 14 oz. My monster Brown. Unfortunately, she was fouled hooked and bleeding. She had to come with us and turned out fine on the smoker. Not the best but anything is good from the smoker.

We tried for a while longer with no more bites. It was completely okay cause we were still so pumped about the big fish in the box. That was it. We had a damn exciting weekend at New Melones. Worked the next weekend so I had no more Brownie action until February. That's right, it's February now. I have re-spooled my reel to Jays recommendation. I have my replaced Trophy Sticks and got a bigger one than the previous two. First two were 5.5". The new one is 6.5", closer to the F18 Rapala size. I managed some cool wildlife shots on these trips. I will post them below. I hope everyone enjoyed another ridiculously long blog post. Watch out New Melones, we're coming for ya' again.

Good luck out there,

Cliff

Most Anticipated of 2013

Here is my most anticipated movies of 2013. There are a bunch more movies I am excited about but these 15 definitely top the list. I had to control myself here. I could go on for days and days talking about upcoming movies but, they would just turn into crazy rants. So here are the 15 with nice and short write ups, other than #1. Enjoy.

15. The Great And Powerful Oz
When I first heard they were doing another Oz, I almost lost it. I guess it's not really that surprising but, you hope somethings are sacred. My interest perked up hearing that this more a prequel about where the great wizard came from. I could get into this. Trying not to forget: This is Sam Rami. A man that has made intriguing films(Darkman, Army Of Darkness, Evil Dead). Some great ones too(The Quick And The Dead, For Love Of The Game, all 3 Spiderman movies). I was surely on board learning that a lot of this film was made with physical props and not the usual amount of over done CGI.



14. 42
I thrilled at that idea of another great baseball movie. Especially one that is a very important part of history. This trailer gives me the damn chills every time I watch it.



13. Kick-Ass 2
I loved the first movie. Full cast has returned, minus Nic Cage. I'm all in for another with that crazy Hit Girl. No trailer yet for this one.

12. Anchorman: The Legend Continues
They have always teased another part to the Ron Burgundy saga. We are finally getting one. Can't wait.




11. Evil Dead
A reboot of the aforementioned Sam Rami's Evil Dead. Sighed at the sound of yet ANOTHER reboot. Then the trailer dropped. Then the news that there is absolutely NO CGI in this film. As a film fan, that automatically gets me to buy a ticket. As a horror fan, this movie looks pretty damn scary.



 10. A Good Day To Die Hard 
My favorite action star playing my favorite action hero: John McClane aka Bruce Willis. Dumb fun? Probably. I'm still crazy excited for it. See for yourself:



 9. Iceman
Those of you who don't who Michael Shannon is, will know soon enough. He is a fantastic character actor that has been up-and-coming for a while now, most of them supporting roles. He had a great lead performance in Take Shelter last year. Hopefully this is year when everyone will know who he is. Between this film and playing General Zod in Man Of Steel, it should be a great year for him. This film is a true story about Richard "Iceman" Kuklinski, contract killer, and one of the most ruthless criminals in history. Shannon looks as to be creepy and spectacular, as ever before. 



8. The Wolverine
I wasn't very excited about a Wolverine sequel, seeing as how the first one is an abomination to film making. Then they hired Darren Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan) to direct. "Holy shit??? Is this serious?" Yes then No. He quit before he started. I went back to not caring. Then we got James Mangold (Identity, Walk The Line, 3:10 To Yuma). I'm back on board and excited. Hugh Jackman is back. Let's hope they do better with this story. No Trailer yet.

7. Elysium
This is the District 9 writer/directors follow-up. I may or may not have already seen a test screen. It also might not have been finished. So I may still be excited to watch it in all it's finished glory. I have always been a Matt Damon fan. This movie changes things. You might be able to add Damon a list of Sci-Fi badasses. Still no trailer released. Should be soon.

6. The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug
Ir's Peter Jackson and Middle Earth. I will always be down. Still hesitant on how this all will play out. 3 movies out of 300 page kids book keeps me skeptical. The Lord Of The Rings trilogy is 1200 pages of content. Big difference. No trailer yet.
 
5. Iron Man 3
The role RDJ was born to play. Apparently this is the last time in his own film but, he will still be an Avenger. I am always down with Marvel.




4. Thor: The Dark World
We also get another round with Thor. After how much fun the first was, I can't wait for Hemsworth to reprise his godly role. Just getting ready for The Avengers 2 in 2015. No trailer yet.

3. Pacific Rim
Guillermo Del Toro. Monsters. Robots. Robots designed and built to fight the MASSIVE monsters. This is a nerd dream come true.



2. Star Trek Into Darkness
After having JJ Abrams blow my mind with the first one, I am so ready for him to do it again. One can hope. Looks incredible to me....



1. Man Of Steel
My favorite character of all time brought back to life in an all new telling. With Zack Snyder directing, we know it will look amazing. His ability to write a story has always been his flaw. This is where MOS gets exciting. Christopher Nolan and David Goyer are writing the story. After what these 2 did to Batman, It chills me to bone thinking about this movies potential to be great. The cast they put together is absolutely stellar. Kevin Costner as Pa Kent, Diane Lane as Ma Kent, Russel Crowe as Jor El, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Michael Shannon as General Zod. Supes is a fairly new actor, Henry Cavill. By the all the pics I have scene, he looks to be a perfect fit. And it only took 50 years but, Superman will now be wearing his red underwear on the inside instead of over the blue tights. It's about time.
I have been following this closely since it was announced 3 years ago. I'm almost there. For now, I'll watch the trailer another 763 times before June. The moment when Costner is speaking to Superman as he puts his fists into the snow, is probably the greatest moment I have ever seen in a trailer. I sincerely hope the movie matches the trailers greatness.

Steelhead fishing round 1 & 2

Goal number 1 for '13 is learning how to fish for Steelhead. This started with my friends Dave, Mike and myself learning how to troll for river Kings this past fall. Mike and I both got a hen. We were told the roe is great for catching these Steelies, once it's cured. So we decided it must be time to learn this fishing too. So that brought us to 2013 and our quest for river monsters.

The American river closes to all fishing from the hatchery at Nimbus dam to down at the end of Ancil Hoffman park. It closes in October in Salmon spawn and re-opens on January 1st for the Steelhead run. About 2 weeks prior to the new year they open the ladders at the hatchery for the fish to spawn. So when the season opens on 1st, if it is a good running year for Steelhead, they can be plentiful in this section of river. This year they seem to be more than normal. I would think high water flows in late fall and early winter have allowed the Steelhead all the water they need to spawn. The Salmon run got sketchy in mid-fall due to low river waters but, rains came heavy so I would hope it ended up okay for all the eggs.

We have been reading up on how to fish for Steelhead for a while now. When the 1st came, it was time to try. Decided the learning spot would be at Sailor Bar. We went out one evening last week to break the ice. It was kind of circus act but, much needed practice as drifting is tricky. Almost lost my cell phone and in the process of finding met a man named Keith. He was kind enough to give us a quick how to on drifting for Steelies with spinning gear. So with some kind of local input, we were ready to attack.

Our plan was Saturday morning we would head down to Sailor bar and give it a go. So I got there at around 7 am, to hopefully get the prime spot on the point of the "Bar". I got it and was surprised by the lack of the people. I have heard the hardest part of all this is dealing with the assholes on the river. Not the case to day. Everyone seemed kind and was giving everyone plenty of space. Which is good cause no one likes an asshole.

I started off drifting roe. Fresh off perfecting the egg knot, it went well. I realized quick I don't like drifting with a float. It takes away from feeling the weight bounce on the bottom, creating the "drift". So off with the float and it will probably stay this way. It feels so much better when the line is taunt with the weight. I remained biteless and wasn't sure sure if I was doing it right or the fish just aren't there. A local drift boat passed by and we had some small talk. Told him I was drifting roe with no luck but, I am new at this. He then old me to stick it out in current my spot. They had been out daily that week and didn't have a bite before 10 am. It was 830. 10 is about when the sun hits the water and the fish start to bite. So while waiting for the prime hour, I continued to practice my drifting.

The gentlemen fishing next to me hooked one about a half hour later. He had me try to net it because it was almost right next to me. It jumped out of the water at feet and snapped his line. With a big scoop of the net, I missed. The guy was totally cool about losing it. He was excited it fought so well. I'm glad he was cool because I was genuinely worried he was going to be pissed. The man said he was drifting brown beads. I didn't have any beads but, I did have few yarn balls that looked like brown beads with a red dot in it. Just as I did this, Dave showed up to join in the shenanigans. He started to tie an egg knot to drift roe and I told him I just switched to the yarn balls.

3 drifts into this set-up I thought I was snagged. A nice hard pull and I realized this was no snag. There was a fierce head shake then those two beautiful words; FISH ON! I learned quick that these Steelies are fightin' fish. Spooled me multiple and breached twice in 5 minutes. Then she made her way into some riffles and now the fight gets weird. When she got into the riffles, she sat on the bottom behind a rock. I couldn't reel at all and she wasn't moving. I was sure I was snagged. Tried to force it and on the second hard pull, she spools me hard. Oh yeah, she's still there. I walked myself back into the calmer water and she knew what I was up to. She made a hard run back into the current and popped the hook out. DAMMIT!! Oh well, for the first one, that was one hell of a fight. Also learned real quick, these fish are smarter than most. Gotta wear them out a little more before trying to bring them in. Lesson learned. Back to drifting.

A snagged rig or 2 later(about an hour) I was still drifting the same thing. Dave now has on the same rig. A few more people were on the point with this but, they seemed cool. They were giving us and them plenty of space. Still no A-holes, which is nice. Same drift once again. A nice hard pull like a snag, I pull and BAM. She shoots straight out of the water. FISH ON!! Not gonna let this one get away. I fought her for what seemed like an eternity. Turns out, it was only 5 minutes. I let her run multiple times and tried to get her into the calm water. She wasn't gonna let me at first but, after couple of last bursts, she wore down. Dave walked slowly out into the water to net her. This must be done carefully because these fish get really spooked by the slightest movement. With only 8 lb test line, a quick movement would spook this meaty fish and easily snap the line. But Dave is no rookie. He went nice a slow, net in the water, and scooped her up. There it is, my first Steelie. A quick check of the adipose fin and she is hatchery fish. She will be dinner. A native fish will have it's adipose fin and the native are catch and release only. Hatchery fish have their fin cut off, so you can tell the difference. The picture below shows the difference.

These are Salmon in the pic but, their adipose fin is the same.

My first beautiful Steelhead

Dave's father showed up to join us shortly after I caught mine. He was nice enough to bring more gear for us try, including more colors of yarn balls. He came to fish but, changed his mind and said he was enjoying watching us. Shortly after, Dave switched his to a different color yarn ball. Only moment later after the rig change, those magical words are said; FISH ON!! Awesome and just in time for his Dad to watch. We were very glad he showed up then because he brought his new GoPro (I must own one of these soon.) As my buddy Matt would say: "GoPro everything". Davids Dad grabbed the camera and I grabbed the net. We decided after the last time, that when it's fish on, the other person just grab the net and get in the water. This should help to avoid spooking the fish when netting. I will let the GoPro tell the rest:

We both have great fish now and tried a little while longer. I was getting pretty worn out because I had been standing in current since 7 am it was now 2 pm.....Time sure flies when you're rippin' lips!! Just as we were going to calling it a day, I hear Dave yell those sweet words; FISH ON!! Unfortunately, it didn't last long and she got off quick. Not much longer and we threw in the towel.

It was a great first full day chasing Steelies. The first of many more to come. We learned a great deal and still manage 1 good fish each. Hopefully the good luck will keep rolling. I need to perfect my smoker skills before Kokanee season and the big boys in the fall.

This is my first blog post like this and it seemed to run a little long but, I was having fun with it. I promise, they won't all be so long.

Fish caught: 2
Weight: Mine - 7 lbs Daves - 8+ lbs. Both 27"
 

Good luck out there.

2012 Fishing Wrap-Up

I'm going to start out my sort-of revamped blog off with a summary of the fish caught during 2012. Just gonna keep it simple. Pics with fish type/size & weight/location/date caught. From here on out I want to post about every fishing trip as a journal to help log what I use to fish. Along with what works and what doesn't. Anything special that happens. Hopefully all in attempt to make me a better fisherman. Hopefully everyone enjoys this.

 Jan. 14 - First trip of the year with my buddies boys. Folsom. 2 Caught.

 Jan. 28 - First trip to Camanche for '12. Resulted in new Personal Best. 5 lbs, 14 oz

Feb 19. First time at Berryessa. A very successful trip. Limit by 10 AM. That was a first.

Feb. 26. My buddy didn't believe how good the bite was. He believes me now. Limits by Noon. Actually, it gave this fool the fishing bug. He now owns his own boat.

Mar. 5 - One more Berry trip. This time I took my Mom for her birthday. Another success. Limit took till 2:30 this time.

The Osprey hanging out on Goat Island

Mar. 10 - Broke my record again at Camanche. An even 7 lbs.

Only 2 caught this day but, it was 11 lbs of fish. 2nd was 4 lbs.

April 8 - After trying a few times, I finally got a land-locked King in Berry. 2 lbs 12 oz.

5-20 Lower McCloud River, just before Ash Camp

The legendary McCloud river rainbow. Not huge but, she's a beaut. 

A little 12" Brown caught at the Middle falls. First Brown on my fly rod.

One of my spots down the lower McCloud river.

June 2 - First time chasing Coho's at Oroville. Not a bad result. Limited out the week prior.

June 24 - First Koke trip of the year. I love Donnor, just wish they got bigger there. Still so damn fun fishing.

July 1 - First attempts for Kokes at Berry. A complete failure with just 2 trout in the box. At least they were 2 nice trout.

Sept. 3 -  Trolling plate on the boat and the trolling motor running again, I was ready to try for Kokes again. They are much healthier at Donnor this time of year. We camped 3 day and caught limits for 3, for all 3 days. A very fun weekend.

One got off behind the boat and was wounded. That guy did not waste anytime. Very happy I had my zoom on the camera for this day.

The Osprey leaving with it's lunch.

Oct. 10 - The friend I took Kokanee fishing for the first time, are big stream fisherman. They have property in Hat Creek and they know LOTS of tricks to this creek. You can see her by the 5 lb. Brook trout brooders. I had know idea Brookies even got this big.

Oct. 14 - After a couple of weeks of trying for river Kings, I got my first and only one. Just over 16 lbs and full of fight. Would fish for 2 more weeks and no more takers. At least I got my one.

Oct. 28 - First time to Camanche this fall. Got this big Crappie trolling spoons for Rainbows. No trout this day as it ended early with my first mate getting a Rapala hook imbedded in his finger. Had to leave for the hospital.

Nov. 25 - Got the chance to fish with some long time friends, one that has moved out of state. Not a bad Berry trip. The bite this fall is definitely not what it was in the Spring.

Dec. 17 - First solo trip to Camanche. Caught 7, released 3. These were the keepers.

Dec. 30 - First trip to Melones and it was a decent one. That is one beautiful lake.

Dec. 30 - Caught my first Brown while trolling. Didn't get a weight. She was a beaut. 

So there is most of my fishing year. I had a few more that I either lost the photo's(Had a my laptop crash this summer) or I just didn't take any pictures. I learned more about fishing this year that I ever thought possible. I excited to keep learning and become an even better fisherman. I will use this blog as a sort-of fishing journal. I will log every trip and every fish caught. 

My fishing goals for the year: 

1. Learn how to fish for Steelhead(already in progress)

2. Become a better Kokanee fisherman.

3. More time chasing Chinook on the river this fall.

4. Catch my first big Brown (say...7+ lbs)  

5. Spend a little more time fly fishing

There they are. 5 attainable goals. They are here in writing to help remind me.  

Well, have a good year out there everyone. Best of luck on the water. Let's rip some lips.

My Movie Lists of 2012

Here we are again. A new year and my favorite part of it: going through all the movies I watched and coming up with my list of favorites for 2012. Just a reminder, this is not a list of what I feel to be the "Best Quality" movies. This is a list of movies I thoroughly enjoyed watching last year. I'm no real movie critic. I just watch a ton of movies and everyone always asks my opinion. I have this blog to help me keep track of the movies I watch and to put my measly opinions on the interwebs, for those few who care. When you see as many movies as I do, keeping track can be difficult. This blog definitely helps. You can find my rating of each movie on my previous blog post.
So here it is:

Total theater visits: 76

Re-Releases: 3 - E.T., Jaws and Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Movies seen multiple times: John Carter, Prometheus(2), Avengers(2), Dark Night Rises, Ted, Cloud Atlas and The Hobbit. A total of 9 repeats.

Total NEW movies watched: 64

Top 20

20. Wreck-It Ralph
19. Life of Pi
18. The Dark Knight Rises
17. The Cabin In The Woods
16. The Raid: Redemption
15. Chronicle
14. Lincoln
13. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
12. Flight
11. End Of Watch
10. The Master
 9. Skyfall
 8 The Avengers
 7. Cloud Atlas
 6. The Grey
 5. Moonrise Kingdom
 4. Looper
 3. Zero Dark Thirty
 2. Argo
 1. Django Unchained

List updated 1-11-13 for Zero Dark Thirty. Considered a 2012 release, I wanted on 2012's list and not 2013. 


Bottom 5

5. Wrath Of The Titans
4. Project X
3. Total Recall
2. That's My Boy
1. Ghost Rider 2

Now for some random categories. Some movies that might not be the best overall but, they deserve a little extra recognition.

Comedy

3. This Is 40
2. Ted
1. 21 Jump Street

Sci-Fi

3. Prometheus/John Carter - Tough call. I'll all it a tie. Liked them both for very different reasons.
2. Cloud Atlas
1. Looper

Action

3. The Avengers
2. Dredd
1. The Raid: Redemption

Horror

3. The Bay (It was a VOD)
2. Sinister
1. The Cabin In The Woods

Animated

3. Paranorman
2. Frankenweenie
1. Wreck-It Ralph



Here are a couple of my favorite actors and actresses this year:


Male Lead

Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln

Best Supporting Actor (who should be used in every movie made)

John Goodman - He absolutely made every movie he was in, better. Flight, Argo, Trouble With A Curve and ParaNorman. That's a good amount of roles for 1 year. I wouldn't mind if it was even more.

Female Lead

Halle Berry for Cloud Atlas

Female Supporting

Amy Adams for The Master and Trouble With The Curve

My favorite female actress

Emily Blunt takes this category by a landslide. 5 Year Engagement was a pretty good movie but, she was awesome in Looper. I can't wait to see what she's up to next.




Not a bad year for me. Once again, I broke my record of 71 theater visits. Something tells me it will be the last year for that but, you never know. After going back over everything I watched, it was a really great year for movies. It was hard to chose a top 10, which is the exact the opposite of last years list. Last year was hard to make a top due to lack of great movies. This year has far too many. Only a handful fell below the "Par" mark and that makes this movie geek very happy. 
This will also be the last post of this being just my movie blog. My next post will be a 2012 wrap-up of my fishing adventures. From then on out, this will be my Movie and Fishing blog. I had a record year of fishing and it is also difficult to keep track of all I saw, all I caught and the adventures than ensued while out chasing fish. All of it deserves to be on my blog. Just gotta come up with a clever name...

2012 Movies Watched

Here is my list of every movie viewed in the theater, for reference to my favorites. I watch FAR more than just what's on this list but, I don't have that much time to blog about it all. Top of the list is the most recent. My rating system is on the bottom of the home page but, I'm sure you can figure it out.

• Django Unchained - Ace (Saved the best for last)
• Parental Guidance - Par
• This Is 40 - Birdie
• Jack Reacher - Birdie
• The Hobbit part 1(2) - Eagle
• Flight - Ace
• Killing Them Softly - Eagle
• Life Of Pi 3D - Birdie
• Red Dawn - Bogey (Again with the crap remake)
• Lincoln - Ace
• Skyfall - Ace
• Wreck-It Ralph - Ace
• The Man With The Iron Fists - Eagle
• Cloud Atlas(2) - Eagle
• Argo - Ace (Hey Affleck, pleas keep making awesome movies. You're damn good at it)
• Sinister - Eagle
• E.T. 30th Anniversary - ACE
• Looper - Ace
• Seven Psychopaths - Eagle
• Killer Joe - Eagle
• Trouble With The Curve - Birdie
• House At The End Of The Street - Bogey (Would be worse but, they put Elizabeth Shue and Jennifer Lawrence in a movie together. Bonus Points earned)
• End Of Watch - Ace
• Dredd - Eagle
• The Master - Ace
• Premium Rush -Double Bogey
• Hit and Run - Bogey
• Raiders Of The Lost Ark - Ace
• Lawless - Birdie
• Jaws(1975) - Ace
• Paranorman 3D - Eagle
• Expendables 2 - Par
• The Campaign - Birdie
• Test Screen - Elysium - Ace
• The Watch - Par
• The Dark Knight Rises (2) - Eagle
• Moonrise Kingdom - Ace
• Katy Perry: All Of Me 3D - Eagle
• Frankenweenie - Eagle
• Savages -Birdie
• The Amazing Spider-Man - Birdie (Pretty good reboot. I liked Garfield more as Spidey than McGuire. Yes, I'm serious.)
• Ted - Eagle
• Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Par (Kinda crappy but, I had a lot of fun with it)
• That's My Boy - Double Bogey (Adam, please stop with this BS)
• Prometheus 3D(3) - Eagle
• Snow White And The Huntsman - Birdie (I really didn't think I would enjoy it but, it was a fun flick)
• Men In Black 3 - Bogey (Better than second but, not by much. Josh Brolin's Tommy Lee impression was incredible)
• The Dictator - Birdie (The funny out-weighs the stupid)
• Avengers 3D - Eagle (3D downgraded my rating on account of 3D being stupid)
• Avengers(2) - Ace (Everything I could have possibly hoped for)
• Five Year Engagement - Eagle (I am in love with Emily Blunt)
• American Reunion - Par (Stifler saves it again)
• Lockout - Par (Die-Hard meets Escape From L.A., set in a space prison. Works for me)
• The Raid: Redemption - Eagle (Gets an Ace for it's outstanding action)
• Cabin In The Woods - Eagle (The rare Intelligent Horror)
• Total Recall - Bogey (Another crappy remake.)
• Jeff Who Lives At Home - Birdie (A very dark/sad funny)
• Wrath Of The Titans - Double Bogey (Hey, It one-upped it's predecessor)
• Ted (Special Screening) - Eagle
• The Hunger Games - Birdie
• 21 Jump Street - Eagle
• John Carter 2D - Eagle
• John Carter IMAX 3D - Eagle
• Project X - Double Bogey (Sweet Party, Bad Movie)
• Ghost Rider - Shot Limit Exceeded (It might actually be hard to make a movie so bad)
• Underworld Evolution - Double Bogey (Nice try. You can stop at 4 now. Please no more. I can't say no to Kate in tight leather))
• Chronicle - Eagle (One of the best "Found Footage" films yet)
• The Grey - Ace (Not a January release. This one will come back in the fall for a nomination run)
• Haywire - Birdie
• Contraband - Par