In 1995, Toy Story asked the question, "What do toys do when we aren't playing with them?" What resulted was an imaginative animated masterpiece. Seventeen years later, Wreck-It Ralph asks the question, "What do video game characters do when when we're not playing with them?" Wreck-It Ralph may not be a masterpiece like Toy Story but it's full of imagination, charm, and ends up being a pretty memorable animated film.

The film tells the story of Wreck-It Ralph, the antagonist of the arcade game. Fix-It Felix, Jr. After thirty years of wrecking buildings in his game, Ralph longs for recognition and respect. Ralph then decides to leave his game and journey into the worlds of Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush where he hopes to make a hero out of himself. However, Ralph's journey causes something that puts the arcade in danger.

Wreck-It Ralph was a film I was looking forward to ever since I heard about the film's premise and it did not disappoint one bit. The film was thoroughly entertaining and there was a lot to like about it. The characters are fun to watch, the story is entertaining, and the humor is great. I love the world that the writers and animators created. The way the characters can jump from one game to another is creative and I love the design of Game Central Station, the transportation center that takes you to different games. The games that were created for the film were creative as well. I like how Fix-It Felix, Jr. had an 8-bit Nintendo approach and Sugar Rush had 3D Nintendo 64 approach. Hero's Duty had the look of a modern first-person shooter game with realistic looking graphics and lots of detail on the characters' armor. I enjoyed the unique look of each look. The animation is wonderful and colorful. The characters in Fix-It Felix moved and walked like they would in a game which I thought was cool. The Sugar Rush world was also impressive. It looked so good that I could almost taste it! The animation and design of the film were a joy to see. Big props to Disney.

Wreck-It Ralph is a well written film. The script is humorous and heartfelt. The film had plenty of jokes to entertain kids and adults. There were some parts that did have me busting up. The characters in the film are great as well. Ralph is a pretty relatable character. We all sometimes feel misunderstood and wish we can prove to be something more. Vannelope von Schweetz, a character Ralph meets in Sugar Rush, was entertaining. She was funny and adorable. Her character gets more fleshed out as the film progressed and I started to care for her. Her and Ralph had a great friendship and there was a scene involving them that made my heart feel heavy. I liked the Fix-It Felix and Sergeant Calhoun characters. Fix-It Felix was a nice, good-mannered character while Sergeant Calhoun was tough and hard-as-nails but still had feelings.

Not one of the voice actors in the film were miscast. John C. Reilly's voice fit Ralph perfectly. He had a tough guy voice but still managed to be innocent and nice. Sarah Silverman did a great job as Vannelope. She can be annoying to some but I enjoyed her. I can't stand Jack McBrayer as an actor but I think he's a good voice actor. He did well as Fix-It Felix. The entertaining Jane Lynch also does a great job as Sergeant Calhoun. Alan Tudyk did a good job as King Candy, the ruler of Sugar Rush. I also enjoyed Mindy Kaling as Taffyta, Vannellope's rival. It was weird to see Kaling play such a stuck u p brat unlike her goofy role on The Office. There a some sweet cameos from video game characters in the film. I enjoyed Bower from Super Mario Bros.' cameo as well as Sonic the Hedgehog's. I also liked seeing Dr. Robotnik and Kano from Mortal Kombat. Dubstep musician, Skrillex, makes a cameo and I thought that was cool. I'm a big fan of his music. He also made an awesome song for the film that plays during one of the Hero's Duty scenes.

I loved Wreck-It Ralph. The animation was stellar , the characters were memorable, good story, the voice acting was great, and it was filled with so much humor, charm, and energy. There's lot of nostalgia here for fans of classic games and a lot for modern gamers to appreciate. Wreck-It Ralph is a lot of fun. Disney has crafted a film that is entertaining to audiences both young and old.

"That's not the blunt-force trauma, ma'am, that's just the honey glow in my cheeks. "

Whether it's on stage or on screen, I love watching musicals. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but I love them. I enjoy the music, the choreography, and the stories. I have heard a lot about Les Miserables. I've never read the novel or seen the musical but I know the basic story and have heard one song from it. So what brought me to seeing the film? The cast looked great and the advertisements made the film look worthwhile. I am super happy that I went to see this film. Les Miserables is a grand and emotional piece of entertainment. I find it to be the best film I've seen all year.

The film is set in post-Revolutionary France and the protagonist of the story is Jean Valjean, a prisoner who did time for twenty years for stealing bread. He is constantly being pursued by Javert, a ruthless police inspector. Over the course of seventeen years, Jean becomes the mayor and adopts a young girl named Cosette and plays a big part in the June Rebellion in Paris. The film has two other subplots involving Cosette's troubled mother, Fantine, and a love triangle between Cosette, Eponine, and a Revolutionary leader, Marius Pontmercy.

Les Miserables is a marvelous production. The costumes, makeup, production design, score; they are all eligible for Oscars. The film is helmed by Tom Hooper, who also did The King's Speech. His direction is great. I loved how the musical numbers were filmed. The camerawork was a bit of an issue for me. It was a little shaky in the beginning. I got a little dizzy. I'm going to let that one slide. The cinematography was amazing especially in the very first scene. I thought the opening number was a great start to this great film. It looked great on the big screen and introduces our main character fabulously. I loved how they introduced Javert. The camera angle they used was epic. Hooper directed the solo numbers really well and there was a big emphasis on the singer. The costumes and makeup were also great. The sets and production design were also wonderful. They did a good job recreating nineteenth century France.

The acting in this film was great too. I am a fan of Hugh Jackman and I found his performance as Jean Valjean to be the best of his career. He put a lot of emotion into his role and you feel for him throughout the film. Russell Crowe did an awesome job as Javert. You can feel the tension between him and Jean. Javert's solo number had me at the edge of my seat. I thought Amanda Seyfried did pretty well as the older Cosette. I loved the little girl who played the younger Cosette. She showed emotion and the song she sang, "Castle on a Cloud", was beautiful. I liked Samantha Barks as Eponine. She was beautiful and I felt for her character a lot. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen played the Thenardiers, a pair of sleazy and mischievous innkeepers. They were the comic relief characters and they were super entertaining. When Sacha Baron Cohen came on screen, the audience started to giggle. They were an enjoyable duo. I highly enjoyed Eddie Redmayne and Aaron Tveit as the two Rebellion leaders, Marius and Enjolras. Also, I loved Daniel Huttlestone's performance as Gavroche. That little kid was awesome! Lastly, Anne Hathaway's performance was the best of her career. Her character, Fantine, moved me. Anne is probably going to get a lot of awards for her performance. I thought her singing was incredible. I find "I Dreamed a Dream" to be one of the greatest songs ever written and Anne Hathaway knocked it out of the park with her rendition.

Apart from Anne Hathaway, the singing in the film wasn't very strong. I feel the actors gave it their all when it came to the singing but they don't have the greatest singing voices. Les Miserables is mostly operatic. The characters are singing from beginning to end nonstop. There is very little dialogue. I didn't think Hugh Jackman was a very good singer. His voice sounded a little silly in some parts. I thought Russell Crowe sang pretty well. The song, "One Day More", gave me chills. Amanda Seyfried sang pretty nice. Samantha Barks was also a nice singer as well. I thought she was pretty. I fox whistled in the theater when her character, Eponine, came on screen and I made a few people laugh. The singing was good at best but nothing spectacular with the exception of Anne Hathaway. The lyrics to the songs, however, were amazing. It's sheer poetry in my opinion.

The thing I loved the most about Les Miserables was the story. It takes place during a crucial part of France's history and you see what these people went through. It broke my heart seeing all these poor people and all of them dreaming for freedom and justice. When the rebellion part of the story came on, I was at the edge of my seat and I had all my attention fixed on the screen. The last forty-five minutes are intense! This is one of the saddest and heartbreaking films I've seen in a while. I didn't cry but I choked up a lot throughout the film. The film is worth seeing on the big screen. I had a lot of fun seeing this and the audience seemed to be into it as well. There was a power surge in the theater and the audience got pissed off. Someone started making shadow puppets with the light from their phone and projected it onto the screen and that was hilarious. When the power came back on, we were oh so happy.

Les Miserables was an amazing movie. The singing could have been stronger but the lyrics, performances, and setting blew me away. This is a great film and I think the studio made a good decision by releasing it around the Christmas season. It's gonna pick up a lot of awards in the next few months. The film is a crowd-pleaser and it's entertaining from start to finish. You get invested into the characters and story. I think those who are not into musicals will enjoy the film. My theater applauded at the end and it deserved it. Les Miserables is the best film of 2012 in my opinion. I loved it and I highly recommend seeing it. I definitely plan on getting the Blu-ray when it's out.

♫To love another person is to see the face of God.♫

Peter Jackson takes us back to Middle-Earth in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first installment in the prequel trilogy to The Lord of the Rings. This prequel may not have lived up to the standards set by its predecessors but it is still a dazzling and epic film that entertained me nonetheless.

Set sixty years before the events of The Fellowship of the Ring, the film tells the story of Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is a Hobbit who lives a relaxed and carefree life in The Shire until he meets Gandalf the Grey who takes him on an adventure. Bilbo accompanies Gandalf and a team of dwarves on a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Eribor that was conquered by Smaug, a villainous dragon. The adventurers must face against trolls, goblins, and orcs on their perilous journey.

One thing I enjoyed about The Hobbit was the performances. Martin Freeman does a great job as Bilbo. Bilbo starts off as a person who is so attached to his home that he doesn't want to leave it. But Gandalf tells him that there is a vast world outside The Shire that he should get a taste of. Bilbo becomes a more adventurous person once he goes on the adventure. Freeman was able to show the relaxed carefree side of Bilbo in the first part of the film and then became a more adventurous Bilbo as the film progressed. Martin Freeman also delivers his lines very well. He pretty much shined. Ian McKellen still has it as Gandalf after all these years. He was excellent and awesome. All the Dwarves had a different personality and the actors who portrayed them were able to show it. Of all the Dwarves, my favorite was Thorin Oakenshield, played by Richard Armitage. He owns the role. He was awesome. Some actors from the previous trilogy such as Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, and Christopher Lee make a return. They're not in the film very much but they still knew how to play their roles. Lastly, Andy Serkis comes back to play Gollum, the role that made him a star. The scenes with Gollum were some of the most memorable parts of the film thanks to Serkis' performance. He was just entertaining to watch. All in all, the cast members did a great job. Everyone impressed.

Peter Jackson is truly one of the great directors of our time. He knows how to take the audience to a whole other film. The Hobbit is an amazing film to look at. The visual effects and production design in the film are vibrant and flawless. The effects have come a long way since the original trilogy. Not to mention the outstanding cinematography. It made me want to travel to New Zealand! The film also makes a wonderful use of 3D. I highly recommend seeing the movie that way. There is a whole lot of depth and it makes the backgrounds pop. I was sitting pretty close to the screen so I felt like I was pulled into the action. The forest where Radagast the Brown lived looked fabulous. The atmosphere was great and the little animals looked cute even if they were CGI. The makeup is great and the motion capture used on Gollum and the Orcs was fantastic. When the characters encounter the goblin king, I was impressed with the visuals. The Goblin King is one of the most grotesque things I'd seen in a while. The film is just visually beautiful. As for the writing, it was pretty good. The dialogue was witty and smart and the actors delivered it well.

The action scenes in this film were pretty dazzling. The scene where they encountered the Stone giants was an amazing sequence. How on Earth did they plan out that scene? Anyways, it came out great. The action scene toward the end had me at the edge of my seat. It was just exciting. Jackson directed the action sequences very well. He builds a lot of tension before and during the scenes. The camerawork was great as well. I did feel that the film was a little too long. The film seemed to have two long climaxes. Some scenes felt like they dragged. I was able to get past these problems. The end made me excited for the next installment but I don't think The Hobbit is a story that needs to be made into three movies. Peter Jackson believes that three movies would tell the story better but I'm pretty sure he's doing it for money.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey may not be as good as The Lord of the Rings trilogy but it is still a great film. The film excites you from beginning to end and the final frame of the film successfully gets the audience ready for the next installment, The Desolation of Smaug, out next year. It's beautifully filmed and well-acted. The visuals are great as well as the 3D. I think critics should have been a little nicer to the film. The Hobbit: An Unexpected is a great and highly entertaining fantasy film.

I could not get around to re-watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy prior to this film's release. Once I take another look at the trilogy, I'll post the reviews. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

"You can't reason with them! They're halfwits!"

For those who don't know me, allow me to introduce myself. The name is Monster, Movie Monster. One of my most anticipated films of the year was Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond film. Daniel Craig returns to play the tough and suave spy, James Bond. In my opinion, Craig is the best Bond. James Bond has always been a cool character but Craig added a level of realism to it. He made Ian Fleming's creation dark and gritty, the way I like it. Many critics have said that Skyfall is the best entry in the rebooted franchise. I still think Casino Royale is the best. Words cannot describe how awesome that movie is. It left me speechless. Quantum of Solace was good but not great. I found Skyfall to be better than Quantum but not as good as Casino Royale. Despite that, Skyfall was pretty darn good.

Skyfall follows James Bond as he hunts down a threat that has put MI6 in extreme danger. This threat has also come back to haunt Bond's trusted boss, M. Agent 007's adventure takes him to Shanghai and Macau where he is given more background on this threat. With the help of Q and two new Bond girls by the names of Eve and Severine, 007 must face the villainous Silva, who plans to put an end to MI6 once and for all.

Skyfall is not based on any Ian Fleming story and it completely original. I was impressed with the story in this film. It's a well thought out plot that is finely executed. This has to be one of the deeper Bond films. Not only is this a good action film, it's a pretty good drama. The Bond and M characters are fleshed out and they work well together. I loved seeing Bond and M interact on screen. In my eyes, they have a sort of a mother-son relationship. The writing in this film is good as well. The writing is strong and I especially enjoyed the dialogue. Skyfall is helmed by Sam Mendes, the Oscar-winning director of American Beauty. All of Mendes' past films have been dramas and this marks as his first action film. The directing in the film is impressive. The guy can also film a sweet action scene. The action scene at the start of the film was awesome and kicked off the film very well. Mendes must be really good with dialogue scenes because he directed them very well. The cinematography in Skyfall is gorgeous. I want to travel to all the exotic places shown in the film.

All the actors were great. Daniel Craig kills it again as Bond. He keeps the touch of past Bond actors. He's laidback and good with the ladies but also tough. Daniel Craig made James Bond into a deep, gritty, realistic character. Craig's performance combines Bond's swag and dark side. Judi Dench is also great as M. She and Daniel Craig have good chemistry and I liked seeing them work off each other. Ralph Fiennes, one of my favorite actors, joins the cast as Mallory. Fiennes never disappoints and he did that in this film. Javier Bardem kills it as Silva. When he appears, he looks like a stereotypical Bond villain: A sly person with an accent with an evil plot on their minds. Then Bardem becomes a total baddie during the climax and he won't stop until he gets what he wants. Albert Finney puts on a fine performance as well. He shared most of his screen time with Bond and M and he knew how to work with them. I thought Ben Winshaw was great as Q. The first dialogue scene between him and Bond was great. It was a well-written scene. I haven't seen anything else with Ben Winshaw but judging from his performance here, he seems like an actor I would enjoy. The Bond girls in this film are Eve played by Naomie Harris and Severine played by Berenice Marlohe. Harris' character was a smart and tough chick and I liked her. Her performance was pretty cool. She was a blend of seriousness and sexiness. Marlohe's character was the eye candy in the film. She was a beauty. She was okay but I felt her main purpose was just to look seductive to Bond. As for her acting, she was good.

The action scenes in this film are super exciting. The film starts off with a highly entertaining chase scene. James Bond is a total butt kicker in this scene. He's tough but still shows that 007 swag. I thought the scene that took place in a skyscraper in Shanghai was a cool action scene. I liked how Bond and the enemy were at each other's necks. The climatic action scene had me at the edge of my seat. This is where we see how much of a villain Silva is. This scene is intense and emotional. Skyfall marks the 50th Anniversary of the franchise and there a lot of homages to classic 007 films throughout the film. It had a lot for new Bond fans and long-time Bond fans. The opening credits sequence was awesome. My theater has great sound and nice big screen and those are like two ingredients to enjoy this scene. Adele does the theme song and it was one awesome track. I can't wait to see the opening credit sequence on Blu-ray.

Skyfall is a notch below Casino Royale but it is still a great entry to the James Bond series. The acting and direction is great and the story was really impressive and deep. The ending in the film made me excited for future entries in the series. Skyfall was a total thrill ride.

"Youth is not a guarantee of innovation."

We made it, guys! It's finally here! The final Twilight movie! I'm not one of the crazy Twihards but I've kind of enjoyed these films. Sure, they weren't the greatest. The acting and dialogue were hokey but the Twilight films aren't some of the worst I've seen. I had fun with Breaking Dawn - Part 2. It's not the greatest conclusion to a franchise but I enjoyed it. In fact, I really liked it but it's still Twilight.

The film picks up immediately where Part 1 left off. If you haven't seen Part 1, I suggest sitting out of this review because some of this stuff may come as SPOILERS to you. But since many of you don't give a crap about this franchise, I'll just go ahead and give you a synopsis. Bella has given birth to her human-vampire daughter, Renesmee. She died while giving birth but thanks to Edward's biting, she has resurrected as a vampire. Bella is enjoying her new life as a vampire until the Volturi, the vampire government or whatever you want to call it, find out about her child. As the Volturi make their way to Forks to attack the newlyweds and their bundle of joy, the Cullens assemble a group of vampires to help them defeat the ememy. They also get help from Jacob and his pack of werewolves. All the buildup pays off and we are given a freakin' sweet climactic battle to end this series.

If I were to rank the films from best to worse, it would go like this. Eclipse in first, this one in second place, Breaking Dawn - Part 1 in third place, the first film in fourth place, and New Moon in last place. This could have easily been the best entry in the series but it was missing the thing that made me enjoy Eclipse a lot. I can't really explain why I liked Eclipse. I think the reason is because I liked the whole Newborn subplot and the climactic battle. A large portion of this film is just buildup to the climax. The new vampires that they introduce were my favorite part of this film. If they made a spin-off film about them, I would pay to see it. The new vampires had cool powers and the actors who played them were pretty good.

The acting had its ups and downs. Kristen Stewart does a pretty good job as Bella Swan but I still don't think Kristen Stewart is one of the best actresses out there. I think K-Stew is prettier as a vampire than as a human. Robert Pattinson is still a boring actor. I never dug his acting or his character. Taylor Lautner, one of the best actors in the series, does another good job as Jacob Black. I find him to be one of the most likable characters in the series. Billy Burke returns as Bella's father and he is another one of the better actors in the series. Like Jacob, he is another one of the most likable characters in the series. He's not in the film very long but I was able to buy him as Bella's father. There's a dialogue scene between him and Bella and Burke acts pretty dad-like. As I mentioned above, I loved the heck out of the Cullen's vampire allies. My favorite out of all of them was Alistair played by Joe Anderson. With all his vampire makeup, I thought he looked a lot like Colin Farrell. Anyways, he was awesome. For some reason, I laughed at Michael Sheen's performance. He played the Volturi leader, Aro. The way he delivered his lines was just funny. His funny costume, his Marilyn Manson makeup, it's like he was in a Tim Burton film. Mackenzie Foy plays Bella and Edward's daughter, Renesmee and she did a decent job. With this movie on its way to becoming a huge success, Mackenzie Foy will start to get recognized and I can see her getting casted in more films in the future.

The climactic battle at the end of the film was just awesome. It was the best scene in the entire flick. However, the battle ends rather anticlimactically. It was so anticlimactic that I booed and two people got up from their seats and left. The audience I saw the film with was cheering and making comments during the scene like they were at a UFC match. There was also this lady behind me making comments about the movie every few seconds. Some of her comments were funny but then she just got annoying. I went to see this film at an 11 AM showing on opening day and it was not that packed but the audience was having a ball. I saw the last two films in the theater and those were packed showings. There were about twenty people at my screening but I think seeing it with a much bigger crowd would have been more fun.

The writing is still what you would expect from a Twilight film. Bill Condon's direction was pretty good. The special effects on Bella and Edward's baby was pretty bad at some points. He knew how to build emotion during the climax. I didn't get emotional during the climax because I'm not attached to these characters. I can just imagine a bunch of teenage girls bawling during this movie. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 wasn't a great film and many of you will avoid this film but I liked it. I also liked how they wrapped up the whole saga. It was an entertaining film and the theater experience was great as well except for the annoying lady behind me making comments. They also showed a brief teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and I let out a fanboy yell while it was playing. Good times, good times. It was a good ending to a franchise that I enjoyed.

Did you guys miss me? I know I haven't been posting reviews in a while. I plan to post some more reviews. I'm planning to review The Lord of the Rings Trilogy before the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I'm sorry if I angered you by mentioning Lord of the Rings in a Twilight review. Be on the lookout!

"I hated the first British invasion. I hate the second one even more."