Blog Task 8: Top 10 Hollywood Films From 2007-2017

For this blog task, we had to put ourselves in a movie critic's shoes and choose 10 of the most famous and iconic movies of the last decade and will pick one movie from each year. Here are the list of our top 10 movies of the decade:

2007 | Written by Kris Aiman

Source: IMDb


Film name: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Year Released: 2007

Director: Tim Burton

Main Cast
: Johnny Depp

Studio: Pinewood Studio

Worldwide Box-Office Gross: US$52,898,073

Brief synopsis: This movie is about a barber named Benjamin Barker who is married to Lucy and had a child together name Johanna during the Victorian era. The gorgeous Lucy attracted the attention of a corrupt judge who goes by the name Turpin. Turpin had accused the innocent barber of committing a crime he did not do. The judge had also abused Lucy after gaining custody of her. After spending 15 long years in exile, the barber returns to London with a new identity (Sweeney Todd) to seek revenge against Turpin. He then meets Mrs. Lovett who tells him that his wife swallowed Arsenic years ago. The barber then opens a barbershop above Mrs. Lovett’s pie store and murders everyone who caused him to lose his family and suffer.

Why this movie rocks
: “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” is an extremely enjoyable movie as most of its dialogue is sung instead of spoken. This musical approach gave the movie a dramatic vibe as the orchestral music played in the movie can send chills down your spine without a problem. This movie also rocks because of its production. I believe that the dark and sinister looking cinematography really set the mood for the viewers. The white strip on Sweeney’s hair, the red barber chair, Sweeney’s costume and overall look in the movie are absolutely brilliant and iconic which makes the movie awesome.

Best scene: The best scene has got to be when Sweeney returns home and recovers a box of razors with the son “My Friends” playing in the background. This scene showed the strong relationship Sweeney has with his razors. The line “You’ve been locked out of sight all these years, like me my friend,” and “at last, my arm is complete again” when he held his razor in his hand truly showed his bond with his razors. 




2008 | Written by Shain

Source: IMDb


Film name: The Dark Knight

Year released: 2008

Director: Christopher Nolan

Main cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart

Studio: Warner Bros. Picture

Worldwide Box-Office Gross: US$1.005billion

Synopsis

The movie follows as a sequel to the original “Batman Begins”. Now working in Tandem with Gotham, PD. inspector Gordon informs batman of a new player in town. A mysterious figure who is clad in clown make up and calls himself the joker. On the other side of the coin, we see prosecutor Harvey Dent working to take down the organized crime syndicates that plague Gotham via more legal means then the caped crusader. The combined assault from both batman and Dent drives the remaining crime bosses to look for desperate solutions. This is where joker inserts himself into the game. where he convinces/blackmails the criminals to agree to give him half of all the money they have stashed away in exchange for dealing with the batman. A feat that he undertakes by sowing chaos all around the city through random bombings and televised executions. All with the simple request of batman unmasking himself in front of the press. Batman tries fruitlessly to get the joker, but the clown prince of crime seems to always be one step ahead. Finally, not seeing any other alternative batman decides to go along with the jokers demands. But before he could do anything Harvey Dent confesses to be batman to bring an end to the violence. The joker however is savvy to the fact that this is a ruse and kidnaps dent and his lover Racheal Dawes. He places both of them in an impossible trap where saving one would doom the other. Then he challenges batman to save them. Batman rushes to save rachial first as he was in love with her as well. But the joker had lied to him and sent him to dent instead. This meant that rachial died in the second explosion. Dent himself barely escapes with horrific burns on his face and slips into a chaotic frenzy when he learns of how rachial dies. He then takes up the mantel of two-face after an encounter with the joker causes him to go after everyone he thinks has wronged him. His story concludes with his death at the hands of Gordon after two face takes Gordons family hostage as revenge for Gordons inability to reach rachial in time. The final confrontation between batman and joker ended bittersweet as batman takes down the joker but the joker won the war by destroying all that batman had stood for. The movie ends with batman taking the blame for all of Dents crimes because if exposed as a homicidal psychopath, all the criminals he put behind bars as a prosecutor would be released. This results in massive backlash against batman from both the police and citizens of Gotham as they think him a cold-blooded killer. This combined with the mental strain of his battle with the joker causes Bruce Wayne to hang up the cowl and stop being batman.

Best scene

Pretty much every scene with heath ledgers joker were instant cinema classics. but the best scene would the scene where the joker talks about how he got his scars. Where he spins a story about an abusive father. but later we see him retell the story but with a different reason. This brilliantly shows the jokers nature as a nihilist. He needs no reason for what he does. There is no story behind his evil. and He is simply chaos incarnate going through smashing up the toybox. This cemented the joker as one of the greatest villains in cinema history.


2009 | Written by Shain

Source: IMDb


Film name: Avatar

Year released
: 2009

Director: James Cameron

Main cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver

Studio: 20th century fox

Worldwide box-office gross: US $2.788 billion


Synopsis

This SI FI epic follows Jake sully on his journey to Pandora as a consultant for The Resources Development Administration(RDA). The RDA mines for a ore called unobtanium but they are frequently opposed by the native Na vi that inhabit the planet. This causes Jake sully to be drafted into a top-secret mission where his mind is transferred into that of a Na vi so that he can infiltrate their society and find out more about these blue humanoid creatures. However, his time amongst the Na vi makes him sympathetic to their plight and he decides to oppose the RDA with his new tribe. All this culminates with an epic confrontation between the technologically advanced RDA and the tribal Na vi.


Best scene

The best scene in the movie for me was when Jake Sully was taming a flying beast. The scene had tension and gravitas as he wrestled with the creature atop the branches of a giant tree.it had me at the edge of my seat as he fell from the sky on the back of the creature and it was very fulfilling to see the beast and sully make peace at the end.


2010 | Written by Syazwina

Source: IMDb



Film Name: Black Swan
Year Released: 2010
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Main Cast: Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers / The Swan Queen
Studio: Cross Creek Pictures, Protozoa Pictures, Phoenix Pictures and Dune Entertainment
Worldwide Box-Office: US$ 329,398,046 (from boxofficemojo.com)
Brief Synopsis: A girl by the name Nina Sayers, a committed young ballerina who in her mid-twenties, who wins the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’ only to find herself struggling to maintain her sanity to be the best of the best ballerina. She struggles a lot because she wanted to look and dance perfectly on stage.
Why this movie rocks: This movie rocks because for those who loves to watch a thriller, psychotic movie, this is the best movie that I would recommend.  This movie will give you suspense because the main cast, Nina Sayers would do ANYTHING to be a perfect ballerina. This movie is worth 108 minutes because every scene there will be a part that would blow your mind. What I really like about this movie is all the actors act their character so well and professionally. Their acting makes the movie more interesting because it looks like they are real ballerinas. I guarantee, those who watch this movie once, they will watch this movie repeatedly.
Best Scene: The best scene, for me, I would say the ending part where we saw Nina Sayers were becoming the white swan from a black swan, and then, she climbed up the stairs and dance until the edge, then she jumped. She was imagining that she was dancing but the real thing is she committing suicide.


2011 | Written by Syazwina

Source: IMDb



Film Name: The Help
Year Released: 2011
Director: Tate Taylor                    
Main Cast: Emma Stone as Skeeter Phelan
Studio: DreamWorks Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, Participant Media, Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ, 1492 Pictures and Harbinger Pictures.
Worldwide Box-Office: US$ 216,639,112 (from boxofficemojo.com)
Brief Synopsis: This movie is about an aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960’s decided to write a book about the African-American maids point of view about the white families for which they work with. The author decided to write this book because she felt the white families treated the African-American maids badly. This book has been published at the whole country bookstore.
Why this movie rocks: This movie is so far, the best movie for me that related to racism. Because, the cast in this movie are SUPERB. There was amazing chemistry between both the antagonists and protagonists. The storyline, for me, has a nice flow which makes me fell in love with the movie. This movie also gives people inspiration to not judge people based on the color of their skin. The racial imbalances of 1963 are well illustrated in ‘The Help ‘with no doubt. This movie, for me, is a146 minutes movie that is worth to watch repeatedly. I would give this movie 9.5/10 because this movie is a fantastic movie.
Best Scene: The best scene for me is when one of the African-American maid named Minny Jackson (casted by Octavia Spencer) gives her white employer named Hilly Holbrook (casted by Bryce Dallas Howard) a ‘chocolate’ pie which one of the ingredient is Minny’s feces. This scene you can see Minny’s satisfaction face that she had her revenge on how Hilly has been treated her awfully.

2012 | Written by Fatin


Source: IMDb



Film name :  The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Year Released :  2012
Director : Stephen Chbosky
Main Cast :  Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller
Studio: Lionsgate Film
Worldwide Box-Office Gross :   $14,900,000

Brief synopsis :

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is based on a very popular novel. This movie is about a young boy in school named Charlie played by Logan Lerman and he is very obscure and shy. As high school is starting, he is nervous because his only true friend committed suicide. He hates school until he meets his two seniors, Sam (Emma Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller) who become his best friends.

Why this movie rocks :

What I like about this movie is how I can feel being a apart of this group of friends. It will make you look at your wallflower friend and think what was their story. The actors and actresses did a splendid job in bringing the characters to life especially in this movie, Emma Watson going all bold shattering her Hermione image. This movie really captured the tragedy, angst of adolescence such as having a crush and falling in love, sharing their disappointments and consoling them when they suffer from heartbreaks. The soundtrack in this movie really goes well with the cinematography as you can feel during the 90s.

Best scene:

The best scene that I found memorable is during the prom. When Charlie was standing by the wall by himself and saw Sam and Patrick dancing on the dance floor. That is when he took the courage and walked to them. This scene showed that how kind Sam and Patrick was to include Charlie even when they only had one conversation.


2013 | Written by Hezrina

Source: IMDb


Film Name: Now You See Me

Year Released: May 21 (New York City) & May 23 (United State) 2013

Director: Louis Leterrier

Studio: K/O Paper Products

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $351.7 million

BRIEF SYNOPSIS : Four stage magicians, J. Daniel "Danny" Atlas, Merritt McKinney, Henley Reeves, and Jack Wilder, are each given a tarot card that lead them to the same empty New York City apartment, where they find information from an unknown benefactor. A year later, the four perform their first major performance as the Four Horsemen in an elaborate Las Vegas show funded by insurance magnate Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine). Their final trick appears to transport one of the audience members to the vault of his bank, the Crédit Républicain in Paris, where stacks of new euro bills are stored. At the magicians' commands, the fans in the vault activate, drawing the bills into the vents and then showering the Las Vegas crowd with them. The euros are shown to be real, and the vault in Paris is found to be empty of its recent shipment of euros. FBI agent Dylan Rhodes, and Interpol agent Alma Dray, are then partnered to investigate the Horsemen. The two question the magicians but have no evidence to hold them. Dylan and Alma turn to Thaddeus Bradley, a former magician who now helps to explain the tricks behind other magic acts. Thaddeus demonstrates how they used a mock vault under the Las Vegas stage, and that the group must have stolen the money in Paris before it arrived at the bank, replacing it with flash paper that left no evidence.


WHY IS THIS MOVIE ROCKS : This movie is rocks because this movie is all about life of magicians . They hide their identities . It’s a very attracting movies especially for young generations who is very into or believe in magic. This movie also rocks because the have so many kind of magic tricks that they used to escape from get arrested by the FBI. They never knew that at the end of it the leader of the horseman was the FBI guy named Dylan .

BEST SCENE : When Thaddeus found out that actually Dylan was the fifth horseman.


2014 | Written by Adlyna


Source: IMDb



Film name: Kingsman: The Secret Service

Year released: 2014

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Main Cast: Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Taron Egerton and Michael Caine

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Worldwide Box-Office Gross: $414.4million

Synopsis:

Eggsy or whose real name in the movie is Gary Unwin’s late father secretly worked for a spy organization. They live at a South London housing estate and seems headed for a life behind bars. However, Harry Hart a kingsman agent sees potential in Eggsy and recruits him to be a trainee in the secret service. In the mean time, villain Richmond Valentine who hates violence launches a diabolical plan to solve the problem of climate change by a worldwide killing spree using a chip.

Why this movie rocks:

I chose this movie because I find it interesting and classy how man in suits are secret agents which headquarters are at a tailor shop. Seeing how daily objects are used as weapons for example the umbrella. It seems like an ordinary everyday object but it can really be used as a shield and a few other high-tech stuffs. It’s also amazing to see how a young thug-like teenager like Eggsy could transform himself into a gentleman. It makes me believe that anything is possible with a little push from someone and our own efforts are important too.

The best scene:

In my point of view, the best scene in the movie is when Harry managed to defeat everyone in the church single handedly despite the fact that everyone else in there was influenced by Valentine’s chip. It was a sad ending for Harry as he got shot after leaving the church by Valentine, however it was an awe to see the way he fought against everyone.


2015 | Written by Raam

Source: IMDb


Movie name : The Martian

Year released: 2015

Director: Ridley Scott

Main cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Worldwide box-office gross: $630.2 million

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/plotsummar

Review

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a storm and left behind by his crew But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring "the Martian" home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible, rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney's safe return.

Why this movie

I'm just happy that Ridley Scott has made a great movie again. I mean, I thought Exodus had an operatic grandeur that was awe-inspiring despite being dull and turgid. The less said about Cormac McCarthy's disastrous The Counsellor the better. And I'm one of the few who thought Prometheus was a gorgeous, brilliantly acted, thought-provoking, stirring sci-fi pic (among other things).
But I'm glad to see Ridley on top again. If ever there's been a case of a director with poor script discretion...it's Sir Ridley. The talent has been there all along.


Best scene

A memorable scene from "The Martian", when Matt Damon is attempting to grow potatoes and makes a slight..... miss calculation resulting in a slightly more and explodes



2016 | Written by Hannah

Source: IMDb


Film name: Suicide Squad

Year Released: 2016

Director: David Ayer

Main Cast: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Comics

Worldwide Box-Office Gross: US$700 million


Brief synopsis: Based on DC comics, in a city called Gotham, there are many superheroes introduced such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman but they forget to bring up the supervillains. In Suicide Squad, a secret government organization captured all the supervillains and gathered them as a team, known as Task Force X, to fight crime. These criminals were then sent for a secret mission which none of the team knew its true intention. Fighting out-of-this-world armies, the team started questioning what they got themselves into. Later in the movie, the whole purpose of the mission was then explained.


Why this movie rocks: This movie changed my perspective on typical villains, not all of them are so evil. It showed all the villain’s true colors, underneath all that toughness and violence, they have their own soft spot, or shall I say, weaknesses. After all, they are human anyways. Other than that, this movie is definitely action-packed, non stop badass moves from every single villains.


Best scene: One of the best scenes would be when they fought some alien-form armies together, as a team. That scene showed unity between the conflicting team members. And some badass moves too.


2017 | Written by Hannah

Source: IMDb


Film name: Thor Ragnarok
Year released: 2017
Director: Taika Waititi
Main cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett
Studio: Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures
Worldwide Box-Office Gross: US$ 212 million (only in North America)

Brief synopsis: Based on the Marvel Comic, Thor Ragnarok is the third production for the story of Thor, a god of thunder from a place called Asgard. Thor discovers that he has an evil sister, Hela that will return to Asgard and gain power from the city itself. She will stop at nothing to take the throne, even if it means killing her own siblings and the Asgardians. Unfortunately, Thor is stranded on a random planet and were captured by the people there to participate in a gladiatorial contest with Hulk. With the help of a former Valkeriye and Bruce Banner, he tries to escape the planet and return to his troubled home.


Why this movie rocks: Marvel has a way of mixing action with comedy and this movie was a perfect combination of both. Not only that, the background music that they play for certain scenes are definitely on point. It gives the movie a

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