Otter Limits

Apparently Hollywood is basically out of ideas. That is understandable. It seems that nothing new has really been done. So what does Hollywood do now? Pack it all up and find ways to entertain people in others ways?

Naw! We’ll just remake movies! So Hollywood is well on its way to remaking several films.

Here is a list I found at Den of Geek of some that have been announced and/or rumored:

Arthur
Romancing the Stone
Fantastic Voyage
Back to School (yes, someone wants to re-make a Rodney Dangerfield film. With Cedric the Entertainer in the lead role this time).
Meatballs
The Dirty Dozen
Clash of the Titans (This movie desperately needs to be re-done)
Conan
The Karate Kid (it is rumored that Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith, is attached to the lead role)
Footloose (w/High School Musical’s Zac Efron in the lead role)
Red Dawn
Short Circuit
Hell Raiser
Logans Run
Flash Gordon
Rosemary’s Baby
Highlander
The Evil Dead
Tron
Nightmare on Elm Street
Escape from New York
1984

And if you don’t think some of these ideas are bad enough, Den of Geek also has a list of TV shows that are rumored to be hitting the big screen:

Magnum P.I.
Arrested Development
The A Team
V: The 2nd Generation
ChiPs
Fraggle Rock (disturbing)
The Smurfs (I think most of us already knew about this one)
Dallas

I have not done one of these since January. Now is a good time to start this one up again.

This is a list of my 7 favorite blogs…and this is in order of preference:

1. Oklahoma Lefty
2. Scott’s Blog
3. Jesica’s Journey
4. Red Stater
5. Brad Neese At Large
6. Christarchy
7. Not Always Right

At some other point I think I might do a list of my least favorite blogs.

On this day in U.S. history in 1977, the movie Star Wars (A New Hope) is first released in theaters.

It starred Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing, among many others and was directed by George Lucas, who is the mastermind behind the Star Wars saga.

George began work on this film in May 1973, having been inspired by Flash Gordon and the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. Filming began in March 1976 in the desert of Tunisia.

It has earned $460 million in the United States and received 10 Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture). It won 6 of them including Best Art Direction and Best Music, Original Score (John Williams).

It is ranked the 13th Greatest American movie by the American Film Institute and the #2 (out of the top 10) in their Science Fiction film category.

So…………..any promising movies coming out this year? Let’s see what I was able to dig up:

APRIL

Mutant Chronicles
This shows a bit of promise. It starts Thomas Jane (from the 2004 Punisher movies) and Ron Perlman (from Hell Boy) and is set in the future on Earth. Probably not something I would see in the theater but I might rent it.

For the most part, April seems like a dismal month for movie releases. But it’s April.

MAY

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Not something I would normally watch but it has Matthew McConughey in it and most of what I have seen that he has starred in I have enjoyed so this might be worth a viewing. Again, probably just on DVD though.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Here is one worth going to the theater for. I have seen trailers for it and the comic book geek in me really wants to see this movie!

Star Trek
I have to admit that I am not a big Star Trek fan. In fact, I almost despise it to a point. However, I do like the idea of a prequel to this series.

Angels and Demons
Looks like an interesting premise. I am a big fan of the National Treasure movies and this one seems somewhat similar to those. I will probably watch it but I should probably watch The DaVinci Code first (have never bothered to watch that one).

Terminator Salvation
Yeah, gotta see this one. Loved the first one. Really loved Judgment Day. The third was okay. I really am interested to see what Christian Bale does with the John Connor character.

Up
Having 3 kids I am sure at some point I will end up watching this movie. Funny thing is, I actually enjoy some of these movies that I usually end up watching just because the kids want to.

So by the looks of things, May looks like a really good month for movie releases.

JUNE

Year One
Harold Ramis movie starring Jack Black. This could be really good.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Definitely worth a view.

JULY

Public Enemies
Movie based on the life of John Dillinger. I’m a history nerd. Go figure that I want to see this one.

AUGUST

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
I might actually want to see this movie even more than the Wolverine movie. GI Joe? Really?!? I used to play with those toys and read the comic book back when I was a kid. This is a must must see!!

Bandslam
2 high school kids form a rock band and enter a battle of the bands competition. Does not sound like there is much to it but I think I would probably watch it anyway.

The rest of the year looks absolutely dismal.

Yup, I tried doing the essentials again with the 1990s and came up, once again, with way too long a list. So here is not only the top grossing films of the 90s but the winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture in its respective year.

1990
Home Alone – grossed $285 million very sad that this movie made that much money
Best Picture – Dances With Wolves

1991
Terminator 2: Judgement Day – $204 million
Best Picture – The Silence of the Lambs

1992
Aladdin – $217 million interesting that a cartoon made this much
Best Picture – Unforgiven

1993
Jurassic Park – $357 million
Best Picture – Schindler’s List

1994
Forrest Gump – $329 million
Best Picture – Forrest Gump

1995
Toy Story – $191 million another animated flick…interesting
Best Picture – Braveheart

1996
Independence Day – $306 million
Best Picture – The English Patient

1997
Titanic – $1.8 billion sadly, the highest grossing film of all time
Best Picture – Titanic

1998
Armageddon – $553 million
Best Picture – Shakespeare in Love

1999
Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace – $924 million
Best Picture – American Beauty

I had started to do a sequel to my Essential Movies of the 70s with one for the 1980s but after getting about halfway through that decade I realized that it would be near impossible to put together a good list for that decade, there are entirely too many good films that came out in that decade. I might try again with the 1990s and see how that works but for now I am going to list the top grossing films of the 1980s (by year) and add a few comments as I see fit.

• The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – grossed $209 million (approximately)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – $209 million
• E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982) – $359 million
• Return of the Jedi (1983) – $252 million
• Beverly Hills Cop (1984) – $234 million
• Ghostbusters (1984) – $229 million not far behind the leader that year
• Back to the Future (1985) – $210 million
• Top Gun (1986) – $176 million apparently not as many people in 86 were out watching movies, the top grossing film of the year didn’t even top $200 million.
• Three Men and a Bay (1987) – $167 million 
• Rain Man (1988) – $172 million
• Batman (1989) – $251 million

What I find interesting is that of the top grossing films of each year, 60% of them are sci-fi type movies.

Since I seemed to have run out of ideas of Essential Songs or Essential Albums and what not, I am going to use a new category for a while in these Essentials posts: Movies.

This first one is a list of essential movies that were released in the 1970s:

1. A Clockwork Orange
2. American Graffiti
3. Animal House
4. Apocalypse Now
5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
6. Deliverance
7. Escape from the Planet of the Apes
8. Fiddler on the Roof
9. Godfather, Part 2
10. Grease
11. MASH
12. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
13. Rocky
14. Rocky II
15. Slap Shot
16. Smokey and the Bandit
17. Star Wars IV: A New Hope
18. Superman
19. Taxi Driver
20. The Buddy Holly Story
21. The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
22. The Exorcist
23. The Godfather
24. The Jerk
25. The Muppet Movie
26. The Omen
27. The Sting 
28. Walking Tall
29. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
30. Young Frankenstein