The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 2010

This is another one of those 50/50 years.  There's plenty of good, but plenty of "meh", mediocre and bad films.  The Academy Awards selections were a marked improvement over the previous year's.  Although, the pick for winner...does any still give a rip about King's Speech and did you even back then?  Looking at the list, I'd say by and large at least 8 of those were far better films than King's Speech.  King's Speech feels like that boring English movie that seems to be the shoe in stereotype for Best Picture in yesteryear.  Could you tell how much I care less about King's Speech?

The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 1994

I remember following the 1994 Oscar race pretty closely.  It was a pretty high profile year from what I can remember.  And 12 year old Brandon had only seen Forrest Gump at the time of the race.  And little Brandon was really moved and affected by Forrest Gump.  Plus he was a Tom Hanks fan.  So, he was really rooting for that movie at the time and had a fantastic night watching that awards ceremony.  Well, in retrospect, older Brandon thinks the Oscars may have gotten this one pretty wrong.  But, its the one that's hot in the moment.  And sometimes, some movie are better off getting snubbed and not winning the award.  Movies that don't even get nominated become far more remembered and legendary more often than most Best Picture winners.  I still enjoy Forrest Gump, but I think maybe there was a better choice.

TRAILER- Thor: The Dark World #1

This is our first look into Thor's post-Avengers adventure and man, does this look big. While the first film featured hints that big things could happen in this universe, it was mainly a simple fish out of water story. This movie appears embracing the big scale possibilities of Thor's world. I rather liked the first film, but on first look this looks as if its going to kick its ass. Scott Mendelson recently touted this as one of the 2 most important films of 2013 (HERE), and I hope this one pans out. I rather dig the characters in this series and hope they're not afraid to continue to make big stories for Thor. The first one I was rather surprised I liked as I had low expectations going in. It also produced one of the funniest moments of 2011 ("I need a horse!") Now, after this trailer, I have pretty good expectations. I'm also scared for Natalie Portman's Jane Foster.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD opens November 8