Hero of the Day- William Wallace

Every man dies, not every man really lives

Before I get started, I do recognize the fact that there are quite a number of inaccuracies between the movie Braveheart and what was actual history. I am well aware of the fact that some things in this movie were either made up or exaggerated. I do not judge this movie based on its faithfulness to history, I just judge it as a movie, nothing more. That being said, let's move on. William Wallace in the movie was a freaking badass! He truly proved that nobody screws with the Scottish and lives to talk about it. The first part of the movie may be a little slow, but then those English bastards attempt to rape and then kill his wife. This has been recorded as one of the worst mistakes in human history. Don't believe me? Watch the rest of the movie! Not only did he turn hard trained english soldiers into total pussies, but he also inspired his men to fight on long after his death and delivered one of the greatest motivational speeches in film history (that would later be ripped off by almost every war movie to follow it). Sure he went down in the end, but he (sort of) went out on his own terms (he decided not to take the poison and refused to give in when they offered him relief, that counts). Even when he was on trial for his life, he told the english king to go screw himself (not with those exact words, but you get my point). The other thing that is so great about this character is that he has so many great quotes. Obviously there is the one listed above, but there are a bunch more throughout the movie that it was next to impossible for me to pick just one!

Also, I have to point this out. William Wallace was Scottish. You know who else is Scottish? Yup, him. SEAN CONNERY!!! I just realized that most of the people I've brought up so far have been related in some way to Sean Connery. All except for Luke Skywalker and Dirty Harry. Well, Dirty Harry was played by Clint Eastwood, who is like the american Sean Connery. And I'm betting Luke got to be like Sean Connery in his later years.

Top Five Directors to Start From 2000 Onward

These are the directors that have really made a name for themselves in so little time. Some have become film legends in so little time while others are getting there, and should be recognized for their accomplishments. So here are my picks for favorite new directors of the past 11 years

5. Zack Snyder- Some of you who know my taste in movies know that I am not a huge fan of overusing CGI. It’s not a bad thing, but a lot of the time, the director will get too warped in creating a dazzling shot and forget to concentrate on story, characters or dialogue (George Lucas and Michael Bay, take the hint). Zach Snyder is one of those directors who spends a lot of time on special effects, but it actually works really well. He has a knack for adding a visual style to his films. If you look at some of the shots in 300 or Watchmen, it almost looks like you are viewing a painting or something right out of a comic book. That’s pretty cool. I’m actually really looking forward to seeing what he does with Superman.

 4. J. J Abrams- He is more of a TV icon than anything else, making such loved shows as Lost and Fringe, but the movies that he has made have all been very enjoyable. The Mission Impossible movie that he directed was very good, and I’ve never been a huge Star Trek fan, but I really got a kick out of the movie that he made, and I look forward to the sequel that will be coming out hopefully in the near future. I will admit that at the time of typing this, I have yet to see Super 8, but I hope to remedy that soon because I have heard so many great things about it.

3. Ben Affleck- If you had asked me what my opinion was of this guy five years ago, I would have said that I hated his guts. I never thought he was that good of an actor and he just seemed like a total douche. However at some point in the past five years, Affleck must have matured a little bit because he directed two films that clearly show he has what it takes to sit in the director’s chair: Gone Baby Gone and The Town. I know that two films is a little early to decide that he’s good, but I think these movies show that Affleck may have gotten into the wrong area of show business when he decided to become an actor.

2. Jon Favreau- Technically he’s been in the film business a lot longer than the last ten years, he was, and still is, an actor, but he was always that guy that you point at and say “Oh hey! It’s that one guy!” nobody really knew his name and he never got that many big parts. Usually just the quirky supporting character. However he has really made a name for himself through his directing. I already mentioned how he directed Elf but he is also responsible for Hollywood taking Marvel Superheroes seriously again when he directed Iron Man. DC didn’t have to worry, they had the Wachowski’s and Christopher Nolan helping them out, but Marvel was still suffering. All of the franchises that were supposed to be bringing in big bucks were beginning to go downhill. Both X-Men and Spiderman had two great films and then a third that was a bit of a letdown, something commonly known as "Godfather syndrome". Dare I bring up the tragedies that were Hulk, Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider? Nope, I won’t. When Jon Favreau directed Iron Man, we were all skeptical considering this was right after Spiderman 3 was released. I think we were all pleasantly surprised by how it turned out. It was the perfect mix of action, drama and comedy, and it still took itself and it's audience seriously. While I will say that they aren’t the best movies in existence, Iron Man and the other Avengers line-up movies that followed are definitely some of the most entertaining. And to be honest with you, I really liked Iron Man 2 and even Cowboys and Aliens. He may not be the best director in the world, but he has definitely proven to be a competent one, making good summer action movies without totally surrendering to CGI, and he is among the few to say no to 3D.

1. Christopher Nolan- Kind of a no-brainer, really. Not only is he my pick for best director to get his start in recent years, he is one of my favorite directors of all time. There are some directors that I like, but have made some movies that were kind of a letdown. Chris Nolan has yet to do that. In fact, he has yet to fail to knock me completely off my feet. The first movie that I saw of his was Batman Begins, and needless to say, I loved it. And then The Prestige came out, and I loved that one too, and so on and so forth. He really is a director that knows how to take his audience seriously and treat them like adults, especially in the comic book genre, which had been through a bit of a dry season before Begins came out. If I had to sum him up in one sentence for somebody who had never heard of him, I would say “Christopher Nolan is a director that knows how to get his viewer to buy another ticket” because honestly, since Batman Begins came out, I have yet to see one of his movies only once while in the theaters. The Dark Knight I saw three times within opening week! It was also the first movie that I saw at a midnight showing. The main thing that I love about his movies is that he avoids using CGI and green screen as much as possible. In fact, he used next to none when he made his Batman films and Inception, which would have normally have been the first route that any other filmmaker would take. He is also one of the few remaining directors who has said no to 3D. In fact, I heard a story that even Warner Bros. told him that he had to make The Dark Knight Rises in 3D, and he flat out told them “No way”. And as luck would have it, they actually respected his wishes and let him shoot it without 3D. In fact, he even said he had a distaste for it. God bless you Mr. Nolan!

Hero of the Day- James Bond

The name's Bond... James Bond

I'm sorry if people find this list to be a little cliche, but I make no apologies for including some of these people, this guy included. He's suave, he's badass, he's cool, the women want him, men want to be him, he's just an awesome dude. Remember all the things I said about Indiana Jones because he was fathered by Sean Connery? Well, this guy is Sean Connery, or at least was for a while. So whatever I said about Indiana Jones, applies to this guy... tenfold. I think it should be pointed out that even though this is a british agent, he has been portrayed by six actors and only two of them have actually been British. Sean Connery is Scottish, Pierce Brosnan is Irish, George Lazenbi is Australian, and Timothy Dalton is Welsh. Only Roger Moore and Daniel Craig are actually British. No matter what way he is portrayed, each person that has played him has done it a different way and they have all been great (accept Lazenbi and Moore, they're terrible). And of course, no James Bond movie is complete without an arsenal of gadgets. Some of them are cool, others are okay, and some are just plain silly. Do I have to bring up the invisible car from Die Another Day? My God was that lame. Of course they toned it down a bit in the most recent ones, but since I read that they have cast someone to play Q, we may get to see some more cool gadgets soon. Let's just hope there will be an absence of invisible cars or glass-shattering rings. Lamo.

Hero of the Day- Indiana Jones

Nazi's. I hate these guys

If I did this list and did NOT include him, I think I would have lost all credibility. Again, this guy is just a classic hero. The movies that he stars in are some of the greatest adventure movies of all time (The first three that is). After seeing this and Star Wars, I think it was pretty much cemented that Harrison Ford was another of my child hood heroes, and continues to be to this day (For the record, I have three movie heroes that have stayed with me through the years, two have already been mentioned here, and the third is still to come). In each movie he's in, he goes through a routine of getting his ass kicked only to come back and kick theirs twice as hard. Sometimes, all he needed was the propeller of a plane, a rock, or the wrong cup and the job was done. And even though he wasn't a cowboy or anything, the image of him riding on a horse with his gun in hand is so iconic and just seems right. Heck, that was part of the reason that I was so psyched to see Cowboys and Aliens. I just wanted to see Harrison Ford wearing that kind of hat, riding a horse and toting a six shooter again. And I saw that. So for me, personally, that movie didn't disappoint. But I'm getting off base here. It also helps that it was revealed in the third movie that he was fathered by none other than Sean Connery. I should end this post right here, because whatever arguments you may have had about Dr. Jones being a wuss are rendered invalid. If Sean Connery's blood runs in your veins, then that means that you have nothing but testosterone and badassery coursing through your body like a river of manliness! He's killed Nazi's, he's killed blood thirsty cultists, he's killed communists, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out he was the one that shot Osama!

Hero of the Day- Dirty Harry

You got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well do ya, Punk?

Since I started yesterday by sharing a childhood hero, I thought today, just to even things out, I'd share one of my more recent heroes. DIRTY HARRY. Why not? He's one of the most badass characters in all of film. His methods are unconventional, but they get the job done, so who can blame him? He didn't earn his nickname by playing by the rules! Screw the rules! He's so badass that the tagline for the movie says "He doesn't break murder cases, he smashes them!" I don't even know what that means and that sounds awesome. And who can forget that oh so awesome speech he gave not once but twice about his handgun (The last part of it is today's quote)? The character was played by Clint Eastwood and in my opinion, this is Eastwood's best character. I like Bill Munney, Josey Wales and Preacher, but this guy just kicks ass!

Top Five Guilty Pleasures

Okay, I know that I have made fun of a lot of well known and well loved films (and I’m nowhere close to being done), but like a lot of people, I have my list of movies that I like for some ungodly reason. In some cases, I can’t even explain why I like these movies, I almost hate myself for saying I enjoy them. So without more ado, these are my biggest guilty pleasure movies

1.    The Pirates of the Caribbean sequels- I make no apologies for liking the first one, but I can point out almost everything that is wrong with these movies. And for some reason, I still love them. Why? I don’t have a clue. Maybe it’s that I think the characters are awesome and the dialogue is fun and kind of witty.

2.     Van Helsing- This was a movie that I liked when I saw it in theaters (I was 12, give me a break), but the next time I watched it a few years later, I realized just how asinine it really was. However, Hugh Jackman and the comically over-the-top Dracula make it enjoyable

3.     Cat in the Hat- Hey shut up! The only scene that I actually like is the cupcake cooking show scene. It was like a homage to Mike Meyers’ days as a SNL cast member

4.     Hannibal- I love Silence of the Lambs (it’s in the top 5 for me), but this movie was just lame. So why do I like it? Well, I can’t say no to Gary Oldman, especially when playing a villain, and if I listed all the differences between the book and the movie, the movie would almost seem like a masterpiece. The book had so many unnecessary characters, gory scenes and just an overall weirdness factor that could (should) have just been totally left out. This is one of those moments where you say “Thank God they didn’t follow the book!”

5.    Anaconda- Good Lord is this movie bad. The writing is terrible, the snake looks extremely fake, as do all of the emotions the actors try to show. And don’t even get me started on Jon Voight’s indefinable accent. He sounds like he’s trying to do an Al Pacino Scarface impression! Yet for some reason, this is a movie that I find myself recording every time it’s on. This is one that I can’t justify. Maybe I love it for being so bad.

Hero of the Day- Luke Skywalker

I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father.

What better way to start off a month of heroism than with one of the most iconic, noble heroes of all time? And what an even better way to start this off than with one of my personal childhood heroes? For those of you who don't know me outside of the realm of cyberspace, you should know that I am a huge Star Wars nut, and have been for the better part of my life. So I don't even have a choice, I have to put Luke Skywalker on here. Luke is a classic hero, and his image has become a staple of pop culture. Even those that aren't familiar with Star Wars at least know who this guy is. Luke's journey from the deserts of Tatooine to the swamps of Dagohbah to the throne room of the emperor is a classic one and deserves to be seen by all. He started out as a simple farm boy and grew up to become one of the most powerful figures in the galaxy, he went from killing rats with his T-16 to killing storm troopers with a laser sword. That is quite the transition if you ask me. It's also interesting to see the emotional journey that he embarked upon. He may have started out whining, but he learned from his mistakes, built off of them and used his experiences to better prepare himself for that inevitable confrontation with the Emperor. Luke is a great hero with a classic journey that we all wish we could jump into the screen and be apart of. At least I do. What isn't cool about flying an X-Wing?