#19: Big Fish

Let's start off by saying you can tell a Tim Burton film right from the beginning. Tim Burton has a mind of his own that all makes us wonder, what made him think of that or to even decide to do something like that in the film. In Big Fish, director Tim Burton creates places of pure happiness and places that are dark and gloomy. Big Fish is truly an inspiring story about an All-American man, who has the greatest adventure stories, with life and love within it. Ewan McGregor plays the main character but the movie plays in flashbacks, where it really shows an inspiring story on his part. Let me tell you, it's somewhat sad, but it also may be one of the most happy-go-lucky movies I've seen in a while. The whole concept and the premise of the movie was extraordinary. From the characters, to the scenery, to the plot and to the directing, it's honestly a movie everyone needs to see. I'm not saying everyone will love it but most people would grin and giggle or laugh (if you want to be manly about it) after many scenes. Me personally, I honestly thought it had a great start to finish. Great movie, another reason why we know Tim Burton's a hot commodity for a director.

Overall Rating: 9.0/10

- Josh

#13: Shooter

Marky Mark Wahlberg plays a widely known marksmen, able to hunt down and snipe people from miles away. Definitely one of his top movies; he also knows how to produce very well. Some of his other films have not been so good though; when I saw The Other Guys this summer, it made me think he was an absolute joke. Will Farrell stepped up and saved that movie.  The Departed was great but The Happening was horrendous, the movie in general but the acting too.  Okay, but getting back to Shooter, the movie actually had a very creative idea for a film. I really liked the concept and the performances by all the actors and I thought Antoine Fuqua did a really good job of directing this film - all the scenes and shots from the film are right on target and so clear. The in-depth details of the movie are great as well. I don't want to ruin it but I thought this movie was definitely worth seeing if you like action and shooting films.

Overall Rating: 8.3 / 10

- Josh Berg

Shooter was one of those movies, for me, that I loved when it came out, and didn't put much thought into afterwards. A co-worker of mine at the video rental store said the mark of a good movie is one that you keep thinking about after you see it. I think that - sadly - Shooter falls short of being a classic for this reason.

Besides taking some liberties with physics and plausibility (as any action movie does, and I don't hold against them), the Shooter went just a little bit too far with its scope, in my opinion. It's hard to say much at all without giving it away, but to make this movie a classic it would have to hold the "could this really happen?" quality that movies like The Bourne Identity or Babel. That's not to say Shooter isn't a ton of fun and definitely worth a watch, but it's not to be placed on the same shelf as The Matrix and the like.

Overall Rating: 7.1 / 10


-Taylor Dobbs