Best Games of 2012

Look, this blog started with a sports rants and every year I like to recall the best sport games and events of the year. Overall, this focuses on the games with a) what's at stake b) news c) hype d) quality of the game and occasionally e) a NY biased. This year saw a ton of great games and a ton of storylines that I couldn't make it ten.

Blake Griffin tried, but
Kobe and the Lakers won
the Division again.

20) Clipper/Lakers 4/4 "Battle of Los Angeles"- A game that began with a MONSTER-putback dunk by Blake Griffin, this intra-building matchup for the division title was off-and-running with flare. Kobe Bryant was his usual brilliant, but he needed the help of Andrew Bynum to get the win. The Clippers closed to within 3 after a late run, but the Lakers would close the game out and keep themselves as LA's team for a few more months.

19) Duke at UNC 2/9 "Rolling on the Rivers"- College Basketball is usually in my top 5, but this year was pretty pedestrian except this game. With a ten point lead and two minutes remaining, Duke would close it to within two and that's where Austin Rivers (son of Doc Rivers) made an impression. With time winding down and a two point deficit, Rivers took the ball, waited for the time to trickle down before launching a 3 point attempt into the basket as time expired.

Man City stepped out of the shadow
out Man U this season.

18) Man City vs Man U 4/30 "No Soup for U" - Manchester City was playing in one of their most important games in years. With the top of the Premiership in their reach and all they had to do was beat the most successful team in English Football. In the first half, Vincent Kompany's header put City on top of United for the only scoring that they'd need. Man U would make several desperation attempts late in the game, but would come up empty.

Brad Richards' go ahead goal
capped a 3 goal comeback for NYR.

17) The 2012 Winter Classic  "Outdoors but Plenty of Heat"- Hyped perfectly by HBO's 24/7 series, the NHL's premier regular season game featured the NY Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. After a two goal second period by budding star Claude Giroux, the Rangers tied the game with a pair of Mike Rupp goals. However, a couple minutes went by and Rangers' star center Brad Richards roofed a puck of Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. During the final minute, Rangers' goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped Flyers winger Danny Briere on a penalty shot secure the win.

Deron Williams welcomed the Knicks
to their first Intra NY game in 40 years.

16) Knicks/Nets 11/27 "Welcome to Brooklyn" - The Brooklyn Nets started off hot in their first season, but their Season Opener against the Knicks had to be moved because of Hurricane Sandy. The result? The Nets and Knicks played a classic seesaw game that required overtime before Deron Williams' squad gathered in a Carmelo Anthony rebound to secure the 96-89 win.

15) Bruins/Capitals Game 7 "Ward Scores...and is Hated For It" - With a Game 7 to decide the fate of Alex Ovechkin and Tim Thomas, Alexander Semin opened scoring before Bruins youngster Tyler Seguin tied it in the third. Overtime saw the Caps on the rush, when Capitals winger Joel Ward poked home a rebound, sending the Stanley Cup champions home with their fans EXPLODING a racial tirade on Twitter to condemn Ward for ending their season based off the color of his skin. A Great game ruined by horrible fan reactions.

14) Knicks at Raptors 2/14 "Linsanity of Valentine's Day" - The NY papers couldn't stop talking about the never used bench player that rose to stardom for the Knicks, but this was the height of Linsanity. With time winding down in the game, Jeremy Lin dribbled to the 3-point line after waving off his teammates. Lin drained a three-pointer and turned around like it was never in doubt.

Cameback from 7-1 and 10-7 in this classic

13) Texas Rangers/Angels 8/1 "Two Comebacks in One Game?!" - The LA Angeles started making a push at the AL West and they asserted their dominance by taking a 7-1 lead Albert Pujols homering, but the Rangers would chip away at the lead until the ninth inning, when Ian Kinsler homered to left. In the tenth inning, Chris Ianetta and Albert Pujols BOTH homered for a three run lead. Not done yet, the Rangers stormed back in the bottom of the tenth, Nelson Cruz began the SECOND comeback with a homerun and won the game with a single by Elvis Andrus five batters later.

Tynes kicked the Giants into the Super Bowl.

12) 49ers/Giants NFC Championship Game "Tynes Again in OT"- In a Championship game that brought back memories of the 80's, the Giants returned to San Francisco and battled the 49ers. Trailing 14-10, 49er Kyle Williams muffed a punt and Eli Manning took full advantage with a Touchdown pass to Mario Manningham. In Overtime, Williams fumbled again and Lawrence Tynes sent the Giants to the Super Bowl for the second time in four years with a game winning kick in the extra session.

Santana did the impossible on 6/1

11) Johan's No-No "Hell Freezes Over" - The New York Mets have played over 8,020 games in the history of the franchise without a no-hitter. Then on June 1st, manager Terry Collins handed the ball to his ace who was still recovering from shoulder surgery. Santana was brilliant through five, but a Carlos Beltran line drive went unnoticed by third base umpire Adrian Johnson, who called it foul. Santana retired Beltran and got through the sixth. In the seventh, Met-villain Yadier Molina sent a ball deep to left field that Mike Baxter caught and gathered in just before hitting the wall and breaking his collarbone. Then it was all Santana. With World Series hero David Freese at the plate, Santana got him to chase a ball in the dirt and complete the first no-hitter in the franchise history, putting to rest the "Curse of Nolan Ryan".

After a Gold medal, Andy Murray won
his first major.

10) Murray/Dojkavic US Open final "Murray Answers Critics" - There was a different feeling about Andy Murray after the London Olympics. Previously, Andy Murray was "always a bridesmaid" or John Elway pre-Terrell Davis. After beating Roger Federer at the Olympics, Murray engaged in a five hour final against the world #1 player Novak Djokavic. This final was the longest in US Open history as Murray finally broke through for his first major.

LeBron guarded Durant and took
home court from the Thunder.

9) Miami/OKC Game 2 "Heat Take Home Court" - After Oklahoma City rolled in their Game 1 win, LeBron James and the Heat stormed out after the opening tip to take a big early lead. James dropped 32 points to go along with Dwayne Wade's 24, but the lead was chipped away by OKC as Kevin Durant's 32 points brought them back. With the Heat's lead down to 2, Kevin Durant took the ball on the final possession with LeBron James guarding him. The MVP candidates squared off with James defending the ball away from Durant, who argued for a foul. The Heat evened the series and took home a Championship in 5 games.

Man City won the Premiership for
the first time in 44 years.

8) Man City/Queens Park Rangers 5/13 "Blue Moon Rises" - With a win sealing the Premiership for the first time in 44 years, Man City took a 1-0 lead in the first half on Pablo Zabaleta's header, but QPR would take a 2-1 second half lead. During stoppage time, Man City would rally to tie the game off a corner kick and header by  Edin Dzeko, but as Man U won their game- a tie wouldn't help City. In the 94th minutes, Sergio Augero got the ball inside the box and booted home the Title for Man City inside the right goalpost.

Local boy Bubba Watson won the Masters.

7) The Masters "Bubba's Homecoming" - Georgian golfer Bubba Watson grew up near Augusta and rallied to tied Louis Oosthuizen to extend the golf tournament. On the second sudden death playoff hole, Watson found himself within the trees. Going for broke, Watson curled an iron shot around the trees and on to the green, where he was able to two putt his way to victory. Watson would dedicate the win to his late father.

Brad Richards has showed a flair for the dramatic in 2012.

6) Rangers/Capitals Game 5 "Richards Comes up Clutch"- After a 3OT Game 3 and a ton of drama, the Rangers found that the Capitals just wouldn't die. Anton Stralman scored for the Blueshirts, but the Capitals would tie the game on a goal by Brooks Laich. The game setup for a fiery third period, where John Carlson one-timer from the point found the back of the net. As the Rangers swarmed the Capitals rookie goaltender Braden Holtby trying to tie the game, he repeatedly turned them aside. With 30 seconds remaining, Caps Game 7 hero Joel Ward was whistled for a four-minute high sticking. The Rangers would go to the power play and Michael Del Zotto's shot was deflected by Ryan Callahan, starting off a melee in front of the Capitals net. During the net mouth scramble, Winter Classic hero Brad Richards swatted the puck past Holtby and John Carlson into the net to tie the game. In Overtime, Ranger defenseman Marc Staal slapped a point shot past Holtby and into the net. At the time, it appeared the Rangers were the team of destiny.

In this back and forth game,
Vernon Davis trotted into the end zone
for the win.

5) 49ers/Saints Divisional Playoff game "Mediocre Offense Beats the Adequate Defense" - Seesaw games always make it high on the list. Pit a hard defense against a high powered offense and it's a lot of fun. The New Orleans Saints visit to San Francisco  was a game that took your breath away. After the 49ers took a 17 point lead, the Saints scored 17 of the next 23 points and took the lead on a Darren Sproles catch-n-run. But the 49ers didn't crumble as they took the lead back on a 28 yard run by Alex Smith. 27 seconds after that, Jimmy Graham halled in a Drew Brees pass and ran 66 yards to paydirt! So with 1:37 remaining, Alex Smith justified his Number One Overall status, as he drove the 49ers down the field and capped it with a 14 yard touchdown pass to Vernon Davis.

LeBron began his championship
legacy in this game.

4) Miami/Boston Game 6 "LeBron Begins His Legacy" - Staring at elimination, LeBron James had his biggest game of his Miami Heat tenure. After answering questions about the Heat's future and possible split, James poured out 45 points and collected 15 rebounds to lead the Heat past the Celtics and bring the series back to Miami. He scored 30 in the first half, but Boston cut the lead down to three, when the Heat scored the next ten points to seal the game. After this game, the Heat would lose once more the rest of the post season.

T.J. Yeldon ran through the Georgia
defense to win the SEC Championship.

3) SEC Championship Game "Saban Returns to Championship"- Essentially a play-in game to get into the National Championship against Notre Dame, Georgia and Alabama locked up in a game for that was as spirited as you could expect. After a week of complaining about the Championship Game that he avoided last year and still made the BCS Championship, Saban's Crimson Tide trailed midway through the third quarter 21-10, but scored the next 15 points once they got their running game going. Aaron Murray lead Georgia right back down the field again for another go-ahead touchdown capped by a Todd Gurley 10 yard run. With time the enemy of Alabama, AJ McCarron drew the safeties in with a play action fake and hit Amari Cooper with a 45 yard touchdown pass. Murray wasn't done, driving the Bulldogs all the way down to the Alabama 8 yard line, but that's where Georgia made a mistake. Instead of Murray spiking the ball, he threw for the end zone, but the ball was tipped right into the hands of receiver Chris Conley, who's receiver instincts forced him to catch the ball. Because he did, the clock ran and time ran out, making Alabama SEC Champions.

Adam Henrique put the Devils into the Stanley Cup Finals
and broke a lot of hearts in Manhattan.

2) Rangers/Devils Game 6 "History Repeats Itself...Almost"- 18th Anniversary of Mark Messier's "Guarantee", the Rangers and Devils found a worthy successor to their epic 1994 Eastern Conference Final. Like the 94 Game 6, the Devils came out and tried to bury the Rangers in the first period with goals by Ryan Carter and Ilya Kovalchuk. The latter goal was a thing of beauty with tic-tac-toe passing by David Clarkson and Dainuis Zubris with Kovalchuk finishing with a hard one-timer. Unlike 94, the Rangers didn't wait to tie the game. In the second period, Ruslan Fedotenko deposited a Ryan McDonagh wrap-around and Ryan Callahan tipped a slap shot from Dan Girardi to tie it. In the third period, the goaltenders were impenetrable as Henrik Lundqvist and Martin Brodeur turned aside every shot- including Brodeur's stack pads to stop Brad Richards on a rebound attempt. In Overtime, the Devils countered a Rangers' neutral zone turnover and a net mouth scramble seemed under control, but the puck squirted though Lundqvist's pads and Adam Henrique swept it into the empty net, sending the Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals and breaking Manhattan hearts.

Game of the Year:

Eli Manning beat Tom Brady for the second time in four years.

Super Bowl XLVI "Repeating Eli's MVP" - In Super Bowl XLII, Eli Manning was awarded the MVP though plenty of people would argue it was the defensive line's MVP. It featured a miraculous catch on a fourth quarter game-winning drive. This one was more of the same. The Giants took a 2-0 lead on a Tom Brady intentional grounding, the Giants took the ball down the field and scored on a touchdown by Victor Cruz. That's never enough to beat Tom Brady as New England scored the next 17 points (featuring TWO Brady TD passes to Danny Woodhead and Aaron Hernandez). Late in the fourth quarter, Brady's passes to the dependable Wes Welker just missed and stalled a drive leading to the Giants having the ball on their own 12 yard line. To begin the drive, Eli Manning scanned the field to throw deep down the left sideline to Mario Manningham. The throw was dead perfect as well as the catch and it stood after replay. The Giants drove down to the New England six, where the defense allowed Ahmad Bradshaw to run easily into the end zone. With the ball back and plenty of time, Tom Brady tried to engineer one more game-winning drive, but like their first Super Bowl matchup, New England couldn't get anywhere. UNLIKE their first matchup, Brady's hail mary did reach the end zone and narrowly missed the finger tips of Rob Gronkowski for the winning score. As the Giants won, Eli Manning was named MVP again and the Giants were the first team with 9 wins to win a Super Bowl.

Here are my games of the year. Feel free to comment on the order or if I forgot one.

Console to Screen: Resident Evil (The Right Way)

Resident Evil created
survival horror.

I've written so much about how terrible the Resident Evil series has been, so one more article won't hurt. It's been 12 years since hack director Paul W.S. Anderson "shat out" the most awful and disgraceful adaptation of all time and it's set to conclude in the next film...possibly. The only unfortunate part for me is that I couldn't officially call it the Worst Adaptation of All Time because it's moderate success. However, it's story is so weak that they just keep referring to the Umbrella Corporation without ever really considering their business plan. You figure if everyone in the world is a monster or a zombie, that wouldn't help the economy. Resident Evil gave birth to survival horror, but now it's trying to cling to relevancy. Where did all of it go wrong?

Plot:

The first story was set in a mysterious mansion.
The first movie...went another direction.

Go back to basics of what the story was. Ditch the Alice storyline that was never in the game for the REAL story of an elite special attack team called S.T.A.R.S. that are caught in a mansion while investigating the disappearance of the Alpha squad. Little by little, the squad of Chris Redfield, Barry Burton and Jill Valentine find out that the mansion is full of zombies and monsters. Eventually, they learn that mansion is a research facility that's trying to create the ultimate weapon and founded by their S.T.A.R.S. member Albert Wesker.
In Resident Evil 2, the virus took to streets of Raccoon City, but enter two new protagonists, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Claire journeyed to Raccoon City to find her brother and (CLICHE ALERT) Leon came for his first day on the job. In the city, they encounter a daughter (Sherry) of the mutated scientist (William Birkin) and Ada Wong, a woman with her own agenda. They learn that Birkin created the G-Virus which is more powerful than the T-Virus from the first story. Each character had their own storyline and which unlocked a second story continuing in an alternate timeline that expanded the story. Birkin's metamorphosis over several stages in the game were terrifying an haunting. Add-in a mysterious man that shows up in the B story and it's really creepy.

Cast:

Leon Kennedy.

What could have been...

Instead of wasting time on a made up character, this could have been where Leon Kennedy took center stage. Kennedy was the lead character in Resident Evil 4 and a key character in Resident Evil 6. Hmmm... still no Alice. Now, take a look at the picture of Leon Kennedy. Who could have played that back in 2002 and done a good job. That's right, Ryan Gosling. Now a leading man and an Oscar Nominated A-lister, fat chance trying to get him if they rebooted the series to do it right. Can't think of another guy, but he would have been great.
Oddly, Ally Larter as Claire Redfield wasn't a bad choice, but her character was as emotionally vacant as a Taylor Lautner monologue.

What It Has Going For It:

Lisa Trevor was a minor character, but never touched on
by any RE movie.

If Resident Evil didn't go awry and actually stuck to a coherent story, people would have seen a movie about a corporation trying to create biological weapons. When the company's experiments go wrong and it takes a massive PR hit, Umbrella is undermined and their resources are plucked by other groups. Now that sounds a lot like nuclear weapons and the breakdown of the Soviet governments, which made for plenty of spy stories in the 90s. It also showed that there are other groups than just a corporation...which cares about profit.
Every RE story had an "ultimate weapon" that players had to overcome and different creatures. In RE 1, you fought Tyrant. In RE 2, it was the MANY phases of William Birkin. There's always something BIG at the end. In Paul WS Anderson's first Resident Evil film...there was a Licker. Really? In Resident Evil: Apocalypse, it was Nemesis...sort of as Nemesis was someone Alice knew and she was trying to rescue him. It wasn't until Resident Evil: Extinction that a creature was used like Tyrant and even that one was screwed up. There's also the minor characters that the movies didn't show like Lisa Trevor, a mutated girl chained to a board and meandering around in RE 4. There was other creatures not used in the movies like the Hunters. The Hunters intro in the original RE was one of the creepiest surprise in ANY RE game (as scene below at the 2:45 mark). They were also the most eerie of the RE soldiers. The Hunters would walk towards you and then attack with great speed and strength when close.

Who Could Pull This Off:
Any choice is better than Paul WS Anderson. I would hate using this guy as my template of bad directors...but I can't name a movie he's done without throwing up a little in my mouth. He took Alien vs Predator, named it AVP and made us miss Renny Harlin and Stephen Hopkins directing. Anyway, RE is a combination of horror and action. You'd have to choose which you'd want it to be...unless you get Zack Snyder. Sure Snyder has made his name directing 300, Sucker Punch and Watchmen, but his 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake is just the flavor the real Resident Evil series would need. Now, how to get him? Wait to see how Superman: Man of Steel works out (the SECOND reboot of the DC hero) and if Superman is successful, it only helps. Reboots are usually after audiences forget the originals just enough...well except for Spider-Man.

Like I've said, if Resident Evil is to be rebooted, it'll likely go the route of being truer to the original stories as most reboots do. Hell, even James Bond went to the "closer to the source material" road and look at how successful Daniel Craig's James Bond series has been. Albert Wesker would actually be scary instead of an annoying guy with an accent. I actually need to stop writing this because the Resident Evil movies remind me of the words "wasted potential"...

10 Best Christmas Movies

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and regrettably there hasn't been many movies made about the other holidays- the Pagans are annoyed. However, Hollywood has churned out plenty of good Christmas movies...and some REEEEEEAAALLY bad ones. Then again, there's some movies set during Christmas (Batman Returns) that could qualify for this list. So before you say "Humbug" here's ten movies that you should watch this week:

10) Gremlins (1984) - While Christmas shopping, inventor Randall Peltzer visits an antique Chinese shop and purchases a Mogwai named Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandell). He gives it to his teenage son Billy after getting specific directions on caring for the Mogwai figuring that teenage boys could follow three rules. As a result, Billy breaks all THREE rules: Don't get him wet, Never feed him after midnight and keep him out of sunlight. Billy violates the first two and creates Gremlins that terrorize his town. The only bright side is that Billy shines sunlight on Spike (the head Gremlin) and ends the threat.

9) The Ref (1994) - When a jewel thief (Denis Leary) -hit with cat piss -runs from the police and abducts a feuding couple on the brink of divorce (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis), he must also go through the holiday with them while keeping them quiet. As the couple continues to feud, he gives them better advice than their relationship therapist and eventually leads to their reconciliation. Leary was great as well as Spacey and Davis, but this film was where the angry comic was in top form.

8) Elf (2003) - When a orphan baby crawls in Santa Claus' sack, he's mistakenly taken back to the North Pool and raised as an elf. When Buddy (Will Farrell) is told he's not an elf as he towers over everyone, Buddy journeys to New York to find his real father. This ranks up with the very best of Farrell's roles, with Anchorman, Old School and Stranger than Fiction, and certainly was a role only he could have pulled off. With a cast that featured James Caan, Bob Newhart and Zooey Deschenel, Farrell was accompanied with plenty of talent that he outshines.

7) Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - Couldn't figure out a version to put on the list so I went with the Muppet Christmas Carol with Michael Caine as Scrooge. In this musical version of the Dickens' story, Scrooge had more life and more pain than most other editions of this story. It was the first Muppet movie directed by Brian Henson and the darkest of all the Muppet movies. Of course, this entire story took on a different meaning after finding out that it was just Charles Dickens using it a socialist propaganda... but it's still good.

6) National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (1989) - Clark Grizwald's (Chevy Chase) travels were well documented in the 1980's, but this is the one time everyone came to him. Before they did funny Old Navy commercials, Juliet Lewis and Sean Astin were the kids in this edition with the mom (Beverly D'Angelo) never changing. Clark overdoes the lights, finds a squirrel in his Christmas tree and survives his dysfunctional family coming to visit. The true meaning of the holidays: surviving family.

5) Miracle of 34th Street (1947) - A department store Santa Claus is so light-hearted that he brings together Macy's and Gimbal's, but he's too nice and actually believes he IS Santa Claus. Edmund Gwenn defends him when he's on trial to be committed to a mental institution. In this holiday classic, the belief in Santa Claus is brought up in adults and children, but concludes with two memorable scenes like one where the Judge is bombarded by letters to Santa Claus sent to Kris Kringle by postal workers that were feeling lazy. Wait... I just ruined the moment.

4) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - Tim Burton's story was adapted well to the big screen where Jack Skellington discovers Christmastown and what Christmas is all about. Jack becomes obsessed with Christmas and usurps Santa Claus in an attempt to participate in Christmas... but he's terrible at it. Eventually, Santa Claus is rescued and the world returns to order, but Burton's film is an original classic.

3) Die Hard (1988) - Look, it's a CHRISTMAS movie. There's plenty of Red (blood) and Green (barrier bonds) that are in this movie. When NY cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) travels to LA to visit his wife, he encounters terrorists after the a TON of money. It's one of the greatest action movies of all time and Bruce Willis delivers a great performance that made him a star. Allan Rickman still stands as one of the best villains in cinema history as well.

2) It's a Wonderful Life (1947) - Arguably Frank Capra's greatest film, it recalls the life of George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart). Beginning with his guardian angels recapping how George saved his brother, met his wife (Donna Reed) and became a success, but when George's life hits a crossroads, he is scared and attempts suicide. Fortunately, someone else jumps in the water and George saves him. That man was actually his guardian angel Clarence, whom shows George what the world would be like if he never lived. George goes on to find he had more of an impact than he would ever dreamed of and wishes to live. As George runs through his town of Bedford Falls with complete appreciation of every bit of his town that could have been ruined. Bailey is prepared to go to prison, but in the spirit of the holiday, the community gives enough to save Bailey from legal trouble...even by those who despised him. He's also assured that his guardian angel finally get's his wings.

How many lines from this movie can you recite?

1) A Christmas Story (1983) - In the most wonderful story of the Christmas holiday, Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) sees a toy that he wants and desires- a Red Ryder BB gun- only to be shot down continually. It deals with bullies, cursing while changing a tire, being letdown by decoder rings and licking flagpoles, while his family deals with dogs, lamps in the shape of a woman's leg and dressing up for the cold in ways that seemed fit for deep sea diving. There isn't an aspect about this movie that doesn't fire on all cylinders and Darren McGavin was nothing short of brilliant. TBS runs this movie every Christmas for 24 hours and even non-Christians watch it. It's quotable -"You'll shoot your eye out", it's relatable, it's real and it's just downright hilarious. There are few films that capture a time period- let lone a holiday so perfectly. Pop in the DVD and watch it again...and again.

The Hobbit is NOT a Prequel, So Don't Call It One

The Hobbit opens
December 14th.

On December 14th, New Line Cinema will release The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Audiences have already watched the previews and said, "Okay, it's the prequel to Lord of the Rings," as their movie conditioning has become over the last fifteen years since Star Wars shat out The Phantom Menace. The problem is that audiences didn't know that it's really the other way around. Lord of the Rings is the sequel (technically, LOTR was supposed to be one book) for The Hobbit. If you've read any entry of this blog, you'll know my distain for the prequel (even with Prometheus in my top films of the year). So as the build up comes to The Hobbit's release, why are people (and New Line Cinema's marketing) referring to it like a prequel... the most horrible form of any "quel".

The dwarfs on the quest to Lonely Mountain.

The tale of Bibo Baggins (Martin Freeman), the mild mannered half-ling, sought out by the grey wizard Gandolf (Ian McKellen) to join in an adventure to Lonely Mountain. Baggins always enjoyed to little things in life and never took up in any adventures or excitement. However, Gandolf represents a group of dwarfs (led by Thorin Oakensield) who look to reclaim their fortune in the Lonely Mountain that was captured by a dragon Swaug. After some convincing by Gandolf, Bilbo leaves the Shire of Hobbiton and sees the rest of Middle-Earth. He encounters Trolls, goblins, giant spiders and wolves, but the one creature he meets and changes the world forever is Gollum. If you don't know who Gollum is by now, Google him dammit. In Gollum's caves, far below the caves of Goblins that were chasing them, Biblo battles Gollum with a game of riddles with the wager: Biblo's life or directions out. When Gollum loses, he returns to the caves, hoping to find his "birthday present", but it's nowhere to be found because Bilbo picked it up earlier. This moment was shown in the intro to the series in The Fellowship of the Ring, depicting the chapter "Riddles in the Dark" from The Hobbit. As a matter of fact, McKellen's Gandolf mutters "Riddles in the dark," in Fellowship while at Bilbo's house.

Peter Jackson wavered on directing The Hobbit,
but signed on and expanded it for a trilogy.

Unlike your typical "prequel", The Hobbit makes references to events that the Lord of the Rings expands on. The most notable is the ring, which isn't referred to as the Ring of Sauron at all. It simply made Bilbo invisible. Another aspect is that The Hobbit is being split into a trilogy. It's a bit unbelievable and could stretch the plot thin, but director Peter Jackson has earned the right to try it out. Though the less-is-more approach of Lord of the Rings may have worked better here. The other issue will be where to split the movies. The Lord of the Rings had definite parts to do it as all three books had definite conclusions (though Two Towers didn't use the book's ending). Where will the splits happen and can it keep audiences engaged? The Hobbit was written and turned into an animated 90 minute movie in 1977 with John Huston as the voice of Gandolf. Can it work as three epic films over 400 minutes?

Back to the title of this article, The Hobbit was written first and LOTR took up the cue from this initial offering by Tolkien. A true prequel's story does not exist at the time of the original's creation (case and point: Alien is to Prometheus). My point is a little hindered because technically Star Wars Episodes 1-3 existed, but not the stories finally presented. The Hobbit was always a pipe dream for LOTR fans (and having Ian McKellen reprise Gandolf was a bonus), but LOTR was the right call to do first. Unfortunately, prequels aren't the best quality (save X-Men: First Class and Prometheus as the few good ones), but The Hobbit isn't trying to show audiences "where it all began". It's telling Bilbo's story that was referenced numerous times in Fellowship of the Ring. There aren't many questions from LOTR that need to be answered- after all the Lonely Mountain isn't in Mordor. Therefore, it's really not a prequel in that aspect either. It won't end with the War for the Ring that was in the open of Fellowship of the Ring. That happened long before any of the events in The Hobbit. 

We'll see it soon as week's end, but one thing is for certain, The Hobbit is it's own story and not a story trying to jam information in to tell you how the characters you loved "got to" where you know them.  EVERY aspect in this wondrous book can be flushed out and enjoyable for all the fans, who were let down by Lord of the Rings at some point.

Ten of the Worst Adaptations of All Time

Super Mario Bros was
just bad, but it didn't make
list.

Some of the greatest films of all time have been adapted from smaller stories. Whether it's from something like a book, novella or short story, to TV series and video games in recent times, movies have taken ideas and expanded or condensed them to make compelling motion pictures. After all thirteen of IMDb's top fifteen movies are based off books, plays or short stories with Inception and Pulp Fiction being the notable originals. The fact is that a great story can translate to a great film, or a bad one if not handled properly. The greatest franchise in movie history (James Bond) was adapted from Ian Fleming's series of novels, but imagine if the first was a bomb. Would it been a successful series? Of course not, it would crumble. In spite of that reasoning, one of the films on this list will defy explanation, however the rest tried to either expand their franchise with a new vision or just let it lie. This list is based upon popularity, risk, reception, the quality of the adaptation itself and the franchise's potential (if applicable).

Moneyball is a good film
until facts come into play.

10) Moneyball (2011) - If you've read this blog for Worst Movies of 2011, Moneyball was the loser as worst movie. Now, that isn't saying that Moneyball was a bad movie, but it didn't represent the facts well. The film excluded all mention of pitchers Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Corey Lidle and AL MVP Migel Tejada and All Star Eric Chavez to focus on Scott Hatteberg, Chad Bradford and David Justice. The film depicts an acquisition of a situational left-handed reliever as the big moment in a sports movie. However, it wraps up well, citing that Billy Beane is still trying to win the final game of the season and got nominated for Best Picture by film critics who likely did not know the facts excluded by the film.

Too a whole week to make you realize,
you're not getting 10 hours back.

9) Stephen King's The Stand (1994) - One of Stephen King's best books was reduced to a PG-style horror film that could be tame enough for middle America to watch it in front of kids. The cast featured many names Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Jamey Sheridan, Corin Nemic, Laura San Giacomo, Ruby Dee, Ozzie Davis, Miguel Ferrer, Ray Walston and Rob Lowe, but they weren't fleshed out by director Mick Garris. Originally the studio wanted George Romero, which was out as soon as ABC wanted it for a miniseries. The full week event boiled down to a nuke exploding in Vegas detonated by the "hand of God". Is there any worse way to end a series than this? Like video games, there hasn't been many good King adaptations, which is hard to explain from America's best selling author.  

Great anime deserves an awful
American live action feature.

8) The Fist of the North Star (1995) - Adapted from a popular anime series, Fist of the North Star took a lot of liberties with the original story and tamed down the action in comparison to the anime series. It's so forgettable that I can't point out much that went wrong, but it's so far down on the list because the cult status of the series and no attempt to reprise or recreate this awful piece. It had a 3.8 rating on IMDb and had Downtown Julie Brown in the supporting cast. Enough said.

Low Budget, poorly written,
The Guyver didn't have
a chance.

7) The Guyver (1991) - Another popular anime series from Japan was depicted on film with Star Wars Mark Hamill headlining in a supporting role. Released during a time where action and comedy were blending together, this film never took itself seriously. Directed by a special effects artist, an overly cartoony style and terribly placed homages to other films, The Guyver never was able to tell it's story with any type of decorum or even satire. The series attempted a sequel in 1994 with Steve Wang directing it alone and a dark tone, but the series was done.

Transformers was more about
Shia LaBeouf wise cracks than
anything.

6) Transformers (2007) - When Michael Bay adapted Transformers to the big screen, most fans asked "Why" before saying "how". From the instant Transformers premiered, it was obvious that the Transformers themselves would be secondary to feature the humans. Unbelievably a huge mistake as Optimus Prime would say, "My Bad," as the film continued to just get dumber. As the series evolved ("evolved" is used liberally), it would steal lines from Star Trek and become a slow motion film when Megan Fox or the other chick appeared on screen. The key point of the Transformers was lost as the fight to steal Earth's power resources was replaced by "the Cube" or the something else. Couple that with the "replicon" from the second movie and the horribly racist robots, you wonder how this series was able to go three movies.

Shouldn't an adaptation
be about the thing your
adapting?

5) Resident Evil (2002) - I've written how about Resident Evil is (and the rest of the series for that matter several times) an abomination. One more won't hurt. It's a bizarre retelling of Alice in Wonderland and completely disregards the series it was adapting to tell a completely irrelevant story with a character that doesn't exist in the series. Most fans of the series have turned away, where somehow it picked up an audience and that blindly sees the sequels. It's actually pretty insulting to the current series of games that desperately are trying to stay relevant to the populous. The fact that this film is still churning out terrible money-making sequels prevents it from being the top of the list. 

Don't worry, Jim Carrey will
do something funny to save us...

4) How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) - Ron Howard won an Oscar for a Beautiful Mind and is one of Hollywood's top directors with Splash, The Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon, Ransom, Backdraft and Willow to name a few. That said, this is probably Howard's worst film. Adapted from the 22 minute short film (already adapted from the Dr. Seuss short story), Jim Carrey took the role of the Grinch and the spoke freely without rhyme for the most part. The Grinch was given one of the worst backstories of all time- as he was shunned for giving himself a terrible haircut in an attempt to impress Martha May Whovier (Christine Baranski) and while Augustus Maywho (Jeffrey Tambor) taunts him. This film reeked of "Jim Carrey's comedic style will save us", but sadly the movie was not funny or entertaining, yet is considered a holiday classic. Still don't know how, but how did Twilight make 5 movies? Don't know how that happened either.

Almost everyone's career
was ruined by Street Fighter.

3) Street Fighter (1994) - Video games have not been adapted well to the screen (see Why Video Game Movies Haven't Worked) and Street Fighter is the quintessential example of this. With Belgian Jean-Claude Van Damme as America's William F. Guile and Raul Julia as General M. Bison, this film couldn't have been saved if Ming-Na and Kylie Minogue started going at it in the middle of the movie...as in the entire SECOND ACT! It received a rating of 3.7 on IMDb and was so poorly received that no sequel was attempted and the equally awful arcade game was shelved before it made it to consoles. This movie was so weak that it wasn't even mentioned in Raul Julia's epitaph a few months later. Perhaps he died just to get away from the reviews of the film. 

Paul WS Anderson kills three franchises
with this remarkably bad 2004 piece
of dreck.

2) Alien vs. Predator (2004) - Paul W.S. Anderson makes the list again! How this guy continues to make movies baffles Michael Bay. Anderson's hack job on Resident Evil was awful, but RE looks Oscar worthy compared to this piece of crap. Set in Antarctica, AVP (the more stylish title) had humans exploring an ancient temple where the Predators trained their young ones by sacrificing humans to become aliens as right of passage. This goes against the Predator's code that they don't kill unarmed people, but that's another story... I guess. Eventually the spanish archeologist with a terrible accent (get used to that as a reference) deduced that the humans worshiped the Predators to keep the evil inside the temple that the Predators put there. Also, this film makes you root for one of the hated/beloved creatures and gives the audience a "stalemate" ending which is just... well stale. Eventually, AVPR (Aliens vs Predator Requiem) was released a few years later. The film did better with it's tone, but as a sequel to this sad adaptation produced a lackluster sequel. Though left open for another segment, there are no plans for another addition. It even was ignored in a prequel sense. Lance Hendrickson starred as Charles Bishop Weyland, intended to connect the dots to the Weyland company that produced the Bishop android in Aliens. In 2012's Prometheus, Guy Pierce played the owner of the Weyland company, Peter Weyland. The two roles had one thing in common: they both were over-zealous and met their demise from an alien creature.     

So bad that no one wants,
the sequel to come out.

1) G I Joe (2009) - Hasbro established themselves as a production company after Transformers was a success, but G.I. Joe was to solidify their budding company. Starring Channing Tatum (yes, he's awful), Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rachel Nicholos and Marlon Wayans, the film (helmed by the Mummy director Stephen Sommers) was putrid to say the least. The military strongholds of both sides were penetrated faster than a date with a Jersey Shore girl. Also, it's story was as weak as the Scottish accent of Christopher Eccelston's Destro (which may be real and even scarier). This film end quickly, poorly with a twist that no cared about. It was so bad that Channing Tatum's Duke is rumored to be killed in the sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation that has already been pushed back TWICE to March of 2013. The film's stars are nowhere to be found in the sequel (ditto for Sommers) with only Snake Eyes Ray Park returning. Not to say this film series had potential post-9/11, but whatever it had is all but gone and Hasbro finds themselves desperately asking Bruce Willis, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Ray Stevenson to save it.

There's my list I couple compile. If I left anything out, let me know in the comments.