2014 Movie Ranking #39 - #21

One more update before the final 20.

#39

Raiders of the Lost Ark

The Indiana Jones movies are good for a rewatch every few years or so. Raiders of the Lost Ark always used to be my least favorite of the original movies. Over the years it has grown on me though. All the historical stuff that I used to find boring, I find interesting now. There are great characters, as well as some iconic scenes like the boulder rolling, the snake pit, and of course the melting dudes at the end. 

It is a little slow in parts and I found my mind wandering at a few points in time. That's the only reason it doesn't rank higher than this.

#38

X-Men: First Class

After watching X-Men, Days Of Future Past, which I thought was amazing, I thought it was only natural to go back and check out X-Men First Class to see if I could pick up anything I had missed the first time around (I watched this a few years ago, I think).

This is definitely more light hearted than its sequel. That said, I actually preferred Days of Future Past. But I still like this one too. It is interesting to see the formation of the X-Men. The actual plot with all the spy/Cold War crap in the background wasn't that interesting to me. What I liked the most about this movie was the actual mutant stuff, and the early relationship between Xavier, Magneto, and Mystique and the original X-Men.

#37

Turner and Hooch

There's no crying in baseball! Oh wait, wrong movie. I used to watch this movie to death when I was a kid, but it literally has been over 15 years since I have seen it. I thought maybe the magic would have been lost somewhere in the transition, but it had not. 

This is a really fun movie, and personifies the era in which it was made perfectly. It is funny, it has a solid storyline. Tom Hanks of course is awesome, and his relationship with Hooch is interesting to watch, especially as it goes from extreme hate to love. I didn't cry at the end because I knew what was coming, but I did as a child. Solid movie.

#36

Fruitvale Station

With all the recent events across the US recently I didn't know if I would like this movie or find that it was done in poor taste. I actually did like it. It was very well done, and did a good job at making the dude who gets shot seem like a very sympathetic character. He was a normal guy and not a gangsta or trouble maker and that is what makes the ending so powerful. Again - I look for movies that trigger emotional responses when making this list - and Fruitvale Station definitely fits that description.

#35

Neighbors

I saw this as the second half of a double feature when I went to go see X-Men Days of Future Past at a drive in theater. Not knowing what to expect, I actually enjoyed this. It's nothing too incredibly deep or mind blowing, but it is consistently funny from beginning to end. There are a lot of great gags, hot chicks, and of course the story is pretty good as well. I was thoroughly entertained when these types of movies usually fall flat when I watch them.

#34

Thor 2: The Dark World

I watched this twice in 2014, actually. The first time was when it came out on DVD. The second time was when I was watching Agents of Shield on Netflix. It got to an episode that picked up where Thor 2 left off, and I wanted to re-watch the movie to refresh my memory.

It's a pretty fun movie with some nice twists. Unlike the first movie which was a little more light hearted and funny in parts, this one is dark and takes itself very seriously. There are also many more action scenes, which are all pretty exciting and well done. It just lacks a little something in the "fun" department for me, which is the main reason it isn't ranking any higher than this. Props to the movie with the fake Loki dying twist, I never saw it coming what actually happened. And the special effects are great. I liked it a lot.

#33

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

There is no denying that this is a fun movie with many iconic moments. It is not as "history rich" as the other Indiana Jones movies, so it is never slow moving and never boring. It is pretty fast paced and fun, but it never feels like there is too much action and it needs to slow down. This movie balances fun and adventure along with exploration and mystery perfectly. 

Some of my favorite scenes are the minecart ride, the heart ripping out scene, the gross dinner, and of course the bug room. There is just so much good stuff in this movie. The only thing keeping it from ranking higher is the "I have seen it way too many times" factor.

#32

The Night of the Living Dead (1990)

I prefer the original black and white version of the film, but every few years or so I will pop this in to see how it stacks up to the original. It actually stacks up pretty well. If you are looking for a direct port of the old movie into color, this is not for you. This version of the film makes all kinds of changes to the story. Which is pretty interesting to see actually because it is not like watching the same movie twice. Both this and the old version offer a unique view of the events of the night of the zombie attack. I enjoyed this a lot. 

#31

The Addams Family

This is one of those movies that never seems to get old for me. I was never a fan of the Addams Family TV show, but for some reason I love the movies. The family itself if awesome, and a lot of the dark gruesome jokes about pain and death and how they love it, I find hilarious.

It is a cool movie visually - the house itself and all its mysterious chambers and creepy effects are great. It is funny, and I like the story with the fake Uncle Fester infiltrating the family for their money, only to turn out to be the real Uncle Fester. Great characters, off the wall jokes, solid story. This movie is a classic.

#30

Rocky

Can you believe I made it to the age of 32 without seeing Rocky? I figured I would like this movie, but it was different from what I had expected. The charm of this movie isn't in the boxing ring, but outside of it. Rocky is a somewhat slow but kind hearted man, and watching him walk around and talk to people and jive with them is surprisingly fun. Even if you took away the boxing and it was just his courtship of Adrian, I would still watch it. 

I liked the build up to the fight, and then the showdown with Apollo Creed. Even though he didn't win, it felt like a win because he performed so much better than anyone expected. I actually thought that it would have made a better movie if he had won, but then victory wouldn't have tasted so sweet in Rocky 2. 

#29

The Human Centipede

Just the name The Human Centipede is enough to make some people's skin crawl, and I can see why. The really gross stuff doesn't happen until later in the film, but the whole movie is very dark and creepy. Knowing what is coming almost makes it worse. True, it is very low budget - and it can tend to be a little slow early on. But those flaws weren't enough to ruin it for me.

When the actual "centipede" part of the movie happens, it is just as disturbing as you would think it would be. And to think this movie is actually tame compared to its sequel. I like movies that can trigger an emotional response, and this movie definitely achieved that goal. 

#28

Divergent

I wasn't a HUGE fan of the Divergent book series. Sure I read them, and they were easy to read and decent fun in parts. But the first book where the characters are in training to be Dauntless was the worst of the three. It seemed a bit too middle heavy, and all the good stuff didn't really start to happen until the end.

How would it translate into film? Surprisingly well. The movie moves along at a pretty quick pace, and none of the boredom from the books ever begins to trickle in. I thought it was pretty fun, and I enjoyed it even more than the book - which is rare. The parts that I was particularly interested to see (the dream sequences while testing) were pretty cool and did not disappoint.

#28 TIE!

Frozen

Surprise! I forgot to write down Frozen on my movie list somehow, so obviously it got left off when I started writing this blog. Rather than mess up the numbering and having to go back and edit all my previous posts, I will just put it as a tie. This is probably where it would have ranked anyway, so no harm no foul, right? Yeah, like anyone is reading this anyway.

So I am generally not a fan of Disney movies or any kind of animated movie with music in it. But surprisingly I actually liked this. It's all about the story and the characters for me. It doesn't hurt that it is funny, and that it looks freaking beautiful too.

Oddly I didn't mind the music either. There are some cringe worthy songs, but they rarely drag the movie down or make it boring for me. And yes I will admit I really like "Let It Go" and still haven't gotten sick of it yet.

#27

Hot Fuzz

I had originally seen this several years ago. When watching this again in 2014, I didn't remember much about Hot Fuzz other than that I had liked it. Would I like it again after all these years? Yes.

This is a really funny movie, but it is not "stupid funny". Well some of the jokes can be crude, but they don't ruin the movie. The storyline is actually quite good, and there is a big mystery that is cracked at the end. I just found the whole movie to be very well done. There are a lot of action movie moments, but clearly this is a comedy at heart. Clever, funny, and a strong story. I liked this a lot.

#26

The Naked Gun

To me this is the ultimate Naked Gun movie. If you watch all the sequels, they are a bit too "try hard" and use a lot of the same jokes over and over again. But everything seems so fresh and so natural in the first movie. I am usually pretty emotionless when watching movies, but this had me laughing more times than I cared to admit.

And for that, it more than earns its high marks.

#25

Wrong Turn 2

I wasn't a big fan of the first Wrong Turn, nor have I seen any of the sequels past part two. So how does this rank so highly on my list? Because its fun, that's why.

From the moment Kimberly Caldwell is split in two, to the moment the end credits started rolling, I was very into the movie. It is everything you want a fun horror movie to be. Lots of gory action, good characters, and a sense of humor. The story is interesting too with the reality TV twist on things. This was surprisingly good to me, considering I had seen this several years back and didn't like it much. I don't know what I was thinking.

#24

Six Degrees of Helter Skelter

When this documentary first started, I thought it was kind of lame. It takes you all over California, showing you locations that where important things in the Manson case happened. Sounds cool, but the first few visits were kind of inconsequential places that I didn't care about, like Sebring's old house, which really had nothing much to do with the murders or the Manson cult.

But as this progressed, we got to see a lot of the really relevant locations. I thought it was pretty fascinating. I had only read a couple of Manson books, and to see a lot of the locations where the cult gathered and where some of the murders had taken place was very neat. It's so much different reading something vs actually seeing it, and this was quite fascinating to me. 

#23

Captain America: The First Avenger

I think this is the third time I have seen this movie, and every time I like it a little bit better than I thought I would. Cap definitely has one of the best origin stories of the Marvel heroes, going from scrawny Steve Rogers to war hero Captain America. The characters in the film are great, everywhere you look is a fabulous actor, whether it be Stanley Tucci or Tommy Lee Jones. The Red Skull is a great villain too, and I hope somehow they can bring him back for future movies. 

This whole movie is just good, unadulterated fast paced fun. It may be my favorite of the pre-Avenger Marvel flicks.

#22

The Karate Kid

This is another one of those timeless classics that I had never gotten around to watching until the ripe old age of 32. People used to call me Daniel-san in school and I absolutely hated them for it. Now if they did, I probably wouldn't mind it.

Everything about this movie screams classic. No doubt if I had seen this as a youngster I would have loved it. Daniel-san is a very relatable character, and the kids who bully him are great villains that you want to see eat it. And eat it hard. The training with Mr Miyagi is awesome. Of course, Daniel wins the karate tournament at the end and kicks everyone's butt who ever did him wrong. It's kind of like Rocky with kids, but better.

#21

The Starving Games

I know that in all actuality, this is probably a horrible movie. The budget isn't great, the acting is bad. The jokes are... interesting. But something about it I just found hilarious. This movie follows the plot of the Hunger Games pretty closely, spoofing it with tasteless joke after tasteless joke every step of the way.

Not only does this spoof the Hunger Games, but it also pokes fun of other pop culture icons like the Hobbit, Avatar, and Taylor Swift. It's a very random movie, but for some reason, it works. My wife thought it was terrible, but I enjoyed it immensely. I don't know why I enjoyed this as much as I did. But I did. I want more.