#70
I am not quite sure how this movie has lasted as long as it had on this ranking. It is very fortunate to crack the top 70. Sure this movie holds sentimental value for me, another movie I saw in the theater with my mom. But my 2015 viewing of the movie was not great. The movie has its funny moments, for sure (wheeze the juice!) and Pauly Shore and Brendan Fraser have great roles here.
But the movie doesn't really stand the test of time. A lot of the jokes aren't good - and the typical high school plot line is uninspired. This is a lot of fun if you are a kid - or are experiencing it for the first time. Or maybe really high. But when I watched it last year I was very ehhhh on it. It is lucky to have made it this far, for sure.
#69
I had heard that this was supposed to be one of the best Pixar movies ever made. Usually I don't like these kind of films, but my wife wanted to see it and I thought - well okay maybe it would be cool to see in the theater.
The movie is definitely good. The concept is very unique, and there are a lot of very funny moments. Visually, it is tremendous.
I don't know what it was though, but there was a certain something that was keeping me from being truly invested in the movie. I wanted to dive in and really enjoy it, but for some reason I couldn't. I know it is a good movie - and I did for the most part enjoy myself.
But I just felt like something was missing and I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.
#68
I had heard that this movie sucked, but I actually kind of liked it. I have always been fascinated by the world of the Giver, so I was curious to see how the movie adapted things. It has been a while since I have read the books, but for the most part it seems pretty faithful to the source material (although I am not 100% certain).
You almost have to have read the book to like the movie, I think. That's probably why so many people didn't enjoy it. It can be pretty slow in parts, which may have turned people off. My attention did start to wane after a while, but the movie never completely lost me.
I liked the story, I was curious to see how all the memories would translate to film, and I think they did a fine job. Not the most exciting movie ever, nor does it have a whole lot of life or personality. But I thought it was decent. Not great, but decent.
#67
This movie was a lot better than I remember it being. The whole premise of the movie is really well done. Big old houses are creepy, especially when they are haunted.
The whole movie you know something is off about this place. It is not just your typical haunting. Something is not as it seems. It is the "what" of it that keeps you watching and keeps you entertained. There is a big twist at the end, which didn't shock me because I have seen the movie before. But I remember being surprised by it the very first time I watched this.
If I liked it so much why doesn't it rank higher? Because I fell asleep in the middle of the movie and must have missed at least a half hour of it. I can't in good conscience rank it higher because of that reason. I swore to myself I would watch it again before 2015 let up, but I never did. Maybe I will watch it again in 2016 just to fill in the missing spaces and it will rank higher on my next list.
It is not a movie I have seen too many times, so I think I would enjoy watching it again.
#66
I have been wanting to see this for a while now ever since I heard the premise of the movie. An evil entity follows people around, haunting them and eventually killing them.... okay been there done that. But what makes It Follows unique is that this entity is passed along through sex. For example, one person is being haunted by this entity - so they can sleep with someone and pass it on to them. But if this person is killed, the entity goes back to the original person and haunts them again. So the only way to get rid of it is to bang someone and hope they can pass it along - and that person passes it along, then that person passes it along, etc etc so that it doesn't come back and get you. It is like a chain.
It is an interesting concept, and unlike a lot of other horror movies the entity is actually scary. The victim sees this ghost thing slowly walking towards them in the distance and the only way they can get away from it is to run, but eventually it will catch up to them. It can look like anyone, which makes it even scarier. For some reason seeing an old crazy looking granny is a lot more frightening than seeing your average run of the mill horror ghost.
I like the movie a lot but my major concern was the ending, which left things a little too open ended for my tastes. I like a clear, solid resolution to movies. And this didn't offer one. It left you completely hanging. There was no resolution, no climax. Like a porno without a cum shot. It ended and I was like... "uh, what? That's it?"
And that definitely hurts the movie's standing in my mind.
#65
I didn't think I was going to like this movie at all. A lot of movies that get a lot of Oscar buzz I tend to find boring and pretentious. The English Patient, the Artist, etc. This had all of the makings of one of those kind of movies.
But I was surprised by its style and its humor. It wasn't dry or boring at all. The movie is fast paced, frantic, and very funny in a lot of parts. True, a lot of the people in this movie seem to be assholes and I found it hard to really like or pull for anyone (besides Michael Keaton). And there were some parts that didn't really seem to make any sense.
But for the most part I was thoroughly entertained. It wasn't my favorite movie ever - and it will probably be a long time if I ever watch it again. But I liked it. Despite not being my usual cup of tea by any stretch of the imagination, I had a good time with it.
#64
This is one of those movies I have heard a lot of good things about, particularly Jake Gyllenhaal's performance. He is almost unrecognizable in this movie. He plays a loser-y guy who stumbles into a career of accident reporter. He listens to police radio, speeds out to the scene of crimes or accidents, and worms his way in to get really good footage - which he then sells to news agencies.
You really get the feeling watching this that this is his character's calling in life. He loves this job, and it almost seems like he was born to do this. Of course, this a very morbid job so that tells us a lot about his character. And of course, he gets so deep in things that he takes it into his job to manipulate things and put himself into the story.
It is a good movie. I didn't really know what this was about coming in, so at first I was a little confused. I like it though. It works. But it is a weird movie. The best thing about it is Gyllenhaal's transformation into this character. He is what makes the movie go. Without this performance, it is only a so so film.
#63
I don't recall a whole lot about this movie. I recall it being very twisted and I had a lot of fun while watching it. I think some guy gets selected for a game or contest - and he has to perform all these crazy tasks to earn more money and keep advancing to higher levels in the game. The tasks start out relatively harmless like eating a bug, but soon elevate to worse things, such as murder.
I recall liking it, but now when I think back on the movie I can't really remember much about it. I liked it, but that's it. It must not have been too deep of an experience, I didn't really take anything memorable away from it. I would recommend watching it, but don't expect the movie to really stick with you more than a day or so after watching it.
Good, fun, fast paced fluff.
#62
Big Marvelverse fan here, so of course I was very excited for this movie. I don't know what it was about this film, but I didn't quite enjoy it as I was hoping I would. It was still a good movie - great cast, great effects, lots of action. But I wasn't an Ultron fan and didn't think the story was really that interesting.
Just seemed like a lot of action and fighting, and not much plot development. They tried to give everyone too much screen time, in addition to introducing even more characters and heroes to the mix. It kinda worked, kinda didn't.
I liked the movie, but I was just hoping for more.
#61
The Indiana Jones films are good for a watch every couple years or so. This one definitely stands out to me as probably the best in the series. I just find the search for the Ark to be very interesting. The locales are great. The movie probably has the best characters in the series (although I do admit to loving Short Round).
Good action scenes, the big rolling boulder is quite iconic. There is some history thrown in. Just a really fun movie. Why doesn't it rank higher? I know you are sick of me saying I have seen certain movies so many times, they are starting to lose their magic. But I am going to say it again here.
This would definitely rank a lot higher if I hadn't seen it about a bajillion times in my life so far.
#60
My opinions on this movie have evolved over the years. When I first saw it as a kid, I was like "Oh.my.god. What the fuck is this?" I was a big fan of the dark Keaton Batman films, and expected more of the same. Batman Forever was more of a real life cartoon - very outlandish and filled with insane action stunts. Accompanied by very questionable acting.
But in my old years, I can appreciate it. There are many different incarnations of Batman out there, and it is fun to see the more light, action oriented side of things. It's a fun movie. I must say though - watching it on Blu-Ray on a big High Definition TV is quite the experience. Everything looks really corny and soap opera-y. My wife and I had a ton of laugh out loud moments watching this - and not in the moments of the movie we were supposed to laugh. This movie is really good and really bad at the same time, and I appreciate that.
#59
I wasn't sure what to expect with this one. I had heard mixed things about it. Well - mostly negative things about it. But I am a big Terminator freak - I grew up watching these movies and will always watch a new one when it comes out no matter what I hear about it.
I like the cast. A lot of cool nerd icons are in this movie - most notably Daenerys Targaryen. A lot of the plot devices used here are really clever. For example - when Arnold comes back in time and starts a fight with those punk guys (the same thing happened in the original Terminator movie) something different happens here. The CGI "young Arnold" was pretty cool - and a lot of the ways this movie mirrored the original in the early goings were quite awesome.
I found however that as the movie went on, the less interested in it I became. I love time travel stuff, but the plot for this becomes pretty convoluted and hard to follow. Also, there is a lot of mindless action and chase scenes that drag on for too long. My mind started to wander and I became a little bit bored by this movie by the halfway point of it.
That said, I did come around to it by the end. The first half of the movie: great. The second half: ehhhh. Add these two elements together and I think that this ranking for this movie is pretty fair.
#58
I have seen this movie many times, but I decided to watch it once again because I had planned on watching Ash vs the Evil Dead and I wanted to see all the movies again before I started the show. (As of the date of this blog posting, I still haven't started it though).
I had seen this a lot as a kid, so it was interesting seeing it through an adult's eyes. I was really digging the movie until the end part with the giant battle. Then the cell phone came out and I started playing games. Not that the battle isn't cool or anything, but I liked the story line and the comedy and all that which lead up to the battle more than just a bunch of fighting.
Definitely a classic movie, definitely one of my all time favs. But I have seen it too many times to really get excited over it anymore.
#57: Tie!
This happens every year, I suddenly realize I have miscounted or miscalculated the number of movies I have watched and have to quickly edit things and hope no one noticed. At least I caught this mistake in time, as I feel pretty much the same thing about Cropsey as I did about Bridgend. Let's just make it a tie!
Every once in a while I will throw on some random Netflix documentary, not really sure if I will like it or not. This was one of those kind of situations. I had never heard of either movie, but the descriptions sounded interesting. Cropsey is about the legend of a killer with a hook for a hand (Candyman?) who people believe is responsible for a slew of murdered/missing children. The documentary focuses mainly on one subject and whether or not he was guilty. But nothing was ever really resolved, no one knows who was actually responsible.
Bridgend is about an England town where an alarming number of teens kill themselves by hanging. It is like an epidemic there, and no one can really figure out why they are doing it. It is very creepy, seeing footage of a kid talking about losing a friend and crying in front of the camera. He says he can't understand why they do it, he would never do that to his family... and then the documentary tells you that this same kid killed himself months after filming.
Bridgend is slightly more interesting, a lot more heartbreaking. But Cropsey is good in its own right. Very creepy, very full of mystery. I would suggest either documentary to anyone.
#56
I had just watched Blackfish on Netflix, and was really in a killer whale kind of mood. I immediately fired up the Whale afterwards just for shits and giggles.
It was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. It is about a young killer whale who comes to visit this little fishing town and becomes friends with its residents. The movie pissed me off though, and really shows the ugly side of humanity. The government steps in and doesn't allow any more interaction with the whale - for its own safety and for the safety of the people.
Understandable, but the whale had bonded with the people - and the people with the whale. You could see the sadness radiating from each side. I can't quite remember how the movie ends. The people kept going out to the whale despite being told not to. Did the government give up? Did the people just decide breaking the rules was worth it?
Anyway, the whale is eventually killed by a propeller blade, which is horrible. If it was going to die they should have just let it live its life and do what it wanted to do, instead of denying it its joy and the freedom to follow its heart... keeping it away from the people it really cared for. Sad really.
#55
Lion King 3, Lion King 1 and a half.... call it whatever you want, but I actually enjoyed the movie. After the disappointment that was the Lion King 2, I didn't have high hopes for this. And then I heard it was all about Timon and Pumbaa and that it basically took place parallel to the first movie. I thought for sure it would suck.
But to my surprise, I had a good time watching this. The perspective change was nice, seeing things from Timon and Pumbaa's eyes kept things nice and fresh. The movie was funny, and also explained a lot of things like how they became friends and what brought them to the green lands. A lot of their adventures cleverly tied into the first Lion King, and I thought that was neat. All in all, this was a nice surprise.
#54
I don't know what I expected coming into this - but a post apocalyptic man vs beast tale was not one of them. I knew where Rise of the Planet of the Apes left off - and expected this to be more along the lines of a direct sequel.
Instead things have been fast forwarded many, many years. There is no power, civilizations have crumbled, and man lives in fear of the apes. Both sides are prejudiced against one another, both fear each other for silly reasons. They are really not that different - they could work together and coexist if only they could put aside their differences.
The sides are forced to mingle and attempt to work together, but there is a faction within the apes led by this one really terrifying ape (can't think of his name) that creates war with the humans. And of course some of the humans are assholes too.
The movie walks the dramatic tight rope very well. The tension is thick in the air and the action is always very well choreographed. I liked the whole apocalyptic, Walking Dead feel of the film. I thought this was a pretty good movie. I am not a huge Planet of the Apes kind of guy, but this was a big surprise to me. I liked it a lot.
The only reason it doesn't rank higher is cause I can't remember shit about how it ended.
#53
This was a movie that originally I had a lot lower on my list, but every time I would come to update this blog I would keep bumping it higher and higher.
I think its initial low ranking was because I didn't like the book much - and those negative feelings kind of carried over to the movie. But this is one of those very, very rare movies that I actually enjoyed a lot more than the book.
Reading about the events in the story is one thing - seeing it is another. A lot of the boring details and copious amounts of exposition from the book are cut away in the movie version of Horns, which makes the story flow a lot better. The book got bogged down with a lot of these issues, and as a result I didn't like it as much. The movie cuts to the heart of the matter a lot quicker, while also being pretty bad ass at the same time. This story was meant to be a quick, dark, evil and funny little thing, not a long drawn out affair.
The movie does more than do the book justice - it one ups it at the same time.
#52
I've seen bits and pieces of this movie in the past, most notably the John Lithgow creature on the wing segment. And I've always liked this movie. In fact, I think I like this movie more than I do the actual show.
The movie is split into 4 or 5 segments, each one a tale of supernatural horror. My favorites are the aformentioned wing tale, and another segment where a boy can basically do anything in his mind by imagining it - and he uses this power to keep his family in check through terror and intimidation.
The other skits I didn't care for, but these 2 alone are enough to lift this movie to its current ranking. Weird trivia note - the main actor in a time hopping segment in this movie was killed on set in a bizarre helicopter accident. After watching this movie - I had to look it up on Youtube and watch it a few times. It is tragic, really, to die for a freaking Twilight Zone movie.
#51
I have a lot of good memories associated with this movie. A lot of "firsts" come to mind when I think of this film. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say, this movie always makes me think of fun times.
It has actually been a while since I have sat down and watched the whole thing from beginning to end. I have seen the newer versions, some of which I like and some I don't. I thought that this movie would look outdated in comparison - and it does. But not in a bad way.
The whole film feels really authentic. Like this could have and actually did happen. The gritty picture quality, the low budget 70s (or 80s?) way it was filmed. It is not over the top gory, but it shows just enough to be believable. It is really quite terrifying and quite good.
The only knock I have against it is that it is one of those movies I have seen so many times it has started to lose its appeal for me. You are probably sick of reading that line by now, but I can't help it. Next year I will watch less movies I have seen a zillion times, I promise!
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