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The first two Lord of the Rings movies have both advanced to my year end ranking, so this fact should bode well for Return of the King, generally regarded as the best LOTR film. However, this movie is up against stiffer competition than its predecessors.
I've always considered this to be one of the best films in the trilogy. I generally regard it as better than the Two Towers, but more on par with Fellowship of the Ring. Some years when I watch these films I like the original better, sometimes I prefer Return of the King. This was one of the years when I preferred the original. Heck, I may have even had a better time with The Two Towers. The problem is that I have seen these movies far too many times. Even though it has been several years since I've seen Return of the King, I still got bored and started playing around on my phone no more than an hour into the film.
Eventually I put the phone away and started paying closer attention, but by that point the movie was almost over and I had missed a big chunk in the middle of it because I wasn't paying attention (basically all the stuff with Aragorn recruiting the ghost army, and then the ensuing battle). The ending is still epic though, and I had a good time watching it. I strongly believe that the whole sequence with Frodo at Mt Doom battling Smeagol for control of the ring is one of the best scenes in movie history.
Still though, the movie is what, nearly three hours long? And I only paid attention for about half of it. Will that be good enough to advance it to my year end ranking? I don't know, and I won't know until I finish writing the rest of this post.
It really bothers me that it looks like the VVitch in the movie poster. I never noticed this until just now when looking for images of the DVD cover or original movie poster to put here. Luckily this will have no bearing on my thoughts for the film, which I wasn't a huge fan of.
I had heard that this was supposed to be one of the scariest "new" horror movies out there. I am not easily scared, so of course this immediately intrigued me. The movie certainly looks impressive with strong costumes and set pieces. It certainly looks and feels as if the Witch was actually filmed in the colonial days. I have to give it props for that. But as far as everything else goes, I was less than impressed.
My main problem was that I could barely understand anything that the characters were saying. Sure it is nice to be authentic to the time period as possible, so the accents are understandable, but it seemed like most of the characters, the dad in particular, were mumbling their way through the film. I was tempted to put subtitles on because nearly everything they were saying was so unclear. In retrospect I probably should have. I would have enjoyed the movie more if I could actually comprehend what the characters were actually saying.
Other than that, I didn't find the movie scary at all. It was built up as this big suspenseful movie. But I thought it was rather dull. I couldn't follow what was going on most of the time, and I thought the ending was quite dumb. I've read reviews where critics have showered praise on the movie, saying that the people who didn't understand or follow the film weren't intelligent enough to "get it".
I beg to differ. I am quite intelligent (well, somewhat intelligent anyway) and I didn't get it either. Could be because of my short attention span. More likely it was because I couldn't understand what the mumbling, heavily accented characters were saying throughout most of the film. I think this movie could have been really good. And maybe if I ever try it again I will like it the second time through. As of now however, I find it highly unlikely this will crack my top five for the month of August.
I haven't seen this movie in years, but I remember watching it at my old apartment on the east side and really loving it. With all of the things going on in the USA today - the police shootings, the racial inequality stories, the high tension level between whites and blacks - I figured that this movie would be good to watch and relevant to everything that has been happening lately.
It is still a very good movie, and still very relevant. Make a few tweaks, change some things here and there, and this film could just as easily have been made in 2016. A lot of the discussions these characters have, a lot of arguments the film raises, they are still very much active issues in today's world. In the eighteen years since this film was made, it is kind of sad to see that not much has changed.
Still though, it is a very thought provoking, well written movie. What really makes it go, however, is the acting. Great performances all around - in particular from its two main stars: the Edwards Furlong and Norton. But I was really surprised to see Avery Brooks in the movie. I loved him on Deep Space Nine and have always thought he was a tremendous actor. He was great here as well. It's a shame he never appeared in more things.
Great movie, and this should easily crack my top five for August.
This has been on my "to watch list" for years now but for some reason I never got around to it. Well, finally I did. I had a random day off and wanted to watch something fun and lighthearted, and I figured that it was finally time to give this movie a shot. Now, I have seen this movie before. But it has been so long that I didn't remember anything about it other than the whole "shark repellent" scene.
Unfortunately, that turned out to be the highlight of the entire movie. The movie starts off okay. By okay I mean in a fun, cute kind of way. Look how silly Batman used to be. This movie is so bad that its good!
But after a very, very short period of time the novelty starts to fade away. It switches gears from "so bad its good" to "dear Lord, when is this going to be over with?" It's one thing to watch an episode or two of the show for a fun trip down memory lane. But to watch an entire feature length movie of this uninterrupted? It was near torture. This movie will not crack my top five for August. It was fun for a little while, but then quickly became insufferable.
This was one of my favorite "superhero" movies as a kid. I use the term superhero loosely because Darkman isn't out looking for justice or to make the world a better place. He is out for revenge, plain and simple. He is not above killing and maiming to get the job done.
Watching it again in 2016, I was delighted to see that the movie has aged well. Sure it is tonally very different from a lot of superhero movies you see today, but this is not a bad thing. I had a fantastic time with it, and found it to be a very well put together film. And criminally underrated, I must say. Ask the average moviegoer who Darkman is and they probably wouldn't be able to tell you, which is sad.
Great acting performances all around. Lots of shocking, disturbing moments. Some really cool death scenes. This movie will never go down as one of the all time great films ever made, but if you are simply looking to have a good time and be entertained, you really can't go wrong here.
I know that a lot of people were skeptical about this film when they first heard it was being remade with an all female ghost busting cast, but I was not one of them. Anyone who would pick up the mantle of such an iconic series as Ghostbusters would have to have a deep respect for the original film and make extra sure not to ruin its legacy.
While this film is definitely higher octane and much different in tone from the original two Ghostbusters movies, I really enjoyed it. The original films are more laid back and character oriented, the films didn't even really have to try to be funny: they just were. This one is very in your face with the ghost stuff. Lots of action, lots of high flying special effects. And unlike the original movies, this one definitely goes out of its way to try to be funny. Which for the most part, it is.
I can understand why the purists wouldn't like the film. But sometimes it doesn't hurt to have an open mind and just enjoy things for what they are. This is a really fun, really funny film with a lot of great moments.
It is not the original Ghostbusters, but that is okay because it doesn't pretend to be the original film. This movie has my stamp of approval.
I thought that the original VHS movie was a relatively fun film. Not great, but not terrible by any stretch of the imagination. It was entertaining but altogether forgettable in the long run. Which is exactly the way I feel about this movie, its sequel.
Is it a gripping, thrill ride of a movie? No. Does it suck? No. It is just kind of stuck in the middle somewhere. I had a good time with the movie, but now that I am thinking back on it I don't remember much about the film at all. Mind candy in a way. Entertaining while you watch it, but when its over it leaves behind nothing of educational/nutritional value whatsoever. For that reason it likely won't make my top five for the month.
This movie has been around since the 80's, yet I didn't watch it until 2016. I am not a huge comedy guy, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I had never seen this movie until now.
I was having a bad day midway through the month and wanted to watch something that was funny, but yet considered a classic by most people out there. While scrolling through my Netflix queue, I came across this movie and it instantly clicked in my mind that I should watch this.
I did not regret the decision. Very funny, great story. Great characters. I can see why this movie is considered a classic by so many people. I loved it. Eddie Murphy is fantastic in the movie and I quickly came to fall in love with his character Prince Akeem. So many great jokes and funny situations in this movie. The mid 80's produced some really great comedies. While I am not a huge fan of the comedy genre, I find that most of my favorite comedies were made in this era.
Add Coming to America to that list.
The last time I saw this movie I was a pubescent kid back in the early 90's. I liked the movie, but I mainly watched it for the sex scenes. LOL.
Fast forward to the present time. I saw on Facebook that a friend was watching this movie and I was like "holy shit, I forgot all about Wolf." I seriously had not even thought of this film for over twenty years. I added it to my to-watch list, and finally got around to watching it near the end of the month.
It is a good movie. I found it to be a little boring and dry for long stretches of the film, but for the most part I liked it. It is definitely not a timeless classic, though. And there is a reason I didn't think about the movie for over twenty years. It is decent, but it is probably not a movie that would find its way onto too many people's "favorite movies of all time" list.
It was good for a one time watch. Will I ever watch it again? Maybe, maybe not. I'm very "meh" about it. The only way it cracks my top five for August is if it is able to beat out other movies I am more indifferent towards. Which is what I am going to go find out right now....
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Moving on from this month's crop of films:
Coming to America
American History X
Ghostbusters
Darkman
Return of the King
It was a close call between Return of the King and Wolf, but RoTK took it home by a slight margin.
8 months down, 4 to go. Here are my top 40 movies watched this year based on my top 5 selections for each month:
Cake
American Sniper
Predator
Friday the 13th Part 2
Locke
Evil Dead
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Elysium
Snowpiercer
Room
Manson Family Vacation
Deadpool
Goodnight, Mommy
Unforgiven
Big Driver
The Martian
Pixels
JFK: The Smoking Gun
Crimson Peak
It
Creed
The Revenant
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
No Good Deed
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Krampus
The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition
The Night of the Living Dead
Mad Max: Fury Road
Forrest Gump
The Little Rascals
Deliverance
The Two Towers
Zombieland
Coming to America
American History X
Ghostbusters
Darkman
Return of the King
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