R48. The Lorax (1972) - Fun fact, I watched this because I was trying to watch the newer one that I hadn't seen before, but pulled out the wrong DVD by accident. Anyway, this is good. Great music, pretty animation, amazing story.
108. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - Very good. The whole thing was like a loving tribute to Chadwick Boseman, and it was done well. I could see people arguing that it exploits his death by making the movie's emotional impact stronger because of it, but it didn't come across that way to me. The acting was top-notch, especially from Angela Bassett. In general, it was probably better than the first one, just due to the story and writing being so good, and also not having the poor CG problems of the first one. The only thing it lacked was a villain as good as Michael B. Jordan.
Gendo watches more movies in 2022
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109. Dog - Pretty good. Reminded me a lot of The Lucky Ones. I like Channing Tatum, but I'm not sure if he's quite able to carry a dramatic performance all by himself like this film requires. Not that he was bad or anything. A good story, both heartwarming and funny.
R49. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - Nothing new to say here, really. I do like how much the dialog is stuff that grownups would talk about.
R50. Arthur Christmas - Great. I remember loving this the first time, and I still do. It's very creative with its take on the Santa Claus mythos. It's really funny in all the right ways. The animation itself is a low-point, but that's just what you get with older CG that wasn't Pixar.
110. The Other Guys - A big mixed bag of sometimes funny as intended, and sometimes painfully stupid. I appreciate that compared to most stupid buddy-cop movies, the crime/mystery they were trying to solve was more interesting. It's funny to me that Adam McKay went from directing stupid comedies like this to The Big Short.
111. Eternals - Not as bad as everyone was saying. It's biggest problem was that it didn't feel like it belonged in the MCU. It seemed so separate from the MCU that any time they mentioned Iron Man or Thanos or whatever, it just felt out of place and awkward. It also just had way too many characters, such that none got the full attention they needed. But as a whole I liked it fine. Pretty too look at, with a lot of interesting ideas being presented.
R49. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - Nothing new to say here, really. I do like how much the dialog is stuff that grownups would talk about.
R50. Arthur Christmas - Great. I remember loving this the first time, and I still do. It's very creative with its take on the Santa Claus mythos. It's really funny in all the right ways. The animation itself is a low-point, but that's just what you get with older CG that wasn't Pixar.
110. The Other Guys - A big mixed bag of sometimes funny as intended, and sometimes painfully stupid. I appreciate that compared to most stupid buddy-cop movies, the crime/mystery they were trying to solve was more interesting. It's funny to me that Adam McKay went from directing stupid comedies like this to The Big Short.
111. Eternals - Not as bad as everyone was saying. It's biggest problem was that it didn't feel like it belonged in the MCU. It seemed so separate from the MCU that any time they mentioned Iron Man or Thanos or whatever, it just felt out of place and awkward. It also just had way too many characters, such that none got the full attention they needed. But as a whole I liked it fine. Pretty too look at, with a lot of interesting ideas being presented.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
112. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special - It was good, but needed "more" to be great. It felt like it was just short and a bit shallow in plot. At 44 minutes long, it somehow felt shorter than a 30 minute Christmas special. Maybe I just like the characters and world so much that it felt bad to have such a small amount of it at once, not sure. The music and scenery was really great, and had some quite funny moments. The heartwarming stuff just fell short compared to the movies, though.
113. The Lorax (2012) - Got the right disc this time! This was ok. Very pretty to look at. I know I just said that CG back then wasn't good, but maybe it was just Sony's style I didn't like. This had good music and great visuals, but the story was all over the place. In an effort to pad the original book into a full movie, they just tacked on a strange and mostly unrelated story. And as much as I like Danny DeVito, it was a terrible casting choice. Every time The Lorax spoke, it just sounded wrong.
113. The Lorax (2012) - Got the right disc this time! This was ok. Very pretty to look at. I know I just said that CG back then wasn't good, but maybe it was just Sony's style I didn't like. This had good music and great visuals, but the story was all over the place. In an effort to pad the original book into a full movie, they just tacked on a strange and mostly unrelated story. And as much as I like Danny DeVito, it was a terrible casting choice. Every time The Lorax spoke, it just sounded wrong.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
114. The Walk - Absolutely loved it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is almost unrecognizable as he disappears into the character. Zemeckis creates stunning visuals, although they are largely all stuffed towards the end. But most of it was really a heist film. And I didn't know anything at all about the real-world event that the film is about, which added a lot of suspense for me.
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115. Collateral Beauty - What a strange hot mess of a movie. It's not good, but it had some good stuff. It's pretty well-known at this point that the trailer for this movie completely lied about what the movie is about. It does contain one of the best twists I've seen in a movie, immediately followed by one of the worst twists I've seen in a movie. Next paragraph is all spoilers; if you haven't seen the movie before you probably aren't going to anyway.
So the whole thing with Madeline being his wife was amazing. So good that for about 5 minutes I was ready to forgive how the rest of the movie had been mostly bad so far. It's clever, fits well with the story and the theme, and is just done well. If you haven't seen it and don't care about spoilers anyway, basically you find out that this woman that he met at a support group is actually his wife; they both pretend to not know each other because it's simply too painful interact with one another as husband and wife. Smith's character arc is ultimately about getting to a point where he can accept his daughter's death enough that he's able to reconcile with his wife. I just absolutely loved that reveal scene.
But then right after that we get another surprise twist... the 3 actors that were hired to pretend to be spirits were actually spirits! Amazing! Ok, so the whole "person who is pretending to be someone turns out to actually be that person" has been done before; nothing wrong with it in itself. Just look at Miracle on 34th Street. But here's the difference: If you imagine a world in which Santa Claus is real, and he's hanging out near the Thanksgiving Day Parade, it's perfectly reasonable and believable that the person running the parade might ask him to play Santa. People get asked to play Santa; that's a thing that happens in real life. Now imagine a world where the spirits of Death, Time, and Love are hanging out on earth, pretending to be actors. How realistic is it that someone would approach them, thinking they are just normal actors, and suggest "hey, can you guys do me a favor and pretend to be the spirits of Death, Time, and Love"? It's complete insanity! People don't just walk up to actors and ask them to do such a thing, but even if they did, of all the actors they could have gotten they just happen to find and choose the ones that are actually the exact spirits they are hiring them to portray? Ugh. I hated it. If the actors had just been normal actors, then the movie would have been not that good. The actors turning out to be spirits just means the entire movie makes no sense at all. It really felt like the writers just thought that would be a clever twist, and didn't think at all about if it made any sense.
Ok, rant over.
So the whole thing with Madeline being his wife was amazing. So good that for about 5 minutes I was ready to forgive how the rest of the movie had been mostly bad so far. It's clever, fits well with the story and the theme, and is just done well. If you haven't seen it and don't care about spoilers anyway, basically you find out that this woman that he met at a support group is actually his wife; they both pretend to not know each other because it's simply too painful interact with one another as husband and wife. Smith's character arc is ultimately about getting to a point where he can accept his daughter's death enough that he's able to reconcile with his wife. I just absolutely loved that reveal scene.
But then right after that we get another surprise twist... the 3 actors that were hired to pretend to be spirits were actually spirits! Amazing! Ok, so the whole "person who is pretending to be someone turns out to actually be that person" has been done before; nothing wrong with it in itself. Just look at Miracle on 34th Street. But here's the difference: If you imagine a world in which Santa Claus is real, and he's hanging out near the Thanksgiving Day Parade, it's perfectly reasonable and believable that the person running the parade might ask him to play Santa. People get asked to play Santa; that's a thing that happens in real life. Now imagine a world where the spirits of Death, Time, and Love are hanging out on earth, pretending to be actors. How realistic is it that someone would approach them, thinking they are just normal actors, and suggest "hey, can you guys do me a favor and pretend to be the spirits of Death, Time, and Love"? It's complete insanity! People don't just walk up to actors and ask them to do such a thing, but even if they did, of all the actors they could have gotten they just happen to find and choose the ones that are actually the exact spirits they are hiring them to portray? Ugh. I hated it. If the actors had just been normal actors, then the movie would have been not that good. The actors turning out to be spirits just means the entire movie makes no sense at all. It really felt like the writers just thought that would be a clever twist, and didn't think at all about if it made any sense.
Ok, rant over.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
116. Disturbia - Although it had a decent amount of suspense and generally succeeded on that front; it was just too bland and offered nothing special as a whole. I really like David Morse, but feel like he didn't pull off this role at all. It's impossible to avoid comparing it to Rear Window, yet it lacks everything that made Rear Window so great.
R51. Cars - Love this, and it really holds up. One of the better Pixar Films even after so many great newer ones. The scene where they go for a drive through the country and explain the history of Route 66 is just amazing.
117. Thor: Love and Thunder - As I had heard from multiple people, this was a bit too silly. It tried to recapture the feeling of Thor: Ragnarok, but just didn't work. It wasn't bad; I still had a good time and enjoyed it. The visuals and action were pretty great. The story and dialogue were just really lacking. Christian Bale was a lot of fun, but I wish he had more screen time.
R51. Cars - Love this, and it really holds up. One of the better Pixar Films even after so many great newer ones. The scene where they go for a drive through the country and explain the history of Route 66 is just amazing.
117. Thor: Love and Thunder - As I had heard from multiple people, this was a bit too silly. It tried to recapture the feeling of Thor: Ragnarok, but just didn't work. It wasn't bad; I still had a good time and enjoyed it. The visuals and action were pretty great. The story and dialogue were just really lacking. Christian Bale was a lot of fun, but I wish he had more screen time.
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Lord_Lyndon
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Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
I personally loved this one. Shia LaBeouf is always fun to watch. He is very charming.116. Disturbia - Although it had a decent amount of suspense and generally succeeded on that front; it was just too bland and offered nothing special as a whole. I really like David Morse, but feel like he didn't pull off this role at all. It's impossible to avoid comparing it to Rear Window, yet it lacks everything that made Rear Window so great.
This is on my watchlist. I mostly want to see it because of Christian Bale. I'm a huge fan. I just want to say something. I'm sorry I didn't say this before, but his performance in The Machinist is not only my favourite performance of his, but also one of the greatest performances I've ever seen. I'm saying this because I know that The Machinist is one of your two favourite films.117. Thor: Love and Thunder - As I had heard from multiple people, this was a bit too silly. It tried to recapture the feeling of Thor: Ragnarok, but just didn't work. It wasn't bad; I still had a good time and enjoyed it. The visuals and action were pretty great. The story and dialogue were just really lacking. Christian Bale was a lot of fun, but I wish he had more screen time.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
Though I've only seen it once, I think his performance in The Fighter may top it.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
R52. Home Alone - Catherine O'Hara is amazing in this. All-time great Christmas classic.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
118. Vampire's Kiss - See, a week ago if you had told me that Nicolas Cage was actually holding back and giving a subtle performance in all of his movies, I wouldn't have believed you. But compared to this, it's definitely true. This was just 103 minutes of non-stop fun insanity, as could have only been done by Cage. Kind of like American Psycho on steroids. Overall it was good.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
119. Clueless - I think I technically saw this before, but I didn't remember anything about it or remember for sure when I watched it, so it counts as new. Not bad, but not amazing. A very 90s movie, with a really great cast. Brittany Murphy was great, as was Breckin Meyer. But as far as 90s films based loosely on classic works of literature starring great actors who died sadly well before their time, I definitely prefer 10 Things I Hate About You.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
R53. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York - Almost as good as the first one. Catherine O'Hara absolutely kills it again, but doesn't get as much screen time.
The slapstick is way worse. They added dumb sound effects that make it seem more like a Saturday morning cartoon, and the violence is enhanced to a huge degree. The first one was like "lol yeah they'd probably be dead after going through all that if this were real" to "holy crap Kevin just flat-out murdered them with the very first act of violence" and then gets worse and worse from there.
However, the rest of the film is still great, and the slapstick scene isn't that big a part of the whole thing. The bird lady was a better character for that role than Old Man Marley, just because she gets more development. And this one leans more heavily into just how good and selfless a person Kevin really is. And of course, Tim Curry adds a lot.
Oh, and it's a nitpick, but the reason they wake up late makes no sense at all here. He accidentally unplugs the alarm clock some time during the evening. We're supposed to believe that they don't look at the clock or check that the alarm is set at any point when getting ready for bed? It wasn't late when he unplugged it; it was before the school recital. Knowing they needed to wake up for a flight, they just thought "oh hey, the alarm was set at some point earlier today, so I'm sure it's all still good. Not gonna even glance at the clock at all tonight!" And despite having 14 different people who all needed to wake up and get ready, not a single one of them also had their own alarm set? By far more unrealistic than anything else that happens in the movie.
The slapstick is way worse. They added dumb sound effects that make it seem more like a Saturday morning cartoon, and the violence is enhanced to a huge degree. The first one was like "lol yeah they'd probably be dead after going through all that if this were real" to "holy crap Kevin just flat-out murdered them with the very first act of violence" and then gets worse and worse from there.
However, the rest of the film is still great, and the slapstick scene isn't that big a part of the whole thing. The bird lady was a better character for that role than Old Man Marley, just because she gets more development. And this one leans more heavily into just how good and selfless a person Kevin really is. And of course, Tim Curry adds a lot.
Oh, and it's a nitpick, but the reason they wake up late makes no sense at all here. He accidentally unplugs the alarm clock some time during the evening. We're supposed to believe that they don't look at the clock or check that the alarm is set at any point when getting ready for bed? It wasn't late when he unplugged it; it was before the school recital. Knowing they needed to wake up for a flight, they just thought "oh hey, the alarm was set at some point earlier today, so I'm sure it's all still good. Not gonna even glance at the clock at all tonight!" And despite having 14 different people who all needed to wake up and get ready, not a single one of them also had their own alarm set? By far more unrealistic than anything else that happens in the movie.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
Been watching; just haven't been writing.
R54. Die Hard - Great. The writing is really impressive; tight script that avoids the usual annoying exposition. Good fun all around.
120. A Muppet Family Christmas - Fun stuff. Never watched a lot of muppets, but this has some great music, is really funny, and has great guest appearances from other Jim Henson creations.
R55. A Christmas Carol (1951) - The best version. Alastair Sim's conversion is so great; I could watch him just being happy over and over.
R56. A Charlie Brown Christmas - Nothing new to add; the only thing I consistently watch every year.
121. A Carol Christmas - Terrible. The worst version of A Christmas Carol, if it counts. And I think it just barely does. Compared to Scrooged, which I don't consider to be an adaptation of A Christmas Carol, this one sticks a little closer to the basic plot. Tori Spelling can't act at all.
122. The Doors - Quite an experience. I didn't know anything at all about Jim Morrison going into this; but really it's a movie more about the 60s than it is about him. Oliver Stone for sure knows how to get you invested in a story. Good music, great performances.
123. I Am Sam - Mix of good and bad. The editing was pretty terrible; in a few places I had no idea what they were going for. The tone was really mixed up as well; it didn't do a good job of blending the comedy and drama. And it dragged on... felt a lot longer than it's runtime. Finally (for the bad), I'm not sure if we were supposed to root for Sam to actually get his daughter or not, because it seemed clear that the "bad guys" were right; that he wasn't capable of taking care of her and she would be better off with other parents. But there were parts that I really enjoyed. Good performances, and a few scenes really were moving. And the music was excellent.
R54. Die Hard - Great. The writing is really impressive; tight script that avoids the usual annoying exposition. Good fun all around.
120. A Muppet Family Christmas - Fun stuff. Never watched a lot of muppets, but this has some great music, is really funny, and has great guest appearances from other Jim Henson creations.
R55. A Christmas Carol (1951) - The best version. Alastair Sim's conversion is so great; I could watch him just being happy over and over.
R56. A Charlie Brown Christmas - Nothing new to add; the only thing I consistently watch every year.
121. A Carol Christmas - Terrible. The worst version of A Christmas Carol, if it counts. And I think it just barely does. Compared to Scrooged, which I don't consider to be an adaptation of A Christmas Carol, this one sticks a little closer to the basic plot. Tori Spelling can't act at all.
122. The Doors - Quite an experience. I didn't know anything at all about Jim Morrison going into this; but really it's a movie more about the 60s than it is about him. Oliver Stone for sure knows how to get you invested in a story. Good music, great performances.
123. I Am Sam - Mix of good and bad. The editing was pretty terrible; in a few places I had no idea what they were going for. The tone was really mixed up as well; it didn't do a good job of blending the comedy and drama. And it dragged on... felt a lot longer than it's runtime. Finally (for the bad), I'm not sure if we were supposed to root for Sam to actually get his daughter or not, because it seemed clear that the "bad guys" were right; that he wasn't capable of taking care of her and she would be better off with other parents. But there were parts that I really enjoyed. Good performances, and a few scenes really were moving. And the music was excellent.
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124. Wild Guitar - Pretty good; near the top of the "old musicals" set I've been going through. Funny story about a naive musician and a music manager taking advantage of him. Played by father and son. Good music, good story, and some hilarious gags.
125. The Right Stuff - Excellent; some of the best cinematography I've seen. Didn't feel as long as it is; was never bored.
126. Three Smart Girls - Not bad, but nothing special. Cute story, but a pretty standard mix-up type ploit that's just way overdone. And while I tend to enjoy all genres of music to some degree, really high-pitch sopranos are hard for me to listen to, which was what this "musical" featured.
127. Becoming Jane - It was fine; basic romance story that felt like something Jane Austen herself wrote. I guess because she wrote based on her own experiences. I guess compared to most Jane Austen I've seen, it was easier to follow. And had a great cast.
125. The Right Stuff - Excellent; some of the best cinematography I've seen. Didn't feel as long as it is; was never bored.
126. Three Smart Girls - Not bad, but nothing special. Cute story, but a pretty standard mix-up type ploit that's just way overdone. And while I tend to enjoy all genres of music to some degree, really high-pitch sopranos are hard for me to listen to, which was what this "musical" featured.
127. Becoming Jane - It was fine; basic romance story that felt like something Jane Austen herself wrote. I guess because she wrote based on her own experiences. I guess compared to most Jane Austen I've seen, it was easier to follow. And had a great cast.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
Although I'm watching 1-2 more movies today; started the process of going over this thread.
24 candidates for consideration for top 10. That's going to be tough to weed down. Probably will end up with a top 15 again instead.
24 candidates for consideration for top 10. That's going to be tough to weed down. Probably will end up with a top 15 again instead.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
R57. Avengers: Endgame - Timed this so that Tony's snap was exactly at midnight on New Year's Eve. Excellent movie.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
In 2022, I watched a total of 184 movies; 127 for the first time, plus 57 rewatches. Of the new films I watched for the year, too many were great to narrow down to a top 10. I had 24 in consideration, and narrowed it down to a top 15. In the order I watched them:
1. Love & Mercy (2014)
2. Fences (2016)
3. Silence (2016)
4. The Artist (2011)
5. Dave Made a Maze (2017)
6. Marriage Story (2019)
7. Upstream Color (2013)
8. Onward (2020)
9. First Man (2018)
10. Paddington/Paddington 2 (2014/2017) - Had to cheat a bit here. Couldn't decide which I liked better; and I couldn't afford 2 spots on the list for it.
11. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
12. That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
13. I Can Only Imagine (2018)
14. BlacKkKlansman (2018)
15. The Walk (2015)
Honorable mention to Lonesome Dove. Not a movie, a miniseries, but was excellent.
1. Love & Mercy (2014)
2. Fences (2016)
3. Silence (2016)
4. The Artist (2011)
5. Dave Made a Maze (2017)
6. Marriage Story (2019)
7. Upstream Color (2013)
8. Onward (2020)
9. First Man (2018)
10. Paddington/Paddington 2 (2014/2017) - Had to cheat a bit here. Couldn't decide which I liked better; and I couldn't afford 2 spots on the list for it.
11. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
12. That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
13. I Can Only Imagine (2018)
14. BlacKkKlansman (2018)
15. The Walk (2015)
Honorable mention to Lonesome Dove. Not a movie, a miniseries, but was excellent.
Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022
So my goal at the start of the year was to get below 200 movies that I own but haven't watched. Sadly, the same goal I had for 2021. And again, didn't quite make it, thanks to having added 83 movies to my collection in 2022 (maybe about half already seen and half not). I did get down to 229. So my goal this time will be 150 by the end of the year.