New decade; new movies (2020)

[Gendo]

117. Rock'n Roll Revue - Despite featuring a couple big names like Nat King Cole, the music was overall disappointing, and not enough dancing to make it entertaining to watch.

R44. Deep Impact - This is so much better than Armageddon. Ultimately it's still a very cliched disaster movie, but it has a great cast and some unique story points. Also an excellent score by James Horner.

[Gendo]

R45. National Treasure - Goofy but a lot of fun. The stories arounds the different clues are interesting, and Riley is easily one of the best Disney comic-relief side characters out there.

118. Men in Black: International - Not good, not bad. Despite a great cast, the story was just not interesting, and the characters lacked the great charisma that Jones and Smith had in the original. I did enjoy the last act after the final twist a bit more.

119. Number 17 - Very hard to follow what was going on, but there were enjoyable moments when I did get it. The over-the-top camera work done for comedic effect was effective.

[Raxivace]

112. Tokyo Godfathers - Holy crap was that good. An excellent blending of comedy, drama, mystery, and action. Just a beautiful story all around. Can't compare it to Perfect Blue; far too different. I might have saved it for after Thanksgiving if I'd known it was basically a Christmas movie.

Tokyo Godfathers is super awesome. It might be worth checking out the John Ford western of all things its a remake of called 3 Godfathers. That's also a Christmas movie of sorts though it doesn't seem like one at first.

Still its pretty fun to see such different takes on a similar premise.

R41. Ghostbusters - This never really gets old. The music is so good; and so many good one-liners. The effects are horrible in a wonderful way.

Ghostbusters is a decent movie but its another one of those 80's movies that I never really connected with to the same degree as others around my age. Maybe its because I didn't first watch it as a kid.

113. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - First time actually sitting down and watching this; despite having definitely been in the room with it on at least once before. It's ok I guess... really doesn't have any of the magic of the Christmas special. It's also pretty depressing given that it's basically a sad ending all around. Still, "I got a rock" is a great line

I remember enjoying this as a kid but haven't seen it since then.

I was going to bring up the Robot Chicken parody but even that has got to be coming up on something like 15 years at this point.

R42. The Nightmare Before Christmas - I'm still mad that Henry Selick never gets credit here. I mean yeah it is obviously a Tim Burton story with a lot of input from him. But this is up there with Coraline in terms of a wonderfully dark animated film. The music is really excellent; I'd actually forgotten just how good. Also i never knew before that Danny Elfman actually does the singing voice of Jack.

So I guess you're in the "This is a Halloween movie" camp? :P

114. Frankenweenie (1984) - Burton before he did any full-length movie. It was good; I really like the charm of the parents' reaction to the whole thing. Some moments were really hilarious, but really it's the classic Burton world that makes this good. Guess I need to see the remake at some point.

115. Vincent (Short) - Another neat early Burton; this time animated. There's a lot of stuff in there that reminds me of newer Burton things. Vincent Price has the perfect voice for this sort of thing. The story itself is basically Where the Wild Things Are, which is always a win.

Been a while since I've seen both of these but I remember liking both of them. Never did see the remake of Frankenweenie though.

116. Ghostbusters II - Meh... basically just a re-hash of the original. Still some good music and a lot of fun effects. Great cast too; a bigger role for Moranis, and I'm Peter MacNicol fan.

Tbh I didn't feel there was any huge leap in quality between this and the original, but again I never felt much special adoration toward the first.

[Raxivace]

R45. National Treasure - Goofy but a lot of fun. The stories arounds the different clues are interesting, and Riley is easily one of the best Disney comic-relief side characters out there.

Yeah I watched this earlier this year and was pleasantly surprised to see it holds up.

119. Number 17 - Very hard to follow what was going on, but there were enjoyable moments when I did get it. The over-the-top camera work done for comedic effect was effective.

This one would really benefit from a restoration. It seems like there's some good stuff buried here.

[Gendo]

120. The Mad Miss Manton - Some funny moments, but like most murder mysteries from this era; I had trouble following everything going on, which also made it hard to really stay interested in the movie.

R46. It (2017) - Not as good as the first time; not as scary either. Still pretty good. Great interactions between the kids, and Skarsgård was just a lot of fun.

121. It Chapter Two - Extremely un-scary. I have no idea what happened between the first one and the second one, but this felt more like a typical modern-day cheap horror like a new Chucky movie or whatever. The story itself was still pretty good, and it wasn't a bad movie or anything. Also, way too long.

[Gendo]

122. Tombstone - Controversial statement time... I think I preferred Wyatt Earp. Not that Tombstone was bad or anything, but it felt more like a standard western and less like a biopic. Sure Wyatt Earp was too long, but I really felt like I got to know the different characters well. Tombstone did have some great shots.

[Gendo]

123. Convoy - About as bad as you would expect for a movie based on a silly song. Ernest Borgnine made for a fun villain.

[Lord_Lyndon]

122. Tombstone - Controversial statement time... I think I preferred Wyatt Earp. Not that Tombstone was bad or anything, but it felt more like a standard western and less like a biopic. Sure Wyatt Earp was too long, but I really felt like I got to know the different characters well. Tombstone did have some great shots.

I loved Tombstone. Did you know, Gendo, that many people absolutely loved Val Kilmer's performance as Doc Holliday?

[Gendo]

Yeah, I'd heard a lot about his performance, and yes it was great. But I think Dennis Quaid was better.

[Gendo]

124. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) - So I didn't know until yesterday that Hitchcock actually made 2 different films by the same name. It turns out that the one I have is not the film that I was expecting. I should have known given the set that it's in. The 1956 version isn't a remake either, it's a completely different story. Anyway, this was pretty good. Peter Lorre is always great. The concert scene was masterful suspense.

125. Crazy Rich Asians - For all I'd heard about this film, I was expecting more than a typical cliché rom-com. It was pretty well done; with interesting characters and a glimpse into different cultures. But ultimately the story was just the same cross-class romance that I've seen many times before, with nothing new really added. *Edit* I just saw that this is pretty similar to Raxi's response.

[Gendo]

126. The Little Princess (1939) - Not as good as Cuarón's version, but it had charm. I'm sure I saw some Shirley Temple stuff as a kid, but I really don't remember anything, which makes this my first Shirley Temple movie. Basically Temple's cuteness and charm is all there is to the movie. That and a pretty racist Cesar Romero role. It did have several funny moments.

[Gendo]

127. Everest - Really good. The writing had some issues in terms of pacing and general structure, but that was made up for by stunning cinematography, great tension, and interesting characters. The shots did an amazing job at really showcasing the height and the cold. Another one of these situations where I knew nothing about the real-life thing that happened. Also, Only the Brave now becomes the second-best Josh Brolin movie about a real-world disaster that killed lots of people that I've seen this year.

R47. Highlander - I didn't remember that much about this, having seen it a long time ago. Fun and extremely over-the-top. Everything from the acting, the fight choreography, the special effects, and the soundtrack were just way over-the-top. Clancy Brown was having way too much fun throughout. Pure cheesy fun.

R48. Mary Poppins Returns - Even better the second time. The music is super-catchy, great performances from all the cast, and it really captures the spirit of the original.

[Gendo]

128. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - Pretty good. Better than the Halloween special. The preparing food scene was a lot of fun.

R49. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - Great classic Thanksgiving/Christmas movie. A lot of fun dialogue.

R50. Coco - Really great; near the top of my Pixar rankings. Fun music; very heartwarming story. And really creative designs in the animation.

129. King Kong (1933) - Very impressive film. The creatures look surprisingly realistic; there's a lot of really good detail in Kong's face. I'll probably remember this a lot more than the almost nothing I remember about Peter Jackson's recent take.

[Gendo]

130. Phantom Thread - Despite being pretty to look at; I just don't think that the story was interesting enough to hold my attention. One of those movies that focuses a lot more on themes than on events; and I generally struggle with those. I used to think of myself as a big PTA fan, but now I think that's just because I love Punch Drunk Love; and remember loving Magnolia despite only seeing it once a long time ago. Basically it's just like Raxi said; the film is great on a technical level, but the script doesn't do anything for me.

[Gendo]

131. Angel in My Pocket - Cute little Andy Griffith film. No real substance, but some funny moments, Griffith is always fun to watch.

132. The Court Jester - Hilarious. Basically Robin Hood Men in Tights but 40 years before. Great wordplay and situational gags, with perfect comedic timing from Danny Kaye. Fun all around.

133. My Man Godfrey - A lot of fun characters, and Nick Powell is charming as always.

[Raxivace]

Catching up on stuff...

124. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) - So I didn't know until yesterday that Hitchcock actually made 2 different films by the same name. It turns out that the one I have is not the film that I was expecting. I should have known given the set that it's in. The 1956 version isn't a remake either, it's a completely different story. Anyway, this was pretty good. Peter Lorre is always great. The concert scene was masterful suspense.

Brochacho, the 1956 is absolutely still a remake even if it changes a lot.

125. Crazy Rich Asians - For all I'd heard about this film, I was expecting more than a typical cliché rom-com. It was pretty well done; with interesting characters and a glimpse into different cultures. But ultimately the story was just the same cross-class romance that I've seen many times before, with nothing new really added. *Edit* I just saw that this is pretty similar to Raxi's response.

Yeah it seems we are in perfect alignment on this. It really makes me wonder where the people calling this some crazy tale of debauchery are coming from.

R47. Highlander - I didn't remember that much about this, having seen it a long time ago. Fun and extremely over-the-top. Everything from the acting, the fight choreography, the special effects, and the soundtrack were just way over-the-top. Clancy Brown was having way too much fun throughout. Pure cheesy fun.

I might need to give this a rewatch because I went into it a decade expecting a more serious story and not something super cheesy. Like for all that people complain about the sequels being terrible, they also make it seem like the original was trying to be high art or something.

R49. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - Great classic Thanksgiving/Christmas movie. A lot of fun dialogue.

129. King Kong (1933) - Very impressive film. The creatures look surprisingly realistic; there's a lot of really good detail in Kong's face. I'll probably remember this a lot more than the almost nothing I remember about Peter Jackson's recent take.

I loved both of these. I'm surprised that you had never seen Kong before though- I've loved that since I was a kid. We even have a poster up in our house.

130. Phantom Thread - Despite being pretty to look at; I just don't think that the story was interesting enough to hold my attention. One of those movies that focuses a lot more on themes than on events; and I generally struggle with those. I used to think of myself as a big PTA fan, but now I think that's just because I love Punch Drunk Love; and remember loving Magnolia despite only seeing it once a long time ago. Basically it's just like Raxi said; the film is great on a technical level, but the script doesn't do anything for me.

FWIW if I had to pick a favorite PTA, Punch Drunk Love is probably what I'd go with. I just don't really get what wowed people so much about Phantom Thread though- I thought that if I gave it some time I could see what people liked about it at least, but it really does seem to come down to that not very shocking twist ending.

133. My Man Godfrey - A lot of fun characters, and Nick Powell is charming as always.

Now that I think about it, this might actually make a good comparison with Crazy Rich Asians in terms of the "cross-class romance" thing you mentioned. I think I'd say My Man Godfrey might actually be a little more biting when it comes to the class commentary too, even if its still ultimately a feel-good movie.

[Gendo]

134. Hoodwinked - Good writing and clever story, but terrible animation. And not a good sign that I completely forgot about this when writing this post this morning. The animation style was just ugly, and it looked cheaply made. Still an ok family movie overall though.

R51. Snatch - One of my all-time favorites. Hilarious dialogue and fun style.

135. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - Wow, excellent. I was expecting a biopic about Mr. Rodgers, but that's not what it is at all. Hank's Rodgers is only a supporting character, next to an amazing performance by Matthew Rhys. Rodgers also serves as more than a character, but as an idea that drives the character growth of the protagonist. And then there's Chris Cooper, who is always great.

R52. Christmas in Connecticut - Cute little rom-com with various high jinks ensuing.

[Gendo]

136. Last Holiday - Pretty good. Queen Latifah puts on a good performance as I generally expect from her. The comedy was mostly too silly to be that funny; too many things that weren't realistic despite not being the type of comedy where you wouldn't expect realism. But the dramatic moments were good.

137. Monkey Business (1931) - A lot of funny moments, both in visual comedy and wordplay. Basically standard Marx Brothers stuff. Of course the plot was super thin and just an excuse for them to be funny. I might have thought this about the other movies of theirs that I watched, but it might have worked better as just a bunch of half hour sketches instead of a full movie. Because harder to follow as it went along. I'll have to check out Cary Grant's version some day.

[Gendo]

138. The Muppet Movie - Great! I never watched much Muppet stuff as a kid or an adult. A lot of really funny jokes; actually somewhat similar in style to the Marx Brothers. I don't know enough about 70s stars to appreciate all the different guest stars in the movie. I really enjoyed the Steve Martin bit though.

[Gendo]

139. Richard Jewell - Very good. Some how I'd forgotten that the Centennial Olympic Park bombing was even a thing; though I'm sure I heard about it at the time. Amazing performances from Paul Walter Hauser, Kathy Bates, and as always Sam Rockwell. I hadn't even heard of Hauser before. The direction and writing kept me super engaged throughout. The anti-media message felt a little clichéd; it was presented in the same way as in several other films going back a long ways. But it was well-blended with the anti-government message.

*Edit* Follow-up because I've gone back and read Raxi's post on it now. Yeah during the media-criticizing parts of the film I was actually thinking "even if the criticism is accurate, this might not be the best time in our country to be making an anti-media film; because it could come off as agreeing with Trump's anti-media message". Also, I didn't realize until now, or I just forgot, that Eastwood also directed Sully.

R53. Home Alone - Somehow even better this time around, and I've seen this movie a lot. It basically makes for the perfect Christmas film, between the comedy and the heartfelt dialogue. And Culkin is just so darn adorable in it.

R54. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story - Stiller and Bateman really make this movie. The various celebrity cameos are good as well. I think overall I prefer National Lampoon's Blackball for a comedic sports movie, but it's still a lot of fun.

[Gendo]

In my efforts to make sure I watch at least 13 more first-time movies by the end of the year, I managed to miss several days. Oh well, still time.

R55. Fargo - Still good. One thing I had forgotten was the excellent score. Excellent performances from everyone; and the scenery is beautiful. It's the Coen Brothers doing what they do best; telling stories about violence, murder, and people with deep flaws.

140. Undisputed - Better than I expected, but I wasn't expecting much. Ving Rhames is always entertaining, and he puts on a good performance here. I think someone forgot to tell Wesley Snipes when his scenes were starting though; he basically doesn't put on any kind of performance at all; he never looks interested in actually being in the movie. I also found it interesting that they never say whether or not Rhames was guilty, but it left me with the impression that he was the type of misogynistic narcissist who probably raped the woman while convincing himself that she was actually into it. It could be fun to see someone like Scorsese do this story. Also, I think I watched this about 10 years ago but couldn't remember a single thing about it.

141. Cars 3 - Surprisingly good. Cars is one of my favorite Pixar films, and Cars 2 is probably the worst. This movie returns to its roots; bringing the story back to being about racing and about McQueen. They smartly put Mater back as a side character; only a little more than a cameo in fact. Still not as good as the first one, but the story had heart. Also the CG for the nature scenes was amazing... some parts were hard to believe it wasn't live-action footage.

[Gendo]

142. Frosty Returns - Pretty bad. The animation and overall style looked like they were just trying to rip off Charlie Brown. The story basically made no sense. Even John Goodman couldn't save it.

143. Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous - Pretty good. I only saw the first one once; don't remember it all that well. But it's good that this did something different in terms of story; rather than just repeating what was done in the first one for the most part. It had some good comedy and good drama. A few different times that the characters made stupid decisions that made no sense and just seemed like bad writing.

[Lord_Lyndon]

R55. Fargo - Still good. One thing I had forgotten was the excellent score. Excellent performances from everyone; and the scenery is beautiful. It's the Coen Brothers doing what they do best; telling stories about violence, murder, and people with deep flaws.

Coens made a lot of amazing films and Fargo is one of them. I think my favourite of theirs is 'The Big Lebowski'.

[Gendo]

The Big Lebowski is an all-time favorite of mine; most likely holds the record for the movie I've seen the most times.

I made a Coen Brothers thread a long time ago; it needs updating: http://forum.pittersplace.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1107" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lord_Lyndon]

The Big Lebowski is an all-time favorite of mine; most likely holds the record for the movie I've seen the most times.

How many times have you seen it?

I made a Coen Brothers thread a long time ago; it needs updating: http://forum.pittersplace.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1107" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I loved Barton Fink myself. I thought it was excellent.

[Gendo]

It would be really hard to quantify at this point, but throughout much of college I was watching it about once per month... so probably minimum 30 times while I was in college. Probably 5 times in the past 10 years.

[Lord_Lyndon]

It would be really hard to quantify at this point, but throughout much of college I was watching it about once per month... so probably minimum 30 times while I was in college. Probably 5 times in the past 10 years.

lol I've only seen it 3-4 times. You win, Gendo.

[Gendo]

R56. Scrooge (1970) - A not-so-good version of A Christmas Carol. Albert FInney gives an awkward performance; but I can't really put the fault on him for it... he was 34 when this was made; and they had him playing an old man! Much of the bad performance seems to come from him pretending to be old. The rest of the movie is weird too; it deviates from the book more than most versions; and includes some some really weird/surreal scenes. Such as Scrooge actually descending into hell and seeing what life is like there as part of his vision of the future.

144. Cricket on the Hearth (1967) - Another Dickens story. Also another weird movie. The animation was disappointing for Rankin/Bass, but the story was interesting. There were just a lot of weird and not really good moments with the dialogue and music.

And that's 200 for the year! 307 left in my collection filed under "never seen"; with the goal still be to get under 300 by the end of the year... 1 week to go!

[Gendo]

145. The Little Drummer Boy - Rankin/Bass should still to claymation; this was much better. Good music; good story. The animation was not exactly good by today's standards, but this was 1968. The claymation had its own charm which made it fun to watch.

R57. A Charlie Brown Christmas - Everything a Christmas special should be. I will never get tired of watching this every year. Excellent music, clever dialogue, heartwarming story.

146. William Powell: A True Gentleman - A short documentary about William Powell. Some interesting stuff, mostly dealing with what Hollywood was like in the 1930s.

147. Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home to - A short documentary about Myrna Loy. More interesting than the Powell one. Again the best part was just the information about the workings of Hollywood in those days.

148. Soundies Cavalcade - This could be either counted as 1 movie or 3. A collection of 3 soundies; long compared to most soundies. All had amusing plots and good music. Specifically it was Lazy Richard, Murder in Swingtime, and Boogie-Woogie Dream.

[Gendo]

Not movies; but I watched the 2 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that are on that collection I have. The Cheney Vase and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Both very good! Both reminded me of Tales from the Crypt episodes; where bad people get comeuppance in ironic ways. Good suspense in both.

[Raxivace]

I have to sit down and marathon some more Alfred Hitchcock Presents one of these days.

I really miss these shows where each episode was just a nice little self-contained short film in its own right.

[Gendo]

I hadn't ever seen any of it previously. I also never really watched much Twilight Zone or Outer Limits. Tales from the Crypt was the only show from that style I watched.

[Raxivace]

I liked a Twilight Zone contemporary called One Step Beyond. The gimmick was that they were "true stories" (lol), but as a kid at least they were fun little bits of sci-fi/horror/mystery etc. pulp.

One episode about a sick lady disappearing from her home under mysterious circumstances always stuck with me for some reason, especially because it was a mystery that just never had a resolution.

[Gendo]

It's over. Won't be able to watch a movie tomorrow, so the 2020 list ends here. I didn't quite make my goal; I still have 301 movies I own and haven't seen... and that doesn't include a couple I got for Christmas either. Ah well, very close. The sad part is that I might be watching a lot more bad movies next year, because my collection is running out of movies I'm actually looking forward to seeing but haven't.

Anyway, I watched 205 movies this year; 148 for the first time. Yes that includes a handful of short films.

Given how many I watched; I don't think I can get a top 10 all the way down to 10. So here's a top 15 instead, in watch order as always:

1. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
2. Creed II (2018)
3. Romeo + Juliet (1996)
4. Straight Outta Compton (2015)
5. Yesterday (2019)
6. Joker (2019)
7. Guns Akimbo (2019)
8. Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
9. Hamilton (2020)
10. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
11. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
12. Everest (2015)
13. The Court Jester (1955)
14. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
15. Richard Jewell (2019)

Turns out 2019 was a good year for movies!

[Eva Yojimbo]

Lots to catch up with!

84. Sabotage - Pretty good. Slow in some parts, but the time bomb sequence was fantastic. I don't feel like I really got to understand the main character enough; like at the beginning it seems like he is only reluctantly working with this group for money, and doesn't want anyone to get hurt. But then he shows no concern whatsoever when he directly causes the death of his wife's little brother, like he's just pure evil all of the sudden.

Maybe my favorite pre-Hollywood Hitchcock. It's gotten better with each viewing, and I think the bomb-bus sequence into the dinner table scene are two of the greatest things Hitchcock ever shot. I don't know if I'd say Verloc goes "pure evil..." I mean, the guy was being a selfish asshole from the start, and after his wife's brother is killed he's mostly just trying to control/manipulate her into not taking it out on him. That dinner table sequence is just a masterclass in shot composition and editing. Hitch rings so much emotion out of every single moment. One of those scenes you can watch with the sound off and know 100% what's going on.

R35. The Breakfast Club - An old favorite. I really like the dialog; Judd Nelson is great.

Loved this as a teen. The few times I've caught bits of it on TV it seems rather cringey in parts to me now. I don't know if that's from me maturing or the film just not aging too well. Still not bad by any means.

86. Midnight Cowboy -

Mostly what I remember about this was it being the first X-Rated film my parents let me watch as a teenager merely because they knew I loved film and it was considered a classic. I don't remember much of the plot and mostly just remember thinking the acting was really good.

R38. Guardians of the Galaxy - Easily one of the best MCU films; and that's coming from someone who really likes most of them. Even though the plot is super-simple, the writing, acting, music, and directing all make it work really well.

I remember really enjoying this one and it has stuck with me more than most of the MCU stuff, maybe because of how quirky it seemed by comparison. It definitely has the most personality of all those films.

89. The Pink Panther (1963) - I found it mostly boring.

90. The Skin Game -

91. Pride and Prejudice (1995) -

First Pink Panther is indeed a bore. Its sequel, A Shot in the Dark, is fantastic though. I also remember really enjoying Return of the Pink Panther, but the series jumps the shark after that. The Skin Game I remember almost nothing about, so you're probably right about that. I remember that P&P adaptation being pretty good, though kinda stilted as those very serious British period dramas tend to be.

92. Schindler's List -

I basically agree with Rax on this. I understand why Spielberg made it and his heart was in the right place, but he was just not a director capable of expressing the true horrors of the holocaust. It's a spectacularly well-made film though.. maybe too well made, making that craftsmanship part of the problem.

I just looked up the full list of A24 to see what all it includes. They've done a lot of stuff I've never heard of. I guess horror has only been a more recent thing for them. I've seen a handful:

Enemy - I remember sort of liking it, I think?
Under the Skin - Didn't like it.
Ex Machina - Great; need to watch again.
Room - Excellent.

I remember not liking Enemy much and I hated Under the Skin. Remember getting into it a bit with maz over at IMDb. Ex Machina was pretty good, but ultimately pretty forgettable. Ditto for Room. I think I reviewed all of these films back in the day... here's what I could find:

Ex Machina (Alex Garland) - 6.5/10

Ex Machina is an intelligent sci-fi film that could've traded in some of its smarts for a soul. Its strength is on the conceptual level, where it has programmer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) being invited to a remote facility by his brilliant boss, Nathan (Oscar Isaac), to perform a kind of “next-step" Turing test on an advanced, humanoid AI, Ava (Alicia Vikander).

Naturally and predictably the film provokes questions about what makes us human and whether or not machines can think or feel; but while it effortlessly provokes questions, it painfully struggles to make them dramatically engaging. Caleb as a character is vanilla bland. Nathan is more interesting, but in a sense the best parts of his story happened before the film starts; we see glimpses of this when Caleb goes through the security footage of Nathan's “failed" attempts at AIs. This leaves Vikander's robotic Ava as the most compelling character, and while her performance is outstanding she simply isn't given a lot to play off of.

Stylistically the film is shot and edited with a too-cool sheen. The mise-en-scene has an eerie, Kubrickean symmetry to it; and the lighting, while not antiseptic, does stray towards the lighter end of the spectrum. This isn't a film without style, but merely a film whose style emphasizes the film's over-intellectuality. Of course, Kubrick's own 2001 has been accused of this same “intellectuality over drama" as well, but the difference between Kubrick's masterpiece and Ex Machina is that 2001 was audaciously daring on a formal level, did possess some potent drama—especially during the HAL section—and achieved a transcendental sublimity in its mind-bending ending; three things Ex Machina fails to replicate.

Despite its dramatic weaknesses, the film is a strangely haunting look into a future that is perhaps not just possible, but inevitable. It also deserves credit for its patience in unveiling just how disturbingly human such AIs might end up being.

Room (Lenny Abrahamson) - 7/10

We tend to think of art as inspiration and creativity, but films like Room subtly illustrate the engineering ingenuity required, especially in a medium like film, for either inspiration or creativity to become reality. The premise is simple: a kidnapped woman named Joy (Brie Larsen) has spent 7 years locked in a shed; her son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay), has spent his entire life there. When he turns 5, Joy tells him the truth and plans their escape. A simple premise, yes, but it yields interesting problems: how to create a whole world out of an 11x11 space? How to light/shoot within that confined space? Narrative focus: mother or son? How to maintain tension/drama after the escape? How to convey the son's sense of “newness" of the world outside?

These are not easy problems for any filmmaker to solve, and to his not-inconsiderable credit, Lenny Abrahamson succeeds more than he fails. He's certainly aided by a tremendous performance by Brie Larson, who, despite the emotional subject matter, never crosses into mawkishness, and is, in fact, quietly understated—much could be said for the rest of the film. Tremblay, if not her equal, is certainly impressive for an 8-year old.

Kudos aside, there are some failures: the underplaying tends to keep things at a too-consistent dynamic level, weakening the drama. The restricted narration on Jack's POV works inside Room, but outside Joy is the far more interesting character and the film leaves her at key moments, making the film's second half far weaker than the first. The film is also just too linear and traditionally-minded to convey Jack's sense of experiencing a new world: this is the kind of thing few filmmakers can do (Terrence Malick being the prime example).

Ultimately, the film is an interesting mix of successes—mostly the acting, the detailed production design, understated score, thoughtful direction—and failures, which I listed above, which I think leaves it as a good film with some unfulfilled potential.

Under the Skin - Jonathan Glazer - 3.0/10

WTF was this? If Glazer told me that the entire film
was merely a ruse to have Scarlett Johansson
repeatedly undress, sometimes for extended periods of
time, then I guess, at least, that would make sense
(and I'd applaud him for giving a nice gift to humanity,
or at least heterosexual men and lesbians, or maybe I
should thank evolutionary biology for that), but if he
told me that this was supposed to be a legitimate film
that was about something, then I'd have to punch him
in the face. It boggles my mind that this film has
received almost unanimous praise from critics, with
many listing it amongst their 10 best of the year. OK, I
can respect the attempt at originality, at artistry, and
making a truly understated work of science fiction; but
there comes a point where subtlety crosses into
emptiness, and this film is, unfortunately, a giant abyss
of nothingness.

I could enumerate the problems: the needless
repetitiveness, the lack of narrative context (we
literally have no idea what Scarlett the Alien is doing all
this for), the lack of interesting characterization to
make up for that lack of context (Johansson is too
much of a blank slate), and the lack of
metaphoric/allegoric substance to make up for either of
the above. About the ONLY good things here are the
eerie atmosphere the film frequently creates (which is
quickly dissipated by repetition), and the handful of
interesting images, especially the opening (which
recalls 2001:ASO) and the ending. Outside that, I see
nothing worthwhile here, despite the artistic
pretensions.

(Sorry for the wonky formatting on the last one; copied from old IMDb PDFs.)

112. Tokyo Godfathers -

R41. Ghostbusters -

R42. The Nightmare Before Christmas -

114. Frankenweenie (1984) -

116. Ghostbusters II -

R43. Dead Poets Society - Excellent film, and really holds up. Some great performances from the entire cast.

Loved Tokyo Godfathers too. Kon made more cinematically effective and original films, but not quite as purely enjoyable. I loved both Ghostbusters as a kid. Surprisingly I actually preferred part II back then, probably because I didn't appreciate most of the jokes in the first one and the second one was creepier, which I appreciated as a horror-lover back then. Nightmare Before Christmas is awesome too. Remember that I actually took the VHS to school one year and we watched it in class. Critical Role did a pretty hilarious one-shot episode called The Night Before Critmas that had a lot of references to it. I actually remember my mom renting Frankenweenie and it scaring the living hell out of me as a kid. I'm sure I'd laugh at it now, but it terrified me when I was like 7-8. I never really got into Dead Poets Society, though I did appreciate the performances.

119. Number 17 - Very hard to follow what was going on, but there were enjoyable moments when I did get it. The over-the-top camera work done for comedic effect was effective.

I mostly enjoyed this for the cinematography and atmosphere, but, yeah, it's pretty incoherent narrative-wise.

122. Tombstone - Controversial statement time... I think I preferred Wyatt Earp. Not that Tombstone was bad or anything, but it felt more like a standard western and less like a biopic. Sure Wyatt Earp was too long, but I really felt like I got to know the different characters well. Tombstone did have some great shots.

Loved this as a kid, and it briefly got me into Westerns. I remember thinking Wyatt Earp (film) was boring back then, but I might appreciate it more now. I still love Val Kilmer's OTT Doc Holiday, and the scene with him in the saloon mocking Ringo with the cup is still awesome!

124. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

The "remake" was much more polished, and even though it's solid I actually think the original is better. It just has so much energy and enthusiasm. Definitely one of the best early Hitch's.

R47. Highlander - I didn't remember that much about this, having seen it a long time ago. Fun and extremely over-the-top. Everything from the acting, the fight choreography, the special effects, and the soundtrack were just way over-the-top. Clancy Brown was having way too much fun throughout. Pure cheesy fun.

If you think the original Highlander is cheesy fun, wait until you see Highlander 2! I actually have fond memories of the Highlander TV series and for a short time I was actually writing my own weekly Highlander series that I'd read for my parents.

129. King Kong (1933) - Very impressive film. The creatures look surprisingly realistic; there's a lot of really good detail in Kong's face. I'll probably remember this a lot more than the almost nothing I remember about Peter Jackson's recent take.

I honestly struggled with this one. I can appreciate the artistry for the time period but most of the film just looks so fake now. I honestly preferred Jackson's remake, though I wouldn't say I loved it either. Maybe the Kong world just doesn't appeal to me much.

R53. Home Alone - Somehow even better this time around, and I've seen this movie a lot. It basically makes for the perfect Christmas film, between the comedy and the heartfelt dialogue. And Culkin is just so darn adorable in it.

Loved this as a kid. Haven't seen it in years. Also have memories of playing the hard-as-fuck video game.

R55. Fargo - Still good. One thing I had forgotten was the excellent score. Excellent performances from everyone; and the scenery is beautiful. It's the Coen Brothers doing what they do best; telling stories about violence, murder, and people with deep flaws.

It's a great film on every remotely-objective level, but of all the Coens' "masterpieces" it's the one I've never really clicked with. I vastly prefer No Country, Big Lebowski, A Serious Man, Barton Fink, and O Brother. I may even prefer Blood Simple and Miller's Crossing, but those need rewatches.