My new year's resolution going into 2021 was to watch more movies and TV series. And I think I did a decent job at that! I watched a total of 37 movies/shows this year. That might not seem like a considerable number, but its about 50% more than I did last year! Plus when I watch a movie I like to make it a thing. Which just means I buy a lot of snacks to eat while watching it.
Here are all the movies/shows I watched in chronological order:
And now, because I have nothing better to do, I’m gonna rank each one and give a little review on it! And I’m posting it here because screw letterboxd! (minor spoilers ahead)
37: Survivor: Season 2
Look, I'm a huge Survivor fan. It’s currently the only reason I have a Paramount Plus subscription (even though I only watched one season this year lmao). Early Survivor certainly has its quirks and charms, but Season 2 didn't do much for me. While it has a strong early start with some twists and fun characters, it becomes a bit predictable and slow as the game progresses, with few characters I really became attached to. Spoiler Alert: The ending was also astonishingly surprising, but not really in the fun way but in the way..... astoundingly astonishingly bizarre way. I guess having such a crazy twist at the end of a pretty predictable and slow paced season was a lot to take in. To be fair I didn't really watch much of the last episode because to be honest I didn't really care much at that point.
36: Over the Garden Wall
This might be controversial, as I am totally aware of how beloved this animated mini-series is. I watched it at the crack of October, which I hear is when most people take their pilgrimage back to series that's so graced by Elijah Wood's sweet, sweet voice. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I found it ultimately a little boring. Perhaps its biggest downfall was its own reputation. I may have went in expecting a moodier, more atmospheric experience, only to be disappointed by how.... Cartoon Network-ish, it was. I get thats probably a weak criticism for a cartoon that aired on Cartoon Network, but looking at it strictly as a cartoon, I was a bit disappointed in the pacing of each episode and how, honestly, some of the episodes were just plain boring- like the schoolhouse one or the nonsensical dream sequence episode. The overall narrative was really interesting though, and I liked some of the concepts on paper, like the ferry of Victorian-Era Frogs. I don't think that Over the Garden Wall will become a staple of Autumn viewing for me, although the main theme song is.... really really dang good! So atleast I got something out of it. Also, Elijah Wood.
35: Captain Phillips
Eh. Captain Philips is... cool. Kinda predictable cause, like, you know the pirates are gonna board the ship. That's like, the whole thing, right? Some tense moments toward the end made the film a fun watch. But apparently the real events didn't quite go exactly as portrayed and the whole crew hates the real Captain Philips' guts? I dunno. Who cares. Fine movie but a little disappointing overall.
34: Unknown
The first movie I watched this year was the relatively unknown (see what I did there) Liam Neeson flick, Unknown. The biggest Unknown about Unknown is my reason for watching Unknown. I think I was cooking some buffalo chicken dip while inattentively looking for something to watch and the little trailer for the movie kept popping up and I kept hearing Liam Neeson's voice out of the speaker. But the main premise of the flick is fairly interesting. A guy wakes up from a minor coma to find out that he effectively doesn't exist anymore. What's at play here? Aliens? Ghosts? Some cosmic, Lovecraftian entities that control reality? The real answer is kind of funny and kind of makes Liam Neeson's character look a little clown-ish if we're being honest. But it's a pretty typical action flick that I enjoyed enough while watching. No super intense action set-pieces that you'd expect from Bond or something, atleast none that I remember, but alas, still enjoyable for the fun premise alone.
33: Bad Trip
My least favorite Eric Andre bits are when he's messing with random people in the street, but Eric Andre does that kind of comedy right since he knows to make *himself* look like the fool- not the other people. Most Youtube "pranksters" can learn a lot from this. The comedy of this movie comes from seeing people's genuine reactions to Eric's outlandish set-ups. And it mostly delivers in that regard.
32: Superbad
Superbad is.... SuperALRIGHT! A fine comedy in a year where I watched mostly better comedies, but a lot of the moments have solidified themselves as cultural staples. I have a problem with the film's ending, though. I think Jonah Hill's character gets away too easily! I mean his whole goal the entire movie was to sexually assault some girl... and he ends up getting that girl at the end! Yeah, I guess I shouldn't expect much from a 2007 Judd Apatow movie. But I think the ending was a missed opportunity. You had this sort-of sub-plot point about Michael Cera's character (I dont remember the two protagonists names and I refuse to care) denying his crush's drunken sexual advances: setting the character up as the complete contrast to Jonah Hill. This pays off in the end because Michael Cera gets the girl. But any lesson about respecting women or consent is lost by also having Jonah Hill get the girl, too, yknow?
I think the movie could've ended with Cera and his girl walking off together at the mall, leaving Jonah Hill by himself at some table. He spots some girl sitting alone, then casually approaches her and CUT- Leave the audience to believe he learned the error of his ways and like, idk, respects women or whatever. Maybe set up this girl early in the movie by having Jonah Hill say some fucked up thing about her or her appearance to really drive home the amount he's changed. Am I thinking about this too much? Probably.
Oh, and another thing. What the fuck are up with some of the reviews for this movie? Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times said "Physically, Hill and Cera recall the classic comic duos—Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Aykroyd and Belushi. But they are contemporary kids, sophisticated and sensitive to nuance"; she added, "I hope it's not damning the movie with the wrong kind of praise to say that for a film so deliriously smutty, Superbad is supercute." Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa??? Cute? What about this movie is cute? Sophisticated??? The fuck?
31: Dune
I read Dune this year, which is about 5 years later than I had meant to read Dune. I was pretty excited to see the movie because its not every day a movie comes out for a book you so recently enjoyed. I went to the movie theater ALONE to see Dune. Honestly, let's normalize going to the movie theater alone. Movies make for weak dates and hang-outs anyway. I sit alone in dark room most of the time anyway, I don't want one of the rare times I'm with my friends to be doing that too. Overall my experience seeing Dune was like a $30 experience, between the ticket an the popcorn, which is pretty wack and probably a big reason these theaters are going out of business (aside from, yknow, the pandemic, but anyway...). Was it worth that when I could've watched it for free in the comfort of my room without the risk of spreading a deadly disease? Not really.
I have to give the movie some benefit of the doubt, since I did read the book beforehand, I knew a lot of what was going to happen, which did sap some of the tension. I also feel like I did my homework diligently, while I didn't read any of the Dune sequels, I did know quite a lot about the Bene Gesserit and god-emperors and the Butlerian Jihad and whatnot, so I feel like I had a pretty strong grasp of the universe as a whole. I sat next to a group of girls who spent a good deal of the beginning of the movie chatting to each other, but as the movie progressed their chatting was a lot less enthusiastic and I think they were either too confused to care about the movie anymore or fell asleep.
I do not think Dune was a good adaptation. I don't think the movie did anything better or more interesting the book did, which is... not great. I think I would have liked more creative liberties. Part of me still falls into the camp that Dune just can't work as a movie. A TV series would've been better, probably. There just wasn't enough time to give characters like Duncan Idaho and Dr. Yeuh the development they needed to make their arcs emotionally resonant. As a result, the movie kind of felt hallow.
I predicted that the movie would end (spoiler alert) with Paul's duel with the Fremen dude. In retrospect I think this was a bad choice. I think it should've ended with Paul digging his mother out of the sand after escaping the Sardouker attack after Idaho's death. While this wouldn't have saved too much time, it would've allowed for more character development while still having an emotional climax to end on. Ending WITH the Harkonnen's attack and Paul's escape could've been fine too, and maybe could've set up the film to be a trilogy. Or just making the movie itself longer, though I was kinda bored through most of it so maybe not that.
I also agree with some criticism against the general art-style of the film, especially in regards to the desert scenes. Watch Matt Colville's video on Youtube about it for more depth analysis on that. It pretty much sums up my thoughts as well.
30: Elf
I watched Elf on Christmas Eve. A genuine masterclass in family-friendly comedies. Doesn't rely too heavily on fart/poop jokes and slapstick humor and Will Ferrell absolutely nails the character. Charming. The black guy store manager is the best character.
29: Idiocracy
This 2006 comedy probably has gotten more resurgence in recent years than it deserves. "Idiocracy was supposed to be fiction!" has become sort of a rallying cry of disillusioned millennials who grew up on this cheeky Mike Judge comedy. This does a disservice to Idiocracy more than anything else, really. In my opinion, Idiocracy isn't really a commentary on American politics or whatever. I mean, it's really just a fun concept for a gimmick-y comedy film, but if you want to look deeper, I think its moreso a commentary on landscape of comedy itself. One of the first things we see in the future is Dax Shepherd watching some shitty TV show. One running gag in the movie is that the most acclaimed movie of the year is just a single shot of some butt. The death penalty is an over-the-top monster truck show. The writers were low-key geniuses for making the premise of their movie about a bunch of morons because any racist or sexist joke is just written off as, well, they're *idiots*!! But perhaps that's the exact message they were trying to send.
28: Tommy Boy
I think topping off the "mostly-pretty-good" comedies is Tommy Boy. I don't really have anything to say about Tommy Boy.
27: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Y'know, the cultural osmosis that taught me everything I knew about this movie before I actually watched it had me thinking that the quirky blue-haired girl would be more present in the movie than she actually was. Anyway, this movie has done for "nerd culture" what I have done for the Smogon OU RMT forums: probably made it worse in retrospect.
26: Timecrimes
I was introduced to Timecrimes by some Tik Tok that described it as something like a "disturbing thriller that will have you watching between your fingers." Which, is like, the biggest overstatement of all time. Don't get me wrong, Timecrimes is awesome and I'm not going to spoil it, because it's best to go into it blind, or as close to blind as you possibly can. A really fun, if gimmick-y, movie that handles its absurd premise well. It's science-fiction, technically, but if you're the kind of person who likes to pick and pry at every detail of a film until the logic falls apart... this isn't the movie for you. You have to just sit back and accept the absurd premise, in which case the movie becomes gold. A little bit boring in the 3rd act when the mystique of it all starts to fade but.... overall a fun watch.
25: Coraline
Shit man, this ranking is getting hard. Coraline is great. A darkly eerie film that can appeal to any quirk-adoring person, child or adult. I'm a sucker for stop-motion, too.
24: Casino Royale
The only James Bond film I've ever seen did not disappoint in its crunchy action that lets you just shut off your brain for the duration of its run-time. So many hot people in this movie (including Judi Dench)
23/22: The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey / The Hobbit, Desolation of Smaug
Watched these pretty soon after watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy just because I did not want to stop being in those worlds yet. They are notably less good than their earlier counterparts, but I still enjoyed them well enough. It's hard to exactly pinpoint why exactly they are less good? I think its because they feel more like kid's movies than the original trilogy. Which I suppose makes sense- The Hobbit was intended as a children's book. Lot's more slapsticky kind of action and overall silliness. But, enjoyable nonetheless.
Also, yes, I did also see the third movie in the trilogy, Battle of the Five Armies. I actually watched that one before even seeing the original LOTR. I substitute taught an 8th grade English class that had just finished reading The Hobbit and so they watched the movie over a couple periods. So, I watched it while also juggling subbing for an 8th grade class. So.. I don't really count it so much. But I saw enough that I didn't really feel like re-watching it.
21: The Wolf of Wall Street
A movie as funny as its own decadent over-the-topness. Less of the treatise on the business world that some people seem to treat it as and more of the burning downfall of a guy who played it too fast and too loose for too long. I like that the movie brings up themes about how these types of businessmen make their money by scamming innocent people, but it probably could've leaned into that a bit more.
20: Ghostbusters
Like Idiocracy, this movie has had a bit of a resurgence in recent years due to attempts to re-boot/sequel-ize it. Both of which apparently ended mostly as failures in their own respects. What those movies did succeed at, though, is bringing people back to the original. This is quite possibly the most perfectly casted movie of all time and I love how it mostly came about due to Dan Aykroyd's obsession with, like, ghouls and shit.
19: Seinfeld
Note that I did not watch all of Seinfeld, only the first 2-3 seasons, so this is the only show/movie on this list that I did not technically finish.... Oh well. I have fond memories of Seinfeld in part because of the context I started watching it in. In January/February of this year, I was living mostly on my own for the first time ever. While I was working at job I mostly hated, getting to spend evenings/weekends completely by myself was quite nice. I made a lot of the aforementioned buffalo chicken dip. I made a cheeseburger that came out so surprisingly not-terrible that it gave me dopamine for days. Spent a lot of evenings lounging around, eating food I made for myself, watching Seinfeld on a big TV in the basement. Sometimes I'd fuck around and walk to the corner store and get a Root Beer. This probably sounds very unremarkable to most people. Anyway, I got fired from that job and moved back home. So, whatever.
Anyway, Seinfeld is funny.
18: Hotel Rwanda
While Hotel Rwanda might not excel at being the most accurate depiction of the events portrayed as it might seem, it does do its job at portraying the excessive and brutal violence that one group is capable of causing to another. I'm sure the true events of the Rwandan Genocide are 1000x more horrifying than those portrayed in the film, and any discussion on how accurate the movie is to the true story of Paul Rusesabagina seems to be missing the point. It's a movie that makes me uncomfortable in the realization of how easy I have it in life, but also in how fragile society really is. Also Don Cheadle is great.
17: Eighth Grade
I'm a sucker for coming-of-age stories and Eighth Grade delivers. As a teacher, I really appreciate how accurately this movie portrays 8th graders. They're constantly spouting random memes thinking they're hilarious. I liked the interactions between Kayla and her dad. I mean, I felt bad for the dad, but I liked what it added to the film- I think it would've been easy to make Kayla an objectively good and kind person. There's more layers to the movie about growing up and young femininity and sexuality that I am not really qualified to discuss, so, I'll just leave it at that.
16: Eraserhead
I don't know what compelled me to interrupt my viewing of the LOTR triology with Eraserhead- but here we are. Eraserhead is weird, disturbing, harrowing and nightmare-ish, but all I could think of while watching is... "this is awesome." I love this shit. I love a movie where you have absolutely no clue whats going to happen next, and Eraserhead pulls no punches when it comes to unsettling imagery. I'm not good enough as a film analyst to try and come up with any epic Film Theories on what it supposed to be happening here, but I also I am content with the "weirdness for the sake of weirdness" atmosphere this movie's got going on. Art is meant to illicit an emotion, right? Dread, paranoia, unease- these are emotions as valid as any, and Eraserhead delivers as an experience to let the viewer revel in these emotions for a short time. Why would anyone want to do that? Catharsis, I guess?
15: Squid Game
I think it would've been really really really easy to botch the surprisingly simple concept that is Squid Game. I think a lesser screenwriter would've focused too heavily on the games themselves, maybe having some basic character arcs throughout. But Hwang Dong-hyuk avoided that trap entirely, I think. First and foremost, the movie is about the characters and their reactions to the games- not the other way around. All of it leads up to one of the most emotional wrecking-ball of scenes in anything I've ever watched that still lives absolutely rent free in my head.
It's not perfect, of course. The policeman's side-plot felt pretty rushed and underdeveloped for what it was. There is also one line from the first episode that always stuck in my brain- when the main character was supposed to be buying a birthday present for his daughter but instead uses the money to bet on horse racing: he says something like "my mom cares more about my kid than I do!" I get that they wanted him to be like a seedy-kinda guy, but considering his whole motivation was to prevent his daughter from moving to the U.S. setting up early that the character doesn't really give a shit about his daughter seemed like a weird choice.
Also, the "VIPs" are perhaps the worst and most obnoxiously annoying characters in anything I've ever watched. I get that they're *supposed* to be over-the-top but like..... GOSH DANG are they bad.
14: Shadow & Bone
A real sleeper hit for me. I actually had a bit of background knowledge on this series before digging into it. I didnt read the Grisha Triology, from which the series is adapted from, but I did read Leigh Bardugo's other series, Six of Crows, which is set in the same universe. Despite sharing its name with Bardugo's original novel, Shadow & Bone uses many of the characters and settings from Six of Crows, which I really loved. Seriously, if you are into fantasy, read Six of Crows. Regardless, I did go into this series with some knowledge of its universe, which did probably help me get into it moreso than the average viewer. Or maybe it didn't, I dunno. I was kind of expecting Shadow & Bone to be bad, with production quality on the level of those really bad TV shows, like Supergirl or whatever. But I was really surprised at the production values for this series! They really nailed the costumes and settings- it really felt like a real world and I really wanted to spend more time in it. I didn't care too much about the main plot, but it's serviced quite a bit by the vastly more interesting subplot that intermixes with it. And, again, I really can't stress enough how much of the show is carried by the production. I'd recommend the show, but I would recommend the book Six of Crows even more. So... go read that.
13: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Always loved Fantastic Mr. Fox since I was a kid. A remarkably simple yet creative premise with a lot of wit and humor that provides an interesting study on an interesting character. I should say interesting studyS on interesting characterS. Uncharacteristic for an animated family movie, each character that makes up the main crew of Fantastic Mr. Fox has a lot of depth to delve in to, which really elevates the movie beyond just a family-friendly adaptation of a children's book. I said before that I love stop-motion and Mr. Fox delivers fantastically.
12: Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro
I am a BIG FAN of the 'gentlemen thief' genre of characters and Lupin is no exception. Beautifully animated and excessively charming, Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro will undoubtedly live in my imagination for years.
11: Gattaca
I first watched Gattaca in my high school biology class, probably back in like 2012-2013. I remember even back then noting how good of a movie it actually was: a level of quality that you don't usually get with in-class movies. Decided to give it a re-watch. Knowing all of the major plot-points kinda did sour the rewatching of the movie, and I am kinda regretful that I didn't get to watch it for the first time in a context where I could've appreciated it more. Regardless, I can recognize the artistry in the movie in pretty much every aspect.
10: Whiplash
Another example of a perfectly casted character: J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. But also as Terence Fletcher in Whiplash. Funny man yell loud! Like Wolf of Wall Street, its a movie about a a guy who goes too hard too quickly and explodes into a fiery mess. In both cases literally. Also in both cases the protagonist is very unlikeable. But, like, in a way thats fun to watch. Only difference here is instead of playing with billions of dollars and federal law, its... the drums. Whiplash will keep you on the edge of your seat and its got some great tunes!
I think Whiplash has an interesting theme that isn't seen too much in movies. It's about being the best. But more than that. It's about NOT being the best. It's about coping with coming up short on your dreams. It's about passion but it's also about when passion goes too far.
My only issue with this movie? Early on there's a date scene between the main character and his love-interest. They have 0 chemistry. Like, none at all. I actually thought the movie was like TELLING me that the date was going awfully. Like I thought the awkwardness was intended? But it wasn't? I dunno.
9: The Matrix
Yeah, that’s right. I saw the Matrix for the first time this year. What are you gonna do, bully me about it? I’m surprised at how little I actually knew about the Matrix. For all much of a cultural icon it is, I thought I’d know more about it. Fun fact: I have not actually seen the Star Wars movie- yet I feel like I’ve got a pretty good grasp of the world. (Probably mostly from 100%ing Lego Star Wars as a kid).
Anyway, I was pretty surprised at how cool the idea of the Matrix is. The idea that the world is just an computer simulation to keep us placated while the computer overlords farm us for energy. That’s so gosh dang cool.
8: Taxi Driver
Love watching the slow-burn descent of a young dude from somewhat dead-beat, diligent worker to absolutely bat-shit insane crazyperson. Gets really tense at some parts the makes the movie a real experience to watch. Scorsese managed to make 70s New York City seem like an absolute nightmarish heck-hole. I mean, it probably was, but that’s besides the point. They do a great job at setting up Travis as a well-meaning, if not a little creepy, misanthrope who struggles to connect with others. I think the scene where he brings Betsy to the p0rn theatre is indicative of that: he generally sees no problem with those movies- its something he enjoys, and doesn’t even consider that someone else wouldn’t like that.
Travis obviously descends into some dark shit, though, that is much, much, much less defensible, and I think the movie does a good job a portraying how poverty and loneliness (among other things, like PTSD) can drive a young guy into madness.
And then they ruin it with the ending. Lol. Look I’m no high-falutin film critic, but I think they missed the mark with the ending of the movie. They set up this cataclysmic ending for Travis- where his desperation for murder explodes into an epic cascade of violence. And then he’s like…. better? He gets off scot-free. Better than scot-free: he’s hailed as a hero. This seemed really weird to me and really undermined the catharsis of Travis’ final acts.
People talk about the ending like its purposefully left up-to-interpretation: is the ending a dream? A fantasy as Travis lays dying? Did any of the ending really happen? Did any of the movie really happen? But the writer of movie, Paul Shrader, pretty much deconfirms this: “When asked on the website Reddit about the film's ending, Schrader said that it was not to be taken as a dream sequence, but that he envisioned it as returning to the beginning of the film—as if the last frame "could be spliced to the first frame, and the movie started all over again." This decision, to me, makes the movie a much more dangerous piece of cinema- and it’s not surprising, in retrospect, that it was the inspiration for a real-life assassination attempt a public figure.
If they wanted to blur the lines between hero and villain… I still think that it would’ve been a better ending to let Travis die and not leave it up to interpretation. I think the most interesting aspect of Travis’ character is the dichotomy between the legacies of heroes and villains. As critic James Berardinelli writes (in a quote I stole from wikipedia) “Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader append the perfect conclusion to Taxi Driver. Steeped in irony, the five-minute epilogue underscores the vagaries of fate. The media builds Bickle into a hero, when, had he been a little quicker drawing his gun against Senator Palantine, he would have been reviled as an assassin.” THAT is cool, and something that is interesting to think about. Otherwise, I think the ending we got really took away from the catharsis. It made the events of the film feel like the dream… not the other way around. But, I dunno.
7 / 6: Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz
I posted earlier in this thread about how I thought Shaun of the Dead was better than Hot Fuzz…. But now I’m not so sure. I really racked my brain over and over about which one I liked more but…. In the end I have to take the coward’s way out and put them at the same level.
Shaun of the Dead is both a great comedy film and an excellent zombie movie. At some point in the middle/late half of the movie, it honestly stops being a comedy at all and goes full-throttle on its zombie premise. It’s even got some gore in one of the most horrifying scenes I’ve seen in a movie! You probably know the one: the imagery stuck with me for a long time. Overall it’s a really strong comedy; I loved the parallels between the real zombies and the “real” zombies- the people who are just going about their daily routines and whatnot.
Hot Fuzz was equally as good and much more… comfier movie. Idk something about it was cozy. Was it the small, English village feel? The buddy-cop relationship between the two leads? I don’t know. Hot Fuzz was equally as strong comedic wise as Shaun, if not a bit sillier.
Either way, both movies are the pinnacle for comedies and prove that the best comedies strive to be good movies first. None of the tripe that is associated with modern comedy movies is present…. No dumb slapstick, fartypoopy jokes or any of that. Overall just really great movies.
5: Pan's Labyrinth
I think Pan’s Labyrinth might be a perfect movie to be honest. I don’t mean that it’s flawless but like, it’s really really good and I can’t think of anything else to say about it other than I really loved it. Overall a fantastic low-fantasy combined with quasi-political drama combined with…. so much other good stuff. 100% worth a watch.
4: The Shining
I don’t really have anything to add to the conversation surrounding this movie that hasn’t already been said over the course of the last 40 years. Good movie. Jack Nicholson.
3 / 2 / 1: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Oooooh what an awesome and epic climatic ending to my epic list. I can’t really decide which of these three movies I like the most… I think I like the first one the best but maybe that’s just because it was my introduction to this beautifully realized fantasy world. Something about these films just…. captures you. I can’t really explain it- but I’ve never been so thoroughly sad when a movie ended before. I wanted to live in them- I wanted to be a part of the Fellowship. These movies totally ruled my brain for weeks after I watched them, so I can’t put them anywhere else but #1. I realize I’m pretty late to this but like oh well lmao i was in like kindergarten when these came out. Also…. Elijah Wood.
ANYway thanks for reading I hope my opinions aren't too terrible
Here are all the movies/shows I watched in chronological order:
And now, because I have nothing better to do, I’m gonna rank each one and give a little review on it! And I’m posting it here because screw letterboxd! (minor spoilers ahead)
37: Survivor: Season 2
Look, I'm a huge Survivor fan. It’s currently the only reason I have a Paramount Plus subscription (even though I only watched one season this year lmao). Early Survivor certainly has its quirks and charms, but Season 2 didn't do much for me. While it has a strong early start with some twists and fun characters, it becomes a bit predictable and slow as the game progresses, with few characters I really became attached to. Spoiler Alert: The ending was also astonishingly surprising, but not really in the fun way but in the way..... astoundingly astonishingly bizarre way. I guess having such a crazy twist at the end of a pretty predictable and slow paced season was a lot to take in. To be fair I didn't really watch much of the last episode because to be honest I didn't really care much at that point.
36: Over the Garden Wall
This might be controversial, as I am totally aware of how beloved this animated mini-series is. I watched it at the crack of October, which I hear is when most people take their pilgrimage back to series that's so graced by Elijah Wood's sweet, sweet voice. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I found it ultimately a little boring. Perhaps its biggest downfall was its own reputation. I may have went in expecting a moodier, more atmospheric experience, only to be disappointed by how.... Cartoon Network-ish, it was. I get thats probably a weak criticism for a cartoon that aired on Cartoon Network, but looking at it strictly as a cartoon, I was a bit disappointed in the pacing of each episode and how, honestly, some of the episodes were just plain boring- like the schoolhouse one or the nonsensical dream sequence episode. The overall narrative was really interesting though, and I liked some of the concepts on paper, like the ferry of Victorian-Era Frogs. I don't think that Over the Garden Wall will become a staple of Autumn viewing for me, although the main theme song is.... really really dang good! So atleast I got something out of it. Also, Elijah Wood.
35: Captain Phillips
Eh. Captain Philips is... cool. Kinda predictable cause, like, you know the pirates are gonna board the ship. That's like, the whole thing, right? Some tense moments toward the end made the film a fun watch. But apparently the real events didn't quite go exactly as portrayed and the whole crew hates the real Captain Philips' guts? I dunno. Who cares. Fine movie but a little disappointing overall.
34: Unknown
The first movie I watched this year was the relatively unknown (see what I did there) Liam Neeson flick, Unknown. The biggest Unknown about Unknown is my reason for watching Unknown. I think I was cooking some buffalo chicken dip while inattentively looking for something to watch and the little trailer for the movie kept popping up and I kept hearing Liam Neeson's voice out of the speaker. But the main premise of the flick is fairly interesting. A guy wakes up from a minor coma to find out that he effectively doesn't exist anymore. What's at play here? Aliens? Ghosts? Some cosmic, Lovecraftian entities that control reality? The real answer is kind of funny and kind of makes Liam Neeson's character look a little clown-ish if we're being honest. But it's a pretty typical action flick that I enjoyed enough while watching. No super intense action set-pieces that you'd expect from Bond or something, atleast none that I remember, but alas, still enjoyable for the fun premise alone.
33: Bad Trip
My least favorite Eric Andre bits are when he's messing with random people in the street, but Eric Andre does that kind of comedy right since he knows to make *himself* look like the fool- not the other people. Most Youtube "pranksters" can learn a lot from this. The comedy of this movie comes from seeing people's genuine reactions to Eric's outlandish set-ups. And it mostly delivers in that regard.
32: Superbad
Superbad is.... SuperALRIGHT! A fine comedy in a year where I watched mostly better comedies, but a lot of the moments have solidified themselves as cultural staples. I have a problem with the film's ending, though. I think Jonah Hill's character gets away too easily! I mean his whole goal the entire movie was to sexually assault some girl... and he ends up getting that girl at the end! Yeah, I guess I shouldn't expect much from a 2007 Judd Apatow movie. But I think the ending was a missed opportunity. You had this sort-of sub-plot point about Michael Cera's character (I dont remember the two protagonists names and I refuse to care) denying his crush's drunken sexual advances: setting the character up as the complete contrast to Jonah Hill. This pays off in the end because Michael Cera gets the girl. But any lesson about respecting women or consent is lost by also having Jonah Hill get the girl, too, yknow?
I think the movie could've ended with Cera and his girl walking off together at the mall, leaving Jonah Hill by himself at some table. He spots some girl sitting alone, then casually approaches her and CUT- Leave the audience to believe he learned the error of his ways and like, idk, respects women or whatever. Maybe set up this girl early in the movie by having Jonah Hill say some fucked up thing about her or her appearance to really drive home the amount he's changed. Am I thinking about this too much? Probably.
Oh, and another thing. What the fuck are up with some of the reviews for this movie? Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times said "Physically, Hill and Cera recall the classic comic duos—Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Aykroyd and Belushi. But they are contemporary kids, sophisticated and sensitive to nuance"; she added, "I hope it's not damning the movie with the wrong kind of praise to say that for a film so deliriously smutty, Superbad is supercute." Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa??? Cute? What about this movie is cute? Sophisticated??? The fuck?
31: Dune
I read Dune this year, which is about 5 years later than I had meant to read Dune. I was pretty excited to see the movie because its not every day a movie comes out for a book you so recently enjoyed. I went to the movie theater ALONE to see Dune. Honestly, let's normalize going to the movie theater alone. Movies make for weak dates and hang-outs anyway. I sit alone in dark room most of the time anyway, I don't want one of the rare times I'm with my friends to be doing that too. Overall my experience seeing Dune was like a $30 experience, between the ticket an the popcorn, which is pretty wack and probably a big reason these theaters are going out of business (aside from, yknow, the pandemic, but anyway...). Was it worth that when I could've watched it for free in the comfort of my room without the risk of spreading a deadly disease? Not really.
I have to give the movie some benefit of the doubt, since I did read the book beforehand, I knew a lot of what was going to happen, which did sap some of the tension. I also feel like I did my homework diligently, while I didn't read any of the Dune sequels, I did know quite a lot about the Bene Gesserit and god-emperors and the Butlerian Jihad and whatnot, so I feel like I had a pretty strong grasp of the universe as a whole. I sat next to a group of girls who spent a good deal of the beginning of the movie chatting to each other, but as the movie progressed their chatting was a lot less enthusiastic and I think they were either too confused to care about the movie anymore or fell asleep.
I do not think Dune was a good adaptation. I don't think the movie did anything better or more interesting the book did, which is... not great. I think I would have liked more creative liberties. Part of me still falls into the camp that Dune just can't work as a movie. A TV series would've been better, probably. There just wasn't enough time to give characters like Duncan Idaho and Dr. Yeuh the development they needed to make their arcs emotionally resonant. As a result, the movie kind of felt hallow.
I predicted that the movie would end (spoiler alert) with Paul's duel with the Fremen dude. In retrospect I think this was a bad choice. I think it should've ended with Paul digging his mother out of the sand after escaping the Sardouker attack after Idaho's death. While this wouldn't have saved too much time, it would've allowed for more character development while still having an emotional climax to end on. Ending WITH the Harkonnen's attack and Paul's escape could've been fine too, and maybe could've set up the film to be a trilogy. Or just making the movie itself longer, though I was kinda bored through most of it so maybe not that.
I also agree with some criticism against the general art-style of the film, especially in regards to the desert scenes. Watch Matt Colville's video on Youtube about it for more depth analysis on that. It pretty much sums up my thoughts as well.
30: Elf
I watched Elf on Christmas Eve. A genuine masterclass in family-friendly comedies. Doesn't rely too heavily on fart/poop jokes and slapstick humor and Will Ferrell absolutely nails the character. Charming. The black guy store manager is the best character.
29: Idiocracy
This 2006 comedy probably has gotten more resurgence in recent years than it deserves. "Idiocracy was supposed to be fiction!" has become sort of a rallying cry of disillusioned millennials who grew up on this cheeky Mike Judge comedy. This does a disservice to Idiocracy more than anything else, really. In my opinion, Idiocracy isn't really a commentary on American politics or whatever. I mean, it's really just a fun concept for a gimmick-y comedy film, but if you want to look deeper, I think its moreso a commentary on landscape of comedy itself. One of the first things we see in the future is Dax Shepherd watching some shitty TV show. One running gag in the movie is that the most acclaimed movie of the year is just a single shot of some butt. The death penalty is an over-the-top monster truck show. The writers were low-key geniuses for making the premise of their movie about a bunch of morons because any racist or sexist joke is just written off as, well, they're *idiots*!! But perhaps that's the exact message they were trying to send.
28: Tommy Boy
I think topping off the "mostly-pretty-good" comedies is Tommy Boy. I don't really have anything to say about Tommy Boy.
27: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Y'know, the cultural osmosis that taught me everything I knew about this movie before I actually watched it had me thinking that the quirky blue-haired girl would be more present in the movie than she actually was. Anyway, this movie has done for "nerd culture" what I have done for the Smogon OU RMT forums: probably made it worse in retrospect.
26: Timecrimes
I was introduced to Timecrimes by some Tik Tok that described it as something like a "disturbing thriller that will have you watching between your fingers." Which, is like, the biggest overstatement of all time. Don't get me wrong, Timecrimes is awesome and I'm not going to spoil it, because it's best to go into it blind, or as close to blind as you possibly can. A really fun, if gimmick-y, movie that handles its absurd premise well. It's science-fiction, technically, but if you're the kind of person who likes to pick and pry at every detail of a film until the logic falls apart... this isn't the movie for you. You have to just sit back and accept the absurd premise, in which case the movie becomes gold. A little bit boring in the 3rd act when the mystique of it all starts to fade but.... overall a fun watch.
25: Coraline
Shit man, this ranking is getting hard. Coraline is great. A darkly eerie film that can appeal to any quirk-adoring person, child or adult. I'm a sucker for stop-motion, too.
24: Casino Royale
The only James Bond film I've ever seen did not disappoint in its crunchy action that lets you just shut off your brain for the duration of its run-time. So many hot people in this movie (including Judi Dench)
23/22: The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey / The Hobbit, Desolation of Smaug
Watched these pretty soon after watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy just because I did not want to stop being in those worlds yet. They are notably less good than their earlier counterparts, but I still enjoyed them well enough. It's hard to exactly pinpoint why exactly they are less good? I think its because they feel more like kid's movies than the original trilogy. Which I suppose makes sense- The Hobbit was intended as a children's book. Lot's more slapsticky kind of action and overall silliness. But, enjoyable nonetheless.
Also, yes, I did also see the third movie in the trilogy, Battle of the Five Armies. I actually watched that one before even seeing the original LOTR. I substitute taught an 8th grade English class that had just finished reading The Hobbit and so they watched the movie over a couple periods. So, I watched it while also juggling subbing for an 8th grade class. So.. I don't really count it so much. But I saw enough that I didn't really feel like re-watching it.
21: The Wolf of Wall Street
A movie as funny as its own decadent over-the-topness. Less of the treatise on the business world that some people seem to treat it as and more of the burning downfall of a guy who played it too fast and too loose for too long. I like that the movie brings up themes about how these types of businessmen make their money by scamming innocent people, but it probably could've leaned into that a bit more.
20: Ghostbusters
Like Idiocracy, this movie has had a bit of a resurgence in recent years due to attempts to re-boot/sequel-ize it. Both of which apparently ended mostly as failures in their own respects. What those movies did succeed at, though, is bringing people back to the original. This is quite possibly the most perfectly casted movie of all time and I love how it mostly came about due to Dan Aykroyd's obsession with, like, ghouls and shit.
19: Seinfeld
Note that I did not watch all of Seinfeld, only the first 2-3 seasons, so this is the only show/movie on this list that I did not technically finish.... Oh well. I have fond memories of Seinfeld in part because of the context I started watching it in. In January/February of this year, I was living mostly on my own for the first time ever. While I was working at job I mostly hated, getting to spend evenings/weekends completely by myself was quite nice. I made a lot of the aforementioned buffalo chicken dip. I made a cheeseburger that came out so surprisingly not-terrible that it gave me dopamine for days. Spent a lot of evenings lounging around, eating food I made for myself, watching Seinfeld on a big TV in the basement. Sometimes I'd fuck around and walk to the corner store and get a Root Beer. This probably sounds very unremarkable to most people. Anyway, I got fired from that job and moved back home. So, whatever.
Anyway, Seinfeld is funny.
18: Hotel Rwanda
While Hotel Rwanda might not excel at being the most accurate depiction of the events portrayed as it might seem, it does do its job at portraying the excessive and brutal violence that one group is capable of causing to another. I'm sure the true events of the Rwandan Genocide are 1000x more horrifying than those portrayed in the film, and any discussion on how accurate the movie is to the true story of Paul Rusesabagina seems to be missing the point. It's a movie that makes me uncomfortable in the realization of how easy I have it in life, but also in how fragile society really is. Also Don Cheadle is great.
17: Eighth Grade
I'm a sucker for coming-of-age stories and Eighth Grade delivers. As a teacher, I really appreciate how accurately this movie portrays 8th graders. They're constantly spouting random memes thinking they're hilarious. I liked the interactions between Kayla and her dad. I mean, I felt bad for the dad, but I liked what it added to the film- I think it would've been easy to make Kayla an objectively good and kind person. There's more layers to the movie about growing up and young femininity and sexuality that I am not really qualified to discuss, so, I'll just leave it at that.
16: Eraserhead
I don't know what compelled me to interrupt my viewing of the LOTR triology with Eraserhead- but here we are. Eraserhead is weird, disturbing, harrowing and nightmare-ish, but all I could think of while watching is... "this is awesome." I love this shit. I love a movie where you have absolutely no clue whats going to happen next, and Eraserhead pulls no punches when it comes to unsettling imagery. I'm not good enough as a film analyst to try and come up with any epic Film Theories on what it supposed to be happening here, but I also I am content with the "weirdness for the sake of weirdness" atmosphere this movie's got going on. Art is meant to illicit an emotion, right? Dread, paranoia, unease- these are emotions as valid as any, and Eraserhead delivers as an experience to let the viewer revel in these emotions for a short time. Why would anyone want to do that? Catharsis, I guess?
15: Squid Game
I think it would've been really really really easy to botch the surprisingly simple concept that is Squid Game. I think a lesser screenwriter would've focused too heavily on the games themselves, maybe having some basic character arcs throughout. But Hwang Dong-hyuk avoided that trap entirely, I think. First and foremost, the movie is about the characters and their reactions to the games- not the other way around. All of it leads up to one of the most emotional wrecking-ball of scenes in anything I've ever watched that still lives absolutely rent free in my head.
It's not perfect, of course. The policeman's side-plot felt pretty rushed and underdeveloped for what it was. There is also one line from the first episode that always stuck in my brain- when the main character was supposed to be buying a birthday present for his daughter but instead uses the money to bet on horse racing: he says something like "my mom cares more about my kid than I do!" I get that they wanted him to be like a seedy-kinda guy, but considering his whole motivation was to prevent his daughter from moving to the U.S. setting up early that the character doesn't really give a shit about his daughter seemed like a weird choice.
Also, the "VIPs" are perhaps the worst and most obnoxiously annoying characters in anything I've ever watched. I get that they're *supposed* to be over-the-top but like..... GOSH DANG are they bad.
14: Shadow & Bone
A real sleeper hit for me. I actually had a bit of background knowledge on this series before digging into it. I didnt read the Grisha Triology, from which the series is adapted from, but I did read Leigh Bardugo's other series, Six of Crows, which is set in the same universe. Despite sharing its name with Bardugo's original novel, Shadow & Bone uses many of the characters and settings from Six of Crows, which I really loved. Seriously, if you are into fantasy, read Six of Crows. Regardless, I did go into this series with some knowledge of its universe, which did probably help me get into it moreso than the average viewer. Or maybe it didn't, I dunno. I was kind of expecting Shadow & Bone to be bad, with production quality on the level of those really bad TV shows, like Supergirl or whatever. But I was really surprised at the production values for this series! They really nailed the costumes and settings- it really felt like a real world and I really wanted to spend more time in it. I didn't care too much about the main plot, but it's serviced quite a bit by the vastly more interesting subplot that intermixes with it. And, again, I really can't stress enough how much of the show is carried by the production. I'd recommend the show, but I would recommend the book Six of Crows even more. So... go read that.
13: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Always loved Fantastic Mr. Fox since I was a kid. A remarkably simple yet creative premise with a lot of wit and humor that provides an interesting study on an interesting character. I should say interesting studyS on interesting characterS. Uncharacteristic for an animated family movie, each character that makes up the main crew of Fantastic Mr. Fox has a lot of depth to delve in to, which really elevates the movie beyond just a family-friendly adaptation of a children's book. I said before that I love stop-motion and Mr. Fox delivers fantastically.
12: Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro
I am a BIG FAN of the 'gentlemen thief' genre of characters and Lupin is no exception. Beautifully animated and excessively charming, Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro will undoubtedly live in my imagination for years.
11: Gattaca
I first watched Gattaca in my high school biology class, probably back in like 2012-2013. I remember even back then noting how good of a movie it actually was: a level of quality that you don't usually get with in-class movies. Decided to give it a re-watch. Knowing all of the major plot-points kinda did sour the rewatching of the movie, and I am kinda regretful that I didn't get to watch it for the first time in a context where I could've appreciated it more. Regardless, I can recognize the artistry in the movie in pretty much every aspect.
10: Whiplash
Another example of a perfectly casted character: J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. But also as Terence Fletcher in Whiplash. Funny man yell loud! Like Wolf of Wall Street, its a movie about a a guy who goes too hard too quickly and explodes into a fiery mess. In both cases literally. Also in both cases the protagonist is very unlikeable. But, like, in a way thats fun to watch. Only difference here is instead of playing with billions of dollars and federal law, its... the drums. Whiplash will keep you on the edge of your seat and its got some great tunes!
I think Whiplash has an interesting theme that isn't seen too much in movies. It's about being the best. But more than that. It's about NOT being the best. It's about coping with coming up short on your dreams. It's about passion but it's also about when passion goes too far.
My only issue with this movie? Early on there's a date scene between the main character and his love-interest. They have 0 chemistry. Like, none at all. I actually thought the movie was like TELLING me that the date was going awfully. Like I thought the awkwardness was intended? But it wasn't? I dunno.
9: The Matrix
Yeah, that’s right. I saw the Matrix for the first time this year. What are you gonna do, bully me about it? I’m surprised at how little I actually knew about the Matrix. For all much of a cultural icon it is, I thought I’d know more about it. Fun fact: I have not actually seen the Star Wars movie- yet I feel like I’ve got a pretty good grasp of the world. (Probably mostly from 100%ing Lego Star Wars as a kid).
Anyway, I was pretty surprised at how cool the idea of the Matrix is. The idea that the world is just an computer simulation to keep us placated while the computer overlords farm us for energy. That’s so gosh dang cool.
8: Taxi Driver
Love watching the slow-burn descent of a young dude from somewhat dead-beat, diligent worker to absolutely bat-shit insane crazyperson. Gets really tense at some parts the makes the movie a real experience to watch. Scorsese managed to make 70s New York City seem like an absolute nightmarish heck-hole. I mean, it probably was, but that’s besides the point. They do a great job at setting up Travis as a well-meaning, if not a little creepy, misanthrope who struggles to connect with others. I think the scene where he brings Betsy to the p0rn theatre is indicative of that: he generally sees no problem with those movies- its something he enjoys, and doesn’t even consider that someone else wouldn’t like that.
Travis obviously descends into some dark shit, though, that is much, much, much less defensible, and I think the movie does a good job a portraying how poverty and loneliness (among other things, like PTSD) can drive a young guy into madness.
And then they ruin it with the ending. Lol. Look I’m no high-falutin film critic, but I think they missed the mark with the ending of the movie. They set up this cataclysmic ending for Travis- where his desperation for murder explodes into an epic cascade of violence. And then he’s like…. better? He gets off scot-free. Better than scot-free: he’s hailed as a hero. This seemed really weird to me and really undermined the catharsis of Travis’ final acts.
People talk about the ending like its purposefully left up-to-interpretation: is the ending a dream? A fantasy as Travis lays dying? Did any of the ending really happen? Did any of the movie really happen? But the writer of movie, Paul Shrader, pretty much deconfirms this: “When asked on the website Reddit about the film's ending, Schrader said that it was not to be taken as a dream sequence, but that he envisioned it as returning to the beginning of the film—as if the last frame "could be spliced to the first frame, and the movie started all over again." This decision, to me, makes the movie a much more dangerous piece of cinema- and it’s not surprising, in retrospect, that it was the inspiration for a real-life assassination attempt a public figure.
If they wanted to blur the lines between hero and villain… I still think that it would’ve been a better ending to let Travis die and not leave it up to interpretation. I think the most interesting aspect of Travis’ character is the dichotomy between the legacies of heroes and villains. As critic James Berardinelli writes (in a quote I stole from wikipedia) “Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader append the perfect conclusion to Taxi Driver. Steeped in irony, the five-minute epilogue underscores the vagaries of fate. The media builds Bickle into a hero, when, had he been a little quicker drawing his gun against Senator Palantine, he would have been reviled as an assassin.” THAT is cool, and something that is interesting to think about. Otherwise, I think the ending we got really took away from the catharsis. It made the events of the film feel like the dream… not the other way around. But, I dunno.
7 / 6: Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz
I posted earlier in this thread about how I thought Shaun of the Dead was better than Hot Fuzz…. But now I’m not so sure. I really racked my brain over and over about which one I liked more but…. In the end I have to take the coward’s way out and put them at the same level.
Shaun of the Dead is both a great comedy film and an excellent zombie movie. At some point in the middle/late half of the movie, it honestly stops being a comedy at all and goes full-throttle on its zombie premise. It’s even got some gore in one of the most horrifying scenes I’ve seen in a movie! You probably know the one: the imagery stuck with me for a long time. Overall it’s a really strong comedy; I loved the parallels between the real zombies and the “real” zombies- the people who are just going about their daily routines and whatnot.
Hot Fuzz was equally as good and much more… comfier movie. Idk something about it was cozy. Was it the small, English village feel? The buddy-cop relationship between the two leads? I don’t know. Hot Fuzz was equally as strong comedic wise as Shaun, if not a bit sillier.
Either way, both movies are the pinnacle for comedies and prove that the best comedies strive to be good movies first. None of the tripe that is associated with modern comedy movies is present…. No dumb slapstick, fartypoopy jokes or any of that. Overall just really great movies.
5: Pan's Labyrinth
I think Pan’s Labyrinth might be a perfect movie to be honest. I don’t mean that it’s flawless but like, it’s really really good and I can’t think of anything else to say about it other than I really loved it. Overall a fantastic low-fantasy combined with quasi-political drama combined with…. so much other good stuff. 100% worth a watch.
4: The Shining
I don’t really have anything to add to the conversation surrounding this movie that hasn’t already been said over the course of the last 40 years. Good movie. Jack Nicholson.
3 / 2 / 1: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Oooooh what an awesome and epic climatic ending to my epic list. I can’t really decide which of these three movies I like the most… I think I like the first one the best but maybe that’s just because it was my introduction to this beautifully realized fantasy world. Something about these films just…. captures you. I can’t really explain it- but I’ve never been so thoroughly sad when a movie ended before. I wanted to live in them- I wanted to be a part of the Fellowship. These movies totally ruled my brain for weeks after I watched them, so I can’t put them anywhere else but #1. I realize I’m pretty late to this but like oh well lmao i was in like kindergarten when these came out. Also…. Elijah Wood.
ANYway thanks for reading I hope my opinions aren't too terrible
but i admit i was attempting to coax a reaction/prompt discussion by FORCE!!!
