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This was bad ass. 
They can go ahead and make more of these.

The first two chapters were stronger than the third (for me at least) but as whole this was a lot of fun.

The Predator franchise continues to be in good hands with Dan Trachtenberg.

Another movie night with my son, nephew and parents. After loving the Minecraft movie, my kiddo wanted to watch another Jack Black movie so I introduced him to Jumanji and he seemed to enjoy it.

And I’m madly in love (or have a crush on) Karen Gillan. So bonus points!

I’m not the biggest fan of Kevin Hart but he was very funny in this.

I always have a good time when I rewatch this movie. Well, except that one time I rewatched it while I was in the hospital. That wasn’t fun.
But most of the time, this movie puts a smile on my face. 

Oh, except for the tarantulas. They can go die already. I hate them. 

Oh, and damn… Colin Hanks really looks like his dad.

I’ve loved this franchise since seeing the first one in theaters just before my birthday in May of 1996.

Now that it has concluded, I’m happy to say that overall, it was a consistently good to great action series.

There were some highs and lows of course. Mission: Impossible 2 hasn’t aged that well for me. But even with it being my least favorite of the franchise, it’s still fun to watch, in an over the top bordering on ridiculous sort of way.

I really enjoyed Dead Reckoning (I when it was called Part One 😂)… though on a recent rewatch some issues stood out for me that I didn’t notice on my first viewing.

Unfortunately, those issues were doubled down on in the film formerly known as Dead Reckoning Part Two.

One such issue that I noticed in M:I 7 was the dialogue had some clunky moments and the film spent too much time telling, not showing what The Entity was capable of. I also felt Gabriel was one of the weaker villains in the series. Even more so in Final Reckoning. I like the actor who plays Gabriel. But by the end Dead Reckoning, he was bordering on mustache twirling bad guy territory which made him feel more silly than menacing. That is unfortunate as he was the physical threat we were given as a stand in for the A.I. threat.

Still, Dead Reckoning was still a hell of a lot of fun with some top notch set pieces and the excellent addition of Haley Atwell (she is everything!) and Pom Klementieff. We also saw an expanded role for Vanessa Kirby and of course we had Rebecca Ferguson stealing every scene (even if she had less screen time this time around).

Sadly, while I still enjoyed Final Reckoning, it failed to be the satisfying send off for the series that I had hoped for.

Don’t get me wrong. If you have been a fan of this franchise up to now, you should still see it and may even love it. Many have.
Unfortunately some of my issues held it back for me. I have three main problems with the film:

1. To much talk, not enough action
I love drama. I don’t need the film to be non stop balls to the wall action. The problem here is that the pacing in this one is way off and doesn’t match the films that came before… 

And if the script/dialogue were stronger, maybe that would have been ok. But too much time was spent in this one with one talking head after another doomsplaining the situation, telling Ethan Hunt that he is both the problem and the only hope and complaining about how he never follows rules but always gets the job done except for when he’s to blame for the problems… oh, but we all depend on him or we are doomed because of him… over and over… I get it. The stakes are high. The mission, dare I say impossible? And we need Space Jesus to save us (my nickname for Tom Cruise),

Sure, some of this could have been done in a way that helped set the stakes and move the story along. Instead there was so much of this that it became silly to me eventually.

2. Of course all of this fed into my second problem that I already covered really. Which was the pacing.

3. The set pieces we did get were cool but at least for me, not as good as what came before. Yeah, Space Jesus was nuts for doing the airplane scenes at the end but ultimately those scenes were not as cool as the train scene in the previous film or the final chase/showdown of Fallout. 

Oh, and Sci-Fi Wasabi will understand this one as she warned me about it… one of my favorite things about Rogue Nation, Fallout and Dead Reckoning were how much I enjoyed watching these kick ass ladies steal ever scene they were in and often outshine Tom Cruise!
While Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff were cool in Final Reckoning, they were given much less to do.
This was the Ethan Hunt show. And maybe that was always going to be the case. And for most, that won’t be a problem. I just wish the bad ass women had more time to shine. 

There were a couple of plot issues I had as well but I don’t want to spoil anything. And they didn’t ruin the movie. Just made me wish the script was tighter.

Ok. Enough complaining. I still enjoyed the film even if it seems like I didn’t. I’m nitpicking because what came before was so good, I just hoped to see the series go out on a stronger note.

Now that I can reflect on the franchise as a whole, I can say that Rogue Nation and Fallout remain my favorite entries. They felt very connected, much like Dead Reckoning and Final Reckoning are. But the films themselves were just stronger. Rogue Nation set the tone for the excellent follow up in Fallout.
I wanted that to be the case for the final two. Instead we got a Part One that was better than the Part Two in practically every way.

I would love to see the series take new life sometime down the road. But either a reboot or a new focus away from Hunt.
But for now, this journey has come to a conclusion.

This review will self destruct in five seconds… 💥 (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).

Bullet points 🔫

* Haley Atwell. Give her a franchise! She is such a star.

* I did like how they tried to tie events in the previous films into this final chapter. Some of it was more successful than others. But for the most part the connections they made worked. Not in a “they clearly had a plan this whole time” sort of way… it was obvious some of these connections were made up… The Rabbits Foot for example. No way they knew in M:I 3 how that would connect to the final chapter… but it worked.

* Even though I didn’t love Esai Morales character as much as I wanted to here, it made me want to go back and rewatch Caprica. He was so good in that. I wish that show hadn’t been cancelled.

* This movie was low key traumatic for me. As someone who has come close to dying several times, most of which related to not being able to breathe, I really struggled watching the extended under water sequence. And without spoiling anything, I have experienced multiple times what Bengi experiences near the end. So watching that was rough. 

* Did I mention I love Hayley Atwell?

*watched with my son Belamy

My son’s mom took him to see this in the theater with his friend. He is a big Minecraft fan. Myself? I played it for a couple of days when it originally released on Xbox 360 but it wasn’t really my thing.
I do play it with my son though. Still not my thing but I enjoy playing with him.

Naturally he was excited for the movie and he is definitely the target audience.

Lately it’s been hard to get him to want to sit through a movie. But for my birthday (and my mom’s… I was born the day before her 19th birthday)… he wanted to have a family movie night and watch this. I was happy to oblige.

So we gathered in the living room (my son, nephew, my parents and I) and away we went.

So if I had watched this on my own, it would have been a able though shallow video game tie in. But watching it with my son and family made the experience much more enjoyable. At one key vital moment in the film, my son and his adult cousin broke out in song together (they knew the lava chicken bit by heart). I couldn’t help but chuckle hearing my son say “hell” while glancing at me out of the corner of his eye to see if he was in trouble or not. 
He wasn’t. Secretly, kids Effing and Jeffing is a guilty pleasure of mine. I blame South Park.
But, I still keep my son from running around acting like Cartman. So when he does slip out the occasional bit of profanity, I usually have to suppress my laughter.

Anyway, back to the film. Yeah, I would never sit down and watch it on my own. It definitely feels like a movie of this time… basically a series of memes in the shape of a motion picture. But I can’t fault kids (or even adults) from enjoying it. After all, it isn’t like I only watch “cinema”… (I’m looking at you my beloved Step Brothers and Cocaine Bear)… 
And the experience of watching it with my family, all of whom loved it, was enjoyable for the right reasons. Spending time with my loved ones. So maybe I gave it an extra star for the experience if not for the film itself.

Side note. Did Jared Hess and Jon Heder have a falling out? Of all the people I expected to see Heder’s name in credits as “Creeper #4” or something. Was he too busy? 
Ok, I get it. They aren’t tied at the hip. But I’ll forever associate them with one another because of Napoleon Dynamite. Yeah I know that’s silly. 

Oh, and I will always smile seeing or hearing Jemaine Clement and Matt Berry in anything. I adore those dudes.

My son’s mom helped him pick out some things for my birthday so I got this from him yesterday (plus a cool shirt with Skeletor letting some kittens). I decided to go ahead and rewatch it after he went to bed and Monday Night Raw was over (I am a man of taste and culture after all)…

I think this is my second time seeing this. But I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. I still want to get a retro looking Night Owls shirt.
I’ve seen a few online.

I’m rambling. I had more to say about the actual movie in my first review. Feel free to dig it up if you are interested.

My son was proud that he picked out a movie he knew I would like (it probably helps that my ex and I are good at communicating so she knew this was one I wanted in my collection),
This morning I told him I watched it and he asked if it scared me and he said it would be funny if I got scared on my birthday. So I lied and told him it did scare me and he got a good laugh. He’s devious. 😂 

Anyway, this month has been difficult on some personal level and of course my ongoing health issues.
But I’m glad to have made it another year. I’ve already outlived what the doctors expected me to live by quite a bit. But that means each trip around the sun is one I am lucky to have made.

Ok, I’ll stop rambling. 
I shouldn’t write reviews when I am in this sort of frame of mind. I tend to be to open and it gets messy. 

Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend!

How to make my favorite modern Star Wars film even better?
Create a two season prequel that fleshes out the conflict, some of the characters and ties perfectly into said movie and bam. You got it.

Star Wars: Andor season one and two along with Rogue One are peak modern day Star Wars for me.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Jedi and Sith throw downs. I love bounty hunters, Mando and Grogu. I love Rey (despite a flawed and disorganized trilogy) and BB-8…
I love Star Wars Clone Wars and Rebels… and Ahsoka Tano is one of my favorite characters…

I made a meme recently that had Jesse Plemons terrifying characters from Civil War but I changed his question to “What kind of Star Wars fan are you?”

Well sir, I’m the type who loves all (or at least most) of the different takes on the the galaxy from a long time ago and very far away.

Andor and Rogue One  are the most mature take on Star Wars we have seen to date. And I don’t necessarily mean mature as in not safe for kids… though Andor in particular gets into some pretty dark territory for Star Wars. 
By mature I mean this isn’t a story about space wizards and pod races.
Those things are great.
But this a darker side of the conflict. Espionage. Sacrifice. Difficult sometimes morally grey choices to be made… 
Politics and propaganda… all very grounded aspects of war. 

I’d also argue that this series in particular shows the true evils of The Empire in ways we haven’t seen before. Not the big sweeping evil of Palpatine (though his vision and grip on the throat of the galaxy is the driving force here)… but the little evils. The local evils. The political corruption. The oppression of those who have no one to defend them. The suppression and distortion of truth.

Ah. So damn good. Inject this in my veins.

If you liked or loved Rogue One I highly encourage you to sit down and watch the two seasons of Andor and then rewatch Rogue One.
For me, it hits different now.
This is how you do a prequel.

Didn’t have time to rewatch the entire series (again)… but this is the only one of them I believe I only saw once. I saw it at the theater when it released and I can’t recall if I ever rewatched it.

A friend of mine was going to take me to see Final Reckoning next week. He isn’t a fan of the films (he may have watched a couple of them over the years but it isn’t his thing. Which is fine.
He also hates Tom Cruise so I’m sure that doesn’t help his perception of this series.

I invited him over yesterday to watch Dead Reckoning. Figured he at least needed to this one since Final Reckoning is essentially Dead Reckoning Part Two.

Well. He fucking hates it.
It was so obvious (even though he said he was trying to not bash the film since he knows I like it… but I could see it all over him. He hated it.
His dislike was so strong a vibe I actually caught myself wondering if I’m missing something… and the flaws of the film, that I happily overlooked the first time I saw it, began to stand out more.

For example, this one has some of the most heavy handed and there was so much exposition… way more than I ed… the plot is possibly the most convoluted of the entire franchise…

But… damn it… I still enjoyed. I knocked it down half a star because I noticed these flaws more clearly this time… but this was still a fun romp.
I’ll close by saying once again the real star of these films (at least all of them from Rogue Nation forward) are the kick ass women who upstaged Tom Cruise at every turn.

On a shallow note, (I’m single and all I have is my imagination so don’t judge me) Haley Atwell and Rebecca Ferguson are unreasonably beautiful. Plus you have Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff… and that is just naming the ones in the two Reckoning films. This series knows how to cast em. Hire women who have all the gifts.

Ok, I’m ready to trust Ethan Hunt… one… last… time (ugh… again, I love these films… but sometimes 🤦‍♂️).

Edit: Bravo Letterboxd. That promotional tie in that kicked in when I published my review was *chef’s kiss*

Cassandra: There's only one reason Christian girls come down to the Planned Parenthood!
Roland: She's planting a pipe bomb!?
Cassandra: Well, two reasons.

That may be my favorite quote from this movie.

Been a while since I have seen this. Enjoyed the rewatch.

Mandy Moore’s casting in this was perfect.

Not feeling well again so this will be short.

I loved this. Lots of fun. They took a villain/character I never much cared for in the comics and made him interesting.
The misfit cast are enjoyable to watch. As expected, Florence Pugh steals the show. 

Excited for the next one. The Fantastic Four.

As I was recovering this weekend from my most recent medical procedure, I was looking for something to watch at 1:20 a.m. (my sleep schedule was even more “off” than usual since I was sleeping some during the day).

TMC was playing this. I watched a few minutes before restarting the film to watch all the way through.
I’ve seen the film a couple of times but it had been a while.

Anyone who knows me (or takes a peak at my Letterboxd profile top 4) knows John Carpenter’s The Thing is one of, if not my very favorite movies. I just adore it. I have loved it ever since it scared the piss out of me when I was a kid… and I appreciate it even more as an adult who has watched it at least a dozen times.

The Thing From Another World (and the novella Who Goes There by John W. Campbell aka Don A. Stuart) were the inspirations for John Carpenter’s sci fi horror masterpiece. 
So I hold this one in pretty high regard. On it’s own, it takes it’s own spin on Who Goes There (where Carpenter’s film folds in more elements from the novella that this film left out)… and it is a very enjoyable film to watch even after all of these years.
Of course the plot and pacing do feel somewhat simplistic and of it’s time. But anyone who appreciates older films I believe would have a good time with this one.

I very rarely find a film from this time period that I actually find scary. (It’s funny to me to think of my mom being afraid of Bela Lugosi‘s 1931 Dracula or my dad being terrified by The Blob (1958)… to me and many of us these films are respected for their legacy and they have their own charm… but I doubt very many people my age or even younger would be scared of these films.

But I still find The Thing From Another World to be enjoyable. 
Eclipsed by John Carpenter’s masterpiece? Of course. Just like we have had better Dracula films or Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) was a better film than the 1956 original (in many people’s mind… art and entertainment are subjective).
But it is still fun to go back and watch the classics that inspired the great works that followed them… 
Realistically I’d probably score this a 3 and 1/2 stars out of 5 but I gave it that extra half star for helping to inspire one of my all time favorites.

But… now I wanna rewatch John Carpenter’s The Thing (again).

Decided to watch another Val Kilmer movie as I rest.
He was so good in this I would have been happy to have had a spin off that followed his character.
I mean, RDJ was good (doing his quip filled charming performance that later made people fall in love with Tony Stark and helped give rise to the MCU…) I grew up with his acting (before the Hollywood comeback no less). 
So I’ve been a fan but this was still a typical RDJ performance.

Kilmer took on a role that could have easily slid into cringy homophobic territory like many of these types of films were known for.
He played the role with such charm and sincerity that even when people in the film were acting typical of the time when confronted with a gay man that you felt he had the high ground at all times. 

Solid film. Not my very favorite Shane Black film but still a lot of fun even after all of these years.

(Forgive my inelegant speaking on the topic of Kilmer’s character. I’m on pain pills. I meant to convey that it manages to raise above the gay guy being comic relief or the villain that was so common back in the day and this is in large part due to Kilmer’s performance.)

Ok I’m not actually watching this particular episode of Columbo… but this was here and I am rewatching the old Columbo series on Peacock (my grandmother and I used to watch him together when I was a little kid, so I’ve always had a soft spot for Peter Falk and his disheveled lieutenant.)

I had to have another minor medical procedure this morning (it all went well and I’m home recovering once again)… so my next couple of days will be filled with sleep (hopefully), pain meds, rewatching Columbo and Doctor Who favorites… playing Brotato and Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remaster (I’ve wanted years for this game to get remade or remastered…. Now if Bethesda would do Fallout 3 and New Vegas next!!). Whoever they farmed this remaster out to did a bang up job. 

I may try to squeeze in a movie and catch up on a couple of episodes of Your Friends and Neighbors and The Studio on Apple+

Or maybe I just sleep as much as possible considering sleep is usually hard for me to come by. 

If I’m quiet a few days, no worries I’m just resting.

Have a great weekend folks! I love you!! (Yes I mentioned the pain meds…)

I’m very tired but I wanted to get this logged. Got to see it today and damn it was so good.
As of today, this is my favorite new release of 2025 (sorry The Monkey… I still love you…)

I love how Coogler gave the characters time to breathe and establish the players before the shit hit the fan. It really made everything that went down matter because I cared about the various characters… 

The film was beautifully shot… the music was awesome… it wasn’t scary (for me at least) but even though I never felt “scared” I felt thrilled and there are some groovy kills in this. 

Michael B. Jordon continues to be one of the brightest stars in Hollywood today. He and Coogler clearly work well together. I’m sure we will see them collaborating again. 

The entire cast was excellent tbh. Top to bottom just class. 

I will definitely be adding this one to my collection.
I wish I had more to say but I need to try to sleep.

For the first time since New Who began, I actually missed last year’s holiday special. We had a lot going on here… more chaos than usual due to a busted water heater forcing us to pull up the floors and redo them.
So glad that is over with.

Anyway… this was ok.
To me at least. Definitely not the worst holiday special but no where near the best (which is all subjective. I know.)

I was very excited for RTD’s return as show runner. But the results have been mixed for me.

I like Ncuti Gatwa as the 15 but he has not been given consistently good stories to work with in his short run.
Which worries me. I liked Jodie Whitaker as the 13th Doctor as well… but her run was one of my least favorites. Not because of her. It was due to the storytelling and overall direction the new show runner, Chris Chibnall, took the show in.

So the news of Russell T. Davies returning was very exciting. Like I said earlier, so far, RTD’s return has brought mixed results.

And then there is Steven Moffat. I know he has his critics. But I am one of the people who enjoy his stories and his time as show runner. So having him back to write this episode was another reason I was looking forward to it.

But much like RTD’s stories this past season… this was just alright.

(Forgive my ramblings… that was probably a lot of unnecessary information but I’m writing this while I process my first viewing of the episode).

I say it’s ok because:

1. Ncuti Gatwa continues to be such a likable sweetheart of a Doctor. I generally like my “Doctors” to be a bit moody and have a dark side they struggle with. A god complex. Ages of heartbreak and anger boiling under the surface. Being a good person by choosing (most of the time) to not let those things break them or turn them into something they would despise.
So far, for the most part Ncuti’s Doctor is just a delight. So I am kind of surprised I enjoy 15 as much as I do. 
He has instant chemistry with everyone and is overall just fun to watch.
I hope to see some of the other characteristics I described above creep in to this Doctor. Time will tell. 
2. The Time Hotel is a fun concept that is mostly well executed.
3. Everything about the Anita Benn storyline was wonderful. Steph de Whalley was great in the role.
4. But… then there was Joy. Nicola Coughlan, for all her charm and wit, just didn’t have much to work with here. She was very underutilized and for someone so important to the story, Joy often felt more like a plot device than a person.

I think that was my biggest complaint. I cared more about a side story (The Doctor and Anita Benn) than I did the main character in peril. Maybe Moffat tries to cram to much into to short a runtime. I mean, as much as I enjoy him, it is a valid critical others have that he tries to do to much and the end result can feel forced or often not as compelling as the journey to the plot’s resolution.

Anyway. Inoffensive, enjoyable enough yet in the end, kind of forgettable I’m afraid. Average but an extra half star for Anita Benn.

I really really hope RTD has a banger of a season for us (the first episode is up now so I’ll be watching later today). We get a new companion I know (I will miss Millie Gibson though… like Ncuti, she was fun to watch)…
But as always, I’m always along for this ride as a huge Doctor Who fan. 
I’m always rooting for this show, even when it isn’t hitting for me. 

If anyone actually read this rambling mess, you deserve a cookie. Treat yourself. 🍪

The last episode (for me at least since I skipped ahead to watch the sequel to USS Callister) was a good one. Paul Giamatti turns in excellent performance. 
The episode is very heartfelt and at times raw… and I love Patsy Ferran. She was great in this as well.

I liked how that one piece of tech was used frequently (though in different iterations on the idea) throughout the season. I like the stand alone nature of anthology shows but it’s fun when there is some connective tissue there between the episodes and season. Gives us fans something to look for as we watch the series.
But for the most part the series has done a good job of having that but not to the point a casual viewer would feel lost jumping in any random episode (with the exception of a couple of episodes like Black Museum or USS Callister: Into Infinity).

Anyway, overall, I really enjoyed this season. I’d even go as far as to say it is one of my favorites of the Netflix era of the show. We got more episodes (season 5 only had 3 and last season was 5 compared to this seasons 6) and I really enjoyed each one.

I’ll update my ranking of the series now that I have finished season 7.

Really enjoyed this one, though I agree with some who feel it could have been longer… 
But it moves quickly and Peter Capaldi is captivating as always. He is one of my favorite actors so I was thrilled to see him here.

Netflix released a mobile game to tie into this episode. I played it a bit this afternoon. A fun idea that fits well as a Black Mirror expanded experience.

One episode left and I’ll be done with this season (for those not following along, I watched the last episode first because I was really looking forward to it as a sequel to one of my favorite episodes).

Overall I have enjoyed season 7 a lot.

Very good episode (maybe great even but I was way too tired when I watched it so I felt it a bit slow for my exhausted state)…
I’ll rewatch it down the road (as I do all Black Mirror episodes periodically)… maybe it will get its hooks into me more upon rewatch.
Still, a beautiful story.

Emma Corrin was born to play roles like this.

I’ve heard some complaints about this one but I thought it was a fun episode.

And I needed some fun after Common People ripped by heart out. 

Sure, the logic behind the big reveal is a little out there but I don’t always need my sci fi to be hard science so (hello Star Wars!) as long as it is entertaining. 

I had no idea what to expect as I didn’t even read the episode description. It will be interesting to see how this one holds up when I eventually rewatch it. But for my first viewing, I had no idea wtf was happening until the reveal.
So while the last episode was more predictable, yet a killer episode that wrecked me, this one was less predictable, lighter… a fun watch even if it may not leave as strong of a lasting impression as other classic Black Mirror episodes.

That’s one thing I love most about anthology series… when done right there can be a lot of variety in style and substance which helps to keep things fresh.

“Fucking Americans.”

As an American, I share the sentiment.

This one, while a bit predictable once it got going, was still classic gut punch Black Mirror.

I gotta say, as someone who has seen first hand how medical crisis and the ensuing bills can weigh on a relationship, this hit hard for me. 
I’m not crying you are Netflix.

But at least I didn’t have ad breaks. Not because I am rich or anything. Just that my priorities are fucked up (entertainment keeps me sane).

I’m digging all the call backs to previous seasons.

I loved this. It was (almost) everything I wanted in a sequel to the episode USS Callister.
I look forward to watching it again as I’m sure there are layers of meaning that my mind only grasped at during the initial viewing.

The performances here are excellent, especially that of Cristin Milioti (who has become a favorite of mine over the years).

As a gamer, there was lots to enjoy and unpack here. Of course unchecked capitalism would be at the root of this whole thing. Color me not surprised. As a joke, Charlie Brooker should have set up some Easter egg scene but asked viewers to pay $1.99 to access it (of course if you clicked to watch it, you wouldn’t be charged… but it would have been a funny gag)

Well, I actually cheated here and skipped to the end of this season to watch this episode.
So now I need to go back and start at the beginning. This isn’t something I would normally do. But I was too excited for this particular episode to wait days to watch it.

So happy to have Black Mirror back.

Oh, and the “almost” getting everything I wanted from this episode… well, I don’t want to spoil anything… but I had hoped to see a certain actor have a cameo to tie into the end of the first USS Callister episode. But it didn’t happen (unless I missed it).

“Uh huh you better run. King of space right here.”

Decided to rewatch this one before the new season. Gonna start it tonight.

Cristin Milioti is perfect I will hear no arguments.

I don’t any of this happening in 2017. Granted that was the beginning of a rough few years for me and I was in the hospital a lot.
Still… 

All joking aside, I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t get here by 2027… but only after The Handmaid’s Tale years peak but before we are full blown Mad Max.
Me, I’m just waiting on The Planet of the Apes to happen. The apes can probably do better than we have. At least they will treat each other better. Ape not kill ape after all.

What are you most looking forward to or dreading? Dystopian society? Post armageddon survival? So much to look forward to.

Anyway. This movie is still very entertaining even though (or maybe because of) it is very much a product of it’s time… stiff acting by body builders and pro wrestlers, enough cheesy one liners to make even Tony Stark nod his snarky head in tribute… super earnest closing credits power ballad (called Restless Heart of course)… this movie has time to bleed and the blood is pure 80’s vibes.

I’m interested in seeing the direction Edgar Wright takes in his remake starring (of course) Glen Powell… because he needs another nostalgic 80s/90s remake/sequel to star in. He is the go to guy for that sort of thing.

Also, this should have a video game adaptation. But if they made one today it would be an 80 player battle royal games a service title charging $14 for an Arnold Schwarzenegger character skin.
Which is kind of fitting.

RIP Val Kilmer

What a movie. One of my favorite De Niro roles. He absolutely killed it in this.

The bank heist in the middle of the film is one of the best heists put to film.

This was fun. 
It wasn’t perfect and maybe not as great as I was hoping but I hyped it up a bit in my head I think.
(Plus I wasn’t feeling great and got a bit sleepy in the middle which happens with me now and then… all the meds I’m on seem to have drowsiness as a side effect).

I was well entertained though. All the performances were great. Jenna Ortega is good in everything even if this wasn’t her most interesting role.
Will Polter Poulter and Téa Leoni kind is stole the show for me. Each in their own way brought a lot to their rich, privileged ass hat characters… the way Leoni would say the words that seem comionate or emphatic while her mannerisms and body language would tell the truth… the way Poulter’s dumb ass character was the epitome of nepo baby with too much time and money on his hands to have any real substance to his character. They were fun to watch.

The fun really kicks in when things turn into a death fest with some really fun kills.

So yeah, I enjoyed it even if it wasn’t everything I built it up to be in my head (I think the concept is just so perfect for my tastes, like Cocaine Bear, even if good it can’t quite live up to the wackiness my brain needs…)

I’ll definitely watch this again.

No long rambling thoughts on this one as I am tired.
But I wanted to get to this since the sequel is soon to be out and I thought it looked interesting.

Of course a major plot point was spoiled having seen the trailer for the sequel but really that is my fault for waiting to watch this one for so long. 

I can forgive the editors of the trailer for the sequel for not checking with me first to see if I had seen the original.

This time anyway. 😂 

But, solid movie. Not enough Anna Kendrick but you know… I didn’t write this movie. 🍿 

JK Simmons makes every movie better.

And I’m mad at The Bear now. I realized watching this movie and this week’s Daredevil: Born Again that I now feel a bit of sadness when I see Jon Berthnal in something. He’s so damn good of course. But his character in The Bear breaks my heart to the point that it is bleeding into my reception of his other performances. 😭

Continuing my rewatch of some of my favorite films with the late great Gene Hackman in them… 

I put off watching this one until my 4K UHD arrived. My old DVD needed to be retired.

The picture and sound are really good here. Happy I upgraded.

This movie hits home with me every time. I love a good western with a mean as hell villain or following a group of hard men on a quest for revenge or redemption…

This film isn’t really about those things (though there are elements there…)

Our “heroes” are two old men whose outlaw days are well behind them and a kid trying to make a name for himself.

There is an element of revenge but it isn’t personal (at least not for most of the film) for our three men out on a quest… they are hoping to collect a bounty by killing two men with a price on their heads.

Even the “villain”, like many of the characters here, is a man who has seen and done bad things in his life but is trying his best to uphold law and order in his small town or Big Whisky. His main focus is on building his house to watch the sunset and drink coffee from his porch… at least until two drunk cowboys kick off events that drive all of these characters on a collision course.

The cinematography, the score… top notch.
The acting is superb as expected with these greats on screen.

Every time I watch this I am always impressed with our Eastwood was able to tell this tell from behind and in front of the camera.

I’ve always been impressed with people who can helm a film while still acting. Pulling double duty. They can’t be an easy task. 

Hackman is great here. This isn’t my favorite role of his (still working on that list) and in some ways I enjoy his character in The Quick and the Dead a little more… 
Yet he is still compelling as hell and plays his character with nuance… keeping him from being a cookie cutter western villain.

On that note, I’m going to try to sleep. Had dental work done today and I’m loopy and tired.

Not sure which Hackman film I’ll watch next. Thinking about The Conversation because of a theory I heard from a fellow mutual here on Letterboxd.

Decided to binge this series created by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock, Coupling) in part because I generally enjoy his series (flaws and all) and because I adore Karen Gillan. She is good in everything.
The rest of the cast is good as well (Hugh Bonneville, Alex Kingston and Ben Miles, all who have worked with Moffat before).

It was billed as a comedy. And it did have humorous moments but that wasn’t the story’s strength… in fact, things got quite serious in the last two (of four) episodes. So much so that I no longer considered it a comedy at all. 
The subject matter, while very relevant sadly, won’t be (nor should it be) easy for most to watch… (SA warning…)

Overall I really liked it. The dialogue was snappy and had Moffat’s signature quick pace.
People who aren’t his biggest fans likely won’t be won over here. But those who have enjoyed his other works will feel right at home (well, until they no longer should feel right at home… the third episode deals with heavy subject matter and the end of that episode broke my heart).

So go in knowing it isn’t as much a comedy as it is a workplace drama with some occasional humor.

Karen Gillan really kills it here (she’s always great so I am not surprised by this).

Got my 4KUHD copy of this in the mail to day (retiring my original DVD) so rewatching this felt like a must (for the record, it’s a decent 4K disc. Picture and sound a bit of an upgrade though not one of the best 4K’s I’ve seen from that time period. I never owned the film on BluRay so I can’t speak to the difference between it and the 4K. But from DVD to 4K it looks nice enough. Just not the improvement I saw upgrading films like Jaws or The Thing from DVD to 4K.)

Looking over his filmography, I think I can say this is my favorite film directed by Roger Donaldson (Thirteen Days, also starring Kevin Costner, would likely be the biggest competition.).

Here we have a tense story of a woman (Sean Young) murdered and her two lovers are caught at the center of the investigation. One, a young Naval Intelligence officer (Costner) and the other the Secretary of Defense (Gene Hackman). 
I won’t spoil more of the plot.
It has great performances and underlying themes of Cold War arms race and spy craft… though the main focus is on (as the title suggests) Costner’s character trying to claw his way out of a seemingly helpless situation. Can he prove his innocence and bring the real killer to justice?

I gotta say I really like the ending. Every time I watch it I’m impressed. 

If you enjoy spy thrillers, neo-noir style films, I recommend this one.

This review may contain spoilers.

It had to be done. 

I like this movie (though after watching it I realized I wasn’t really in the mood to watch a movie about politics. Probably because I’m so sickened by the state of the world and my own country in particular but I won’t get into all of that here).

The performances are great. I love seeing PSH in anything even if it leaves me with a feeling of sadness that we lost him way too soon. 

I have a question for those who have watched this though. I’ve seen this movie four or five times over the years. I have never been able to decide on Molly (Evan Rachel Woods) end.
Did she really commit suicide (accidental or not) or was she murdered.

The reason I always wonder if she was murdered is the message she left Stephen (Ryan Gosling) where she begs him not to expose the scandal… she ends with by saying “I will not go away.”
It seems odd to say that only to kill yourself shortly afterwards.

Of course people behave unpredictably when in a state of panic and helplessness. So her suicide is still believable to me. But there has always been some doubt in my mind that she took her own life.
Especially since we know the last person she called was the Governor (George Clooney). 
Still, even with that, it would have had to been thrown together rather quickly which leaves room for error. And they couldn’t possibly predict for sure what Stephen’s reaction would be. But again. Desperate people do desperate things. 

Either way, this has always been a solid political drama in my eyes and one I enjoy (usually) revisiting.

But I could never work in such a campaign. The way I would fold so quickly and give her any information she wants as soon as Marisa Tomei looks at me… don’t trust me with that job.

I really enjoyed this.
Was it on the nose with its satire and messaging at times? Sure. Especially when compared to the director’s previous film Parasite.

But even when it was heavy handed, I found it to be entertaining (and for the record, it was preaching to the choir as it is… I’m very much on the side that these billionaires and red hat cultists are not on our side or looking out for our best interests… but I’m not going to get into that right now. The state of the world is depressing enough.)

Robert Pattinson turns in another excellent performance here. So many times as I watched him here I would find myself thinking “I can’t believe this is the same guy that plays The Batman…” the roles are so night and day different.
The man has range. 
The rest is the cast was good too. Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette were funny and creepy even though it was their characters that felt the most cartoonish and their roles were where the parody was a little heavy handed. But it still worked for me. 

Your mileage may vary depending on how much subtlety you prefer in your messaging but even looking past the clear points the film wanted to make, I found it to be a fun sci fi film. 

It may be some time before I want to try any new sauces though… IYKYK.

I love a good heist film.
I’ve seen this one a couple of times over the years.

And while I still enjoyed it this rewatch, I it I found it didn’t hold up as well this time around. I can’t even really put my finger on why? Maybe it’s just my mood. I’m in a hell of a lot of pain and a bit depressed. 
My divorce is finally going through (long time coming. Sorry for the over share). So yeah.

I used to give it 4 stars so I dropped it half a star on this viewing).

Anyway, not mad that I spent my evening with it just surprised it felt a bit less compelling this time around.

Funny story. I had this film and No Way Out with Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman out to watch soon (literally the cases sitting on top of each other next to my PS5/Xbox.)
Only after randomly looking to see who directed this did I realize it was the same director as No Way Out, Roger Donaldson.
Strange coincidence.

No Way Out is a favorite of mine… so Donaldson has that to his credit.
I’ll be rewatching it very soon.

Possibly my favorite Wes Anderson film and this is absolutely chocked full of great performances. 
Quirky but fun, the film feels like a storybook come to life.

Of course Gene Hackman kills it as usual. The man made every film better by being in it.

Royal:
I've always been considered an asshole for about as long as I can . That's just my style. But I'd really feel blue if I didn't think you were going to forgive me.

Henry Sherman:
I don't think you're an asshole Royal. I just think you're kind of a son of a bitch.

Royal:
Well, I really appreciate that.

(I’ve always loved this scene)

Decided to watch another of my favorite Gene Hackman films as I work on my list of his best roles/performances…

Great cast here including several names that would go on to more fame later on (James Gandolfini, Viggo Mortensen, Ryan Phillippe, Steve Zahn…) and reliable performers like George Dzundza, Rocky Carroll, Danny Nucci and Matt Craven help add character depth to what could my have been a sea of generic sailor characters just standing in the backdrop while Washington and Hackman do their thing.

Washington and Hackman work really well together here each fitting their role of up and coming naval hotshot who had an Ivy League education clashing with the old school grizzled Navy vet who makes up for his lack of fancy schooling with years of experience and a natural command of respect of those around him.

What I love about this film (besides the tension filled scenario we find these men wrapped up in) is that at the end of the day… neither of the leads are portrayed as a villain. It may seem that way at points during the film. Yet by the time the credits roll the film makes sure to highlight how both men were right and both men were wrong… the situation they were in left a lot of questions as to who had the correct reaction and approach to the mission and the dilemmas they found themselves in. Well, one of them technically made the right call ultimately… but neither one actually broke the rules in a purposeful way.

This one is one of my favorite Tony Scott films. 
Glad I decided to rewatch it.

Some movies I love to watch based almost solely on the performances.
This is one of them.
Hackman and Pacino shine in this film. They have great on screen chemistry.
It’s a simple story overall but one I could watch over and over again just two see these two work.

Rest in Peace Hackman… a true master of his craft.

Had this one on my radar for a while now. Finally got down to $5 to rent.

Strong performances by Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, Alison Oliver and Marc Maron. 

Based on the 1989 book The Silent Brotherhood, the film is about an FBI agent working to take down an home grown terrorist group in the 1980s. It just breaks my heart that we still have so much hate in this country. Instead of progress it feels like we are going backwards.
I mean, the KKK used to hide and operate in the shadows. Now we have online influencers bragging about being racist before being racist was “cool” and claiming that Hitler wasn’t the bad guy. I mean what the actual fuck.

Anyway… back to the movie. No never mind. Fuck that. Fuck all this my way or the highway hate. Fuck everyone who is dragging society back to the Stone Age. And fuck the people who think this hate is the will of their God.

Ok. End of rant. It’s been a long year (it’s February).

I’m gutted. If I were to list my top five favorite actors of all time, Gene Hackman would make that list easily.
No matter the role, he brought so much presence to his characters.

The man lived a long life and left a legacy. A true movie star. An actor who left his mark on every film he was in. The man was a legend.

The circumstances surrounding his (and his wife’s) ing is still murky at the time of this writing. Hopefully they went peacefully.

Popeye Doyle was one of Hackman’s most iconic role in a brilliant film by the late William Friedkin. So it felt right to rewatch this one today on his honor. I had actually been thinking about doing a rewatch anyway. 

I think I’ll make a list of his top ten performances this week as well. Which won’t be easy as he was in so many films. 

Rest in Peace to one of the greatest actors of my time.

Nearly gave this 5 stars. 
4 stars may be where I settle after I get to rewatch the film. See if it holds up for me on second viewing.

I’m generally inclined to enjoy movies with monkeys in them. Planet of the Apes is one of my all time favorites. 
King Kong. 
Hell, even Monkey Shines. 

That said, holy shit. I loved this movie.
My friend said he has never seen me laugh so much in a movie theater as I did watching this.
I guess this was right up my alley. 

Theo James was great. He continues to grow favorably in my eyes. After impressive turns in The Gentlemen (2024 Netflix series), White Lotus Season 2 (HBO/Max) and now this… he has went from being just another pretty face in Hollywood to an actor I really enjoy watching. (Still need to see Archive. I’ve been told he was really good in it as well).
Hell, I wouldn’t be mad if he ended up being cast as 007 (haven’t heard he was in the running or anything… I just having that thought while watching The Gentlemen)

Tatiana Maslany was excellent as always. I’ve been a huge fan of hers ever since Orphan Black.

The film itself was an over the top riot. Like a twisted Looney Tunes cartoon or a darkly comic episode of Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone.
I left the theater with big smile on my face.

I wish I bought the popcorn bucket (something I never do)… but I don’t really have a good place to display it right now. But it was one of the cooler ones I’ve seen.

Obviously your mileage here may vary. This one isn’t going to be for everyone. But so far it is my favorite 2025 release.

First off, I’ll be the first to it I am a big comic book fan and a fan of CBM so I tend to be more forgiving of these things. Even when they are flawed, I tend to enjoy them…

The MCU has struggled to find its footing and a clear direction post Thanos/Endgame. I am not surprised by this. I told friends that it would be shocking if they could keep the level of interest and momentum they built up over 10+ years after Endgame. Especially since they would be introducing a lot of new characters as the legacy Avengers step back (and in some cases have died)…

So all of these struggles didn’t surprise me. I kind of expected this. You also have to factor in an understandable degree of comic book movie fatigue. The market was dominated by these films for so long, sooner or later interest would fade. When you add in the problems with finding or expressing a clear direction for these films… well… things just aren’t the same as they were before Endgame.

I have still enjoyed a lot of the output. I’m the type of person who can be ok if something isn’t quite as good as what came before, so long as there are things that I still enjoy about the film or games or tv series.

So I really like Ms Marvel and WandaVision… Agatha was fun… I enjoyed Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness a lot despite its flaws. 
I love Hawkeye and enjoyed the Black Widow film.

So yeah, I’m still into the MCU, but will agree that it has its problems.

Now to this film.

This one would fall into the category of a film I more or less enjoyed but I can definitely understand why others have not.

For one, the previous Captain America films were arguably some of the best MCU movies.
While the first one had some mixed reception (I loved it), a large part of the fan base feels The Winter Soldier is one of the best films in the MCU. And Civil War felt like like an extension of The Avengers.

These are hard acts to follow. Big shoes to fill.
I love Anthony Mackie and he is good in this role. The script just doesn’t give him the best material to work with. 
Harrison Ford was really good in this and fit right into the MCU vibe. 
I like how they brought the events of The Eternals into play and I was surprised how much this tied into The Incredible Hulk. In some ways this feels more like a sequel to that film than it does a Captain America movie.
For better or for worse? I am unsure.

Most of the action scenes were good. I especially enjoyed the scenes near Celestial Island and the final thrown down.

I walked away having been entertained yet fully acknowledging that this film continues the trend of being good but not great.

Not a glowing recommendation I know. It’s hard because I know I am still enjoying the MCU, even though it is to a lesser degree than the stuff prior to Endgame.
Yet I know a lot of the audience has grown tired of it or are less forgiving of its flaws than I am. 
So my recommendation is this:
If you like comic book movies, go into it with reasonable expectations and you will probably have a good time.
If you expect it to live up to the legacy of the Captain America films that came before, you will likely be disappointed.

If you are tired or CBM or are not a fan of the MCU, this film is unlikely to change your mind.

I am really looking forward to Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four. And we don’t have long to wait for either of them. 
I still hope the MCU can find its footing.

Talk about a time capsule of 70’s pop culture… this movie has everything. The Bee Gees. Peter Frampton. Paul Nicholas. Earth Wind and Fire. George Burns. Billy Preston. Steve Martin. Aerosmith. Alice Cooper.  Donald mother fucking Pleasence. And if that wasn’t enough, the final song/ending was a straight up smorgasbord of familiar faces from film, music and television appearing as the “Our Guests”.

And then there are the songs. This is a musical after all. Every song is a cover of The Beatles hits (with a disco spin… yeah, it was the 70s).

Sound wild? Well, it is. But I was raised watching films like this, Xanadu, Grease (1 and 2!), Tommy and The Wiz… hell, even Popeye The Movie was in heavy rotation in the Gibson home.

So maybe this film holds up as a bizarre time capsule of a film to me at least in part because of nostalgia. Maybe in part because I love The Beatles (and a lot of these covers are really good in my opinion… I mean, this is where Aerosmith’s Come Together cover came from)…
Maybe I just love Strawberry Fields (played by Sandy Farina… I had a big crush on her after watching this back in the day).

Love is love folks. I’m sure many would watch this and be turned off by how silly it is. It certainly wasn’t well reviewed. (Sitting at a whopping 11% on Rotten Tomatoes and 4.3 out of 10 on IMDB. Ask me if I care.)

Objectively I will be the first to it that I can understand why most wouldn’t enjoy this film as much as I do.
But damn it even after all of these years I still have a blast watching it.

Do I recommend it? Maybe. At worst you will hate it. Or could see it as an amusing curiosity. 
But who knows. Maybe you will find it charming, silly and a foot tapping good time.
(Mileage may vary depending on how you feel about The Beatles and, well disco.)

May have to watch Grease or Xanadu next.

When I was a younger man, I loved Kevin Smith’s earlier films. Clerks was a revelation at the time. I had never seen a movie like it.
Add in the conflicting sides of my nature/nurture… something about the raunchy, obsessive pop culture referencing drug dealing irreverent vibe of the film spoke to a part of me that was repressed by my ultra religious environment.
(I was about 3/4 of the way into cult like territory from the time I was 11 til I was about 20).

I look back on all of that now and laugh. Something within me must have sensed then that I was repressing my real self.
I was so worried back then about the people in church learning about the things I was drawn to or enjoyed. In fact, when it slipped out one or my favorite films was The Blues Brothers (another film that spoke to my inner irreverence), it caused quite a stir. A lady I worked closely with at the time decided to watch it after hearing that I loved it.
Next thing I know she wanted to have a sit down. She couldn’t reconcile how I could love something so irreverent and (in her eyes) downright blasphemous, and still be a “man of God” (young man… I think I was 18 or 19 at the time… this was near the end of my time wrapped up in religion.)

Anyways so I had to keep my love for films like Clerks and Mallrats to myself. Only those closest to me knew what I secretly enjoyed.

Not sure why I felt the need to get into all of that. And I’ve lost track of my point.

I think I was trying to say that this (well, the first Clerks) is one of the films that I watched that made me realize that my sense of humor runs more towards content like this (as an adult, my favorite comedies are shows/films like It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, The League, Eastbound and Down, The Righteous Gemstones, Tropic Thunder, Step Brothers, The Jerk… and as I mentioned The Blues Brothers)…

I need to get to the point. I’m rambling.

I still enjoy a good deal of Kevin Smith’s work, but mostly gravitate towards his projects like Dogma and the films that came before that. 

As a more critical (I don’t mean that in a bad way, I have just learned more about the art of filmmaking as I’ve aged)… I began to see some things in Smith’s work that didn’t work for me now as much as it may have when I was a teenager. And I think this is more true of Clerks 3 than any other film of his in recent memory.

Some of Clerks 3 worked for me… some of it didn’t.
I expected it to be a funnier film. And I did laugh a few times. But some of the jokes just didn’t hit for me personally (I know all of this is subjective)… and the tone of the film was all over the place.

That said, I do appreciate that Smith was working through some of his own trauma concerning aging and health… as someone who has been dealing with at times life threatening and disabling health problems, gods know I can relate.
Again, it didn’t all work with the overall tone of the film… but I respect his journey.

The other problem was an issue many sequels struggle with… an over reliance on rehashing old jokes/material instead of trying to balance that out with new stuff.

The film also gets very meta near the end in a way that I both appreciated yet also felt inconsistent with the feel of the other two films.

All of this to say that upon first viewing, I didn’t love this. It was fine and I was entertained more or less. But is this a film I would rewatch the same way I have the first two over the years? Hard to say but at this point it doesn’t seem like it.

I was going to give it three stars. But Rosario Dawson scores this an extra half star. 
On a superficial shallow note, I think she is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen.
More importantly, she is a good actress. But gods she is so pretty. 🤩 (don’t judge me…I’ve been single for a long time 😂)

If you read this far into my mad ramblings, thanks! If you checked out early, I don’t blame you.

“Fifteen dollars little man.
Put that shit in my hand.”

That has been stuck in my head for years now.

“This job would be great if it wasn’t for the fucking customers.”

“I’m not even supposed to be here today.”

Having worked in retail in the past… this is all too real. 😂

Got to go see this last night. I really enjoyed it.
Unfortunately my buddy who went with me to wasn’t as impressed. He said it wasn’t bad it just didn’t blow him away.

For me, while it may have suffered a bit from being predictable, I still had a great time with this one.
Of course, I am the target audience. I love stories like this. And I’m a big fan of Sophie Hatcher ever since Yellowjackets started a couple of years back. She was seriously impressive there and continues to get better and better.

The whole cast did a good job. Jack Quaid in particular was well cast for this role. (Interesting to see him on this film and his mother Meg Ryan in an unrelated commercial that played before the film.)

I won’t go into details of the plot. I wish I could have went in blind but it’s hard to avoid trailers.
I’ll just say the humor and social satire felt very relevant to today. 

I did notice reviews are kind of split on this. And I can see and understand some of the criticisms people have. It isn’t perfect.
But for me, I can over look some of the film’s flaws because ultimately I had fun with it and enjoyed the performances. 

I think this is one I’ll definitely add to my movie collection when it releases for purchase at home.

Really wanted to see this last year but was too sick (as usual) to get out. And it had such a short run in my local theatre.

Now that it is on Netflix I could finally watch it.
I really liked this. Totally chaotic. I have no idea (well, some idea based off stuff I’ve seen and read over the years) how accurate it is. Films always take liberties to fit the narrative structure and runtime.

But it feels like a proper tribute to this show and the people involved in bringing SNL to life.

The cast were all really good in their roles. I was instantly aware of who each cast member was… either by the actor’s appearance, voice, mannerisms or a combination of all three.
The standouts for me were Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris… hell I could really name them all as far as the core SNL cast go. They all did great.
Nicholas Braun (aka forever Cousin Greg) was a treat in this. 

Other scene stealers (unsurprisingly) were JK Simmons (who has one of the best scenes in the movie), Willem Defoe, Rachel Sennott and Matthew Rhys. 
I feel like this review is just me naming off the cast but this was a film that more or less lived or died by the cast. And they nailed it in my opinion.

As someone who has watched SNL most of my life I really appreciated the attention to detail.

Director Jason Reitman clearly has great love and respect for the show and its players. 

I don’t know. I clearly enjoyed it. 
Now I want to go rewatch the first episode of SNL but it’s late so I may do that in the morning.

I think I watched the wrong Wicked.

Kidding.

I wanted to watch a 90’s thriller as I am generally a fan of them. I picked a few I hadn’t seen, put them in my decided app… spun the will and fate chose this one.

Fate doesn’t have very good taste.

It’s sleazy but not in a fun way. 
It’s cheesy but not really in an entertaining way.
The best thing I could say about it is the soundtrack slaps. 

I would recommend skipping this one. There are a lot of better films in this genre. Just find the soundtrack online and enjoy that instead.

This was cool af.
I had to do women Googling to try and understand what the story was meant to be… but as a visual exhibition of stop motion animation I thought it was brilliant.

I really captures the feel of some piece of lost media that has been recovered and viewed for the first time with modern eyes. 
Very impressive Chilean short film.

What the actual fuck.

This is pure silliness and I can completely understand why some people would not vibe with it.

I thought it was pretty hilarious.

A couple of gags had me in stitches.

My only real complaint is it does wear thin by the end. But I can’t really complain. I was entertained. Which says something about me I guess. I’ve never outgrown my love for Looney Tunes cartoons and this was basically that.

Wake up people! New Roy Wood Jr stand up dropped! (On Hulu)

I love this man. I’ve enjoyed all of his stand up specials and this was no different.

Laughed my ass off especially the first half. 

The bit talking about the tattoos on Dion killed me.

Man. Fuck this movie and these people. 
But yeah. I will probably never watch it again. But I appreciate the craftsmanship and the absolute horror of the situation.
I enjoy slow burn atmospheric horror/thrillers as long as the pay off is there and fuck… it was there all right. I’m not sure I’m happy about it 😂 but that just means they did their job.

Glad I watched this before watching the American remake. I assume they made changes to the endgame (because Americans might not have it in us to go for this level of savage bleakness and I’m sure the studio want to make that money honey).

The lead actress (Sidsel Siem Koch) is as driving me crazy (well, more that I was driving myself crazy) because she looked so familiar.
The entire film I kept thinking I’d seen her in other things. A quick glance at her filmography didn’t answer the riddle. I honestly think she just looks a lot like a couple of other actors that I know and maybe that was throwing me. 

I’ve seen some criticism (fairly) that this movie’s events only happen because of a series of very dumb decisions on the part of the visiting family (the parents at least)… but isn’t that like most horror films?? And that is also (I think) kind of the point? I don’t know. I’m too tired to over analyze this at the moment.
But I agree bad choices were made. But bad choices are made in most horror films.

So overall, very well done slow burn horror.
I liked it. But now I need to scrub my brain clean. 🧠 🧼 
Gonna play some Animal Crossing or something. (But I sure as hell am not visiting anyone else’s island tonight… I have my guard up mother fuckers.)

Just finished Star Wars: Skeleton Crew on Disney+ and I thought it was a blast.
Clearly inspired by The Goonies, this was one of my favorite pieces of new Star Wars.

The cast of kids all did a really good job. Stories centered around kids require really good casting and writing/directing, at least in my view. Each of these young actors did a good job bringing their characters to life and making me want to pull for them.

The only one of the kids I was familiar with was Ryan Kiera Armstrong (American Horror Story, Firestarter)… I have felt she has a lot of potential for a while now. The hand full of things I have seen her in, even if the project itself is lacking (I’m talking to you Firestarter remake) she still stood out as a good  young actress.

But the rest of the kids were enjoyable as well.
If there was another stand out to me it would be Kyriana Kratter (who plays a character called KB). In fact she may have been my favorite of the kids crew. 

The ing cast all did a great job as well. Some recognizable faces/voices (Kerry Condon, Nick Frost) helped round out the cast but the real scene stealer out of the adults has to be Jude Law. 

I won’t say too much about his character to avoid spoilers but I enjoyed every minute he was on screen. 

If I had any criticism of the show, it was one that I have of many of these Disney+ Star Wars and Marvel series (besides Andor)… it’s that it sometimes felt a bit rushed. But honestly much less so than some of the other series they have been releasing.
Maybe it was that they kept showing us new and interesting places/characters but we never got to stay with them for very long.
And honestly, maybe that isn’t so much a flaw as it is a testament to how much I enjoyed the story, characters and settings… I wanted to spend more time with them.

Anyway. I imagine this won’t appeal to everyone. But I can’t see how you can not at least feel a bit of joy in watching Star Wars Goonies play out in front of you… seeing one of my favorite franchises from as far back as O can being mixed with the sense of adventure from The Goonies (one of my favorite movies growing up) filled me with a sense of wonder that I find myself missing in my older years. 

And that is what Star Wars does when it is at its best. It stirs a childlike sense of wonder and fires up the flames of our imagination as we imagine life in a galaxy far far away.

My personal ranking of the Predator films. I have included the AvP films because, well, they feature the Yautja (alongside the xenomorphs).
Plus, I included the AvP films in my ranked list of Alien franchise films… so it seems only fair.

(Also for the record… as much as I adore these movies, or most of these movies, I can never the name of the extraterrestrial species they feature. I always have to Google it. Lol I usually just call them Predators. But technically… they are Yautja.)

1. Predator
2. Prey
3. Predators
4. Predator: Killer of Killers
5. AVP: Alien vs. Predator
6. Predator 2
7. The Predator
8. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem

Not ranked or anything (yet)… but I wanted to make a list of movies I watch with my son Belamy.
The first film I took him to see at the theater was The Grinch (2018). Bel was three years old. Such a special memory.
Unfortunately due to a health crisis followed by Covid, we were not able to go to the theater that often. We are getting back to it now.
But we did start having movie nights on Saturdays from time to time. Lights out. Popcorn. He likes to set some of his stuffed animals up in a row to pretend they are at the. movies with us. It’s so sweet.

I’ve come close to death more than once. I try to take every opportunity to make special memories with Belamy. Hopefully I will live a long life and be here watch him grow. I’m stable as of this writing, but the underlying health issues remain and there is a chance things will get worse sooner or later. So I will not take my time left with Belamy for granted.
Every movie we get to watch together is special to me. 

Anyway, getting off track. So yeah, this is just a running list of the films I share with my son. I may come back and rank them down the road. If I do, I will let him help me. Maybe I can on my obsession with making lists. 😆

• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
• Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
• Bumblebee
• Coraline
• Nightbooks
• The NeverEnding Story
• Toy Story
• Toy Story 2
• Toy Story 3
• The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

...plus 48 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I used to love the MI series as a kid. Watched it with my mom and sometimes my grandfather (my mother liked the 1988 series and my grandfather loved the 1966 original).
So I was excited by the idea of a MI film series. And overall, it has been entertaining (if a lot more popcorn action driven than the series were)…
I have especially enjoyed the last couple as they have had a continuing storyline with more recurring characters. 

Anyway, here I rank the films… I don’t hate anyone of them, though I feel MI2 has aged poorly and is the silliest of the bunch.

1. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
2. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
3. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
4. Mission: Impossible III
5. Mission: Impossible
6. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
7. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
8. Mission: Impossible II

A running list of the movies I own on various formats (DVD, BRD, UHD, Digital…)
List is still a work in progress. I own over 1000 films so it’s taking a bit to log them.

• 10 Cloverfield Lane
• 10 Things I Hate About You
• 12 Angry Men
• The 13th Warrior
• 1917
• 1941
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• 2010: The Year We Make
• 21 Jump Street
• 24 Hour Party People

...plus 1315 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My personal ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
(I’m always tinkering with this one as new entries are added or I do a rewatch… nothing is set in stone. Well, except that Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be hard to topple off my #1 spot).

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. Avengers: Infinity War
3. Spider-Man: No Way Home
4. Avengers: Endgame
5. Deadpool & Wolverine
6. Captain America: Civil War
7. Guardians of the Galaxy
8. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
10. Werewolf by Night

...plus 38 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A running list of my favorite films, no particular order or ranking at the moment. Just movies that I love. Hold on to your butts… it’s gonna be a long list.
I may try to do a top ten or top twenty list down the road. In the mean time, don’t make me choose!!! I have big love for all of the movies on this list.

• Alien
• Blade Runner
• The Empire Strikes Back
• The Thing
• Inception
• Planet of the Apes
• Gangs of New York
• The Dark Knight
• Blade Runner 2049
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

...plus 182 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My favorite movies involving vampires… (top 30…ranked for your enjoyment.) 🧛‍♀️ 🧛‍♂️

* As usual, I position them in the order of my personal enjoyment and how well they stuck with me… so at times you may see films I scored higher end up with a lower ranking… these things are subjective. I may feel a film merits 5 stars for many reasons so I will score it as such… yet I may find films with a lower rating that end up being more entertaining to me. So don’t @me if you see I ranked a 4 star film higher than a 5 star film. It’s my list after all. 😉

1. Bram Stoker's Dracula
2. Sinners
3. What We Do in the Shadows
4. Fright Night
5. Dracula
6. Only Lovers Left Alive
7. Interview with the Vampire
8. Abigail
9. Underworld
10. Fright Night

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I adore Black Mirror. Here are my rankings of the series installments.
(Updated after each new season airs)
Also, it’s gonna bug me that the season 7 posters don’t match the rest. Hopefully that changes. I like options.

1. Black Mirror: White Christmas
2. Black Mirror: USS Callister
3. Black Mirror: USS Callister – Into Infinity
4. Black Mirror: San Junipero
5. Black Mirror: Demon 79
6. Black Mirror: The Entire History of You
7. Black Mirror: Black Museum
8. Black Mirror: Hang the DJ
9. Black Mirror: Nosedive
10. Black Mirror: Be Right Back

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Here I rank the Doctor Who Christmas/Holiday special episodes.
Most of these episodes are really fun, so picking a favorite might be difficult (not really. Last Christmas is clearly my favorite).
But I’ll do my best.

1. Doctor Who: Last Christmas
2. Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song
3. Doctor Who: The End of Time
4. Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor
5. Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion
6. Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time
7. Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road
8. Doctor Who: Resolution
9. Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol
10. Doctor Who: The Next Doctor

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ranking my top 12 favorite performances of the late great Gene Hackman.
This list (ranked) is based on his performance/character in each film. Not necessarily the overall quality of the film itself. It’s all about his roles and my enjoyment of his acting.

1. The Royal Tenenbaums
2. The French Connection
3. Unforgiven
4. The Conversation
5. Scarecrow
6. Superman
7. Crimson Tide
8. No Way Out
9. Mississippi Burning
10. The Quick and the Dead

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I decided to make a separate 2024 ranked list for things I watched that aren’t strictly films in format (limited series, some documentaries… that sort of thing).

This felt necessary as at least one of the series I watched was among my favorite things of 2024… the series Shogun that aired on FX/Hulu.
Yet I didn’t want to put it up against the films I viewed this year (if I did, it would still be near the very top of that list).

I also very much enjoyed the documentary about WWE superstar the late Bray Wyatt… but again, I didn’t feel I wanted to put it up against the more traditional films I watched… and I didn’t see enough documentaries to make a separate list for those this year.

So here is the list of “other” media that I watched in 2024 ranked…

* I’ll update this list as I catch up on some series/docs I missed in 2024.

1. Shōgun
2. The Penguin
3. The Day of the Jackal
4. Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal
5. Agatha All Along
6. Baby Reindeer
7. Douglas Is Cancelled
8. Ripley
9. Mr. McMahon

These are the new films I got to see in 2024 and how I ranked them.

There are a few key films I haven’t had a chance to see yet. I’ll come back and update when I get around to them.

* As usual, I position them in the order of my personal enjoyment and how well they stuck with me… so at times your may see films I scored higher end up with a lower ranking… but these things are subjective. I may feel a film merits 5 stars for many reasons so I will score it as such… yet I may find films with a lower rating that end up being more entertaining to me. So don’t @me if you see I ranked a 4 star film higher than a 5 star film. It’s my list after all. 😉

** I made a separate ranked list of limited series/documentaries… things I wouldn’t want to rank against your traditional films. I’ll link it here:

boxd.it/xUgz2

1. Dune: Part Two
2. Longlegs
3. Deadpool & Wolverine
4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
5. Strange Darling
6. The First Omen
7. Civil War
8. Nosferatu
9. Heretic
10. Alien: Romulus

...plus 19 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I grew up watching and loving the films touched by the magic VFX of Ray Harryhausen, Master of Stop Motion Animation.

I’ve had it in mind to do a ranked list of the films I’ve watched that he worked on. I was reminded of this today when reading a fellow Letterboxd member’s review of 20 Million Miles To Earth (thanks for the inspiration Mr Brown).

So here we go. My ranking of the films brought to life through the groundbreaking visual effects of Ray Harryhausen.

1. Clash of the Titans
2. Jason and the Argonauts
3. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
4. 20 Million Miles to Earth
5. Mysterious Island
6. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
7. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
8. Mighty Joe Young
9. One Million Years B.C.
10. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I enjoy a good courtroom drama. I’ve seen a fair share of them… seems the perfect subject for another list! So here it is! My ranking of films that have a heavy focus on the legal system, trials, attorneys and the justice system. 
All Rise… for my ranking!

1. 12 Angry Men
2. Michael Clayton
3. The Insider
4. The People vs. Larry Flynt
5. A Few Good Men
6. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
7. The Trial of the Chicago 7
8. Erin Brockovich
9. Philadelphia
10. A Time to Kill

...plus 46 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ranking the films written and/or directed by the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan.

1. No Country for Old Men
2. Fargo
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
4. True Grit
5. Raising Arizona
6. Burn After Reading
7. The Big Lebowski
8. Blood Simple
9. Miller's Crossing
10. Inside Llewyn Davis

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I’m a fan of slow burn films as long as that time is used to build tension, explore the characters or themes of the film and/or has a solid pay off.

Eggers in my book nailed this formula with The Witch. 
I enjoyed The Lighthouse and The Northman, but they didn’t hit me as strongly as The Witch.

Nosferatu was close. It suffered a bit from pacing… it kind of spins its wheels in the middle covering the same ground/themes without moving the plot forward as much as I’d like.  Still an excellent film. 
It just couldn’t top The Witch for me.

1. The Witch
2. Nosferatu
3. The Northman
4. The Lighthouse

A list of my favorite comedy films. Not ranked, but the top 20 are my very favorites.

• The Blues Brothers
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• This Is Spinal Tap
• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
• Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• What We Do in the Shadows
• National Lampoon's Vacation
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
• The Jerk

...plus 78 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This is the ranked list of all the 2023 releases I watched this year. (I may come back and tinker with it once I am able to see a few more off my watchlist… I’m especially gutted that I haven’t seen Poor Things yet)

* Keep in mind these rankings are based on my personal enjoyment. Some movies may be ranked higher than films that were technically better. But the films I rank the highest had that extra something special that brought me more enjoyment.

1. Oppenheimer
2. Poor Things
3. Barbie
4. Godzilla Minus One
5. John Wick: Chapter 4
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
7. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
8. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
9. Bottoms
10. The Iron Claw

...plus 29 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

These aren’t movies, but these limited series have been allowed on Letterboxd. It’s sort of odd what is allowed and what is excluded as far as limited series/series go. I think it is supposed to be limited to the ones they only had one season or stand alone seasons.  Anyway, here are my favorites (ranked).

1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Shōgun
3. The Night Manager
4. Midnight Mass
5. Chernobyl
6. The Fall of the House of Usher
7. The Queen's Gambit
8. The Day of the Jackal
9. Baby Reindeer
10. Cowboy Bebop

...plus 45 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I once heard someone refer to musicals as “song plays”. It was a comedy of some sort but I cannot for the life of me which it was.

Anyway, I like musicals. They aren’t my favorite genre but I am a fan of quite a few. So I decided to do a list of my favorite “song plays” (ranked).

I didn’t include the Disney Animated Movies as I will have a separate ranking of those soon. Mostly kept this list to live action films and maybe a few non-Disney animated movies.

Notes:

As usual, I position them in the order of my personal enjoyment and how well they stuck with me… so at times you may see films I scored higher end up with a lower ranking… these things are subjective. I may feel a film merits 5 stars for many reasons so I will score it as such… yet I may find films with a lower rating that end up being more entertaining to me. So don’t @me if you see I ranked a 4 star film higher than a 5 star film. It’s my list after all. 😉

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas
2. Moulin Rouge!
3. Les Misérables
4. Grease
5. My Fair Lady
6. Enchanted
7. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
8. The Wizard of Oz
9. Mary Poppins
10. The Rocky Horror Picture Show

...plus 32 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ho ho ho… now I have a Christmas Top 12 List.

I hate that I couldn’t fit Batman Begins and a couple of others but I wanted to have at least two classics that I love in A Christmas Carol with George C Scott and White Christmas.

1. Die Hard
2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
3. Gremlins
4. The Nightmare Before Christmas
5. Bad Santa
6. The Night Before
7. Elf
8. Trading Places
9. A Christmas Story
10. Violent Night

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A running list of the spooky season movies I watch from September 1 to October 31 2024. (They can be horror, thrillers, of light hearted supernatural films… really anything that feels like it fits this season)

I haven’t made a list like this before so hopefully it will be fun.

• A Quiet Place: Day One
• Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
• Dracula
• Beetlejuice
• The Wicker Man
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
• The Company of Wolves
• The Descent
• Manhunter
• I Don't Want to Be Born

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

So back in the early to mid 2000s, the SyFy Channel (owned by the NBC parent company… it was once simply The Sci-Fi Channel until a rebrand) used to play super low budget creature features on Saturday nights. And I am not ashamed to it that I spent many a Saturday evening watching these wild ass low budget sometimes so bad they are fun… sometimes they are just bad… movies (sorry for that train wreck of a sentence).
From Frankenfish to Shark Attack 3… countless Sasquatch and Yeti flicks and of course Mansquito! 

So, in honor of those hours spent having a good time with objectively poorly made films and SyFy’s devotion to airing them… here is a list of the ones I watching.

Keep in mind, these movies will rarely merit over a star or two ratings. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have fun watching these train wrecks.

(Only the top 20 are properly ranked… there are too many of these and I didn’t want to try and rank them all… but the top 20 are the ones I enjoyed the most).

1. Shark Attack 3: Megalodon
2. Frankenfish
3. Sharktopus
4. Sasquatch Mountain
5. Abominable
6. Mosquito Man
7. Man-Thing
8. Carny
9. Sea Beast
10. Supergator

...plus 70 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The title of this list says it all. I’m not a sports guy. But these movies entertained me despite being about athletic competition.
This isn’t really ranked (though I did try to make the top 10 on the list the ones I liked the most)

• Rocky
• The Fighter
• Rocky IV
• I, Tonya
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
• The Iron Claw
• Rocky II
• Fighting with My Family
• Creed
• Blue Chips

...plus 49 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The Crow franchise has had a very uneven run. The first film is widely considered by fans to be a classic grungy brooding revenge film. Marked by the tragic loss of star Brandon, the film itself has a haunting aura. While it has become a beloved film by many, the sequels have a less than stellar reputation.

That being said, I actually enjoyed The Crow: City of Angels (1996) and The Crow: Salvation for what they are. Sure, they fall way short of the original film. Yet I found them to be entertaining despite the failure to live up to the heights of the original film.

On the other hand, the less said about The Crow: Wicked Prayer the better. 

There was also a television series that ran from 1998 to 1999… I watched a few episodes but it didn’t really draw me in. 

So, here I present my ranking of the films in this franchise.

It’s a short list, but with the new film releasing in 2024, I thought now was a good time to reflect on these movies. 🐦‍⬛

1. The Crow
2. The Crow: City of Angels
3. The Crow: Salvation
4. The Crow: Wicked Prayer

My personal ranking of the films in the Alien franchise.
I’ve included the AvP movies since, well, the xenomorphs appear in those films.

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Alien: Romulus
4. Prometheus
5. Alien³
6. Alien: Covenant
7. AVP: Alien vs. Predator
8. Alien Resurrection
9. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem

I have loved The Planet of the Apes films ever since I was a little kid. I don’t think a year of my life has ed since my teenage years where I haven’t rewatched the original (and often all of the originals). 
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Tim Burton entry (though it is still watchable and the VFX were really good)… I adore the most recent reimagining that began with Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Even though the make up effects for the original series of films haven’t aged all they well, they have a certain charm to them. And as with most of the best of science fiction, it uses it’s setting and characters to address very human and real issues ranging from class, race and even religious issues in our modern society.

This series will always be a favorite of mine, flaws and all.

1. Planet of the Apes
2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
3. War for the Planet of the Apes
4. Escape from the Planet of the Apes
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
6. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
7. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
8. Beneath the Planet of the Apes
9. Planet of the Apes
10. Battle for the Planet of the Apes

I’ll it I have not watched every M. Night Shyamalan film. I was a big fan of his earlier work but I kind of fell off of his films after The Happening. Maybe watched another here or there.

But I thought I’d do a list ranking the films I have seen and maybe I’ll be inspired to watch some of the ones I missed over the years.
I am interested in seeing Trap. 
Anyway, here is my ranking of the films of M. Night Shyamalan (at least the ones I have seen to date).

1. Unbreakable
2. Signs
3. Split
4. The Village
5. The Sixth Sense
6. Lady in the Water
7. Glass
8. The Happening
9. The Last Airbender
10. After Earth

I’ve been a fan of The X-Men since I first got my hands on the comics as a kid.
The films have had a spotty history. Some have been excellent, others a mess. 
Before the mutants the MCU, let’s look at how I rank the Fox era X-Men and related films.

1. Logan

   If this is the final time Hugh Jackman plays Wolverine, man, what a great film to make his exit.
   This film does so much right. I can’t say enough about Dafne Keen as Laura. So good. 
   I’ve seen this film many times. I still find myself getting teary eyed at the end. And that is down to the performance of Keen and Jackman.

2. X2

   I enjoyed the first X-Men film. But X-2 really took things up a notch. Everything about this sequel is an improvement over the first film.
   It still stands as one of my favorite super hero movies.
   Too bad the trilogy ends on such a sour note.

3. X-Men: Days of Future Past

   In the same way that I felt X-2 was a fantastic follow up to X-Men, I feel Days of Future Past follows up First Class in all the right ways.
   This is one of my favorite films in the franchise.

4. Deadpool & Wolverine
5. X-Men: First Class

   As a sort of soft reboot (which still connects to the original Fox X-Men films despite some continuity issues), this was a strong first outing. Great cast. I love the Cold War setting. Despite being quite different from his comic book character, I liked Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw. 
   McAvoy and Fassbender have great chemistry as the leads (Xavier and Magneto). 
   I was very happy with the new direction of the series.

6. Deadpool 2

   Great additions to the cast, a bigger story and budget and more Deadpool mayhem equals a hit in my book. See the Unrated version if you can.

7. The Wolverine

   A big improvement over X-Men Origins Wolverine in tone and consistency of quality. Yeah, I wish Silver Samurai was closer to his comic book roots but overall, I was happy with this film.

8. Deadpool

   This movie was just so much fun. Happy to see the character get a second chance at life after X-Men Origins Wolverine butchered him.

9. X-Men

   The first of the X-Men films hasn’t aged as well as some of the other entries (and was sured by the much improved sequel X-2). But at the time it released I was very happy with it and was thrilled to have an X-Men movie at all.
   I wish Sabertooth was less a meat head. I much prefer the version we got in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
   Some of the dialogue is rough.
   But all in all, a solid start for the franchise.

10. The New Mutants

    Yet another X-Men universe film that had such potential, and barely gets 3 stars from me (and really is only saved by the excitement I have at seeing some of these characters on screen for the first time).
    I like what they were trying to do here. I like the scope and scale of it. Some of the performances were good. 
    But it fails to be really scary (which they seemed to want it to be) or edgy (again, something they seemed to aim for) and it all just isn’t as polished as it should be.
    That said, I enjoyed the final showdown as it were. I loved Magik. I thought she was great (especially at the end).
    I was frustrated to once again have Mr. Sinister teased but not revealed. But considering the declining quality of the Fox X-Men films (save for the excellent Logan), maybe it was for the best.
    Maybe Disney will give these characters another chance down the road. But I imagine it will be a reboot with a different cast.

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I haven’t ranked my Top 30 and Top 100+ lists so I decided to do a shorter Top 20 and rank them.

1. Jaws
2. The Thing
3. Alien
4. The Empire Strikes Back
5. Interstellar
6. Dune: Part Two
7. Planet of the Apes
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
9. Arrival
10. Inception

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

While westerns are not my favorite genre, there are a few I really do love. Here is my list of favorites, ranked of course. Includes what I consider modern day westerns too (No Country For Old Men, Hell or High Water) as well as comedies and animation (Back to the Future III, Rango).

1. No Country for Old Men
2. 3:10 to Yuma
3. True Grit
4. Unforgiven
5. The Revenant
6. Hell or High Water
7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
8. The Harder They Fall
9. Silverado
10. The Wild Bunch

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Michael Mann has made some brilliant films. I may not have seen 100% of his filmography, but most of what I have seen has ranged from solid to masterpiece.
It’s hard to top Heat. Like some of his other films, it can be a slow burn at times but when things pop off, damn. Same can be said for Thief.
Collateral is one of my favorite Tom Cruise films that isn’t a Mission: Impossible. I wish Cruise would do more roles like he had in that one. 
The Insider has incredible performances and the drama is well executed.
Miami Vice is one that I didn’t love the first time I watched it… but on rewatch it began to grow on me. I love it now. Is there anyone cooler than Collin Farell? Maybe. That dude rocks. 
Manhunter gives us the first on screen appearance of Hannibal Lecter (spelled Lecktor in this film)… I always say that Mads Mikkelsen is my favorite Hannibal. But we have been blessed to see Anthony Hopkins and Brian Cox take on the role as well. 

As I am prone to do, I’m rambling. Gun to my head I would say Heat is my favorite Mann film. But Thief and Collateral are not far behind.

1. Heat
2. Collateral
3. Thief
4. The Insider
5. Miami Vice
6. Manhunter
7. The Last of the Mohicans
8. Ali
9. The Keep
10. Public Enemies

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A ranked list of shark films… a genre I have loved ever since seeing Jaws as a kid.
(I’ve watched a lot of shark movies. Many of them shitty low budget films… but even those I tend to find some enjoyment in them).

As usual with my lists, the rating may not match up to the position I place it in the ranking. Sometimes a film may rank higher depending on my enjoyment vs my objective rating… for example, Shark Attack 3: Megalodon is objectively speaking a pretty trash film… yet to me it is very entertaining trash).

1. Jaws
2. Deep Blue Sea
3. Jaws 2
4. Open Water
5. The Shallows
6. Under Paris
7. 47 Meters Down
8. The Meg
9. 47 Meters Down: Uncaged
10. Jaws 3-D

...plus 22 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Emily Blunt is possibly my favorite actress and top of my”Hollywood” crush list. She is practically perfect in every way.

She is immensely talented as an actor. She seems to be a lovely person and she is absolutely beautiful.

Here are my 12 favorite films starring this amazing woman. (Not ranked by the rating I give the movie overall. Ranked based on her impact to me on the film.)

• Edge of Tomorrow
• A Quiet Place
• Oppenheimer
• Sicario
• The Young Victoria
• The Fall Guy
• The Devil Wears Prada
• Mary Poppins Returns
• Sunshine Cleaning
• The Girl on the Train

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This is a list (not ranked atm) of my favorite monster movies, creature features, giant animals attacking, alien monstrosities and the like.
Not all of these films are masterpieces but they managed to entertain me. Which is all that I need from them to add them to my list of monster madness delights.

1. Jaws

   What can I say about Jaws that hasn’t been said before. It is a masterpiece as much by design as it is a masterclass in making things work when everything seems to go wrong.
   This is one of those films where the behind the scenes/making of material is almost as interesting as the movie itself.
   And what a movie. Tense, tight and terrifying.
   Not to mention one of the most iconic soundtracks of all time.

2. Jaws 2

   I know this film wasn’t as well received as the original, and for good reason. But I still find enough to like about it to be entertained. It isn’t a masterpiece by any means. And it was always going to be tough go follow Jaws, one of the greatest monster horror films of all time.
   But this one manages to entertain me in the way a cheesy creature feature would.
   And it isn’t the total disaster that Jaws 4 turned out to be, or as campy as Jaws 3.
   So if I take Jaws 2 on it’s own merits, and try not to compare it to closely to the first one, there is an entertaining movie here.

3. Godzilla
4. Godzilla vs. Kong
5. Godzilla: King of the Monsters
6. Shin Godzilla
7. Godzilla
8. Kong: Skull Island
9. King Kong
10. King Kong

...plus 26 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Kaiju and other big beefy creatures slapping the shit out of each other (or humans or architecture…)
I grew up loving the likes of King Kong and Godzilla.
Here I rank the big giant creature films I’ve seen (or the ones I … I’m sure there are more that have slipped from memory).

*as always, this isn’t a ranking based solely on the score I give the films… more which films I enjoy more. So you may see a higher rated film rank below a lower rated film now and then. For technical or objective reasons I may score a movie higher than others yet may find more enjoyment out of a film with a lower score.
Entertainment is subjective after all.*

1. Godzilla Minus One
2. Godzilla
3. King Kong
4. Kong: Skull Island
5. Shin Godzilla
6. King Kong
7. Pacific Rim
8. Godzilla
9. Godzilla: King of the Monsters
10. King Kong

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I was born in East Tennessee, and have lived here my whole life. Here I rank my favorite films that take place in Tennessee (at least in part) or were filmed in Tennessee (again, at least in part).

1. Walk the Line
2. The Green Mile
3. Nashville
4. Firestarter
5. Inherit the Wind
6. The Client
7. The Firm
8. Box of Moonlight
9. The Evil Dead
10. The People vs. Larry Flynt

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My ranking of the films directed by Guy Ritchie.

1. Snatch
2. Sherlock Holmes
3. The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
4. The Gentlemen
5. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
6. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
7. Wrath of Man
8. RocknRolla
9. Aladdin
10. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My original Favorite Films list was getting a little out of control. Once that list broke 100 movies I decided I should have a shorter list as well… a best of my favorites. Settled on top 30. If I get brave maybe I’ll try to narrow it down to a top 10 down the road…

List currently unranked.

• Jaws
• The Thing
• Alien
• Dune: Part Two
• The Empire Strikes Back
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Interstellar
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Planet of the Apes

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

*as with most lists centered around an actor, this ranking is largely based around Pacino’s performance/role in the film than the film as a whole. So films where he has a small role may rank lower.*

I love Al Pacino.
Especially his work in the 70’s and 80’s.
Figured it was time for a list where I rank his films.
As usual, this is more based on my personal enjoyment… I take into the objective quality of each film but my subjective entertainment will always earn a film some extra stars.

1. Dog Day Afternoon
2. The Godfather
3. The Godfather Part II
4. Heat
5. Scarface
6. Donnie Brasco
7. Glengarry Glen Ross
8. The Insider
9. Scarecrow
10. ...And Justice for All

...plus 29 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My ranking of films based on or inspired by video games.
This can include films based on a video game license or character (Silent Hill or Resident Evil for example) and films that have a plot/world involving or inspired by video games (something like Free Guy or Scott Pilgrim vs The World).
Please note: some movies may rank higher on my list than others (despite a film maybe having a better star rating). This list is based on my enjoyment of each film. Some films I may score higher because they are technically good movies. Others may have a low star rating because of the films problems, yet I may enjoy the movie despite it’s flaws. It’s all about how much fun I have watching the films on this list.

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2. Tron
3. TRON: Legacy
4. Silent Hill
5. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
6. Mortal Kombat
7. WarGames
8. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
9. Wreck-It Ralph
10. Free Guy

...plus 61 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

*I feel it is important to note, this list is not in the order of the rating I have the films. This list is ranked in order of Oldman’s performance in each film. This is why a 5 star film like Oppenheimer is so low on the list. He was good in it but his role was very small compared to his role in something like Tinker Tailor Solidier Spy.* 

Which films of Gary Oldman’s am I ranking here? “Everyone!!!!!!!” 
Ok, that was funnier in my head (and grammatically not accurate).

Anyway, Oldman is quite possibly my favorite actor. Easily in the top 5…
So I thought I would rank his films. I am not sure I’ve seen them all but I know I have watched a good chunk of his filmography.

As usual, my enjoyment of the film takes priority over the quality of the film. Sometimes a film objectively may have issues, but if I still find a lot to love, my rating may reflect that.

1. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2. Léon: The Professional
3. Bram Stoker's Dracula
4. True Romance
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
6. Darkest Hour
7. Air Force One
8. The Dark Knight
9. The Book of Eli
10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

...plus 33 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I adore Emma Stone. She made an early impression on me in films like Superbad and Zombieland.
Hell, I actually seeing her in the reality tv series The New Partridge Family (I was with someone who watched a lot of reality tv at the time… I’ve seen some pretty obscure series 😂). 
She has gone on, of course, to become an incredible actor with awards to back it up.
So I thought it would be fun to rank her films. 
To me, she is one of those bright talents that can make about anything enjoyable (well, almost… Movie 42 exists).

1. Poor Things
2. La La Land
3. The Favourite
4. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
5. The Curse
6. Zombieland
7. Superbad
8. Easy A
9. Cruella
10. The Amazing Spider-Man

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I enjoy Quentin Tarantino’s films more or less… though he is far from my favorite director.
But, since I like making lists and I’ve seen most if not all of his movies… I present you my rankings.

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
3. The Hateful Eight
4. Jackie Brown
5. Pulp Fiction
6. Django Unchained
7. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
8. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
9. Reservoir Dogs
10. Death Proof

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I don’t think I’ve seen every De Palma film but I have seen quite a few and liked or loved most of them.
Here are the films of his I have seen and how I personally rank them.

1. Scarface
2. The Untouchables
3. Carlito's Way
4. Mission: Impossible
5. Blow Out
6. Body Double
7. The Fury
8. Dressed to Kill
9. Casualties of War
10. Carrie

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

One of my favorite directors… here I rank the films helmed David Fincher.

1. Gone Girl
2. Se7en
3. Zodiac
4. The Social Network
5. The Game
6. The Killer
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
8. Alien³
9. Fight Club
10. Panic Room

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list of underrated or overlooked films that I really liked. Some may be guilty pleasures (looking at you Doomsday), others are great films that failed to get the audience they deserved (like Coherence and Midnight Special)… a few may be more widely known but still seemed underrated or overlooked by many (Moon, Sunshine)
Currently unranked but I usually try to keep my favorites near the top 10-20.

• Moon
• Brotherhood of the Wolf
• Midnight Special
• Sunshine
• Coherence
• Stander
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
• Red Lights
• Another Earth
• Notes on a Scandal

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Spielberg has always been a favorite director of mine. His films in the late 70’s/80’s really helped solidify my love of movies.

1. Jaws
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Jurassic Park
4. Catch Me If You Can
5. Saving Private Ryan
6. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
7. The Fabelmans
8. Lincoln
9. Minority Report
10. Munich

...plus 23 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I have a ranked list of the Doctor Who holiday specials. Decided to make a separate list for the rest of the stand alone specials that aren’t specifically tied to the Christmas/New Year holidays. (I included The Night of The Doctor even though it’s more of a short but I love it so it’s here.)

1. Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars
2. Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor
3. Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder
4. Doctor Who: The Giggle
5. Doctor Who: The Star Beast
6. Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor
7. Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead
8. Doctor Who: The Night of the Doctor
9. Doctor Who
10. Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils

Mike Flanagan does some of my favorite horror (especially his limited series work).
Here I rank the films/series he has directed.

1. Midnight Mass
2. The Fall of the House of Usher
3. Doctor Sleep
4. The Haunting of Hill House
5. Oculus
6. The Haunting of Bly Manor
7. Hush
8. Ouija: Origin of Evil
9. Absentia
10. Before I Wake

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.