Thursday Movie Picks: Farms

Despite growing up in middle of nowhere Midwest, I can't relate to farm life. I know people with farms, I grew up driving past plenty of them. but they're not my thing. This week Wanderer wants us to talk about films where farms play a part. Because they do nothing for me, this ended up being a bit on the hard side, but I did manage to find three films I enjoyed. 

1) Nowhere in Africa

One of the products of Fisti's Four Ways A Best Picture blogathon, which I am now kicking myself over for not saving now that his blog is gone - I think I liked this film the most out of our panel. It's about German Jews who move to Kenya during WWII and adjust to life running their own farm. 

2) Shotgun Stories

Jeff Nichols' first picture isn't technically about a farm, but a good portion of the scenes do take place on one. It stars Michael Shannon and is about two families who feud after the father passes away. 

3) Casa de mi Padre

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch a Mexican telenova with Will Ferrell staring as a rancher? Well look no further, this film is for you. It's pretty funny, especially when accompanied by a beverage or two. 

Review: A Simple Favor

Can you do this one thing?

Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is an eager to please mommy blogger that meets Emily (Blake Lively) when their two children request a play date. Emily is effortlessly cool, lives in a big beautiful house and has a gorgeous husband Sean. (Henry Golding) Stephanie can't but be infatuated. Then Emily disappears and Stephanie attempts to get to the bottom of it. 

The marketing behind this movie is kind of all over the place. In one trailer it's a comedy, the next a murder mystery. It's definitely more of the former. Sure, there's lots of twists and turns but they're mostly all played out for laughs. Since I've never read the novel this was based on, I don't know if the book took it this lightly either. 

At two hours long, I really liked this for the first 100 minutes or so, then I started to get antsy. I've always adored Anna Kendrick but she's chewing so much scenery here that I realized there's such a thing as too much Anna Kendrick, or at least this type of character. It's kind of impossible to like Stephanie. I think I was supposed to dislike Emily more, but she was an enigma. Blake Lively played her so bitchy and uninterested. It's the best performance I've ever seen from her. Rupert Friend, like he did in The Death of Stalin shows up and steals each scene he's in. That was by far the funniest part of the film for me. 

But alas, this is directed by Paul Feig so he needs more comedy, and those are the parts that really didn't work. There's a group of bystander parents that show up occasionally to interject opinions. They were fine at the beginning, but slowly got more and more over the top. 

I'm quite surprised how much I started to dislike a film I was thoroughly enjoying. If I had left early for some reason and not finished it, I probably would've given it a solid grade, but it just became a bit too much.

Recommended: If you like Feig's work, then yes. Otherwise wait for DVD

Grade: C+

Memorable Quote: "Did she want you to hang yourself with it?" - Dennis (Rupert Friend)

2018 Emmy Winners

Man, the Emmys were weird this year. 

They made a huge deal about how inclusive the nominees were and a whopping three POC won, I think? The best part of the ceremony was when Glenn Weiss, who won for directing the Oscars proposed to his girlfriend. The worst was the terrible skits from Maya and Fred. It wasn't funny. Fred Armison is almost as overrated as Kristen Wiig. I'm still annoyed this show is on a Monday, but I have to say having the presenters not announce the nominees really sped things along. But onto the winners...

While The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel dominated writing and directing for comedy series, drama was all over the place. The Americans won for Writing, The Crown for Directing. RuPaul's Drag Race finally won an Emmy, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver took home a second as well.

Below are the acting and show winners in green + a few thoughts. I guessed a whopping seven of these correctly. 


DRAMA SERIES
The Americans
The Crown
Game of Thrones
The Handmaid’s Tale
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Westworld
I have to laugh at Thrones winning for its least interesting seasons but I'm always happy about a Thrones win. This is truly one of the best shows to ever air on television, and I'll be sad to see them bow next year.


COMEDY SERIES
Atlanta
Barry
Blackish
Curb Your Enthusiasm
GLOW
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Silicon Valley
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
I went into this really expecting Atlanta to take it home, but early on I realized Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was going to win everything, and it did. I don't have Amazon so I haven't watched this, but now I want to.

LIMITED SERIES
The Alienist
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Genius: Picasso
Godless
Patrick Melrose
Ryan Murphy gave a beautiful acceptance speech. I liked The Alienist better personally but I can't deny how good Versace was. Murphy also won for directing the first episode of this series, which is absolutely deserving seeing as it was perfection.

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Claire Foy, “The Crown”
Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black”
Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”
Keri Russell, “The Americans”
Evan Rachel Wood, “Westworld”
I fucking love Claire Foy and I'm SO glad she won this. I see a lot of people disappointed about Sandra Oh not winning, but this is Claire's final season so I'm glad she got to take this home. Seriously. There's great acting, then there's Claire Foy in The Crown. She's at a whole other lever. 


LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Jason Bateman, “Ozark”
Sterling K. Brown, “This is Us”
Ed Harris, “Westworld”
Matthew Rhys, “The Americans”
Milo Ventimiglia, “This is Us”
Jeffrey Wright, “Westworld”
I thought Sterling would win this again, but Rhys got the goodbye Emmy, which I seriously should've predicted. Ugh. 


LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOVIE
Jessica Biel, “The Sinner
Laura Dern, “The Tale”
Michele Dockery, “Godless”
Edie Falco, “Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Brothers”
Regina King, “Seven Seconds”
Sarah Paulson: American Horror Story: Cult
Her speech was absolutely beautiful and she was so surprised. 

LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOVIE
Antonio Banderas, “Genius: Picasso”
Darren Criss, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “Patrick Melrose”
Jeff Daniels, “The Looming Tower”
John Legend, “Jesus Christ Superstar: Live in Concert”
Jesse Plemons, “USS Callister: Black Mirror”
Criss deserved this. He was so good I'll probably never look at him the same again. 


LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Pamela Adlon, “Better Things”
Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Allison Janney. “Mom”
Issa Rae, “Insecure”
Tracee Ellis Ross, “Black-ish”
Lily Tomlin, “Grace and Frankie”
Fun fact: Rachel is the first winner in any lead comedy category to be born in the 90's. I knew she would win this. She had the Globe behind her. 

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Anthony Anderson, “Black-ish”
Ted Danson, “The Good Place”
Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Donald Glover, “Atlanta”
Bill Hader, “Barry”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”
This really shocked me because I tried to watch Barry and gave up. It was so boring. Donald Glover came dressed as a character from Atlanta and still didn't win. This is one of the biggest shocks for me. But it has nothing on the next category. 


SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, “Game Of Thrones”
Peter Dinklage, “Game Of Thrones”
Mandy Patinkin, “Homeland”
David Harbour, “Stranger Things”
Matt Smith, “The Crown”
Joseph Fiennes, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
LOL what? Don't get me wrong. I love Dinklage, I love how he plays Tyrion but he hasn't gotten a ton to do in a long time. He's very good, but Joseph Fiennes should've won this. I'm surprised The Handmaid's Tale got completely shut out of acting aside from Samira Wiley's win in Guest Actress. 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Lena Headey, “Game Of Thrones”
Millie Bobby Brown, “Stranger Things”
Vanessa Kirby, “The Crown”
Yvonne Strahovski, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Alexis Bledel, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Ann Dowd, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Thandie Newton, “Westworld”
I should've known all the Handmaid's actresses would split the vote, so I got this wrong but I'm SO happy for Thandie. She is amazing on Westworld even if season 2 was uneven. 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Brian Tyree Henry, “Atlanta”
Henry Winkler, “Barry”
Louie Anderson, “Baskets”
Alec Baldwin, “Saturday Night Live”
Kenan Thompson, “Saturday Night Live”
Tony Shalhoub, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Tituss Burgess, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
I called this. Career Emmy. 


SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Zazie Beetz, “Atlanta”
Laurie Metcalf, “Roseanne”
Aidy Bryant, “Saturday Night Live”
Leslie Jones, “Saturday Night Live”
Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live
Alex Borstein, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Megan Mullally, “Will & Grace”
I actually missed this so I haven't watched her speech yet. 


SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Jeff Daniels, “Godless”
Brandon Victor Dixon, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert”
Ricky Martin, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Edgar Ramírez, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Finn Wittrock, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Michael Stuhlbarg, “The Looming Tower”
John Leguizamo, “Waco”
Jeff Daniels thanking his horse was the highlight of his speech. 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Adina Porter, “American Horror Story: Cult”
Letitia Wright, “Black Museum (Black Mirror)”
Merritt Wever, “Godless”
Sara Bareilles, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert”
Penélope Cruz, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Judith Light, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
This kind of came out of nowhere didn't it? Unlike the last time Merritt Weaver won, she said more than four words. Good for her. I'm glad she escaped the shithole that is The Walking Dead. I can't wait to see someone from Sharp Objects win this next year. 

Revisiting My 2009-2015 Top 10 Lists

Chris recently decided to revisit his best of the year lists to see if he still felt the same, and I thought it was such a wonderful idea that I had to do it too.

I started my blog in 2009 and I decided to only go as far back as 2015, because I feel everything after that is still pretty fresh in my mind and wouldn't change. 

I learned a lot putting this together. Mainly how cringy it is reading my first few years of posts. 😂 I was also kind of surprised at how much my opinions have changed on a few of these films. I really don't miss the time in my life where I lived in the middle of nowhere and only had access to wide release films. Let's jump in and see how much has changed. I'll try not to make this too long.

2009
My Top 10 - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, An Education, Coraline, Precious, Star Trek, Moon, Up in the Air, District 9, Inglorious Basterds, (500) Days of Summer

What stays - Up in the Air, Inglorious Basterds, (500) Days of Summer, Moon, An Education, Precious

What changes - The Cake-Eaters, Trick r' Treat, Dogtooth, A Single Man

You can really tell I missed out on a lot of indies this year. Thirst, Lymelife, and Gigantic would be my honorable mentions before any of the other things I had on my top 10. On a side note, I forgot how much I disliked Pixar's Up when that first came out. Man, I was mean about it. That film really grew on me

2010
My Top 10 - Inception, Never Let Me Go, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Black Swan, The Social Network, Machete, The Fighter, Fish Tank, Shutter Island, The Kids Are All Right

What stays - Inception, Black Swan, The Social Network, Never Let Me Go, Fish Tank, The Kids Are All Right, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

What changes - 127 Hours, Blue Valentine, Scott Pilgrim vs The World

I noted in my post at the time that I hadn't seen 127 Hours or Blue Valentine and of course I'd sub those two in. 2010 was such an excellent year for film. Forgive me, Machete. I still think you're amazing. 

2011
My Top 10 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, 50/50, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Descendants, Drive, The Help, Hesher, Hanna, Super, Our Idiot Brother

What stays - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, 50/50, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Drive, Super

What changes - Pariah, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Take Shelter, Shame, 

lol The Help. The four films I noted missing in my post ended up in my Top 10. I went back and forth with keeping Super or replacing it with Like Crazy, but my Top 10 was already pretty serious. It needs a bit of dark comedy in there. 

2012
My Top 10 - The Dark Knight Rises, Silver Linings Playbook, Argo, Looper, Moonrise Kingdom, Django Unchained, The Master, Seven Psychopaths, The Avengers, The Cabin in the Woods

What stays - Silver Linings Playbook, Looper, Moonrise Kingdom, The Master, Avengers, The Cabin in the Woods, Argo, The Dark Knight Rises

What changes - Take This Waltz, Les Miserables

Damn, this was a weak year. Originally I had Les Mis as an honorable mention but I find that much more re-watchable than Django or Seven Psychopaths. I almost subbed something for Ruby Sparks. Almost.  

2013
My Top 10 - American Hustle, Prisoners, Star Trek Into Darkness, The East, The Hunt, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street, Blackfish, Stoker, Her

What stays - American Hustle, Prisoners, The Wolf of Wall Street, Her, The Hunt, Star Trek Into Darkness, 12 Years a Slave, Stoker, The East

What changes - Short Term 12

I'm surprised I only changed one thing here. I love Blackfish, I think it's an amazing documentary but when I watch it now I wish I could change a few things to make it more original. 2013 was an excellent year for independent film. The Brass Teapot, What Maisie Knew, Byzantium, Violet and Daisy, Fruitvale Station,  The Spectacular Now,  Ain't Them Bodies Saints, The Conjuring (okay that was a wide release, but it was made for $10.00) Those are all so great. And yes, I still love Star Trek Into Darkness. I don't care about the plot holes. 

2014
My Top 10 - Birdman, Nightcrawler, How To Train Your Dragon 2, Gone Girl, Snowpiercer, The Theory of Everything, Begin Again, The Imitation Game, I Origins,  Whiplash

What stays - Birdman, Nightcrawler, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Gone Girl, Snowpiercer, Begin Again, Whiplash, I Origins

What changes - Camp X-ray, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 

This was tough, because The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game are wonderful and perfect examples of when Oscar baity biopics work, but I hadn't seen Camp X-Ray at the time and The Winter Soldier got better and better with each watch. 

2015
My Top 10 - Sicario, The Martian, Ex Machina, It Follows, Spotlight, Room, The Revenant, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Brooklyn, The Stanford Prison Experiment

What stays - Sicario, The Martian, Ex Machina, Spotlight, Room, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Brooklyn, 

What changes - Mustang, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road

At the time I had Age of Ultron as a runner up, but I would rather re-watch that than The Revenant at this point. Mustang I hadn't seen at the the time, and I appreciate Mad Max: Fury Road quite a bit more now then when I first saw it. 

If you're still here, thanks for reading, and big thanks to Chris again for the idea!

Indie Gems: The Tribes of Palos Verdes

We're going to start fresh. 

Medina (Maika Monroe) has just moved to Palos Verdes with her family. Her father, (Justin Kirk) is a doctor who has just accepted a new job. When he ends up leaving the family and sending his wife, Sandy (Jennifer Garner) into a tailspin, Medina and her twin brother Jim (Cody Fern) find themselves dealing with Sandy's mental illness while Medina attempts to surf all her troubles away.

This is a very quiet film, but what caught my eye was Jennifer Garner. I sometimes forget that she was once a highly capable actress on Alias. All I associate her with now are these mom roles in family films, and it was nice seeing her tackle a role like this. Sandy is complicated, while they don't flat out name her illness she's pretty clearly bipolar and goes through extreme highs and lows, and Garner plays her very convincingly. It was hard watching her two teenager children struggle to deal with that on top of being horribly manipulated by their father. 

Maika Monroe is an easy protagonist to follow, as she was in It Follows. There's just something interesting about the actress.  This film packs a ton of baggage but isn't very showy. It has a slower pace, which does make it feel a bit too long in places, but it fits with the tone of laid back Palos Verdes.

Now with Peppermint in theaters, which I haven't seen, I hope this is a return of more diverse roles for Garner. 

Grade: B

Watched on: Netflix DVD

Memorable Quote: "...are you serious?" - Medina (Maika Monroe)

2018 Emmy Predictions: Who Will Win, Who Should Win

The Emmys are coming up next week (On a Monday for some fucking reason) so it's that time of year where I attempt to guess and fail miserably. Here are my predictions on who will win, and in some cases, who should. 

DRAMA SERIES
The Americans
The Crown
Game of Thrones
The Handmaid’s Tale
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Westworld
Who will win: Game of Thrones
Who should win: The Handmaid's Tale or The Crown
GoT is my favorite show but season 7 was their second weakest season to date. I still think the withdrawals will be strong and the Emmys won't refuse them, which is a shame because Handmaid's Tale and The Crown had really strong second seasons. I have not seen The Americans, but they could be a dark horse here as well. 

COMEDY SERIES
Atlanta
Barry
Blackish
Curb Your Enthusiasm
GLOW
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Silicon Valley
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Who will and should win: Atlanta
This show has been getting the most buzz and I'd be surprised if it lost. 


LIMITED SERIES
The Alienist
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Genius: Picasso
Godless
Patrick Melrose
Who will win: American Crime Story
Who should win: The Alienist
While both series were good, The Alienist was far better, but judging by nominations it seems voters liked Versace more. 

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Claire Foy, “The Crown”
Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black”
Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”
Keri Russell, “The Americans”
Evan Rachel Wood, “Westworld”
Who will win: Elisabeth Moss
Who should win: Claire Foy
I see a repeat win for Elisabeth but really Claire Foy should be taking it for her final season of The Crown. 

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Jason Bateman, “Ozark”
Sterling K. Brown, “This is Us”
Ed Harris, “Westworld”
Matthew Rhys, “The Americans”
Milo Ventimiglia, “This is Us”
Jeffrey Wright, “Westworld”
Who will win: Sterlilng K. Brown
Who should win: Jeffrey Wright.
Wright has no chance of winning but I'm bias. 

LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOVIE
Jessica Biel, “The Sinner
Laura Dern, “The Tale”
Michele Dockery, “Godless”
Edie Falco, “Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Brothers”
Regina King, “Seven Seconds”
Who will and should win: Laura Dern
I don't think this is guaranteed, especially since The Tale didn't win at the Creative Arts Emmys, but I still think she gave an incredible performance. 

LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOVIE
Antonio Banderas, “Genius: Picasso”
Darren Criss, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “Patrick Melrose”
Jeff Daniels, “The Looming Tower”
John Legend, “Jesus Christ Superstar: Live in Concert”
Jesse Plemons, “USS Callister: Black Mirror”
Who will and should win: Darren Criss
The actors who would've gave him a run for his money (Daniel Bruhl, Taylor Kitsch) weren't even nominated. 

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Pamela Adlon, “Better Things”
Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Allison Janney. “Mom”
Issa Rae, “Insecure”
Tracee Ellis Ross, “Black-ish”
Lily Tomlin, “Grace and Frankie”
Who will win: Rachel Brosnahan
Who should win: Issa Rae
With a Globe win, Rachel has a lot of momentum but I'd love Issa to take this home. 

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Anthony Anderson, “Black-ish”
Ted Danson, “The Good Place”
Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Donald Glover, “Atlanta”
Bill Hader, “Barry”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”
Who will and should win: Donald Glover


SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, “Game Of Thrones”
Peter Dinklage, “Game Of Thrones”
Mandy Patinkin, “Homeland”
David Harbour, “Stranger Things”
Matt Smith, “The Crown”
Joseph Fiennes, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Who will and should win: Joseph Fiennes
There's a lot of really great performers here but Joseph was terrifying in this season of The Handmaid's Tale and I think he deserves it. 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Lena Headey, “Game Of Thrones”
Millie Bobby Brown, “Stranger Things”
Vanessa Kirby, “The Crown”
Yvonne Strahovski, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Alexis Bledel, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Ann Dowd, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Thandie Newton, “Westworld”
Who will win and should win: Yvonne Strahovski
Aside from Millie Bobby Brown, who I think is massively overrated, all of these women gave outstanding performances in their show. I'd love for Lena to win, but I think Yvonne was just incredible this year. 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Brian Tyree Henry, “Atlanta”
Henry Winkler, “Barry”
Louie Anderson, “Baskets”
Alec Baldwin, “Saturday Night Live”
Kenan Thompson, “Saturday Night Live”
Tony Shalhoub, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Tituss Burgess, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
Who will win: Henry Winkler
Who should win: ?
Even though I found Barry a bore, for some reason I see Henry taking this. 


SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Zazie Beetz, “Atlanta”
Laurie Metcalf, “Roseanne”
Aidy Bryant, “Saturday Night Live”
Leslie Jones, “Saturday Night Live”
Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live
Alex Borstein, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Megan Mullally, “Will & Grace”
Who will win: Laurie Metcalf
Who should win: ?
Laurie missed out on a well deserved Oscar so I can see Emmy making it up to her here. 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Jeff Daniels, “Godless”
Brandon Victor Dixon, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert”
Ricky Martin, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Edgar Ramírez, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Finn Wittrock, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Michael Stuhlbarg, “The Looming Tower”
John Leguizamo, “Waco”
Who will and should win: Edgar Ramirez


SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Adina Porter, “American Horror Story: Cult”
Letitia Wright, “Black Museum (Black Mirror)”
Merritt Wever, “Godless”
Sara Bareilles, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert”
Penélope Cruz, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Judith Light, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Who will win: Judith Light
Who should win: Letitia Wright.
I'm bias and want Letitia to win but Judith Light is going to go home with this. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Good Remakes

The Suspiria remake is two months away, and this week Wanderer wants us to talk about remakes that are actually good. I always go horror when I think of this theme. I can't help it. Here are three remakes that I thoroughly enjoyed. And yes, I prefer all of them to their original versions 

1) The Ring

This is hands down the best PG-13 horror movie ever made in my opinion. It was actually frightening. I didn't see the original, Ringu until after watching this, and while that one was good too, The Ring was far superior for me. It helped having a fun theater experience. People were losing their damn minds when Samara started crawling out of that TV.

2) Dawn of the Dead

I've talked about this film so many times. I straight up hated the original Dawn of the Dead/Night of the Living Dead movies. They're so dated, and I'm apparently too extra to appreciate dated zombies. This film was the perfect balance of fun, camp, and gore. "Fuck me harder, Steve!"

3) Godzilla

Y'all....I liked the Godzilla remake, okay? I LIKED IT.