My Favorite Snowy Scenes

I'm a sucker for scenes with falling snow. Since it's starting to snow outside now, I figured I'd share a few of my favorite snowy scenes from films I enjoy.

Brooklyn (2015)

Kill Bill vol 1 (2003)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Crimson Peak (2015)

The Chronicles of Narnia (2005)

TV Bonus: Jon Snow himself - Game of Thrones (2010-2019)

What are some of your favorites?

Ranking A24 Films

It's very rare that a particular studio is what initially gets me interested in a film, but A24 has been doing that lately. Aside from a few marketing mishaps (not a damn thing comes at night) They've had a really solid track record of releases. Since I just reviewed a movie from A24 yesterday, I thought it would be fun to separate the films into four categories, then rank the from best to worst

LOVED
Moonlight
Lady Bird
The Disaster Artist
Ex Machina
Green Room
Midsommar
Bling Ring
Room
The Farewell
End of the Tour
Swiss Army Man
The Last Black Man in San Francisco

LIKED
Hereditary
Enemy
The Witch
Morris From America
The Lobster
Obvious Child
Dark Places
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
20th Century Woman
Ginger and Rosa
The Spectacular Now
Life After Beth
The Florida Project
American Honey
Tusk
A Ghost Story

MEH
Free Fire
Good Time
Locke
Hot Summer Nights
While We're Young
It Comes At Night
Amy
Laggies
Lean On Pete

DIDN'T LIKE

A Most Violent Year
Under the Skin
Under The Silver Lake
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Into The Forest

Five VHS Tapes I Wore Out As A Child

The subject of VHS was brought up in a conversation I had recently, and it got me thinking about how many VHS tapes my family owned. My childhood home had shelves full of VHS tapes that were not purchased, but recorded off TV. Most of them far before my time. I was going to avoid children's movies all together, but I had to squeeze a little known one as my final pick. Here are five random films that I watched in the 90's to the point where the tapes became unusable. 


1) The Color Purple
This and My Girl where my go to movies when I felt like crying. I had a habit when I was younger of only watching the first hour and a half or so of this, then not finishing it. Because I did that so often when I sat down to watch it in full when I got older the back half was almost completely foreign to me. Eventually  the tape started to get fuzzy right in the middle where I'd stop and rewind it. 

2) Troll
This movie is so beyond belief stupid. I'm not sure what drew me to it. I knew when I was young that I liked horror movies, I think this one was accessible because it wasn't scary. I didn't technically wear this one out, but I did accidentally record over part of it.

3) Flowers in the Attic 
My mom loves V.C Andrews so I blame her with my fascination with this movie. I actually have a lot of terrible memories of the movies she'd force me to watch with her on Lifetime (along with the "all men are dangerous" lesson that came after) but this is one that I really enjoyed watching despite it being a fucked up mess. I still to this day can't pinpoint why I liked it. 

4) Lucas 
There were a lot of 80's movies we had because of my sister. Stand By Me, Gremlins, and The Lost Boys were ones we frequently watched together, but no one else in my family seemed to care for Lucas aside from me. It's funny to me now because Charlie Sheen looks so out of place in it. I think I was just really into young Winona Ryder's movies. This shared a tape with Stand By Me and Willow and eventually all 3 went to static hell.

5) The Last Unicorn
This one I had to throw in because none of my friends knew what it was. I was the only one that had siblings that were significantly older so there were a lot of 80's cartoons that I enjoyed. Whenever I would show it to someone, they hated it. It was just too weird. It wasn't until I was in high school that I met someone who had seen it and when we tried to watch it then, my VCR promptly ate it. 

Ranking The MCU Films

As we come upon Avengers: Endgame, the start of a next phase, what a wonderful legacy to look back on. Also, I haven't been to see a lot of new movies so might as well post what everyone else is doing too. Here's my ranking of the MCU films. I think it's slightly different than a lot of the other lists I've read, at least when it comes to the lower ranked films. 

The Best

1) Captain America: Civil War

This remains my favorite Marvel film. I absolutely love the arcs Steve and Tony get and it was a great introduction to Black Panther and the newest version of Spider-man. It also give us the first taste of a bigger team coming together.

2) Infinity War

I've re-watched this so many times within the past year and it keeps rising up on my list. I'm not sure it will ever bump Civil War from the top, but this film is so special.

3) Thor: Ragnarok

It turns out Thor, who was already a pretty great character just needed to get in touch with this ridiculous side. This was hilarious. 

4) Black Panther

Rarely does an origin story come together as well as Black Panther. The characters, the costumes, the rich villain, this has it all.

5) Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Chris Evans plays Captain America so well I can't help but love his set of films the most. This works as a wonderful spy film and I loved the rapport Steve and Natasha have in this one.

6) Avengers: Age of Ultron

Everyone hates on Age of Ultron but it's still one of my favorites. I love the introduction of Wanda, Pietro, and Vision. Ultron was one of the better villains they've had too. The scene of all of them fighting by the cradle is still one of the most stunning things they've filmed.

7) Avengers

While the original movie feels a tad dated due to Cap's suit. (Seriously, who's idea was the hood?) I still have fun with this. 

8) Iron Man 

The film that started it all. It bothers me that I don't enjoy the sequels as much because I really loved this.

9) Captain America: The First Avenger

Ugh, Cap and Peggy. I miss them.

10) Spider-man: Homecoming

I've always had a soft spot for Spider-man, and this was a great follow up to Civil War

The Rest

11) Captain Marvel
This felt like a phase one film, but one we definitely needed. I went back and forth with this and Spider-man for the #10 spot. 

12) Ant-Man & The Wasp
I thought this was even better than the first. Scott and Hope just work so well together.

13) Thor: The Dark World
This is another one that gets shit on a lot, but I dug this. Sure, the villains are kind of a mess but overall, I enjoyed the story.

14) Ant-Man
I still can't believe I almost didn't go see this in theaters. It was such a delight

15) Doctor Strange
I think Doctor Strange really shined in Infinity War more than he did in this film. I will say, until Black Panther came along this had the coolest score.

16) Guardians of the Galaxy
I knew nothing about the Guardians and it turned out so much fun. And it was before Chris Pratt turned into an annoying twat. I miss those days.

17) Thor
I actually didn't like Thor the first time I saw it, it was only after watching Avengers that I went back and appreciated it a bit more. 

18) Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Half of this movie is excellent, but the main plot with Star Lord is awful, which brings it down. 

19) Iron Man 2
I don't hate this movie as much as others do, but it does rank low. I really like Tony here and Don Cheadle picking up as Rhodey is perfect. It's just slightly lacking

20) The Incredible Hulk
This one is usually last on a lot of lists I read. Which I get, because it's very unmemorable and Ruffalo is so much better in the role. I can't even imagine Edward Norton playing Banner anymore. Especially in Ragnarok. You know he would've tried to take over that script.

21) Iron Man 3
This is the only MCU movie I flat out hate. I wanted so badly to like Iron Man 3 and I did until that annoying kid showed up and Pepper did...whatever she did. They also under utilized the great Rebecca Hall and the villain was lame. Upon first watch, I was just medicore, but on the second watch....nope. Just hatred. 

My Top 10 Films of 2018 (+10 worst)

Here it is! My annual Top 10 list + bottom 10 because we had that many disappointments this year. I watched 179 films in 2018, a good chunk of them 2018 releases. There are a few 2018 films I wish I could've seen before making this list, such as If Beale Street Could Talk and Vox Lux, but my theater hasn't gotten them and unless one of them ends up a Best Picture nominee in February, I probably will have to wait until DVD. 

Below are my 10 favorite films of the year, a few that just missed, plus some honorable mentions. Then of course we bring it home with the 10 worst films I saw, plus some random winners just for fun.

Top 10 Films of 2018

"We're here to fight, and if you stand in our way, we'll fight you too."

"Wakanda Forever!"

"I want to understand it."

"Imagine that."

"All power to all the people."

"Hot damn."

"I hope your month is full of successful days and ventures."

"The difference between me and you is I ain't no killer."

"Cunt!"

"Anyone can wear the mask."

Just missed

Honorable Mentions: Unsane, The Hate U Give, Crazy Rich Asians, Hereditary,  Leave No Trace, Nancy, Private Life, Dumplin' The Miseducation of Cameron Post

The Bottom 10

And here are the 10 worst films I subjected myself to this year. 

1) Peter Rabbit - Oh, the life of a parent.

2) Mute - This one pisses me off the most because I was really looking forward to it. 

3) A Wrinkle in Time - What a let down.

4) Woody Woodpecker - I cannot believe I let my six year old talk me into watching this with him ON THE SAME DAY WE SAW PETER RABBIT! Fuck me. 

5) Sicario: Day of the Soldado - This did not need a sequel.
6) The Seagull - Waste of a great cast.
7) Hold The Dark - Ditto.
8) A Futile and Stupid Gesture - This movie was so boring and unfunny that I can't even remember the specific details of it.
9) The Wife  - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
10) Summer of 84 - This felt like a bait and switch.

Random winners

Best Cinematic Example of "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong" - Kayla throwing a banana at her father in Eighth Grade

Cleganebowl GET HYPE Award for - you guessed it - maximum hype - Thor arrives in Wakanda in Avengers Infinity War

Star Trek Into Darkness Award for "Fuck you, I loved this!" - Sorry To Bother You in all its "wtf" glory. 

Martha Award for Best Unintentional Laugh - "I just want to take another look at you." - A Star Is Born

10/10 Would Bang Award for Hottest Performance in a Film -
Chris Evans and his beard - Infinity War
Chris Hemsworth - Infinity War/Bad Times at the El Royale
Idris Elba - Infinity War (Idris is so hot even 1 minute of screen time counts)
Winston Duke as Mmmmmmm'Baku - Black Panther
John Chu as a hot and concerned dad - Searching
Steven Yeun - Sorry to Bother You

"I know a guy" Breakout Side Character Award -Piek Lin (Awkwafina) - Crazy Rich Asians

"You didn't see that coming?" Award for the film that surprised me the most - Searching and Dumplin'

Lars Von Trier Award for "This Scene is Going on Way too Long" - Turning down the house - Roma. 

Best Female Performances
Olivia Coleman - The Favourite
Carey Mulligan - Wildlife
Elsie Fisher - Eighth Grade
Emma Stone - The Favourite
Toni Collette - Hereditary
Thomasin Mackenzie - Leave No Trace
Cynthia Ervio - Bad Times At The El Royale
Viola Davis - Widows
Elizabeth Debicki - Widows
Danai Gurira - Black Panther/Infinity War

Best Male Performances
Bradley Cooper - A Star Is Born
John Cho - Searching
Adam Driver - BlackKklansman
Lakeith Stanfield - Sorry To Bother You
Ben Foster - Leave No Trace
Ed Oxenbould - Wildlife
Daveed Diggs - Blindspotting
Christian Bale - Vice
Nicholas Hoult - The Favourite
John David Washington - BlackKklansman

Here's to many good films in 2019 my friends!

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!

My Top 10 Films of 2017

Better late than never. I'd be shocked if I managed a Best of *insert year* list in that year. There's always something left over for me to chase after. I manged to see 99% of the films I wanted to, so now's the time to share my list. Here are my top 10 favorite films of 2017 in no particular order, a few other random favorites, and of course, the 5 worst films I saw this year. 

Top 10 Films of 2017

Apes together strong

The best version

Have a little understanding of people's feelings

She ran six miles in the snow

Bound by love. Torn by flesh

My masterpiece

#perfect

You were one of my favorites

We're going home

A princess couldn't do what I did

Just Missed

Honorable mention: Mudbound, Okja, Colossal, Wonder Woman, Your Name, The Big Sick, I, Tonya, The Shape of Water

And now the worst of the worst. Keep in mind, if a movie looks bad, I don't go see it. Aside from one of these films, these were ones I was genuinely interested in and ended up hating.

Bottom 5 of 2017

Beauty and the Beast

3 Generations

The Circle

All Eyez On Me

Baby Driver

Honorable Disappointments: Beach Rats, The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Random Favorites

Top 10 Best Actresses
Saoirse Ronan - Lady Bird
Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird
Sally Hawkins - The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Aubrey Plaza - Ingrid Goes West
Margot Robbie - I, Tonya
Garance Marillier - Raw
Jennifer Lawrence - mother!
Elizabeth Olsen - Wind River/Ingrid Goes West
Brooklynn Prince - The Florida Project

Top 10 Best Actors
James Franco - The Disaster Artist
Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out
Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Rob Morgan - Mudbound
Andy Serkis - War for the Planet of the Apes
Jason Mitchell - Mudbound/Detroit
Hugh Jackman - Logan 
Jeremy Renner - Wind River
Michael Stuhlbarg - Call Me By Your Name/The Shape of Water
Will Poulter - Detroit

Best Director
Christopher Nolan - Dunkirk
Greta Gerwig - Lady Bird
Jordan Peele - Get Out
Dee Rees - Mudbound
Tyler Sheridan - Wind River

Funniest Scenes
Thor telling the Loki/Snake story - Thor: Ragnarok
"Too much wind machine!" - The Disaster Artist
"TSA BITCH!" - Get Out
The police station burning down/monologue - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
"We lost 19 of our best guys" - The Big Sick

Cleganebowl GET HYPE Award for - you guessed it - maximum hype
Throne room scene - The Last Jedi
No Man's Land - Wonder Woman
The Immigrant Song Montage - Thor: Ragnarok
Thor powers up - Thor: Ragnarok
Battle of Crait - The Last Jedi

Star Trek Into Darkness Award for "Fuck you, I loved this!"
Force Skype - The Last Jedi

Martha Award for Best Unintentional Laugh (Tie)
Emma Watson's cardboard expression when her boyfriend stops being a giant, furry animal. - Beauty and the Beast
The amount of times Daniel Day-Lewis tells someones to "fuck off" - Phantom Thread

10/10 Would Bang Award for Hottest Performance in a Film
Idris Elba exists - Molly's Game
Adam Driver loses his shirt - The Last Jedi
Hugh Jackman getting mad in a tank top - Logan
Steven Yeun fights, then victory fucks his way through his office building - Mayhem
Elizabeth Olsen being 100% believable as an Instagram crush - Ingrid Goes West

"I know a guy" Breakout Side Character Award
O'Shea Jackson Jr - Ingrid Goes West

"You didn't see that coming?" Award for Biggest Surprise in a Film
Good Time

Lars Von Trier Award for This Scene is Going on for Way too Long
Rooney Mara stress eats a pie - A Ghost Story

The Village Award for Incorrect Advertising
It Comes At Night