Favoritest Movies of 2010 (So far!)

My wife didn't think much of Tron.  Okay, she derided it in it's entirety.  Why would I be fond of a sequel that was so derivative of the original, that it was little more than an almost an exact rehash of the original plus jets?
Here is the plot outlines of both movies: Spoilers in italics

Our protagonist sneaks into a place in the middle of the night and sits in front of a laser and goes into the computer world.  He is given a disc, and put into the games.  The first game his opponent falls through the floor, subsequently this is followed by a Light Cycle scene which ends with going off the grid. Here we regroup, consume sustenance, and share exposition establishing on how to resolve the plot. We'll wind up on a vessel sailing on a beam of light, towards a larger perpendicular beam of light, through canyons and encounter the enemy battleship. There will be a final confrontation of good and bad guys, a big explosion and traveling home up that big beam of light to a sunny and happy ending.

This describes both Tron movies. If I deleted a few dozen words, it'd be almost every Final Fantasy game from the '80's and '90's. The less words you use to describe any story the more it sounds like another.

Tron is about a guy needing... a piece of paper. While for the whole time I've known my friend Matt, a fellow fan of the original movie we've used "Greetings program!" as a greeting. Yes, we are huge dorks.  But, in all the times I've ever been looking for a piece of paper, I've never felt or even thought of Flynn.

Tron Legacy is a father and son movie.  "You're messing with my Zen thing man."  No movie, that I've ever seen, has put all the internal contradictions of being a parent into one line so efficiently just so it can get to megalomaniacs trying to do their Ming the Merciless impersonations, only to have the heroes escape (with a shot riffing the departure in Jaws) and do a cover rendition of the Falcon escaping the Death Star; kicked off with the female character saying "Here they come!"

If a movie is going to be a hack rip off, it tries to hide it more.  This movie was nostalgia squared, cubed... Hell, nostalgia ad infinitum!  When I look at my kids, I see little derivative copies of us.  And this movie, better than any other of these ill thought out movies, born out of our childhoods, gave us (nerds at least) one to share with our kids.  I love that my kids love the Transformers movies, I loved Transformers and still do.  But I look at these movies of the past few years, and while the Blu-rays of them make my TV look prettier, and remind my how loud my sound system can get... I'd rather watch Springer and Arcee push that launcher into place against Devastator.  Well, maybe Dark of the Moon will top the post this time next year!  This year was about Tron...  other than that, it was kind of meh.

Now, there are a number of movies I'm really looking forward to seeing that I haven't yet; The Social Network, Tangled, Megamind, The Other Guys and plenty more.

1. Tron: Legacy
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
3. Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
4. Salt
5. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
6. Toy Story 3
7. Iron Man 2
8. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
9. Inception
10. Kick-Ass
11. Hot Tub Time Machine
12. The A-Team
13. Despicable Me
14. Batman: Under The Red Hood
15. Predators
16. Planet Hulk
17. Clash of the Titans
18. The Special Relationship
19. Killers
20. Knight and Day
21. Sherlock Holmes (Asylum)
22. True Grit
23. The Spy Next Door
24. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
25. Valentine's Day
26. The Wolfman
27. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
28. The Last Airbender
29. Resident Evil: Afterlife
30. Skyline
31. Océans
32. The Losers
33. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
34. Centurion
35. The Karate Kid
36. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
37. Dante's Inferno
38. How to Train Your Dragon
39. The Expendables
40. Letters to Juliet
41. Jonah Hex
42. Paranormal Activity
43. Date Night
44. Alice in Wonderland
45. Furry Vengeance
46. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
47. Cop Out
48. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
49. Vampires Suck
50. When in Rome
51. The Runaways
52. Repo Men
53. Dinoshark
54. The Bounty Hunter
55. The Crazies
56. Grown Ups
57. Legion
58. Tooth Fairy
59. Altitude
60. Sex and the City 2
61. A Nightmare on Elm Street
62. The Book of Eli
63. Robin Hood
64. Shutter Island
65. Black Swan
66. Dear John

Oh heck, one more nice visual never hurt anyone...

Legend: Onto the next Round! (Scored at or above the 80th percentile.)  In the middle. I do NOT enjoy (below the 20th percentile).

Favoritest Movies of 1998

My father and I used to go to a movie every weekend.  I remember, having just seen Shakespeare in Love at the AMC in Crestwood Mall (The mall is defunct, but the movie theater is still there, and pretty much unchanged since the year I'm writing about) and we were walking to The Pasta House to have dinner, debating which movie would be more deserving of an Oscar win, Saving Private Ryan or Love. But, I find out, my father really couldn't care all that much about William Shakespeare.  However, on January 17th, 1980, my father gave me...

Now, I only know the date because he wrote it inside the book, with no other words except "For Paul" and "From Dad".  This book comes up in our post movie conversation since, he gave me such a volume when I'm only four yours old.  He replies that it seemed like the type of thing I would like. 

I read every word.

Only in hindsight is it apparent that my father, for all of our problems did occasionally pay attention.  Heck, by the time I was six, I was fairly regularly afforded copies of Starlog magazine.  As I do these lists, I can't hide my affection for genre films, they're to me, the reason for movies.  I'd rather see feats of, and playgrounds for the imagination than an engaging portrayal of typical peoples doing typical things, but I don't think anyone likes boring movies.

1. TIE: Shakespeare in Love
2. TIE: Mulan
3. Armageddon
4. The Man in the Iron Mask
5. Meet Joe Black
6. Saving Private Ryan
7. The Prince of Egypt
8. Star Trek: Insurrection
9. Dark City
10. Soldier
11. Lethal Weapon 4
12. The Big Lebowski
13. Lost in Space
14. Rush Hour
15. The Mask of Zorro
16. Dangerous Beauty
17. The Truman Show
18. Great Expectations
19. City of Angels
20. The Avengers
21. What Dreams May Come
22. Mighty Joe Young
23. There's Something About Mary
24. Godzilla
25. Wild Things
26. Deep Impact
27. Vampires
28. Sliding Doors
29. The Big Hit
30. Blade
31. The X-Files
32. Six Days Seven Nights
33. Elizabeth
34. Bulworth
35. Small Soldiers
36. Fallen
37. Everest
38. The Faculty
39. The Rugrats Movie
40. A Bug's Life
41. Antz
42. Primary Colors
43. Les Miserables
44. Deep Rising
45. Phantoms
46. Tarzan and the Lost City
47. A Civil Action
48. Pleasantville
49. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
50. Ring (Ringu)
51. The Negotiator
52. Rounders
53. A Perfect Murder
54. Enemy of the State
55. Can't Hardly Wait
56. The Newton Boys
57. Sphere
58. Out of Sight
59. You've Got Mail
60. Species II
61. Urban Legend
62. The Wedding Singer
63. Practical Magic
64. Dr. Dolittle
65. Ronin
66. The Object of My Affection
67. Psycho
68. Babe: Pig in the City
69. Ever After
70. Krippendorf's Tribe
71. Hard Rain
72. The Horse Whisperer
73. Stepmom
74. Knock Off
75. The Waterboy
76. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
77. Blues Brothers 2000
78. The Siege
79. The Last Days of Disco
80. BASEketball
81. Madeline
82. Snake Eyes
83. Major League: Back to the Minors
84. Mercury Rising
85. Gods and Monsters
86. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
87. A Night at the Roxbury
88. The Replacement Killers
89. Bride of Chucky
90. 54
91. Jack Frost
92. Apt Pupil
93. U.S. Marshals
94. Rushmore
95. My Giant
96. Pi

Looking back, I remember thinking 1999 was such a good year for movies. After doing 1999's list, I was wondering why I felt that way at the time. Looking over 1998, it could have been a lot better of a year. Next back, 1997...

Or

Titanic vs Contact vs Starship Troopers!

and 91 other movies... 

 

Wow, that reads cheesy.

Legend: Onto the next Round! In the middle. I do NOT enjoy.

Favoritest Movies of 1999

We used to make Top 5 or Top 10 lists talking about the "Best" movies of the year.  I can't figure out what "Best" means anymore.  I've heard to many critics say things along the line of 'while not my favorite, it's one of the best..."  Well, if it wasn't your favorite, it must have done something wrong.  And then I see the poster above.  I was not a foregone conclusion that this would be my favorite movie of 1999.  But in every match up, it would win or split points with its competition.  I saw it 21 times in the theater.  I'd pop it in the VCR every Sunday when I worked at Comics Universe.  For all of its flaws, it's still got a bit of that Star Wars magic: rewatchability.  A tiny bit.  Okay the 1983, 1980, and 1977 lists are a race for second place at this point.

1. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Galaxy Quest
4. The Thomas Crown Affair
5. The Mummy
6. Bicentennial Man
7. The Matrix
8. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
9. Office Space
10. The Iron Giant
11. Pokemon: The First Movie
12. Sleepy Hollow
13. Tarzan
14. The Thirteenth Floor
15. Fight Club
16. Deep Blue Sea
17. The 13th Warrior
18. Entrapment
19. She's All That
20. The World Is Not Enough
21. Muppets From Space
22. Pushing Tin
23. The Boondock Saints
24. Godzilla 2000: Millennium
25. Cruel Intentions
26. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
27. Toy Story 2
28. The Insider
29. October Sky
30. Payback
31. Three Kings
32. The Talented Mr. Ripley
33. My Favorite Martian
34. The Muse
35. Run Lola Run
36. Election
37. The Green Mile
38. The General's Daughter
39. Trekkies
40. A Midsummer Night's Dream
41. Lake Placid
42. Liberty Heights
43. Mystery, Alaska
44. Mystery Men
45. Runaway Bride
46. The Haunting
47. Fantasia 2000
48. Three To Tango
49. Eyes Wide Shut
50. Notting Hill
51. Wing Commander
52. Stuart Little
53. Virus
54. Wild Wild West
55. American Pie
56. Analyze This
57. Dogma
58. Anna and the King
59. American Beauty
60. The Corruptor
61. The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
62. Blast from the Past
63. Inspector Gadget
64. End Of Days
65. Any Given Sunday
66. Magnolia
67. Big Daddy
68. Stigmata
69. Anywhere But Here
70. The Astronaut's Wife
71. Girl, Interrupted
72. The Mod Squad
73. The Omega Code
74. Being John Malkovich
75. The Sixth Sense
76. Go
77. Black Mask
78. House on Haunted Hill
79. Boys Don't Cry
80. Jawbreaker
81. Romance
82. Brokedown Palace
83. Man on the Moon
84. Open Your Eyes
85. The Blair Witch Project
86. 8MM
87. Baby Geniuses

Legend: Onto the next Round! In the middle. I do NOT enjoy.

Anticipation of Movies in 2011

As I do with my Favoritest movies of the year, I decided to rank; "How much am I looking forward to each of these movies?" Or, asking; which movie am I looking forward to more? And the numbers rolled out thusly...

Cowboys & Aliens	100%
Harry Potter and...	94%
Thor	85%
Green Lantern	84%
Transformers: Dark...	84%
Captain America:...	84%
Rise of the Apes	81%
Sherlock Holmes 2	79%
The Muppets	77%
Pirates of the...	73%
Sucker Punch	66%
X-Men: First Class	66%
Conan	63%
Immortals	61%
Super 8	60%
Rango	47%
Fright Night	42%
The Three Musketeers	37%
The Thing	37%
Kung Fu Panda 2	37%
Priest	35%
Cars 2	35%
Battle: Los Angeles	34%
Mars Needs Moms!	29%
The Green Hornet	24%
The Twilight Saga:...	23%
The Adjustment Bureau	21%
I Am Number Four	15%
Red Riding Hood	13%
Diary of a Wimpy...	6%
The Dark Fields	5%
The Eagle	3%

Favoritest 40 Movies of the '0 Decade!!!

It bows to no one (Yet...). The first "My favorite movies ever" list, where I had listed 250 movies I really liked off the top of my head, and figured this out on a large paper graph at the kitchen table, in pencil... Fellowship of the ring was a movie of special notice. Here, it strides a decade like no other movie. Avatar and Wall-E are movies that gave me the kind of movies I've always wanted to see. I've always been a Sci-Fi guy, but, before Fellowship, I wouldn't really like calling Star Wars Sci-Fantasy. After the Mines of Moria, I would allow myself to enjoy fantasy without the name Jim Henson somehow attached to it.

Second place was just a "Nooooooo" out of first.

Eleven of the top forty are based on comic books, and one filmmaker made the top 40 with every outing of the decade... Okay, more than one did, but I was thinking of someone who's made more than one movie that decade.

The decade is also a different field of comparison than the individual year is, so a movie like Black Pearl may come out stronger to pull ahead than Master and Commander does, when faced with movies like Iron Man and Minority Report.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
4. WALL-E
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
6. Avatar
7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
8. Star Trek
9. Watchmen
10. X2: X-Men United
11. Transformers
12. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
13. Thirteen Days
14. "300
15. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
16. Casino Royale
17. The Incredibles
18. The Man From Earth
19. Spider-Man 2
20. Minority Report
21. Gladiator
22. Howl's Moving Castle
23. Spirited Away
24. Superman Returns
25. Iron Man
26. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
27. Stardust
28. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
29. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
30. Serenity
31. Titan A.E.
32. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
33. Spider-Man
34. Ponyo
35. Ah! My Goddess: The Movie
36. The Chronicles of Riddick
37. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
38. Die Another Day
39. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
40. Hellboy

How do movies get to advance to the All-time list? Don't know yet. Got other decades to do. Time to go back to the '90's!!!

Favoritest Movies of 2009

I almost forgot I had this blog thing here. I don't twitter, lurk on message boards, and check Facebook maybe once a month. Maybe. Actually I think I forgot to this month. Maybe there's a way to tie my Blogger blog to Facebook. I'll see if there is when I care. At some point, this blog became a refuse dump for my favorite movies lists...

The Goal; Determine my hundred or so favorite movies of all time, but by evaluating every movie I've ever seen. This is done year by year, then decade by decade... you know what, that'll make a post in and of itself.

As for 2009, It was a good year considering that all the good movies were really from other years thanks to the writers strike awhile back, so here's the list!

1. Avatar
2. Star Trek
3. Watchmen
4. Sherlock Holmes
5. Monsters vs. Aliens
6. Green Lantern: First Flight
7. G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra
8. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
9. Angels and Demons
10. Inglorius Basterds
11. Terminator Salvation
12. 2012
13. Night at the Museum 2 Battle of the Smitshonian
14. Astro Boy
15. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
16. Up
17. Pandorum
18. Land of the Lost
19. Earth
20. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
21. Battle For Terra
22. Wonder Woman
23. Dragonball Evolution
24. The Men Who Stare at Goats
25. The Twilight Saga: New Moon
26. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
27. The Girlfriend Experience
28. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
29. Gamer
30. Princess of Mars
31. Knowing
32. District 9
33. Race to Witch Mountain
34. Echelon Conspiracy
35. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
36. Caprica
37. Planet 51
38. Coraline
39. State of Play
40. The Hangover
41. "9
42. Delgo
43. Aliens in the Attic
44. The Final Destination
45. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
46. Whiteout
47. Shorts
48. G-Force
49. Space Buddies
50. Dance Flick
51. Year One
52. Paul Blart: Mall Cop
53. Bride Wars
54. The Princess and the Frog
55. Adventureland