We went to the movies 55 times this year, and here are my personal feelings about those films.

I did this last year and it felt good to share my movie going experience - You can find that post here if it's something you actually care about reading. And while I had hoped to open up more discussion, I did appreciate the people that took the time to comment on their own movie going experience.er.

I will be using the same scale that I used last year and am including the movies that we saw in December 2022 from after when I made the original post - Which I believe was somewhere around December 20th.

Best of the Year [Ranked in Order]

• A Man Called Otto - The whole movie I felt like I was watching Up. . .But if the opening scene were extended, and the rest of the movie were set in the real world. It's a dark movie that is somehow super heartwarming.
• Missing - Last year two of my top movies were "X", and "The Menu," I'm just a huge fan of horror and/or thriller movies that try to do something totally out of the ordinary and appreciate the risks that went into making this one - Afterwards I found out this was sort of a sequel to a similar movie, "Searching," which I now need to go see.
• Air - I have no skin in the Air-Jordan game and don't even really particularly like basketball, but I felt this was a solid viewing experience and regardless of what was true and what was made up, it was just fun to watch.

I Enjoyed it and Would Watch Again

• 80 For Brady - I'm not a football fan but when my wife and I first saw this trailer we knew we had to see it. 80 For Brady subverts the trope that all elderly romp movies tend to fall into [>! we can only have fun because one of us is on our death bed!< ], while also recognizing that it's a "thing" that movies do. It was short, to the point, and silly. Added bonus - We realized at the end that this was the Super Bowl game from a few years back where we left the part late in the 3rd quarter "knowing" who the winner would be, only to get home and be like "wtf happened."
• Cocaine Bear - I expected a B level silly slapstick horror movie - Something like Snakes on a Plane. I was surprised by the quality of the movie itself, and just how funny it actually was.
• Scream VI - The "reboot" was a pretty good movie, but I really enjoyed this one too. Granted, I was able to pinpoint the main antagonist pretty early on, I don't think this took away from the viewing experience. Scream VI did a great job of pushing the narrative in certain ways to make me second guess my "killer" at multiple points in the movie - So while I "knew," I also was never exactly sure.
• Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Still traumatized from the last attempt to at a D&D movie I went in with incredibly low expectations. Pleasantly surprised to find out it was actually a really good movie, and my wife who normally hates all this mystical bull crap really enjoyed it too. There's a scene I wont ruin that involves a cemetery, I just wish the trailers didn't spoil that for us, because it was just a beautiful setup.
• Super Mario Brothers - I didn't know if I'd be able to get over the Chris Pratt voice [I don't particularly hate him, but I do think it wasn't the right voice], but the movie just does such a great job of hitting all of the nostalgia points, while also building a narrative that adults wont completely loathe, that I completely forgot all about it. Honestly, I'd like to see this high or something.
• No Hard Feelings - We found it to be hilarious in its absurdity and I can definitely see myself throwing it on again in the background. A lot of the laughs were definitely cheap, but it just worked for me.
• Barbie - I'm writing this blurb on December 27th. At this point I think I've seen the movie 4 times. It's just fun and silly, and makes poignant comparisons to life without overtly vilifying people. Though, I do think Will Ferrell's character felt largely pointless and underutilized and just reminded me of "oh hey look The Lego Movie Again. . ."

Enjoyed far More Than I Expected

• M3gan - It's not a cinematic masterpiece and I really didn't expect much from the trailer. M3gan is very on the nose, but it's also unapologetic and fun to watch. Essentially, it knows exactly what it is, and leans into that premise exactly as much as it should.
• House Party - I enjoyed it, but I also feel like a lot of the jokes that "fell flat" just weren't designed for me. House Party reminded me of the time I saw a Waynes Brother's [don't remember which one] comedy special live and realized it wasn't that the jokes weren't funny. . I just wasn't the target audience. Still, overall it was a funny movie.
• Asteroid City - After seeing the movie my wife and I realized that this was actually our first Wes Anderson movie, which is pretty crazy considering his career. If I had one critique of the whole experience, however, the "Act Title Cards" came so often that I felt like it took me out of the experience, and treated me like I was too dumb to remember that the whole thing was a play.
• Oppenheimer - This just isn't my type of movie. . .To quote the Groundhogs Day Musical, "as a rule I think movies should be 10 minutes shorter," but I really enjoyed it. I know some people want this to be in the top of the year, and I recognize for other people it probably will be, but for me even though I didn't hate myself for 3 hours, it still did feel longer than I wanted it to be. . .Even though I couldn't think of a single minute that could reasonably be cut. My wife loved it, and loves these types of movies.
• Gran Turismo - Although I am a gamer and into some of gaming culture, I've never been into racing games and only vaguely remember the real story behind the movie happening. I didn't really expect to enjoy the movie, but came out very surprised.
• Dumb Money - I really had absolutely no hope at all for this movie to be good, and went out of obligation to a movement that I wasn't a part of, but do know many people that participated in. I liked it a lot, and just didn't expect to at all.
• Killers of the Flower Moon - Another movie that on my own I probably wouldn't have seen. It did feel incredibly long [and I did end up taking 2 bathroom breaks and I think even a 10 minute nap], but aside from that I did really enjoy the movie.
• Thanksgiving - I was largely expecting to see Violent Night, but Thanksgiving, and found this to be the much better of the two movies. . .Which based on google reviews is the opposite of how most people felt.
• Godzilla Minus One - Its been a very long time since I've seen a proper monster movie like this, and reminded me a lot of watching the old Godzilla movies on TV with my dad. Given the string of largely bad American made films in recent years, my expectations were low.
• Anyone But You - It looked funny and cheap. . It felt funny and cheap, but honestly it worked for me overall, and I wouldn't be mad if I had to watch it again.

Enjoyed it, but Probably Wouldn't Watch Again

• The Whale - I think I saw this more out of morbid curiosity of what Brendan Frasier was getting himself up to these days. I enjoyed the movie for what it was and left feeling terribly sad. Not typically the type of thing I'd go see, but I'd recommend it.
• Devotion - I got exactly what I expected out of this movie, but if I had a hankering to watch something like this again I'd probably just watch Top Gun: Maverick. The ending felt anti-climatic, but given that this is based on a true story I understand why things played out the way that they did.
• Whitney Houston: I Want to Dance: Not something I'd normally want to see on its own save for two things; 1) A great surge of really solid biopics in the recent present, 2) My father passed away 1 year ago and Whitney Houston was his favorite. Overall I did really like the movie, but felt like the movie was primarily fluff, only addressing Houston's drug problems on a surface level, and probably only because they felt it was well known enough that they had to. With drugs being a central theme of a lot of artists' biopics, it felt a bit disingenuous to me.
• A Knock at the Cabin - I enjoyed it for what it was, and haven't read the source material [which I've heard is a huge divergence], but felt like there were a few plot holes in the overall premise that brought it down a bit [>! It really felt dumb to me that each of the 4 dying was what brought on the next "plague," though none of the 4 could explain what was stoping themselved from just not dying!< ]. The journey was enjoyable to watch, but I don't need to see it again.
• Shazam! Fury of the Gods - I know the movie didn't do too well at the box office, and it certainly had its problems [which is why it's here, and not the next tier up] but I thought it was cute and had plenty of laugh out loud moments. Given that that is what we came to expect from the original movie, I was perfectly content in the end.
• John Wick: Chapter 4 - I had never seen any John Wick movie up until this year; but we went into this having binged the first 3 in preparation. The first movie felt like almost the exact perfect length and never felt like a chore; the next 2 were pretty-ok. This is where I struggle with John Wick 4; I felt like the movie could be split into two completely different clicks, separated right after the action leaves Tokyo. Everything before that point felt like a a self-contained almost perfect narrative. Everything after just felt like "more of the same thing," which is hard to justify with such a long run time.
• Evil Dead Rise - Army of Darkness was my first R rated film at like 5 years old, and it started a deep love for Evil Dead and B grade horror. I felt like Evil Dead Rise hit all the notes that an Evil Dead movie needs, but that it also lacked a lot of the fun that Bruce Campbell brings to the table.
• Renfield - It's peak Nicholas Cage, just as a vampire, but I don't think it was memorable enough to warrant a second watch.
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: I think for many people its worth a rewatch, and is likely full of Easter eggs, but for me it felt long. Sure it was enjoyable, but I don't know if I'd ever feel the need to commit the time to it again.
• Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny - Quite honestly, the last time I saw an Indiana Jones movie was Crystal Skull in theaters, so my expectations were low, but it's definitely not something I'd feel the need to watch again.
• Talk to Me - It felt a little full of itself at times and convoluted, but at the very least it had an interesting premise.
• Strays - Very funny on a first viewing. I just don't think a lot of it will land a second time around.
• Five Nights at Freddy's - I've never played one of these games, and really had no idea what to expect. It's clearly geared towards a younger audience [to whom I understand love these games] so I didn't really expect a ton of gore or a really complex story. I don't think it was amazing by any means, but I definitely got more than I anticipated out of it.
• The Hunger Games: The Bllad of Songbirds and Snakes - I didn't at all think it was an awful adaptation of the book, but I do think there was a lot of room for improvement. Its rare that I have a desire to see these types of movies more than once.
• Ferrari - Didn't hate it, but it's also not my type of movie at all. I do feel we as viewers were thrown directly into the middle of something and left to figure it out on our own. I found myself on the drive home [wife driving] google the events of what happened to try to piece together a lot of the whole story.

The Mediocre Movie I Expected it to be

• Avatar: The Way of Water: I know this one will make people unhappy, but the movie is just too damn long. And yes, I expected it to be too damn long, so I guess that's why it sits decidedly in the middle. This could have been a very tight, really strong, 2 hour movie [I truly feel the entire first hour could be cut out and reedited as a 10 minute narrated prologue, starting the real movie when they meet the Water Clans]. By the climax of the movie I found myself not really caring about what was going on anymore.
• Plane - There were a few missed opportunities and details in the movie that felt like they were placed to be utilized more [like the found passports], but overall Plane is exactly what I expected it to be. . .White House Down, but in the jungle.
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3: I really enjoyed Vol 1 and 2, but with the recent string of not so great movies, I just didn't come into this expecting it to be on par. I think some people will disagree with me, but I think given the circumstance of Ant-Man, mediocre is a decent accomplishment.
• Book Club: The Next Chapter: We hadn't seen the original movie [movies?] but thought it looked fun. I'm not mad about it. . .It was certainly fun, but it also felt cheap and easy.
• The Little Mermaid - The only thing stopping this from going down a category is the fact that I've learned to not expect very much from these Disney remakes. My wife really loved it and says it's her favorite remake, I felt it lacked a lot of heart.
• The Flash: Can we all agree that the movie becomes an unintended Batman movie? I guess that's fine. . .But just give me a proper Batman movie that isn't almost 4 hours long and I'll be happy.
• Joy Ride - It was funny, but I feel like almost the entire thing felt cheap. I don't regret seeing it, but I do think that a second viewing wouldn't get more than a hearty chuckle from me.
• Haunted Mansion - I didn't hate it. . .It just sort of felt like something was missing.
• Blue Beetle - I think I mostly saw this because I like Cobra Kai and wanted to see something else with Xolo Maridueña. I didn't expect much, wasn't disappointed at all, but will likely forget all about it in a year or two.
• The Creator - I think this had a lot of potential to be a lot better, but it felt very long and became largely very predictable. Is being predictable a bad thing? I don't necessarily think so on its own, but the story felt largely openly derivative
• Wonka - In the first trailer for the movie Wonka says the key line, "Scratch that, reverse it," which is iconic on its own. . And it just felt dry. This set the tone for my expectations of the movie. I don't think Chalamet did a bad job, and I do think he was right for the role, but I largely think that the movie misses the magic I wanted from it.

Expected More and Left Disappointed

• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: I think I'm a simple guy. I don't read comic books, but really like Superhero movies. There are very few that Ive felt weren't at least a fun ride. The first 2 movies were great. This one just fell flat on all levels for me.
• The Blackening - I really wanted to love this movie, from the very first trailer. I felt as though it had a lot of heart in the beginning and was particularly very funny, but as we got into the third act my interest really fell apart.
• Meg 2: The Trench - The only thing stopping this from going down a category is just how bad I felt those movies were in comparison to this. I liked The Meg, I like Jason Statham, and I like cheap stupid premises. . .This movie should have been something I loved, but felt like Jumping the Shark. . .But like in reverse if that even makes sense?
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 - The first two movies felt way more cohesive, whereas this felt like little vignettes that short of worked together. I didn't hate it, but I was really hoping it would capture more of the magic of the first.
• The Marvels - There were a few fun scenes, but ultimately the movie is long, boring and forgetful.

Worst of the Year

• White Noise: If it has Adam Driver I'm probably going to be dragged to see it whether I want to or not. That's not to say I don't like him or his movies, but this was definitely not on my radar at all. The dialogue felt like it should be part of a play, not a movie, and while I get what they were going for, I just don't think it was successful. My wife says it was a really great interpretation of the book that I didn't read, but my stance is that a movie adaptation should be able to stand on its own and shouldn't rely on enjoying the book in order to understand what the hell is going on.
• Magic Mike's Last Dance: I know and understand I'm not the target demographic, but in my defense, I did make my wife sit down and re-watch the first 2 with me so that I could at least appreciate the movie for what it's supposed to be. This movie seems like an attempt to legitimize Magic Mike as something more than a stripper movie. I saw a lot of potential it what the movie could have been, but felt it fell flat in literally every regard.
• 65: This was just bad. I mean I expected it to be bad. I'm not surprised by the fact that it wasn't good at all - Just from the trailers I knew this was going to be a "have a beer and take a nap," sort of feature, but my wife loves Adam Driver and so we went. I honestly can't think of much in terms of redeeming qualities, and wouldn't wish watching this on my first enemy.
• A Haunting in Venice - I felt torn on where to put this, because the truth is that I fell asleep 20 minutes in. . Woke up a half hour later, and fell back asleep. It's not unusual for me to take a 10 minute nap during a movie [I work a lot], but it says a lot when I just cannot make it through at all. My wife said she enjoyed it, but that it wasn't great.

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Note: At roughly $23/m for the AMC subscription that means I spent about $5/ticket to see each movie. My wife sometimes do buy concessions [sometimes with points, sometimes without], maybe next year I'll track that too, just to see how expensive a hobby this actually is.

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Submitted December 27, 2023 at 11:35PM by egnards https://ift.tt/OXPCUIF