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Top 5 Movies – 2020 Edition

Peder — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 14:35:32 +0000

Now, I’m breaking a little bit from what I did on the last two sections, I’m not sure 100% sure that I’ve seen 5 new to me movies this year. I had the Marvel movies come out, Black Widow, and Eternals, then I probably would have seen 5 movies. But right now I can think of two movies, Sonic the Hedge Hog and Crimson Peak that I watched this year. That’s not enough for a top 5, so my Top 5 of all time will have to do, some years are just like that where I haven’t seen that many new to me movies.

5 – Tucker & Dale vs Evil

This is just a fun film, it takes the classic horror tropes and lampoons them or twists them, while still kind of being a horror film. Now, there are plenty of horror film parodies out there, but this one I’d qualify as a horror film satire. Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine are amazing in this film, and if you’re a fan either of theirs this film is worth checking out. I really do think even if you don’t like horror this is a great comedy film first and foremost, so most people will like this one.

4 – John Wick

Image Source: IMDB

The Keanu Reeves renaissance was in some ways kicked off by this film. This is such a well done action film that we really haven’t seen anything like it before. Maybe Equilibrium has a little bit of a feel like it, but John Wick takes it to a whole other level with the gun play and just the artistic nature of everything. This movie has a ton of action, and surprising amount of story. It’s one that I can come back to multiple times and enjoy even with knowing the story because of just the beauty in the gun kata (or gun fu) throughout the film. It feels like a dance as much as it feels like a gun fight.

3 – Dr. Strangelove

Apparently I want humor on my list this year, though, Dr Strangelove has always been around my Top 5, probably generally in my Top 10. Dr. Strangelove is an amazing Peter Sellers and Stanley Kubrick film. It makes fun of the super United States rah-rah mindset, but does so in extremely clever ways. This is one of those films where you almost have to study in order to get all of the jokes, but the jokes in there are definitely a good payoff when you get them. But you don’t need to do that, because it blends jokes like those in with other jokes that you almost always have an absurd situation going on that you get. This is a movie that does get better with more viewings as well, I feel.

2 – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

When I have humor on a list, I like it to be satire, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is amazing for that. This film is in it’s own right a buddy cop film along the lines of Lethal Weapon and others, but it is more than that, it makes fun of buddy cop films as well. Robert Downey Jr is amazing in this film, and whole cast is great really. This film is my favorite Christmas film in the way that Die Hard is a Christmas film. I really do like it when a film can take a tried and true genre, such as buddy cop, and not really dumb down the absurd plotlines or dumb down jokes but end up with it being a really good and smart comedy as well.

1 – Avengers: Infinity War

Image Source: Marvel

Now, clearly I’m a big Marvel fan, having a Marvel Podcast, 10 Minute Marvel, so I don’t think it’ll be a big surprise that a Marvel movie is my #1. Also, I have ranked the Marvel movies fairly recently, and this was my #1 movie on that list as well. When it comes to the Marvel films, this one just really stands out to me. I think that Endgame is very good, and I like it a ton, but Infinity War just feels like more, the stakes feel higher because I knew how it was going to end, and while I knew things would be fixed in the second one, the moments where characters die are just really well done, and you get a sense that all the heroes might not make it and that anyone is fair game. This film just has what I want, it is a superhero story with a lot of action, but it is also just a good film and a good story overall.

So, to toss out some honorable mentions, films like Avengers: Endgame and Thor: Ranorak just missed the list. I know previous years I’ve had Dog Soldiers on the list as well which is a really good horror film. In terms of the two films that I remember having seen for the first time this year, I think that Sonic The Hedgehog was a more enjoyable film than Crimson Peak and honestly, as good a story. Crimson Peak just has amazing aesthetics, but everything else felt really flat.

What are the best films that you’ve seen this year?

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Top 5 Movies – 2019 Edition

Peder — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 14:24:08 +0000

In terms of the movies I saw in 2019, the number was pretty small, mainly because with the exception of big event movies or a larger group outing, we don’t go out to that many movies. So I think in theaters this year, I saw Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Captain Marvel, and John Wick 3. I’ll be going to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in about a week.

Will any of those movies make my list, you’ll have to see, but the big movies this year, for me, were primarily Marvel movies, and with #10MinMarvel podcast, I might like Marvel a little bit.

5 – Tucker & Dale vs Evil
What happens when a group of college students go out to a remote cabin to have a fun weekend? Clearly, the locals are going to attack them, but Tucker & Dale vs Evil does a fun twist on that. If you want a horror comedy film with some over the top deaths, this is a great film. Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk do amazing work in this film being the locals in this film, and how everything happens around them is great. I think that even if you don’t love horror, this is a film that it’s so on the edge of everything that you’ll like this film. If you do like horror, you’ll appreciate the tropes that they use throughout the film and how they subvert them often.

Image Source: Wikapedia

4 – Dog Soldier
Probably the least well known movie on my list, but one that I enjoy a lot. This is from Neil Marshall who directed the battle of the wall in Game of Thrones, or at least one of the episodes around that. He also has done The Descent which is really good as well, but Dog Soldier is my favorite. It’s not a big budget film, but it does horror well. What works well in this film is that it creates a limited area for the characters to interact with the world. So they are cut off, but more than that, they are stuck in a small area, and I think when horror films go too big with the world, it makes it less of a horror film, and that’s actually a trope that another film I like picks up on, see the honorable mentions below.

3 – John Wick
This was a new to me movie this year, and it was a lot of fun to binge through the series of movies quickly. But the first one is my favorite of them. The world in this movie and the sequels is cool, but what everyone is there for is the gun fu/gun kata action, and John Wick has some great action. There’s a scene at a club where there is a gun fight that goes across several floors and it works really really well. This film doesn’t have an extremely heavy plot, but it works well enough to get you into the action and Keanu Reeves is a lot of fun in this film. If you are looking for a straight up action film, this is one of the best that has come out recently.

Image Source: IMDB

2 – Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
I really enjoy this film in terms of a dumb pulp sort of film. You get a convoluted plot where you have a giant mystery that ties everything together. I really like the performances in this movie. Robert Downey Jr. does a great job especially in this film, and it’s before Iron Man. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is a lot of fun. It isn’t a deep film, but probably my most watched film of all time. I also like that this is a satire of the buddy cop genre of films as well, and done really well that way.

1 – Avengers: Infinity War
Now, as you’ve seen, I don’t have Endgame on the list. I think that the two movies are tied together so closely, that it felt a little bit odd putting them both on there. For me, Infinity War is the slightly better film. Some of it is that it doesn’t have that superhero ending, you end up in a bad place, and that is really interesting, without it being a super dark and depressing again, for a superhero movie. So you get something you’re very familiar with because it has that heroic feel, but at the same time, it subverts expectations. While it might not be the Marvel movie I want to watch the most, but for me, it’s the best Marvel movie.

There are so many good movies, I could easily do my top 5 Marvel movies and it would be pretty close to my top 5 movies of all time. I didn’t want to repeat anything on the list, but that’s what honorable mentions are for.

Honorable Mention:
Cabin in the Woods
Avengers: Endgame
Thor: Ragnorak
Dr. Strangelove
The Fifth Element
The Last Witch Hunter

As you can see, I really love the highly critically acclaimed movies, outside of superhero movies. My taste is really all over the place, but most of the time I just want to sit down an watch a movie that is fun, and not have to think about things too much, so that’s why t hings like The Fifth Element and The Last Witch Hunter make my list.

What are some of your favorite movies? Is there any crossover with my top 5 list?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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Know Your Nerds: Peder’s Top 5 Movies

Peder — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 14:20:42 +0000

Continuing on with the lists, here are my top 5 movies. This list was super tough to make. I’ve watched a ton of movies in my time, and while I love watching movies, since their stories are generally so short I don’t get as involved and lost in them as I do TV shows. When looking at movies, I had trouble separating out which ones I thought I liked better, so there might be a fairly long honorable mention list. I also had trouble separating what is really more enjoyable for me — for example, do I love the goofy 80’s movies more than some other movies that were more impactful for me in a non-this-is-just-entertainment way? Anyway, with that said, here are my top 5 movies.

5. Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

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This movie is one that kind of straddles the line between a more serious film that’s not just entertainment, and one that’s a ton of goofy fun. It pokes fun at capitalism and Cold War hysteria, and uses names that lampoon things in a subtle way. I really like Stanley Kubrick’s work in general, and this is my favorite of his work, with The Fearless Vampire Killers as a close second. Dr. Strangelove has also spawned so many iconic moments, like riding the bomb down, that it’s hard not to appreciate what it’s done in culture as well and how it’ll still be referenced from time to time.

4. Sky Captain And the World of Tomorrow

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This one’s a controversial choice, but I really can sit down and watch Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow anytime, though I know of people who can’t stand this film. It was one of the first almost all-CG movies to come out, and I love the aesthetic of this film. They do a great job of making it feel like it is 1939, but a very alternative-timeline 1939. One of the reasons that I do like it so much is because of this concept, and the fact that it doesn’t become too dark with it. It stays generally quite light and fun, and the actors in it do a really good job. This movie is one of a few that I can just put in and watch at any time. I’d recommend that people give it a try, but understand that this movie is trying for the look and feel of an old-timey movie/radio play — I think it achieves this, but as a result, it isn’t as flashy as most movies now.

3. Dale and Tucker vs. Evil

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First, let me say that there is a reason I picked the Blu-Ray version that comes with Cabin in the Woods as the option to buy on Amazon — I’d finished most of a write-up on Cabin in the Woods when I realized that I like Dale and Tucker vs. Evil better as a critique on the horror genre. Because of this, I clearly realized that I love both of them, and I want to encourage people see both. However, I went with Dale and Tucker vs. Evil for my write-up because it’s more cliched, more satirical, and is funnier. While it doesn’t have the Easter eggs that Cabin in the Woods has, it’s easier to put in and watch over and over again. I will say, it does get gory at times. This might deter some people from watching it, but it works really well as a movie and is definitely worth checking out for a good laugh and a fun take on horror films.

2. Finding Neverland

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This one is my very serious one for the list. I love Finding Neverland even though I don’t watch it all that often. I love it because it has really helped inform my creativity and the concept of never growing up, or at least never losing my creativity. Without going into too much detail, I felt like I grew up quickly in my childhood (though not because of reasons like those portrayed in the film), and watching this movie allowed me to lean back into my creative side. It’s a lot of the reason I love writing, running D&D, and watching great (but not always serious) stories in TV and movies. This movie is also very well done, and has Johnny Depp in a very different role than you normally see him in — compared to so many of his roles now (where he’s basically just playing Jack Sparrow), this role has more depth to it.

1. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

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In case you can’t tell, I like movies that do some sort of commentary on society or a genre and that are weird. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is that to a tee. Making fun of the action genre and movies like Lethal Weapon, this film is just a fun romp and so over-the-top. Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer are perfect in their roles and play off each other in a great way. This is a movie I can put in anytime and watch, and the absurdity and jokes never grow old. It has the over-the-top complicated plot, and then everything ties together at the end. The characters are absurd stereotypes of the characters in the Lethal Weapon-type of movie, and at the same time they feel like they have some heart, and have something that really matters informing their characters. I highly recommend this movie, and I really do love it for how it takes on the genre. It’s also a Shane Black film — Black wrote for Predator and Lethal Weapon 2, and directed and wrote Iron Man 3.

Now for some honorable mentions — like I said, it was hard to make this list, so bear with me: Cabin in the Woods (see above with Dale and Tucker vs. Evil). Army of Darkness and My Name is Bruce, because Bruce Campbell is amazing. Big Trouble in Little China, R.I.P.D., and Mutant Chronicles (I did say I liked B movies…) Dog Soldiers and Repulsion are two horror movies on different ends of things, but both really good. I have a whole lot more I could say and really want to say, but those are some that I really do love.

So what are some of your favorite movies? What do you think my most controversial pick is for my top 5 movies?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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