Top 50 Favorite Movies, Part 3 (#40-36)

In part 2 (#45-41) I talked about a stop-motion heist comedy, a legendary martial arts film, a look into Zen Buddhism, a trippy Italian supernatural horror, and one of the most famous sci-fi/horror movies of all-time. And now for the next 5.

---

---

40. Little Shop of Horrors, 1986
dir. Frank Oz
Musical/Comedy/Horror

The 1960 Roger Corman version may be fun, but the genius move of transforming it into a musical was... well, genius. Every choice they made here was simply brilliant. From the casting (Levi Stubbs was an amazing choice) to the music and overall quality, there isn't a single thing about this movie that isn't an improvement over the original. Rick

Top 50 Favorite Movies, Part 2 (#45-41)

In part 1 (#50-46), I talked briefly about the birth of a giant monster and cultural icon, a darkly hilarious crime drama, a deeply personal documentary, an unconventional superhero, and the sequel to one of the most famous classic horror movies ever made. And now for the next 5 on this list of my favorite movies.

---

---

45. Alien, 1979
dir. Ridley Scott
Horror/Sci-Fi

When I first watched this movie, I was a serious edgelord about it. Sooo overrated, it's dumb and stupid, blah blah blah. But guess what? Over the years I've come around on it and now consider it one of the greatest sci-fi horror movies ever made. Incredible visuals (which inspired my blog's color scheme along with Metroid, by the way), music, performances, and creature design are only part of what

Top 10 Mad Scientists in TV & Movies

I already did Draculas, so why not? I love science fiction and I love horror. So...mad scientists. I think that basically covers it.

This, like all of my lists, is all about my opinion, based on criteria that are internalized and words can't even describe them -- or, at least, that's what I'm expected to say when I'm too lazy to use words that could easily describe them, right? I should've written the intro first, now I'm all worn out and don't want to write anything now. Here's the list. Eeeeenjoy.

---

---

10. Boris Karloff

This is my only cheat pick, but it's a big one. And before you think it, no, I know Karloff didn't play Dr. Frankenstein, and frankly I'm insulted you would even think that. How dare you?!? This entry includes, but is not limited to, Karloff's characters in The Mask Of Fu Manchu, The Invisible Ray, The Man Who Could Cheat Death, The Walking Dead, The Man They Could Not Hang, Before I Hang, The Man With Nine Lives, The Devil Commands, House Of Frankenstein,

TV Alley: Sons Of Anarchy

Sons Of Anarchy

Created by Kurt Sutter
2008 - 2014

A violent biker gang, crooked cops, drug dealers, and a whole lot of montages. With a cast full of interesting characters and plenty of untimely deaths and plot twists, Sons of Anarchy may have its fair share of issues but does enough things right to make it an entertaining and addictive show throughout the majority of its seven seasons.

The main cast are mostly great, with Katey Sagal and Ron Perlman in particular standing out, but there is one huge blight on this mostly engaging cast: the main character himself. Not only does Charlie Hunnan obviously struggle with his American accent, but the character itself never quite feels fully realized. Just imagine a half-baked Tony Soprano knock off with a Will Smith strut wearing a biker jacket. I think he only got the lead role because of his abs -- which the show flaunts regularly.

200 Items Or Less: Pet Sematary II (1992)

A few thoughts: Okay, so this is a pretty bad movie in a lot of ways. But much like the first one, there's a lot of fun to be had here if you're just willing to sit back and watch the absurdities unfold in front of you. I was a bit apprehensive going into this movie because I thought the lack of Fred Gwynn and his hilarious accent would leave a huge hole and make my enjoyment of it unattainable, but oh what providence! Like a shooting star sent from the heavens, I was gifted with Clancy Brown, who manages to outshine everyone in one of the he most hilariously over-the-top and insane performances I've ever seen. I was cackling endlessly whenever he was on-screen (by the second half -- have patience, you will be rewarded), and the film's weaknesses melted away into pure delight as he gave us the Citizen Kane of B-grade re-animated comedic horror performances. The rest of the movie is pretty weak, but the bully is funny in that ridiculous Stephen King sort of way. There's some decent effects work, etc. but this movie is only worth it to see Mr. Krabs going all-out.

200 Items Or Less: Waxwork (1988)

A few thoughts: Finally, a horror movie that punishes people who don't know how to behave themselves in museums. When a group of students accept an invitation by a waxworks curator, they attend a showing at midnight where in they become part of the exhibit if they cross over the red rope. It's a pretty cool take on a fairly classic wax museum story, but never one that feels too derivative. I really enjoy the set pieces and there's some cool cinematography. The characters have a tendency of aimlessly wandering around in this movie, believing themselves to be either dreaming, drugged, or hypnotized. And honestly, who could really blame them? This is a pretty trippy situation to put yourself in, after all. There's some good practical effects and makeup on display here, but also one of the ugliest and the dumbest looking werewolves I've ever seen. Oh well, you can't win them all. There's enough humor here, David Warner is great as usual, and the story takes some unexpected turns. I didn't expect much going in, but I was very surprised by this movie.

Top 50 Favorite Movies, Part 1 (#50-46)

As the title suggests, these are my current favorite movies. I try to revamp my lists every few years, and this one is much different from the previous one I made in 2013. My opinion and tastes are always evolving, which I see as only a good thing. Some things do stay the same, however, so don't be terribly surprised if you see some similar titles to my previous list. The types of movies I've started watching over the past few years definitely reflect on this list, but these are mostly movies I've known for quite some time. This isn't just an "omg I watched a movie last week and it's my favorite ever" list like I see so often, but I'm not so unshakable that I can't let time change my thoughts on something I used to dislike. It's also possible I missed several movies I could have put on here. Believe me, it's hard to narrow roughly 4000 movies down to the 50 that I like the best. I've tried to represent my taste with these selections as well as just be honest about what I enjoy and seek to watch the most often.

And now let's get to the list. These are my 50 favorite movies, 2018 edition.

---

---

50. Godzilla, 1954
dir. Ishiro Honda
Horror/Fantasy/Sci-Fi

In a decade full of giant irradiated monsters, none stood quite as tall and lasted nearly as long as Godzilla, the creature that spawned a never-ending series of sequels and spinoffs. And as much as I love most eras of Godzilla, from the corny to the more serious and cool, the one that still gets me the most excited and functions the best as a fully fleshed-out movie is the 1954 original. Before the series became

Our Movie Awards - 2017

Me and my special team of expert have put together our own small awards for movies of 2017. Instead of making it into a huge thing, here are our winners and nominees. For sake of simplicity, we tried to keep the number of nominees to a minimum. Here is what we came up with.



Best Poster
Winner: Good Time

200 Items Or Less: Young Frankenstein (1974)

A few thoughts: One of the most perfect parody movies ever made, this Mel Brooks spoof of the Universal Frankenstein films from the 1930s captures the mood and aesthetic of the originals, and plays off individual moments amazingly. There are a ton of little gems in here that only people very familiar with the Frankenstein movies would understand or enjoy, but there is a wide-open appeal to it that keeps it from being too niche. The physical comedy, quips, one-liners in this movie are almost all terrific, making me laugh as hard at them now as I did about 15 viewings and as many years ago. The cast is totally great, so singling out just one performance would be unfair to the rest of them. Regardless, there isn't a weak cog in the central cast, which is pretty impressive for a movie with close to 10 characters who get a decent amount of screentime. The music is memorable and thematically appropriate, the attention to detail with the production is almost unbelievable, and my only real complaint is that I feel the movie goes on for about 10-15 minutes too long. But it never stops being good, so whatever.

My Favorite Movies of 2017

I planned on doing this much earlier, but I want to see the things I know I want to see before I make a list like this, and I feel I'm pretty well caught up now. Anyway, I don't plan on writing a ton for this post, so we'll get through them pretty quickly. First up are my unnumbered honorable mentions.


Lucky

200 Items Or Less: From Beyond The Grave (1974)

A few thoughts: The 7th and final Amicus horror anthology, ending a decade-long string of portmanteau films from the studio, and while it isn't particularly amazing, there's still a lot of greatness in this movie. With Peter Cushing back in the "host" position, this movie does an effective job at working each story segment into the wraparound. There's a bizarre sense of cosmic justice to this movie that I enjoy, providing the characters with the opportunity to make it out alive by being generally decent people. With segments starring David Warner, Ian Bannen, and Donald Pleasence, the cast of this movie is probably better than any of the other films, and none of these actors feel underused. As usual, I love the movie's aesthetic, and the general sense of unease and weirdness to these stories definitely adds to the creepiness factor. As a whole, this is probably the most linear of these anthologies, and while I wouldn't consider it one of my favorites, it's still a pretty nifty anthology and a fitting end to a loose series of awesome horror movies.