Title |
Year |
Rating |
Rank |
Review |
End of Watch | 2012 | 100 | 1 | - The on screen chemistry between Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena and the raw,urban cinematography are phenomenal. As a police procedural, it's perfect. |
Town, The | 2010 | 100 | 1 | - Dare I say it, the best heist movie EVER. Every aspect of this film was done flawlessly. If you haven't seen this movie, it is YOUR loss! |
Wolf of Wall Street, The | 2013 | 100 | 1 | - When Scorcese is THIS good, this pure and uncut, it's a high rivaled by any of the drugs his deliciously immoral characters partake in. |
Almost Famous | 2000 | 99 | 4 | - Just a brilliantly-executed movie. It's so grand in scope and yet pencils in every character with unbelievable detail. |
Dark Knight Rises, The | 2012 | 98 | 5 | - Might be EVEN better than The Dark Knight, which is saying something. Just such a brilliantly executed film from every angle. Once again Christopher Nolan sets the bar very, very high. |
Good Morning, Vietnam | 1987 | 98 | 5 | - Hands down one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. |
Aviator | 2004 | 97 | 7 | - An extraordinary biopic. DiCaprio, Blanchett, Scorcese, even Baldwin -- they're all marvelous! |
Dark Knight, The | 2008 | 97 | 7 | - Solid summer super hero blockbuster. Sad to see him go, but Heath Ledger definitely extended us a gem from beyond the grave. |
Merry Christmas | 2005 | 97 | 7 | - Absolutely wonderful. A modern Christmas classic! |
Godfather, The | 1972 | 96 | 10 | - An incredible crime saga told with so much detail and conviction, you question just how fictional it really is. |
Hurt Locker, The | 2008 | 96 | 10 | - What Platoon was to Vietnam, Hurt Locker is to Iraq. Beautifully done. Keeps you fully engrossed and never falls into the temptation of giving you a political perspective on the war. |
Interstellar | 2014 | 96 | 10 | - For those that didn't follow Nolan's work prior to the Dark Knight trilogy, this is what separates him from other filmmakers. Quite frankly, this is him at his best. |
Saving Private Ryan | 1998 | 96 | 10 | - The greatest World War II film of all time. End of story. |
Heat | 1995 | 95 | 14 | - The ancestor to The Town. Which is better? Some say the former. I say, either way, it's neck and neck. |
It's a Wonderful Life | 1946 | 95 | 14 | - It's not just a great Christmas film but a fantastic movie. This, plain and simple, was Jimmy Stewart at his best. |
Zero Dark Thirty | 2012 | 95 | 14 | - I'm not sure this story could be told better in 100 attempts. People will come and watch for its historical and personal importance, but they'll leave satisfied solely off of Kathryn Bigelow's vision. |
American History X | 1998 | 94 | 17 | - This is a film in the truest sense of the word. Filled with so many themes and powerful messages, this loud, explicit film might just be the closest thing we have to explain the root of racial tension in our world today. And it is the best performance of Edward Norton's career. |
Argo | 2012 | 94 | 17 | - Ben Affleck is quickly establishing himself as the next great American storyteller. But for all the rave reviews his acting gets in the film, Bryan Cranston is sorely overlooked. He is phenomenal! |
Few Good Men, A | 1992 | 94 | 17 | - One my all time favorites. What else is there to say? If you can't enjoy this movie, you can't handle the....movie industry? |
Goodfellas | 1990 | 94 | 17 | - This is Scorcese's best work, hands down. Easily one of the greatest movies of all time. |
Million Dollar Baby | 2004 | 94 | 17 | - The characters are a little formulaic, but the acting gets better as the movie progresses and, like Maggie Fitzgerald on Frankie Dunn, 'Million Dollar Baby' grows on you to the point where you love it. |
Side Effects (2013) | 2013 | 94 | 17 | - Side Effects reminds us why we enjoy going to the movies in the first place: to take part in thrill rides we alone couldn't conjure up. |
Social Network, The | 2010 | 94 | 17 | - Great on so many levels. The only thing holding it back is how fast and loose it plays with how events actually went down. |
Captain Phillips | 2013 | 93 | 24 | - A sensational thriller. The emotional heft the story brings only further cements you on the edge of your seat. |
Chef | 2014 | 93 | 24 | - It's been a long time since Favreau has not only come out from behind the camera but taken center stage. What a treat! |
Forrest Gump | 1994 | 93 | 24 | - There's no other movie like it, and I'm not sure there ever will be. |
In the Bedroom | 2001 | 93 | 24 | - 'In The Bedroom', as a title, decieves its viewers. Because the movie doesn't take place in the bedroom, it takes place in the heart. |
Moneyball | 2011 | 93 | 24 | - The only downside here is Brad Pitt looks and feels nothing like the real Billy Beane. Other than that, it's one of the best sports films of our generation. |
Rudy | 1993 | 93 | 24 | - The classic underdog story. Sean Astin is far better in this than in any of his Lord of the Rings work. |
Spectacular Now, The | 2013 | 93 | 24 | - 'The Spectacular Now' is not a coming-of-age tale. No, it is THE coming-of-age tale. No film to date has so perfectly captured the excitement and confusion of one's teenage years. And it is a bold proclamation that Miles Teller has arrived. |
Spotlight | 2015 | 93 | 24 | - For all the talking heads, half-truths, and sensationalism that dominates the so-called "news channels" these days, we needed this film. Not only to remind us what passionate people can still do, but what journalism, true journalism, can still be. |
The Hateful Eight | 2016 | 93 | 24 | - Just an absolute blast of a time at the theater! |
The Theory of Everything | 2014 | 93 | 24 | - For the truly talented actors and actresses, there comes a role and a performance that forever puts them on the map. For Mr. Redmayne, this is that film. |
Top Gun | 1986 | 93 | 24 | - It is and probably always will be the greatest dogfighting movie ever. |
12 Years a Slave | 2013 | 92 | 35 | - What makes '12 Years a Slave' stand out is its unwillingness to censore itself. While the characters are clearly shaded in either more darkness or light, no supposition is absolute. Thus, a brilliant level of honesty comes out. |
Casino | 1995 | 92 | 35 | - Okay, so it's not as good as Goodfellas, but it's not far off. More to the point, though, it's not a facsimile, either. |
Departed, The | 2006 | 92 | 35 | - Scorcese at his best. There's a reason this one put him over the top. A near-perfect film! |
Django Unchained | 2012 | 92 | 35 | - It's a Tarantino Western. If I say that, you'll know exactly what to expect. |
Friday Night Lights (movie) | 2004 | 92 | 35 | - Backed by a soundtrack that is nothing short of sensational, Peter Berg delivers the goods in a gripping tale about a familiar world where football is the only thing that matters. |
Fury | 2014 | 92 | 35 | - Perhaps the best World War II film since 'Saving Private Ryan'. The battle sequences, however, in a class by themselves. |
Good Will Hunting | 1997 | 92 | 35 | - The blended cast of Robin Williams and Ben Affleck and Matt Damon symbolizes the handing of the torch in Hollywood from one generation to another. And both are equally brilliant. |
Insider, The | 1999 | 92 | 35 | - A corporate/political thriller of the highest order. This is the kind of film that reminds us how awesome movies can be. |
United 93 | 2006 | 92 | 35 | - We throw the term 'heroes' around a lot, especially in films. Those men and women aboard United 93 are real heroes. In every sense of the word. And this film is a memorial to them. To tell their story. |
42 | 2013 | 91 | 44 | - Out of nowhere this old-timey baseball flick lays down a wallop of a punch as it slides Jackie Robinson-style into the conversation of the better baseball movies EVER. |
A Christmas Story | 1983 | 91 | 44 | - It will forever be the reason people intentionally mispronounce "fragile". |
Bleed for This | 2016 | 91 | 44 | - Miles Teller and Aaron Eckhart are nothing short of sensational! |
Fences | 2016 | 91 | 44 | - Probably the best all-around acted film of the year. |
Hidden Figures | 2016 | 91 | 44 | - Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae are nothing short of terrific while Octavia Spencer brings another solid performance. |
Michael Clayton | 2007 | 91 | 44 | - When you draw up a big-business thriller and execute it flawlessly, very little proves to be more worth your two hours. |
Short Term 12 | 2013 | 91 | 44 | - Brie Larson is an emotional maelstrom in this little story that redefines what a family is and, more importantly, what it can be. |
Taxi Driver | 1976 | 91 | 44 | - An unsettling character study that shows how fragile the boundaries of good and evil can be. |
The Guardian | 2006 | 91 | 44 | - People are going to throw around terms like "formulaic" and "unrealistic". Don't listen to them. These are grumps that don't know how to have fun at the theaters. 'The Guardian' does. |
Warrior | 2011 | 91 | 44 | - I'm not too man enough to admit that this one of only two movies to wrench tears out of me. Pre-puberty viewings don't count. |
Cast Away | 2000 | 90 | 54 | - This isn't a story about survival so much as perseverence. About taking what you're given and doing the most with it. |
Cinderella Man | 2005 | 90 | 54 | - It's not as good as Rocky...it's BETTER. If you don't feel anything during the film's climactic boxing sequence, you're dead on the inside. |
Erin Brockovich | 2000 | 90 | 54 | - Every once in a while a movie comes a long with a character so expertly crafted that the story around her is guaranteed to succeed. Erin Brockovich is one of those characters. |
Game Change | 2012 | 90 | 54 | - Jay Roach, the director of so many comedies, jumps to true-story drama and elevates transferring a tell-all book into a film into an art form. |
Gladiator | 2000 | 90 | 54 | - It's an action flick, it's an epic. It's one very awesome movie. |
Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The | 2013 | 90 | 54 | - Despite Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence, who are great, the real stars of this one are the people of Panem. 'Catching Fire' has the critical role of illustrating how the third book's revolt comes about, and this film does it so, so well. It does ITS job better than the first one did. |
Impossible, The | 2012 | 90 | 54 | - Nothing -- and I mean NOTHING -- will leave you more raw than this movie. Sensational. |
Inglourious Basterds | 2009 | 90 | 54 | - Tarantino takes history and puts it through a blender with the top off. The end result is a red, frothy, delicious, and splattered on the walls. |
Patch Adams | 1998 | 90 | 54 | - Heartwarming. Just absolutely heartwarming! |
Sully | 2016 | 90 | 54 | - An intense and fascinating story about how everyone -- even annointed heroes -- have their hills to climb. |
Titanic | 1997 | 90 | 54 | |
Zodiac | 2007 | 90 | 54 | - A riveting sort of 'historical thriller', but at times the film feels as though it covers its span of 22 years in realtime. |
Apollo 13 | 1995 | 89 | 66 | - You see Bill Paxton and Gary Sinise in this movie and you can't help but to think 'how did they not make more out of their careers?' |
Ballplayer: Pelotero | 2012 | 89 | 66 | - It's a documentary, it's a thriller, it's a drama....it's one hell of a 1-hour-17-minute ride. |
Chinatown | 1974 | 89 | 66 | - The more you look back and the more you cut away al the bells and whistles of modern cinema, the more you realize just how much Nicholson's charisma bursts right through the screen. |
Christmas Vacation, National Lampoon's | 1989 | 89 | 66 | - A Christmas classic. If you don't watch this every holiday season, there's something wrong with you. |
Contagion | 2011 | 89 | 66 | - It'll scare you to your core, but there's no villain. The villain is mother nature, making it all the more terrifying. It's a medical Silence of the Lambs, and Hanibal is no bigger than a human cell. |
Crazy, Stupid, Love | 2011 | 89 | 66 | - I will defend my manhood 'till my last dying breath, but I loved this refreshingly complex, easy-on-the-sap romantic comedy |
Dallas Buyers Club | 2013 | 89 | 66 | - Matthew McConaughey's best performance since 'We Are Marshall'. And Jared Leto's best performance since, well, ever. |
Danny Collins | 2014 | 89 | 66 | - It may be too sappy to point out how art and life can parrallel one another, but just as "Danny Collins" reinvents himself in the film, Pacino is a different man, perhaps the best we've seen him in years. |
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | 2004 | 89 | 66 | - The whole film really revolves around the question "Is it better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all?". Where the film earns its brass is its surprising take and cogent emotional arguments to back it up. |
Everybody Wants Some | 2016 | 89 | 66 | - Though I am not a particular fan of Linklater's stuff in general, I must admit Everybody Wants Some is probably my favorite film of his to date. |
Fighter, The | 2010 | 89 | 66 | - Christian Bale is nothing short of phenomenal in this movie. If for no other reason, watch it to watch him. |
Help, The | 2011 | 89 | 66 | - Who turns in the best performance? Chastain? Stone? Davis? The debate could go on for hours. That's just how strong the performance of this cast is. |
Jackie | 2016 | 89 | 66 | - Natalie Portman is nothing short of sensational. |
La La Land | 2016 | 89 | 66 | - Here's the thing: I wanted to not like this movie. As seeming like nothing but pure Oscar bait, I want to loathe this film with every ounce of my soul. But I liked it. Dare I admit it, it's very good. |
Lincoln | 2012 | 89 | 66 | - Daniel Day Lewis is nothing short of brilliant as Lincoln. Outside of that, though, the film is a little too long and meandering for its own good. |
Little Miss Sunshine | 2006 | 89 | 66 | - It's an oddball, dark, and indiecomedy all rolled into a strangely heartwarming package. |
Manchurian Candidate, The (1962) | 1962 | 89 | 66 | - A classic thriller. One of THE greatest/shocking/amazing endings of all time. |
Master and Commander | 2003 | 89 | 66 | - A backwards adventure of sorts: it throws you directly into the action and then slows down in the second half. |
Mud | 2013 | 89 | 66 | - A masterful little tale. Almost like a modern-day 'Huck and Fin' folk tale. It's commentary on coming of age as well as the complexity of love and innocence and naivety of youth are spot on. |
No Country for Old Men | 2007 | 89 | 66 | - The slow-building thriller relies on brilliant cinematography and flawless performances to deliver all the tension. |
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | 1975 | 89 | 66 | - It takes the long way around getting to its point, but, once there, you're left awestruck. |
Room | 2015 | 89 | 66 | - Both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time for the duration. |
Shawshank Redemption, The | 1994 | 89 | 66 | - It's a powerful tale about friendship, but the life-is-what-you-make-it story is heavily sugarcoated for a film that takes place primarily in a cruel prison. |
The Edge of Seventeen | 2016 | 89 | 66 | - Probably the best feel-good movie I've seen this year. |
The Normal Heart | 2014 | 89 | 66 | - Not only is the entire cast just sensational, there is a hidden brilliance to them: some of them are gay and some of them are not. And with the whole cast side by side, without knowing better, it's impossible to tell. And, really, isn't that as powerful as anything else 'The Normal Heart' is trying to say? |
Trumbo | 2015 | 89 | 66 | - Given how much the themes of communism, the first amendment, and vitriol towards those we disagree with pops up in today's political rhetoric, this is an incredibly important film for our time. For those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. |
Freeheld | 2015 | 88 | 92 | - In the war for equality for the LGBT community, this is a beautiful dramatization of a critical battle won. |
Gravity | 2013 | 88 | 92 | - Gravity's biggest strength is how dynamic it is. It can be both very small and very large at the same time, and that's as cool as any of the visuals. |
Hunger Games, The | 2012 | 88 | 92 | (full review) - Staying relatively true to the novel was the only key to success Hunger Games needed. |
Kings of Summer, The | 2013 | 88 | 92 | - A movie with this much genuine, gut-busting comedy paired with equally-large amounts of heart is a true treat, indeed. |
Selma | 2014 | 88 | 92 | - Very dark but very, very powerful! |
The Big Short | 2015 | 88 | 92 | - Adam McKay's first 'serious' film is a palpable entry. |
The Martian | 2015 | 88 | 92 | - It's rare that a cast of this level of notoriety is also so well used. 'The Martian', both in development and in execution, tells you it takes an army to truly save one man. |
Top Five | 2014 | 88 | 92 | - It feels like Rock's version of Apatow's 'Funny People'. But to put the two movies in the same boat is grossly unfair, for 'Top Five' is so much more poignant, pragmatic, and heartfelt. Not to mention incredibly funny! |
Way Way Back, The | 2013 | 88 | 92 | - A little rough around the edges, but overall a memorably good summer comedy. |
61* | 2001 | 87 | 101 | - It's a story that needed to be told. And Billy Crystal, with some big help from Tom Jane and Barry Pepper, told it beautifully. |
Air Force One | 1997 | 87 | 101 | - A so-called old school action movie before glitz and glam dominated flashy action flicks. |
Braveheart | 1995 | 87 | 101 | - This will stand for all time as the way historical epics SHOULD be made. |
Clear and Present Danger | 1994 | 87 | 101 | - A first-rate political thriller. But like everything in D.C., it takes far too long to come to a resolution. |
Field of Dreams | 1989 | 87 | 101 | - It's an epic. An epic about dreams realized, dreams deferred, and other dreams still unfulfilled. Better yet, it points to the necessity of not everyone catching their dreams. |
Fight Club | 1999 | 87 | 101 | - The first rule of Fight Club? Watch it time and time again. |
Gettysburg | 1993 | 87 | 101 | - Gettysburg's real achievement is being so entertaining and accurate at the same time. Sure, some of the sappy bro-to-bro dialogue is embellished, but, let's face it:: that's not why you're coming to see this movie. |
Great Escape, The | 1963 | 87 | 101 | - Just a terrific movie. The whole cast really is incredible. |
Jerry Maguire | 1996 | 87 | 101 | - Love, drama, and comedy. Sports, Office Work, Home life. It is literally impossible that this film doesn't have SOMETHING for you. |
Lone Survivor | 2014 | 87 | 101 | - Dare I say it, Peter Berg's best film since Friday Night Lights. |
Silence of the Lambs, The | 1991 | 87 | 101 | - It's rare that a thriller is, at the same time, both genuinely creepy and compelling. Ultimately, that's what makes The Silence of the Lambs special. |
Tears of the Sun | 2003 | 87 | 101 | - The action sequences show as much tact in front of the camera as they do behind them. It captured the power and unity of SEALs before it was popular to do so. |
Traffic | 2000 | 87 | 101 | - A massive drug and crime saga. Very few movies have tried to be as broad in scope and achieve so much with it. |
A Hijacking | 2012 | 86 | 114 | - It's hard to call 'A Hijacking' a precursor to 'Captain Phillips' for obvious factual reasons, but it certainly alludes to how compelling such a story can be when thrown up on the big screen. |
A Most Violent Year | 2014 | 86 | 114 | - A truly tense and unsettling drama. |
Body of Lies | 2008 | 86 | 114 | - DiCaprio, once again, is terrific which adds quality to Scott's thrilling direction that would keep you in your seat on its own. |
Deepwater Horizon | 2016 | 86 | 114 | - Just a really, really well done movie. Probably no one could've told this story like Peter Berg did. |
Fruitvale Station | 2013 | 86 | 114 | - Most moviegoers will get hung up on the criminality of the BART officers' action, but the real message here is you just never know when it's your time. |
Ides of March | 2011 | 86 | 114 | - Ryan Gosling steps in the ring with political thriller vet George Clooney and goes blow-for-blow successfully. |
Margin Call | 2011 | 86 | 114 | - A captivating, apolitical drama that captures the dawn of the economic collapse near perfectly. |
Straight Outta Compton | 2015 | 86 | 114 | - There's been a lot of artist/band biopics and documentaries this year, but 'Straight Outta Compton' might just be the best. |
The Program | 2015 | 86 | 114 | - Out of nowhere this undersold, underhyped, and ultimately underrated biopic comes out of nowhere to tell one of the greatest scandals in sports history in tremendous fashion. |
The Revenant | 2015 | 86 | 114 | - Tremendously well-acted. Beautiful and brutally unfiltered cinematography. If it was about a half-hour shorter and trimmed some of the fat it would be a darn near perfect movie. |
Truth | 2015 | 86 | 114 | - Truth's biggest sin is coming out right alongside Spotlight, for Venus Williams probably garners a lot more fame if she never had Serena as a sister. |
Whiplash | 2014 | 86 | 114 | - Together Damien Chazelle, J.K. Simmons, and Miles Teller have created a film here that redefines the word "intensity". |
Woman in Gold | 2015 | 86 | 114 | - It's rare that a legal drama has a character as colorful as what Helen Mirren brings to the table here. |
American Psycho | 2000 | 85 | 127 | - A really, really, really well done film. In fact, it may be OVER done. We could've lived without the "questioning reality" side of the story. It's commentary on greed, superficialness, and intimacy are enough. |
American Sniper | 2014 | 85 | 127 | - It's amazing how a story so visceral, gripping, and emotional can be ruined by one damn fake baby. |
Butler, The (2013 F Whitaker by Lee Daniels) | 2013 | 85 | 127 | - It's a powerful story. Though, as with 'J. Edgar', 'The Butler' reminds us just how distracting poor makeup on miscast ensemble can be. |
Charlie Wilsons War | 2007 | 85 | 127 | - One of those little stories from history that begged for it to be told. Hanks and Roberts are great but Hoffman steals the show. |
Fever Pitch | 2005 | 85 | 127 | - 'Fever Pitch' pretends to know what both genders want and gives them each their piece. The girl, looking for a rom-com, gets a story of a young and unstable relationship. Her male counterpart gets to enjoy a film about the highs and lows of being hopelessly devoted to sports team. |
Flight | 2012 | 85 | 127 | - What you think is a story about surviving disaster ends up being a dramedy about coming to terms with drug addiction and the people it hurts. Unique. Very unique. That's for sure. |
Miracle | 2004 | 85 | 127 | - Successfull hockey films have been few and far between. Consider this one of them. |
Perfect Storm, The | 2000 | 85 | 127 | - We get that swordfisherman and coast guard rescue divers and new englanders in general are a rough, hardy bunch, but even here the gung-ho machismo is a bit much. And that's too bad, because it's the only thing keeping this movie from being a classic action flick. |
REcount | 2008 | 85 | 127 | - Wildly entertaining, but doesn't share anything that wasn't already known. You can only go so crazy for a two hour dramatization four years after the fact. |
Rescue Dawn | 2006 | 85 | 127 | - A terrific story of survival, even if it is a little heavy on the gung-ho patriotism. |
Rounders | 1998 | 85 | 127 | - Two roles that Damon and Norton fit snuggly into. |
Sixth Sense, The | 1999 | 85 | 127 | - The final plot twist (you KNOW the one I'm talking about) goes right up there with Vader telling Luke who his father is. |
Sugar | 2008 | 85 | 127 | - It's only a quasi-baseball movie. More than anything, it's a swan song on the varying definitions of the American Dream. |
The Rookie | 2002 | 85 | 127 | - Disney can't help but to inject its gushiness, but in between the spurts is a strong story of dreams deferred...and deferred dreams realized. |
The Stratton Story | 1949 | 85 | 127 | - The only problem with this underdog story is that it ends too soon. The synopsis tells more of Stratton's return to baseball than the film actually does. |
War Dogs | 2016 | 85 | 127 | - A fun, fascinating tale! |
We Are Marshall | 2006 | 85 | 127 | - McConaughey turns in the performance of his career. That alone makes the film worth seeing. |
Winters Bone | 2010 | 85 | 127 | - The no-fills film is as rustic as the Ozark backwoods it takes place in. Even with simplicity, the film has the ability to draw you in as if it were the most complex of thrillers. |
50/50 | 2011 | 84 | 145 | - Underrated as a quality film. Thoroughly enjoyable as it dabbled in an often unsuccessful area of dark comedy. |
A Long Way Down | 2014 | 84 | 145 | - It's cute in it's little, dark way. |
A War | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - First with 'Kilo Two Bravo' and now with 'A War', we've seen the US definitely doesn't have the market cornered on tremendous, gripping war films. |
All Is Lost | 2013 | 84 | 145 | - If I never get in so much as a canoe again, 'All Is Lost' is almost surely to blame. |
All the Presidents Men | 1976 | 84 | 145 | - Successfully captures a terific story and throws it on film. |
Anatomy of a Murder | 1959 | 84 | 145 | - Solidifies James Stewart as one of the greatest actors of all time. |
Beasts of the Southern Wild | 2012 | 84 | 145 | - If you're into artsy movies, you'll absolutely love it. Otherwise, it's just "good". |
Begin Again | 2014 | 84 | 145 | - It's Indie (the music scene, anyway) without being pretentious, rebellious without being obstructive. |
Bridge of Spies | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - At its core, 'Bridge of Spies' is not a thriller about a few prisoners. No, it is a dissection of what made the 'Cold War' a terrifying and tense time. |
Brooklyn | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - A pretty beautiful romantic drama. |
Buried | 2010 | 84 | 145 | - Simple yet complex. Familiar yet unique. Stagnant yet fully engrossing. There's no other way to say it: this is a one-of-a-kind treat in filmmaking. |
Captain Fantastic | 2016 | 84 | 145 | - One thing's for sure: it'll spark a reaction within you. |
City Of God (Cidade de Deus) | 2002 | 84 | 145 | - An epic crime saga about how the most dangerous thing to have in one of the darkest places on Earth is a conscience. |
Creed | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - There are boxing sequences that have you dipping and diving with every punch, whether or not you are watching it in 3D. |
East, The (2013) | 2013 | 84 | 145 | - Underneath the film's steely thriller exterior lies a morality play about justice and revenge and the cost of achieving each. |
Ex Machina | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - It's fascinating how such a seemingly simple story can evoke such complex themes. |
Faults | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - It's very rare in this day and age that a film throws an ending as unexpected and as brilliant as 'Faults' does. |
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (American) | 2011 | 84 | 145 | - I like my European thrillers sleek, provocative, and chock-full of entitled white people that turn out to be bats*** crazy. That's why the American go-round of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo delivers the goods. |
Gone Girl | 2014 | 84 | 145 | - David Fincher is successful in his effort to make a story that was so compelling in novel-form as compelling when transferred to the big screen. |
Good Night, and Good Luck. | 2005 | 84 | 145 | - A beautifully cinematic docudrama, but it lacks the emotional heft needed to take it to the next level. |
Goodnight Mommy | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - One of the most disturbing films I've ever seen. |
Green Mile, The | 1999 | 84 | 145 | - A fantastic story, but without any context as to what's really behind the curtains, you can only invest so much of yourself into it. |
Hell or High Water | 2016 | 84 | 145 | - No one performance is particularly weak, but they are all blown away by Ben Foster who is just sensational. |
Hotel Rwanda | 2004 | 84 | 145 | - Easily the best performance of Cheadle's career. |
Hours, The | 2002 | 84 | 145 | - You could probably watch this film a dozen times and still not pick up on every parrallel interwoven between the three stories. |
Imperium | 2016 | 84 | 145 | - Admittedly a little rough around the edges but the tension is palpable. |
Kill the Messenger | 2014 | 84 | 145 | - Though the title has very little (if anything) to do with the film, it is a compelling, intellectual thriller. Viewers who thought it was the B-Action movie it's poster art tries to sell it as will likely be disappointed. |
Manchester by the Sea | 2016 | 84 | 145 | - In the darkness that is 'Manchester by the Sea', there is a certain beauty. Emotionally-scarred characters learning to cope with tragedy once again. And bonds that otherwise may not have ever been made. |
McFarland USA | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - It's the sort of sappy Disney sports chronicle that makes you believe everything is possible and the world is full of rainbows and unicorns. |
Reign Over Me | 2007 | 84 | 145 | - A tough, dark drama about coping with enormous loss and the fragility of the human psyche. |
Remember | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - It is, at once, painfully tedious and unbearably gripping. An enigma in and of itself. |
Schindlers List | 1993 | 84 | 145 | - Very good, but, a tid bit overrated if we're being perfectly honest. |
Silver Linings Playbook | 2012 | 84 | 145 | - If you go into this thinking it's a sports flick, you'll be disappointed. Rather, it's an essay on finding the right person for us and the struggle to realize it when we meet them. |
Southpaw | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - Jake Gyllenhaal, as his character is in the ring, is the real star here with a truly dynamic performance! |
Still Alice | 2014 | 84 | 145 | - Both dark and uplifting, 'Still Alice' doesn't hold anything back emotionally. |
Take Shelter | 2011 | 84 | 145 | - While the apocalypse angle will be the main pull for prospective audiences, its the film's honest, raw depiction of a family struggling with mental illness that makes it so unforgettable. |
Taking Chance | 2009 | 84 | 145 | - It's equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking. And sheds light on a duty we've all been sure happens but never bothered to know about. |
The Fundamentals of Caring | 2016 | 84 | 145 | - About as feel-good as a decidedly dark comedy like this can get. |
The Gift (Edgerton / Bateman) | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - It's a gripping suspense-driven drama. |
The Second Mother | 2015 | 84 | 145 | - An intricately and beautifully woven story about motherhood, love, and varying definitions of success. |
Unbroken | 2014 | 84 | 145 | - This film should be regarded as a coming out party for Jack O'Connell not unlike 'Short Term 12' was for Brie Larson a year before. |
Up in the Air | 2009 | 84 | 145 | - The career-versus-love rom-com has been done a thousand times over, but Up in the Air somehow remains a refreshing addition. |
What Maisie Knew | 2013 | 84 | 145 | - From an emotional standpoint, this might be the darkest movie in years. |
500 Days of Summer | 2009 | 83 | 188 | - It's sort of 'Eternal Sunshine' meets 'Everything Must Go'. |
Bad Santa | 2003 | 83 | 188 | - It's very funny if not a tid too predictable. |
Bourne Supremacy | 2004 | 83 | 188 | - Gun to my head, I narrowly like it over the original. There's something about angry, vengeful Jason Bourne that is slightly more fun than the amnesiac. |
Bourne Ultimatum | 2007 | 83 | 188 | - Before 'Legacy', 'Ultimatum' seemed to have wrapped up the franchise darn near perfectly. |
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | 2014 | 83 | 188 | - Captivating, yes, but also painfully formulaic. I felt like I knew the story before it was told. |
Fugitive, The | 1993 | 83 | 188 | - It's good guy vs. secret good guy vs. bad guy that the good guy doesn't know exists. Is there a better premise for a manhunt flick? |
Hail, Caesar! | 2016 | 83 | 188 | - Quite possibly one of the Coen brothers' best ones yet! |
Jack Reacher | 2012 | 83 | 188 | - Cliche, predictable, ....and fun. Like my favorite drive, I enjoyed the trip despite seeing every turn coming. So sue me. |
Kajaki | 2014 | 83 | 188 | - There are no epic shootouts or thrilling dogfights, but 'Kilo Two Bravo' is just as tense and exhilarating. Not with full scale battles, but the slightest footstep or rolling rock. |
Lion King, The | 1994 | 83 | 188 | - It's not another mind-numbing kid garbage flick. A cogent story and an unexpected emotionally-heavy hand in direction will keep adults as entertained as their kin. |
Poseidon Adventure, The (1972) | 1972 | 83 | 188 | - There are so few truly great films taking place on/around NYE that this is near the top of the list. |
Remember the Titans | 2000 | 83 | 188 | - Talked about football and its grapple with race before talking about football's grapples with race were popular. |
Street Fighter | 1994 | 83 | 188 | - An intense look at how dirty politics can be, and how the truly admirable candidates seem to find a way to rise above it. Mostly. |
Triple 9 | 2016 | 83 | 188 | - As good as it was, it felt like it had a lot of room for improvement. |
American Gangster | 2007 | 82 | 202 | - A marathon of a movie, but worth at least one viewing. Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington were phenomenal. |
Amistad | 1997 | 82 | 202 | - What 'Amistad' lacks in brevity it makes up for in sheer power. It has the historical and cultural significance of 'Roots' combined with the legal thrills of 'A Few Good Men'. Plus, it's one of our very first insights into what a capable actor Matthew McConaughey would turn out to be. |
Bourne Identity | 2002 | 82 | 202 | - The quintessential espionage action-thriller. |
Boyhood | 2014 | 82 | 202 | - Richard Linklater deserves all the credit in the world for his industry-changing work here. |
Catch Me If You Can | 2002 | 82 | 202 | - The most amazing part is that fraud at a basic level was so easy only a few decades ago. |
Concussion | 2015 | 82 | 202 | - Easily one of the best performances of Smith's career. |
Gangs of New York | 2002 | 82 | 202 | - What stops it from being truly great are a few peculiar and unfortunate directorial choices. Given the simpleness of the times, you can't help but to feel that the film, at times, is overproduced. |
Grand Budapest Hotel, The | 2014 | 82 | 202 | - One of Wes Anderson's best works yet. |
Hard Ball | 2001 | 82 | 202 | - It's your typical sports flick formula. The little guys that shouldn't have overcome adversity for the assumed happy ending. |
JFK | 1991 | 82 | 202 | - It's good or maybe even great, but certainly not excellent. It's lasting legacy will be adding fuel to the fire of conspiracy theorists everywhere. |
Monster | 2003 | 82 | 202 | - 'Monster' lives in the underbelly of American society. As close as you may ever come to empathizing with a serial killer. |
Munich | 2005 | 82 | 202 | - Besides one ludicrous scene at the end of the movie, everything is done with decent taste. The real interesting aspect is the conversations it begins about issues that still exist today. |
Mystic River | 2003 | 82 | 202 | - You may feel as though you need to start taking anti-depressants as the end credits roll up, but it'll be worth it. |
Negotiator, The | 1998 | 82 | 202 | - It's The Fugitive meets SWAT meets every other cop thriller with David Morse in it. |
Passengers | 2016 | 82 | 202 | - The questions about humanity, its limits, and our philosophies give this far, far outer space thriller context. |
Precious | 2009 | 82 | 202 | - I can't recall one single movie that places the viewer so deeply into a toxic environment as 'Precious' does. But it needs to, to point out to us how the ending is a happy one. |
State of Play | 2009 | 82 | 202 | - A solid political thriller. |
The American President | 1995 | 82 | 202 | - Part political drama, party romantic drama, 'The American President' is definitely a fairly original story. |
Too Big to Fail | 2011 | 82 | 202 | - Honest and unrelenting in its retelling of the 2008 economic collapse, the mortal flaw of 'Too Big To Fail' is that it all too often can't help but turn itself into a lecture directed at the audience. |
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot | 2016 | 82 | 202 | - Definitely a different take on the usual war flick. |
A Civil Action | 1998 | 81 | 222 | - It lays on the mushiness of a man straightening out his moral compass pretty thick, but there's no denying the legal drama is a gripping one. |
Anger Management | 2003 | 81 | 222 | - It's your typical sort of Adam Sandler rom-com. |
Blind Side, The | 2009 | 81 | 222 | - Not a tour de force in the sports genre, but holds its own in entertainment value. |
Citizen Kane | 1941 | 81 | 222 | - The sensational story about the world's biggest sensationalist is, well, pretty sensational. |
Club Paradise | 1986 | 81 | 222 | - Your standard-issue whacky comedy. |
Demolition | 2016 | 81 | 222 | - A moving and genuine story about a man's struggle to properly grieve unbelievable loss. |
Double Indemnity | 1944 | 81 | 222 | - Take it from me, someone who doesn't buy the notion that films are necessarily better just because their old: this one is worth your time. |
Gone with the Wind | 1939 | 81 | 222 | - After watching it, you'll wonder if anything truly good and pure can ever exist. |
Love & Mercy | 2015 | 81 | 222 | - A dark but appreciable biopic. |
Moonlight | 2016 | 81 | 222 | - A thoughtful and methodical drama. |
Nothing But the Truth | 2008 | 81 | 222 | - The ultra-low-budget thriller derives its pull from it's story and it's actors. |
Race | 2016 | 81 | 222 | - Pretty good, but, quite frankly, just doesn't do a guy like Jesse Owens justice. |
127 Hours | 2010 | 80 | 234 | - Any movie that takes place largely in just one nook in between two rocks and manages to keep you captivated is fine filmmaking. |
A Separation | 2011 | 80 | 234 | - I don't wish people would see this movie because it's THAT good, I wish people would see this movie because it does such a wonderful job of dismissing so many ignorant stereotypes. |
A Walk in the Woods | 2015 | 80 | 234 | - Redford and Nolte bring enough to make it worth your time. |
Arrival | 2016 | 80 | 234 | - It's a good, not great, film. And beware of rave reviews. Those buying wholeheartedly in 'Arrival' are giving it credit for being smarter than it really is. |
Batman Begins | 2005 | 80 | 234 | - Decent superhero film, but a bit too slow. Batman certainly began, but it took a while to get going. |
Cake | 2014 | 80 | 234 | - It's a story about empathy. About finding the impossible feelings you feel in another. |
Crash | 2004 | 80 | 234 | - A tough, raw story about the gaps in social statuses, racism, and the fears we admit to no one. |
Deer Hunter, The | 1978 | 80 | 234 | - 'The Deer Hunter' is a tough one to figure out because while it is undeniably good, it also feels like it could've been so much better. |
Descendants, The | 2011 | 80 | 234 | - A dark family drama set in paradise is the only example you need to accurately portray the film's originality. |
Everything Must Go | 2010 | 80 | 234 | - Your textbook indie dark comedy. Every slapstick artist seems to attempt at least one. This is Ferrell's. |
Ferris Beuller's Day Off | 1986 | 80 | 234 | - A step or two behind other "instant classics", it successfully captures every teenagers dream of having a day devoid of the monotony of high school work. |
Free State of Jones | 2016 | 80 | 234 | - The one overarching nuisance to what was otherwise a pretty gripping period piece was McConaughey's Newton Knight. They didn't just make him morally superior to his fellow confederates, they practically made him beyond reproach. It all seems rather silly for a white man who grew up in the backwoods of Mississippi in the mid-19th Century. |
I Saw the Light | 2015 | 80 | 234 | - Hiddleston is absolutely sensational. |
King Kong (1933) | 1933 | 80 | 234 | - For it's time, it's nothing short of wonderous. |
Letters from Iwo Jima | 2006 | 80 | 234 | - The film's one critical fault is that, at times, the battle of Iwo Jima ACTUALLY feels like 36 days....or more. |
Nebraska | 2013 | 80 | 234 | - Its oversimplified stereotypes of midwesterners aside, it's a cute little story. |
Pieces Of April | 2003 | 80 | 234 | - While it won't win any awards for subtlety, 'Pieces of April' is undeniably charming. The kind of thing to get you in that warm, gushy mood for the holiday. |
Platoon | 1986 | 80 | 234 | - This is THE Vietnam War movie. All others are just fighting for second. |
Pride | 2014 | 80 | 234 | - 'Pride', with its punk-like angst, is probably more stick-it-to-the-man than is historically accurate, but who cares? Sometimes a revolution needs a little edge to its rememberance. |
Pulp Fiction | 1994 | 80 | 234 | - An instant cult classic, but be warned: it's trendier to pretend to like this movie than it is to actually like it. |
Raging Bull | 1980 | 80 | 234 | - In some ways, it's one of the saddest stories ever put on the big screen. |
Rosemary's Baby | 1968 | 80 | 234 | - It's more "creepy" than it is "downright scary". |
Rules of Engagement | 2000 | 80 | 234 | - It's no 'A Few Good Men', but it's not exactly guilty of dereliction of duty, either. |
Smashed | 2012 | 80 | 234 | - 'Smashed' isn't EVERY alcoholic's story, but it is SOME alcoholic's story. And, quite frankly, that's good enough. |
Suffragette | 2015 | 80 | 234 | - You'd think a story about women fighting to earn their right to vote would be uplifting, but 'Suffragette' is decidedly dark. |
The Imitation Game | 2014 | 80 | 234 | - The tension of the moment is cut only by the film's inisistence on being both a biopic and a World War II era period piece. In truth, had it stuck to one, it probably would've gone a lot further. |
Wrestler, The | 2008 | 80 | 234 | - This classic down-on-his-luck protagonist drama is a dissection of what happens when the American dream doesn't exactly pan out with |
Allied | 2016 | 79 | 261 | - In a year unusually devoid of spy thrillers, 'Allied' sticks out. |
Beasts of No Nation | 2015 | 79 | 261 | - In a world of manipulation, exploitation, war, rape, and rampant drug abuse, it's not really that hard to imagine the innocence of one little boy is swallowed whole. |
Bullitt | 1968 | 79 | 261 | - The car chase scene is perhaps the greatest of all time. |
Chronicle | 2012 | 79 | 261 | (full review) - Holds it own even in the ubiquitous 'Found Film' genre. A film that sort of came out of nowhere that is definitely worth your time. |
Happy Christmas | 2014 | 79 | 261 | - Joe Swanberg has without a doubt created a definite style, placing a signature on his works that is wholly unique. |
High Fidelity | 2000 | 79 | 261 | - The satire and commentary on self-described audiophiles and the underbelly of music culture is smart and on point. The sappy rom-com elements? Not so much. |
Mississippi Burning | 1988 | 79 | 261 | - The suspense in 'Mississippi Burning' is palpable, but make no mistake: this is simply a thriller involving racism, not a film that actually delves into the issue. |
Prisoners | 2013 | 79 | 261 | - If nothing else, 'Prisoners' is a shoe-in for darkest film of the year. |
The One I Love | 2014 | 79 | 261 | - Apparently the Duplass brothers thought a whole bunch of people were going around thinking, "it's about time they turned 'Inception' into a rom-com." |
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps | 2010 | 79 | 261 | - Watching Shia LaBeouf get screwed over time and time again begs the question, "If this guy is so smart, why doesn't he ever learn?" |
A Clockwork Orange | 1971 | 78 | 271 | - It's cookiness aside, Stanley Kubrick's futuristic allegory raises some interesting questions. |
Burnt | 2015 | 78 | 271 | - It's no Burger King but it's no Michelin Star restaurant, either. |
Crimson Tide | 1995 | 78 | 271 | - For something that boils down to essentially a testosterone-packed, machismo-laced soap opera, it works surprisingly well. |
Dead Poets Society | 1989 | 78 | 271 | - The worst thing that happened to this film is Good Will Hunting came along and placed it squarely in its shadows. |
Deep Impact | 1998 | 78 | 271 | - It's Armageddon redone. Similar enough that you'll forever correlate the two, different enough that both are worth watching. |
Dirty War | 2004 | 78 | 271 | - Daniel Percival and Lizzie Mickery have created what amounts to basically a worst-case scenario for a major Western metropolis. |
Hours | 2013 | 78 | 271 | - A neat little drama. |
Into the Forest | 2016 | 78 | 271 | - Slow moving, thoughtful, and methodical, this is not your average post-apocalyptic flick, if one can even call it that. |
Money Monster | 2016 | 78 | 271 | - I guess the question is whether or not this is supposed to just be a standalone thriller with no social commentary or is it a message on Wall Street? Because if it is the latter, while it definitely rides the wave of populist anger, it doesn't seem so sure as to who to blame for the mess. Is it the television shtick-heavy hack? Or is it the corrupt businessman? Or perhaps it's just the system in general? Ironically, the one man the movie never tries to blame is the guy with the gun. |
Moon | 2009 | 78 | 271 | - It's basically 'The Island' -- the film Michael Bay did four years prior -- but exponentially better. |
Nightcrawler | 2014 | 78 | 271 | - 'Nightcrawler' essentially sets out to villify anyone and everyone associated with television news. And painting in such broad strokes will be off-putting to many. |
Rendition | 2007 | 78 | 271 | - The dramatization of a dark part of the CIA's history would be more palpable if EVERY character in the story wasn't puddle shallow. |
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World | 2012 | 78 | 271 | - For better or for worse, I can honestly say there's no movie quite like it. |
Thats My Boy | 2012 | 78 | 271 | - It's vulgar, raunchy, silly, slapstick....and a good, honest attempt of Adam Sandler returning to what originally endeared us to him. |
The Fault in Our Stars | 2014 | 78 | 271 | - Discussing very adult issues with just enough teenage naivety, it is 100% a young adult novel that's been adapted to film. |
The Founder | 2016 | 78 | 271 | - A story that reminds us there is a fine line between the American Dream and the American Nightmare. |
Wild | 2014 | 78 | 271 | - It's a story of finding one's self, of wiping the slate clean, and constantly being paranoid that your about to be sexually assaulted in a wilderness filled with men. |
10 Cloverfield Lane | 2016 | 77 | 288 | - Inside the fallout shelter lay a wonderfully thrilling story. Psychological in a cabin fever sort of way, clostrophobic as three virtual strangers are forced into confinement with one another, and eerily twisted like a Hitchcock great. Then she pops the lid, runs from aliens, and everything we go through suddenly feels a bit more silly. |
12 Angry Men (original) | 1957 | 77 | 288 | - A classic everyone needs to see. A landmark film with a powerful message that still rings true today. |
71 | 2014 | 77 | 288 | - It should serve as a reminder to everyone that religious and cultural strife is just as integral a part of the western world as it is the east. |
American Hustle | 2013 | 77 | 288 | - As far as David O. Russell's last three films go, his personal own "Oscar trilogy", this is by far the weakest. |
Big Lebowski, The | 1998 | 77 | 288 | - One thing's for sure: this comedy is much sharper than 'The Dude' |
Gangster Squad | 2013 | 77 | 288 | - It's an epic injected with an epipen, a noir with nuts. |
Get On Up | 2014 | 77 | 288 | - In telling Brown's story, 'Get On Up' seems equally intent in trying to sell you on a less-than-glamorous image of the man. |
Gone Baby Gone | 2007 | 77 | 288 | - Casey Affleck's first legitimate attempt to step into the spotlight for himself comes with mixed results. |
Midnight Special | 2016 | 77 | 288 | - Definitely a different kind of thriller. Somewhere in between real life and sci-fi lies 'Midnight Special'. |
Nocturnal Animals | 2016 | 77 | 288 | - Honestly, had the film only been of the story in the manuscript itself, it would have been better. The superficial characters of the 'real world' bring nothing to the table and even Edward Sheffield, who we only see in flashbacks, ends us with a reminder that he's not much better, either. |
Place Beyond the Pines, The | 2013 | 77 | 288 | - This crime drama/thriller could've easily been called 'The Sins of The Father' and been no less obvious with its message. |
Psycho | 1960 | 77 | 288 | - It's value isn't necessarily what is on the screen so much as what it has inspired since. |
Rush (2013) | 2013 | 77 | 288 | - The whole delivery just feels as thought it's going through the motions. The effort -- no pun intended -- comes across as, well, rushed. |
Sing Street | 2016 | 77 | 288 | - Cute little coming-of-age movie, if you can call it that. |
The End of the Tour | 2015 | 77 | 288 | - A sweet yet sad story of nostalgia, loneliness, and what it truly means to connect with someone. |
Collateral | 2004 | 76 | 303 | - A decent thriller. |
Dan in Real Life | 2007 | 76 | 303 | - Don't ever try to sell me Steve Carrell and Dane Cook as family ever ever again. |
Dope | 2015 | 76 | 303 | - Rick Famuyiwa is intent on mashing everything together here: stereotypes, genres, characters. The works. And while something new and refreshing, it's also a tad bit messy. |
Home Alone | 1990 | 76 | 303 | - It's equal parts sweet and entertainings is what it is. |
Hoosiers | 1986 | 76 | 303 | - It's good. It's a bit overrated, but it's good. |
Inside Out | 2015 | 76 | 303 | - It's a cute little film for the family. |
Juno | 2007 | 76 | 303 | - It's obvious concepts aside, 'Juno' is enjoyable. |
Kiss the Girls | 1997 | 76 | 303 | - Don't focus on the fact that it's a James Patterson novel too much. What 'Kiss The Girls' really is adapted from is 'The Silence of the Lambs', which it wants to be oh so very badly. |
Knocked Up | 2007 | 76 | 303 | - Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl ARE an unlikely couple. And yet, somehow, it works for the most part, here... |
Lord of War | 2005 | 76 | 303 | - It was fun and exciting right up until the point it tried to grow a conscience. |
Philomena | 2013 | 76 | 303 | - 'Philomena' is good, but ultimately what holds it back from being great is its own indecision as to what it is. Is it a history-hunting thriller? Is it an artsy tale of the unlikely kinship between two people worlds apart? Or is it period piece with a scathing message for how Irish nunneries conduct themselves? Trying to be all three, as Stephen Frears' latest film does, can only have so much success. |
Runner Runner | 2013 | 76 | 303 | - It's one of those movies that's all been done entirely before, but that doesn't mean this time around isn't a little fun. |
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen | 2011 | 76 | 303 | - I like this movie with certain amounts of frustration. It's your textbook case of a tacky on-screen love triangle getting in the way of a neat little drama. |
Scrooged | 1988 | 76 | 303 | - It's just a straight-up modern-day Christmas Carol, which is fine. It's fine. |
The 33 | 2015 | 76 | 303 | - At times feels more like a telenovela rather than a real story of surviving disaster. |
The Judge | 2014 | 76 | 303 | - It'd be a lot better if everything outside of the legal drama aspect of the story didn't feel so generic. |
The Square | 2013 | 76 | 303 | - It's baffling to me how such a grassroots documentary that is so clearly "inside" the story can reveal so little that we didn't already know. |
A League of Their Own | 1992 | 75 | 320 | - You feel like if you don't gloat over this movie, you risk being labeled a mysoginist. So I'll say this: it's good, but it could've been much, much better. |
Birdman | 2014 | 75 | 320 | - 'Birdman' is like a three-ring circus. While it's both wonderous and amazing, there's also a little too much going on. |
Drinking Buddies | 2013 | 75 | 320 | - It's honest, it's real, it's refreshing....but it also reminds us that we like a little fantasy in our films. |
Election | 1999 | 75 | 320 | - It feels like, while poking fun at young adult dramas, it accidentally became one. |
The Accountant | 2016 | 75 | 320 | - For about three quarters of its runtime it's a fairly smart, engaging, intriguing thriller. And then it devolves into cliche and tacky plot developments and the eye rolls begin. |
The Devil's Rejects | 2005 | 75 | 320 | - Gun to my head, 'House of 1,000 Corpses' is a little better. |
Tora! Tora! Tora! | 1970 | 75 | 320 | - Still probably the best film on Pearl Harbor to date. |
Contact | 1997 | 74 | 327 | - It's not out of this world, but it does fly. |
Diana | 2013 | 74 | 327 | - In it's super-small scope, the film is successful. But to tell such a small story about such a grand woman really is a disservice. |
Glory Road | 2006 | 74 | 327 | - It's all just a bit too "Disney-ish" to be as good as a film about this story should be. |
Gran Torino | 2008 | 74 | 327 | - It lost the "not cliche" argument when it had an elderly Clint Eastwood actually say get off my lawn. |
Hacksaw Ridge | 2016 | 74 | 327 | - A frustrating film. With such high positives and low negatives, it's hard to decide where 'Hacksaw Ridge' should truly sit amongst this year's films. |
Serena | 2014 | 74 | 327 | - Kudos to the cast and crew for making a film as good as this that doesn't go to the usual subjects of the time period. |
Sideways | 2004 | 74 | 327 | - I'll say this: it's a GOOD wine movie. But there are better. Much better. |
The Finest Hours | 2016 | 74 | 327 | - A survival tale unlike any other. The only main drawback here is how heavy it relies on action CGI visuals that border on the ludicrous. Especially for a film set in the early 1950's. |
Black Swan | 2010 | 73 | 335 | - Sort of plays like a choppy music video, rife with innuendo and insinuations. It's rather easy to delve into the mind of a crazy person and call it art. |
Coriolanus | 2011 | 73 | 335 | (full review) - Very cool concept translated into film, but definitely not for everyone. You have to appreciate Shakespeare in order to really enjoy this movie. |
Days of Thunder | 1990 | 73 | 335 | - The usual shortcomings for a film coming out of the '80's aside, 'Days of Thunder' is worth a watch. |
Digging for Fire | 2015 | 73 | 335 | - Definitely not the film you're first expecting. Even for Swanberg, this one is different. |
Killer Joe | 2011 | 73 | 335 | - As messy as a bloodied piece of K Fried C. |
The Bridge on the River Kwai | 1957 | 73 | 335 | - "Epic" does not have to be shorthand for "slow-moving drama" as it is here for most of 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'. |
A Beautiful Mind | 2001 | 72 | 341 | - Anyone whose ever battled mental illness or known someone who has will not be able to forget this movie. |
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead | 2007 | 72 | 341 | - Basically just an above average soap opera. |
Calvary | 2014 | 72 | 341 | - Every day that goes by is another day Brendan Gleeson could've done something about his impending fate, but instead decides to wander off and learn just what a town of assessment he lives in. |
Cartel Land | 2015 | 72 | 341 | - Where 'Cartel Land' is at its best is not when it's following a few dead beat Arizonans, but when it's on the frontlines in Mexico as events are playing out. |
Frost/Nixon | 2008 | 72 | 341 | - Tells the a part of the Watergate story often forgotten. Frank Langella plays a convincing Nixon. |
Godfather: Part II, The | 1974 | 72 | 341 | - Like the chronological order of the story, this film is all over the place. The first one should just how much a crime family could control. The sequel shows just how much it can't. |
Groundhog Day | 1993 | 72 | 341 | - It's a B-list rom-com, but it's fun to turn on every groundhog day. |
Lawless | 2012 | 72 | 341 | - Tom Hardy is quickly becoming one of my new favorite actors. Here, he is the absolute best thing about this film. |
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl | 2015 | 72 | 341 | - What starts out as a sharp, funny take on the traditional high school film fades into a dull, depressing teen dramedy. |
Sahara | 2005 | 72 | 341 | - Infamous as one of the biggest financial flops of all time, the film itself is a mediocre product mosied along by the charm of McConaughey and Zahn. |
Sleepy Hollow | 1999 | 72 | 341 | - The frustrating thing here is that Tim Burton can't help but to put his own little twist on a classic story. Everything feels a little less scary "Burton-ized". |
Street Kings | 2008 | 72 | 341 | - This is sort of the baseline for David Ayer's films. Neither his worst nor his best. |
The Gunman | 2015 | 72 | 341 | - Your standard international, sort-of-Bond-but-not-really-Bond thriller. |
Forgetting Sarah Marshall | 2008 | 71 | 354 | - Jason Segal and Mila Kunis are memorable. Kristen Bell and Russell Brandt are regrettable. |
Joy Ride | 2001 | 71 | 354 | - Your standard-issue thriller destined to be a Saturday matinee on cable channels everywhere. |
Need for Speed | 2014 | 71 | 354 | - At the end of the day, it's an action blockbuster. It doesn't TRY to be anything more, it doesn't WANT to be anything more. The cars are fast and loose and, so, sometimes the plot and characters are too. If you're disappointed, quite frankly, that's on you. |
Prom Night | 2008 | 71 | 354 | - Though not a remake in the traditional sense (the 1980 'Prom Night' has a different plot entirely), THIS 'Prom Night' steals unapologetically from successful horror films of the past. So while it is wholly unoriginal, it is undeniably functional. |
The Girl on the Train | 2016 | 71 | 354 | - It's about as good as the book. Which is, to say, a bit overrated. |
Blue Valentine | 2010 | 70 | 359 | - Typical Woody Allen tomfoolery. |
Dances with Wolves | 1990 | 70 | 359 | - It's sort of a 'Lawrence of Arabia' for the Western world. |
Das Boot | 1981 | 70 | 359 | - This is the absolute antithesis of those patrotism-infused epic WWII battle sagas. Called 'The Boat', it very well could've been called 'The Dark'. Everything's miserable, the food sucks, and, yes, death is inevitable. Take your prozac before watching this one. |
Devil's Knot | 2014 | 70 | 359 | - Ultimately, what really undoes 'Devil's Knot' is 'West of Memphis'. The documentary tells the story with more conviction, more accurately, and doesn't half-ass it by ending the telling of the story after the initial trial. |
Eye in the Sky | 2016 | 70 | 359 | - For something that wants to be a relevant and topical film, it sure uses sci-fi like technology to push its story along. |
Fargo | 1996 | 70 | 359 | - The Coen brothers' 'Fargo' is an enigma: not funny enough to be a real comedy, not serious enough to be a decent drama, and nowhere close to neatly fitting into any other genre. |
Grandma | 2015 | 70 | 359 | - It's a nice little indie dramedy, but it's like a flower still in bulb form: it hasn't been given the time or attention it needs to make it what it really could be. |
Green Book | 2018 | 70 | 359 | |
Labor Day | 2014 | 70 | 359 | - You get the story, you're just not sure you buy it. |
Loving | 2016 | 70 | 359 | - It probably could've been the film it deserved to be had the writing and direction brought the level of gravitas to the story that it needed. |
Rob the Mob | 2014 | 70 | 359 | - The script has a little bit of everything -- action, drama, suspense, comedy -- and masters none of it. It's a jigsaw puzzle of a movie where the pieces are forced to fit all too often. |
Safety Not Guaranteed | 2012 | 70 | 359 | - It's a cute little comedy, even if its concepts and plot are plainly obvious as soon as the film begins. |
Shooter | 2007 | 70 | 359 | - It's your standard-issue action thriller. If I didn't know Fuqua had directed it, Michael Bay would've felt like a safe bet. |
Tangerine | 2015 | 70 | 359 | - I'll say this: it's definitely a twist on the typical holiday film. |
The Gambler | 2014 | 70 | 359 | - Painfully generic. |
The Shallows | 2016 | 70 | 359 | - For every moment where 'The Shallows' comes off as a smart, true-to-form survivalist tale there's another moment where it reaches for the incredulous. |
While We're Young | 2014 | 70 | 359 | - The flaw with 'While Were Young' ultimately is that it can't be two things. It can't both be an essay on the internal battle of getting older and the awkward middle ground between youthful angst and older rationality but also be a drama playing out between two documentarians. And 'While Were Young' so very much wants to do both. |
All About My Mother | 1999 | 69 | 376 | - Truly peculiar, in both good and bad ways. |
Chicago | 2002 | 69 | 376 | - It's not a musical just for the sake of being a musical, and that's a welcomed surprise. |
Closed Circuit | 2013 | 69 | 376 | - It's all been done before... |
Cruel Intentions | 1999 | 69 | 376 | - Being evil always comes back to bite you. Blah, blah, blah. We know. |
Drugstore Cowboy | 1989 | 69 | 376 | - Your typical good-but-not-great flick. |
Exodus: Gods and Kings | 2014 | 69 | 376 | - At the end of the day, 'Exodus' is what we should've expected it to be all along. The special affects are marvelous, the battles are of epic proportions, and most of everything else falls flat. Were we ever supposed to seriously buy John Turturro as a pharoah? |
Great Gatsby, The (2013) | 2013 | 69 | 376 | - There's no denying it's an interesting reimagining of the classic novel, but is it good interesting or bad interesting? In a word, yes. |
Infinitely Polar Bear | 2015 | 69 | 376 | - Being eccentric just for the sake of being eccentric isn't endearing, it's distracting. |
Pawn Sacrifice | 2015 | 69 | 376 | - 'Pawn Sacrifice' is like a roughly-molded piece of clays: while the makings of a decent biopic are there, it's lacking a lot. |
Phone Booth | 2002 | 69 | 376 | - You get the idea that its supposed to be a scary situation, but you have a very hard time buying it. |
Reader, The | 2008 | 69 | 376 | - Very little emotionally about the film is identifiable. Either these characters represent a different species entirely or the film missed its mark. |
Rocky | 1976 | 69 | 376 | - A bit overrated if we're being completely honest. |
The Believer | 2001 | 69 | 376 | - It's easy to make religion the innocent source of protagonism when the only other option is pure, unadulterated hate. |
The Skeleton Twins | 2014 | 69 | 376 | - "Indie" in the most mediocre sense of the word. |
To Kill A Mockingbird | 1962 | 69 | 376 | - One of the first and most notable films to be adapted from a book. And, like so many that have followed, the book is much better. Still, though, Mr. Peck is im-peck-able. |
Usual Suspects | 1995 | 69 | 376 | - Big surprise endings are made all the better by the audience being invested in the characters and/or the outcome of the movie. In 'The Usual Suspects', too many won't be. |
Experimenter | 2015 | 68 | 392 | - Stanley Milgram's findings were interesting, but you can't help but to wonder if the story of his experiments would be better told in documentary form than this overly artsy drama. |
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York | 1992 | 68 | 392 | - Quite literally more of the same. But that's not as bad as it sounds. |
Miles Ahead | 2016 | 68 | 392 | - We've seen this sort of biopic a lot recently where the story focuses on the post-peak-of-fame years. I, for one, do not get the appeal. |
Rear Window | 1954 | 68 | 392 | - Hitchcock did better in his career. |
Steve Jobs | 2015 | 68 | 392 | - Unlike 'Jobs' where Kutcher played the Apple god, 'Steve Jobs' commits the vast majority of the story and its emotional pull to the personal life of the man. But a movie about Jobs' personal life is sort of like making a movie about the Kardashians' business acumen. |
The Birth of a Nation | 2016 | 68 | 392 | - While it deserves credit for honesty and not shying away from the truth, it is a story truly lacking any kind of protagonist. |
The Lobster | 2015 | 68 | 392 | - The problem is, far too often, as 'The Lobster' hits its stride, it goes even whackier and seems to lose the context of its allegorical intentions. |
The Stanford Prison Experiment | 2015 | 68 | 392 | - It's dark and brutal in its own little implausible way, but the bigger sin is that it feels like it enjoys showing us human punishment just a little too much. |
A Man Called Ove | 2015 | 67 | 400 | - When we meet parvaneh, a character so strong she eclipses the lot of weaker souls, you just sort of wish the movie had focused on her to begin with. |
Mississippi Grind | 2015 | 67 | 400 | - Ryan Reynolds' charisma isn't enough to elevate a mediocre film. |
Rise of the Planet of the Apes | 2011 | 67 | 400 | - When you use CGI so heavily as a crutch, it usually means everything else is lacking. That's exactly what happened here. |
Rushmore | 1998 | 67 | 400 | - Typical Wes Anderson. |
Chi-Raq | 2015 | 66 | 404 | - 'Chi-Raq' is frustrating because it had so much potential to be a wildly important film, but far too often becomes overly artsy, gimmicky, and, at times, just downright goofy satire. |
10 Things I Hate About You | 1999 | 65 | 405 | - A rather watchable chick flick. |
A Serious Man | 2009 | 65 | 405 | - For a movie so deeply embedded in Jewish social culture, the Coen brothers sure like the concepts of karma a lot more. |
A Walk Among the Tombstones | 2014 | 65 | 405 | - The slow-moving thriller feels exactly like a book transferred to the big screen, and is probably better in its original form. |
Ain't Them Bodies Saints | 2013 | 65 | 405 | - Everything moves a little slower in the south, and this film is the perfect example. |
Apocalypse Now | 1979 | 65 | 405 | - The first half is laughably condensing, the second half is akin to a bad acid trip. |
Eddie the Eagle | 2016 | 65 | 405 | - A great underdog story needs a glaring obstacle. Rudy's size. TC Williams High School Football overcoming race and integration. Eddie's only obstacle is that he's weird. |
Foxcatcher | 2014 | 65 | 405 | - Where the film would have you believe it's being meticulous, it's actually just dragging it's feet. The fact that Ruffalo, Tatum, and Carrell all turn in remarkable performances is wasted by the fact that you're constantly looking at your watch. |
Frankenstein | 1931 | 65 | 405 | - It has that silliness that comes along with many older movies, but if you're looking for a horror flick chock-full of classic Halloween spirit, it's hard to beat this one. |
In Bruges | 2008 | 65 | 405 | - You buy into the film's more comical moments, not the serious ones. Unfortunately, the ending relies on the latter. |
Lawrence of Arabia | 1962 | 65 | 405 | - I like biopics as much as anyone, but 'Lawrence of Arabia' is and always will be overrated. There, I said it. |
Martha Marcy May Marlene | 2011 | 65 | 405 | - More bizarre than anything else. It's biggest success is really just tainting yet another Olsen. |
The Diary of a Teenage Girl | 2015 | 65 | 405 | - It's definitely bold and unrestricted in where it will go, but I ask you this: if we tear modern-day slasher films for being unnecessarily explicit, what's the difference between them and this exercise in displaying what is, by its own admission, pedophilia? |
The Jungle Book | 2016 | 65 | 405 | - What is the point of a live action movie when all but one character are CGI? |
The Witch | 2015 | 65 | 405 | - Humanity's capacity for paranoia is the real villain here. |
Theeb | 2014 | 65 | 405 | - It's just your generic action/adventure flick in another language. |
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | 2003 | 63 | 420 | - One of the most iconic action films ever. The downside? That's all it was. If you didn't read the subtitles, you really didn't miss much. |
Kings Speech, The | 2010 | 63 | 420 | - Sorely overrated. If you can't sell the audience on caring about the protagonist's struggles, what chances does your film have? |
Babel | 2006 | 62 | 422 | - A cautionary tale about the dangers stateside and abroad. Ultimately leaves you with a queasy feeling about the world we live in. |
I Am Legend | 2007 | 62 | 422 | - So you're telling me if you're the last man on earth you're bound to go a little crazy? Wow, who knew? |
Tusk | 2014 | 62 | 422 | - Kevin Smith's understated parody plays more like an inside joke. By the time chuckles turn into genuine laughter, 'Tusk' is nearly over. |
Fifth Estate, The | 2013 | 61 | 425 | - Rife with over-simplified stances on modern politics and giving us virtually no reason to like the main character, every so often, the film goes away from these truly bad habits. And it's in these moment, however brief, that one can actually enjoy themselves. |
Godfather Part III, The | 1990 | 61 | 425 | - Every franchise has that movie that tells everyone it's time to stop. This is that movie. |
In a World... | 2013 | 61 | 425 | - Mildly funny, mildly entertaining. |
Thin Red Line, The | 1998 | 61 | 425 | - Ultimately, the problem with 'The Thin Red Line' is itself. It wants to be both a gritty war flick and a cinephile's wet dream. Had it committed one way or the other -- likely the former -- we probably would've had a great flick on our hands. |
Words, The | 2012 | 61 | 425 | - It's a story about a story about a story. And none of the stories are as good as the movie makes them out to be. |
Bernie | 2011 | 60 | 430 | - It's a chuckle, not a full-fledged laugh. |
Godzilla | 2014 | 60 | 430 | - All the realistic special effects in the world doesn't change the fact that the script belongs in a Saturday morning cartoon show. |
Mulholland Drive | 2001 | 60 | 430 | - David Lynch's headlong dive into the troubled (understatement!) mind of a young starlet is wholly intoxicating. Not the fun-night-out-with-friends kind of intoxicating, though. The I'm-sick-make-this-night-stop kind. |
True Grit (2010) | 2010 | 60 | 430 | - I won't even compare it to the original. As a standalone film, it's a notch above mediocre. |
Dark Places | 2015 | 59 | 434 | - If you're expecting a second 'Gone Girl', prepare to be disappointed. |
Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, The | 2006 | 59 | 434 | - A surprising and welcomed improvement over the second. The complete abandonment of the original characters went fairly smoothly given how 2 Fast 2 Furious went. |
The Cobbler | 2014 | 59 | 434 | - Sandler has done a few of these "magic" movies now, and while they aren't as awful as some of his works -- we're looking at you 'Grown Ups 2' -- they're not exactly memorable, either. |
The Equalizer | 2014 | 59 | 434 | - Just another factory-issued action-thriller. |
Amadeus | 1984 | 58 | 438 | - Rather than using quirks as a pleasant garnish, in Amadeus it is the main ingredient. And, somewhere past the two-hour mark, amusement turns into eye-rolling. |
Inherent Vice | 2014 | 58 | 438 | - The 70's crime noir leaves something to be desired. |
The Drop | 2014 | 58 | 438 | - Sadly, 'The Drop' will be remembered as Gandolfini's last film to hit theaters. Which is actually good for the film itself, I suppose, because on it's own merits it was simply going to be forgotten. |
Audition | 2000 | 57 | 441 | - What's Japanese for "bitches be crazy"? |
Before Midnight | 2013 | 57 | 441 | - Nine years from now, I'm sure we can look forward to yet another feature length two-person conversation that leaves us wholly unsatisfied. |
Being John Malkovich | 1999 | 57 | 441 | - Truly bizarre. |
History of Violence, A | 2005 | 57 | 441 | - One of those movies that thinks it's smarter than it actually is. Never succeeds in grasping the audience. |
Varsity Blues | 1999 | 57 | 441 | - The direction and production value is decidedly second-string, but that doesn't mean you can't have some fun with 'Varsity Blues' in its own naive, immature way. |
Deadfall | 2012 | 56 | 446 | - Even under 2 hours, 'Deadfall' is rife with unnecessary scenes that, ironically, could've been used to give the story's love triangle more weight. Maybe then the climactic ending wouldn't seem so silly. |
Greenberg | 2010 | 56 | 446 | - It's hard to like a movie whose protagonist is so unlikable. |
Swiss Army Man | 2016 | 56 | 446 | - I can honestly say I don't know what the hell I just watched. |
American Beauty | 1999 | 55 | 449 | - 'American Beauty' likes to think of itself as Ricky Fitts, but it's much more Angela Hayes than it realizes. |
Cinema Paradiso | 1988 | 55 | 449 | - Mediocre. |
Lost in Translation | 2003 | 55 | 449 | - You feel like the makings of a better movie are there -- somwhere -- but, as the title suggests, gets somehow lost in translation. |
Slumdog Millionaire | 2008 | 55 | 449 | - Boyle's high-adrenaline, psychedellic vision for the film gets in the way of what would have otherwise been a fairly impressive script. |
Artist, The | 2011 | 54 | 453 | - Sorely overrated. Go into it with a blank mind, not thinking it's good because it took some Oscars. |
Hitchcock | 2012 | 54 | 453 | - What should be a legendary biopic instead comes across as a half-hearted smear campaign to give everyone in Hitchcock's life credit except the man himself. |
Kubo and the Two Strings | 2016 | 54 | 453 | - Ultimately, it's forgettable. |
There Will Be Blood | 2007 | 54 | 453 | - The first dialogue does not come until 15 minutes in, and by then someone has died and someone has cried. That probably says more about the movie than I ever could. |
Locke | 2014 | 53 | 457 | - The world's longest BMW commercial. |
The Walk | 2015 | 53 | 457 | - Though the actual scenes walking between the two towers themselves are breathtaking, everything leading up to it is a painful lesson in how not to handle a biopic. |
Transcendence | 2014 | 53 | 457 | - Like the movie's main character, 'Transendence' gets carried away. Running far past the depths of a story one might actually buy, 'Transendence' doesn't stop until it's plot borders on the ridiculous. |
Trouble with the Curve | 2012 | 52 | 460 | - You'd have to be as blind as Clint Eastwood's character is and considerably deaf to believe this movie was anything more than forgettable. |
Broken City | 2013 | 51 | 461 | - Nothing more than a mediocre thriller. |
Out of Time | 2003 | 51 | 461 | - Ultimately a forgettable thriller. |
Road to Perdition | 2002 | 51 | 461 | - This tedious and slow-moving drama has hit men and gangsters abound, but not the spirit and energy behind them. |
The D Train | 2015 | 51 | 461 | - It's more bizarre than it is anything else. |
Aloha | 2015 | 50 | 465 | - It's just a lot of touchy-feely stuff that you never quite grow to care about. |
Before Sunset | 2004 | 50 | 465 | - Maybe other people are buying into this "endless conversation" film style, but I'm not buying it. This second installment, nine years later, is only different in that it finally brings some emotional heft beyond that jibber jabber. |
Bottle Rocket | 1996 | 50 | 465 | - It's not quarky so much as idiosyncratic. There's odd-funny and then there's just odd, and 'Bottle Rocket' is definitely the latter. |
Counselor, The | 2013 | 50 | 465 | - First Prometheus and now this. It's safe to say Ridley Scott has lost his touch. |
Last of The Mohicans | 1992 | 50 | 465 | - From its frustrating cinematography to its tacky dialogue to its eye-rolling script, its no wonder characters were practically willing to die by the end. |
Metropolis | 1927 | 50 | 465 | - Overrated, if you ask me. |
Pan's Labyrinth | 2006 | 50 | 465 | - The problem with fantasy films is there's a very, very fine line between the movie having real contextual value and just being whimsical cow excrement. 'Pan's Labyrinth', as much as I hate to say it, leans toward the latter. |
The Program | 1993 | 50 | 465 | - 'The Program' can't decide whether it wants to be a drama or a satire. As a result, it's often the butt of its own jokes. |
Code Breakers | 2005 | 49 | 473 | - Utterly forgettable made-for-tv movie. |
Draft Day | 2014 | 49 | 473 | - The infuriating thing is that it's a movie NOT built for it's target audience. A movie about football, taking place almost entirely in football facilities, and featuring characters that are football professionals, 'Draft Day' does virtually nothing for football fans. |
Fifty Shades of Grey | 2015 | 49 | 473 | - It's sort of like if 'American Psycho' had kinky sex with a 25-cent romance novel. |
Glengarry Glen Ross | 1992 | 49 | 473 | - Sadly, this flick is a bigger loser than those its characters prey upon. |
Good Kill | 2015 | 49 | 473 | - The political messaging in this "drama" is so shamelessly one-sided, I've seen propoganda pieces that are more objective. |
Insidious Chapter 3 | 2015 | 49 | 473 | - Definitely weaker than the first two. |
Alpha Dog | 2006 | 48 | 479 | - Twas alright but utterly forgettable. Seemed to have been made because they landed some hot name actors that were popular at the time. |
Babe, The (baseball) | 1992 | 48 | 479 | - Disney didn't have it's paws on this one, but it sure feels like it. All cheer and quark with very little of what either biopic or baseball fans would crave, 'The Babe' just simply doesn't do the "sultan of swat" justice. |
Revenge of the Green Dragons | 2014 | 48 | 479 | - Amateurish and melodramatic. |
American Graffiti | 1973 | 47 | 482 | - Like 'Apocalypse Now' for Coppola, 'American Graffiti' is a forgettable creation by a director whose greatest work is and will forever be a certain trilogy. |
Noah | 2014 | 47 | 482 | - It's so utterly bizarre, it creates a new genre altogether: Sci-Fi Bible Fantasy |
The Ice Storm | 1997 | 47 | 482 | - It's sort of a stranger, sadder predecessor to 'American Beauty'. Also, for those calling it a 'Thanksgiving movie', 'Die Hard' is more of a 'Christmas Movie' than this is a 'Thanksgiving Movie' |
The Ledge | 2011 | 47 | 482 | - It feels like a college film class project that someone roped an impressive number of stars into participating. |
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | 2015 | 47 | 482 | - Henry Cavill seems to play a pompous robot while Armie Hammer displays the emotional maturity of a manchild. It just doesn't W.O.R.K. |
3 Days to Kill | 2014 | 46 | 487 | - Eye-rollingly absurd. For 2 hours, 3 Days To Kill can't decide if it's an action-comedy or a bona fide thriller. And the only thing lethal here is the dose of cliches it throws at you. |
Cobb | 1994 | 46 | 487 | - A poorly-acted film based on literary pieces that have now been discredited as largely fictional makes this nothing more than a sad attempt at some baseball fan fiction. |
Ed Wood | 1994 | 46 | 487 | - Feels like Tim Burton doing a Wes Anderson impersonation doing a 50's era film expose. |
Grey, The | 2011 | 46 | 487 | - Frustratingly formulaic. A standard-issue survival drama. |
Moulin Rouge! | 2001 | 46 | 487 | - Neurotic and inconsistent. |
Strange Days | 1995 | 46 | 487 | - Bigelow's sci-fi thriller is little more than a bizarre, unnecessarily sexual romp of a nightmare. |
The Notebook | 2013 | 46 | 487 | - What seems to start off as a gripping story of survival devolves into the utterly bizarre. By the end, 'The Notebook' appears to be an origin story for a pair of twin sociopaths. |
300: Rise of an Empire | 2014 | 45 | 494 | - More graphic-novel-on-the-big-screen eye porn. But this time it has the bonus of being almost utterly plotless! |
Paperboy, The | 2012 | 44 | 495 | - After spending an hour and a half meandering through a half dozen, half-concocted stories, the movie draws out a cop out of an ending in an effort to try and convince you they didn't just hit the eject button as time ran out. |
Ben-Hur | 2016 | 43 | 496 | - The original novel was an influential literary piece about a man whose interactions with one religion's lord and savior convinced him to choose forgiveness over revenge. Here, it's been twisted into a storyless canvass for brutish war scenes. |
When the Game Stands Tall | 2014 | 43 | 496 | - Caviezel's acting is as flat as the forced and uninspiring story. |
Before Sunrise | 1995 | 42 | 498 | - If Jesse and Celine never met a gain, they could at least take solace in the fact that they cured any and all insomniacs who saw their film. |
Breathless | 1960 | 42 | 498 | - Short, choppy direction and cinematography that practically leaves you nauseous as you try to follow a protagonist with ironically almost no redeeming qualities. I, for one, just don't get it. |
Gosford Park | 2001 | 42 | 498 | - Flawlessly acted but painfully drab. |
Ida | 2013 | 42 | 498 | - The slow-moving Polish film seems inhumanely long even with it's impressively short run time. |
Prince Avalanche | 2013 | 42 | 498 | - Step aside, Seinfeld. This is a show -- err, movie, rather -- that is ACTUALLY about nothing. |
Sunset Blvd | 1950 | 42 | 498 | - An admittedly enticing premise dive-bombs into one incredibly slow movie. |
Take This Waltz | 2011 | 42 | 498 | - The fatal flaw with 'Take This Waltz' is its main character, played by Michelle Williams. Neurotic, selfish, and unloving, it's virtually impossible to get behind the person that is the closest thing to an antagonist in the film. |
The Seventh Seal | 1957 | 42 | 498 | - Utterly bizarre. |
Wolf Totem | 2015 | 42 | 498 | - What a shame such beautiful footage of wolves was wasted on this morbid and bizarre film. |
Sabotage | 2014 | 41 | 507 | - This is an unfathomably large step backwards for David Ayer. |
Red Tails | 2012 | 37 | 508 | - The fact that the trailer combined a dubstep soundtrack to a World War II dogfight scene warns you well how ludicrously executed this movie is. |
Immortals | 2011 | 36 | 509 | - Imagine 300 with even less plot, poorer acting, and worse direction. |
How Do You Know? | 2010 | 31 | 510 | - The acting is awful, the cinematography is horrendous, and you can't wait to get out of the theater. |
Under the Skin | 2014 | 31 | 510 | - Bizarre. Just utterly bizarre. |
Nines, The | 2007 | 29 | 512 | - Returns nothing for the investment of your time. How in the hell did Ryan Reynolds and Melissa McCarthy get roped into this? |
Woodlawn | 2015 | 28 | 513 | - Not only is it extremely condescending to anyone not Christian, it steals just about every sports movie cliche in the book. |