Eric Prime

lol I love how chaotic every Sony Marvel movie press tour is. Top class stuff.

Yeah while doing the write-up for Big Hero 6, I wanted to vomit. Ain't no way this movie's about to be 10 years old. No way. Nope. Nuh-uh. No way that I was a junior in high school that long ago. Nope.

#410 - Muppets Most Wanted (10 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #63) #409 - Chicken Little (10 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #45) #408 - The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue, Freaky Friday, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire (11 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #90) #407 - The Call of the Wild, Herbie Fully Loaded, Jungle Cruise, Reign of Fire, Spy Kids 3D (12 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #89) #406 - G.I. Jane, The Jungle Book (1994), Real Steel (13 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #88) #405 - The Shaggy Dog, The Thirteenth Warrior (14 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #87) #404 - Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, The Journey of Natty Gann (15 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #86) #403 - The Swap (15 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #57) #402 - The Bob's Burgers Movie (16 points, 2 lists, avg. ranking #93) #401 - Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (16 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #85)

#92 The Banshees of Inisherin 573 points, 11 lists "I do worry sometimes I might just be entertaining myself while staving off the inevitable." Box Office: 52.4M Rotten Tomatoes: 96% Metacritic: 87 Awards: 9 Academy Award nominations, 4 BAFTA Awards and 6 nominations, 9 Critics Choice Award nominations, 3 Golden Globe Awards and 5 nominations, 4 National Board of Review Awards Roger Ebert's Review: N/A Its Legacy: Earned an Osella Award and the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival. Cited as one of Martin McDonagh's greatest movies. Praised by John Waters. Considered one of the best films of the 2020s. #40 on Indiewire's Top 87 Comedies of the 21st Century. The pub used in the movie has become a popular tourist destination. Gave Kerry Condon a paycheck. Commentary: You ever get nervous about the idea that one day, out of the blue, your bestie will end up hating you? Well, Martin McDonagh personified that anxiety in a movie that offers too many thick, hard to recognize Irish accents to count. This incredible ensemble focuses on four figures who live in a remote, isolated Irish island. Colin Farrell’s Padraic loses his best friend for petty reasons, and just wants connection at a time when the future is uncertain. Brendan Gleeson’s Colm isolates himself from the world due to his own anxieties and fears, in turn harming himself and everybody else on the island in the process. Barry Keoghan’s Dominic is the supposed village idiot, scorned by even his own father, who just wants the love of his life to notice him and take care of him. And Kerry Condon’s Siobhan is frustrated with all the chaos around her and just wants to live a life away from the island, where the rest of civilization is. It’s a film about loneliness, about isolation, about insecurity, about fear. Fear of a world without the people you love, fear of a world that is always uncertain, fear of nobody remembering you, a fear you will be stuck in a place forever, and a fear of never finding love. This is all fascinating to unfold in a screenplay that is full of tension, terror, and hilarious black humor without one ever overshadowing the other. Add on a career-best for Colin Farrell and stunning isle vistas, and you have a phenomenal feature that many cite as Martin McDonagh’s absolute best. Nobody knows what his next project is, but I have faith he can give us something that can get pretty darn close to the hilarity and beautiful tragedy of this tale.

#93 Finding Dory 568 points, 17 lists "Sigourney Weaver is going to help us!" Box Office: 1.029B Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Metacritic: 77 Awards: 3 Annie Award nominations, 1 BAFTA Award nomination, 1 Critics Choice Award nomination, 1 Empire Award, 3 Kids Choice Awards and 1 nomination Roger Ebert's Review: N/A Its Legacy: Became the fourth-biggest animated film of all time. Earned the biggest opening weekend for an animated movie across multiple regions. Was the highest-grossing animated film in North America. Highest-grossing Disney animated film in Australia. Second-best selling home video title of 2016. Earned tons of environmental concerns. Saved Andrew Stanton's reputation. Gave Sigourney Weaver a paycheck. Commentary: When Finding Nemo blew up in 2003, it was almost destiny for a sequel to come. And for a brief while, it was going to be the usual direct-to-video schlock that we all hate. Yet thanks to a lot of circumstances, the fabled Nemo sequel was given the respect and care that it deserved. The original director Andrew Stanton was on board, as was the original cast, and what we got was a film that was well-regarded as a charming, hilarious, and gorgeously-animated adventure that was well worth the wait. Coming out 13 years later off a film that was already praised for its cutting-edge animation, Finding Dory is an absolute marvel to look at. The characters look just as great as they did before, but the backgrounds are incredible, the underwater landscapes are astonishing, and the colors are bright and poppy and beautiful. To say nothing of all the fun new characters that Dory meets in her adventure, with the octopus character Hank in particular being a great delight, with tons of inventive, expressive downright innovative character animation surrounding him. It’s also a film that reminds of just how wonderful of a character Dory is. I know that these days Ellen DeGeneres is a controversial topic, and I’m not going to pretend it’s hard to be favorable towards her with her supposed workplace misconduct. But Dory has always been a character that resonated with me. She’s absolutely hilarious both in Finding Nemo and in here, but there’s also a great soulful performance and a strong character backbone behind her. This is a character who deals with an awful problem she can’t control and wants to have connection with others, but simply can’t due to her disability. And for an autistic weirdo who has troubles speaking and empathizing with others, I can’t help but admire her determination to keep swimming and enjoy life her own way. This isn’t a goofy comic relief who makes stupid jokes, but a genuinely well-defined, fleshed-out character that feels real. It’s really no wonder she could carry her own movie like this. And through Dory, we have a very strong and sweet story about disability. A film that doesn’t sugarcoat how hard it is to fit in with a world that treats those who are different with disdain. How people do not accommodate for the disabled like they should and how hard it is to make people who deserve better be seen and heard. But, through this fun adventure involving other characters dealing with their own disabilities and insecurities, we got a great family feature that captures a lot of the same wacky charms and heartfelt sincerity of its predecessor, while giving us a unique spin to this beloved world and characters. Finding Dory became one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, breaking numerous box office records, and has become one of Pixar’s most loved sequels. And while it likely won’t endure the same way as its iconic predecessor (don’t worry, it made the list), it’s still a fun, nostalgic trip down memory lane and a great story with a strong message for today’s kids.

#94 Big Hero 6 565 points, 15 lists "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" Box Office: 657.8M Rotten Tomatoes: 90% Metacritic: 74 Awards: 1 Academy Award, 1 Annie Award and 6 nominations, 1 BAFTA Award nomination, 1 Golden Globe Award nomination, 1 Kids Choice Award Roger Ebert's Review: N/A Its Legacy: The first Disney animated film based on Marvel Comics. Made said comic a household name. Became the highest-grossing Disney animated film in China and the second-biggest Disney animated film in Japan. Earned two television shows. Adapted into a manga and comic book series. Appeared in Disney Infinity. Appeared in Kingdom Hearts. The fourth-best selling home video release of 2015. New software technology was created at Disney to bring the film to life. Still one of Disney's highest-grossing animated films ever. Gave Damon Wayans Jr. a paycheck. Commentary: After Disney bought Marvel Comics, an animated film based off one of their properties was inevitable and exciting. The limitless medium of animation was a perfect place to bring superheroes and comic book artistry to life. But it was certainly a shock to many that Disney wouldn’t make an animated Spider-Man or Iron Man or Captain America movie. Rather, they took a comic that very few even heard of. But thankfully, Disney succeeded in giving us a thrilling and inventive superhero feature that’s fun for all ages. The fun culture-fusing world of San Fransokyo, the setting of our film, allowed for some creative production design and visuals and a fun location that many wished were real. And in this city, we have a sweet, heartfelt story about a boy dealing with the grief of losing his brother and a fun superhero caper that reminds kids that STEM is pretty fucking awesome. And of course, there’s Baymax, the lovable, goofy robot character that totally stole the show. Despite only having two dots and a line for a face, Baymax is a character full of fun personality, great comedy, and a strong dynamic with our protagonist Hiro. He’s quickly become a fan favorite among Disney and Marvel fans, and I think we all want a huggable robot like him in our lives. Big Hero 6 became a huge hit back in 2014 and became yet another hugely successful Marvel franchise in a never-ending long line of hugely successful Marvel franchises. Several TV shows, comic book series, appearances in Kingdom Hearts, a rumored sequel. And it’s still impressive to think that a decade ago, nobody even knew what a Big Hero 6 was. But it shows what a great movie can do. Take something that is so obscure and forgotten and uncommercial, and create something that makes a huge impression on millions. And trust me, when it comes to Disney taking obscure Marvel properties and making them blockbuster franchises, Big Hero 6 is far from the last of this story. I’m going to bring up stories like these a lot on this countdown. I can tell you that for free.

Really? I always assumed they liked Regal Theaters.

The only valuable contribution Andy Dick ever gave to society.

Okay everybody, we have one more week until we get the answer we have all been waiting for: who do you think is the real Agent Argylle? My money is on Mickey Rooney.

#420 - Return to Halloweentown (4 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #97) #419 - Tangled Before Ever After, Up Up and Away (5 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #96) #418 - Descendants (5 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #71) #417 - Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, Finding Neverland, Frank and Ollie (6 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #95) #416 - Cursed, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The King's Man, The Personal History of David Copperfield (7 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #94) #415 - Dinosaur, Super Mario Bros. (8 points, 2 lists, avg. ranking #97) #414 - Piglet's Big Movie, The Rookie (8 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #93) #413 - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Strange World (8 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #47) #412 - Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama, Wild Hogs (9 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #92) #411 - Pixel Perfect, Recess: School's Out (10 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #91)

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#95 Dumbo 560 points, 13 lists "What's the matter with his ears? I don't see nothin' wrong with 'em. I think they're cute." Box Office: 1.3M (rentals) Rotten Tomatoes: 98% Metacritic: 96 Awards: 1 Academy Award and 1 nomination, 1 Cannes Film Festival Award, Roger Ebert's Review: N/A Its Legacy: The film that saved Disney after Pinocchio and Fantasia flopped. Highly controversial for racist content. Called "Mammal of the Year" by Time magazine. Leonard Maltin's favorite Disney animated film. Received a popular theme park attraction at all the Disney theme parks, a train ride in Disneyland, and a land in Walt Disney World. Earned a television series in 1985. Appeared in Kingdom Hearts. Earned a live-action remake. Gave Sterling Holloway a paycheck. Commentary: Within the Golden Age of Disney, Dumbo, in many respects, feels kind of an afterthought amongst Disney fans and the general public. Films like Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi all broke new ground and redefined the medium of animation. Dumbo meanwhile is a pretty simple, lowkey story. Intentionally so, as it was a low-budget feature done to help recoup the losses off of Walt’s more ambitious titles. However, as the film itself emphasizes, being simple and lowkey isn’t bad. In fact, the supposed shortcomings are what make the film so long-lasting and beloved. At 64 minutes, the film is quite brief, meaning there’s no fat or any feeling like the movie drags. It just keeps on going and makes sure you get a good story at the end. There’s also fun songs, great bits of slapstick, and one of the most insane animation sequences in history. The famed Pink Elephants on Parade scene is still up there as one of the most mind-blowing feats of animation ever, a perfect concoction of terror, confusion, whimsy, and comedy that shows this low-budget romp can still offer a lot of value and creativity. And through a simple story of overcoming adversity and fighting against bullies, we have a movie that is relatable to everybody watching and full of powerful, tearjerking moments that hit the soul and never look back. It’s through all the creativity, the sadness, and the joy that we get a film that may not be as iconic as Snow White or Bambi, but comes pretty damn close. It inspired Gene Siskel to love movies, it’s a favorite of Leonard Maltin, and has continued to serve as a perfect introductory piece to the world of cinema and animation for generations upon generations. Add on the always classic spinner ride at the Disney parks, and Dumbo is a story that is always resonant, always relatable, and will never leave us. The only downside? It has racist stuff in it.

#96 Rushmore 546 points, 9 lists "I saved Latin. What did you ever do?" Box Office: 19.1M Rotten Tomatoes: 90% Metacritic: 86 Awards: 1 Golden Globe Award nomination, 2 Independent Spirit Awards Roger Ebert's Review: "Anderson and Wilson are good offbeat filmmakers. They fill the corners of their story with nice touches, like the details of Max's wildly overambitious stage production of "Serpico.'' But their film seems torn between conflicting possibilities: It's structured like a comedy, but there are undertones of darker themes, and I almost wish they'd allowed the plot to lead them into those shadows. The Max Fischer they give us is going to grow up into Benjamin Braddock. But there is an unrealized Max who would have become Charles Foster Kane." Its Legacy: Wes Anderson's first hit, setting the space for bigger hits to come. Revitalized Bill Murray's career, launching a long career as an actor in independent features. Launched Jason Schwartzman's career. #34 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies. #10 on Entertainment Weekly's Best Modern Romances. #22 on Slant's 100 Best Films of the 1990s. Joined the Criterion Collection in 2000. Joined the National Film Registry in 2016. Commentary: Before Wes Anderson became the indie darling we know and love today, he was just an eccentric youngster who just wanted to break it into the business. And while Bottle Rocket was a good first start, it was this Touchstone title that made him a name in Hollywood. A name that still puts butts into arthouse cinemas around the world and has been parodied to death everywhere. And in a way, Rushmore is a bit fascinating to analyze as one of his earlier works. Before his signature style of quirky characters and precise, symmetrical framing really took off in his later works. It’s of course very witty, very humorous, and very beautiful, as one would expect from Wes. But visually, it's a lot more relaxed in the blocking and cinematography and production design, yet still centered and in control at the same time. It creates a film that looks great, yet not as showy or distinct as Grand Budapest Hotel or Asteroid City. But even outside of looking great, it’s got a fantastic story to get viewers hooked into this strange world and characters Anderson had created. A story about alienation, adolescence confusion, and the frustrations of infatuation with somebody you know you can never really obtain. These are ideas Anderson would talk about in other films, but it was already excellent and well-defined even at an early age, and shows this man knew what he wanted and was going to use this as a blueprint for greater things to come. Sure enough, it was a solid hit with critics and in the box office, gave Anderson a blank check for new features like The Royal Tenenbaums, revived Bill Murray’s career, and is still a favorite amongst Wes heads even today, as well as cited as an all-time classic for comedy. Everybody’s got a favorite Anderson, and for many participants, at least for the Disney options available, it’s this one.

#97 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 542 points, 13 lists "I am Queen of the most powerful nation in the world! And my entire family is gone! Have I not given everything?" Box Office: 859.2M Rotten Tomatoes: 84% Metacritic: 67 Awards: 1 Academy Award and 4 nominations, 1 BAFTA Award nomination, 1 Golden Globe Award and 1 nomination, 10 NAACP Image Awards and 5 nominations, 3 MTV Movie Award nominations, 2 BET Awards and 1 nomination, 3 Grammy Award nominations Roger Ebert's Review: N/A Its Legacy: One of the highest-grossing films of the Multiverse Saga. The first MCU film to receive an acting nomination. Introduced Namor and Ironheart to the MCU. Set up Shuri as the next Black Panther. Became the sixth-highest grossing film of 2022. Served as Rihannah's epic return to music. Gave Winston Duke a paycheck. Commentary: The pressure that director Ryan Coogler had in making a sequel to his beloved Marvel hit was utterly tremendous. Even when it was first in development back in 2018, trying to top the epic scope and biting commentary of his pop art masterpiece was a tough task. And after we lost the incomparable Chadwick Boseman in 2020, that only put more pressure on this film to deliver. It had to not only be a thrilling superhero adventure with strong themes and ideas, but also serve as a tribute to a great man and set the future for both the Black Panther series and the MCU. But thanks to strong direction, great characters, great action, creative visuals, and beautiful moments of solace, Coogler succeeded. The film was a massive box office hit and successfully expanded the characters we know and love from the last movie, while also adding tons of new elements that made the Marvel universe all the more interesting. In particular, there’s the sea king Namor, who serves as a threatening, but also sympathetic antagonist. A man in charge of a lost civilization, who just wants to protect the people he cares for from the inevitable colonizers. A perfect parallel to T’Challa’s story in the last movie, and allows for tons of fun underwater VFX sequences. And with T’Challa gone, Shuri is upgraded from the goofy comic relief to a determined figure still grappling with the loss of her brother, and a fear over whether or not she can lead her people and don the Black Panther mantle. It allows an incredible arc that Letitia Wright easily sells. And Angela Basset’s work here...well, you already know that she does amazing stuff. Even got an Oscar nomination, which is insane to think about. Add on an epic climax and a fantastic, heartfelt final scene, it’s a film that stuck the landing and gave us something heartfelt and beautiful, serving as one of the Multiverse Saga’s absolute bests. Chadwick would have been proud.

Should have been #1 tbh

#425 - Death on the Nile, Escape from Witch Mountain, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1 point, 1 list, avg. ranking #100) #424 - Kronk's New Groove (1 point, 1 list, avg. ranking #75) #423 - The Lion King (2019) (1 point, 1 list, avg. ranking #50) #422 - Bionicle: Legends of Metru Nui, Dumbo (2019), The Shaggy DA, Thor: Love and Thunder (2 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #98) #421 - Bionicle: Mask of Light, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Jump In! (3 points, 1 list, avg. ranking #98)

Time to reveal just a few of the honorable mentions. And to clarify some stuff, the way I divided each movie in terms of ranking is a combination of points and the average ranking it received. This is because, as an example, a movie could get one point and still rank at #100 or #50 or even #25 or #10. So saying a movie that got one point from a #100 ranking is the same as a #25 ranking is unfair, so I divided things accordingly. If this is confusing, it'll likely make more sense once you actually see the posts that will be made.

#98 Ed Wood 539 points, 9 lists "This is the one. 'This' is the one I'll be remembered for." Box Office: 13.8M Rotten Tomatoes: 92% Metacritic: 70 Awards: 2 Academy Awards, 2 BAFTA Award nominations, 1 Golden Globe Award and 2 nominations, 3 Saturn Awards and 2 nominations Roger Ebert's Review: "It was widely known even at the time that Wood himself was an enthusiastic transvestite, and when Tim Burton, director of the "Batman" movies, announced a project named "Ed Wood," I assumed it would be some kind of a camp sendup, maybe a cross between "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Sunset Boulevard." I assumed wrong. What Burton has made is a film which celebrates Wood more than it mocks him, and which celebrates, too, the zany spirit of 1950s exploitation films - in which a great title, a has-been star and a lurid ad campaign were enough to get bookings for some of the oddest films ever made." Its Legacy: One of Tim Burton's most beloved films ever. Brought to light and celebrated the life of Edward D. Wood Jr. after years of mockery. Criticized for its numerous inaccuracies. Competed for the Palme D'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. 5th place for 1994 from the National Board of Review. Appeared in numerous top ten lists from critics like Gene Siskel, Peter Travers, and Kevin Thomas, among others. Gave Bill Murray a paycheck. Commentary: Do you ever feel like you just suck at something? Suck so bad you’re the worst person to do something? Well, if you’re a movie director, you don’t suck as bad as Ed Wood. Known for a good while as the worst filmmaker to ever live, in no small part thanks to right-wing asshole Michael Medved, this biographical feature humanizes and contextualizes Edward Davis Wood Jr., analyzing what exactly made him such a fascinating filmmaker, even if what he made wasn’t often considered very good. There’s a lot of fun comedy here, watching director Tim Burton recreate the campiness and oddities of 50s exploitation movies and Wood himself, with Johnny Depp selling the oddities of the man quite well. Yet Burton also remembers an important aspect. That Ed Wood was a person. And he deserves better than what he was given at the time. Yes, his movies were low-budget and awkward. Yes, his ambitions were too high and his understanding on what made a good movie were misguided. Yes, he had his own eccentricities and habits that would seem strange to others. But that doesn’t matter. Ed Wood was passionate about what he loved and the work he put into the world. He had people he was close to. He was willing to keep trying, despite the world telling him no. And in some weird way, he found success, as many find Wood’s work to be wholly unique and fascinating to analyze. He won in the end. And for better or worse, there will never be another man like Ed Wood. In a way, there’s something awe-inspiring in seeing Tim Burton in particular direct this story. This is a man who loves the macabre, the odd, the surreal. A man who loves looking at underdogs, outcasts, figures who don't seem to fit in with the rest of the world. In many ways, the gothic horror and genre blending found in his features take from the B movies and exploitation features Wood created and popularized, and Wood is a prototypical Burton protagonist. It’s a director celebrating somebody who, inadvertently, inspired him and countless others. And that’s beautiful.

#99 Howl's Moving Castle 536 points, 12 lists "Here's another curse for you - may all your bacon burn." Box Office: 236M Rotten Tomatoes: 87% Metacritic: 82 Awards: 1 Academy Award nomination, 4 Tokyo Anime Awards, 1 Saturn Award nomination, 1 Nebula Award Roger Ebert's Review: "All of this is presented, as only Miyazaki can, in animation of astonishing invention and detail. The Castle itself threatens to upstage everything else that happens in the movie, and notice the way its protuberances move in time with its lumbering progress, not neglecting the sphincteresque gun turret at the rear. Sophie, old or young, never quite seems to understand and inhabit this world; unlike Kiki of the delivery service or Chihiro, the heroine of "Spirited Away," she seems more witness than heroine. A parade of weird characters comes onstage to do their turns, but the underlying plot grows murky and, amazingly for a Miyazaki film, we grow impatient at spectacle without meaning." Its Legacy: Hayao Miyazaki's favorite film. One of the highest-grossing Japanese films of all time. Earned an Osella Award at the Venice Film Festival. Appeared in the top ten lists of critics Ella Taylor, Kenneth Turan, Tasha Robinson, and Jonathan Rosenbaum, among others. Revitalized the popularity of the Diana Wynne Jones novel. Gave Lauren Bacall a paycheck. Commentary: One of the biggest critical and commercial hits in the Japanese film industry, Howl’s Moving Castle exemplifies many of the qualities that make Hayao Miyazaki such an incredible filmmaker. It’s of course visually incredible and highly creative. It’s full of charming characters, with a strong heroine protagonist in Sophie Hatter. The film features breathtaking visuals of the sky, some of that classic anti-technology and pro-environment attitude that Miyazaki puts in many of his films. Even an interesting look into old age and how oddly freeing and exciting being old can provide. Yet much of what makes Howl’s so powerful, and what I feel makes it a classic decades later, is its anti-war message. This film was made in response to the Iraq War, and Miyazaki’s vile hatred against America for invading the country. It’s a film that shows how pointless war can be, how devastating they are to people and to nature. How war itself turns people into inhuman killing machines, as seen in Howl. It’s the kind of charm and storytelling that can only come from Miyazaki, and this film was a crucial reason why the man became an icon within Japanese cinema and is seeing great success with his most recent, presumably final film.

#100 West Side Story (2021) 522 points, 12 lists "All my life, it's like I'm always just about to fall off the edge of the world's tallest building. I stopped falling the second I saw you." Box Office: 76M Rotten Tomatoes: 92% Metacritic: 85 Awards: 1 Academy Award and 6 nominations, 2 BAFTA Awards and 3 nominations, 3 Golden Globe Awards and 1 nomination, 2 National Board of Review Awards, 1 NAACP Image Award nomination, 1 Grammy Award nomination Roger Ebert's Review: N/A Its Legacy: Considered one of Spielberg's greatest films and one of the greatest musicals of all time. Kickstarted the film careers of Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, and Mike Faist, among others. #5 on Collider's Top 30 Musicals. #20 on IndieWire's Best Cinematography of the 21st Century, and #50 on Top 60 Musicals. Made Steven Spielberg the most nominated director at the Academy Awards. Made Ariana DeBose the first Afro-Latina and openly LGBT women of color to win Best Supporting Actress. Gave Rita Moreno a paycheck. Commentary: As the musical genre has seen some stumbles recently, both at the box office and creatively, Steven Spielberg, the legend himself, showed people how to make them shine...at least, when it came to critics. The god of movies himself adored the original West Side Story and its music when he was a boy, which in turn led to him inspired to take the original stage show, which already had an iconic film adaptation, and give the idea his own spin. What resulted was an instant classic for the genre that immediately stood toe to toe with the Robert Wise original. This iteration of the tale was a bit grittier and more brutal compared to the more fanciful, Hays Code-hit 1961 film. Yet that didn’t make the film bad or uncomfortable to watch. Nor did it mean Spielberg skimped on the whimsy and fanciful aspects of the stage show. What we soon got was a tremendous feature that includes phenomenal visuals, gorgeous dance numbers, dynamite, emotionally stirring sequences of love, and capturing the power of this Romeo and Juliet tale. A tale of two lovers divided by the evils of society, both trapped in the slums, unable to break out. Groups who fight each other for petty reasons, ultimately to stay alive in a world that hates them. And its through these divisions that it causes loss and bloodshed for all parties. Sadly, because the box office sucks and nostalgic toy commercials are the only movies that can find success anymore, the film was an unfortunate bomb. Yet even still, we are seeing its impact on the cinema landscape. It’s already been cited as one of the greatest musicals ever made, introduced millions to the works of Stephen Sondheim, Bradley Cooper would later tell the tale of Leonard Bernstein to...well, he tried, and the young starlet cast, including Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, and Mike Faist, are all rising up in Hollywood, with the potential to do incredible things in the industry. Even failures can lead to amazing things, and Speilberg’s latest masterpiece has already done just that.

Does it...have to be Legos?

Yep. It's time. After months of lists and several days of compiling and reviewing, we can now officially begin our Top 100 Disney movie countdown. There were a lot of lists that came in, each one very distinct. Though I did find it interesting how much bias there were in certain lists. You could really tell who was a cartoon nerd, a Marvel nerd, a Pixar nerd, a classic Disney nerd, even a few Miramax nerds thrown in there. It caused a lot of changes for the list, but I think we managed to have a strong top 100 that solidly represents all the amazing things about Disney in one strong package. But if you want to know some interesting statistics about our lists and what to expect... 41 lists were submitted. Just one more than the WB countdown. Some people only submitted for Warner, others only for Disney, a majority voted for both. But it's all good. In fact, this is now a record for one of my countdowns in terms of submissions, which was what I was hoping for. So good on you guys. Over the 41 lists, a whopping 522 movies got submitted. Lower than WB’s 607, but Disney’s library is quite smaller, especially their classic back catalog, so it kind of makes sense. And with 47 movies getting at least 1,000 points, the passion is there. Which I love. The entire top 11 got at least 2,000 points, which is also great. For WB, only the top 3 got above that threshold. The most represented decade, like WB, was the 2010s with a whopping 30 movies. That’s a lot. The least represented is a tie with the 1930s and 1970s, both of which had a whopping 1. Now to be fair, there was only one movie that came out in the 1930s. So uh...sorry to spoil the fact that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made it on the list. Not like that was a surprise. And if you know Disney history, you know the 70s were not a good time for Disney. So it’s not that egregious. But again, if we do this another time, get some culture and watch the classics. As one might expect from a Disney countdown, animation overperformed big time. Ignoring live-action/animation hybrids, a whopping 54 animated movies made the final top 100. So to all you cartoon nerds, you came out strong. I won’t say how much exactly are from which studio just yet, but it is a good blend of Disney Animation proper, Pixar, Studio Ghibli, and a few standout animated films that were from other studios. So I think there is still a good variety and diversity of animations here that will make us all happy. I’m not going into too much detail with the other subsidiaries like Lucasfilm, 20th Century, or Searchlight, though they are pretty light compared to, say, Pixar. But I did want to bring up the MCU. Because, surprise surprise, the MCU cleaned up. Of the 27 movies that were eligible, 12 of them made the top 100. So about 45% of the options available. Pretty impressive. In fact, all the MCU movies got points, with the sole exception of one. Not gonna say what, but you can connect the dots when we get to it. Ties (4 in the top 100) were broken up by which one had the least number of submissions and/or which had the better average ranking. This was done to represent the higher-ranked movies having more passionate voters compared to the other film. The honorable mentions have a few films that tied and had the same number of entries/same average ranking, so those are just complete ties. But those are the lower tier stuff you don't care about. “This movie I hate ranked higher than a movie I like? I lost all my respect for this list!” Yes, believe it or not, the general consensus of the forums will not automatically fit your tastes and sensibilities. All I ask is to please try to be respectful and courteous during the duration of this countdown, both to myself and to fellow BOT members. You don't have to agree with this, but you can act like a gentleman. "This movie doesn't count as a Disney movie because of X, Y, and Z. I lost all my respect for this list!" I got some complaints over this recently, and I just wanted to say I understand the definition is fluid. I know that there's a certain type of Disney movie that people associate with. But I wanted to make the definition broad because that meant more variety, more interest from other users, and just makes the list more interesting. If every movie on here was just stuff you see at the theme parks, it just gets kind of boring, no? So please, if something you think shouldn't be allowed for whatever reason makes the list, just...be nice. Please. If you are going to complain about something, and you didn't submit a list, just know that it's on you. Much like with government elections, you can't complain about something if you didn't vote in the first place. I’ll be alternating between revealing honorable mentions and the actual top 100. All rankings were determined by points, # of lists, and average placement. Expect the first few entries later today.

Quorum Updates Challengers T-92: 19.9% The Fall Guy T-99: 26.01% Ballerina T-134: 20.17% Horizon: An American Saga Part 1 T-155: 22.11% Kraven the Hunter T-218: 27.62% Beetlejuice 2 T-225: 47.1% Transformers One T-232: 31.28% Argylle T-8: 31.41% Awareness Final Awareness: 36% chance of 10M, 6% chance of 20M Medium Awareness: 47% chance of 10M Dune: Part Two T-36: 44.18% Awareness T-30 Awareness: 100% chance of 10M, 95% chance of 20M, 86% chance of 30M, 59% chance of 40M, 36% chance of 50M, 32% chance of 60M, 18% chance of 90M, 14% chance of 100M Tentpole Awareness: 100% chance of 40M, 60% chance of 50M, 40% chance of 60M Ghostbusters: Afterlife T-57: 41.81% Awareness T-60 Awareness: 100% chance of 30M, 78% chance of 40M, 61% chance of 50M, 50% chance of 60M, 33% chance of 70M Tentpole Awareness: 100% chance of 30M, 80% chance of 40M, 60% chance of 60M, 20% chance of 70M

Probably just a case of noticing an empty void in IMAX's release and taking advantage of a movie that hasn't been overexposed much and benefits from the format. I don't think there's any "win back Nolan" motive going on here.