top 50 films for the half decade; Kalo's list begins! (pg. 45)

[Ethan Hunt]

I put The Lego Movie on my list but after rewatching both that and Despicable Me 2, I wish I would have swapped the two. The Lego Movie is fun but the twist ending and the events following fall flat.

[DAJK]

I love the ending to be honest. While it was such a departure from the rest of the film, the fact that such a big shift tonally like this was able to work was what made it great.

[Blankments]

Despicable Me 2 better than The LEGO Movie?

 

I feel ill

[DAJK]

Despicable Me 2 better than The LEGO Movie?

I feel ill

Despicable Me 2 didn't make the cut

Despicable Me 1 however... well lets just say there's a special place in my heart for that film.

[Jessie]

Despicable Me 2 didn't make the cut

Despicable Me 1 however... well lets just say there's a special place in my heart for that film.

 

Personally I think Megamind was better than Despicable me and should have had a sequel instead.

[DAJK]

Personally I think Megamind was better than Despicable me and should have had a sequel instead.

Megamind also just missed the cut at #60.

[Rorschach]

I put The Lego Movie on my list but after rewatching both that and Despicable Me 2, I wish I would have swapped the two. The Lego Movie is fun but the twist ending and the events following fall flat.

[Jessie]

 

if im being honest, I wasn't a massive fan of the twist either. Thought it was a little too over the top.

Edited January 29, 2015 by jessie

[DAJK]

Sorry about the delay tonight those who want me to finish this quickly. I was planning on doing like a dozen, but I sorta got distracted :/

A friend came over who wanted to watch John Wick (which he both thought was okay at best). I'm volunteering at a food bank tomorrow morning, so ill do a few tomorrow afternoon and then hopefully a lot more tomorrow night

[Dementeleus]

Try to keep a steady pace, because there's a queue of people who want to do theirs as well.

[DAJK]

Try to keep a steady pace, because there's a queue of people who want to do theirs as well.

Absolutely I woke up kinda early this morning and I don't have to start getting ready for another 15 minutes so ill do one or two right now.

[DAJK]

#34

Star Trek Into Darkness

 

 

I already know Ethan for sure (and maybe some other of you) would give this post a "dislike" if that were an available option. However, I really REALLY liked Star Trek Into Darkness, despite it having one or two fatal flaws in my opinion. Positives: Benedict Cumberbatch is fantastic (as he is in everything he's in), the action is for the most part very well executed, the special effects are fantastic, and the movie is overall extremely entertaining and re watchable. Cons (Kahns... get it? Get it... no): While the story is absolutely serviceable, its flaw is that it feels sometimes contained, as if the film were only showing us this little piece of its otherwise open world. What Star Wars is able to do is feel big, every movie covering multiple characters etc etc. The other flaw is movie had was that (SPOILER) final fight between Cumberbatch and Spock, which I didn't think was good at all for a few reasons ranging from believably to overall execution. Despite its flaws, Star Trek Into Darkness is an extremely entertaining sci-fi, that only gets me more excited for what JJ can do with Star Wars.

[DAJK]

#33

Inception

 

 

A great film that didn't quite make it to that "movie of the year" level that some people had it pegged at. Maybe the reason is that I didn't actually watch Inception until 2014, so either my expectations were too high, or I had heard so much about it over the past few years that nothing came as a surprise to me. However, I still really liked the movie for its entertainment value. Christopher Nolan has proved time and time again that he is an excellent filmmaker, making very risky projects like this and Interstellar work. Inception covers some neat ideas, and has the action spectacle to back those up; however with me already knowing many of the plot points, and the ending before seeing the movie, all I got out of it was the action spectacle. But looking at it as if I knew nothing about it, this probably would have been a few spaces higher on the list had it not been for the circumstances surrounding when I saw it.

[DAJK]

#32

Hugo

 

 

Probably my preference for "film that didn't deserve to be a box office disaster" award (if such an award exists). It is a visually and narratively enchanting film, that seemed like a bit of a departure for Scorsese (spoiler, there's another one of his films later on this list). Hugo surprisingly didn't seem like a very long movie to me, as it went by incredibly quick in my opinion. There is a lot of humor mixed in with the heart and soul of the movie, making it an excellent adventure for kids, but also a great film for any age. I really like Asa Butterfield as an actor, and I like many of the projects he chooses (Ender's Game barely missed out on the list), and Chloe Grace Moretz is seriously turning into a well known actress in the public eye (now if only her movies actually did WELL at the box office...).

[DAJK]

#31

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 

 

Wow was this movie certainly a surprise! I'm going to be honest and say that I wasn't the biggest fan of First Avenger, nor did I actually care for Cap in The Avengers. But wow did this movie change my opinion; this franchise is becoming something really cool! It's no longer the ""one I'll see because it's Marvel", but amid its fun, fantastic action, legitimately funny scenes and (mildly) plot twists, the movie becomes something of its own. And the re watchability is there too, as I saw this movie in theatres 3 times over a 10 day period, and the movie was just as good each time I watched it. God, just typing this I can't comprehend how excited I am to see Marvel and DC's universes unfold!!!!

[Ethan Hunt]

I'm having a love/ hate affair with this list.

[DAJK]

#30

Man of Steel

 

 

Another choice that may be controversial, as it certainly divided fans; Man of Steel is THE DEFINITION of "blockbuster" in my opinion. The action spectacle is breathtaking, despite going on a bit too long. There was a touch of cheesiness, which didn't hurt the film, there was quite a bit of drama surrounding the main character as well. The one thing that bumped Man of Steel this high on the list was its ability to actually humanize Superman, someone who is basically a god. It brilliantly showed the struggles of growing up knowing you're different, and having to hide who you are. Unlike the previous Superman movies, I was actually thinking "man, I actually feel bad for Superman."

 

But the product placement. OH the product placement! I am okay when you see Superman fly past a Sears, because it makes the movie seem more real than if he flew past "general store". Even the iHop didn't bother me, but that Nikon placement was awful, something a Transformers 4 movie would do (at least I think it was Nikon, correct me if I'm wrong). When Lois is climbing through those ice caves, and she places her camera over the ledge so that we get a full on shot of nothing but a Nikon camera for a full three seconds is so blatant that it took me out of the movie for a bit. Anyways, that's my opinion on that   .

[DAJK]

#29

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

 

 

In terms of weaknesses, the Hobbit the Desolation of Smaug isn't anything new. It suffers from what the other two Hobbit movies did, mainly a bloated run time and the fact that a single book was stretched out into three 3 hour long movies. Each individual dwarf is not very "individual" and a few scenes are quite unbelievable (in a bad way). But this is a fantasy adventure film, and a darn good one too, so a few weaknesses are okay in a film like this; and those weaknesses aside, this movie is a very fun one to watch! Peter Jackson obviously knows his stuff when it comes to Middle Earth, and it shows in his film making. He captures the majestic-ness of such a bizarre world, and develops Tolkien's hero's (mainly Bilbo) to at least a degree where we care about what happens to him. Smaug himself is utterly fantastic, and the banter between him and Bilbo was one of the coolest scenes I had seen in a movie theatre for a while. This second Hobbit installment also marks where the prequel trilogy stops trying to mimic Lord of the Rings to a degree, and for better or for worse, it is worth applauding.

[DAJK]

I'm sorry I didn't get around to any today (getting close to finishing) I was out of town all day, so I'm hoping to do some tomorrow afternoon after my soccer game.

[DAJK]

#28

Monsters University

 

 

In John Wick, Keanu had a line that basically spells out Pixar right now. "People keep asking me if I'm back. Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back!" After Cars 2 and Brave, many people were wondering if Pixar had lost its form, including myself. But with Monsters University, they managed to pull a redeeming card and make a great movie. Is it one of Pixar's best? No. Is it as good as the original film? Also no. But this is definitely a worthy sequel (and with Monsters Inc. being one of my favourite animated films of all time, it is high praise for a movie to be worthy of that film). Monsters University captures the warmth and heart of the first film, as well as the drama, and the real need to root for the characters. Randall's origin story is heartbreaking despite it not being anything original, and now whenever I see Monsters Inc. I actually feel bad for him (he just got mixed up in the wrong crowd for being naive guys! Give him a break!) With Inside Out and Good Dinosaur on the way, I predict that Pixar is going to once again become the animation powerhouse it once was.