Category Archives: Top 3

2014 – Best Movie Bracket

As I have been looking at my top films for a given year, I needed a method for looking at a large number of films for the year so that I could compare them. In my search, I came across Letterboxd. I tried Letterboxd a few years back before it had the number of users that it does today. They have made significant improvements and the user community is phenomenal. I would encourage any movie lover to keep their film diary at Letterboxd.

The site has also let me look at a number of films from any given year and sort them in a multitude of ways. Letterboxd has 12,585 films listed with a release date of 2014. This is also where the featured image comes from and where I will pull the featured image from all of my annual entries. This is to give you a chance to see some of the other films that I had to pass over to get my favorites. According to the site, I have seen 63 of those films. So with that, let’s look at my top 3 films of 2014.

Continue reading 2014 – Best Movie Bracket

2015 – Best Movie Bracket

From start to finish, many of 2015’s biggest news stories were centered around violence and terror threats and they showed a general sense of fear. The year began with a targeted terror strike in Paris and closed out with another planned attack in San Bernandino, California, proving that threats around the globe remain an issue for all.

However, much of the world found a place of solace at the theater amidst the fear and violence. 2015 featured a variety of films that showed the triumph of the spirit in the face of adversity, bigotry, and evil. Movies like: Southpaw, The Good Dinosaur, Joy, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Room, Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Revenant, The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Inside Out.

As fun and epic as the continuations of Mad Max, Star Wars, and Avengers were, there was not enough to set them apart and leave a lasting legacy. Leonardo Dicaprio deserved an Oscar for what Innaritu put him through in The Revenant, but the movie itself though stark and piercing didn’t create the effect in viewers that you expect from the best. The Martian was alternatively hilarious and harrowing, and Room ripped my heart out and slowly put it back together again, but there were a lot of really good movies in 2015. I keep coming back to three films from the year that will have some staying power. Here are my top 3 films of the year. Continue reading 2015 – Best Movie Bracket

Top 3 – Road Trip Movies

It is Summer! Well not officially, but it is hot outside and the kids are out of school, so that means that lots of families will be embarking on a classic staple of my childhood… the road trip. I have so many memories sitting in the back of my aunt’s suburban as we traveled all over the Southeastern United States visiting campgrounds, state parks, beaches, springs, and caverns. I hope to instill plenty of these memories in my kids as well.

But perhaps you are like me and you have to work most of the summer and don’t get to participate in a lot of the fun. That’s okay, you can live vicariously through some movie characters in some great road trip movies. I will say that these are probably not the best movies to watch while you are on a road trip, that is a list for another day. There are so many that I will share a couple of honorable mentions, but these are my top 3. Please share your favorites in the comments below.

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Honorable mentions (in no particular order):

The Blues Brothers (1980) – a quotable cult classic, they were on a mission from God.

National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) – Come rain, shine, dead relatives, or dragged dogs, the Griswolds were determined to get to Walley World. Skip the sequels and watch the original.

Thelma & Louise (1991) – They just wanted a girls’ weekend away. And instead they got a modern landmark of feminism on film.

Dumb and Dumber (1994) – Clearly not the smartest film on the list, but just try to keep a straight face as Lloyd and Harry rumble through America in their dog-shaped “shaggin’ wagon.”

Zombieland (2009) – Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) emerges from a World of Warcraft marathon to find zombies have taken over America. When Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) shows up, Columbus joins his quest for Twinkies and zombie annihilation.

3. Rain Man (1988)

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When car dealer Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has an autistic older brother named Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) and that his father’s $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father’s money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers’ cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.

This was the highest-grossing film of 1988 and won four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Hoffman, Best Director for Barry Levinson, and Best Original Screenplay. IMDb users rated it 8.0 out of 10. It is so much more than a road-trip movie, it is just good cinema.

2. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

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Years after the collapse of civilization, the tyrannical Immortan Joe enslaves apocalypse survivors inside the desert fortress the Citadel. When the warrior Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leads the despot’s five wives in a daring escape, she forges an alliance with Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), a loner and former captive. Fortified in the massive, armored truck the War Rig, they try to outrun the ruthless warlord and his henchmen in a deadly high-speed chase through the Wasteland.

You might say that it is more of a chase movie than a road trip movie (especially since there are no actual roads just desert wasteland) but I think it should get a pass for such a large vision from George Miller being pulled off in nearly flawless fashion. It is a technical masterpiece and a great piece of storytelling. It is sitting at an 8.1 on IMDb.

1. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

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The Hoover family — a man (Greg Kinnear), his wife (Toni Collette), an uncle (Steve Carell), a brother (Paul Dano) and a grandfather (Alan Arkin) — piles into a VW bus and heads to California to support a daughter (Abigail Breslin) in her bid to win the Little Miss Sunshine Contest. The sanity of everyone involved is stretched to the limit as the group’s quirks cause epic problems as they travel along their interstate route.

I can’t even think of another movie that I would consider at #1. When I think of a road trip story this is what comes into my head now. The comedy and tragedy are so intertwined. This is one seriously messed up family, but the close quarters of the van and the superb storytelling makes it feel like its your messed up family.

So what do you think? Sound off in the comments below! We’ll argue about it until dad threatens to turn the car around.

Top 3 Actors Who Could Replace Hugh Jackman as Wolverine

It was inevitable, of course, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept when the tragedy finally arrives. Actor Hugh Jackman, who rose to fame for his iconic portrayal of the superhero Wolverine in the X-Men blockbuster franchise, announced he will play the hairy claw-sporting mutant for “one last time.”

His revelation of planned retirement from the character came via Instagram and Twitter. A follow-up tweet from director James Mangold, who directed Jackman’s previous solo outing The Wolverine in 2013, confirmed the “one last time” in question is another Wolverine solo sequel, not his crowd pleasing cameo in X-Men: Age of Apocalypse. So yes, Jackman’s awesome stint as Wolverine is coming to an end soon.

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Having appeared as Wolverine in eight films so far —X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past , and X-Men: Apocalypse – Jackman has appeared as the same superhero longer and more often than any other actor has portrayed a single superhero (although Robert Downey Jr. is catching up fast, with seven films under his Iron Man belt as of last month’s Captain America: Civil War). He’s the only live-action Wolverine we’ve ever known, and has embodied the character perfectly for 16 years, so his departure is going to leave a major hole in the franchise.

Now consider that the series is actually gaining in popularity and expanding, so that besides the third Wolverine solo movie, there is a Deadpool film currently filming and a Gambit solo spin-off planned. For now, let’s just take him at his word that the next solo Wolverine film will really be his last. If that’s true, then what should Fox do once Jackman has ridden off into the sunset?

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Recast, of course. They can’t just drop Wolverine as a character from the series, well, they could kill him off and go with X-23 but I think there would be riots. So the only option is recasting. Which brings us to the gist of this piece — who should play the new Wolverine? I’ve got my top 3 options for you here, so read on and see which actors might turn up on the shortlist for the franchise’s most beloved and most stabby superhero!

1. Tom Hardy — A terrific actor who is also great at physical roles. Tom would bring a new approach to Wolverine and instill the character with even more of the brooding sensibilities and short temper we’re familiar with from the comics. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine was more of a heroic and mostly nice guy with a sly sense of humor, whereas Tom might give us the anti-hero approach who resides more often in the grayest shades of morality.

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2. Penn Badgley — Let’s establish that yes, Badgley has not only the right looks for Wolverine, but also particularly for the existing cinematic version of the character. So if we’re just casting based on appearance, Penn surely ends up as a top finalist to play Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. But Penn is also a really top-notch actor, receiving praise for his performances in the series Gossip Girl and more recently for his role in the film Margin Call, making his more than just physically suited to play Wolverine.

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3. Kit Harington — With a loyal fanbase among geek culture already, Kit has both the strong acting chops and the right look to continue a Wolverine portrayal in keeping with the legacy Hugh Jackman will leave behind. Brooding yet always honorable, angry but good at heart — that’s not only Wolverine, it’s Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, and he’s done a remarkable job for several years with that character. While Kit previously made remarks about wanting to do a superhero film that is more campy and doesn’t take the material so seriously, I’m sure he’d have no trouble jumping into the Wolverine role and approaching the performance just as seriously as he has in Game of Thrones’ fantasy storyline.

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Alright, I know I said top 3, but there are so many possibilities and I kept coming back to this one.

4. Scott Caan — Son of the great James Caan, Scott is an award-winning actor best known for his excellent performances in Entourage and Hawaii Five-O (the latter bringing him a Golden Globe nomination). He’s got the charisma and presence to bring us a different take on Wolverine that bridges the rougher comic persona with the more classically heroic film incarnation. And to be blunt, Scott’s height and build make him physically a great choice more suited to the source material’s depiction and reputation. At 38, Scott is older than the other names on this list, so he’s perhaps also best able to continue the “grizzled veteran” aspect of the character that Hugh Jackman has perfected.

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And there you have it, dear readers, the top three best choices to take over the role of Wolverine if and when Hugh Jackman leaves the franchise! Of course there are a lot of others who could have been on this list from Garrett Hedlund to Jake Gyllenhaal, but I think this list provides a range of ages and types that gives us plenty to think about.

What do you think of these suggestions, and who would you add to the list? Do you think they should go with a different storyline and leave Wolverine out? Are you excited about the idea of Hugh Jackman coming out of retirement in another 15 years to play Old Man Logan? Let me know in the comments below!