#117: Copycat (1995)

Pretty ok, especially as Hunter and Weaver are very good and Connick is…very memorable, but the plot really kind of falls apart. There is a nonsensical level of interest in Hunter’s character’s possible romantic interests and bizarrely freakish devotion by everyone but Hunter and her partner to not take Weaver seriously despite a thousand reasons to treat her with respect (even in 1995, people were allowed to listen to women from time to time – I know, I was there!).  I did enjoy the mid-90s computer stuff and the ending where the main bad guy was just going to keep sending wave after wave of people at Weaver.

#116: Furious 7 (2015)

This movie does ten more ludicrous things by the time the opening credits are over than any five normal movies have in total. More of a superhero movie than most capes-and-tights flicks are. Unfortunately the “plot” was really virtually non-existant and only functioned at an excuse to shovel in as many of the (admittedly lock ass) action set pieces. Obviously I liked it, but it would’ve been much better if they spent any time at all on the parts of the movie that were “WOOOO!!! KICK ASS!!!”

#115: Death Becomes He (1992)

Context disclosure: I watched this the day after seeing the delightful Broadway musical based on it – I could bore you for literally minutes with my opinions on the differences (due respect to Goldie Hawn but Jennifer Simard was a next-level Helen, the movie script was much better about the ladies’ relationship with each other and about Ernest as a character than the musical book, and the songs were delightful). Overall a fun little trifle.

#114: Anora (2024)

It’s fine I guess? First third is basically porn, middle third is madcap comedy, last third is “yeah well fuck you girlie, take what we deign give you.” Very much enjoyed the dad just laughing like crazy as mom and Ani yelled at each other. Gets this high because the performances were really stellar all around – Borisov was particularly great as Igor and really deserved the Oscar nom.

#113: Lurker (2025)

I tend to like these kinds of movies but it was a bit obvious both what a user Oliver is and what a leech Matthew is. However the useful twist is that they own it. The mission statement of the movie was Matthew’s speech: “everyone around you is exactly the same, I just want it more. And I’m better”

#112 The Woman in Black (2012)

Good gothic ghost story with nice creeping dread. Very annoying townspeople who refuse to tell our guy anything at all about what is happening or why he should leave but get enraged with him when bad things start happening as though it’s his fault; of course this is all standard for the genre, but it’s still irksome – none of them could say anything at all to the obvious new guy who clearly doesn’t know anything? But it’s decently spooky and has a great atmosphere.

#111 L’Avventura (1960)

The Feel Good Movie of 1960! Incredibly bleak take on the human spirit – even the unexplained disappearance of her finance and their best friend only occupies them for a couple of days as they just stumble through their unsatisfied lives. He’s an asshole but she is not much better. Beautifully filmed but depressing as hell.

Up Next: The Last Group of Movies Before We Get To Stuff I Unreservedly Recommend

#124: The Wedding Banquet (2025)

Sweet, charming little film. Nothing we havent seen a ton of times before but the characters are appealing and the actors are great. I particularly enjoyed that the grandmother not only was not fooled for a single second but always knew that the kid was gay and was wiling to do whatever she could to help.

#123: A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)

Okay, so, I don’t know what I was expecting? it was fine?  At least there was no magic electricity like the first two (one of my most annoying tropes about apocalypse movies)?  Nyong’O was great in kind of a purely reactive role. The mad chaos of the initial arrival seemed pretty convincing, not that it was a good time to watch it. And hey, the cat lived.

#122: Drop (2025)

Cute, keeps you guessing all along who it is and doesn’t cheap out on the answer, although that’s primarily because there were plenty of viable options. The “drop” gimmick doesn’t really help anything but it’s a solid suspense/thriller. The waiter is my favorite character and he has the best line in the movie – after everything goes totally nutso he pops his head out from under a table to say “My horoscope was right!” Heh.

#121: Carol (2015)

The love story was really sweet but I also kind of hate these LGBTQ love stories set decades ago because I spend a lot of time and energy getting mad at people for being such freaking assholes about everyone just because they’re different. Fucking dudes, man! So enraging! WTH! Also, boy I wish I hadn’t looked up Patricia Highsmith’s personal history when I saw that this was yet another movie based on one of her books, because man that’s some evil shit. And, speaking of tropes I hate, it didn’t matter at all for this movie but why why why why why did we start with a brief scene from the end of the movie? Why? What did that add to anything? One of the most overused meaningless things in movies – just STOP IT already! If you have a good story we don’t need a glimpse into where it is going.

#120: Twisters (2024)

Solid fun with dreamy Glen Powell. Essentially a remake of the first which was surprising. I dunno, sometimes there just isn’t much to say. It’s Twisters, you know?

#119: The Ice Road (2021)

About as good as a thriller about emergency ice road equipment delivery could be.  And they even snuck some corporate malfeasance in!  That Liam Neesons, man, he has levels.

#118: Volver (2006)

What an odd film. It starts out slice of life, peels off to a terrible crime and it’s righteous coverup, moves into magical realism, and then has a peculiar twist that is not quite like anything I’ve seen before, finally moving into a mostly happy denouement and resolution. Definitely different from anything I’ve seen before, and although it took a while for me to get on its wavelength I enjoyed and appreciated it by the end.

Up Next: More! MORE!!!!

Slightly better movies! Let’s just agree to pretend like these tiers are meaningful ok? Thanks!

#130: Atropia (2025)

Funny little war satire / love story that never quite really gets the overall tone right for either one. It’s a good watch but it’s a bit too silly to really land the criticism of the military industrial complex and yet takes itself a bit too seriously to really be a zany madcap romp. This goes in the “what will they do next” pile to see how the filmmakers evolve.

#129: The Woman in the Yard (2025)

A prosaic first hour with confusing scares and weird battle scenes turns into a surprisingly moving and effective last half hour – I wish the whole thing could have been more along those lines (although in fairness it’s not clear I would’ve watched it without the genre theme). Yes yes the horror is actually the trauma I get it but still it was effective when it actually tried to be about that instead of making the woman an outside force.

#128: Yi Yi (2000)

Weird little film. Far too much is happening to this family, and very very little of it is good – all of the main characters have plots that would be the central theme of a regular Sundance movie. 3 hours about disappointments and lost opportunities and general malaise, mostly personified by the wife who voluntarily goes off to join a religious scam (I’m pretty sure that she knows it’s a scam) instead of staying to help her husband raise their children. I did enjoy the conversation two characters had about if there is a point to watching movies that just show life as it is.

#127: The Island (2005)

They made the good decision to not make the whole movie hinge on the big reveal that was fairly obvious, although it loses momentum when it’s just a chase movie with explosions. Still a fun chase movie with explosions though. Could have done more with ordinary people being surprised / horrified / at least ethically challenged once they found out about the whole thing – I mean I get that the super-wealthy elite class exploiting them doesn’t care, but why doesn’t anybody else?

#126: Antitrust (2001)

Ahhh, for the days when we knew our tech oligarchs were evil but at least they pretended not to be. When they would buy the government, they would at least hide it from us rather than rub our noses in it while whining about how we don’t respect them enough.

Anyway, this is a fun little jaunt. Kind of silly but Rachel Leigh Cook is always great, it’s one of Philippe’s best performances, Robbins makes an excellent bad guy, and it’s all silly fun, down to using the kiddie computer center to hack into satellites because of course why not.

#125: Dangerous Animals (2025)

It’s funny – all I do is hunt for new horror action thrillers and then often I end up complaining that the action thriller horror aspect isn’t as good as the other stuff. In this case, the romcom stuff was really fun and substantially better than the horror. The killer psycho is interesting and Jai Courtney does a great job with the role, but he is also one of those guys that can get stabbed and bashed in the head and choked out etc and always gets right back up and is fine. He’s just supposed to be a dude, not an immortal murder clown! And the “almost escaped….but no!” happens one time too often to work. The ending was obvious from the start but it was still compellingly and beautifully done. So a mixed bag but the highs definitely outweighed the lows.

Up Next: More Good Movies?

#136: New Life (2023)

Perfectly fine atmospheric horror about a zombie virus that was clearly made on a very low budget. But in the “if the shark doesn’t work then just don’t show the shark” way, not like a bunch of crappy F/X. Good suspense, although you’d think that people would be more careful with a zombie virus than they show here.

#135: Elevation (2025)

Decent Quiet Place ripoff with monsters who are invulnerable and hunt by CO2 emissions, but can’t go above 8000 feet. Shockingly the movie actually addresses this believably, which I never for a second expected when I was in the middle of mocking the 8000 foot thing, which was enough to put this above the line. Would’ve been better without the adorable kid that needs the medicine from the lower-altitude hospital but I guess there is no movie that way.

#134: The Blob (1988)

The best possible version of an 80s creature feature horror remake – in other words, incredibly silly. And with the 16th best special effects that 1988 could offer!

#133: Outland (1981)

Classic example of the old canard that movies in space are really just westerns with different tech. Connery is good but it’s not the really fun version of him. The actual space stuff is pretty bad and Blade Runner was only a year in the future (not to mention, you know, Star Wars and such), so they clearly could’ve done it better. But the mystery was solid.

#132: Ghost Ship (2002)

Incredible that the opening (spoiler for a 24-year-old-movie) made it look like a romcom before cutting everyone in half. Great commitment to the bit. Then turns into a surprisingly decent mystery hiding in a moderately ok ghost movie.

#131: Demonic (2015)

Good little haunted house horror thriller with a shockingly good script, but it would’ve been much better without the framing device. You don’t need to try that hard, people, count on the script and the performances.

Up Next: A Slightly Better Class of Movies! And Hey, We’re Slightly Over Halfway Done Now! Huzzah!

#142: Night Moves (1975)

Classic 70s shady-but-ultimately-goodhearted detective who gets in over his head. I like the concept but the dirty 70s-ness of the whole thing always leaves me a scratching my head a little. I will say, without giving anything away, the one thing I do appreciate about 70s movies is that they aren’t afraid to have unhappy endings. Man this is grim. Also, just sayin’, 16 year old Melanie Griffiths?!?!? How was that even, you know, legal?

# 141: Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)

Nice, if a bit saccarine. Charles was maybe a touch too much honestly, but you could also see his story coming.  The characters were all nicely written and believable and it was a lovely time. Not special, frankly, but very pleasant.

#140: Joy Ride (2001)

Another entry in the “don’t piss off the random trucker during your road trip” genre. This is nowhere near the glory of Rutger Hauer’s The Hitcher, but it’s an enjoyable rage-action-thriller. Steve Zahn and Leelee Sobieski (in a barely-written part) do their best with it

#139: Don’t Let Go (2019)

Decently done police thriller / time-travel (kinda but in a weird way) flick, but frankly not nearly enough time speculating about WTF was going on and why.  Kind of sucks for everyone else that only Ashley gets saved but hey I guess that was the important relationship for a movie.

A more interesting movie would’ve gotten into how maybe this happens all the time and we only know the history we know because it hasn’t been rewritten yet. But this just wanted to be a procedural thriller, and it does that just fine.

#138: Survivor (2015)

Milla Jovavich is the world’s deadliest and most important customs agent who saves a bunch of people by…you know, it doesn’t matter. I wanted a random thing on in the background to kind of pay attention to and this is what I picked and it served its purpose. Another Pierce Brosnan role as a spy turned bad – he does those so well at this point.

#137: Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run) (1999)

At its best when it is at its most propulsive, with an awesome soundtrack and just visceral motion. Otherwise the plot is ok but the overarching narrative device of the butterfly effect leading to outrageous changes from the tiniest different things she does didn’t seem particularly compelling. But just the running and soundtrack and Franka Potente’s performance are all great.

Up Next: The last set of movies in this category! Hooray!

#148: Mile 22: (2018)

Odd action movie that is extremely interested in blowing your mind, man. Quite to my own surprise, I liked the switch between the crazy action and the calm control center, but the big twist at the end really doesn’t work if you spend 20 seconds thinking about it. Ultimately I think they tried to hard to differentiate it from a typical shoot-em-up and actually would’ve been much better if they just ran with it conventionally. Makes it into the recommendation zone because Rhonda Rousy was surprisingly excellent as an extra hard badass, (unfortunately they killed her off halfway through). And the guy from The Raid: Redemption was of course tremendous.

#147: Election (2005)

Good action sequences, but the plot didn’t really land for me – I get the basic thrust of everyone being out for themselves and ignoring the all-important yakuza codes and all, but then why is getting the goddamn baton so important and why does Big D suddenly just give up starting a competing crime family because the other guy got it?  If the codes don’t mean anything then why does getting the symbolic baton still carry so much weight? And then the ending doesn’t really make sense.  The characters just didn’t feel like actual characters to me.

#146: Thursday Movie Club (2025)

Nice sweet little movie with delightfully low stakes. Ultimately feels more like a nice pilot episode introducing our characters – I will be shocked if there isn’t basically one of these a year for a while.  Mirren and Brosnan have done this sort of thing a lot, and they’re pros, but Kingsley was really great and so much fun to watch.

#145: Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

It really, really hurt my estimation of this movie that I saw it shortly after Past Lives, Frances Ha, and Worst Person in the World, all of which covered ground very similar to this movie and considerably better and in a more watchable manner. This was Sandler’s big dramatic breakthrough, and he’s fine here but nowhere near as good as he is in Uncut Gems.

I think that ultimately I’m just not always on Paul Thomas Anderson’s wavelength. This just barely worked for me (I kind of got Barry’s darkness but I didn’t get his crazy and I definitely did’t get his asshole sisters or why Lena is into him), same with Licorice Pizza, I’m lower on There Will Be Blood than anyone else I know, The Master (#167!) wasn’t really my thing…but then again, Phantom Thread was awesome and we won’t be seeing One Battle After Another for quite some time on this list.

In any event, my problem with this one is that at it’s core this movie is trying to be a love story but it gives us no reason at all why Naomi Watts’s character likes this guy – honestly she’s not even really a character – the phone sex worker and Phillip Seymour Hoffman minor characters are given more interiority (and that stuff and the general quality of the performances is what carries it this high). Her character is just “love interest” and it’s very dissatisfying.

#144: Let’s Start a Cult (2024)

Cute flick with a solid premise: a guy is so annoying that the cult leader doesn’t even want him around for when the all drink the kool-aid but then he runs into the leader later and ropes him into starting a new cult. The only problem is that the main character is really, really annoying, which caps how high this can go up, but most of the rest of the characters are fun and there are a lot of nice little detail moments.

#143 Mickey 17 (2025)

Very watchable and the Mickey 17 character is a lot of fun, but it’s odd that they don’t really explore the implications of the “printing” technology beyond a (very good) printing joke and some of the total basics that they couldn’t help but cover. But really they just focus on standard stuff with the aliens and the Trump parody. They really could’ve done something so much more interesting and it’s a little frustrating that they didn’t. Worst though, and it’s not their fault, is that the Trump stuff really falls flat when he’s busy destroying our freaking country. So there’s that.

Up Next: More Good But Not Too Good Movies

And we are finally on the other side of the line. Everything from here on I would recommend, or even if I would not suggest you watch it, it’s at least too good to put it down with the “bad movies”. (This last is the When Evil Lurks codicil – I would never ever suggest that someone watch it, but it’s really incredibly well created.)

So, if Nosferatu is just below the line, what is just above it?

#154: Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)

Decent twist on a not particularly original concept – bunch of kids go “investigate” the old abandoned asylum, but this time they’re live-streaming it. Just spooky enough, but ultimately the premise keeps it from being particularly spooky or interesting as we kept bouncing around viewpoints and livecams and reaction shots and such instead of bringing coherent lingering scares. Some nice bits though.

#153: Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025)

Perfectly cromulent heist/crime flick, but a pale imitation of the first one. Butler’s schtick, which was pretty fun originally is more over the top and gets tiresome here, and the twists that were surprising or at least entertaining are now highlighted well in advance. Good thing the action sequences are pretty good.

#152: Arcadian (2024)

Okay, so the picture is really from the flick but it does make this movie (which is kinda stupid) look much stupider than it actually is. You normally only see them in short glimpses and such.

Anyway, it’s an odd little post-apocalyptic movie with weirdass hairy ostrich monsters, but really it’s about families and brothers and sacrifice (although, speaking of sacrifice, there was absolutely no reason for oddly muted Nic Cage to sacrifice himself and it added nothing to the plan whatsoever for him to do so). Not the horror movie that I wanted but not bad and at least the monsters really were original.

#151: Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary (2024)

Nice, more or less interesting, but you know from the title whether or not you’re interested in seeing this. The Christopher Cross and Michael McDonald and Toto interviews were pretty fun.  Really enjoyed Kenny Loggins – there is a dude who is just happy to have had a great ride and is enjoying the heck out of his life now.

#150: The Blackening (2022)

Love love love the tagline. Otherwise pretty cute and funny, even if the identity of the “real” bad guy is obvious from the instant you meet him. I am obviously not the target audience for this but I enjoyed it well enough.

#149: Maxxxine (2024)

Good, but the least of the trilogy in my opinion. On the plus side, the opening title sequence is great, Kevin Bacon is TREMENDOUS, the soundtrack is killer (heh heh), and, uh, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that particular kind of murder before. For the minuses, you have to remember a lot of details from Pearl, and the bad guy reveal was….stupid?

Up Next: More Good Ones!

Ok ok ok, gotta step it up – there will still be 154 movies left to rank after I finish this. But these are the last movies I would not recommend so after this we get to the ones I actually liked! Hooray!

#161: Code 46 (2003)

You can tell it’s going to be a good movie when it starts with a recital of regulations. I guess this is better than trade boycotts?

In any event, it’s some interesting world building (and a cool score) and the best thing about it is trying to figure out how the near future is different from our reality. But it’s ultimately brought down by what I assume are deliberately flat performances from the leads – I think the idea was that everyone has to hide their inferiority from the authoritarian government, but it made it very hard to get into feeling for the characters.

#160 Sansho the Bailiff (1954)

This is apparently extremely important historically, but it was ultimately just too melodramatic to be that affecting now. The moral is extremely important and resonant with me – treat people the way you would want to be treated, be considerate and merciful – but it just didn’t really land with me. I think I may just be bad at connecting with older international movies?

#159: Evil Does Not Exist (2023)

Beautifully shot but has none of the emotional resonance of Hamaguchi’s prior movie (Drive My Car). Starting the picture with a long scene of a town meeting about a proposed glamping development that was less dynamic and interesting than actual town meetings that I have attended representing developers…..was a choice. Overall it’s more of an intellectual exercise, and while there are some benefits of that approach there needs to be something there for me to care about to hang it on – in theory the payoff at the end would’ve been staggering but all I could do is say “oh I see what they did there that’s nice.”

#158: Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) (2006)

Really not sure how to feel about this. We spent the first 30ish minutes of this learning what a scumbag zealot our main character is. Although unlike others he is not casually cruel but appears to be a true believer in the (evil, authoritarian) cause, but then he changes for reasons that are unclear – does he suddenly believe in art? Does he fall in love with the woman he has been spying on? Does he love the idea of her and her compatriot for some reason? Does he realize that what he is doing is wrong? That the state is wrong? I feel like we’re missing some sort of conversion scene but maybe this is more like real life – change is gradual and then all of a sudden. He has certainly been indoctrinated for most of his life so maybe it is just now occurring to him for some reason? Or maybe he comes to see her as a person and gets sicker of the abuses? Maybe the whole point is that we should think about these things? Anyway it’s really well done but the bad guys are obviously evil (I mean it’s a whole system of obviously evil bad guys, it’s not really a complaint – I mean it’s not like I am going to get mad about people pointing out how evil the current administration is). Just not sure what we’re supposed to get out of his conversion.

#157: A Separation (2011)

Speaking of evil authoritarian regimes….Good lord, this is just pure misery porn – a bunch of people trying to do the best they can in terrible situations with no way out and completely unsympathetic “legal system” (that does not actually merit that term) and no good answers or hope for anything better – even when it looks like there might be a little way out, it goes wrong and everyone ends up worse off. Pure depression, just people getting beaten down over and over. This high because it’s very well done and it’s always good to shine a light on this stuff, but….yikes man. Not a fun watch.

#156: Flight Risk (2025)

Perfectly cromulent action thriller. Michele Thackerey with a flawless American accent Mark Wohlberg as a great bald creepo (with a really bad skull cap). Nothing special but a solid “I want an action movie this Saturday afternoon” experience. Is it a better movie than the prior two? Definitely not, but it’s a vastly more enjoyable experience and that’s enough to move it just past them.

#155: Noferatu (2024)

I normally don’t plan the order of these things and just do it by sorting and looking over the list over and over but I have known for a while that this was going to be my last “under the line” movie. I love Eggars’s work but this is his low point for me – like much of the above I found most of the characters to be not compelling. Count Orlock is presumably supposed to be so alien that he can’t be related to but making his motivations inscrutable really hurts a story that is supposed to be about an immortal (and immoral!) love.

The movie looks incredible, as always for Eggars, and Lily-Rose Depp is shockingly good but the inability to understand Orlock is just too much for the movie to get past.

Up Next: OMFG Movies I Actually Liked and Would Recommend! And I Don’t Have to Find Another Dark Tower Picture!

#168: The Accountant 2 (2025)

The high point is definitely the interaction between the brothers, which is nice but not saccharine. They are deeply missing Anna Kendrick from the first one – she really made it work more and you realize how much by what is really lacking here.

I almost picked a “That’s Not How Autism Works” gif for the picture, but honestly the Super Autism is pretty amazing – as a comics kid growing up it didn’t bother me that they were basically superpowered, and the crazy “head injuries can give you special abilities” thing is no more ridiculous than “radioactive spider bite.” I certainly don’t begrudge anyone who is offended, but it was just more silliness for me.

One thing that did really bug me that is more and more of a trend in these kinds of decent-not-good movies is the bad videogamization of battles – here, once the brothers show up to the insanely well-defended childrens’ camp, there is absolutely zero reason why they would keep going on the “get the kids in the bus and drive them to the pit” plan other than dramatic tension to give the plot a ticking clock. Focus on the people trying to kill you! Who the $@%^ cares if the plan with the kids gets pulled off if you’re going to be dead? Either kill the brothers who are murdering all of you first then you have time or get the F out of there and run for it and who cares about the plan? Frustrating.

#167: The Master (2012)

Probably my least favorite PSH performance to date, possibly because what I love is how he makes his characters so authentic but this guy is a master charlatan manipulator so he feels inherently inauthentic. Phoenix is great but he’s just so damaged that it’s hard to figure if he’s insane or mentally disabled or shell shocked from the war or what. The relationship between Freddie and the Master is interesting but not particularly compelling – Master loves Freddie becuase he’s his most irrationally devoted follower, and Freddie loves Master because he fills the void he needs for direction and a father figure. it was fine? I do wonder if L Ron could’ve sued and won – it’s so very clearly based on Scientology, but of course he would not want to admit that given the portrayal here.

#166: The Monkey (2025)

Ultimately pretty stupid excuse for a bunch of gore.  Still recognizably an Osgood Perkins joint, so it’s not like it was bad and there was a fun attitude, but it was kind of a lesser Final Destination gimmick.  Also, while I normally like it when horror shows don’t explain everything about the Big Bad Thing, having your evil be a cutesy wind up monkey and then never having the slightest hint or clue about why or how or anything about it is kind of a cop out.

#165: Remember the Titans (2000)

I mean, Denzel is always good and it’s a perfectly cromulent sports drama and moral arc but I just have a problem with movie like this. Hooray! The horrible racists learned the value of acceptance! Of course they never suffer from their misdeeds and have no adverse consequences for their actions, so everyone wins, yay!

#164: Under the Skin (2013)

I wanted to like it, and I didn’t hate it – I mean this is original science fiction, man! And ScarJo is definitely one of our best and most under-appreciated actors. But this is wayyyy too ponderous, man. Like, this was a solid short story, maybe a novella, stretched way the hell out to movie length. Give me a break man. Although I have to admit that infamous beach scene with the family is indeed chilling as hell.

#163: Superbad (2007)

So weird – in a way it’s two different movies – half of it, including the first 30 minutes, are really really rough. Like, down with Rush Hour 2 and V/H/S Halloween. You can tell that this script was written by 14 year old boys for 14 year old boys, and it has the gender politics to show for it. BUT! Then you have Bill Hader and Seth Rogan as cops with McLovin and I just adored every single freaking thing about that half of the movie – which of course was almost entirely ad libbed. Hader is a genius, and this could be near the top on its own. Apparently there is a 34 minute DVD extra of more of them ad libbing stuff that doesn’t appear to be streaming anywhere, but I think I need it?

#162: Cidade de Deus (2002) [City of God]

I dunno, maybe it’s because it was pretty poverty porny, maybe because it was insanely ridicidulously violent (I’m guessing, conservatively, that 300 people were shot to death in the course of the movie, including the execution of a sub-10-yr-old child and the ultimate criminal takeover by a child gang and a psychopathic 8 year old) and it was just a bit much. It wasn’t bad but there just was not much happening aside from a whole lotta lotta lotta murder.

Up Next: The Last Group of Movies Under the Line! Hallelujah!

Oh, right right right, we’re still doing this. Got it.

#174: Miami Blues (1990)

Weird little action….comedy (?) about a psychopathic criminal who is not very good at being a criminal who falls in love…I think?… with a disturbingly young Jennifer Jason Leigh…and is pursued by a cop who is also not very good at his job? Good cast that isn’t sure exactly what kind of movie they are in, which keeps it from being either weird or straight enough to actually be good.

#173: Opus (2025)

Eh? I like what it was trying to do but it comes off as just an excuse for Malcovich to be eccentricly weird. And don’t get me wrong, he is great at that – one of the absolute best there ever was at it (under Walken but ahead of Cage I’d say). The two singles – actually sung by Malkovich – are great, but the script really needed to be better for this to work the way it wanted to.

#172: Didn’t Die (2025)

Nice lead performance from Kiran Deol as someone trying to keep it together in a zombie apocalypse. Unfortunately the movie takes itself too seriously, beginning with an unneeded decision to film in black and white. But there really is nothing trenchant here, just some solid relationship work. Also, why do I keep forgetting that I don’t like zombie movies?

#171: Heretic (2024)

Comparative Religion 201: The Movie

#170: Frankenstein (2025)

I think I just don’t get del Toro? This was beautiful to look at and with two glaring exceptions the acting was good but the story seemed lifeless? I cannot believe that they actually had William tell Victor “you are the monster” when that was already clearly the entire thrust of the book, the movie, everything. My goodness.  Mia Goth is given nothing to do, just a reactive character with motivations that never seem real, but even at that never seems like a consistent person. Oscar Isaac is pretty good when he is consumed with the madness of ambition but honestly pretty bad at all other moments. The ending of the plot makes no sense either – “You Must Kill Me! I’m going to run away now!” What? And then he chases Victor? What is even?

#169: The Craft (1996)

So, like, totally 90s, with the 90s soundtrack, 90s casual racism (by a bad guy to be sure) and 90s casual misogency (by everyone including our heros) and focus on weird mispronounced deities. Oh and you can totally see all the ways that it’s all going to go wrong way way way in advance…..just like a 90s movie. Way cheesier than its cool goth reputation, but solid fun despite the silly script and bad F/X. I will say though, the original 3 turned on Sarah super quick and super hard for no discernible reason – just chill out, ladies, and rule the world as a collective!

#168: [rec] 2 (2009)

Perfectly serviceable sequel to a true horror classic, but unlike the first one it feels like a first person shooter. Lots of jump scares but no time to build any suspense, which was the true brilliance of the original. Still fun but not a chew-your-arm-off-to-avoid-the-tension scarefest.

Up Next: We’re Getting There, I Promise!