101 Movies for 2021!

[CaptHayfever]

Bonus points if your 101st is 101 Dalmatians.

1) Freaky Friday (2003) - A-
2) Enough - C. One of the worst beginnings of a movie that I've ever seen, but gradually improves.
3) Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone - B
4) Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets - B-
5) Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban - B+
6) Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire - B
7) Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix - C+
8) Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince - A-
9) Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - A-
10) Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - B+
11) A Very Potter Musical - A-

The ladyfriend wanted to have a Potter film fest over MLK weekend. I obliged, because I like most of those movies.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[CaptHayfever]

12) Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them - B+
13) Dinosaur - C. Not bad, just forgettable.
14) Beauty & the Beast (2017) - B+
15) Silver Linings Playbook - A-

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Booyakasha]

^^So, the obvious question------have you introduced her to 'Wizard People, Dear Reader' yet?

[CaptHayfever]

^I tried. She doesn't handle parodies well, especially not long-form ones. Occasionally I can slip in a Wizard People joke while watching the regular movie & see her giggle in spite of herself, though.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Booyakasha]

^Yeah, sometimes people are no fun.

When the 'Deathly Hallows' book came out, there was like ninety-five percent of camp staff slouched about reading it, and the rest of us bored stupid. You couldn't raise them. Even running around in your raincoat with a post-hole digger between your legs yelling cockney gibberish wasn't enough to rile them.

[CaptHayfever]

16) The Princess Bride - A+
17) To All the Boys: Always and Forever - B. I'm about sick of romances wherein the central conflict can be resolved by a 5-minute conversation. Lana Condor is still cool, though.
18) Easy A - A
19) A Very Potter Sequel - A-
20) Howl's Moving Castle - A-

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[CaptHayfever]

21) Doctor Zhivago - B+. The movie is too dang long, but the character development is really dang good.
22) Scott Pilgrim vs the World - A+
23) Fantasia - A
24) A Simple Favor - A-. Ending gets a smidgen silly, but otherwise a very exciting mystery.
25) Step Up: Revolution - D. Outstanding dance routines, weak acting, openly insulting script.
26) Motocrossed - B. A little bit late-90s girl-power, a little bit Cyrano de Bergerac.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Booyakasha]

^I've never seen Zhivago, but 'Somewhere My Love' is pretty hard to beat.

...

...

...remember? It was in 'Super Mario'! (*grabbed by black-clad agents*) (*forcibly wrestled off-stage*) (*sounds of public execution, followed by riotous applause*)

[CaptHayfever]

26) Monkey Business (1931) - A
27) Pitch Perfect - B+
28) Raya & the Last Dragon - A-. I thought this was really clever storytelling & world/character building. Some of the tropes were familiar, but they were twisted quite interestingly.
29) Titanic - B-

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Booyakasha]

Ooh, I love 'Monkey Business'. It's...not perfect, like how 'Animal Crackers' and 'Duck Soup' and 'Horse Feathers' kinda were (did they write these movie titles whilst visiting the zoo, perchance?), but it's pure fun. Seeing the Marxes twit Maurice Chevalier is one of the funniest things evar, and...I love the bridge scene, and how effortlessly Harpo causes pure pandemonium at the disembarkation point within seconds. And I'm in love with Margaret Dumont.

Margaret Dumont is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

[EDIT: Hmmmm! I've misremembered, it seems. Margaret Dumont wasn't in 'Monkey Business' a-tall. I feel foolish.

Still gorgeous, she is, deny it thou canst not. (*draws sharpened stake and drywall hammer*)

[EDIT2: Ah, I see. That's why I was confused. I remember her being in the bridge scene, but that's in 'Animal Crackers'. Silly me.

EDIT3: 'Disembarkation' always looks wrong to me. It seems like it should be 'disembark', and then 'disembarcation'. Just because of the rules of English spelling, right. Right.

[CaptHayfever]

30) Sonic the Hedgehog – B. Mostly enjoyable. Schwartz was miscast, but now we’re stuck with him for the sequel. Carrey crushed it.
31) Jojo Rabbit – A-. Absolutely brilliant.
32) Thunder Force – B. Surprisingly good character work. Slightly sloppy world-building.
33) My Cousin Vinny - A
34) Home Alone - B+
35) The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story - B+. Good level of detail in the history of the network, but kinda just cuts off abruptly with Laybourne's departure.
36) Finding You - C. A pretty good story about a musician trying to start her career & a pretty good story about an actor trying to end his career stitched together with a pretty bad romance.
37) Alice in Wonderland - A-

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[CaptHayfever]

38) Fantasia 2000 - A-. Bette Midler's segment is a mess, but otherwise this thing holds up as a worthy successor.
39) Eight Legged Freaks - B. David Arquette as a romantic hero is an inherently ludicrous idea, so the whole film leans into that, which is all the better.
40) The Help - A-

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[CaptHayfever]

41) Free Willy - B+
42) Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove - B-. Pretty toothless, bad CGI, & completely unconnected to the original.
43) The Thirteenth Year - C+. Fairly by-the-numbers mermaid-foundling tale.
44) A Very Murray Christmas - B+. Glad I watched it, but not aching to see it again.
45) The Secret Garden (2020) - B. Gorgeous design work, cinematography, & acting; very confusing geography & pacing.
46) A Very Potter Senior Year - A-
47) Pete's Dragon (1977) - B-
48) Raiders of the Lost Ark - A
49) Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom - B-
50) Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade - A-

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[CaptHayfever]

51) The Mummy (1959) - They *really* wanted people not to think too hard about how mummy curses work.
52) The House with a Clock in the Walls - B+. Jack Black & Cate Blanchett make a great comic duo.
53) Luca - B+. Utterly charming fun, & a nice palate cleanser for Pixar after the deep dives of Onward & Soul.
54) Insidious - B-
55) Kazaam - C+
56) Werewolves Within - A-. Hilarious, suspenseful, & only has a few jump scares early on.
57) In the Heights - A. Really powerful storytelling, lovely music, & creative filming.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Booyakasha]

So this afternoon I watched 'Luca' with the kids. It was really good.

Just watched 'Batman and Harley Quinn'. It's alright. About in the middle as Batmanimation goes. Kind of seems like they were testing the waters for the 'Harley Quinn' series. Couple good fight scenes (Nightwing v Harley and Harley v Ivy were both great), and there were a few really funny gags. Animation was a little cheap (FPS really crapped out a couple times), though, and I don't feel like I needed to see two full karaoke numbers in a Batman flick that topped out at seventy-four flippin minutes. Still, it was alright.

[Booyakasha]

Today I watched 'Raya and the Last Dragon' with the kids. It was lovely to look at, but pretty trite.

[Booyakasha]

I watched 'Miami Connection' for the first time just now, and I feel bad for laughing at it-----------it's genuinely enjoyable. It has its heart in the right place, even if its brain is a little abnormal and its accent is off the map.

It would make a real good double-feature with 'Turbo Kid', or 'Story of Ricky'.

[CaptHayfever]

58) Hocus Pocus - A-
59) Independence Day - A-
60) FairyTale: A True Story - B. Surprising cast, but I have the same problem here that I have with the true story: THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY PAPER CUTOUTS.
61) Black Widow - A-. Gripping spy thriller, intriguing action.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Booyakasha]

...so I rewatched 'Raya and the Last Dragon' without the kids crawling all over me, and quite frankly it eats.

Why doesn't Disney care any more? Like, this is sub-Disney home video standard. This feels like 'Cinderella II' or something, and that's pathetic.

I saw a song on 'Lazytown' last week that pumped me up. Flippin 'Lazytown'. Disney can't rise even to that standard these days. Scrublords.

[EDIT: ...I shouldn't dog 'Lazytown'. 'Lazytown' is rad, full-stop. "Never Say Never" is the coolest thing ever, and I shouldn't pretend otherwise. (That isn't even the awesome song I heard. 'Lazytown' just has a million bangers, I guess. I literally just looked up 'rad Lazytown song' on YouTube and that came up. I'm not the villain, here.)

[CaptHayfever]

62) Ouija: Origin of Evil - C-. It was fine at first, but then the jump scares started piling up & I had to bail.
63) Hot Fuzz - A-
64) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - B+
65) Crazy Rich Asians - A
66) Soul - A
67) While You Were Sleeping - C
68) A League of Their Own - A-
69) The Mummy (1999) - A-

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"