Best and Worst Films of 2023

2023 YEAR IN REVIEW

Movies I didn’t dislike in 2023:
 
Bad Things
Beaten to Death
Bury the Bride
The Conference
Dark Harvest
The Deep Web: Murdershow
Door Mouse
Eileen
Evil Dead Rise
The Holdovers
Infinity Pool
Kids vs. Aliens
Leave the World Behind
M3GAN (Unrated)
Missing
The Passenger
Saw X
Scream VI
Sisu
Strays
Susie Searches
Thanksgiving
The Third Saturday in October Part V
Us or Them
V/H/S/85
Zombie Town
 
Movies I disliked in 2023:
 
Alone at Night
American Cherry
Asteroid City*
Bliss of Evil
Clock
Cocaine Shark*
Disquiet
Family Switch
Fear
Final Summer
Fingernails
Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism
Good Burger 2
House Party
Insidious: The Red Door
The Killer
Killer Kites
Lockdown Tower
Marlowe
Monsters of California
Mummies
The New Hands
The Ritual Killer
River Wild
Saltburn
Sanctuary
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Transfusion
Woman of the Photographs
 
TV Shows I didn’t dislike in 2023:
 
The Bear (Season Two) (Hulu)
Black Mirror (Season Six) (Netflix)
Chucky (Season Three, Part One)
Crazy Fun Park (Season One)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 16)
Jury Duty (Season One) (Freevee)
Reservation Dogs (Season Three) (Hulu)
School Spirits (Season One) (Paramount+)
Twisted Metal (Season One) (Peacock)
 
TV Shows I disliked in 2023:
 
American Horror Stories (Season Three) (Hulu)
The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)
Fatal Attraction (Season One) (Paramount+)
Florida Man (Netflix)
The Last Thing He Told Me (Apple+)
A Murder at the End of the World (Hulu)
You (Season Four) (Netflix)
 
Other superlatives:
Coolest Title(s):  Doll Shark; Killer Kites; Night of the Killer Bears
Good-but-not-as-much-as-the-hype:  No One Will Save You
Not-as-bad-as-they-said:  Five Nights at Freddy’s; Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Biggest Disappointment(s):  The Boogeyman; Elemental; Slotherhouse; Talk to Me; There’s Something Wrong with the Children
Most Disappointing TV Show(s):  Fright Krewe (Season One); From (Season Two); Goosebumps (Season One)
Most Overrated:  Barbie; The Fall of the House of Usher; The Killer; Renfield; Talk to Me; When Evil Lurks
Most Unnecessary Sequels/Prequels:  Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget; The Exorcist: Believer; Good Burger 2; Insidious: The Red Door; Meg 2: The Trench; Pet Sematary: Bloodlines; 10/31 Part III
Worthy Sequels/Prequels:  Evil Dead Rise; Saw X; Scream VI; V/H/S/85
Most Unnecessary Remakes/Re-imaginings/Spinoffs:  Fatal Attraction (Season One); Haunted Mansion; House Party; Peter Pan & Wendy; River Wild; The Super Mario Bros. Movie; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; White Men Can’t Jump
Worthy Remakes/Re-imaginings/Spinoffs:  Children of the Corn
Best Anthology Film:  V/H/S/85
Best Anthology TV:  Black Mirror (Season Six)
Best Documentary:  I Wanna Rock: The 80s Metal Dream
Most Disappointing Documentary:  Satan Wants You
Best TV Special:  South Park (Not Suitable for Children)
Best Comeback:  Eli Roth (Thanksgiving)
Most Anticipated in 2024:  Maxxxine
 
Commentary:  I’m not even going to begin with saying another year, another not-so-great year for movies (oh wait), because as long as movies are made, I’m going to watch them.  I could, of course, just stop watching modern movies and simply stick to ones I know I like, but (as I know I’ve said before) there’s always that undeniable thrill of watching something for the first time, especially if anticipated.  I haven’t made a top ten list since 2018, rather just listing movies I didn’t dislike or did dislike; it’s much easier that way considering not much grand has been released for years.  Of the movies I didn’t dislike this year, I can’t say any one of them truly stood out as being the best (they should just be lucky they even made it on to that list).  I included Dark Harvest on my list of movies I didn’t dislike, even though I wasn’t entirely impressed with it (it being my most anticipated feature of last year), but I have a feeling it will age better over time.  I put down Children of the Corn as a worthy remake/re-imagining/spinoff only because it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be; it wasn’t a great movie by any means.  I didn’t include Knock at the Cabin or Cocaine Bear anywhere, both being good-not-great, the former good until the anticlimactic ending, and the latter may or may not age better (I thought it was just decent for now).  And I made sure to indicate the unrated version of M3GAN is on the list since the few scenes of violence did make it a bit better than the rated one.  Bad movies will, unfortunately, always be aplenty, Asteroid City and Cocaine Shark topping that list for me this year (the latter was expected to be awful though, while the former is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen despite so much talent involved).  I put Good Burger 2 down as an unnecessary sequel, but I thought the first one was unnecessary, thinking it was the worst movie I ever saw back when it came out in the Nineties.  I put down Maxxxine as the most anticipated feature of 2024 only because I did grow quite fond of Ti West’s trilogy that began with X and Pearl; I am curious to see how the Eighties-set tertiary flick will pair up.  Of course I do want to see other movies coming out as well, some of them sequels, such as Beetlejuice 2, Terrifier 3, Twisters, and Inside Out 2, in addition to Imaginary and the Salem’s Lot remake that was supposed to come out last year but currently has no release date.  As for TV, I am looking forward to season three of The Bear as I did grow quite fond of the series (like many others), and the newest season of True Detective when I get around to it, plus the second season of Wednesday if it’s actually going to be released (sounds like it might be next year though), and I’ll check out the second part of the third season of Chucky (the first half was good, even though I’d watch it anyway); I’ll likely check out that Crystal Lake series slated for Peacock too, but that currently doesn’t have a release date either.  I did stop watching two shows last year and sort of feel proud of myself for it (Bodies is one show I forced myself to finish, as was season four of You---but I made it that far in the series), those shows being Cruel Summer (season two) and Slasher: Ripper, both of which I watched the previous seasons for!  Now, if only my OCD would allow me to stop watching movies I lose interest in (even though they’re easier to finish in one sitting).  So, agree or disagree with me, here’s to another year.  Regardless, thanks for reading, this or any of my blogs!  1/28/2024

---Sean O.

Best and Worst Films of 2022

2022 YEAR IN REVIEW

Movies I didn’t dislike in 2022:

Beast

Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe

The Black Phone

Blood Relatives

Bones and All

Bros

The Cellar

Christmas Bloody Christmas

Clerks III

Deadstream

Glorious

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

The Harbinger (dir. Andy Mitton)

The House

The Long Night

Men

Metal Lords

Nanny

The Retaliators

Significant Other

Slash/Back

Snapper:  The Man-Eating Turtle Movie That Never Got Made

Speak No Evil*

Spirit Halloween:  The Movie

Terrifier 2

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

They/Them

Torn Hearts

V/H/S/99

Violent Night

Wendell & Wild

What Josiah Saw

Movies I disliked in 2022:

Allegoria

Ambulance

The Batman

Bodies Bodies Bodies

Cosmic Dawn

The Cottage

Croc!

Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2

Dig

Firestarter

The Friendship Game

The Good Nurse

Hatching

Hellraiser

Incantation

Jeepers Creepers:  Reborn

The Killing Tree

The Last Thing Mary Saw

Lightyear

Mickey Saves Christmas

Mid-Century

Mistletoe Time Machine

The Munsters

Mystery Spot

Resurrection

Sin Eater

Spooky+

The Stepmother

Stoker Hills

Tár

Tow

Where the Scary Things Are

TV Shows I didn’t dislike in 2022:

The Bear (Season One) (Hulu)

Dahmer – Monster:  The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix)

High School (Season One) (Freevee)*

Reservation Dogs (Season Two) (Hulu)

Stranger Things (Season Four) (Netflix)

Wednesday (Season One) (Netflix)*

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window (Netflix)

TV Shows I disliked in 2022:

Are You Afraid of the Dark?:  Ghost Island

Dark Winds (Season One) (AMC)

Jurassic World:  Camp Cretaceous (Season Five) (Netflix)

Pieces of Her (Season One) (Netflix)

The Resort (Season One) (Peacock)

Other superlatives:

Coolest Title(s):  Nutcracker Massacre; Studio 666

Good-but-not-as-much-as-the-hype:  Nope; Pearl; Watcher

Not-as-bad-as-they-said:  Halloween Ends

Biggest Disappointment(s):  Crabs!; The Innocents; Jurassic World: Dominion; My Best Friend’s Exorcism

Movies-that-were-better-the-second-time:  The Black Phone; X

Most Disappointing TV Show(s):  Paper Girls (Season One)

Most Overrated:  Barbarian; Sissy; Smile; Tár

Most Unnecessary Sequels/Prequels:  Bring It On: Cheer or Die; Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2; Jeepers Creepers: Reborn; Orphan: First Kill; Terror Train 2; Wyrmwood: Apocalypse

Worthy Sequels/Prequels:  Clerks III; Jackass Forever; The Reef: Stalked; Terrifier 2; Texas Chainsaw Massacre; V/H/S/99

Most Unnecessary Remakes/Re-imaginings/Spinoffs: The Batman; Firestarter; Goodnight Mommy; Hellraiser; Lightyear; The Munsters; Terror Train

Worthy Remakes/Re-imaginings/Spinoffs:  Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Wednesday (Season One)

Best Anthology Film:  V/H/S/99

Worst Anthology Film:  Spooky+

Best Documentary:  Snapper:  The Man-Eating Turtle Movie That Never Got Made

Most Disappointing Documentary:  Pennywise: The Story of IT

Best Fan Film:  The Sawyer Massacre

Best Concert Film:  South Park: The 25^th Anniversary Concert

Best Performance:  Jenna Ortega (Wednesday)

Best Comebacks:  Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe; Kevin Smith (Clerks III); Tim Burton (Wednesday)

Most Anticipated in 2023:  Dark Harvest

Commentary:  Another year, another not-so-great year of movies.  I don’t know.  Maybe I’ve just seen too many movies and it’s hard to be original anymore?  I know, I know, as I always say, and needless to say, criticism is subjective and everyone is their own critic.  I never fully agreed with the Oscars (case in point:  Tár is up for six nominations and it made my dislike list).  As much as I always complain about how modern movies suck, I’m still going to watch them, review them, and rate them as long as they keep being made.  Needless to say, you never know your opinion until you check it out, right?  Sometimes it’s just as enjoyable penning a negative review as a positive one.  Perhaps I might like more movies if I learned to lower expectations as much as I anticipate a title?  And, like I said in past commentaries, sometimes movies are better the second time, or just over time period.  I made a new category for that under the superlatives.  Yes, X was much better the second time I revisited it not long after watching its prequel, Pearl (you’ll see I didn’t give it too good of a review here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2022/05/x.html).  Pearl, on the other hand, was still just okay when I watched it a second time (I do think they make good companion pieces though).  Now, it may appear I liked a lot of movies this year based on my list, but it simply states ‘Movies I didn’t dislike in 2022.’  If I like a modern movie even just a little bit, I’m sort of going to praise it.  If I had to pick though, I will have to say the best of 2022 for me was probably Speak No Evil, a foreign movie with a title as generic as they come.  As for the worst?  Any title making that list deserves the dishonor!  In my year-end review of 2019, I stated three of my favorite filmmakers (Tim Burton, Kevin Smith, and Quentin Tarantino) needed comebacks, and at least two of them accomplished that this year (your turn, Mr. Tarantino!).  Here’s to 2023, good or bad…I guess.  I am the most curious to see the adaptation of Dark Harvest (a book I enjoyed) which is supposed to come out this year, but Evil Dead Rise was supposed to come out last year instead of this one.  Sure, there are other releases planned for 2023 I’m curious about, such as Cocaine Bear, 65, that Winnie the Pooh horror flick (Blood and Honey), and the King adaptations/updates of The Boogeyman and Salem’s Lot, but I’m not super excited for any of them.  Whatever...1/30/2023

---Sean O.

2/15/2023

Best and Worst Films of 2021

2021 YEAR IN REVIEW

Movies I liked in 2021:

Below the Fold
The Deep House
Fear Street Part One:  1994
Jakob’s Wife
Last Night in Soho
Luca
Meander
The Retreat
Silent Night
Slaxx
Slumber Party Massacre
The Stylist
 
Movies in 2021 I feel will get better with time:
 
Autumn Road
Honeydew
The Night
Night at the Eagle Inn
The Night House
Werewolves Within
Willy’s Wonderland
 
Movies I disliked in 2021:
 
The Alpines
The Amityville Scarecrow
Apex Predators
The Banishing
Don’t Look Up
Dune
The 8^th Night
Fever Dream
First Date
The French Dispatch
Fried Barry
The Green Knight
Hypnotic
The Legend of Fall Creek
Locked In
Lucky
The Nest (dir. James Settles)
The Penthouse
Pig
Prisoners of the Ghostland
Road Head
‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas
The Unholy
Virus Shark
Voyagers
The Woman in the Window
Zola
 
TV Shows I liked in 2021:
 
AlRawabi School for Girls (Netflix)
Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Curse of the Shadows
Calls (Apple+)
Elves (Netflix)
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (season three)
Midnight Mass (Netflix)
Reservation Dogs (Hulu)
Secrets of Sulphur Springs (Disney+)
 
TV Show in 2021 I feel will get better with time:
 
Chucky (season one)
 
TV Shows I disliked in 2021:
 
Brand New Cherry Flavor (Netflix)
The Chestnut Man (Netflix)
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Jurassic World:  Camp Cretaceous (season two and four)
Just Beyond (Disney+)
 
Other superlatives:
Coolest Title(s):  Death Rink; Sharks of the Corn
Good-but-not-as-much-as-the-hype:  Raya and the Last Dragon; Squid Game (season one)
Not-as-bad-as-they-said:  Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin
Biggest Disappointment(s):  Benny Loves You; Fear Street Part Two: 1978; Ghostbusters: Afterlife;             Nightmare Alley
Most Disappointing TV Show(s):  Creepshow (season two); Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (season        two and four); Just Beyond (season one); Servant (season two)
Most Overrated:  The Mitchells vs. the Machines; Pig; PG: Psycho Goreman
Most Unnecessary Sequels:  The Addams Family 2; Don’t Breathe 2; The Forever Purge; Nobody                Sleeps in the Woods Tonight II; Spiral (From the Book of Saw)
Worthy Sequels:  Candyman; Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin
Most Unnecessary Remakes/Re-imaginings:  Dune; He’s All That; Nightmare Alley; Tom & Jerry
Worthy Remakes/Re-imaginings:  Night of the Animated Dead; Slumber Party Massacre;                             Wrong Turn
Best Anthology Film:  Bad Candy
Worst Anthology Film:  The French Dispatch
Best Documentary:  Clerk.
Worst Documentary:  ‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas
Most Anticipated in 2022:  Film---Clerks III; Evil Dead Rise; Jurassic World: Dominion.                              TV---Wednesday
 
Commentary:  Movies suck nowadays.  Period.  I don’t know how many times I have to stress that every year I make these lists.  But you know what?  I thought of something not that long ago.  Sometimes movies age better.  There have been movies I wasn’t so crazy about the first time, but liked better a second time.  There have also been instances where I liked a movie the first time, but wasn’t so crazy about it the second time.  So I’m wondering if best-of lists need to be put on hold for a year or so?  Perusing through my year-end lists I’ve noticed movies that didn’t make my best list but would most definitely make it had I made the list later.  Believe it or not, some of the titles on my worst lists weren’t so bad over time; some, not many.  I didn’t love films like High Tension, Trick ‘r Treat, Let the Right One In, and Paranorman the first time I saw them, but eventually they became some of my favorite films, at least in their subgenres.  So, I don’t know, perhaps I’ll feel differently about these titles I picked later on, or I’ll wish I included other titles?  Sometimes I wonder if the films I claim to love from the past are partially due to nostalgia.  Some films I loved the first time and still love to this day, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Evil Dead, and Black Christmas, to name a few (I hope I don’t need to verify that I’m talking about the originals for all those titles, thank you).  Opinions change and criticism will always be subjective (as I always needlessly say).  It is nice to hear other opinions though and my opinions have changed sometimes due to hearing others and thinking of the film differently.  That’s why I made a list of titles this year that I think might age better.  As with the last couple years, I also just listed the best and worst titles alphabetically instead of numbering them since I don’t really know how to list either one in descending order; some better than others and some worse than others, of course.  You can always read my reviews at http://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/, and check out the ratings only at https://myfilmratings.blogspot.com/2019/02/my-film-ratings-in-alphabetical-order.html (under the ‘About Me’ section you can also click on ‘View My Complete Profile’ to check out all my blogs).  Unsurprisingly, and unfortunately, the movies I disliked far outnumbered the movies I did like (which I didn’t really love any of them; at least not yet).  I also included lists for best and worst TV shows for the first time since I watched a lot of them last year and couldn’t really choose a favorite and least favorite one.  Well, I hate to sound like a broken record, and a bit pessimistic, but I’m not looking forward to 2022 being a spectacular year for film (or TV), but, as long as movies and shows continue being released, I’ll keep watching.  Perhaps I should start making updated lists every year now too…2/7/2022

---Sean O.

2/8/2022

Best/Worst Films of 2021...so far

Movies I liked in 2021 (so far):

Fear Street Part One:  1994

Jakob’s Wife

Luca*

Meander

Slaxx

The Stylist*

Movies I kind of liked in 2021 (so far):

The Night

Willy’s Wonderland

Movies I disliked in 2021 (so far):

The Banishing

The 8^th Night*

Fried Barry*

Lucky

The Nest

Oxygen

The Penthouse

Voyagers

The Woman in the Window

Other Superlatives:

Good-but-not-as-much-as-the-hype:  Raya and the Last Dragon

Biggest Disappointment:  Fear Street Part Two:  1978

Most Unnecessary Remake:  Tom & Jerry

Actually Worthy Remake/Re-imagining:  Wrong Turn

Most Overrated:  The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Best TV Show(s):  Calls; Jurassic World:  Camp Cretaceous (Season Three)

Most Disappointing TV Show(s):  Creepshow (Season Two); Jurassic World:  Camp Cretaceous (Season Two); Servant (Season Two)

Commentary:  I know 2021 is a little more than halfway over, but whatever.  I’m not going to complain about the lack of good movies anymore, because it’s what I pretty much have come to expect from here on out.  I hate to sound like a close-minded codger, but they just don’t make movies like they used to anymore.  I still try to be open-minded though and watch new movies hoping some of them, if not most of them, will be worthy.  As I’ve done for at least the past two years, I don’t even list them in order from greatest to least greatest or worst to least worst anymore, I just list them alphabetically, and I don’t even try to limit it to just ten, if I even have that many titles to choose from.  The movies I picked for the best so far weren’t even that great, Luca and The Stylist probably being the best of the bunch, but I liked them enough to include them; yes, I did enjoy that movie about killer pants more than I thought I would.  The 8^th Night and Fried Barry are probably the worst of the worst bunch.  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Calls, it consisting solely of words displayed on the screen, enough to give it the best TV show honor, in addition to season three of Camp Cretaceous, which was a big improvement over season two (it seems like season two for at least three shows didn’t work out so far this year).  Well, there’s a little less than half the year left for good movies/shows to be released, but, like always, I’m not keeping my hopes up…I’ve been letdown too many times…7/21/2021

Best and Worst Films of 2020

2020 YEAR IN REVIEW

Movies I liked in 2020:

 

Alien Xmas

The Beach House*

Books of Blood

Color Out of Space

The Hunt

Sea Fever

Soul

Spontaneous

Vampires vs. the Bronx

The Vast of Night

The Wolf of Snow Hollow

You Don’t Nomi 

Movies I disliked in 2020:

The Amityville Harvest

Amulet

The Bay of Silence

The Binding

Carrion

Clownface

Evil Eye

Greener Grass

The Grudge

The Haunting of Margam Castle

The Night Clerk

Nocturne

Outback

Parallel

Retaliation

Scoob!

She Dies Tomorrow*

Souvenirs

The Turning

Underwater

0.0  MHz 

Other Superlatives:

Coolest Title(s):  Alien Xmas

Good-but-not-as-much-as-the-hype:  Wolfwalkers

Not-as-bad-as-they-said:  Antebellum; Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island

Biggest Disappointment(s):  Koko-di Koko-da; The Lodge; VFW; Welcome to the                            Blumhouse (series)

Most Unnecessary Sequel(s):  The Babysitter: Killer Queen; Black Water: Abyss; Deep Blue Sea 3;     Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula

Actually Worthy Sequel(s):  Bill & Ted Face the Music; Tremors: Shrieker Island

Most Unnecessary Remake(s):  The Grudge; The Invisible Man; The Turning; The Witches

Actually Worthy Remake(s):  Color Out of Space

Most Overrated:  His House; Host (Shudder)

Best Documentary:  You Don’t Nomi

Best TV Show(s):  The Haunting of Bly Manor; Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (season one); The     Woods (season one)

Most Disappointing TV Show(s):  The Outsider (season one)

Worst TV Show(s):  Ju-On: Origins (season one)

Most Overrated TV Show(s):  Outer Banks (season one)

Best Comeback:  Bill & Ted Face the Music

Needs a Comeback:  Good movies!

Most Anticipated in 2021:  Fear Street Trilogy

Commentary:  Well, another year down and another shitty year for movies.  2020 was not a good year for a lot of things, good movies being one, although an abundance of good movies hasn’t existed for years now.  Bad movies, on the other hand, will always be in abundance, or even movies that are just okay.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Roger Ebert (R.I.P.) once said that “life is too short to see movies that are just okay.”  As you can see, I didn’t make a top ten list for best and worst films like I also did last year for the first time.  There just aren’t enough good movies to compile from greatest to least greatest, and even though there will always be much more on the worst list (unfortunately), sometimes it’s hard even determining which of those to list in order.  Therefore, I simply listed which movies I liked and disliked in alphabetical order again.  If I had to pick from each list though, I would say The Beach House, originally a Shudder exclusive (you can purchase the DVD now), was the best movie I saw last year, and She Dies Tomorrow would have to win for the worst (it was also one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen!).  I only included The Wolf of Snow Hollow and Vampires vs. the Bronx on my best list, because the former was a different kind of werewolf film, even though, SPOILER, it wasn’t really a werewolf film at all, and the latter because it contained vampires of the more traditional variety, which proves I didn’t have much to include on my “best list” this year.  I included Books of Blood because it was an anthology movie containing segments that were all worthy enough (something rare for such films).  I always wait until around this time to compile and post this list just so I can watch more films that are released on video (a.k.a. DVD/Blu-ray/streaming/etc.) in January or early February.  Plus, the Oscars and Golden Globes and whatever other award shows aren’t aired until around this time either!  Unfortunately, I’ll likely see films released from here on out that I wish could’ve been included on at least the best list, but, I know, I can always come back and make adjustments.  Superlatives were added again because they’re always fun to make and read and include films that might not have made either list; plus TV shows are included (I don’t watch enough TV shows during the year to make a separate list for that).  Well, I would say let’s hope for a good year in film for 2021, but the last couple years haven’t been giving me much hope.  I always say I should just re-watch movies I know I like instead of most new ones, but there’s always that undeniable thrill of watching a movie for the first time and possibly discovering a premature classic (subjective or otherwise).  So, I’ll keep watching new movies (hopefully I’ll see some on the big screen again too after the spread of certain viruses completely dissipates), but won’t expect much good to be released.  Prove me wrong filmmakers…2/14/2021

---Sean O.

2/16/2021

Best/Worst Films of 2020...so far

Best of 2020 (so far):

Color Out of Space

The Hunt

Sea Fever

The Vast of Night

You Don’t Nomi

Worst of 2020 (so far):

The Grudge

The Night Clerk

Outback

The Turning

Underwater

Other Superlatives:

Good-but-not-as-much-as-the-hype:  Da 5 Bloods; Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness

Not-as-bad-as-they-said:  Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island

Biggest Disappointment(s):  The Jack in the Box; The Lodge; VFW

Most Unnecessary Remake(s):  The Grudge; The Invisible Man; The Turning

Most Overrated:  The Half of It; The Invisible Man

Best Documentary:  You Don’t Nomi

Best TV Show(s):  The Woods (season one)

Most Overrated TV Show(s):  Outer Banks (season one)

Most Disappointing TV Show(s):  The Outsider (season one)

Commentary:  Well, half the year is over and I haven’t seen that many movies.  Of course this year has been a bit different than others.  The movies I have seen haven’t been excellent, like the last couple years it seems, and the ones I listed as the best so far weren’t even entirely spectacular, but I did like them enough to include them on the list.  I only listed 5 for each given that the year is half over and 5 is half of the normal 10 for the entire year (even though my list for last year was a bit different).  I listed both sets alphabetically as I’m not entirely sure where any would stand on a best to worst ranking, although I think The Grudge remake (the second one!) would surely be the worst so far.  I listed some superlatives (as you can see) as well, because why not?  I hope the rest of the year somehow gets better with movies, but I’m not counting on it…7/1/2020

---Sean O.
7/1/2020

Best and Worst Films of 2019

2019 YEAR IN REVIEW

Movies I liked in 2019:

Antrum:  The Deadliest Film Ever Made

Brightburn

Child’s Play

Climax

Eli

Everfall

47 Meters Down: Uncaged

Greta

Joker

Klaus

Nightmare Cinema

Parasite

Ready or Not

You Might Be the Killer

Movies I disliked in 2019:

Among the Shadows

Captive State

Clownado

Crypto

Dumbo

The Fanatic

Hellboy

Isabelle

Isn’t It Romantic

The Lion King

Lucky Day

Mayday

Play or Die

Polaroid

A Score to Settle

Under the Silver Lake

Velvet Buzzsaw

Other Superlatives:

Coolest Title(s):  Candy Corn

Good-but-not-as-much-as-the-hype:  Midsommar; Us

Not-as-bad-as-they-said:  Serenity

Biggest Disappointment(s):  Clown Motel; Dumbo; Jay and Silent Bob Reboot; Once                    Upon a Time in Hollywood

Most Unnecessary Sequel(s):  Frozen II; How High 2; Jay and Silent Bob Reboot;                         Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island; 3 From Hell; Toy Story 4

Actually Worthy Sequel(s):  Annabelle Comes Home; A Dog’s Journey; 47 Meters Down: Uncaged; Zombieland: Double Tap

Most Unnecessary Remake(s):  All the live-action Disney movies; Black Christmas; Hellboy; It: Chapter Two; Pet Sematary

Actually Worthy Remake(s):  Child’s Play

Most Overrated:  Booksmart; Hustlers; The Irishman; The Lighthouse

Best Documentary:  Hail Satan?

Best Biopic:  The Dirt

Best TV Show(s):  Creepshow: Season One; Stranger Things: Season Three

Most Disappointing TV Show(s):  Are You Afraid of the Dark?; Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Part 2

Worst Performance:  John Travolta (The Fanatic)

Best Comeback:  Leprechaun Returns

Needs a Comeback:  Kevin Smith; Quentin Tarantino; Tim Burton

Commentary:  What can I tell you?  Movies just keep sucking and sucking and sucking as the years go on (at least I think so).  I don’t have much faith in movies made from here on out, even though good ones are still being made, but it seems like the bad ones keep winning in large numbers.  As you can see, I didn’t make a top ten for best and worst with honorable and dishonorable mentions as I’ve done in the past; instead, I alphabetically listed movies I liked and disliked more than others.  The last couple years it seemed I put the majority of titles in random order just to have a top ten for both.  I can’t truly say that any of the movies on my “best” list this year stood out as #1 despite some being good; as for the worst, I could probably say Among the Shadows and The Fanatic take those prizes, but I wanted to format both lists similarly.  I still made a superlative list because those are always fun (to make and read) and often seem easier to do than the best and worst lists.  As you can see, I think three of my favorite filmmakers (Tim Burton, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino) made bombs last year, and I ended up being a fan of the movie I badmouthed immensely before its release (Child’s Play), it being a whole lot better than it had any right to be (many agree with me too).  Speaking of remakes, 2019 proved live-action Disney remakes are unnecessary (in addition to remakes in general), and sequels are always going to be hit and miss, usually miss, with two disappointing entries, again, coming from Disney (Frozen II and Toy Story 4).  Well, agree or disagree with me (everyone is their own critic as I always say), these were my best and worst films of 2019.  Below, I also made a best of list from the previous decade since I saw others were doing it, and I probably missed a few titles that I’ll likely recall as time goes on, but I digged deep and these 20 were the ones that bubbled to the surface.  I didn’t make a worst of the decade list because that was a lot harder to compile being there were way too many.  Anyway, here’s to hoping 2020 will be a better year for films, but I say that every year and it hasn’t happened in a while, so whatever…2/4/2020

Best of the Decade (2010-2019):

Annihilation

Attack the Block

The Belko Experiment

Black Swan

Burning Bright

The Cabin in the Woods

Clown

Frankenweenie

The Guest

Honeymoon

Inside Out

It Follows

John Dies at the End

Jurassic World

Krampus

Kubo and the Two Strings

The Loved Ones

Paranorman

Prisoners

The Shallows

---Sean O.
2/4/2020