Somewhere back when, I used to talk about movies on this blog. I thought I might take a look at the box office winners this year to see what I have seen and give you some of my thoughts... I went down as far as 25!
1. Captain America: Civil War - Did exactly what it needed to do. Wish that we could have seen the movie without the "civil war" that was PROBABLY planned BEFORE they got RDJ involved.
2. Finding Dory - Not a bad sequel, but really added nothing to the overall appeal of a much better predecessor.
3. Zootopia - One of the gems of the year. This will be rewatched if not rehashed with the eventual sequel.
4. The Jungle Book (2016) - Sorry, I could NOT get past the CGI backgrounds. I don't care what people say, the animal effects were largely ok, but I could never see past the GREEN SCREEN on this one. And a sequel?
5. The Secret Life of Pets - STILL HAVE NOT SEEN. Good or bad?
6. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Edit about 45 minutes and this could have been a "good" movie. There are admirable parts, but the whole is dragged down by some silly ideas.
7. Deadpool - The most rewatchable movie in the last five years. Hilarious, actiony. Hopefully, original.
8. Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them - I'm surprised I'm this far and have only NOT seen one of these. This Harry Potter retread was fun, but unless you are a true fan, it just does not have enough of the magic of the Potterverse to warrant caring about.
9. Suicide Squad - Sadly, over-edited by the studio, but still insanely (literally) servicable movie that did what it needed to do. Like or hate, there is more likely to be more SS than Superman in the immediate movie future.
10. Doctor Strange - Cumberbatch proves that he can carry this film. Slides magic into the Marvel movie universe in a believable way.
11. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Heart-breakingly good. CGI issues aside, which I did not care about, the story carries straight into the next one and works. Best use of Darth Vader EVER.
12. The Mermaid (Mei ren yu) - Heard of this Chinese movie. Wonder if I can Netflix? Hey, it's on Starz!
13. X-Men: Apocalypse - I can't believe how much Singer crapped the bed after earning the good will back on DOFP. Only Jungle Book had more green screen this year.
14. Kung Fu Panda 3 - still haven't seen.
15. Warcraft - Could not pay me to watch.
16. Jason Bourne - I wanted to see, but once the movie opened and got trashed, I stayed away.
17. Ice Age: Collision Course - they will keep making these until Ray Romano is dead. They add just enough to keep interest and not bringing them out TOO often.
18. Independence Day: Resurgence - still haven't seen, but based on word of mouth, there is reason to believe I won't ever see.
19. Monster Hunt - Saw this described as the biggest movie that North America has never heard of. I remember seeing the trailer, but this Chinese import never broke through.
20. The Legend of Tarzan - still haven't seen, but have hopes considering it was by David Yates.
21. The Angry Birds Movie - see Warcraft.
22. Moana - Can't believe that I have not seen this one yet. 23. Star Trek Beyond - Still have not seen, but want to.
24. Now You See Me 2 - Might watch if it comes on TBS.
25. Trolls - Sorry Justin, but I have no interest.
So I've seen at least half of the top 25 movies of 2016. Seven of them were made/produced by Disney and of those 6 are in the top 11. Wow.