My Top 10 Movies for 2023 plus some special mentions at the end.
Top Movies 2022
I did watch more but could not think of anything to put at 10 I am just keeping this list to 9. There was a bunch of stuff I missed and not that the other stuff was bad of anything I just did not think they had a place on the top 10.
Spiderman Far From Home Review
I feel like I don’t have much to day about Spiderman Far from home other than it was good I really enjoyed it. It is a bit janky at times with the number of locations but everything else clicked really well. Loved the mysterio scenes and yep those end credits scenes are something.
Toy Story 4 Review
Toy story is a very interesting franchise, the first movie is a landmark film being the first Pixar movie, catapulting them to prominence, the first fully computer animated movie it was even nominated for a few Oscars. Then you have the sequel, Pixar's first sequel and another critical darling. It seemed like that was it and Pixar seemed to have moved on then 10 years later you get Toy Story 3, critical darling, nominated for a ton of awards and seemingly the end of a trilogy. If you grew up with Toy Story like myself then the initial 3 movies have seemingly played out in real time, Toy Story 3 came out during my first year of University and it really resonated with me. So when toy Story 4 was announced I really did not know what to expect. There were some loose ends namely Bo Peep but overall I felt 3 was a very satisfactory ending. The good news is Toy Story 4 is a really good movie.
Forky and Woody
Toy Story 4 picks up a few months or possibly a year so after the conclusion of toy Story 4. Andy's Toys are enjoying their new life with Bonnie though Woody is having a bit of a hard time adjusting isn't really over loosing Andy. During the course of the movie Bonnie creates Forky a toy make of a Spork and the Toys find themselves on a road trip visiting a small town with a carnival, Forky gets Lost, Woody goes after him and shenanigans ensue. Its at this town where we see the return of Bo Peep. We get a flash back to Bo Peeps departure and while sad it isn't the first 10 mins of UP. Toy Story 4 asks some big questions especially about the nature of living Toys though it does not really go too deep. At its core its Woody's story as he learns to deal with his new place in the world while also being offered an alternative with the return of Bo Peep.
Most of the original cast return, though unfortunately due to some of the cast dying over the years Andy's toys are somewhat sidelined in this movie in favor of the new comer toys found in the town. Standout newcomer is Tony hale's Forky who has some of that Buster DNA. Apart from that Tom hanks is good as always, Annie Potts as Bo Beep gets a greatly expanded role and while Tim Allen's Buzz is good he kind of gets sidelined a bit with a bit of weird side story. Christina Hendricks as Gabby Gabby is the main villain though refreshingly things are a bit more grey in this movie. Key and Peele are in the movie with a pretty funny Gimmick and Keanu Reeves is in this because 2019 is the year of Keanu.
RTX On
Toy Story 4 is much more of an Adventure movie similar to the first 2 as opposed to 3 which ended up being partially a heist movie. The setting is quite cool especially the carnival which is very visually interesting and creates all those specular highlights you see on the posters/marketing material. The antiques shop is also quite cool with a lot of interesting things are you may expect. The movie does not look too different from three aside from the specular highlights.
Overall Toy Story 4 is a very good movie, it’s a fitting end/epilogue to the Toy Story "Story" for now and is much better than it deserves to be. Personally I feel Toy Story 3 is a better, more final, more poignant ending. 3 was an ending for the Toys, for Andy and even the Sid cameo gave more finality for it. For me Toy Story 4 plays out more like an epilogue mostly for Woody. But it’s a damn good epilogue. I can't see any new Toy Story movies coming out for the foreseeable future but you never know with the House of Mouse. Maybe we get post-apocalyptic Toy Story 2077 in the future but as it stands it’s a good ending, maybe not as good as Toy Story 3 but good nonetheless.
8/10
Glass (2019) Review
Short Version
Glass starts off pretty promising continuing both the stories of Split and Unbreakable but cracks start to show as the movie progresses with one particular character's behavior being very off. James McAvoy is the MVP once again with all the personalities of the horde but it's nice to see Bruce Willis back, Sam Jackson is pretty good once he finally shows up in the movie and my personal favorite would be David Dunn's son who is played by the same actor as in Unbreakable. The action is decent though depending if you care or notice how the budget may have limited the number of locations and when Bruce Willis is using a stunt double. Despite the movie being called Glass, Mr. Glass himself is largely absent till midway through the movie. The ending is understandable but is quite unsatisfying and the very end scene is a bit strange.
Top 10 Movies 2018
I have been neglecting this blog for a while but for 2019 hoping to post more often and more consistently. So to start things off here is my top 10 for 2018, I did not catch every movie so there are quite a few omissions but maybe I'll post about some of those omitted movies when I get to them.
Ocean's 8 Review
I'm actually not super familiar with the Ocean's Franchise outside of seeing Oceans 11 on TV when I was younger. I never saw the sequels but from what I have heard they are decent and the fact that a trilogy was made implies that the oceans franchise was fairly popular. Fast forward to 2018 and we have Oceans 8 a sequel/reboot though mostly a sequel. Now I am definitely not in the target market for this but I enjoy a good heist movie and with the trailers being alright I thought there could be some potential here.
Solo: A Star Wars Story Review
I’m pickin’ up my blaster
Put it on my side
I’m jumpin’ in my Falcon
Wookie at my side
My initial expectations for Solo a Star Wars Story were quite low, after hearing about the troubled production and not being the most exciting things in the world. Then the early reviews started rolling in and they were mostly positive though there were a few saying that it was generic. So going in I expected at least a well-made movie with my biggest fears being that this would just be a by the book and uninspired. Turns out the movie is pretty good, its very solid for the most part but by the end does leave you wanting. The comparison I would give would be Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest aka the second one. I thought Dead Man's chest was a solid movie again not the best but for anyone who has seen the movie it definitely leaves you wanting.
Ready Player One Review
If you were deciding between Ready player One, Tomb Raider or Pacific Rim Uprising, RP1 is definitely the one to see. It won't be remembered as one of Spielberg's better movies but it's still good, and seemingly a big improvement over the source material.
IT (2017) Review
IT (2017) is a horror movie based on the Stephen Kings 1986 novel IT, notably IT was also adapted into a miniseries in the 90s starring Tim Curry. While the novel and miniseries alternate between the main characters childhood past and present adulthood, IT 2017 focuses solely on the main characters as kids.