36. Broken City

36. Broken City
Rated: R
Released: 2013
Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Format Watched in: In Theaters

I don't know why I watch thrillers anymore.  I think it's all in the trailer that gets me.  I sit there and I think the movie is full of excitement and intrigue and I get excited to see it.  Then the movie comes out and I keep waiting for those exciting moments that I saw in the trailer to come and low and behold they show up at the end of the movie and everything has been ruined from beginning to end.  Oh sure with Broken City they left out one small twist, except if you are paying attention to the movie you absolutely know what it is before it's revealed.  I liked Wahlberg and I enjoyed Barry Pepper, but aside from that it just felt empty and the ride wasn't nearly as enjoyable as the trailer made it seem.

Rating: D+

35. Warm Bodies

35. Warm Bodies
Rated: PG-13
Released: 2013
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer,  John Malkovich
Format Watched in: In Theaters

Truth be told I am not much of a fan of zombie movies.  I mean at the root of it they aren't very frightening to me because in a traditional sense you should be able to out run them and if you don't it's all about a blunt object to the head.   Yes eventually you will run into problems of no food and all of that but there is no winning in a zombie apocalypse there is only delaying the inevitable which just doesn't seem scary to me.  Warm Bodies manages to bring a new perspective on a pretty tired genre, in that you sympathize with the zombies and they are the good guys.  Sure it's weird to see the female love interest fall in love with a zombie, but because of the inner dialogue that the audience participates in you know he isn't a mindless corpse with only brains on his mind.  If you want a traditional zombie thing go ahead and watch the Walking Dead instead, but I am ready for something new if we aren't just going to get rid of the zombie genre entirely.

Rating: B+

34. Sneakers

34. Sneakers
Rated: PG-13
Released: 1992
Starring:  Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier
Format Watched in: MAX Go

There's way too much talent in this movie for it to be bad.  From top to bottom there isn't an untalented person involved (anyone who says anything poorly about Dan Aykroyd will be punched in the face.), and from my perpective this one holds up as a fun action adventure movie in the current vein of the Ocean's 11 movies.  I wasn't even completely distracted by how attractive Robert Redford and River Phoenix are.  Yes the technology that they use comes across kinda hokey in today's day and age but this was 1992 and they had to work with 1992 technologies so you really need to cut them some slack on that.

Rating: B

33. Nancy Drew

33. Nancy Drew
Rated: PG
Released: 2007
Starring:  Emma Roberts, Tate Donovan, Max Thieriot
Format Watched in: MAX Go

Sometimes when it's late at night and I still haven't watched my movie for the day I find myself picking anything that doesn't look like I need to put any effort into watching it.  With that in mind I bring you - Nancy Drew the movie!  Did this movie need to be made?  No.  Should a grown man in his mid-30's without a young daughter watch this movie?  No.  Is Emma Roberts great?  No, but she is pretty enjoyable in the other things I have seen her in and so I figured what harm could come of seeing her as a kid detective?  Exactly no harm came of it.  I saw my movie, it was meh, I fell asleep.  Look I'm not gonna lie to you, there was no way I was going to be actually emotionally invested in this movie.  The goal isn't to watch a movie I want to see every single day for a year it's to watch a movie every single day for a year.  Sometimes I watch good things.  Today I watched Nancy Drew.

Rating: C I guess.

32. Rio

32. Rio
Rated: PG
Released: 2011
Starring:  Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez
Format Watched in: MAX Go

Animated movies these days are all about making something very bright and vibrant that looks really, really pretty.  Rio has exactly that but it also has heart.  I honestly think that Pixar in recent years has lost favor some favor with me as far as it's place as my favorite animation studio.I'm not saying they aren't my favorite, but rather with a pair of uninspiring releases for me and the increasing success of Dreamworks their spot as my favorite has come under some pressure.  Sure Dereamworks will still make a sequel out of any and all of their movies in an attempt to milk families for all of their money but they never pretended they didn't do that either.  I don't know what else to say here except I liked it and I eagerly wait for the seventeen sequels that will surely follow.

Rating: B

31. Cowboys & Aliens

31. Cowboys & Aliens
Rated: PG-13
Released: 2011
Starring:  Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde
Format Watched in: On Demand

What do you get when you combine James Bond with Han Solo and Aliens and Jon Favreau?  You get a giant cluster fuck of a movie that is a lot of fun but also pretty lacking in logic.  Then again the movie is called  Cowboys & Aliens so really what was I expecting?  Just shut your brain off (I feel like this sentence is a running theme on this blog.) and enjoy the ride for what it is.  At least this Harrison Ford movie is honest about how it involves aliens and there's no hiding in a fridge to avoid a nuclear blast, because holy shit that was stupid.

Rating: C+

30. American Dreamz

30. American Dreamz
Rated: PG-13
Released: 2006
Starring: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore
Format Watched in: MAX Go

 Sometimes satire is so vague that people can't really see it and as a result the audience is left thinking the whole movie is stupid and miss the point the filmmakers were trying to make.  That isn't American Dreamz.  No instead this movie lays everything on so thick it's impossible to see anything but the point.  The cast was good, I mean Quaid looks very presidential and they cast Mandy Moore as a singer which is kinda perfect.  The only real complaint I have with the cast is they cast Hugh Grant as their Simon Cowell character when he is usually best suited to be affable and endearing.  If you like the oddball dark satire you will find this movie enjoyable.  It has it's flaws and at times is too silly for it's own good but in the end it worked for me.

Rating: C+