Reality - 6/10 More of an interesting exercise than an actual movie. The script is the literal transcript of the interrogation and arrest of Reality Winner. It was more awkward than gripping, aside from a few tense minutes before her admission. There's something cool about not taking any artistic license and overdramatizing an event though, so I commend the effort.
I was really happy with that top 100. Unfortunately I never saved it anywhere else so it was lost with the forum switch. His Great Gatsby is worse. I had to watch that last year with the sophomores. For whatever reason, the movies have gotten way worse since I switched from History to English. There are movies for almost every major era in history so I was usually pretty choosy about what I showed, but the books tend to have really bad movies for whatever reason. I showed the 1931 Frankenstein to the kids and all it did was confuse them by how much it diverged from the book. They didn't like the Coen version of Othello. Most of them didn't even notice how much the Zemeckis Beowulf changed from the original story. I used to show Marie Antoinette for years and every year the kids thought it was so boring. They loved the battle scenes of Saving Private Ryan but would talk during the quieter moments.
My juniors just got done reading The Catcher in the Rye and had their big test so I might just do top tens with them today. They will be graded based on the quality of the films they chose.
We do Beowulf in excerpts with my seniors that cut out a lot of journeying and eating in mead halls and they get into it.
I am pretty sure our Beowulf in the textbook is the same edit. I remember reading an entire novel in high school but we get through the textbook version pretty quickly.
Just got home from seeing The Boy and The Heron and I didnt dislike it but I think it is Not For Me. Haven’t seen any other Miyazaki films though.
Godzilla Minus One - 10/10 I’ve never cared about human characters in a Godzilla movie before, but damn. The performance of the lead actor was insane. The music was amazing and Godzilla looked terrifying. The stark difference between this and the trailer for the new GodzillaxKong movie is jarring.
Disclosure - 6.5/10 This had the potential to be great until the main plot was resolved and there were another 45 minutes of nearly unrelated, far less interesting conflict. Michael Douglas 1994 VR scene is insane. If the goal was to fire him, was there really no easier way to do so than to...assault his character and claim sexual harassment? Godzilla (2014) - 7/10 Undeniably good -- the writing, the atmosphere, and Cranston are all great -- but God, how many times do I have to ask for movies like this to be visually legible? The entire third act, promising the showdown the movie has been tip-toeing around for nearly 90 minutes, is so dark that it's impossible to fully follow the climax of the film. And it's not like the CG is bad, so...what exactly was Edwards trying to do here? Also, is he the first director brave enough to show a plane exploding into a building since 9/11?
The home video versions are way darker than the theatrical release for some reason, so I don't know if this is something to pin on Edwards. I do remember watching it at home and feeling some sort of Mandela effect where I swore it wasn't this dark in theaters. Unfortunately, it sounds like the 4k release barely addressed the issue and it's still really dark.
I believe you, but I also had this issue with Monsters iirc. I should give Rogue One a rewatch, I remember liking that one.
Most of the time I would rather go to the movies to see just two hours of banger movie trailers compared to some of the slop I've seen
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - 7.5/10 I don't care what anyone says. It's better than Godzilla '14. Does the human stuff pale in comparison? Yes. Is the amount of monsters we actually see overcorrection? Possibly. But they look so, so sick. SO SICK. That shot of King Ghidorah behind the cross? Are you kidding me? There is a place for dark and serious Godzilla films, and this is not one of them, but it is the best Monsterverse film yet. The Antarctica fight and Seirzawa's hollow Earth scene prove that. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.