Thursday, July 13, 2017

My Top 10 Movies January-June 2017



Ok, here it is my list of MY top 10 favorite movies from January-June 2017.  I know everyone is on pins and needles, waiting for me to release MY LIST.  Some of the movies I'll be mentioning actually came out in December of last year, but I didn't see them until January. Narrowing my list takes a lot of time and I will have a few honorable mentions. I won't have films like Alien or the Fast and the Furious on this post, because those aren't movies that I enjoy. Is this list biased? Yes, because there are some films that I just won't watch. Remember this is my top 10. 

Official Top 10---


10. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tells PG-13 May 26, 2017 Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly, Javier Bardem, Brenton Twaites, Geoffrey Rush

This is so much better than the last Pirates movie. I liked this almost as much as the original. I felt that the last three movies were lacking in originality. I wish there were scenes with Johnny and Orlando. In the original they were amazing together. Maybe there's still a story to tell now that we have the relationship between Will and his son ,Henry. We know from past experiences that Barbossa doesn't stay dead. I feel that Javier Bardem's Captain Salazar was a great adversary for Captain Jack, better than Blackbeard and Davey Jones.  

9.  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2  PG-13 May 5, 2017 Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper

I love comics and this was a fun movie. Dave Bautista is hilarious!! I think his character is my favorite, because he tells it like it is. I will be honest, this wasn't as good as the original, even the hubs said so, but it still kept my interest. 

8.  Gifted PG-13 April 12, 2017 Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Jenny Slate, Octavia Spencer

I just love me some Chris Evans, I really do. Remember when he was The Human Torch? This was a really touching film about the love of family. Chris Evans plays a former professor who takes in his gifted niece, after her mother, his sister, commits suicide. So, he takes his niece to Florida and makes her live a normal life, even though she's a genius too. This movie does have me wonder about the minds of geniuses. Is life too much for their brains to take? This is the 2nd movie that Octavia Spencer is in on my list. Mckenna Grace is adorable and is in another movie featured on my list too. Jenny Slate is good. Her voice is interesting.  This movie is very heartwarming and is about love.

7.  How to Be a Latin Lover PG-13 April 28, 2017 Eugenio Derbez, Selma Hayek, Rob Lowe, Raphael Alejandro 

I had seen the previews for this movie and wasn't interested in seeing it. As a matter of fact, one night my husband and I were debating on whether to see this or Snatched. We ended up seeing Snatched, see my comments about that movie below. This movie is about a guy, who doesn't want to work, he wants to marry a rich older widow and be taken care of for the rest of his life. His much older wife, after 25 years of marriage, finds herself a younger model and Maximo gets kicked to the street.  He must reconnect with his estranged sister and nephew. Maximo and his friend, played by Rob Lowe are so over the top. Mckenna Grace from Gifted is also in this movie. This movie made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes, but it was also strangely heartwarming (which also put tears in my eyes). 

6. Baby Driver  R June 28, 2017 Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jon Hamm, Jon Bernthal, Jamie Foxx, Kevin Spacey and the Music

This was such a good movie with an amazing cast. I love Ansel Elgort as Augustus from Number the Stars and Lily James as Rose from Downton Abbey and as Cinderalla. I thought Ansel Elgort was very funny at just the right moments. Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx were over the top. I usually don't gravitate to these types of films. This one wasn't as violent as I thought it was going to be. Just like how the setting of La La Land is like another character in the film, the music in Baby Driver was another character in this film. 

5.  The Lego Batman Movie PG February 10, 2017 Will Arnett and a whole slew of other famous funny people whose names I won't add.  

This was by far better than Batman V. Superman and Batman Begins. It was campy, it was hilarious and it had a lot of adult humor. Some things were probably not appropriate for little kids. I had a fun time watching it.

4.  Logan R March 3, 2017 Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart

I'm so sad that the Hugh Jackman's Wolverine is coming to an end. He is Wolverine. I can't imagine anyone else in the role. I hope they aren't in a rush to bring back the character. Let Logan be dead, especially for Jackman's fans who grew up loving him as Wolverine. With that being said, I actually hope they start a new series with Logan's daughter, X-23 or Laura, because she has played a prominent role in the comics. I love myself a good comic book movie and this was one of the few times that the film exceeded my expectations.  This film was rated R so it's not for kids. It is extremely violent. I am a little confused about the timeline and everything is a bit muddled, but this was a very well deserved sendoff for Hugh. 

3.  Hidden Figures PG January 6, 2017 Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, and Kirsten Dunst  

This was such an amazing movie, that I went to see it in the theaters, not once, but twice. With my husband, who loved it, and then again with my mom. It's the true life account of three female African American mathematicians working for NASA and the struggles they faced being both female and African American. This movie made me cry for joy and it made me laugh out loud. I already love Octavia Spencer (she's in another one of my favorites, Gifted) Tarjai P. Henson, who my husband knows as Cookie, and Janelle Monae (we have the same name!) were all fabulous in this film. It's a great family movie and should be seen by everyone!! 

2.  Beauty and the Beast PG March 17, 2017 Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Ewan McGregor, Sir Ian McKellen. Luke Evans Kevin Klein, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci

This movie was so well done. I loved the costumes, I loved the singing. The movie was sweet, sassy and funny all at the same time. I love Matthew from Downton Abbey. He was wonderful as the Beast. If you LOVE Disney like I do, you'll love this movie. I'm lying, you don't have to be a Disney lover to appreciate this movie. Maybe if you're a man, you won't like it. My husband fell asleep. 

And now #1................



1.  Wonder Woman PG-13 June 2, 2017 Gal Gadot and Chris Pine

Would there be any other film at my number 1? I've already seen it twice. I grew up with the reruns of the Lynda Carter version. I wore the Underoos and knee high red socks, I used my jump rope as my "Lasso of Truth", I ran around my grandmother's "jungle" saving mankind (she had a big backyard).  Every girl wanted to be Wonder Woman. I don't have issues with Man of Steel and BvS. I liked those films and I think the critics can sometimes be annoying. But I only liked those films, this one, I loved. I was up in arms when they cast Gal Gadot. I didn't know who she was, she didn't have blue eyes and she wasn't Lynda Carter. I still wasn't sure about the casting choice when she appeared in BvS. By that time, she had won the masses over, but being the cynic that I am, I wasn't convinced. That was until Wonder Woman. I love Chris Pine (I re-watched This Means War and I liked it and I loved People Like Us). I loved their scenes together.  They had AMAZING chemistry. Diana Prince had an innocent side, but could also kick some serious a../butt. I loved this movie and I cannot wait to see what they do next. I'm not going to speculate about Steve Trevor. When they changed the years of the TV series from the 1940's to the 70's they had a Steve Trevor in both decades. I'm sure there will be a creative way to bring back Chris Pine. We all love him, and part of that movie's magic was Chris Pine.  


New Adds to July-December 2016---

Why Him? R December 23, 2016 James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Keegan-Michael Key   

This was such a funny movie. Again James Franco is way over the top, but that's what's funny. I love Keegan-Michael Key, yes I did watch Substitute teacher.  

La La Land PG-13 December 25, 2016 Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling and Los Angeles

I loved the music, I love Emma and Ryan together (yes, we're on a first name basis) and I love the setting, which is really a character all on its own. I know that some/a lot of the movie, was filmed in Long Beach and the South Bay, but it's meant to be "Los Angeles". We however know it as greater LA.  If you don't like musicals, than this really isn't the movie for you. 


Honorable Mention 2017----

Kong: Skull Island PG-13 March 10, 2017 Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson 

This was a pretty good movie.  It had a lot of action and kept me interested. I wasn't a huge fan of Tom Hiddleston, (I thought his name was Tom Middleson) but he wasn't bad. Not a top 10 contender but good for an honorable mention. What can I say? It was a fun movie.

A Dog's Purpose PG January 27, 2017 

Yes there was controversy and I know that people will disagree with my choice, especially PETA who doesn't want us to own dogs anyway (my Mia addressed that in a Blog post a few years ago). I justified the controversy as, why wasn't this video shown to the public when it happened, why a few days before the film's release? To me that was sketchy. I read this book and its sequel, A Dog's Journey. Of course the book is always better than the movie. Things were left out and things were changed for creative purposes.  This is a tear jerker, so was the book. Remember it's about a dog that keeps getting reincarnated, so it does die every now and then. Something we dogs lovers hate to have to face.  So, it's about a dog and it has romance, a combo I love!!

Fifty Shades Darker R February 10, 2017 Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan 

This was so much better than the first film. The acting still isn't very good, but it was such an improvement over the last film.

Baywatch R May 25, 2017 Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron 

Dwayne Johnson is hilarious (and nice to look at, as is Zac Efron). Some of his one-liners, like calling Zac's character High School Musical are on point. Jeez he's funny. 

Lion PG-13 January 6, 2017 Sunny Pawar, Nicole Kidman, and the guy from the Lord of the Rings.   
Another real life account.  It's about a little boy from India, who falls asleep on a train waiting for his brother to finish working. The train takes off and the little boy finds himself like 500 miles from his family. I think he ends up in Calcutta. People try to kidnap him and while nothing is shown, you can guess what happens to these poor children who are kidnapped. He eventually gets adopted by a family in Australia and lives a good life. He knows though, that something is missing. So he goes in search of the family he can barely remember. He does find his mom, but he also discovers that the brother he was waiting for, got killed in a freak accident. I know this movie sounds depressing, but it was actually very good. 



Don't Waste Your Time---

Snatched R May 12, 2017 Goldie Hawn, Amy Schumer 

This was just bad... The end

The Mummy PG-13 June 9, 2017 Tom Cruise

Universal, please don't make an expanded universe. I read an article saying that we have too many of these ie. MCU, DCEU, Star Wars etc.... That's not my reason. This movie just wasn't good. Oh and Tom Cruise becomes infected with the evil demon thing. 

Table 19 PG-13 March 3, 2017 Anna Kendrick and other people including Phoebe from Friends

Even Phoebe couldn't save this one. Too many characters to not care about and what was the point of the guy who crashed the wedding??  It made no sense.

Rough Night R June 16, 2017




2 comments:

  1. Wonder Woman is my #1 movie of the summer too! Great recap...

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I've already watched that one a few times.

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