Good For What They Were, but Better Than Expected- #80- 33

80- Million Dollar Arm- While I enjoyed this film quite a bit while watching it and I have recommended it many times,, it just felt a little blah at the same time. The acting is great, with Jon hamm, lake Bell, and Alan Arkin, and the Indian actors are a joy to watch, but, again, even though this is a true story, it is still a very cliched version of the way to tell it. There is the businessman who takes a last chance effort to make his business succeed. It works for a while, but everything hinges on these people from a different culture who he brings to the US and they have the predictable fish-out-of-water-experience. There is failure, they teach him what life is truly about, they get one last shot and, success and he turns his life around because of their influence. While admittedly rousing and fun, it also is way too long, and not quite as interesting as it thinks it is.

79- Muppets Most Wanted- The music was nowhere near as good as the last one, although it is still fun enough, the story seems much more slapdash without the heart of the best Muppet films (and also has a feeling of Great Muppet Caper reboot), but this is still an entertaining fun time with the felt fiends. It still gets good mileage out of a bunch of silly gags and I loved Tina Fey overplaying it as the Warden of a gulag. And Danny Trejo because, you know, why not? I realize that this is just a feeling of whining of ‘it’s not as good as the last one’, but, I also don’t see this holding up through the years as well as some of the others, either.

78- Maze Runner- I saw this in Dolby Atmos and, as the walls moved and changed, the theater rumbled and came alive. I was really into the plot and intrigued as to where it was going and what this island was and how they were going to escape…. And then the last ten minutes came, and I just didn’t care anymore. It took the generic, dystopian-future-kids-are-being-tested storyline instead of going with something more interesting and thinking outside of the box. It became what it hadn’t been until that point and my interest level bottomed out. Am I going to see the sequel? Yes, because it’s a movie, but even the sequel seems by the numbers and as uninteresting as it can get.

77-Inherent Vice

76- Top Five

75- Exodus: Gods and Kings

74- Mr. Peabody & Sherman

73- As Above So Below

72- Cantinflas

71- Stalingrad

70- Paranormal Activity- Marked Ones

69- Robocop

68- 13 Sins

67- November Man

66- Deliver Us From Evil

65- Two Days One Night

64- Selma

63- Neighbors

62- Book Of Life

61- St. Vincent

60- Heaven is for Real

59- Godzilla

58- Snowpiercer

57- Ida

56- Horrible Bosses 2

55- Laggies

54- Bad Words

53- About Last Night

52- Mas Negro Que La Noche

51- Non Stop

50- Equalizer

49- Wild

48- Gambler

47- Belle

46- Birdman

45- Boxtrolls

44- When the Game Stands Tall

43- Interstellar

42- Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit

41- Hector & the Search for Happiness

40- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

39- Draft Day

38- Meet the Mormons

37- Into the Woods

36- Mom's Night Out

35- Vampire Academy

34- 50 to 1

33- Alexander & the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day