Grant's Movie Log

I'll log all of my movie ratings here.

It should also be noted that my review style won't always be consistent. Sometimes it'll be short, and sometimes it'll be long. Just depends on the film and how I want to convey what I'm saying.

Ratings Overview:
I actually rate movies out of 100 on my personal list, but I'll be converting it to the Popcorn Box format for the master lists in this thread. So I may rate a movie as four popcorns out of five, but that doesn't necessarily mean I gave it an 80 out of 100, just in that ballpark. For the individual posts I'll include the Popcorn Box format and the /100 format.

It should also be noted that my ratings are a bit of a hybrid: part of my rating comes from how much I enjoyed the film, and part of it comes from how well made the film is. I also factor in re-watchability.

I also like to use a school grade system as a base for my ratings system.
For example: 0-50 (0-2.5 Popcorn Boxes) = Unsatisfactory; 60-69 (3 Popcorn Boxes) = Not terrible, but not good; 70-79 (3.5 Popcorn Boxes) = Perfectly fine, but far from excellent; 80-89 (4 Popcorn Boxes) = Very solid, but not quite as good as it could be; 90-100 (4.5-5 Popcorn Boxes) = Fantastic.

Fresh = 60-100%
Rotten = 0-59%

Pre-2018 Movies Master List:

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

A Ghost Story (2017)

American Psycho (2000)

Alien (1979)

Baby Driver (2017)

Battle Royale (2000)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Drive (2011)

Dunkirk (2017)

Free Fire (2016)

Girls Trip (2017)

Good Time (2017)

Ingrid Goes West (2017)

Ip Man (2008)

It Comes at Night (2017)

It Follows (2015)

John Wick (2014)

Juno (2007)

No Strings Attached (2011)

Pacific Rim (2013)

Spider-Man (2002)

Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Star Wars: Epsiode 3 - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Star Wars: Rogue One (2016)

Star Wars: Episode 4 - A New Hope (1977)

Star Wars: Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Star Wars: Episode 6 - Return of the Jedi (1983)

Star Wars: Episode 7 - The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars: Episode 8 - The Last Jedi (2017)

Swiss Army Man (2017)

The Avengers (2012)

The Beguiled (2017)

The Dark Knight (2008)

The Nice Guys (2016)

The Shape of Water (2017)

The Social Network (2010)

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Wind River (2017)

Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist (2008)


2018 Movies Master List:

12 Strong (2018)

Action Point (2018)

American Animals (2018)

Annihilation (2018)

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

A Quiet Place (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Bad Samaritan (2018)

Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Black Panther (2018)

Blockers (2018)

Cargo (2018)

Chappaquiddick (2018)

Deadpool 2 (2018)

Death Wish (2018)

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018)

Eighth Grade (2018)

Fahrenheit 451 (2018)

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

First Man (2018)

First Reformed (2018)

Game Night (2018)

Halloween (2018)

Hereditary (2018)

Hostiles (2018)

Hotel Artemis (2018)

I Kill Giants (2018)

Incredibles 2 (2018)

Isle of Dogs (2018)

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Leave No Trace (2018)

Mid90s (2018)

Mile 22 (2018)

Mission Impossible - Fallout

Ocean's 8 (2018)

Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

Rampage (2018)

Ready Player One (2018)

Red Sparrow (2018)

Revenge (2018)

Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)

Skyscraper (2018)

Slice (2018)

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Star Wars: Solo (2018)

Tag (2018)

The 15:17 to Paris (2018)

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

The Equalizer 2 (2018)

The First Purge (2018)

The Meg (2018)

The Nun (2018)

The Post (2018)

The Rider (2018)

The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)

Three Identical Strangers (2018)

Tomb Raider (2018)

Truth or Dare (2018)

Uncle Drew (2018)

Unsane (2018)

Upgrade (2018)

Venom (2018)

White Boy Rick (2018)

Widows (2018)

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

You Were Never Really Here (2018)

Short Reviews:

Blair Witch, Frank, and Molly's Game

Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, & Only God Forgives

Thor, The Witch, & Captain America: The First Avenger

Iron Man 3, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, & Enemy


Fresh/Rotten Counter:

Pre-2017 Film Count
Fresh: 43
Rotten: 2
95% Fresh

2017 Film Count
Fresh: 14
Rotten: 0
100% Fresh

2018 Film Count
Fresh: 50
Rotten: 20
71% Fresh

Master Film Count
Fresh: 107
Rotten: 22
83% Fresh


Top-10 Films That I Have Reviewed (Based on rating):
1. Won't You Be My Neighbor? (100%)
2. The Dark Knight (95%)
3. Blade Runner 2049 (94%)
4. Star Wars: Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back (94%)
5. Wind River (93%)
6. A Quiet Place (92%)
7. Drive (91%)
8. Baby Driver (90%)
9. Dunkirk (90%)
10. The Social Network (90%)

You can do the popcorns more than once in a row like -

Obviously you wouldn't want to do that with 100 popcorn boxes as it'd look ridiculous but some do it with ten to give them a bit more room.

[null]

On the second box you have to put a / before the "rating". Like this without the spaces [ rating ] 5 [ / rating ]

Thanks for both of the tips. :P

Star Wars: Episode 8 - The Last Jedi (2017)

(87%)



The Last Jedi may be the most divisive out of all of the Star Wars films. It's actually pretty crazy just how many fans are on each side of the argument. And while I understand why a large portion of Star Wars fans are not too pumped with it, I really enjoyed it. It takes risks that I never thought that a Star Wars movie would take, and it develops some of the characters in ways I didn't expect, and I'm fine with almost every choice Rian Johnson and LucasFilm made.

I will say that my biggest problem with this film, and this is a problem I had with The Force Awakens as well, is some of the comedy. A lot of it worked, despite not necessarily being needed, but some of it took me out of the movie completely. This is a movie set in a different galaxy during a different time period, but yet we were given some 2017-based humor. I get it; a sure fire way to make sure a joke lands with a lot of casual fans is to use topical humor...but it really doesn't work in some parts of this film. They've gone all in on this type of comedy, though, so I guess I might as well get used to it.

The visuals of this film were incredible. Some of the best of the saga, if not the best. There's one scene in particular that caused my mouth to drop. It was extraordinary looking. And while I don't want to get into spoiler territory, many of you who have already seen the film will probably know the scene I'm talking about.

Character development, and some of the choices the characters make, is what I feel like has divided the fanbase the most. As I stated earlier, I was pretty satisfied with a lot of the choices made in regards to the characters in this movie. There's only one moment that has me teetering more towards siding with the fans who are upset, and it has to do with a flashback scene involving Luke. After letting it marinate for a while, I've come to accept it more or less, but I was a bit perplexed when I first witnessed the scene.

I was satisfied with the story as a whole. The first half was a bit slow for my liking, but it makes up for it with the second half that moves at a blistering pace. I think that this film has set us up for a very interesting ninth installment, which could potentially be the best of the trilogy.

In the end, The Last Jedi gave me exactly what I was hoping for, with some surprises sprinkled throughout. I'm looking forward to seeing it again soon.

Zodiac and American Gangster are fantastic movies, the former specifically is definitely one of the best of the 2000s. NCFOM and TWBB tend to overshadow everything else from that year but 2007 holds up beyond those two.

Nice review of Last of the Jedi. I havent seen it so looking at the reviews carefully and skipping if I see spoilers coming which is my responsibility but I wanted to say thank you for being spoilery free. You can post spoilers if you like, though. I'll just come back to it later.

Thanks!

I don't plan on posting any spoilers in this review thread. I'll reserve that kind of talk for any threads that pop up about specific movies.

I know I stated that I'd try to keep this thread spoiler free, but that really only applies to new releases. Older releases are fair game.

Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (1999)

(63%)



The Phantom Menace is another movie that had a crazy amount of hype behind it when it came out, or so I've been told... I actually didn't see it until around 2002 as I was still a very young chap when it came out in '99. And boy, I'm glad I didn't see this movie in the theaters. I can't imagine how disappointed I would have been, and how quiet the car ride back home would have been.

The characters are...okay, I guess? Darth Maul seems cool but we don't get a whole lot out of him (although his character was flushed out pretty well in the animated shows), young Anakin is...yeah, and Jar Jar is downright terrible. But hey, at least Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were pretty awesome.

The plot is nothing special. It's essentially the story of how Anakin came to be trained by the Jedi (and how he met Padme), but it's not a very interesting story and honestly you could fast forward through most of this movie and you wouldn't miss much. Really, the only thing that redeems this movie for me is the duel between Darth Maul and Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan towards the end of the movie. Without that sequence, this would easily be the worst Star Wars movie.

Exactly. Creepy blonde kid with a bowl cut talking to a monotonous robot in pretty clothes.

Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones (2002)

(57%)



There's no question about it in my mind; this is the worst Star Wars movie. And it's incredibly disappointing to say that because the Clone Wars is a time period in Star Wars that I love. The animated TV show was great (and so are many of the comics depicting this time period) but this movie doesn't do it much justice at all.

The characters are pretty atrocious in this movie. Anakin finally reached his full potential on the annoying scale, Count Dooku doesn't get nearly as much screen time as he deserved, and Padme is damn near as bad as Anakin at times. The best part of this movie (and the reason it's not rated even lower) is Obi-Wan's plot line, at least it's serviceable.

That brings me to the plot, and–uh–it's not good, folks. I get it. It's a love story about Anakin and Padme, but it's a very poorly executed love story. Cheesy dialogue coupled with boring scenes...blech. And even when we get away from the love story, the actual "clone war" is not nearly as entertaining as it could be and the final duel between Count Dooku and Obi-Wan/Anakin/Yoda is very disappointing.

I do have to give Attack of the Clones some props for having some pretty impressive CGI (for the time), although I wish not all of the clones were CG.

At the end of the day, Attack of the Clones is the most fast-forward worthy film of the franchise. Do you need to watch it at least once all the way through? Yes, but after that feel free to just watch the few good parts there are.

Star Wars: Epsiode 3 - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

(82%)



Revenge of the Sith was a step in the right direction for the prequels, except it was a little too late for a step in the right direction considering it was the final film in the prequel trilogy. Nonetheless, it was nice to get a lot less of the cringy Anakin/Padme love story, a less annoying Anakin, and of course it was cool to see how the Republic fell and the Empire began. Plus, seeing Anakin and Obi-Wan finally go at it was extremely satisfying. RoTS is by far the best prequel, and while it may not be an amazing film, I think it's one of the most enjoyable in the saga.

Star Wars: Rogue One (2016)

(81%)



Rogue One was Disney's first stab at a non-Skywalker saga film and it was a valiant first attempt. It did its job of filling the gap of time that we don't see before A New Hope starts, but it's not without its flaws. The biggest problem with this film, which leads to other problems, is that we only get one movie with this cast of characters. This was something that was set in stone from the beginning, so they had to try to make us care about these characters in a pretty tight running time. And, unfortunately, they don't execute this task as well as they could have. The rest of the movie is pretty damn good. We get some classic Star Wars scenes, and some interesting plot lines. There's also some excellent comedy in this film (much better than than Diney's other two Star Wars films). But, the characters are pretty shallow as I said and it's hard to truly care about them when the movie expects us to, and as a result the film isn't as good as it could have been.

Star Wars: Episode 4 - A New Hope (1977)

(92%)



What can I say about A New Hope that hasn't already been said? It's the movie that started it all, and without it we wouldn't have the incredible Star Wars universe that we have now. It's a rather simple story that moves at a rapid pace, but it sets up a much bigger story that has since been told and expanded upon. I don't have any real gripes with this movie, to be honest. It was pretty damn ballsy for the time, and it still stands up today, 40 years later. And while it may not be the best film in my collection, it sure is one of my favorites.

Star Wars: Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

(94%)



Ah, yes, The Empire Strikes back. Many consider this film to be the best of the saga, and I couldn't agree more. The darker tone, Luke's path to becoming a Jedi, and of course the huge reveal at the end make this an all-timer in my book. The only thing that I wish we got more of in this film was puppet Yoda, cause I can't get enough of that little guy. It's not very often that a sequel is actually better than the original, but I think it's safe to say it actually happened with Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode 6 - Return of the Jedi (1983)

(85%)



Being the final film in the original trilogy, it's a bit surprising that Return of the Jedi is my least favorite of the three. It's still a fine film and plenty of fun to watch, but the plot is the weakest of the trilogy (besides the ending), and those damn Ewoks get on my nerves a bit. The ending was very fitting and provided a nice close to the story, though. In terms of the sci-fi genre, Return of the Jedi is an all-timer, but with its two predecessors in the series being classic level movies, it's hard not to think of it as the inferior one.

OMG the ewoks!!! Thus the start of irritating bloody non human things George loved to play with so much.

Fun reads, Grant.

Star Wars: Episode 7 - The Force Awakens (2015)

(89%)



The Force Awakens launched the Disney era of Star Wars. It took what the original trilogy set up, and started a relatively new story with new characters and modified factions. In it, we find ourselves following a new young cast which has striking similarities to the original trilogy. The story also feels very familiar, but it's different enough to not be looked at as a remake of A New Hope, in my opinion. And really, if you take out Star Killer Base, this movie really isn't that similar to other Star Wars movies apart from a certain character's arc. The new characters are likable, the new storyline is formidable, and the visuals are incredible. I just wish some of the humor wasn't so ludicrous. I find myself enjoying this movie more and more everytime I watch it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being widely regarded as one of the best films of the saga a few years from now.

And with that, I've finished giving my thoughts on all of the Star Wars movies just in time for 2018. Looking forward to talking about other stuff.