#yeah in terms of a horror movie its b tier at best

[watchmewhirl]

couldn't have said it better In fact, this felt like our generation's Rocky Horror. We dress up, it's better to go with a group, we bring props from the game (shoutout to the broski who left the picture of Markiplier on a railing), it's encouraged to shout and squeal at the parts we know and make noise in a theater. It breaks the rules of going to the movies in the same way; you get more out of it from being allowed to make noise and interact with the others there who are also in the know! This is our communal experience and we're enjoying it as a community!

I keep seeing critics talking about the fnaf movie being poor but i literally isn't for them. I saw someone else saying the movie's a love letter to the fandom and i WHOLEHARTEDLY agree.

This is how i took it: We, the fans, are Anton Ego, the critic from Ratatouille; the ratatouille was special to us because it was our childhood. I hate ratatouille (the food), but to Anton Ego it was everything. Critics don't like the fnaf movie because they only have the movie as context, but to fans, the fnaf movie is everything and we love it even though it's a little cringey. In fact we love it BECAUSE it's cringey in some cases.

Like no new viewers would get the chica's magic rainbow part, or the MatPat reference, or the whole ongoing bit about Dream Theory sucking, or understand how hype the whole ending part was.

I was lucky to be in a cinema full of fnaf fans, and we were cheering and laughing, and screaming at the references. People got up when the movie ended and SAT BACK DOWN when the living tombstone came on. We shouted the letters of the code, and screamed when Matpat said his line. People clapped and cheered at the end, and people were crying at the parts where they were treating the animatronics with love and affection.

No critics would understand how much fans want to interact with the animatronics in a positive way, or understand how much importance the five seconds of its me on the mirror means in implications of the lore. They wouldn't understand because they haven't been waiting a good part of a decade to see this movie. They came, they saw, and that's it, it was a second of their life, but to us it was everything. This is our ratatouille, made to impress us, not the other people in the restaurant. This was our movie, a love letter to the fandom, not the critics.

I like the changes to the story, because it puts us back at square one. We're fumbling to rearrange lore and timelines. We have to rearrange names, and start with a blank slate, and it feels like a homecoming where to critics, it might feel a little messy.

We've been given a chance to start the journey all over again and i fucking love it so much. Because i'm an adult, and all of a sudden, i'm twelve years old again and we're trying to figure out if phone guy is chica, and struggling our way through whatever the fuck was happening in fnaf 3 to get the good ending. The critics don't get this.

They don't understand how hype the midnight motorists reference is, nor did they care about the references on the chalkboard. Or the code at the end, or the song choices, or the lore implications. They don't understand the sudden lore drop of william afton, or the way he's acting, but we do. They don't understand the vengeful spirit, but we do. Nothing is explained to the audience, because we don't need it to be explained.

This is our ratatouille, and we love the rats in the kitchen.

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 80: Gem Drill

“I’m talking to the Cluster?”

So I finally figured out why I don’t like Gem Drill.

For a while I had it in my head that the issue was pacing. And it does remain true that the episode-to-episode pacing did it no favors, what with the arc it concludes being interrupted by the utterly unrelated Super Watermelon Island before jumping back in. But because Gem Drill’s third act drags on forever and somehow feels rushed at the same time, I just chalked it up to bad internal pacing and called it a day.

However, rewatching the series for Steven, Universally reminded me that there are several episodes that I’ve praised for incredible pacing which share a similar structure to this one: Mirror Gem, The Return, and Message Received stand out as stories that speed right through the first two acts for an extended third, and I love them all. And what’s more, I enjoyed the first two acts of Gem Drill way more than I remembered. Something was up with my pacing-as-problem theory.

So right after rewatching the episode for review, I rewatched it again. That’s right, I rerewatched it. And it struck me this second time through that the X factor is something I’ve taken so deeply for granted that I haven’t discussed it much, or even really thought about it, until now: Steven Universe has unspeakably terrific dialogue.

Individual lines may stick out more in my memory, and are definitely easier to write about in this format (for one thing, I can quote them), which might be why it hasn’t stuck out as much. It sounds so basic that I feel sorta dumb writing it, but this show is so good at developing characters and plot through conversation. It excels at banter and arguments and reassurances and just having people interact in a way that’s always compelling.

The reason I have to mention it now is that something this reliably solid is hard to notice until it’s gone. But sure enough, the conclusion to Gem Drill (and what’s worse, to the Cluster Arc as a whole) is nearly four minutes of Steven talking to an entity that can barely talk back, and it just does not work. He might be astonished that he’s talking to the Cluster, but this episode falters because he isn’t talking with the Cluster.

Compare this to Mirror Gem, The Return, and Message Received, where we use the extended third acts to have major conversations with Lapis, the Homeworld Gems, and Yellow Diamond. You can’t have that sort of satisfying ending when one of the characters isn’t even a character, but a jumble of nearly incomprehensible voices. And what sucks is that making the Cluster “talk” this way is a perfectly reasonable creative choice: it should sound like a jumble of nearly incomprehensible voices. 

But the show is usually way better at getting around limitations like this to create compelling television. I know this is a journey of the mind and that Steven is special, but we still could have included Peridot with a wave of the narrative wand to continue their low-key debate about necessary force and commit more to the theme through conversation, where the show shines. Barring that, we could’ve used music to add narrative oomph to a one-sided conversation, which would’ve been especially interesting with such a discordant legion of potential singers. Instead, we get a finale that’s just...

It’s just boring.

And it’s frustrating because I think it’s boring of me to just write “it’s boring,” but lord, this scene is so uninteresting to me that it’s hard to find the energy to write about it. Zach Callison is always great, and the animation is gorgeous, but takes sooooo lonnnnnnnng for the scene to convey something it could’ve done in half the time, and there’s nothing to distract us from how long it’s taking. There’s barely any tension despite this clearly being the intention, because there’s only one character in the scene that I care about and he’s obviously not going to die because the show’s named after him. I guess Peridot is in danger, but maybe we’d care about that if we could see her in danger instead of generic rumblings and loud noises.

If this criticism sounds similar to my spiel about caring about Malachite in Super Watermelon Island because she came out of nowhere, it’s because both episodes share a similar character problem. A show about empathy falls apart when the viewer is apathetic, and giving major plot importance to poorly handled characters is a go-to formula for viewer apathy. For a series that’s usually so awesome at both characters and dialogue, it’s shocking that we end the first arc where our heroes literally save the world with back-to-back episodes that are this weak. The buildup was awesome, and the rest of Season 3 is amazing, but this is a bizarre pair of misfires in the middle of a hot streak, and it couldn’t have come in a worse time in terms of the plot.

Please note that I’m not at all against a conclusion where Steven saves the world by talking it out. It’s the best message a show like this could tell, especially because the rest of the episode does an amazing job presenting Peridot’s brutal pragmatism as the alternative: while her blithe penchant for violence makes for a few great jokes, particularly when it comes to D-pads, the line of the episode is Shelby Rabara’s somber justification for attacking a mindless being: “It doesn’t matter if it knows what it’s doing, it’s still going to do it.” And while Super Watermelon Island bears a lot of blame for sucking all the momentum out of the Cluster Arc before Gem Drill valiantly tries to rev us back up, having Steven’s approach come right after a huge brawl does seal the deal. Steven should save the world with kindness. This would be a top-tier episode if the execution was as good as the moral.

With that said, the episode surrounding this disappointing conclusion is fantastic, even if said conclusion blocked it from my memory. We get off to a breakneck start that concisely confirms the stakes before we leap into the plot. It’s not only great at setting the tone, but it efficiently allows the episode time for the lengthened third act, regardless of how that act turns out.

This is a terrific Steven/Peridot episode, thanks to the same great dialogue I was just complaining about the conclusion lacking. They hit just the right balance of humor and heart, with Peridot finally allowing herself to be vulnerable and admit that she not only misses her home, but doesn’t actually hate the Crystal Gems. We’re already paying off “Wow, thanks!” for emotional value, but this touching scene is still played with laughs instead of pure sap; I love that Peridot feels the need to clarify how little she cares about humans that aren’t Steven in her last words. 

Still, I’d love to see an alternative universe where Super Watermelon Island and Gem Drill were made as a full-length episode a la Bismuth rather than a traditional two-parter. Perhaps a more direct juxtaposition of the action of Alexandrite fighting Malachite with Steven talking things out would’ve improved both scenes, and in any case, spending more time setting up before we reached both conclusions would have added more tension than the rush both episodes give us. This is clearly an A-plot and a B-plot that could happen more or less simultaneously; Steven could easily black out in the drill to let him possess a Watermelon Steven, and it would make the team’s split-up make a bit more sense. I dunno, it just seems like any sort of rework would be preferable to the finished products we got.

So yeah, sorry to be so down on these two. But I’m pretty excited to be getting back to episodes I like, and I can’t really think of what the next bad one on the horizon even is. Season 3 ahoy!

Future Vision!

I love love love the recurring plot point that Blue and Yellow Diamond don’t know that the Cluster was neutralized. Because for one, of course they wouldn’t, and for two, it’s the impetus for their appearance in Reunited. All the Cluster needs is a thumbs-up to add more character than Gem Drill did in an entire episode.

This is the exact halfway point of the original series, the 80th episode out of 160. While I’m not huge on Gem Drill, I at least appreciate that the moment that divides both halves of Steven Universe is its title character saving the world.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

Definitely a step up from Super Watermelon Island, and I like a good two-thirds of it, but I’m still not a fan of Gem Drill. The ending just isn’t captivating, which is pretty bare minimum for any form of entertainment, and it’s a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise outstanding arc. At least we still have Message Received for an emotional climax. 

Top Fifteen

Steven and the Stevens

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Winter Forecast

When It Rains

Catch and Release

Chille Tid

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

No Thanks!

  ��  5. Horror Club      4. Fusion Cuisine      3. House Guest      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

(As with Super Watermelon Island, there’s no official promo art, so I’m using this nifty piece of fanart by Nina Rosa.)

[autisticreviews]

‘Grading Scale In Terms of X-Men Films’

So I haven’t exactly made any reviews recently, and part of that has been because I want to sort of have a solid understanding of what my ‘grading range’ would be. What I mean by this, is before I start pumping out more regular reviews, I want to have a solid understanding of what score means what ‘quality of movie’. For example, if you take YourMovie Sucks, to him, a score of a 5 out of 10 is an average movie, but in a lot of americans minds that immediately reads to them a ‘bad movie’, because the way many of us see these scores is that we relate it immediately to our grading scale, where anything under a 6 out of 10, is typically an ‘F’ or failure. C’s are from 7 to 8, and are supposed to institute a ‘passing grade’ but in reality many people still see this as a ‘should have been better grade range’. I myself have always been disappointed with a C, and still wasn’t quite satisfied with an 8. So the I plan on grading movies or games or anime from now on, is I’m going to simply assign it, a ‘letter’ grade, where a C is truly the ‘average’ movie, Passable, nice solid action or fun story. B will be an above average, highly recommended movie, better than most and worthy of spending your time watching. A, however should be reserved for ‘must sees’. For more Details:

Examples and Details, using explicitly movies from the X-Men franchise for the hell of it, follows. F is a movie that either fails what it’s attempting so bad, has such a blatant plothole that the rest of the movie is unenjoyable, or something in the movie is just so wrong it has left me groaning.  An example would be X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Originally the first of a series of X-Men Origins style movies, the movie has perhaps some semi-redeeming moments in the relationship between Wolverine and his half-brother Sabretooth, with some nice hand to hand combat but the rest of the movie is just so poorly thrown together and had the most disgusting excuse for a Deadpool representation that a comic fan could barely even recognize it as an ‘easter egg’ let alone an actual depiction of the character. The movie alone seemed to exist to make a little bit of dough and money  and in the long term brought nothing to the franchise.

D is a movie that all in all, is just bad but might have SOME redeeming quality, whether it’s a great performance by a specific actor, or a good attention to detail, but all in all nothing else manages to save it. An example of a film that would be on the D-tier might be say... In my personal opinion, X-Men the Last Stand. It has a nice artsy metaphor going on with the mutants and civil rights and the argument of whether or not to ‘cure’ the mutant powers. Sadly, it suffers from very generic action sequences that aren’t super easy to ‘follow’ once the all out ‘war’ begins the fight scenes become  incredibly generic and the passable dispute between the two factions comes down to who can beat the other down better, and their use of Dark Phoenix was kind of limited. Another example might be X-Men Apokalypse, with tons of fun action but just being really forgettable in general while bringing little to the franchise, to the point the only portion I remember enjoying was the Wolverine teaser which in the end, didn’t really serve any purpose in the film.

C is a movie that is a passable watch of a movie, though it likely has a series of flaws throughout it, but they’re not big enough to completely destroy the enjoyment of the movie as a whole. In my personal opinion or experience, I would leave the theater thinking ‘... hm. Alright’   It is not explicitly a movie that I would actually ‘recommend’ but I wouldn’t explicitly call it a ‘bad film either’. An example of this type movie, would be X-Men, Days of Future Past. The movie has solid action, solid stakes, and some genuine emotional moments going on throughout the movie. However it also suffers from some flaws of an unclear ‘time travel’ catch-up dynamic, and in the end is earnestly kind of forgettable. While for The Last Stand, I remember the ending as feeling sort of clumsy, for Days of Future Past, I can’t exactly remember the solid ending only that it was sort of enjoyable. As a result, it’s a movie type I remember enjoying but likely can’t remember all the details about. This is again, my personal opinion which might be an issue since most consider Days of Future Past the best of the X-Men films, but it just felt really clunky to me. Another example to me for this, would be the very First X-Men Film. It was just starting out, had some solid fun going on and was one of the first comic book films to really give things a shot, but was just really notable ‘average’. B, is a movie that is a solid above average and I would recommend if, if only because there are parts of the film that I think are really worthwhile or worthy of watching, a notable film in their respective genre, (Most Horror Movies or Comedies aren’t super good in my personal opinion, to the point even the best comedies or horror movies will likely end up in this B category.) For a B- Movie, if Days of Future Past wasn’t in the C category it probably would have just edged out into the B category. A more solid entry to me, would be X-Men First Class, a prequel in the X-Men Franchise, it was one of the first of the films to not heavily feature Wolverine which has always been a complaint of the films, that the X-Men films felt more like ‘Wolverine and Friends’, and frankly, it holds up pretty damn well. You get to see the Magneto, Xavier friend dynamic and really get to see some of the mutants develop their powers and the relationship between Xavier and Mystique as well becomes notably tragic. All in all, it’s just a surprisingly engaging movie which works really well as a prequel, and sort of builds a bigger appreciation for the other movies which is exactly what a prequel should do. A second B-Movie example, would be The Wolverine. From the one X-Men film with very little Wolverine, to one literally named for the man, this movie was a great experience in theaters. The movie does an amazing job showing a glimpse into Logan’s past and does a better job at making him feel like a person than any of the X-Men films before, and the plot of the film with Logan’s healing factor limited leads to fight scenes that actually have some stakes, and do a great job at limiting Logan’s typically overpowering presence. It also brings one of the absolute best Train Fight Sequences I’ve ever seen in a movie. The only reason I wouldn’t put this movie any higher, is because the movie gets all the way to the end, and then it feels just like another super generic superhero film in its final fight and loses all the build-up that made me enjoy the movie up to that point. This one is close to being a C, but I just remember enjoying the beginning so much that I still feel like watching that is worthy of giving it a shot. A Movie tier, should be explicitly reserved for films that I personally feel are masterpieces in some way or form. Example, previously I gave What We Do in the Shadows was a 9.1, which would just edge it into the ‘A’ Category for me. It was just a fun watch all in all, to the point I’ve rewatched it 2 times since then just to have friends watch it and I never really was bored. It’s self-contained, and just so easy to watch and enjoy that I think most people should give it a watch. These movies are either just amazing, instant classic, great beacons in their respective genres, or possibly a movie that I personally, just though was absolutely amazing. For me, the X-Men example of an A movie, and the only one from the X-Men films, would be Logan. The pinnacle of what an R-Rated film should be for a Superhero film, it’s not excessive or overly ‘in your face’, but it simply brings the darkness and serious that its hero and universe suggests. It’s every grunt kill leaves a moment of amazement in me, and the whole movie is just all in all pretty damn satisfying, minus a little bit of irritation I have at the end of the film regarding some characters that felt like they weren’t properly used, from beginning to end the movie continues to hit amazing points, and when it hits weak points it picks back up and I remember just leaving the theater going ‘goddamn’. So yeah, I’m going to try and use this from now on, and the good thing is for bad movies, I don’t have to think about ‘how-bad’ these movies are. Where if 5 is an average movie, I don’t have to think how bad is a 4, or a 3, or a 1. If we’re using a scale that represents more its placement on a distribution chart of quality, that’s fine but since I personally have the engrained classroom grading scale in my head, giving any movie that people have spent time editing and pouring their heart into even a 5 kind of feels rude or hurtful, and I don’t have to give anything lower than a simple F this way. So yeah, I’ll try and use this from now on. Expect an Infinity War and Ready Player One Review soon.

[harry365in2016]

Top Movies Seen in 2016 NOT Released in 2016

Hey all! This is my list of the best movies I saw in 2016 that were not released in 2016. If you’re looking for the top movies I saw in 2016 that were released in 2016 check it out here! [Link forthcoming]

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I'm gonna be honest, aside from #1 choice, the rest of this list is in a rough order rather than definitive.

20) Sunset Boulevard (1950)

While watching Sunset Boulevard I couldn't understand why it was classified as film noir. That is, until it became painfully obvious why it was film noir.

Sunset Boulevard is a pitch black movie about how far people will sacrifice they're own livelihood just for a taste of that Hollywood fame and fortune. It's about what happens when someone loses their fame and is desperate to get it back.

19) Everest (2015)

Disasters scare the piss out of me. Both real life disasters and fictional ones. Knowing this I'm not sure why I willingly chose to watch this movie. Even though it terrified me I'm still glad I watched.

It's a movie that shows even the most professional, most capable people can succumb to mother nature. There's no cartoonish dumbness in this movie. The mistakes that were made by the expedition team were all small, understandable mistakes. It just so happens that they all piled up to contribute to one of Everest's most deadly periods in history.

18) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

In a lot of ways this movie and 12 Angry Men share thematic similarities. I happened to like 12 Angry Men more but this is still a great movie.

Atticus Finch (and by proxy Gregory Peck) are the human personifications of what decency means. Finch is a quiet gentle man who does not back down in the face of adversary nor does he give up on his convictions. He knows what's right and wrong and he fights tooth and nail for it.

17) The Limey (1999)

It's unfair to compare this movie to Memento but also completely accurate. Both movies are about the nature of memory and how it's colored by grief and trauma.

The Limey is one of Steven Soderburgh's best films. It's quiet and meditative until it's not. Terrance Stamp puts in a great performance as an aging badass who is seeking vengeance. It's also a movie that's sort of about the death of the hippie counter-culture movement from the 60s?

16) The Kid with the Golden Arm (1979)

I loved this movie because of how many characters were in it. It's a simple plot. One group of people are transporting money and goods. Another group wants to rob them.

But the characters! There's a duo called Long Axe and Short Axe, a drunkard who might be a special agent for the local ruler, and a fabled fighter who may or may not exist. The gang trying to steal the money and wares are ruled by a hierarchy. Their ranks include Golden Arm, Silver Spear, Iron Hide, and more outrageous villains.

15) Singing in the Rain (1952)

They don't make them like they used to. Singing in the Rain is a fun romp about a group of actors who are struggling to transition from silent pictures to talkies. It's fun, charming, and will make you grin like an idiot.  

I genuinely loved this movie but also my opinion of it was colored by the fact that I saw it in a ginormous theater with a ginormous screen.

14) Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014)

The subtitle to this documentary is not lying. The story of the 1980s most infamous production company is amazing.

Aside from all the funny stories about how Cannon Films went about making their movies the movie is also an examination of what it means to be an artist who simply cannot help but make trash. The central figures to Cannon Films really did want to make good movies. They just time and time again ended up making at best B-grade flicks.

13) Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

This movie is an exercise in making a movie the most purely charming thing ever willed into existence. In other words it's charming af.

What I love about Kiki's Delivery Service is that it's mostly just a story about a young person trying to make their place in the world. It's all about the difficulties of setting off on your own. It's about the struggle to provide for one's self.

12) 12 Angry Men* (1957)

What does it take to stand up (metaphorically) in a group of people to fight for what you believe in?

12 Angry Men is a meditation on that theme. Like a lot of other classic movies I saw in 2016 I didn't think this was going to hold up to the hype. It does.

It's also a movie I think people should watch or rewatch from time to time to remind themselves of what it takes to fight for the rights of other people.

In this movie the 11 other jurors are ready to throw the defendant of the case under the bus simply because they're acting on lazy and harmful stereotypes. They're convinced that just because the young man comes from the wrong side of the tracks that he's inherently guilty.

*Yeah, I made 12 Angry Men my 12th pick for the year. Do something about it.

11) Sorcerer (1977)

Ostensibly this movie is a remake of 1953's The Wages of Fear (also excellent), however Sorcerer is kind of its own beast.

It's one of the most tense, terrifying, and stress-inducing movies I've ever seen. Four desparate men are tasked with delivering two trucks full of nitroglycerin through the rocky mountains of South America.

The company that hired them needs the nitro to stop an oil field that is on fire and won't unless they blow it up.

The movie ends up being a sweaty and ugly meditation on the hell corporations put random, everyday people through just for the sake of profit.

10) Gaslight (1944)

"Gaslighting" is a term that has risen in popularity in the last few years. The term comes from this movie.

I don't want to spoil anything about it. The story is about a newly eloped couple who move in together. Then the wife starts having mental "episodes."

The movie is one of the most psychologically gripping films I've ever seen. It does a great job of putting you in the wife's headspace. You feel her frustration and terror as she loses grip on reality.

9) Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Obviously the Creature is a monster, but I'm not sure why this movie is typically classified as horror. To me it's much more an adventure movie.

I'd hazard a guess that Michael Crichton loved this movie and it's what informed his writing. Cause it plays like a Crichton novel. A bunch of scientists discover that some lost creature is living in the lagoon and go to investigate. Along the way they have arguments about the scientific method and how to best deal with the creature.

8) Five Element Ninjas (1982)

There's a subgenre of martial arts movies that I love that I call "bat shit insane kung fu flicks."

Five Element Ninjas is one of the best.

Its story, if you can call it that, concerns a student getting vengeance for those who slaughtered the rest of his school.

The insane part is that the highest caliber fighters in this universe belong to a color-themed tier system of ninja clans each who base their fighting style off of Earth elements. There's the gold clan, earth clan, fire clan, and water clan. Each of these clans have looney ways of fighting. For instance, the gold clan is covered head to toe in gold cloth. Their clothes are so shiny it blinds their opponents.

This movie is sheer lunacy and I love it.

7) A Hard Day's Night (1964)

The best way I can describe A Hard Day's Night is that it's Animaniacs grandfather.

It's just a fun, absurd romp chronicling the life and times of the Beatles at the height of their fame.

It's movie magic. How many other pop bands tried to cash in on their fame with movies, tv appearances, or otherwise and failed miserably? This movie is lightning in a bottle that might not ever be repeated.

It's also barely a movie in that more than half of it is musical interludes (that also happened to inform the blossoming art form of music videos).

6) Casablanca (1942)

Gonna be honest, part of the reason I slept on Casablanca for so long was that I didn't believe the hype. I thought there was no way it still held up after all these years as one of the best movies of all time.

I was wrong wrong wrong wrong.

I'm in awe of this movie. I cannot think of many other movies in which literally every single character that comes on screen is a fully-formed character with their own rich backstory and traits.

This is one of those movies I want to get lost in. There's very few times in my life when I've wanted to immediately re-watch a movie after viewing it. You might wonder why it's not higher on the list but personal taste in art is a funny thing that's not easily explained. Anyway, the point is I still love this movie.

5) Inside Out (2015)

I guess it's called the Pixar Effect when you have a super charming and funny movie that turns on a dime to emotionally wreck you, yes?

Anyway, Inside Out, IMHO, might be Pixar's best movie to date. It's a fun, infectious movie that delivers a complex tale about how hard it is to grow up. Inside Out is one of those movies when you realize how important art is to explaining humanity. We might laugh at the Greek myths but what they were doing is no different than coming up with a brilliant metaphor for how memories and emotions are handled in the brain. In each case they're using the power of creativity and storytelling to figure out what life and humanity means.

4) Heathers (1988)

Heathers is my platonic ideal of what a satire should be. A heightened reality that is dark, off-kilter, and is still totally recognizable to audiences.

That a movie exists in which suicide is a fad is astonishing. Add a dash of everyday woes about surviving high school, a great performance from Winona Ryder & Christian Slater, and a hilarious script makes it for one of the best satires I've ever seen.

3) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

This movie is one that suggests the expansion of the west was not simply carried out by man. Rather, it was a chaotic force upon itself. Once western progress was started in this country there was nothing that could stop it. Even if you tried to stay out of its way it could ruin you. You could be prosperous from western expansion but you'd have blood on your hands.

Of course, since this is a Sergio Leone movie it's also wildly entertaining. It features a great performance from Charles Bronson as a harmonica-weilding gunslinger.

2) Rope (1948)

I think a lot of praise gets thrown to Rope for it's illusions of editing. Namely, that in Alfred Hitchcock's movie it is seemingly one long take. There's only a small number of cuts in the movie -- some of which are obscured cleverly.

However, I think this movie deserves praise for its story. In this film Jimmy Stewart flippantly suggests something awful should be legalized. What he doesn't realize is that he's inspired two younger men to take his word as gospel.

Words have meaning. When you speak you should speak clearly and without any sort of flippant tone. Not respecting language can lead to disastrous results. In the age of the Internet it's incredibly important not to mince your words. There's times that it's hard to suss out the meaning of what someone says online. In communication clarity is king.

1) Shock Corridor (1963)

Shock Corridor is a movie that is unbelievably relevant to today's societal woes. The movie concerns a reporter going undercover in a mental asylum to find out the truth why one of the patients died.

In his journey he crosses paths with patients who become bullhorns for different aspects of American society.

It is a relentless, strange, and ballsy movie. It's loud, brash, and sometimes uncomfortable. It's a great exploitation flick and an even better allegory.