Thursday Movie Picks #66: Halloween Edition - Asian Horror (Remakes)

This weeks topic over at Wandering Through the Shelves is about Asian Horror movies.  The only problem with that is I have never seen any Asian horror movies, but I have seen some of the remakes of Asian horror movies, so I am going to cheat and list 3 of the remakes I have seen and enjoyed.  Hopefully that is ok with everybody.

The Ring is pobably the best asian remake I have seen.  It is about a video tape that if you watch it, you will die in seven days. 

Next pick is The Grudge.  It has been awhile since I have seen this, but remember it stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as nurse and a creepy looking spirit of a kid.  Deifinately need to rewatch this one and then see sequels as I haven't seen those yet.

Final pick is One Missed Call, think it is the only other Asian Horror remake I have seen, so I am sure there are better ones I haven't seen.  But in this one, people get mysterious phone calls telling them the time and date of when they are going to die.



Not a really good list this week as haven't seen any of these in a long time and besides The Ring, didn't really stick out as excellent movies to remember a lot about.  Hopefully next week my list will be better and more in depth.

Thursday Movie Picks #65: Halloween Edition - Villainous Children

This week over at Wandering Through the Shelves the topic is Evil Children.  So after missing out on last week here is my list of movies that I have seen that I liked with Evil Children.

First up is Stephen King's Children of the Corn.  This classic features a couple who get stranded in a small Nebraska town, where it turns out all of the adults have been killed by the kids of the town and now they are after the couple who have shown up in town looking for help.

Next up is The Good Son, starring Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood.  In this movie Elijah Wood goes to spend some time at his cousins house only to realize there is something not quite right about his cousin.  This was quite a different character for Macaulay Culkin after his Home Alone movies.

Finally my last pick is Sinister.  This was a great horror movie that my wife didn't want to finish.  It features a Ethan Hawke as a writer investigating a murder of a family where the daughter has disappeared and assumed to be kidnapped by the killers.  Don't want to spoil anything if you haven't seen this but know it does within the category.

Thursday Movie Picks #63: All in the Family Edition - Adopted/Foster Families

This week the theme over at Wandering Through the Shelves is about Adopted or Foster families.  So without further ado here are my picks.

First pick is Despicable Me.  If not for having a child I probably would never have seen this, but since having a child and seeing all these kids movies, I realized I was missing out on some great movies.  In this one Steve Carrell voices Gru who is a supervillian who wants to steal a shrink ray but it was stolen from him as he was stealing it, so he adapts 3 girls so they can distract the other villian while he steals it back.  It is a really good family movie.

The second movie I picked is Flirting with Disaster.  It stars Ben Stiller as a guy who was adopted and now wants to go find his real parents, so he enlists the help of an adoption agent played by Tea Leoni and goes on a road trip with her and his family to find his real birth parents.  It is a real funny movie as they end up at the wrong house a couple times on the journey.

The final pick is Four Brothers.  It is about a group of adopted brothers from Detroit who are looking for the people responsible for the death of there mother.  It starts Mark Wahlberg, Garrett Hedlund, Andre Benjamin and Tyrese Gibson as the brothers.  It is full of action and I think a great movie that will keep you entertained throughout.

Thursday Movie Picks #62: Journalists/Reporters for Print/TV

Thursday Movie Picks #62: Journalists/Reporters for Print/TV

This week over at Wandering Through the Shelves the topic is about Journalists or Reporters.  So here are my 3 picks.

I first thought when saw it was Never Been Kissed,  the movie where Drew Barrymore is a sent back to school to do a report on kids in high school.  Its an alright movie, the one thing that bothers me with it is that here brother played by David Arquette also somehow gets to come back to school, it's been awhile since I saw it, but thinking about it now, not sure how he was able to pull that off.

Just One of the Guys was the other movie I thought of right away.  The main character Terri who is a girl writes a paper she hopes to have published in the city paper for a internship, but is passed over by a guy and she thinks she lost because the teacher is sexist.  So she reinvents herself into a guy and changes schools to try and win the internship with her paper she has written.

Not sure if totally falls within the rules, since she doesn't actually work for the newpaper yet, but that is her goal.

The last pick is Anchorman.  He has a full news team of reporters.  This movie is hilarious.  See it if you haven't.  Don't let the bad squeal affect your viewing of this one.

What I watched in August

I know we are like half way through September now, but figured since I just started this blog, it's ok to be a little behind.  Anyways here are all the movies I watched last month.

First Time Watches

Vacation (2015) - Went with the wife to see this at the theater.  Found it funny, but not as good as the original Vacation movie.  Just curious what happened to Chevy Chase?  Looked like he's been sitting around packing on the pounds, was shocked at how he looked, as haven't seen him in anything in awhile.

Terminator: Genisys (2015) - Being a big fan of the Terminator series I really wanted to see this movie.  My wife doesn't like Arnold, so she had no interest in this, so I went and saw this the last night it was available at our cheap theater by myself.  Only the second movie I have ever went to the theater to see by myself.  I really loved the scenes when Kyle Reese goes back to 1984.  I enjoyed the movie but it does leave you with some questions that I didn't think were answered, although I hear this is suppose to be the start of a new trilogy, so hopefully we do see more, but I know it didn't preform as well as hoped so not a sure thing to get another.

Inside Out (2015) - Wife and I took our son to see this in the theater.  It was a good family film.  I found it enjoyable.

Dead Tides (1997) - This is a movie starring Roddy Piper and Tawny Kitaen.  Tawny's husband is a drug dealer and has her go out and find somebody who can pilot there boat to smuggle drugs from Mexico to the US.  Piper ends up being hired as the boat captain and is unaware of the smuggling at first.  It was an ok movie, nothing special.  It is one I bought on VHS along time ago and never watched, so finally got around to watching it after learning of Roddy Piper's passing.

Playback (1996) - This movie stars Tawny Kitaen as the wife of a guy who getting ready to receive a big promotion at work.  His co-worker played by Shannon Whirry thinks she should get the promotion and thinks the reason she isn't considered is because she's a woman.  So she tries to screw with the guys marriage and make him look bad.  Wasn't that great of a movie.  Also starred George Hamilton and Harry Dean Stanton.

The Duff (2015)- I enjoyed this movie, it was funny and enjoyable.  I really liked Bella Thorne as the mean girl, thought she was real good at being the stuck up bitch.  Ken Jeong as one of the teachers was good too.  I would recommend this one.

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) - Pitch Perfect was a movie I liked,  one I would also like to see again, because I thought that movie was mostly about Anna Kendrick's  Beca character, where this one, so seems to move more into a supporting role, behind Rebel Wilson's Fat Amy and the new student Emily, played by Hailee Steinfeld.  Don't get me wrong I enjoyed Pitch Perfect 2, just was confused maybe I need to rewatch the first one again.


Rewatches

Dumb and Dumber (1994) -  This movie is a classic, Jim Carey at his finest.  The part about Petey being sold cracks me up everytime I watch this movie.  And Jeff Daniels, who knew he could be so good in a comedy before this movie came out.

The Lookout (2007) - This is a movie I had been wanting to rewatch for awhile.  Loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt as he plays Chris Pratt a man who was in a car wreck and now has trouble remember things without writing them down.  Matthew Goode plays Gary Spargo who befirends him before reveling he plays to rob the bank Chris is the janitor of.  I really like this movie and would recommend it to anyone.

Brick (2005) - Another Joseph Gordon-Levitt movie.  This one he is a high school student trying to find his ex-girlfriend after getting a bizarre phone call from her.  So he becomes like a high school private eye asking around about her.  It is a very good movie.

Havoc (2005) - Would you be surprised that his is another Joseph Gordon-Levitt movie.  He only has a minor supporting role in this one.  It is about a couple rich girls who go out to the ghetto and meet some mexican drug dealers and become infatuated by them and want to join there gang.  It stars Anne Hathway.  This was write after her Princess Diary movies, so she is trying to shed that good girl image in this movie.  I think for most people the main reason to see this is to see Anne Hathaway topless, another wise this movie is just ok.  Nothing special.


So here we have it 7 new to me movies and 4 rewatched last month.

Thursday Movie Picks #61: Train Movies

I stumbled upon the blog Wandering Through the Shelves who each Thurday post a topic to list 3 movies on, granted this week I am a little late to the party as it is Friday now, but thought I would like to particpate.  So here are my 3 movies that take place on a train.

3. Mission Impossible
Finding a third choice I have seen was hard, I know that Mission Impossible doesn't fully take place on a train, but one is featured in it.

2. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
First he was a on ship, now on a train, Steven Seagal in Under Seige 2.  This is my second pick, good old Casey Ryback is back on a trip with his neice when the bad guys take over the train and he has to fight back and save his niece.

1.  Money Train
Wesley Snipes is one of my favorite actors, add in Woody Harelson and Jennifer Lopez and you have a great movie.  Although is this a train movie?  Or a subway movie?  I'm going with train since it is in the title.  Woody Harelson and Wesley Snipes are foster brothers and partners.  Robert Blake is the guy who cares more about his money then other people and Woody needs money so he wants to steal the Money Train and Wesley wants to get him out of trouble.

Top 10 Football Movies

10. The Game Plan

This movie barely makes the top 10, as I was running out of options for a tenth.  Was this or the Replacements with Keanu Reeves, so I chose this movies as I like the Rock.  It features The Rock as a star football player who finds out he has a daughter who gets dropped off at his doorstep.

9. The Program
This is a movie I haven't seen in a long time, but remember enjoying.  It features James Caan as the coach of a college football team that has Craig Sheffer and Omar Epps on the team.

8. Any Given Sunday
This another movie that I haven't seen in awhile but remember enjoying.  It features Al Pacino as the coach of the football team.  Jaime Foxx as the star player.  It was directed by Oliver Stone.

7. Friday Night Lights
This is a movies that probably should be higher, it is just been so long since I have seen it.  Billy Bob Thornton is the coach of a Texas high school football team.  Also spun off into a great tv show, that I watched every season of.

6. The Longest Yard (2005)
I know most people aren't a fan of Adam Sandler movies, but I enjoy him in most stuff.  This one he plays a former star quarterback who ends up in prison where the warden organizes a football game between the inmates and the guards whose team is lead by William Fichtner.

5. Necessary Roughness
This movie I saw as a kid at the theater.  Was great as Scott Bakula comes back to college to play football for a team that isn't very good.  As a ten year old around this time I really liked this movie because of Kathy Ireland.

4. Little Giants
Another family football movie, this one about 2 brothers coaching teams to see who can be the one team in town.  Rick Moranis and his daughter lead the Little Giants, while Ed O'Neil leads the other team, the Cowboys.

3. The Blind Side
Great movie based on a true story.  Features a great performance by Sandra Bullock as the lady who takes in Michael Oher, who becomes a football player drafted to the NFL.

2. The Last Boy Scout
I know some of you are proably thinking this isn't a football movie, but it does feature football at the beginning and the end of the movie.  It is about an ex-quarterback (Damon Wayans) who teams up with Bruce Willis to find out who killed his girlfriend.  It is one of my favorite movies, and the only reason it isn't number one is because it isn't totally about football.

1. Varisty Blues
This is my favorite movie about football.  I can watch these movie every time I find it on tv.  Jon Voight plays a coach who will do anything to win.  James Vanderbeek is the backup quarterback who is forced to play when the startin quarterback is injured and doesn't like to follow all of the coached rules.  It is an excellent movie, I would recommend this to anyone who is looking to find a movie about football to watch.



What are some movies about football you enjoy?  Would you change or add any others? 

First Post

Welcome to my blog.  I am a big fan of movies, have a large movie collection.  I am not sure exactly how this blog will turn out, just going to see where it goes.  I unfortunately don't get to watch as many movies as I used to before I got married and we had a child.  Hopefully this will help motivate me to get more of the movies I want to see watched.  Before I got married I use to watch a lot of movies.  I have kept track of everything I have watched since 2003, so to give you an idea of how my movie watching is now compared to what it used to be, here is the numbers for each year...

2003 - 333
2004 - 521
2005 - 344
2006 - 502
2007 - 192
2008 - 229
2009 - 431
2010 - 80
2011 - 58
2012 - 33
2013 - 43
2014 - 58
2015 - 29 so far this year

So as you can see I met my wife in January of 2010 and she isn't as big of a movie watcher as me, she prefers tv shows. We have watched every season of the Office and the first nine seasons of Criminal Minds, a few seasons of CSI and some of the reality shows.  Currently we are working on Girl Meets World on Netlfix.

Kinda funny looking at the older numbers as my last serious ex-girlfriend from before I got married was in 2007/2008 time frame and the 2005 is when I started my current job and stayed working at my old job on the weekends till my probation was up, so that explains why those years are a little less, but nothing like the nose dive in 2010.

So anyway hopefully I can start watching at least a movie a day again or a few week like I used to as I know there are quite a few great movies I have missed out on over the last 5 years or so.

So hopefully you can join me and maybe share some of the movies I may have missed over the last few years.