Game Night

Game Night is a comedy movie starring Jason Bateman as Max, Rachel McAdams as Annie and some other great mostly comedy actors. The film follows Max and Annie as a very competitive couple who have a game night every weekend with two other couples. Max's more successful brother, Brooks, comes back to town after being away for a while and decides to host a game night at his place and invite his brother Max and his friends. Once they get there, Brooks reveals that he hired a local game company to come and fake kidnap him and the first couple that follows the clues left for them and finds him will win the game. Sounds like a good time, until it turns out that the kidnappers that took Brooks didn't actually work for the game company and it's up to Max and friends to save Brooks.

The most important part of a comedy movie is of course, that it provides laughs. Game Night was surprisingly funny, even though to be honest the trailers didn't really sell me much. I decided to give this a chance because of the great cast and the interesting set-up, and I ended up enjoying myself a lot. The characters are all likable and funny in their own ways. Most of the actors are playing characters you would expect them to be playing, if you've seen any their other work you'll understand what I mean. That doesn't work against the movie though, as all of these actors are great as the characters they play and know how to use those characters to deliver funny lines that you could totally see coming from them and never feel out of place. The humor consists of a lot of pop-culture references, some slap-stick and putting "normal" people in absurd situations. There were actually a couple of decent action moments in here too, nothing too fancy or groundbreaking, but enough to amp up the excitement throughout the movie. There were also some cool establishing shots in the movie that made the neighborhood they lived in look like a game board, small but cool detail.

I found myself laughing quite a bit throughout the whole movie and I had a lot of fun watching this movie. All of the actors have a chance to shine and be funny, and most of the time it works really well, with some minor misses here and there. If you like other Jason Bateman starring comedies, then you'll probably really like this one too. Comedies aren't usually movies I pay too much attention to, it's usually harder to find great comedies these days. I'm glad I gave this a shot though, I think this is indeed a great comedy.

Overall Grade: B+

We got two action movies coming out next week, none which i'm too interested in (Death Wish and Red Sparrow). I'll probably end up checking out Red Sparrow though, if not I'll be back to review A Wrinkle in Time and Thoroughbreds March 9th weekend.

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Annihilation

Annihilation is the new science fiction film by writer and director Alex Garland. Alex Garland's first film Ex Machina is still one of my favorite movies of recent years, so I was incredibly excited when I heard he was making a new movie  that would be releasing in early 2018. The film follows Natalie Portman who plays a biologist named Lena. Lena's military husband Kane (played by Oscar Isaac) disappeared for about an entire year while on a secret mission and Lena has been unable to move on with her life. Following a series of events, Lena is taken to a compound where her husband's mission took place near a disaster area. The disaster area is known as "The Shimmering" because of the shimmering light that surrounds it's entirety. Those who enter this area seem to never come back out, but it holds the answers to Lena's questions about her husband. Lena and four other women start an expedition to figure out just what is causing the shimmering light and what happened to the missing soldiers. Needless to say, the expedition leads to some startling discoveries.

The thing that stood out the most from this film were it's incredible visuals. It's just a really amazing looking movie that keeps your attention with it's great cinematography and unique settings. The visuals really help the atmosphere of whatever is happening in the movie, elevating the wonder that the characters feel with their surroundings and also the uncomfortable moments they feel as well. There are moments of true beauty and moments of true horror where the visuals, music and acting come together for some amazing moments in film. I want to see this movie again after just watching it just to admire the visuals again and pay more attention the the details that the film makers used. There really are some amazing moments in the film that kept my eyes glues to the screen and shocked and confused me (in a good way).

The story itself is also very good, though a bit of a slow start. It's a movie that moves along slowly, but gets more and more intense and interesting as it goes on. As the crew of women venture further into "The Shimmering", the movie gets more intense and starts to feel creepier and creepier. There are questions you want answered and that curiosity keeps building as the story continues. This leads to an incredibly intense and uncomfortable ending that felt unlike anything I've really ever seen. I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen for those final moments and it definitely left an impact.

If you are looking for a smart, strange, unique and interesting science fiction story then I don't think you can go wrong with this film. I definitely recommend this to any fan of science fiction out there, it's worth the watch in the theaters, just for the visuals alone. If science fiction isn't your thing, then you may not enjoy it as much as I did. As I said before, it is a bit of a slow start, but once it picks up it just gets better and better. I honestly might try to make time to watch it again before it leaves theaters and I hope more people give it a chance too.

Overall Grade: B+

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Pixar Movies: Worst to Best

Pixar is one of the main reasons why I love film as much as I do today. The mixture of fantastic story telling with the game-changing visuals that were always and still are the best out there in computer animation were the two main things that drew me in. While over the years lots of competitors have grown and have created films that are just as good and sometimes better than some Pixar films, I still think Pixar is at the top of the list when it comes to computer animation. It's one of those studios where you can look at the filmography and really debate between multiple films to take the title of best Pixar movie. With the release of the Incredibles 2 coming this summer, I thought I would take a trip down memory lane and also figure out for myself which Pixar movie is my personal favorite and which Pixar movie is my least favorite (actually a pretty easy choice for least favorite). Here's the list from worst to best:

Cars 2

It's pretty easy to say that Cars 2 is the worst Pixar movie so far (and hopefully it will stay that way). Cars 2 has the same problem a lot of other sequels and spin-offs have, making the side-kick comic relief the main character. Larry the Cable Guy plays himself in car form as Mater. Mater just isn't an interesting enough character to have to spend a whole movie with. It makes sense from a business stand-point to make a Cars sequel, since the first Cars movie was one of the most profitable movies ever made. By the time this sequel came out, Cars had made around 10 Billion in just merchandise alone. Adding lots of new cars to the mix for new toy opportunities just made so much sense. The problem was, the story just wasn't that interesting or compelling. While the movie still looked as good as any other Pixar movie, the story-telling you expect from Pixar just wasn't there. The heart that the first movie had just wasn't there. Still, to say that this is Pixar's worst movie is really not that bad. It's not a terrible movie, it's still watchable, just lacking in a lot of areas. It's a great movie for younger kids, but it won't keep the older watchers interested for very long I think. This is still Pixar's only massively negatively reviewed movie to this date. 

Cars 3

I guess it's no surprise that Cars 3 is the second worst movie by Pixar. The thing is though, it's actually much better than the second one. It really improves on the last movie by getting rid of Mater as a leading man and by adding some heart back into the franchise. There's actually character growth and a decent story to follow in this one. By this point I didn't really care much about these characters or what happened to them, but this movie at least made me care a little more. It's an okay movie by normal standards, but by Pixar standards it's still a bit of a letdown. 

Brave

Here's another good movie that just fell short of the Pixar standard. As with all these movies, this movie looks fantastic and was groundbreaking in visuals at the time. It was also a nice story of Mother and Daughter connections, which I think isn't really touched upon a lot in animated kid's movies like these. It was also the first Pixar movie to have a solo female lead, and a tough one at that, so that was also very cool to see. Another cool moment I remember, is the lead "princess" not wanting to get married, which is usually what the princess characters seem to be seeking in a lot of classic Disney movies. This really felt more like a Disney movie than it did a Pixar movie though, complete with a witch and transforming mothers into bears and other fairy tale cliches. The weird part was later on in the year, Disney released the very unique Wreck-it Ralph, which is still one of my favorite animated movies ever made. It really felt like they had switched movies because Wreck-it Ralph totally seems like something that Pixar should have done instead of this. Still a very enjoyable movie though, one that's worth a watch if you missed it (Brave that is). 

The Good Dinosaur

Another pretty good Pixar movie, The Good Dinosaur was the second original story by Pixar in 2015 (the other being Inside Out). If there's one thing that this movie got right, it was the breath taking animation and visuals. I know i'm probably going to be saying this a lot more in this post, but the visuals in this movie are just so amazing. The story in the movie isn't so bad, following a Dino named Arlo and his human buddy Spot. It's another pretty good Pixar movie, which sadly had to follow one of the most quickly beloved Pixar movies in Inside Out. This movie went on to become Pixar's worst performing movie, but still fairly well received. It's definitely worth a watch of course, but it's easy to see why it didn't become an instant classic. Maybe Dinosaur movies weren't "in" anymore? Oh wait, Jurassic World came out the same year and broke box office records? Never mind.

Monsters University

Pixar really seemed like it was in a bit of a rut from 2011 to 2014, releasing three movies on the bottom of my list here. Another sequel that I think a lot of people weren't really clamoring for, but was still made was Monsters University (a prequel sequel!). I still really like this movie honestly, Mike and Sulley are just so lovable it's hard not to be excited to see more of them. Lots of great new characters added here and the movie turns out to be a very fun and enjoyable one. Still, the great charm, world and heart from the first one doesn't seem to be completely present here. It just doesn't work as well as it did the first time around, which lead to slight disappointment. Another good Pixar movie for sure, but not a great one. 

Cars

John Lasseter's passion project about talking cars that he had been wanting to make for years finally became a reality and it was...pretty good? There really was a great story in the background of the Lightning McQueen movie here. A story about how big highways are being made for people to get places faster, but causing people to ignore the small businesses by not taking the old roads that used to be more often traveled. A story about learning to take it easy once in a while, slow down and enjoy the little things around you might not notice in your busy life. Those are the best parts of this movie really, all of the NASCAR racing stuff isn't really that great. Lightning McQueen himself isn't the best character, but it's really everything else around him that makes this a good movie. It has a unique message behind it that I think will resonate more with adults, but it also has the racing action and humor to keep the kid's attention. The simple car designs for the characters were pretty genius in terms of marketing and merchandising and it lead to the most successful movie merchandising since Star Wars. Of course the idea of talking cars creating great merchandise isn't exactly unique, Chevron doing it back in 1995 and i'm sure they weren't the first to think of it. For a lot of kid growing up though, the first Cars movie meant the same to them as the first Toy Story meant to the previous generation. 

Finding Dory

On a personal note: I don't really like Dory as a character. I find her to be a little too annoying, but maybe that's because I also don't like Ellen? Either way, a whole movie that revolves around Dory wasn't all that exciting for me. The movie does introduce one of my favorite Pixar characters in Hank the octopus who is just a very fun and awesome character. The animation on Hank is some of the most impressive animation ever created, period. The story is also very heart-warming and has quiet a few laughs to go along with it. While there are things I didn't like, some of the new characters weren't that great and the whole Nemo and Marlin side-plot felt kind of forced, it's still a very good movie. It fell just short of being great. 

A Bug's Life

This is where it starts to get tougher, from here on out it's just great movies. "A Bug's Life" was only the second full-length film by Pixar, and it's still one that holds up today. Despite the dated visuals that go along with a movie this old, the story and characters are just as memorable and lovable as they were back 1998 when it first came out. A pretty simple story following a clumsy ant named Flik, who accidentally ruins the food that the ants give to the grasshoppers in return for safety. This leads him to meet a bunch of circus bugs who are some of the funniest and memorable in any of the Pixar movies. This movie also features one of the better Villains in Pixar with Hopper played by... Kevin Spacey? Oh boy. 

Ratatouille

Is there anything more romantic than a love story in France, where a rat controls a young man to make incredible dishes to make his cooking dreams come true. This was famed director Brad Bird's second Pixar movie (Incredibles being the first) and was another huge success for him. The idea behind this movie is so bizarre, but it ends up being an incredibly charming and heartfelt story. I guess the message is simple: don't let what others think of you stop you from doing what you want to do, even if you're a rat who people find disgusting. The setting of France is always a film favorite of mine and Pixar does a great job of giving that romantic feeling that goes along with it. It makes me really want more Pixar movies in European cities, like how awesome would a Pixar movie in Venice or Prague look. The dishes looked really good in this movie too. It always impresses me the amount of detail that Pixar puts into their movies, and in this case the dishes that were made just looked amazing. 

Up

If I was judging these movies by how quickly they made me cry, Up would easily be in the number one spot. The first 5 minutes of this movie are some of the best use of music and animation ever. The bad thing is, when a movie starts off as amazingly emotional as this one did, it can only go down from there. The movie never reaches the heights of those first 5 minutes again, but that's not to say it's a bad movie. In fact, it's still a great movie with lots of great laughs and some great emotional moments throughout. It was really nice to see an animated movie that was lead by a much older character, complete with walking stick along with an Asian boy named Russel. The relationship between Carl and Russel is what makes this movie so great, and it all leads to a tear-jerker of an ending. Pixar always has a great way of making every single movie they make look unique and not like the others, and whenever I watch this movie it always reminds me of that. The square design on Carl is perfect for his character, as is the rounder design on Russel. 

Toy Story

Now we've reached the point of  Pixar movies that I just straight up love, and I have no idea how i'm going to decide the order of these. Toy Story was the one that started it all, it's the movie that changed movie making forever and really launched the studio we all know and love. I have nothing but good memories about the first Toy Story. It's a movie that I watched at least one thousand times growing up and a movie that sparked a love of animation in me. But, to say that this is the best Pixar movie there is or even my favorite would not be true. As a studio, Pixar has improved so much as story tellers and animators that there's really no way I would put this on the top of the list. It's still a movie that I love and it holds up despite it's age. The story is still as relatable as it was back then, but thankfully Pixar has released many films that surpass this original. It will always have a special place in my heart and will go down as a movie that changed the way the world sees animation. A movie that almost didn't exist and took a miracle to be put together.

Coco

It might still be too early to tell how much I love this movie and what position it really should have on this list, but I know for sure that I loved this movie. It's got an incredible way of showing the topic of death to a younger audience and mixing that with Mexican culture and art. This movie shows that Pixar still has the ability to create some amazing stories with lots of attention to detail and a story that is great for all ages. Being the latest Pixar movie at this point, the visuals are the best there are to be seen in an animated movie right now. Mix that with the cool Dia de Los Muertos art and character design and you got one of the best looking Pixar movies so far. The music is also really good and a big part of the movie, since the main character has a passion for it. It was nice to see that they actually made the instrument playing look realistic, unlike most other animation where it looks fake. The ending also provides one of the most emotional scenes since the opening of Up, where Pixar once again, makes you cry using music. Jerks.

The Incredibles

Before comic book and super hero movies dominated the box office and were released 10 times a year, there was The Incredibles. A story similar to Fantastic Four, but instead centered around a family with super powers in a world where no body wants super heroes. The whole first act of this movie is one the best and most clever in any Pixar movie. Mr. Incredible saves a man who is attempting suicide, and is sued for not letting him go through with it. This leads to several other lawsuits against other heroes that eventually leads to all super heroes going into hiding. The opening of the movie, with the documentary style presentation, is one of the funniest openings to any animated movie. This movie also has the fortune of having the best Pixar villain created so far, Syndrome. A Mr. Incredible fan-boy who wanted to be a superhero more than anything, but was ignored because he didn't have powers. Instead, he used science to create his own powers and will use them to kill every hero in existence so he can be the only one to stop his own evil robot creations and become a hero. It's a great story that puts an emphasis on family and working together as a unit to get things done. It also has some of the best music that any Pixar movie has ever had to this point as well. The early 20th century comic book inspired art style is also a nice touch to add to the movie. 

WALL-E

A Sci-fi Pixar movie featuring a destroyed earth where humans no longer live, sign me up. WALL-E is an interesting movie, mainly because the two main characters don't really speak. Any connection we have to these two characters of WALL-E and EVE come from their actions and nothing else, and the fact that it works amazingly shows how great Pixar is at animation. A movie like this couldn't work without great character animation and design. WALL-E and EVE's designs are perfect, small and cute robots that are easy to sympathize with and instantly connect with. The whole movie is a simple love story between two robots, with a call to take care of the earth more and maybe spend less time on technology/ourselves. It's also pretty funny to see that the earth was taken over by one giant company by the name of "Buy n Large", sort of a message to watch out for consumerism, by a company like Disney... yep. 

 Monsters, Inc.

The world created in Monsters, Inc is an incredibly wonderful and fun place to set a movie in. The idea of a world where monsters live that is powered by the screams of children is both a little scary and really clever. The monster designs in the movie are all super memorable and fun, which i'm sure made for great merchandising, but also made for some great characters. Mike and Sulley really have great chemistry together, even though they don't technically exist, I really believed their friendship. Billy Crystal as Mike is still probably my favorite Pixar character of all time, even surpassing my childhood favorite Woody (sorry Tom Hanks). He's just such a funny character, with great slapstick humor and great dialog too. The funny Mike put together with the adorable relationship between Sulley and the little girl Boo are what make this movie work so well. It always seem that the best Pixar movies always find a way to make you cry, and this one uses the farewell scene at the end to really push your emotional buttons. Jerks. 

Finding Nemo

Before Up came along and destroyed you emotionally in the first five minutes, Finding Nemo came along and did it in even less time. There's nothing quite like the impact this movie left after first watching it. Every single scene in this movie was memorable in some way, and not having watched it in quite a few years, I can still remember every little bit of this movie. That's how good this movie was. All the characters, even the ones that appeared a short time, were memorable. The story was both relatable to older audiences who probably knew exactly how Marlin felt losing his son and younger audiences who knew how Nemo felt being trapped by his dad's overprotective nature. Yet again, Pixar proved how great they are at attention to detail by creating this perfect undersea world where the movie takes place. The way the characters move underwater and the plant life and sand all look amazing, much improved in the sequel, but still looks great in this first movie. There's also a character named Dory or something, I don't know.

Toy Story 2

How can you take an already amazing movie in Toy Story and make it better? Well Pixar sure showed us that they are fully capable of taking something great and making it even greater. This movie was funnier, sadder and more epic than the first one. Putting Woody on the opposite side of where he was in the first movie, where this time around he's the one battling with the realization of him being a toy that could eventually be forgotten. It leads to some pretty great emotional scenes from Woody and also leads to one of the most heartbreaking scenes in any animated movie... you know the one (Jessie). Toy Story 2 is the perfect example of how to make a sequel to a movie that is beloved, without it feeling like a cash-grab or like you are running out of ideas. 

Inside Out

After several in a row disappointments from Pixar, Inside Out looked to be the movie that could turn that around for Pixar. It didn't just turn things around, but it quickly became my new favorite Pixar movie... at least for a while. The subjects this movie tackles are so important and well done, that I couldn't help but instantly fall in love with this movie. Amy Poehler as Joy is one of the best voice casting decisions ever made, she fits the role so perfectly I couldn't imagine anyone else doing it. The rest of the cast does a great job too though, not to take away from them. The message of the movie is, that sadness is actually an important emotional to feel and shouldn't be thought of as a bad thing. In fact, it shows that all emotions are an important part of keeping us safe and making us who we are as people. That's a really great message and one that Pixar presented amazingly in this movie. This is one of the few Pixar movies I would actually like to see a sequel for, because I think there could be some interesting concepts done as the main girl gets older. It was a really tough choice between this and my favorite, but ultimately I had to go with...

Toy Story 3

I mean...what else could it have been? Toy Story 3 happened to come out in 2010 the year I finished High School and was about to start college, which was what the movie was about. Andy is all grown up and about to head to college, he hasn't played with his toys for years now. This later leads to Andy passing his toys down to a little girl named Bonnie in one of the most emotional scenes ever, especially if you grew up with these movies. While I think that Inside Out might be a better movie overall, I have way more emotional attachment to the characters of Toy Story, which made for a movie with much more powerful moments. It was the end of an era, saying goodbye to the characters I grew up with and possibly never seeing them again. 

Huh? What's that? There's a new Toy Story movie coming out next year? 

.... I change my favorite to Inside Out again.

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Black Panther

Black Panther is the 18th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the first of three for 2018 alone. It stars Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa, the Black Panther, and is directed by Ryan Coogler (who directed the fantastic films "Fruitvale Station and "Creed"). The movie picks up right after the events of the Civil War arc, where T'Challa finds himself taking the place of his father in the hidden Nation of Wakanda. Things immediately go south for T'Challa as the son of a Wakandan from America returns to reveal some truths that will change the way T'Challa sees his new position as King and his future path. 

Right out of the gate, let me say that this is one the best looking Marvel movies ever made. The unique mix of traditional African with sci-fi visuals make for a really amazing looking movie. Of course as you'd expect from a Marvel project, the visual effects and sounds are all as good as a movie can get these days. The action scenes were really well done, especially the great sequence that takes place in an underground club in South Korea. The setting of Wakanda just felt really fresh and exciting for a Marvel movie, something that hasn't been done before (that I know of).

The other really great part of the movie was the huge cast of great actors. From Chadwick Boseman killing it as Black Panther, to two bad-ass warriors played by Danai Gurira and Lupita Nyong'o and T'Challa's tech genius sister Shuri played by Letitia Wright. Honestly I could just name of the entire cast because they all did a great job. Michael B Jordan played the main "villain", and he always does a great job. Most Marvel villains feel like just side-stories for the hero to fight at the end, but I like that they actually made the villain here more fleshed out. There were some good emotional moments that came from the villain, moments that challenged the hero in interesting ways, i'd say even challenged the viewer. The villains motivations are the kind that you could totally understand where he's coming from as a viewer, which I think always makes for the best villains. I still would have liked to have seen more from the villain, maybe it's cause Michael B Jordan is such an awesome actor, but I definitely wanted to know more about his story.

The third act, like most comic book movies, ends in a giant battle with lots of spectacle all around as the thing the hero is defending in in jeopardy. These are always my least favorite part of these movies, because it almost always plays out exactly how you think it does. It didn't really take away from the movie though, it was still very fun to watch with some of the best visuals to make it look as epic as possible. As I said before, the mix of  African culture with sci-fi really helps it stand out as very unique to look at. The big battle also lead to a great emotional scene from the villain, the kind we don't see to often from villains in Marvel.

This was an overall great movie to watch and I think was just as important as it was great. It might just be a comic book movie on the outside, but it really does have some important things to say inside of it. The performances are great, the visuals are unique and awesome to look at and the message goes beyond the Marvel universe. Ryan Coogler is a fantastic director and I can't wait to see what he does next with these characters and what he does outside of Marvel. The Marvel Studios side of Disney just keeps getting it right over and over again, and after years of these Marvel movies, I've never been more excited to see what they come up with next.

Overall Grade: A-

Here's an update on my Marvel movie rankings from worst to best:

Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3
The Incredible Hulk

Thor

Thor 2: Dark World

Captain America: First Avenger

Age of Ultron

Ant Man
Guardians Vol.2

Doctor Strange

Avengers

Iron Man
Spider-Man Homecoming
Black Panther

Civil War
Thor Ragnarok

Guardians of the Galaxy

Winter Soldier

It's actually pretty hard trying to decide where to put Black Panther and all of last years Marvel movies because they were all so good. I'll leave it like this for now, but it might change with some re-watches and of course after the year is over we will have two more to add to the list.

Next week we got two new big sci-fi releases in Annihilation and Mute, so I hope to be reviewing those both. 

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Greatest of All Time Pop Songs Part V: Robots Writing Music

It seems I've reached the halfway point here on this list of 100 songs and I still don't really know if I'm actually going to finish this entire list. As much as I love music of all kinds, some of these songs are just rough to listen to more than once. I find myself wondering what exactly these songs have that other great and better songs don't. Music is one of the most subjective things that exists out there and it takes a very safe and catchy song to make it onto this list of best selling songs. It's all about making the most of whatever the musical trend is or creating a your own trend to change the music scene. Some of these artists are those that took advantage of a trend and some of these are ones that started a trend. Which of those categories they fit in, is up to you to figure out.

42. Jason Derulo - Watcha Say

This song is the perfect example of how NOT to use samples. This song samples a well known part of Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek". Even though this sample was already kind of made a joke by the TV show "The O.C." and a skit on SNL (which still makes me laugh) this really didn't help things. The original song by Imogen Heap was a very personal and sad song to the creator, dealing with the topic of broken homes. It's kind of sad when such a personal song by Imogen gets turned into a joke.

Jason Derulo's song here is about how he cheated on his girl and that he feels bad about it, probably. The reason this song doesn't work is that Jason doesn't sound sad or remorseful in any way on the song. If you are writing an apology song, why is it so upbeat and happy? Add the fact that the song butchers the Imogen Heap sample with a terrible beat and doesn't use it appropriately and you get a really bad song. The fact that Jason Derulo isn't a good singer and requires the use of auto-tune to even sound decent makes things even worst. This was one of his first big hits and since this he's continued to get multiple hits despite his lack of talent. On a side note, listening to the first few seconds of the song with headphones on is very annoying. Go ahead try it... I dare you. 

BTW here's the SNL skit. Oldie but goodie. 

44. Ellie Goulding - Lights

I've always found Ellie Goulding to be a pretty dull artist, but there was always one song that I enjoyed by her, and that song is Lights. The soft background music backed with the heavy bass works really well, in my opinion, and the build to the louder and stronger chorus is pretty great. The song is about a simple subject, the fear of sleeping in the dark. I find it really cool that Ellie was open enough to write a song about this and be open about this fear, which a lot of people could be embarrassed by. The lights give her comfort and make her feel at home, being surrounded by loved ones. As a pop song, it works really well because it's catchy and the music does a good job at supporting the vocals, lyrics and the theme of the song. 

Special thanks for whoever wrote this gem of a song description on the Genius site. Brilliant.

45. Nickelback - Far Away

Nickelback writes generic love song, generic love song becomes one of the best selling songs of all time, Nickelback becomes rich or something. Is this song good? No. Is this song bad? No. This song is about as average as a song can be, and that's exactly the kind of thing that general audiences are looking for. With a song like this, it can be played in Rock stations, pop stations and maybe even country stations because it's so generic and safe. This song really is the perfect template for writing a safe pop song. Be sure to make the lyrics vague enough that anybody can use the song for their significant others. 

46. Fergie - Big Girls Don't Cry

Fergie basically makes a whole song to use the whole "It's not you it's me" break up reason. Honestly though, out of all of Fergie's solo songs, this one is probably the best one (of course her last big single was a song call "MILF" so the competition was't exactly fierce). Personally, I've never been a fan of Fergie's vocals, but the fact that she sounds a lot more sincere and "personal" helps make this song a lot easier to listen to than any of her other songs. The music is simple, but works well with the subject matter. The light guitars and strings in the background are a nice touch, along with the standard generic drum beats. At the end of the day though, this doesn't really feel like Fergie, this song could have been performed by any female pop star at the time like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. 

47. Chris Brown - Run It!?

16 year old Chris Brown tries to convince a girl that, despite his age, he still has more game and better moves than her boyfriend. I don't know much about girls, but I have to assume nothing turns them on more than a 16 year old boy bragging about how great his dance moves are and how much better he is than your boyfriend. It's strange that he doesn't mention the fact that he can legally drive now and how his mom let's him borrow the mini-van on the weekends. I mean sure, he has to bring his little brother along, but it's still a pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Whatever you do though, don't make little Chris mad or he'll-

48. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

Ra Ra Ah Ah Ah. No matter what the song may be, Lady Gaga always brings lots of personality to her music. The lyrics aren't always the best, but Gaga's vocals and her personality always elevate any material she has to work with. She can make a bad song good and a good song great. I feel like a song like this wouldn't work with anyone else but Gaga behind it. Her personality just kinda shines through the mostly dated/annoying late 00's music this song has. The chorus is powerfully catchy and makes the song instantly memorable. I would imagine a song like this would work better in a live setting though, with Gaga's personality and stage presence to elevate it from being just a decent radio song.

49. Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble.

In a lot of ways, Taylor Swift might just be the opposite of Lady Gaga. There's a lot less personality and Swift is a lot less interesting as an artist than Gaga. That being said, this song is still very catchy and pretty fun to listen to. I never much minded Swift's music, at least not until last year's mess. What keeps this from being better though is the weak chorus that drops from the catchy simple guitar/keys and drum combo to a generic pop mess. Lyrically it's your standard Taylor Swift boy problem song, with nothing really interesting to say. Still, the melodies are catchy and the vocals are what you would expect from most Taylor Swift songs, usually good. The innocent charm that Taylor used to have were still strong on this album, this is actually her last album that really had that. 

50. All-American Rejects - Gives You Hell

I really hate this song. The crappy crunchy guitars, the stupid lyrics, the annoying chorus, the most depressing guitar solo of all time and the annoying vocals. The sad part is I really liked this band at one point. Their first two albums were good and they still hold up in my opinion. They found huge success after their second album with some pretty big hits like "Move Along" and "Dirty Little Secret". Those two songs are fun pop-rock songs that are just fun to listen to, nothing amazing, but catchy ear-worms. "Gives You Hell" basically gets rid of all that, and what we're left with is a heartless song that seems to be trying too hard to be "edgy" for a younger audience. There's just something about this song that rubs me the wrong way... 

52. Hoobastank - The Reason

Generic songwriting at the height of it's powers. Here the band Hoobastank make a song that is about everything and also about nothing at the same exact time. He's found a reason to change, and the reason if you. He's not a perfect person, he has many flaws, but we'll never know what those flaws are. He's done some bad things to you, but we'll never know what those things are. I get that a song like this is easy to put yourself into, but it just makes the songwriters look so terrible. It just feels like a robot is writing this song to try to convince the world that it's human and also goes through human emotions. "I AM NOT PERFECT", "YOU MAKE ME WANT TO CHANGE", "I'M SORRY I HURT YOU". This is a glimpse of what our music is going to be like in the future. I mean, is it really that hard to give some examples or go into a more personal and vulnerable place to really help the listener understand what all of this means to you. Who is song directed to? I NEED ANSWERS! TELL ME SOMETHING! I still love this song. 

53. Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life

Yes, this song is about drugs, speed to exact. I've always loved this song from the moment I first heard it back in the late 90's to today, it's still one of my favorite songs of all time. There's something about the mix of the upbeat music with the darker lyrics that always draws me in every single time I listen to it. It's one of the catchiest songs ever made in my opinion, but it's really more than just the catchy song that it looks to be on the outside. The lyrics can actually be quite sad, as well as clever in the way he describes the relationship between drugs and himself. How aware he is of how bad it is for him, but how he knows he doesn't want to stop. He uses some great metaphors to go along with the type of drug he's addicted to like "The sky was gold, it was rose and I was taking sips of it through my nose" and "Chop another line like a coda with a curse". That's why this song works so well for me, because the upbeat music and vocals matches the high he gets from the drugs, but the lyrics show that even in this addiction to getting high, he understands that he should want more from his life than that. It just gets everything right from beginning to end, I love every single part of this song. 

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2018 Movie Preview

So next week marks the first really big movie of the year with the release of Marvel's Black Panther, the final film before the gigantic finale to the Thanos storyline that's been in the works since the first Avengers. From this point on, many movies will be coming out that I'm both excited and interested in watching for different reasons. Most of these will probably be the big budget blockbusters that have been announced and teased already, but i'll try to include some indie films that have some buzz too. Since indie films don't usually get as much attention, it's harder to know much about them until around their releases. These are movies that are confirmed for 2018 and that i'm definitely going to watch and review on here. I know i'll probably forget one, but here goes...

FEB 16: Black Panther

The first of three Marvel Studio films of the year, Black Panther looks to not only the most important one, but the one that looks the become the biggest comic book movie yet. It's hard to say what actual impact this movie will have until it releases, but it's clear that it will be big no matter what. Black Panther just seems like the coolest of all the marvel movie characters, and the movie looks to fit perfectly with that by having a very unique style that other Marvel movies haven't touched on yet. Also, what an amazing cast. 

FEB 23: Annihilation 

I'm a sucker for an original sci-fi story and this movie looks to provide just that. It's being Directed by Alex Garland, who made one of my favorite sci-fi movies "Ex Machina", which gives me hope that this movie will be another great story. Natalie Portman plays a biologist who has to enter a restricted area to try to help her husband. In the a restricted area she finds new species of creatures that look to be cross-breeds of different animal species. The movie looks like it's going to have lots of really cool visuals and a unique suspenseful story. 

FEB 23: MUTE

With the release of Bright and the new Cloverfield movie, Netflix looks to be taking more higher budget movies into their catalog. This one looks to be a sci-fi thriller taking place in a Blade Runner-esque city with robots and flying cars where a mute bartender has to look for his lost love and has to deal with criminals to find the answers he's looking for. With a really good cast behind him and some not unique, but still really cool visuals this one should be a treat. The good thing is that it's on Netflix, so it will be easy to get some time to watch this. 

MAR 9: A Wrinkle in Time

Based on the beloved book from 1962, Disney is finally creating an movie adaptation that looks to be worthy of the book. With a diverse and interesting cast and the best visuals money can buy, this looks to be a must watch at the theaters. It's got a big name to live up to, but if they can try new things while staying faithful to the main themes of the book at the same time, this can be a really great family movie. 

MAR 9: Thoroughbreds

Two teenage girls, lily and Amanda, who live completely different lives reconnect after years apart. Lily lives a life of luxury and class and has to put up with a controlling step-father. The girls come up with the idea of getting rid of the step-father at any cost. This movie looks to be a very clever and funny movie, with a great cast of young actors. The movie has already made it's way through festivals and is getting lots of praise, so i'm excited to finally see it.

MAR 16: Tomb Raider

It's hard to get excited about a video game movie these days, after so many misses you just expect failure out of these. Then comes a trailer that brings in hope that maybe, just maybe, this is the one to change that. With a lesser known director that hopefully wants to prove himself, and a great casting choice for Lara Croft (Oscar winner Alicia Vikander) this movie might just be something fun to watch. The trailer even seems to show parts that come straight from the video games, which shows that they might actually care about the source material. Hopefully this isn't another Assassin's Creed situation where all the potential is squandered for a mediocre movie. It doesn't need to be an award winning movie here, just a really fun and action packed movie with some good characters at the very least. 

MAR 16: Flower

Another movie that's been getting lots of film festival praise, Flower stars Zoey Dutch as a young teenager who goes around town making trouble with her friends. Things change when her mother's boyfriend and troubled son movie in with them. Looks like a lot of fun hijinks and laughs in this movie. I always enjoy a good coming-of-age story, and the last two years we've gotten two amazing female lead ones in 2016's "Edge of Seventeen" and 2017's "Lady Bird" and this one could continue the trend this year. 

MAR 16: Love, Simon

Busy week this March 16, ending with the movie "Love, Simon". This one is a light-hearted tale of a seemingly normal boy, who is afraid to reveal to the world that he is gay. Things seem to change when a student at his school reveals he's also afraid to come out in an anonymous post. As he grows closer to this anonymous person, he has to deal with his feelings of falling in love for the first time and how to handle it. It looks like the kind of movie that can get a lot of emotions out of the audience, lots of laughs and maybe even some tears. A possible great leading performance by Nick Robinson. 

MAR 23: Isle of Dogs

Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors out there, he certainly has a very unique style of film making that he's become known for. "Isle of Dogs" looks to continue the style from his first animated movie "Fantastic Mr. Fox", which is a film I really love. The film follows a group of dogs as they help a boy look for his lost pet in what appears to be an island of trash somewhere in Japan. With an all-star voice cast and amazing visuals, I think this will be another great movie in the Wes Anderson catalog. 

MAR 29: Ready Player One

Steven Spielberg making a movie that's based on a book that's a love letter to the 80's? Sign me up. Ready Player One is a book about a boy who lives in a world where a virtual reality game known as the Oasis has taken over the world. The entire world runs around the use of this technology as every user creates an avatar and is entered into a world where you can live a way better life than you could ever have in the real world, which is torn apart and barely holding together. It's a really fun and nerdy story and I can't wait to see how the crazy 80's influenced and futuristic sci-fi visuals are going to look on the big screen. Very curious to see how many 80's references and imagery they can fit into this.

APR 6: You Were Never Really Alone

Joaquin Phoenix plays a man who tracks down missing girls for a living, and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty in the process. As he rescues one of the missing girls he's been sent for, he stumbles upon something bigger than he was expecting. This movie looks to be a crazy, dark, twisted and suspenseful movie with an amazing performance by Joaquin Phoenix. April seems to be a quieter month for movie releases so far, but this one definitely looks like something to be checked out.

APR 20: Super Troopers 2

Wait. What?

MAY 4: Infinity Wars

And so begins, the month of Disney making millions and billions and trillions of dollars begins with Infinity Wars. What can be said about Infinity Wars to make anyone more excited? It's everything that Marvel has been promising and building to since Avengers. Although for a character that is supposed to be the biggest and baddest villain so far, we don't really know much about Thanos as a character yet. I'm interested to see just how they will fit all the crazy-ness of Infinity Wars into one movie. Also, they made the Marvel movie come out on Star Wars day instead of the Han Solo movie, seems like a strange move on Disney's part.  

MAY 18: That One Deadpool Sequel

Just two weeks after Infinity Wars and we get the fourth(?) comic book movie of the year (out of like 10) in the Deadpool sequel no one asked for, just kidding, everyone asked for. This sequel has a lot to live up to, especially with how much love the first one got, making it the highest grossing R rated movie (besides a certain Mel Gibson movie). Judging by the trailer though, it seems that the Deadpool style comedy we loved the first time around is back and better than ever. Can it somehow top the first? We will see. 

May 25: Han Solo Star Wars Story

Only about six months after the last Jedi comes the next movie in the never-ending Star Wars Disney movies. To be honest, i'm not really that excited about this movie at all. There really doesn't feel like a need to go back and watch Han Solo and how he became the smuggler that we all know and love. Sometimes a little mystery goes a long way into making a character great, and I think we know everything we need to know about Han Solo in order to love him as a character, adding more backstory isn't going to make him any cooler, but it does have a chance of making him a weaker character. Thankfully it looks like Disney is going to step away from these beloved characters and start giving us some original stories set in the Star Wars Universe, and that's something to be excited for. AND who knows, maybe this Solo movie won't be bad at all. Of course with all the problems this film had during it's production, it's not a sure thing. Fingers crossed that this movie is great. On a side note, not sure why Disney decided to release it's two biggest franchises in the same month, but whatever. 

JUNE 15: The Incredibles 2

Disney forced lots of pointless sequels from Pixar like; "Cars 2", "Cars 3", "Cars 4" (probably), "Monster's University" and "Finding Dory". Incredibles 2 is truly the one Pixar movie that needed a sequel more than any of the rest... well... maybe "A Bug's Life" (not really). It's going to be exciting to see how they tackle the family dynamics this time around, and what kind of interesting villains will be involved. Also very excited to see how much the visuals have improved since the last Incredibles movie and how Pixar will push their technology this time. 

JULY 6: Ant-Man and the Wasp

The Disney train continues with Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp closing out Disney's big summer season. This looks to be another fun marvel movie, probably to cleanse the pallet after all the chaos of Infinity Wars. The first Ant-Man was an enjoyable movie with some good laughs and this looks to be more of the same, which isn't a bad thing at all. It will be interesting to see where the Marvel movies are going to start going after this next phase ends and some of the bigger names start to hang up their boots. With big names leaving, we can still rely on new favorites like Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Spidey to keep things going while they introduce new characters into the mix. 

JULY 20: Alita Battle Angel

The story of a cyborg rescued by a scientist, who goes on to battle other cyborgs in a hybrid live-action and animated movie. Two interesting parts of this movie are the team up of James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez, and the strange visuals that looks very anime inspired, like a Ghost in the Shell or Akira. Judging by the trailer, this movie has the potential to be a really unique and cool movie or a really bad and cheesy movie. It's always nice to see studios trying new things like this, so I hope it's as good as the premise seems to make it look, but I guess we won't know for sure until it comes out.

JULY 27: Mission Impossible Fallout

How do these movies keep and getting better is what I keep asking myself. They have a way of upping the stakes every time with new stunts and crazy action sequences, and this one looks to be no different. Watching the trailer alone got me super pumped for this movie, seeing all the potential action sequences and stunts was so much fun. Henry Cavill looks like he made a good decision by not shaving that mustache for Justice League.

OCT 5: Venom

The first spin-off of what could be many in the Sony Spider-Man side of comic book movies. Sony has been known for doing a bad job at handling the Spider-Man franchise, to the point where they had to work together with Disney/Marvel to get it back on track. This movie really needs to be good in order for Sony to have the confidence and profit to keep going with these projects, and attaching an actor like Tom Hardy to the project is the right idea. Not much is known about the movie yet, but i'll be looking forward to how they handle a villain story like this one.

NOV 2: X-Men Dark Phoenix

The third and final X-Men movie of the year (after New Mutants and Deadpool 2). Not much is known about this yet, except that it follows the Dark Phoenix stories from the early 80's. Sophie Turner continues her role as Jean Grey from Apocalypse as she gets her own spin-off story from the X-men. I can't say i'm too excited for it just yet, especially after the boring X-Men Apocalypse movie, but once I see more and a trailer drops i'll know for sure. 

NOV 16: Fantastic Beasts and The Crimes of Grindelwald 

I'm not too familiar with the Harry Potter films myself, but I quite enjoyed the first Fantastic Beasts movie from a few years back. The main character was different than most movies and the supporting cast around him was full of quirky and fun characters. Hopefully the movie will dive deeper into the beasts aspects of the first film, because I always find unique magical creatures interesting in their designs. Also, Johnny Depp will have a bigger role in this one and I hope he doesn't phone it in.

NOV 21: Wreck It Ralph Breaks the Internet

Still my favorite modern Disney Animated feature, Wreck-it Ralph was a really fun story that pays homage to all the great video games of the past (and present) and told a really nice story about a villain wanting to be a hero. The next one looks to take Ralph into the entire internet and i'm excited to see what they will do with that concept and all the jokes that can come from it.

DEC 25: Mary Poppins Returns

This seems like the perfect movie to be released on Christmas day. This movie takes place after the original one, where the kids are all grown up. Mary Poppins shows to help the grieving Michael Banks (from the original) from his sadness after a tragedy in his life. Emily Blunt plays Poppins, which sounds like a great casting decision and the rest of the cast sounds great too. It will be interesting to see if they can really capture the magic of the original again, or even better bring something new to the character of Poppins. 

Well that's the list so far, i'm sure there will be many more to come in the indie scene and maybe some surprises. As you can see the year is pretty much dominated by Disney and comic book movies, and that probably won't be changing anytime soon. While these heavy-hitters dominate the box-office, i'll be on the lookout for smaller and original projects to watch as well. Should be an entertaining year. Enjoy your billions Disney. 

     

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