A New Home

I have decided to retire Armchair Park Stuff for a new blog with an even worse name. Any new articles on theme parks, movies, and whatever else I feel like writing about will now be found at Real Heroes are Sandwiches. I look forward to neglecting the new blog!

2019 At The Movies

In accordance with the prophecy, it was well into January before I had an opportunity to think about all the movies I saw last year. As always, my ratings are influenced by more than just the movie (I am only human after all.) So you may find movies in a weird order. If you think any movie rating is crazy, let me know about it. 

2019 Movies

Shazam! ****

Good Boys ****

Booksmart ****

Knives Out ****

Spider-Man Far From Home ****

Frozen II ***1/2

Avengers: Endgame ***1/2

Tag (2018) ***1/2

Aladdin (2019) ***1/2

Klaus ***1/2

Toy Story 4 ***1/2

Spies in Disguise ***1/2

Fast & Furious Pressnts: Hobbs & Shaw ***

Stuber ***

Long Shot ***

Jumanji The Next Level ***

Men in Black International ***

Secret Life of Pets 2 ***

Lego Movie 2: The Second Part ***

Captain Marvel ***

Dark Phoenix ***

Missing Link ***

Stan & Ollie ***

Dora and the Lost City of Gold **

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) **

Holmes and Watson (2018) **

Fantastic Beasts The Crimes of Grinderwald (2018) **

Haunt **

Vice *1/2 (2018)

Most of the movies on the 2019 list were seen in the theater, although  Booksmart, Aladdin, Klaus, Long Shot, Lego Movie 2, Dora, The Spy Who Dumped Me, and Haunt were seen in a home viewing situation. Tag, Stan & Ollie, Holmes & Watson, Fantastic Beasts, and Vice were seen on a plane. You can infer what you want about the impact of seeing these films outside the theater on my opinion of them. None of the films I saw outside of the theater that I rated low were particularly critically acclaimed, with the exception of Vice. But I believe that the positive reception of Vice was more politically motivated on the part of the professional reviewers. I found Christian Bale's performance to be Saturday Night Live-quality with over-exaggerated lip smacking. But the worst crime of this movie is that it was boring. The twist about the narrator was interesting, but ultimately meaningless. And I was very disappointed that a movie by the maker of The Big Short was so dull, despite the possibly more straightforward source material. 

I was happy to see a fun DC comic book movie, and this year had two excellent coming of age comedies. And Knives Out was definitely a highlight of the year. 

I finally got around to seeing a Fast and Furious movie. It was good fun! No wonder they have made so many of them. I still hate the naming convention, though. 

The list of older movies I saw this year includes any movie I saw all the way through for the first time or any movie I saw for the first time in a long time.

Older Movies 

Irma La Douce (1963) ****

Bringing Up Baby (1938) ****

The Muppet Movie (1979) ****

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) ****

The Maltese Falcon (1941) ****

Palm Beach Story (1942) ****

The Third Man (1949) ****

The Music Man (1962) ****

Attack the Block (2011) ****

White Heat (1949) **** 

The Thing (1982) ****

West Side Story (1961) ****

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) ****

Mad Max 2 (1981) ****

Scream (1996) ****

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) ****

Top Hat (1935) ***1/2

The China Syndrome (1979) ***1/2

Strike Me Pink (1936) ***1/2

Baby Face (1933) ***1/2

Dial M For Murder (1954) ***1/2

Gidget (1959) ***1/2

My Favorite Wife (1940) ***1/2

Strangers on a Train (1951) ***1/2

Desk Set (1957) ***1/2

Funny Girl (1968) ***1/2 

Hot Millions (1968) ***1/2

Bachelor Mother (1939) ***1/2

The Bachelor (1925) ***1/2

The Lost Boys (1987) ***1/2

Sleeping With Other People (2015) ***1/2

The Descent (2006) ***1/2

The Three Caballeros (1944) ***1/2

The Little Hours (2017) ***

Mission: Impossible (1996) ***

The Candidate (1972) ***

Move Over, Darling (1963) ***

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) ***

Penelope (1966) ***

Lifeboat (1944) ***

Saludos Amigos (1942) ***

By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) ***

Ice Station Zebra (1968) ***

Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein (1948) ***

Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) ***

Start the Revolution Without Me (1970) ***

Designing Woman (1957) ***

Meet John Doe (1941) ***

The Big Sleep (1946) ***

Escape from New York (1981) ***

Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989) ***

Unfinished Business (2015) ***

Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) ***

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) ***

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) ***

Bye Bye Birdie (1963) ***

Sabrina (1954) ***

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) ***

In Person (1935) **1/2

The Three Musketeers (1946) **1/2

Horse Feathers (1932) **1/2

A View to a Kill (1985) **1/2

The Freshman (1990) **1/2

Promise Her Anything (1965) **

Moonraker (1979) **

Luxury Liner (1948) **

The Quiet Man (1952) ** 

Octopussy (1983) **

Jaws 2 (1978) **

A Fine Pair (1968) *1/2

Mad Max (1979) *1/2