"The Crazies" (2010)

The remake of a 1975 George Romero movie, "The Crazies" follows David (Timothy Olyphant), the sheriff of the all-American town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa. On the opening day of little league, one of the townsfolk inexplicably walks out onto the field with his shotgun, and David is forced to put him down. The next night, another citizen locks his wife and son inside their farmhouse and sets the home on fire. David thinks he figures out what is going on in his quiet little town when he finds a government plane downed in the local marsh, but he discovers this too little too late. The government has already taken the town off the grid, and the people have started to go crazy. That's when the government moves in and sets the town up for quarantine. David, his wife Judy (Radha Mitchell), his deputy Russell, and Becca (Danielle Panabaker) try to escape whatever is going on.

"The Covenant" (2006)

This is the first time I've watched this. Let's hope it's the last. What, you don't remember "The Covenant"? There's a good reason for that. It is your typical generic teen supernatural action-horror that became all too popular in the mid-2000's trying to capitalize on the popularity of the likes of "Underworld".

"The Count of Monte Cristo" (2002)

Based on the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas, "The Count of Monte Cristo" is a tale of love, betrayal, persistence, and - above all else - revenge.

The Cornetto Trilogy - "Shaun of the Dead" (2004), "Hot Fuzz" (2007), and "The World's End" (2013)

We have arrived at my favorite part of our entire collection - The Cornetto Trilogy! Sorry guys, only downhill from here.

"Cop Out" (2010)

Kevin Smith directs his first movie which he did not write, and also his first movie produced by a major production company. In "Cop Out", Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan play Jimmy and Paul, two New York police officers who are more of laughing stock than good cops. After getting suspended for busting up an undercover operation in the complete wrong way, Jimmy goes to sell a rare and expensive baseball card but is robbed by two small-time crooks. Jimmy and Paul then pull out all the stops to catch the crooks, which inevitably pits them against a Mexican drug lord.

"Cloverfield" (2008)

"Cloverfield" is one of those movies that no one ever thinks "that was okay." It's a movie you either love or hate. I count myself among the former rather than the latter. I absolutely love this movie, and it is probably my favorite monster movie.

Yes, I intentionally left the sticker that seals it closed on there. It looks so good!

"Clash of the Titans" (1981)

"Clash of the Titans" is a retelling of the legend of Perseus. After Zeus (Laurence Oliver) deforms her son Calibos, Thetis (Maggie Smith) takes out her frustrations on his mortal son Perseus (Harry Hamlin). Though he cannot directly interfere, he commands others on Olympus to grant him gifts to help him in life. He falls in love with Andromeda, and is forced to win her hand by battling Medusa, Calibos, and the Kraken - all in stop motion!

"Chronicle" (2012)

There are not many non-horror found footage films. Chronicle" buckled this trend. And in a good way. Chronicle stands out as a very original film in an age where nothing is original.

"Child's Play" (1988) and "Curse of Chucky" (2013)

We're watching the first movie in the series - "Child's Play" - and the last movie in the series - "Curse of Chucky". I wish we had "Child's Play 2", but we don't. The other three are kinda disposable. These two, however, are pretty great movies. One, the debut of a terrific character in horror. The other, a very ingenious way of bringing the character back to his roots and giving him the chance of carrying on. We only actually own "Curse". We were able to watch "Child's Play" on Starz (which we somehow keep getting for free through our cable provider).

"Chicago" (2002)

Ahh, the Roarin' 20's. And where better to experience the 1920's than Chicago, right? Did the 20's actually occur anywhere else?

"Chef" (2014)

"Chef" is hands-down my favorite feel-good movie. Ever. That's all you get before the jump this time.

"Centurion" (2010)

I remember when "Centurion" came out. I was working at Blockbuster part time, and had been waiting for about a year since hearing about it. What's not to be attracted to? Neil Marshall writing and directing a movie about the Roman Ninth Legion doing battle against the Picts. That is a dream come true for me - Neil Marshall is one of my favorite writers/directors, and anyone who knows me knows I love history. Add to this Michael Fassbender as Quintus Dias (still before his super-famous years, but he had done enough at this point that I loved him) and Dominique West as General Titus, and you have a recipe for a great war movie. For those who don't know, both these actors were fairly major characters in "300" (I don't think I need to tell you that we definitely own this). It also has several actors and actresses that have appeared in other medieval combat movies, and other Neil Marshall films.

"The Cabin in the Woods"

Like we talked about yesterday, there have been a lot of cabin in the woods horror movies, but none of them accomplish what "The Cabin in the Woods" (2012) is able to do. Much like when we discussed "Behind the Mask" a couple weeks ago, this is able to take stereotypes and cliches, and make them mean something completely new. After seeing this, it made "Cabin Fever" mean something a bit more than what Eli Roth had intended.

"Cabin Fever"

"Cabin Fever" (2002) was basically the start of Eli Roth's tremendous career. In what has become his style, this movie contains some gruesome horror and almost unnecessary and out-of-place comedy. But that's Eli Roth for you.

I love this box art. Just the way the trees and the cabin form a skull looks great. 

"The Butterfly Effect"

"The Butterfly Effect" (2004) was one of my first forays into Sci-Fi thrillers. I remember being in high school when this came out, and then becoming completely obsessed with it. Before this, my movie interests had consisted of Adam Sandler, "Jurassic Park", "Finding Nemo", and "Star Wars" - nothing that really made you think. This movie was the catalyst to me actually enjoying movies, so it has a very special place in my heart.

"Burn After Reading"

Be warned, there are major spoilers in this review.

The Coen Brothers are geniuses. There is no doubt about that. "Burn After Reading" is just another example of their brilliance. This another one of their movies where you're along for a great ride, only for nothing to end up happening. But you don't mind, that's part of their genius.

"Bubba Ho-Tep"

Elvis Presley and John F Kennedy are both alive and living in a nursing home together. Things are awful for them, but they're about to get even worse. The souls of all the residents of their nursing home are in danger, and the threat is an Egyptian Mummy, come to absorb all these old souls that no one will miss. I present to you, the craziness that is "Buba Ho-Tep" (2002).

"Bruce Almighty"

Ever wonder what it would be like if you ran the world? Would you could fix all the problems of your life? Would you end world hunger, or stop all wars? Would you ignore all the prayers you hear, or just give in to all of them? That's exactly what "Bruce Almighty" (2003) is about.

"Brotherhood of the Wolf"

"Brotherhood of the Wolf" (also known as "Le Pacte des Loups", 2001) is a well-known movie in the circles I run in. Outside of the those circles, this movie was largely ignored. The average American movie watcher does not concern themselves with French cinema. I for one think it would be nice if everyone did concern themselves with an occasional foreign movie. They might learn to appreciate good cinema, and not drool over yet another Michael Bay-splosions production.

Broken Lizard Marathon!

That's right! We're watching all four of Broken Lizard's major motion pictures and in chronological order: "Super Troopers", "Club Dread", "Beerfest", and "The Slammin' Salmon". And all in one day!

"Bridesmaids"

"Bridesmaids" (2011)  is a movie riding on the coattails of Judd Apatow. A lot of people love this movie. I do not. I find it very awkward, and the main characters are not strong leads. 

"The Breakfast Club"

"The Breakfast Club" (1985) is one of those movies everyone must see before they die. Five kids spend a Saturday in detention. There's not much of a plot there. But it works. This is one of those "generational movies" people like to talk about. It's a story of growth, acceptance, and teenage angst. 

"The Boondock Saints"

I'm not sure about where you're from, but where I live "The Boondock Saints" (1999) is basically a bible (I think there's a joke there . . .). I have lived in several places in New England, and each one of them people have worshiped this movie. I've never been sure if this was homeland pride, but I accept it. This movie is tremendous. We did not watch the second one, because we don't own it and I didn't much care for it, so why bother tracking it down?

"The Book of Eli"

You've heard the story told several times before: nuclear fallout has turned the US into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The world is a violent place, made more violent by groups of raiders who have banded together for protection from other groups of raiders. Denzel Washington plays Eli - a lone-wolf character who is a total bad ass. What makes "The Book of Eli" (2010) different is he is in possession of a book. A book that Gary Oldman's Carnegie wants. A book that will change the wasteland forever - whether good or bad will be determined by who gets their hands on it. 

"Black Swan"

We don't get many dramas in our collection. As you may have noticed, we like being entertained (or stupefied), and dramas can be a bit . . . dramatic. When I noticed that "Black Swan" (2010) was next (followed immediately by another terrific drama with Mila Kunis, "The Book of Eli"), I did a quick count of the dramas on our top two movies shelves. For the record, we're only about halfway through the top shelf right now. I counted about 5 or 6 dramas in the top two shelves. So to extrapolate those numbers out, we can say that in a collection of about 400 movies (give or take, we've never actually counted), we have maybe 15 dramas.

"Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure"

Luckily we only own "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989) and not the horrible sequel. I'm pretty sure the sequel is available on streaming services, but we're choosing to pretend like we don't have access to it. We have enough movies to get to without wasting our time on it. But get ready for a most excellent journey through time, dudes!

"Be Kind Rewind"

Feel good comedies aren't very common. And when they are, they're not very good. This is a movie that was left forgotten, made you feel great, but was largely fantastic.

"Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon"

Next we're covering "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon" (2006). This is an extremely polarizing movie. If you're into it,  you're all in. If you're not into it, this movie will never catch your attention.

"Battlefield Earth" This Movie is Bad and You Should Even Skip Reading This Post

Let's not beat around the bush here. This movie is bad. It is widely reviled, and is considered to be one of the worst movies ever made. Yes, those are 7 different links, including admission by the screenwriter. So why don't we just jump into this and get it over with.

"Balls of Fury"

Well we got away from stupid comedies for a little while. Looks like we dove back in to them. Hard. "Balls of Fury" (2007) tried to take advantage of the popularity of "Dodgeball": using a forgotten sport at high stakes to make a comedy. "Dodgeball" started this trend, the trend moved on to peak for the movie "Dodgeball", and the last successful ridiculous sports movie was "Dodgeball".

The "Back to the Future" Trilogy

I wonder if Zemeckis knew what he was doing when he wrote these movies. They are pure fun - not out to prove anything other than movies are entertaining. That's exactly what this trilogy is: entertaining. For some reason my "Back to the Future Part II" will not work in my Xbox, so we weren't able to watch it. I've seen it a million times, though.

"Alien vs Predator" & "Alien vs Predator: Requiem"

I wish we owned other Alien and Predator movies. We own "Prometheus" and "Predators", which we will be watching later on in the P's. So for now we're watching "AvP: Alien vs Predator" and "AvPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem" Yep, they seriously tried to trend the titles up by starting them with the acronyms. So the second one has TWO subtitles! Snazzy!

"Avatar"

James Cameron's wildly-praised "Avatar" (2009). I want to keep this review short.

"As Above, So Below"

Every time I'm positive the "Found Footage Film" (FFF) genre has finally died, another one comes out which doesn't completely suck. "As Above, So Below" (2014) was one of those movies. It was a really good movie, but could have been significantly enhanced had it not been FFF. This review I want to do with as few spoilers as possible, since it is a thriller that depends on the unknown to scare you.

The box art is fantastic.

"Anchorman" & "Animal House" - They go together so well!

We decided to double-down on the Cult Comedy Classics this time around. We hit two of the most famous comedies in cinematic history: "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy" and "Animal House". We were going to watch "Anchorman 2", but thankfully we couldn't find it to stream anywhere legally. If you have not seen either of these films, you owe it to yourself to change that as soon as possible.

"An American Werewolf in London"

Next up is "An American Werewolf in London" (1981). There are not many movies quite like this one. And I think that's OK. This movie is a fantastic mix of horror and comedy. Not quite like "Zombieland" or "Army of Darkness". The comedy is a bit darker, which fits the plot so well. Believe it or not, this was written and directed by the director of "Animal House", which we'll be watching very shortly.

"Almost Heroes"

"Almost Heroes" (1998) is the untold story of Bartholomew Hunt (Chris Farley) and Leslie Edwards (Matthew Perry), who lead a team of third-rate explorers racing Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean first. This tale was untold for good reason, as the IQ of the entire crew combined is about the same as your average Kardashian.

"Airheads"

If you've seen "Airheads", you were probably flipping through the channels on a weekend around 9am and settled on Comedy Central. It always seems to be on, either be for or after "Without a Paddle". It's just one of those movies that draws in viewings when nothing else is on. Don't let that diminish this movie. I love this movie, to the point I think this movie was made for me. Heavy Metal, comedy, an original plot that aged well, and Lemmy Kilmeister. What more do you need?

"The Addams Family" & "The Addams Family Values"

Just about everyone has heard of the Addams Family. They started off as a comic in 1938 as the antithesis of the American nuclear family. This comic spawned the very well-known black and white TV series "The Addams Family" which ran for a couple seasons, followed by a couple of cartoon series (and appearing in several other cartoons) and a trio of movies; 1991's "The Addams Family"; 1993's "Addams Family Values"; and the doomed-to-fail "Addams Family Reunion".

But if you haven't heard of the Addams Family before today, we have bigger things to worry about.

"50 First Dates", "Big Daddy", "Mr Deeds", "Happy Gilmore", "Billy Madison" - Or, way too much Adam Sandler!

Are you ready for this? I don't think we were!

As you can see, I have these in movie collections, and have them filed under "A" for "Adam Sandler". So we're watching them all here. We didn't watch them all at once, however. We would like to keep some of our intelligence. These were watched over the course for three days, and I wrote the reviews as we watched each movie.

"Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" & "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls"

Perhaps one of the stupidest movies ever made, "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" was (and still is) a cult hit that spawned an immediate sequel ("Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls"), a cartoon that ran for three seasons (which mostly everyone forgot about), and a widely ignored third movie. We're just discussing "Pet Detective" and "When Nature Calls"in this post, as I don't own any of the cartoon, and watching just the courtroom scene of the third movie by accident made me hate everything in this world for about five minutes. This is also a rare instance where the sequel is significantly better than the original. 

"Accepted"

Let's be honest, "Accepted" was a fairly forgettable comedy about a group of misfits who were rejected from all the colleges they applied for, so start their own college to steal money from their parents. Things take a turn when they find that other students have found themselves accepted into the fake college. Bartleby (played by Justin Long) struggles with allowing everyone to feel accepted in a world that doesn't want them, and keeping everything under control.

"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"

Based off a book of the same name, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is the untold story of Abraham Lincoln's night job as a vampire hunter. It sounds ridiculous, but it is a rather fun movie. Most people wrote this off as a goofy and campy retelling of history, but it is not. There is no "goofy and campy", and is a solid action/horror movie. They manage to fit most everything that happens into his actual history, so nothing is as crazy as one might think.

"28 Days Later..." & "28 Weeks Later"

Well, didn't take us long to get into a double review post, did it? We're starting off strong with "28 Days Later...", and immediately ruining it with "28 Weeks Later". It's amazing how polarizing these two titles are.

Welcome to the Collection

The movie collection you have the pleasure of hearing my prattle on about. 

We love movies. And as you can see, we have a large collection of movies with varying degrees of quality and popularity. . We have our movies split up into several categories: Comics, Kids/Family, Muppets, Tolkien/Narnia/Star Wars, and Everything Else. We also have a pretty small anime collection and some TV series. Chances are I will not be reviewing either of those sections in this blog. All-in-all, we have somewhere around 400 titles.