My Favorite Stuff in 2024

I spent the last 18 months in Singapore, where my wife is originally from, and where her parents and siblings live.  Now that I think about it, in a meta way, my best thing of 2024 would have to be living in Singapore for the whole year.  It was incredible (and I highly recommended) living in a different city / country for a while so you can look back at your usual life with fresh & broader perspectives.  Of course, the food was amazing, and the traveling to other SE Asian countries was fantastic.  Working remote on U.S. hours meant I was usually working from 9pm-4am (plus some other odd hours), which allowed me to have some more free time during the middle of the day while kids were still at school.  I got in a great rhythm of picking up my youngest from her kindergarten class at noon each day by talking a long walk in the hot sun / tropical rain while I listened to podcasts, sat and read, or caught Phoenix Suns games.  Anyways, I managed to consume / experience a lot of great stuff throughout the year, and I thought I'd share my favorites.  

(This is not an official list of the best new releases in the calendar year, but mostly things that I enjoyed during the year.)

Best Music

• Fleet Foxes - I went on a big kick at some point early in the year after getting one of their old familiar song stuck in my head.  Then the rabbit hole went deeper and deeper and I listened to all their stuff over and over, and also got inspired to do some guitar and singing of their songs, though I became painfully aware of how not high my voice is able to go.  The album, 'Shore' (2020) is a masterpiece, and it has a great hour-long YouTube movie thing to go along with it.  I enjoyed watching some of their live material on YouTube which also led me to their 'Live on Boston Harbor' (2024) performance and accompanying album.  Transcendent stuff.  I've really taken to live performances lately as there's something about the human achievement aspect that I love witnessing. 
• Alan Sparhawk - 'White Roses, My God' (2024) - With the tragic passing of his wife and musical partner, Mimi, Alan Sparhawk was able to put out an excellent solo project. Very stylistic album with a lot of muffled, voice-filtered vocals
• Bob Dylan - 'Springtime in New York: The Bootleg Series' (1980-1985) - I discovered a clip on YouTube of Bob Dylan singing "Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight" with Mark Knopfler on guitar ,and the veteran ease of their skillful jamming really drew me in.  Then I checked out the Bootleg album and really dug it, listening on repeat for a while.  
• The Smile - 'Cutouts' (2024) - Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood continue to put out incredible music, adding to their percussive and guitar complexity with each new project.  The song, "Eyes & Mouth" is an amazing specimen of what modern, understated guitar solos can be.  It makes me a little less grumpy about the disappearance of rock-out solos in today's music.  
• Sufjan Stevens - 'Come on Feel the Illinoise!' (2005) - After not listening at all for maybe 15 years, I had an excellent experience putting on the headphones and enjoying the album from start to finish in one sitting.  I hope to have the experience again in 15 more years.  
• Taylor Swift - 'THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT' (2024) - It's super mainstream to like Taylor Swift, but I have to acknowledge the skill in her music.  This album and her last one, 'Midnights', really appeal to me.  Great beats, perfect sound-mixing, and her skillful songwriting and confident singing all combine to make quality music.  

Best Tweet

Best Books

I'm proud to say that I supper upped my reading game in 2024.  I'm surrounded by a bunch of readers in my family, so that helps.  But also, as I mentioned earlier, I had time everyday to sit on the playground while my daughter played with her classmates.  And I found physical books to be a great way to force myself to get away from my phone, and to give my eyes a chance to rest from the bright screen.

• Earthsea Series - Ursula Le Guin - Wow.  I'm so glad my wife hipped me to this series.  A different kind of wizards and dragons saga.  I love the sacredness of language throughout the books.  The characters have so much wisdom and courage.  I hope to read the books again.  
• Exhalation - Ted Chiang - Super cool sci-fi short stories.  There was one fascinating story about a middle-aged father and his college graduate daughter and how the dad misremembers things that are so fundamental to their relationship that it had me feeling floored about how my own relationships might be skewed in my version of events. He spliced this story with a tribal story about people that don’t write words (don't even have a word for “word”) and allow their truth to shift based on what feels right. 
• Dune Series (Books 2-4) - Frank Herbert - I decided to properly read Dune Messiah--I had previously only audiobooked it--and it opened up some new views on the book to me.  Then I got to discussing the book with my cousin which I so thoroughly enjoyed that I decided to keep going in the series and to do a bit of a long-distance book club with my cousin.  The series got me thinking about the difference between villains and heroes, the difficulty of knowing the past ("The only past which endures lies wordlessly within you."), and the different strengths of men vs. women.  And I generally love a good hero's journey story. 
• Underland - Robert Macfarlane - I had audibooked this before, but the allure and mythos of the world beneath our feet drew me back in.  His writing is amazing and his accounts transport me out into the great outdoors.  

Best TV

• Shogun - Episodes 1-6 or so were riveting and fresh.  It started to drag a bit toward the end for Val and me, but it was overall a great show.
• 3-Body Problem - Good SciFi show.
• Better Call Saul - I rewatched this whole show.  It's a masterpiece.  It works for me like a great literary classic, like a Dostoevsky novel where I'm seeing the raging conflict in the characters and how the law is imposing its will.
• Lost - Now that the show has run its course I thought I'd try revisiting it.  Season 1 especially, and 2 to a slightly lesser extent, are incredible TV.  Emotional, philosophically fascinating, and revolutionary for the genre.  Seasons 3 through 4 (where I am now) slow down a bit but there are some real gems in there too.  I have the benefit of seeing which episodes are worth skipping.  I'm interested to see if I can make sense of the finale when it comes to that.   

Best Movies

• Dune - A lot of Dune in my lists, but this movie was awesome.  The cliche term of "visual storytelling" is right on the nose for what Denis Villenuve is doing with this project.  Coupling the reading of the books with the watching of these movies has been a thrill for me.  I love the complicated hero arc we get with Paul Atreides.  
• The Taste of Things - This was one of those rare experiences where I was really glad we watched a non-blockbuster movie in the theater.  Val and I were transported as soon as there was a 20-minute or so wordless opening scene of a small cooking team preparing a decadent meal for a fancy 19th century feast.  
• Furiosa - I saw this on the airplane.  I loved the Dementis character.  For having the appearance of a sand-dune gear-head movie about violence and fast cars, there was actually a lot of plot depth about being trapped into your harsh circumstances.  

Best Games

• Crew - A card game that draws on principles of trick-taking games like bridge, but makes it collaborative and gives you 50 different missions that build up in difficulty, and adds other interesting curveballs like "broken communications".  4 of us tracked our score on completing all 50 missions over the course of a few months and had a great time doing it.
• Dune - My brother-in-law bought this 1960's game for us to play as a group of 6.  It is INTENSE.  You become one of 6 factions (Atreides, Bene Gesserit, Harkonnen, etc.) and you can form alliances and bargain while you try to get a majority of the 5 strongholds on the board while avoiding the great sandstorms and harvesting spice and on-worlding enough troops to engage in battles.  We played twice and it took us like 5 or 6 hours each time.  
• Tetris (Game Boy) - 2024 was a great year for me as my brother and I reached new heights of accomplishments, particularly in B-type play.

Best Films of 2017-2023 (2023)

 Back by popular demand (i.e., my brother-in-law asked me if I have made my 2023 list), here is my list of the best movies for each year going back to 2017.  (My last best-of movies list was in 2016 (which I slighly updated (Best Films of 2016)).)

My method is to look at the top 200 grossing films for a given year and then filter for my favorites starting from there.  Although, now that a lot of movies are coming direct to streaming it throws off the box office figures so I have to scan through some other year-end lists and rack my brain a bit to make sure I capture everything.  

I show the box office ranks in parentheses.  No spoilers.  

Best of 2023

1. Oppenheimer (5) - A solid Christopher Nolan installment.  I appreciated the stylistic choices to lay out the drama (e.g., political intrigue, different color palettes, tense interviews, sciency transition shots, etc.), and I was moved by the scene where he's giving his "victory" speech immediately following the detonation.  
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (3) - Very pleasantly surprised by this film.  It was kind of a throwaway movie-watching experience since I was on a road trip in Idaho with my pre-teen daughter and we were looking for something fun to do.  But then when the movie started I remembered that this is part of the Spiderman graphic novel-type series I'm currently digging and not the interminable series with a revolving-door of lead actors and stakes that are getting so cosmically grand that I can't manage to keep caring much.  Anyways, the villain is fun and the artistic design and creativity is astounding.  The scene where Miles and Gwen are hanging upside down in Manhattan with the beautiful skyline behind them is gorgeous.  Gwen also reminded me of my daughter and her hard-core rock-climbing buddies so that made it fun.  
3. Wonka (20) - Based on the previews and the abysmal Tim Burton / Johnny Depp "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" movie a few years back, I was really not expecting to enjoy this movie.  But it was light and fun, and it had great music, and I loved the set design and the look & feel of all Wonka's gadgetry.  Chalamet had a lot more charisma here than I anticipated.  It was a fun Christmas movie for our whole family.  
4. Asteroid City (66) - Maybe a bit overly stylized.  I had to watch it over 3 sittings.  Beautiful, and some great chuckles at times.  But I don't find the magic in Wes Anderson's recent films like in the old ones.  
5. Creed III (16) - I loved the first Creed, but this one was just "good".  
6. Elemental (17) - Decent Pixar film.  Their films are getting a little formulaic, but I still ended up liking this movie a little more than I expected based on some "meh" reviews.  
7. M3GAN (26) - A.I. stuff.  A quirky, scary film.  

Movies I'm Eager to Watch (In Order)

1. The Boy and the Heron (58)
2. Anatomy of a Fall (146)
3. Past Lives (100)
4. The Taste of Things (?)
5. Killers of the Flower Moon (36)

Movies I'm Not that Eager to Watch

1. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (13) - I feel like I already saw the movie based on some of the social media campaigns they did showing Tom Cruise jump off a cliff on his motorbike.  
2. Barbie (1) - Val and my oldest daughter watched this and didn't care for it much, so I'll probably pass.

Best Films of 2017-2023 (2022)

 Best of 2022

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once (27) - An incredible turn by Michelle Yeoh.  Being married to a Singaporean, I especially loved hearing her Malysian mannerisms / accent come out, and her harshly playful relationship with her husband.  I think it helped that Val and I watched this over 2 sittings as I've heard some people complain that the movie dragged a bit.  Overall, the movie created that cinematic magic I hope for in a movie where I'm transported in a deep or whimsical way.  
2. The Banshees of Inisherin (83) - The opening scenes had some of the best cinematography I've seen in a while.  The movie really makes you feel like you've taken a trip to a remote island in Ireland.  The story stays simple & tight with dramatic conflict and excellent acting.  The conflict part of the story wasn't so enjoyable for me since it kind of evoked some thoughts about the annoying conflicts my kids go through where I can't find a good solution to make things fair.  But the fact that this story was an allegory of the Irish Civil War makes me appreciate the need for messy conflicts in the story.  
3. Top Gun: Maverick (1) - It was fun getting to watch this in Air Force country: San Diego.  It did a great job of making the viewer just appreciate the beauty and power of fighter jets.  No CGI (or at least minimal if they did).  
4. The Fabelmans (67) - A good Spielbergian experience.  
5. Matilda The Musical (Netlix) - A treat of a movie out of nowhere.  Our family really enjoyed it and we're looking forward to watching the musical in March.  
6. The Menu (42) - This one kinda lost me, but it was OK.  The protagonist's commitment to his foodyism was comical.  
7. Turning Red (60) - OK
8. Minions: The Rise of Gru (6) - Fun for the kids.  I can't keep track of which plot belongs to which movie.  

Movies I Didn't Much Care For

1. Ticket to Paradise (28) - I kinda don't love their onscreen chemistry.  My least favorite parts of Oceans 11-13 were their scenes together.  This movie was kind of a dud for a date-night.  
2. Glass Onion (62) - I totally loved Knives Out but I found this follow-up installment too... I don't know, self-indulgent, politicized, faux clever.  Really didn't like it.  
3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2) - Pretty lousy follow-up, and way too long.  
4. Avatar: The Way of Water (4) - For someone that absolutely loved the first movie, I was surprised that I couldn't even get through the first half hour of the film.  And on a long plane ride no less.

Movies I'm Eager to Watch (In Order)

1. Aftersun (156)
2. Nope (14)
3. Tár (95)

Movies I'm Not that Eager to Watch

1. The Whale (100) - Val saw this and said it's pretty disturbing but that Brendan Fraser is quite convincing in it.  So that's probably all I need to know.  

Best Films of 2017-2023 (2021)

Best of 2021

1. Dune (13) - One of my favorites in a long time.  This got me super into the novels and the whole Dune world.  I loved the look of the movie, the world-building, the casting, all of it.  Can't wait for the sequel(s).
2. Power of the Dog (Netflix) - A harrowing story in multiple ways.  Beautiful landscapes.  
3. The Tragedy of Macbeth (Netflix) - Not my favorite version of the story, but some neat interpretations of various scenes--in particular the 3 witch sisters.  Denzel's personality was a little too overbearing for us.  
4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2) - Given my expectations, this was actually a really cool movie.  My Asian in-laws don't care for it, but I thought it was cool the way the movie bridged the gap between traditional martial arts films and the Marvel machine, and it was fun to see Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh reprise some action / romance sequences from their younger glory days.  The ending was messy, but there was a lot to like up until that point.  
5. Sing 2 (17) - Fun family movie.
6. Encanto (15) - Ditto.

Movies I Didn't Much Care For

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home (1) - I went into this with a good attitude, and was digging it for the first 20-30 minutes but then the plot got a little out of hand / long and I didn't care for it as much.  

Movies I'm Eager to Watch (In Order)

1. The French Dispatch (52)
2. Drive My Car (175)
3. King Richard (57)

Movies I'm Not that Eager to Watch

1. No Time to Die (7)
2. West Side Story (38)

Best Films of 2017-2023 (2020)

Best of 2020

1. Nomadland (115) - A simple film, but beautiful.  A good exploration on human behavior--people that won't let you in, living with isolation, the kindness and wisdom of strangers.  I loved the camerawork on a lot of the shots in this film.  Especially the scene where she's walking in the Arizona desert with her boots crunching the gravel as the harsh morning sun rises over the aluminum hoods of the vans.  
2. Tenet (12) - Recent news about a Peloton instructor griping that this movie was a 2.5hr piece of sh*t waste of time notwithstanding, this was a fun movie to have been able to watch during the pandemic.  My brother-in-law and I had to try our best to enjoy it throughout our wives' incessant protestations about how the movie tries to hard and how we just pretend to like it so we can look smart.  I do agree that this one got a little too into itself trying to be brainy and puzzle-like.  I found myself liking the lead actor's, John David Washington's, performance but also not caring so much for his character--probably due to his low-key emotions--that I didn't really feel motivated enough to try to work out the timeline puzzle of the movie either during or after.  (Something I definitely wanted to study for films like Inception and Interstellar.)  So, this movie is pretty low on my Nolan list, but it was a bright spot in an otherwise down year for the movie industry IMO.  
3. Soul (10) - Captured some of the magic of "Inside Out" (Pixar's best) by using animation in clever ways to make me reconceptualize something foundational (the afterlife in this case; human psychology in the case of "Inside Out").  
4. Minari (94) - A well-crafted film about Korean immigrants.  It had all the right international / indie feels.  
5. Emma. (40) - Not super memorable, except that I liked it.  It's a good date-night flick.  
6. The Father (108) - Good acting performances by Anthony Hopkins and the supporting cast.  It's a good portrayal of the horrors of dementia.  You just have to be in the mood to be sad, which I usually am not.  Having already seen (and liked / preferred) "Still Alice", I didn't really need this movie in my life.  
7. Onward (11) - Fun.  Not life-altering.  

Movies I Didn't Much Care For

1. Wonder Woman 1984 (45) - Pretty terrible movie.  Some of the worst parts of what too much CGI does to a movie.  The opening sequence was laughably bad.

Best Films of 2017-2023 (2019)

Best of 2019

1. Marriage Story (Netflix) - Wow.  What a great film.  Amazing acting.  A poignant story.  Two super memorable scenes for me.  I loved the director's ability to really give you the feeling of contrast between New York / LA, and posh lawyers / budget lawyers.  It's also a great movie for the more complicated family structures we increasingly see in our day.  
2. Parasite (98) - Another amazing film.  So memorable, and so tense.  This never happens to me but there were scenes in there where I had to step away as I couldn't bare to watch anymore due to the tension.  This movie was almost ruined by a fierce debate Val and I had afterwards, but then, I think that's part of its allure--it's moral ambiguity which forces the audience to debate who's right.  
3. Knives Out (21) - A very pleasant discovery when we watched it.  A fun and comical adventure, and a well-executed murder mystery.  
4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (18) - Good movie.  Strange plot.  It had some real moments with some all-star acting.  
5. Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (6) - My review / ranking of this film gets into some complexities with the whole reboot.  I loved the reboot generally.  Episode VII was a great film which held so much promise for the new trilogy, and Episode VIII, despite having some lame side stories, was a good movie in its own right, with some intriguing plot directions.  But then Episode IX pretty much made a mess of earlier story arcs and kind of ended in a cliche way.  I enjoyed this film when I watched it, but the less I think back on it the better.  
6. Frozen II (4) - I'm here for it.  
7. Toy Story 4 (3) - I think my least favorite of the bunch, but it was still good.  
8. Ford v Ferrari (27) - A decent airplane movie.  Some of the acting is a little hammy, but maybe they were trying to appeal to young kids so it's cool.  The title is very accurate.  
9. The Addams Family (30) - Fun enough.  
10. Ne Zha (175) - A big hit in China, apparently.  This was a fun superhero cartoon movie for our family to watch.
11. Aladdin (8) - I am conceptually against the whole live-action remake thing.  Super weak on Disney's part to just have close to zero creativity like that.  It's made worse by the fact that they generally try to stick so closely to the old movies.  Like, that would impress me if you had a YouTube short of replicating a classic scene from one of these old cartoon treasures, but when you dogmatically stick to that throughout the whole film it makes it kind of an emotionless experience.  I must state for the record that I only watched this film (and Lion King below) since they were free on a family Disney Cruise.  I liked the actors and the singing, but the enjoyment was only at the margins.  
12. The Lion King (2) - See #11 above.  

Movies I Didn't Much Care For

1. Avengers: Endgame (1) - *Grumpy rant forthcoming* - I can't even remember if this was the Avengers movie I watched, but I think it was this one.  Even from watching it on the plane I just could not enjoy this movie.  The CGI was so overkill that nothing felt real, and there are so many superheroes constantly on the verge of death or trying to prevent the galaxy from getting destroyed that the stakes feel so ridiculously grand as to be unimportant.

Movies I'm Eager to Watch (In Order)

1. Uncut Gems (91)
2. The Last Black Man in San Francisco (163)

Best Films of 2017-2023 (2018)

Best of 2018

1. Crazy Rich Asians (17) - Not an amazing movie, but my favorite of 2018 nonetheless.  It had heart, it had rom, it had com, and it had SINGAPORE!!!.  And it actually holds up pretty well on repeat viewings.  The game theory piece overlaid onto the story is a clever touch, and the face-off with the mother-in-law is a treat.  
2. Creed II (28) - Super loved "Creed", and, of course, the Rocky films.  Creed II picked up pretty well where Creed I left off.  
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (29) - Saw this in the theaters only because my friend Blake invited me.  Didn't expect to enjoy it but I was instantly transported to what I loved about old comic books and graphic novels.  This movie dragged slightly towards the end, but it was solid.  
4. A Quiet Place (15) - Definitely a unique and suspenseful film.  
5. Black Panther (1) - This was a fun moment in cinema where there was kind of a new type of Marvel movie coming out, with homage to African and black culture.  And it had some good Oakland-type vibes at the beginning thanks to director Ryan Coogler's touches.  
6. Aquaman (13) - I expected this movie to suck but I actually found myself wrapped up in the character arc, and really rooting for him to slay his proverbial dragon.  Great training montage and fight scenes.
7. Isle of Dogs (89) - Fun and quirky.
8. They Shall Not Grow Old (151) - Good for the WWI history buffs.  
9. Incredibles 2 (3) - Fine.  Not as good as the first.  
10. Mission: Impossible - Fallout (8) - Good, I think.  Can't really remember which one this was.  
11. Solo: A Star Wars Story (10) - Passable.
12. Ready Player One (23) - Cool story, but the acting was a little bit geared towards adolescents, but then again there were some really scary scenes for kids, so I'm not quite sure if this film hit the right audience markers.  Also, the story felt to me like it was basically the same as "Avatar".  

Best Films of 2017-2023 (2017)

Best of 2017

1. Blade Runner 2049 (37) - Awesome movie (that I didn't manage to watch until 2023).  Great sci-fi themes.  An appropriately complicated plot.  A great hero journey.  And gorgeous visuals.  
2. Dunkirk (12) - A very interesting Christopher Nolan film.  Feels quite different from all of his others, with "Oppenheimer" being somewhat of an exception.  The thing I most appreciated about this film was how it made me feel what (I at least believe) being in a war is really like.  The claustrophobia of being in a crowded ship, eating lousy food, the thud of bullets on the sand, the paranoia of waiting out the enemy in a hiding place, and the small but important actions in the background that help swing the fates.  
3. Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (1) - See my 2019 review of Star Wars Episode IX.  This movie was super cool on its own, albeit with some flaws.  Not so cool in the context of the whole reboot trilogy.
4. Coco (13) - Great music, and a great introduction to Mexican / Latin culture.  
5. The Star (70) - A delightfully Christian Christmas movie that I didn't really discover until a few years later.  But my kids and I love it.  The bird (played by Keegan-Michael Key) doing his distraction dance is a riot.  
6. Darkest Hour (110) - One of those solid historical movies about an important war figure.  
7. Wonder Woman (3) - A good take on an old classic comic book that got me to like this character that I had never previously cared about in my comics adventures.  
8. Despicable Me 3 (8) - Funny.

Movies I'm Eager to Watch (In Order)

1. Get Out (15)
2. Split (23)

Best Films of 2016

Below is my ranking and some brief write-ups of 2016's best movies along with their current domestic grossing ranks in parentheses. (NO SPOILERS)

Top Movies

1. Manchester by the Sea (69) - So poignant.  Such good acting.  Scenes that really stick with you--especially as a father of young kids.  It was interesting to hear Matt Damon (producer) explain on a podcast how Manchester is the kind of movie that studios don’t really pay to make anymore since it’s an "intimate, character-driven drama without any action or high-concepts or superheroes."  And how the loss of the home video market is a major reason everything has shifted to big blockbusters and superhero movies.  Now studios need to replace that home video revenue by making simpler hero vs. villain type movies that will perform well at the international box office.  
2. La La Land (19) - This movie had me singing the songs, laughing in my chair, wondering what was going to happen, wondering what the ending meant, downloading the soundtrack, and it just generally made me happy.  I don't get what all the negativity was about.
3. Arrival (29) - This was a great discovery on a long flight.  My mind was doing circles on itself until it literally blew up.  Renner!  Although Val didn't love it quite as much, and accused me of being predictable on what movies I will like.  
4. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (1) - I enjoyed the texture of the film and that it took some risks with the plot.  I liked the deeper exploration of the Force.  The more I think about it, however, the weirder and more pointless the Forest Whitaker character is.  (Great opening sequence.)
5. Jason Bourne (15) - Huge fan of the whole series.  My biggest disappointment was Tommy Lee Jones as the CIA director--I found myself more interested in his pronounced face wrinkles than in his conviction in the role.  
6. Moana (11) - I don't think I've seen the entire movie yet, but have seen and heard enough segments to count for having watched it several times.  The drawings / colors are really pretty, and some of the music is excellent (though the more popular songs wear on me after a while).  The 'Know Who You Are' scene with Moana and Tika face to face is one of the most beautiful scenes of the year in my opinion.  
7. Hail, Caesar! (89) - Another good Coen Brothers installment, but not their best.
8. Zootopia (7)
9. Florence Foster Jenkins (94) - Val liked this more than I did.  It was fun, and well acted; just not interesting enough to keep me riveted for the whole movie.
10. Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (12) - Enjoyable watching as a big group on a family vacation, but otherwise not really my cup of tea.

Best Films of 2015

Of the 2015 (the year, not the number) movies I have watched thus far, with only one exception I was very pleased with all of them.

Below is my ranking and some brief write-ups of the year's best movies along with their current domestic grossing ranks in parentheses. (NO SPOILERS)

Top Movies

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (1)
• It brought back the feel of Star Wars without us having to try to convince ourselves that the magic was still there, which the 2nd trilogy only achieved in episode 3.  The new characters and story-lines introduced have me excited for the subsequent episodes.
2. The Martian (8)
• Mostly just very fun and beautiful to watch.  But it also forced me to think about separation, human contact, and endurance.  Not a movie that I'm dying to see again, but I had a blast experiencing it the 1st time.  
3. Inside Out (4)
• A really fun exploration in psychology.  
4. Two Days, One Night [2014] (197)
• Technically a 2014 movie out of France, but I couldn't get my hands on it until 2015 so I'm including it here.  A simple story, but with very high stakes.  The acting was great, and it had me on the edge of my seat at times.
5. Still Alice (102)
• Somewhat similar to 'Two Days, One Night'.  A sobering movie about alzheimers.  
6. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (57)
• I won't be sad if this doesn't become a series.  

No Thank You
Jurassic World (2)
Avengers (3)
Ant-Man (13)
San Andreas (19)

Maybe on an Airplane
Furious 7 (5) - Although, the fact that my brother now owns and swears by all 7 of the movies in the series has me second-guessing myself.
Hunger Games (7)
Spectre (10)
Mission Impossible (11)

Ranking of Non-2015 Movies Viewed During the Year (Informational Only)

1. Gattaca [1997]
• A great futuristic sci-fi film; and a lot of fun watching the likes of Ethan Hawke, Jude Law, and Uma Thurman in their nascent primes.  
2. Into the Woods [2014]
• A great way to watch a Sondheim musical in the comfort of your own home.  The 'Agony' song was one of the funniest scenes I watched all year.
3. The Adjustment Bureau [2011]
• Watched this while I was on a Matt Damon kick after watching 'The Martian'.  It's kind of a genre-bender but I got credit at home for it being a romantic movie, so I was happy. 
4. Big [1988]
• It has some great scenes but it ends a little too awkwardly.
5. The Imitation Game [2014]
• It was helpful to learn about Alan Turing but the movie didn't succeed in making me appreciate his genius, or in stretching me intellectually.  I mostly came away with learning about his quirky personality, some stuff about cracking the Nazi code with Keira Knightley, and the challenges of being homosexual in the 50's.  I would have preferred that the movie exhibit more focus, and perhaps pull off something more clever with the Turing test or something.  
6. The Theory of Everything [2014]
• The comments above apply here as well, only to a greater degree.  The acting yes, was stupendous, but I came away feeling hollow about Stephen Hawking's life, and never really getting the chance to appreciate his genius -- only allusions to it. 

Best Films of 2014

A pretty good year for movies I'd say.  Several months after watching it I'm still super high on Interstellar.  I want to buy it on iTunes but my wife says it costs too much.  But then when I try to Netflick it she says she doesn't want to watch it a 2nd time.  What can I do?!

Below is my ranking of the year's best movies along with their current domestic grossing ranks in parentheses.

Top Movies
1. Interstellar (16)
2. Boyhood (100)
3. The Wind Rises (146)
4. Hobbit 3 (6)
5. X Men (9)
6. The Trip to Italy (159)

Movie I Haven't Yet Seen But Excitedly Plan to
The Imitation Game (36)

Movies that Perplex Me as to How People Can Say that They Like Them, and that I Haven't Yet Brought Myself to Watch
Planet of the Apes (11)

Best Films of 2013

Best: 1) All Is Lost, 2) Hobbit: TDoS, 3) Much Ado About Nothing, 4) Gravity, 5) Blue Jasmine, 6) Frozen, 7) Pacific Rim, 8) Capt. Phillips 9) Philomena, 10) Star Trek Into Darkness

Disappointed: Man of Steel, The Great Gatsby, WWZ

Didn’t Bother: Iron Man 3, Hunger Games: Catching Fire

May Watch Later: 12 Years a Slave, Inside Llewyn Davis, Despicable Me 2, Fast & Furious 6, Anchorman 2

2012 Movies

A good year in film?  Better than 2011?  Do you include Les Miserables and Hobbit in 2012?  I had no idea they made an MIB3 movie.

Here's my projected best-of list:

1. Dark Knight

2. Hobbit (haven't seen yet)

3. Moonrise Kingdom (haven't seen yet)

4. Les Miserables (haven't seen yet)

5. Life of Pi (haven't seen yet)

6. The Avengers

7. Lincoln (haven't seen yet)

8. Brave (haven't seen yet)

9. Skyfall (haven't seen yet)

10. Hunger Games

And here's my best-of list for movies that I probably won't see:

1. Argo

2. Prometheus

3. Bourne

4. Spider Man

5. Twilight

http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2012&p=.htm

*UPDATE*
Over the break I successfully viewed The Hobbit (2D), Moonrise Kingdom, and Life of Pi (3D).

I thought the Hobbit was fantastic--a magical storybook experience--and still feel good about its #2 spot.

Life of Pi was also very good.  The only thing I didn't really like was the overly subdued mood, and the single-mindedness of the visit between the present-day Pi and his author friend.  For being such an adventurous, special child, why was Pi so boring in his adult years?  It was interesting for me to learn that the actor originally shot all these scenes with Tobey Maguire and then they called him back to redo all the scenes with the Canadian dude they eventually went with.  I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

Moonrise Kingdom was a big letdown for me.  I was really into it for the first half of the movie but then the wheels came off for me.  Everything got too outlandish that it stopped mattering.  And it lacked consistency with the first half.

Still eager to see Lincoln.

*UPDATE* (9/16/13)
I've seen a few more movies since.  Here's the updated list.  In retrospect, 2012 was a good year for movies.

1. Dark Knight Rises (*****)

2. Hobbit (****)
3. Les Miserables (****)
4. Bourne (****)
5. Lincoln (***)

6. Life of Pi (***)
7. Amour (***)

8. The Avengers (***)

9. Brave (haven't seen yet)

10. Skyfall (haven't seen yet)

11. Hunger Games (**)

Avatar

What if I told you that Star Wars Episode III (the last of the new ones) was the best of the entire Star Wars series?  OK, try this one on for size: what if I told you that Avatar is better than any of the original Star Wars?  So maybe I've now blacklisted myself as a heretic, but I must say that I found myself pulling for Jake Sully in a way that I never did for Luke Skywalker.  And I was attracted to the hot Na'vi chick, Neytiri, way more than I ever was to Princess Leah.  Maybe I'm overreacting because I just recently saw this film whereas I've rehashed Star Wars a dozen times by now, but this is a truly quality film and there's more to it than just a cool protagonist and a smokin' C.G. babe.

Jake Sully and his avatar

I enjoyed the avatar concept of having an alternate identity, made even more poignant by the fact that the hero is liberated with full use of his regularly crippled legs when he is in avatar mode.  There is this clearly defined conflict between the greedy corporation and the natives, but there is also the more ambiguous conflicts involving Jake's loyalties and Neytiri's affections.  As Jake transports from one reality to another, he becomes converted to the Na'vi way of life and begins to appreciate the elements and the various life forms and his own interdependency with the biological network in which he resides.  But he knows he's a human in the end, and so, he struggles with his loyalties to humankind as well as his commitment to his hired task.  This dilemma is similar to that of John Dunbar in Dances With Wolves as evidenced in the scene where the union soldier taunts, "turned 'Injun', di'nt ya."  An equally difficult dilemma faces Neytiri who falls in love with the outsider Avatar.  She faces persecution from her own tribe, and eventually has to confront the fact that Jake is truly a human.  This all results in what I consider to be a deeply moving, not too sappy love story.

The graphics and images in this film were breathtaking.  The time and meticulous effort put into creating the creatures and the alternate universe are made apparent by the level of detail and the colors in the mountains and trees, in the creatures, and most impressively in the seamless overlay between the two universes.  Here James Cameron risked plummeting into the Uncanny Valley but fortunately he came out unscathed and on top.  I consider this film to be a culmination of the progress Hollywood has made with computer graphics merged with good acting and good storytelling--something George Lucas couldn't achieve in Star Wars round II.  This is one of the few movies where I will watch (and enjoy) the bonus features once it comes out on Bluray.

Incredible graphics and color.  Neytiri is a total babe.

Finally, this movie had a pretty awesome bad guy, the Colonel.  He was hardcore to the very end, and he introduced me to some cool tough guy sayings that I will be sure to incorporate into my daily speak.  Oh, and Sully had some pretty bad-A manuevers himself.

Fall TV: 30 Rock

30 Rock has been crushing it so far in Season 3. The Oprah episode was wonderful. My favorite part was the ethical dilemma theme with Kenneth ("scenarios are like lying to your brain", and the elevator scene [tripped wire, hermetically sealed, oxygen enough for 8 people, unfortunately there are 7, I have replaced the emergency phone with a pistol loaded with 1 bullet] where Kenneth can't pull the trigger fast enough). So far this season has been pleasantly comical. I'm not sure if you saw last week's episode with Kathy and the soap operas but the scene up in the top floor where Jack and Liz were acting out a passionate soap scene and were on the brink of kissing was pretty fantastic.

Season 1 is definitely on par with (if not better than) what we've seen so far in season 3. Season 2, as with so many other sitcoms, felt a bit interrupted, possibly gimmicky at times (thanks to the writers' strike) but the raw wit and the character interaction and the topical satire remained strong. I highly recommend renting/acquiring season 1 (and 2). If you're looking for some greatest hits, I think my favorites from Season 1 were 'Jack Meets Dennis' and whatever the episode with Thomas Jefferson is called. They pretty much all have at least something redeeming about them.

Summer Flicks

Hollywood has finally come through with some good movies after a seemingly quiet first half of the year. July in particular is showing a lot of promise.

Hellboy II (July 11) – I saw this movie on opening weekend with some Del Toro fans. I left the theater very happy and we all agreed that II was better than I. I guess that ringing endorsement might not be so compelling to some of you. Let me explain. Hellboy is not just some cheap-thrill horror film. Hellboy is the code name given to the red, horned infant who was rescued by an American research team from the clutches of a Nazi Rasputin experiment. He grows up and joins the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense in order to defend the human race in a behind-the-scenes, light-hearted kind of way. Hellboy is a man’s man with a sense of humor and cynicism. This latest movie does a good job of exploring internal dilemmas and it has a great plot with a complex conflict and only partial resolution.

Batman – The Dark Knight (July 18) – I’m still not convinced that this movie is going to deliver like I hope it will, and like the first one delivered. But I’m excited to see it anyways, and maybe it will be awesome. Heath Ledger’s role as the Joker is intriguing to say the least. Maggie Gylenhall doesn’t turn me on which is OK, I guess. As far as Batman paramours, I don’t think anyone will ever top Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale in the Tim Burton version. Maggie G. and Katie Holmes (Batman Begins) just lack that mysterious dark side which is so essential in the world of Bruce Wayne.

X-Files – I Want to Believe (July 25) – I have no idea what the plot or the inspiration for this movie is. But I saw a cool billboard with the iconic flashlight “X” and shadows of the two agents, Mulder and Scully. That was enough for me. In other words, I want to believe.

(Also Neil Young and friends are coming out with a politically charged movie, ‘CSNY: Déjà vu’, later this month. It’s sure to be a smash hit.)