We finally got back to Anthony and maybe, finally, Daniel and Amanda can open their eyes to what a punk their son has been. Kenny sets him and his group of bully friends up to get them isolated in the library. They get caught just as Kenny is about to deliver some justice to Anthony.
This whole thing happened after Anthony let his father believe that he was being bullied by a kid from Cobra Kai. This was exactly the opposite of course as Anthony had just stolen Kenny’s clothes during PE and lured him into the hall for everyone to laugh at him. One wonders where the teachers are in this school. Maybe they are just all hiding out to avoid the karate fights.
Anthony was not the only one who was facing the music. Miguel discovered Johnny’s bandanna in his mom’s room and they finally had to tell him that they were “dating” ( or as Johnny said, hooked up). Johnny is remarkably awkward during this scene, which was very funny.
Eagle Fang Karate still needed a female competitor for the upcoming tournament and they have apparently found one in Devon, who watched all the karate fighting movies, which seemed to impress Johnny and he took this opportunity to build up immunity to the dirty tricks that Cobra Kai may pull at the tournament and so he had Devon kick all the other boys in their balls.
She enjoyed that too much.
Then, it appeared that Kreese felt the need to reestablish his power over Terry Silver, as he had an unbelievably awkward conversation with Terry to remind him who was boss. Are these cracks that are beginning to show among the Cobra Kai crew?
I took a time out from binge watching Cobra Kai season 4 to get the DailyView completed. I pulled out one of the comedy shorts from 1931 that I thought was just a Laurel and Hardy short. However, it turned out that Laurel and Hardy only had a small bit in this film, as did a bunch of other celebrities of the time.
The Stolen Jools was a thinly veiled story about some missing jewels from Norma Shearer that had been stolen from a Ball the night before. Inspector Kane (Eddie Kane) was in search for the perpetrator.
And that was it, basically.
This twenty minute short had a whole bunch of stars together intended to raise funds for the National Variety Artists tuberculosis sanatorium, produced in association with a cigarette company.
The list of celebrities included Laurel & Hardy, Buster Keaton, Fay Wray, Edward G. Robinson, The Little Rascals, George E. Stone, Hedda Hopper, Gary Cooper, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Loretta Young, Charles Butterworth, Barbara Stanwyck, Gabby Hayes, Mitzi Green, Richard Dix, Fifi D’Orsay, George Sydney, Joan Crawford, Dorothy Lee, Warner Baxter, Bert Wheeler, Irene Dunn, Claudia Dell, Skeets Gallagher, Buddy Rogers, Bebe Daniels, Frank Fay, Little Billy Rhodes, Wynne Gibson among others.
It is amazing to see all of the biggest celebrities of the time involved in this project. It makes one wonder what they could do today.
The film is more of a Who’s who than a story, but it was fun tying to suss out which actor was which.
Yup, they have successfully made me dislike Sam LaRusso. I did not think that was possible, but she has turned herself into a spiteful and mean-spirited person.
The confrontation at the end of the episode as Tory returned to school for the first time since the fight, thanks to the LaRusso family’s help, as Sam laid down the law in no uncertain terns by saying, “I’m coming for you, bitch” showed how Sam has become the worst type of person.
I can understand why she feels this way, but you would think that being raised by Daniel and Amanda would have had some of those lessons passed on to her. Or maybe not since we also saw her bully brother earlier in the season. Maybe the LaRussos need to work on their parenting skills.
Then we have Hawk… or should I call him Eli now? This feels like his own personal journey has reached its apex. When he turned to join Miyagi-do last year at the end of the season, that did not feel earned. It felt too quick. Now, he has spent most of the season paying for his choices to the point that he was ready to give up karate completely (which might be a sound decision in the long run). He was convinced to remain by his friend, Demetri, and he showed up at Miyagi-do to complete his path back.
This show is really about there not being any specific villain. They are al in shades of gray. Daniel sure felt like the bad guy when Silver confronted him at the store. Daniel is allowing his past experiences to prevent moving forward, something he wanted Sam to do. He does not really lead by example, sadly. Maybe Silver is the real bad guy, but he does not seem as if he is. Also, maybe I misread the clues from earlier because there is not implications that Silver is sick.
Surprise return: Aisha
Not sure the purpose behind this since she did not really do anything and Sam seemed to toss her advice aside.
The show is building toward the tournament with the new rules that will make things more inclusive. Johnny can explain it to you…
Terry Silver showed up at Miyagi-do to apologize to Daniel for his behavior during Karate Kid 3. Daniel was having nothing of it, despite the fact that it truly did feel sincere. This show continues to paint Terry Silver as a repentant man who realized his past mistakes. He has been a voice of reason among the Cobra Kai and with Kreese. I’m not sure where this is going, but he did not appreciate Daniel’s dismissal of his apology.
Silver’s arrival spooked the heck out of Daniel and he immediately wanted to take full control of the training of the students. Of course, Johnny wanted no part of that and, after a lot of alcohol, they wound up with a rematch from the All-Valley Tournament set for the next day.
Although Silver placed a no fighting restriction on the Cobra Kai students, they found a way around it. They caught Hawk, held him down and shaved off his mohawk. That was a vicious shot at Hawk, since that hairstyle had become such a symbol of who he was.
Meanwhile, Daniel was recovering from his hangover, we got a Johnny Lawrence training montage. Johnny slipped right back into his bully persona as he was shoving people out of his way and causing destruction such as karate kicking a mailbox. The montage was in tune with Survivor’s Burning Heart from the Rocky movies.
Despite the understanding of what it might do to the uneasy alliance that has been in place this season, the match between Johnny and Daniel proceeded with Sam and Miguel in position as judges.
Johnny scored first. Daniel got the next two points. Johnny tied it up despite Daniel pulling out the old arm numbing trick he learned last season. Then, it a beautifully choreographed point, Daniel and Johnny struck the final blow at the same time.
This of course was when Hawk arrived and showed off his new hairdo and the alliance fell apart. Eagle Fang and Miyagi-do Karate split apart. Perhaps this is what Terry Silver was trying to do in the first place.
This was my favorite episode so far in season 4. Not sure where they go from here.
I think the show is going out of its way to make me dislike all of the students in Miyagi-do karate. Not only Hawk and his little minions, but even Sam LaRusso was acting like a bully this episode. For no reason. Sam went out of her way to try and humiliate Tory while Tory was just trying to do her job. And Hawk went out of his way to try and bully Kenny at the drive in.
I think the show has to be careful that they aren’t creating a bunch of characters that I do not want to root for. I am all for creating three-dimensional characters who are not just good or bad, but there has to be some redeeming qualities or else I am not going to care who wins or loses.
Johnny continues his jealousy over how much time Miguel is spending with the LaRussos and it is threatening to rip apart the tentative treaty between Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang. Johnny also is nervous about telling Miguel about him and his mom, Carmen…so much so that it is causing performance issues. Sorry Carmen.
The best part of this episode was the arrival and reveal of Kreese and Terry Silver to Daniel. That was a great cliffhanger and sets up episode 5 extremely well. Nothing more about any possible illness Silver may have that I thought they were alluding to last episode. Silver is clearly healthy enough to kick Robbie’s butt as we saw here.
It is really odd that they show seems to be trying to pull a double turn and make the Cobra Kai guys the heroes, at least Robby, Tory and Kenny.
I really love what they are doing with Terry Silver. He is not just jumping into the fray with his old war buddy. He is weighing options and remembering what Kreese did for him.
But there is more.
When I heard the line said by his aid/servant/chef early in the episode, I perked up. When Terry was having flashbacks to Vietnam, he said he was going to skip breakfast and his valet said “Should I call the doctor?” Wait…what? That is not a normal response to someone deciding to skip breakfast. Then later we see Terry with medication just before he does his cool ponytail thing. There is something wrong with Terry and we are diving into it.
I love how this is different than what we have seen before.
Unlike the Johnny stuff. I was disappointed at the end of the episode when it was clear that Johnny was starting to feel jealous over Daniel’s burgeoning connection to Miguel. Didn’t we already go through this storyline with Robby earlier in the series? I hope I am wrong, but this feels like a retread of a conflict that they feel like they need to throw in the path of the senseis.
Especially since I enjoyed the bonding that Daniel and Johnny were doing. The dinner they had with each other was great, and had a funny interaction with Johnny and “the Boy” aka Anthony. Growth spurt? Ha ha.
Kenny returned to find his place in Cobra Kai, thanks to a little coaching by Robbie. He is a interesting character that I am intrigued with seeing where exactly this season takes him. He is certainly worth rooting for and the fact that he is now in the villains hands, who knows where this will go. No matter what, the show is definitely pointing at Anthony LaRusso as the reason Kenny is where he is.
Episode two brought us an important thing… somebody new for Cobra Kai. Inside the dojo led by John Kreese, we have basically two main characters, Robby and Tory, but the rest are no name red shirts. They needed some more interesting characters to fill out the ranks of the opposition or nobody is going to believe that Cobra Kai has a chance against our heroes.
So we get the introduction of the new kid at school, Kenny. And what sends him to the dark side? Why it is Anthony LaRusso, Daniel’s own little bully of a son. Placing Anthony squarely in the Johnny Lawrence role of tormenting bully is some awesome storytelling that I hope carries out throughout the season. The show sets up Kenny as being extremely likable and relatable and then ties him to the prisoner that Robby fought with in season 3.
Meanwhile, Daniel and Johnny are teaching each other their respective brand of karate in hopes of creating a better understanding of the other’s philosophy. Daniel makes Johnny do the iconic “wax-on, wax-of” and “paint the fence” routines while Johnny takes Daniel to a warehouse and eventually a hockey game.
Johnny manipulates one of the hockey players into attacking Daniel so Daniel could learn to be more aggressive. It was funny cause all I was thinking about when that hockey player was taunting Daniel, was that Daniel was going to kick his ass.
Season 4 is setting up conflicts that I assume will be paying off in the future. The one between Tory and Amanda, Daniel’s wife, is fascinating and I hope it bears fruit. Maybe honeycrisp.
It’s New Years Eve Day and Netflix has dropped the long awaited season 4 of Cobra Kai. We’ll be binging it today and, maybe tomorrow depending on how things go, and doing a write up for each episode.
I watched season 1 back when this was on YouTube Red. It was a main reason why I purchased that streaming version of YouTube. I enjoyed season 1 but I did not return for season 2. When it came to Netflix, I still did not watch. When season 3 came out and everyone was talking about it, I decided to binge these two seasons at once. I was very pleased that I decided to so that. I really enjoyed those two seasons and I am looking forward to season 4.
At the end of season 3, having Johnny and Daniel come together with a common enemy was an epic way to leave off the season. However, I guess the idea that the long-standing rivalry would just go away was a pipe dream as Johnny and Daniel immediately clash over the differing styles. Maybe this was necessary, but it felt as if this was what the first three seasons were building towards and that it might have been a step back. It makes sense that we should see this conflict.
I did like how Hawk had to take some punishment. The biggest issue I had last year was that his face turn came out of nowhere and did not feel earned. The resentment from some of the other students and the senseis is real and was a nice addition to the story.
I also enjoyed the fact that Terry Silver did not just come running back when John Kreese called. They gave us a scene where Silver reflected on his past from Karate Kid 3 and was not happy about it. It immediately made him more of a real character than he ever was in the movie. In fact, they actually did too good a job, because I now am not sure why he makes the choice to return to Cobra Kai.
The end of the episode with the students working together to “build a bridge” was a great moment and showed Daniel and Johnny, who were about to give in to their baser instincts about each other, that this could work even if it was not easy.
Good start, laying the groundwork for what is to come.
We travelled back to 1930 for the next short, but this is no longer the silent variety as we saw with Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. This short stars EYG Hall of Famers Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
Another Fine Mess started off with Laurel and Hardy being chased by a police officer whom Stan had insulted in the park. They hid out in a fancy estate owned by Col. Wilburforce Buckshot (James Finlayson). Col. Buckshot is heading on a trip and is trying to rent out his home. Stan and Ollie wind up taking the position of Buckshot and a butler (and eventually a maid) after Buckshot had left. When Lord Leopold Ambrose Plumtree (Charles K. Gerrard) arrived with his new wife (Thelma Todd), Stan and Ollie had to assume these roles to avoid being caught.
Laurel and Hardy are funny, and they know what they do well. I did think that there was too many pratfalls by Stan and there were a few jokes that were run into the ground (especially Lord Plumtree’s laugh), but when the comedy worked, it was very funny. I would say that Laurel and Hardy’s bits worked more often than not.
There was a reliance on dialogue in this film, which was not common for Laurel and hardy films. I welcomed it as I found that it was funnier, in my opinion, than a lot of the physical slapstick that was on display here. It will be interesting to compare this to other Laurel and Hardy shorts moving forward.
I enjoyed the ending of the film as it felt like one of the funniest bits from the physical comedy in the film. The image of the bicycle and who was riding it was very hilarious.
It was fun to see a different type of the early day films for the DailyView today and I am happy that Laurel & Hardy gives me another type of short to cover those days when a short film is needed.
I have not done a concert movie during the DailyView yet. Check that off the genre box. Today on Peacock, I took the time to watch Prince’s Sign ‘o’ the Times concert film.
I would not say that I was a fan of Prince. I like some of his music, particularly his earlier Purple Rain material. I was not aware of much of the album Sign ‘o’ the Times, outside of the song he did with Sheena Easton so I came into this concert film without any real expectations.
I quite enjoyed it.
The film was a lot of fun. It brought a ton of energy from Prince, and he seemed to be filled with joy (something that was not necessarily something he showed a lot of in his life). The music was exciting and filled with energy. Though a lot of it sounded alike, there were some amazing musical performances. Especially Shelia E’s amazing drum solo which just demanded your attention and powered through the middle of the film.
There are only so many shots that are available in a concert movie, which is a challenge for the filmmaker. Prince, who co-directed this with Albert Magnoli, did the best you could expect, but did not bring anything really new to the genre.
Because of this, the film will rise or fall with the music and fortunately, the music is exceptional. Well played, well performed and engaging. I bopped my head throughout the film despite not knowing many of the songs being performed.
The annual Top 30 Best Movies List from EYG. Once again, this is all my opinions. If they’re different than yours, that is okay. There should be differences. (Oh, by the way, technically there are 32 films here)
I will remind you again as well that when it comes to the Best Movies list, the star ratings I give during the year are simply guides. A 4.5 star movie may be higher than a 4.75 film in the end. And that is OK.
Here we go….
#30. Mass. I just watched this the other day as I was finishing this list up and I wanted to make sure it had a place on it. Had I seen it earlier, this would have been higher. Emotional gut-punch of a film.
#29. Being the Ricardos. The Amazon Prime original tells the story of a week in the life of Lucille Ball when she was being looked at as a Communist. Greta performances, especially from Nicole Kidmon as Lucy and JK Simmons as William Frawley.
#28. Army of Thieves. The sequel of the film released this same year that we did not know we needed. An actual prequel to the Army of the Dead, this featured thieves instead of zombies.
#27. CODA. This is a great movie on Apple TV +. Featured Emilia Jones as the only non-deaf character in her family. Jones wanted to be a singer, but the family needed her translation skills. Excellent movie with powerful scenes.
#26. Godzilla vs. Kong. The ultimate showdown between the two alpha monsters shook HBO earlier in the year. There was a clean result too. Sure it is campy, but what did you expect? The monster battles continue to be the highlight of these flicks.
#25. Muppet Haunted Mansion. Debuted on Disney + around Halloween this year. It was an hour or so special that featured Gonzo the Great and Pepe the King Pawn spending a night in the Haunted Mansion. It had all the Muppet goodness, but some odd cameos.
#24. Boss Level. Unexpectedly awesome, it featured another version of the “Groundhog Day” style of film with Frank Grillo trying to make his way to the next day. Very entertaining.
#23. Raya & the Last Dragon. And early Disney film this year with the typically great animation and touching story. Raya tried to find the last dragon to save her world from the monstrous Druun.
#22. PG: Psycho Goreman. This one had no right to be as awesome as it was. On Shudder, two kids accidentally unearth an intergalactic overlord, which attracts those beings that buried him in the first place. Funny and exciting, Psycho Goreman is an unexpected treat.
#21. Pig. Nicolas Cage’s pig gets kidnapped )kidnapped? stolen?) and he goes after the thieves. Some thought this was going to be John Wick with a pig, but it was much more introspective than that. Nic Cage gave a powerfully emotional performance and this is much more of a character piece than John Wick.
#20. Free Guy. One of the biggest hits of the year, Free Guy’s success was unexpected. It had been pushed several times and, even when it was about to be released, people did not know about it. However, people knew about it after it was released. Ryan Reynolds plays Ryan Reynolds, but he does it well.
#19. Dune. A film that has now officially became a Part One, Dune is a excellent sci-fi film with great visuals. The story did feel incomplete, because, of course, it was. Denis Villeneuve has gotten his passion project so we’ll see how it continues.
#18. Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Probably one of the most nostalgic films this year. Paul Rudd, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard along with some emotionally satisfying Deus Ex Machinas made Afterlife a lot of Ghostbusting fun.
#17. Mitchells vs. the Machines. From Lord and Miller, this animated movie was colorful, engaging, full of family fun and intelligent. If you missed this, Mitchells vs. the Machines is on Netflix.
#16. A Quiet Place II. A worthy sequel to the huge hit, Part II looks not only at the result of the first film, but flashes back to see how it was like when the aliens first arrived. The contradiction between the noise at the beginning and the silence at the end is compelling.
#15. A Boy Called Christmas. I am so glad that I ended up watching this. I had not planned on it, but I loved it when I did. It hit all the right emotional chords for me and I had tears in my eyes during the third act. Outstanding Christmas movie, right up there with Klaus.
#14. No Time to Die. The long-awaited next film in the James Bond franchise finally arrived, marking the final appearance of Daniel Craig as 007 in a grand and exciting way. It was full of action and a surprising amount of emotion. It provided a beautiful end to Daniel Craig’s run.
#13. Eternals. I was nervous about Eternals because, even though I am a huge comic fan, the Eternals were characters that I was not that familiar with. I found this movie to be much better than I thought it could be and way better than the critics did.
#12. The Suicide Squad. This is so much better than the first film, Suicide Squad, and the main reason is James Gunn was in charge. I was a little disappointed with Starro, but the team’s chemistry overcame all of that and John Cena was great as Peacemaker.
#11. West Side Story. This was a great year for musicals. Steven Spielberg’s reboot of the Oscar-winning movie was not seen by a lot of people’s eyes, but they really missed out on something great. I preferred this version to the original and it had some great dancing and music.
#10. Belfast. Kenneth Branagh’s semi-self autobiographical film showed life in Belfast during the late 1960s. Funnier than expected, Belfast included some amazing performances, in particular from young star Jude Hill.
#9. Black Widow. Giving Natasha Romanoff a background and a “family” was great, if not too long overdue. This film introduced us to Yelena, played so naturally by Florence Pugh, as well as the Red Guardian himself, David Harbour. Scarlett Johansson was deserving of this film for years.
#8. The Rescue. I usually do not include documentaries on this list unless they are special. I had the Fred Rogers doc in the top ten a few years ago and now there is this National Geographic doc about the rescue of a group of Thai kids who were trapped in a cave that is quickly filling with water. This had more tension than most scripted movies this year. It is on Disney +, go see it.
#7. Fear Street trilogy. Yes, I kind of cheat here and I put all three films together, but it would be difficult to divide them into separate films. Fear Street 1994, 1978 and 1666 was so much fun and I really was looking forward to the release the following Friday of the next installment on Netflix.
#6. In the Heights. The second musical on the list (third if you count the Muppets) and the first one in the top 10 so far, In the Heights was such a joy and an amazing experience seeing it in the theater. Lin-Manuel Miranda had a big year and this kicked it off.
#5. In & Of Itself. Derek DelGaudio’s magic show on Hulu was more than a magic show. It was about family, it was about pain, it was about loss. It featured jaw dropping magic. It was one of the earliest experiences I had this year and it was amazing.
#4. Werewolves Within. A comedy horror film that was a mystery too. Could this town be dealing with a murderous werewolf? Or is there something less supernatural about the deaths happening? You’ll keep guessing all the way to the end of this great film.
#3. Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The Master of Kung Fu’s debut in the MCU was brilliant. Shang Chi brought representation to the Asian culture and some of the best martial arts we’ve seen in a while (certainly the best from the MCU). Simu Liu was a wonderful casting as Shang Chi and Awkwafina made us all care about Katie. Plus, dragons!
#2. Tick, Tick…Boom. Andrew Garfield was unbeleivable in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut in a musical about the writing of a musical. Garfield played legendary Jonathan Larson, who would eventually write the massive Broadway hit, Rent. This was before that as he struggled to get the attention he needed. Garfield won EYG Star of the Year and the Strangelove off the power of this performance.
#1. Spider-Man: No Way Home. This was probably a foregone conclusion, but the film was truly great and it was the best experience I had this year. Tom Holland gave his best performance ever and Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina brought such deep feelings back to their famous roles. No Way Home has become the first film to break the $1B level (without a release in China) and it continues to make money. People talk about fan service all the time, but this film does not have much fan service (yes, the lawyer scene is fan service). Fact is, what many people are calling fan service is part of the narrative and not excess. This is how you do this effectively. Spider-Man: No Way Home is amazing and spectacular.
Yet, I had all kinds of problems with it. This is going to make it difficult for me to recommend this.
Paul Thomas Anderson has an eclectic list of films that he has directed over the years and this has that PTA feel to it.
Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) is a 15-year old high school student who meets 25 (maybe 28)-year old Alana (Alana Haim) when she was at the school to do student pictures. They bond as friends and more and they spend the movie doing things around the San Fernando Valley, 1973.
One of my biggest problems with the movie was that there was really no narrative structure to it. It had a series of scenes, many of which were very entertaining, but had no narrative need for the movie. I guess the relationship between the two of them was the throughline of the story, but so many other scenes felt like distractions from that path.
Another major issue is the age difference between Gary and Alana. Alana was 25 (and at one point she slips and says that she was 28) and Gary is 15. That relationship is, at best, questionable. Neither of them are characters that I was rooting for to get together either. I actually couldn’t care less if they overcome the challenges that had been placed in their way.
Going along with this, I was unsure exactly what the passage of time was like here. I got the implication that some time had passed during the film, but I was not aware what that time was supposed to be, which caused an even more problematic situation between the two people.
There are some great actors involved here with characters that were very funny, but just show up for no apparent reason. Bradley Cooper, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, John Michael Higgins, Maya Rudolph, John C. Reilly and Benny Safdie all had scenes in the film and very few of them had any sort of resolution or purpose for being there.
For example, when Gary was at a convention type affair selling waterbeds, the police grabbed him, cuffed him and arrested him for murder. They shoved him in the car and took him to the station. They dragged another person out in front of him and he said that he wasn’t the guy. So they let Gary go. I found that irreverent and funny, but it absolutely served no purpose to the film except as a funny segue. It was never referenced again. Maybe I missed the relevance but there were a bunch of other examples just like that which made me think that the randomness of the situation is what they were going for.
Again, I was entertained by the scene, but why was it here?
I did find the performance of Alana Haim to be great. She brought the right amount of confusion and anguish as well as joy that I related to her most of all. Her character was not vey likable, so it was her acting that brought me in.
The film was around 133 minutes and that felt too long. The middle of the film meandered a lot and could have benefited from some editing. Perhaps they could have removed a scene or two of unnecessary nonsense.
Maybe the idea behind it is that the world is full of ridiculousness and when you have a chance at happiness, you should not let it get away. Maybe.
While I did enjoy the overall haphazardry of the scenes, I do not think this is a good movie. Again, I feel odd because I did find much of this movie entertaining, but I would not recommend it to anyone.
The Wachowskis became a huge success after they created and directed the original Matrix. However, prior to the Matrix, they directed another film called Bound and it was great.
We meet ex-com Corky (Gina Gershon) who comes across Violet (Jennifer Tilly), who was dating a man named Caesar (Joe Pantoliano), who was involved with the mob. Corky and Violet form a sexual connection and begin to plot together on a theft of $2 million dollars that Caesar had to clean (literally). They planned on framing Caesar for the stealing of the mob money, but their plot does not go as smoothly as planned.
This was a fun, violent and dramatic story, with several twists and turns that you do not see coming. Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly have great chemistry with each other and Joe Pantoliano brings the menace of Caesar to the film. These three carry the heavy load of the movie and they do it expertly.
The plot works extremely well as every step feels as if it was beautifully laid out in the story and works no matter how implausible or unexpected it should have been. Everything works story wise.
The last 45 minutes or so of the film is as batshit crazy as you can expect, with anxiety and nerves off the chart. You are never sure what is going to happen or how, or if, they surviving this plan.
The style is well done and the film leads right into the Matrix success. Good stuff.
The amount of bad films that I saw this year was down. The fact is that I used to go to the theater to see nearly all of the new releases, no matter what. However, with the pandemic still a problem, if I saw that a film had low Rotten Tomatoes scores or bad word of mouth, I would not go to it. They were also less likely to be bought on a streaming service.
So there is only 20 films this year that make this list.
Through the year, I give star ratings for the films I review. However, those star ratings go out the window for the final consideration for this list. It may help me narrow the list down, but just because one film got 1.5 stars and another got 1.8 stars, it does not mean that is the order that I have it. Opinions on films can change as time moves on.
Finally, this is my list and my opinions. If you disagree, that is fine. It is your right. If you do not like Worst Films lists, that is fine too. You are entitled to your opinion. I disagree and that is my right.
Top 20 Worst Films of 2021
#20. Don’t Breathe 2. I loved the first film, but when they tried to make Stephen Lang’s character the hero of this film after his character was a murderer and a rapist in the first one. Lang was like a superhero too. He did not feel like he was blind. All in all, really disappointing.
#19. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway. James Cordon’s vehicle was watchable the first time, but the new sequel was terrible. It had a ridiculous story with the humor very limited.
#18. Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins. I guess that new G.I. Joe series of films is a no go, huh? Snake Eyes was truly the villain of this movie and Stormshadow was the hero. Then, the fight scenes were unwatchable.
#17. F9. The Fast and the Furious films were never great, but it went completely off the rail this year. They sent the crew into outer space in a car. The long rumored trip to space actually happened.
#16. Voyagers. It was like Lord of the Flies in outer space, only with less tension or surprises. It was pretty dull too.
#15. Halloween Kills. So many things wrong with the new sequel. The trailers made it look as if this was going to be the final confrontation between Michael Myers and Laurie, but they never see each other in the film. “Evil dies tonight”? Nah.
#14. Woman in the Window. Amy Adams is an agoraphobic, alcoholic, pill-popping child psychologist who witnesses a murder across the street that nobody believes happened. A poor person’s Rear Window, Woman in the Window has so many ridiculous twists that it becomes idiotic.
#13. The Unholy. A young girl seems to have gained the power of healing from the Virgin Mary, but Jeffrey Dean Morgan has doubts. I wish I had doubts before seeing this.
#12. The Forever Purge. In a film all about the anti-immigration ideas, the Forever Purge wastes our time with silly characters and bad decisions.
#11. Space Jam: A New Legacy. In what turned out to be a basic commercial for HBO Max and the WB franchises, LeBron James added to the argument why Michael Jordon is better than he is. And they killed Bugs Bunny.
#10. Reminiscence. Hugh Jackman stars in this sci-fi love story about memory and searching the past for lost memories. This neo-noir wannabe is just a waste of time.
#9. Thunder Force. How can a film with Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy be this unfunny? The worst superhero movie of the year would have been higher if it had not been for Jason Bateman’s Jerry the Crab character. The rest is terrible.
#8. Addams Family 2. I do like the character designs of the Addams Family in this animated film, but the story is so stupid and the character choices make zero sense. You should not have to dumb down the Addams Family to get kids to enjoy it.
#7. Monster Hunter. Another failed video game adaptation, Milla Jovovich plays the same character she has been playing since The Fifth Element. Oh, how I miss Leeloo.
#6. Mortal Kombat. Another failed video game franchise film. Mortal Kombat is dumb and dull. It takes too long to get into the story and it never gets to what we wanted to see.
#5. America: The Motion Picture. I hated this. I had hear some positive things, but it has ever bit of humor that I despite. I found it completely unfunny and mostly offensive. One of the worst animated film of the year.
#4. Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin. I have no doubt that this movie was, in no way, a Paranormal Activity movie. I believe they had a film and they tossed the Paranormal Activity tag on it to try and boost the film’s profile. It failed.
#3. The Devil Below. Honestly, any of the top three could have been #1. These are the three lowest rated films of the year for EYG. I am so glad this is the last time I have to talk about this movie.
#2. Infinite. I purchased Paramount + to see if this was as bad as everybody was saying. It is. Don’t watch it.
#1. Tom & Jerry. There is a reason why the old Tom & Jerry cartoons were shorts. This was just terrible use of these characters in a stupid film with a idiotic story. This was one of the earliest films of the year and ends it on the top of the worst list.
I am adding a second winner because I just saw this movie and had I seen it before, it would have been a shoo-in.
HERE is what was before:
Sometimes a movie does not have an obvious lead actor or actress and, instead, has a group of characters that all serve the story. The group is recognized with this award.
Previous Winners
The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award
Previous Winners: Avengers: Endgame, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Runners-Up: Marvel’s Eternals is a perfect example of the ensemble cast. We meet a whole flock of new characters in Chloé Zhao‘s epic. James Gunn put out another great super hero…well, maybe a super villain… film this year called The Suicide Squad. It was a top notch ensemble too including Margot Robbie, Sylvester Stallone and John Cena, to name a few. West Side Story has a great ensemble for the remake of the 1961 Oscar winner. Fear Street was a three film series released on Netflix for three weeks with a group of actors who played different characters in the different time periods.
Winner: In the Heights
Lin Manuel-Miranda’s stage play made the leap to the big screen in 2021 and the cast was just tremendous. Along with Manuel-Miranda, there was Anthony Ramos, Leslie Grace, Olga Merediz, Jimmy Smits, Corey Hawkins, Melissa Barrera, Dascha Polanco, Ariana Greenblatt, Stephanie Beatriz, Rita Moreno, Marc Anthony, Gregory Diaz IV, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Noah Catala.
GOING ALONG WITH IN THE HEIGHTS, THE TIE GOES TO….
Mass
These four actors are so brilliant in this movie that they bring such emotion and such an amazing energy without any clear lead. This is the perfect example of an ensemble as they are special. The four actors are Reed Birney, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, and Martha Plimpton.
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EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 