Every Favorite-of-the-Year Honoree

Showing reviews of movies that were one of my favorite things I watched that year. Each review is scored on my 4-point rating system.

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Watched with the director's commentary podcast, which was fun! Annoying to keep in sync manually, but had some good bonus trivia.

2024-11-09 #4

Ready or Not

(2019)
🥈
🎃

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2024-10-28 #2

Better than I remembered. Great cast and a good number of layers

2024-09-13 #3

Game Night

(2018)
🥉

A fun romp that's ultimately about marriage, and that's very sweet. Snappy writing and cinematography that punches way above its weight

2024-08-05 #3

The Gentlemen

(2020)
🥇

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2024-05-07 #2

Barbie

(2023)
🥇

Hysterical movie and a big Oscar snub for Gerwig and Robbie.

2024-01-23 #2

Sneakers

(1992)
🥉
💸

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2023-11-24 #2

Coco

(2017)
🥇
🎃

Still exquisite; just perfect.

2023-11-01 #6

Ready or Not

(2019)
🥈
🎃

Absolute delight. Gross, tense, exciting, game-related. The works.

2023-10-15 #1

Barbie

(2023)
🥇

Super funny. A great mix of parody (of like, society itself?) and actual adventure. Manages to be both light and heavy all at the same time. Stellar cast, too.

2023-09-20 #1

Sneakers

(1992)
🥉
💸

Great cast, cool soundtrack, good plot. Just fun overall.

2023-09-11 #1

Luca

(2021)
🥇

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2023-07-01 #2

Super great up until the part where it didn't have an ending

2023-06-12 #1

Avengers: Endgame

(2019)
🥇

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2023-05-20 #4

Bullet Train

(2022)
🥇

Extremely fun. Great cast and motion- felt like an old Guy Ritchie movie. Superb top to bottom.

2023-04-21 #1

Tag

(2018)
🥉

Retains a remarkable amount of its charm.

2023-04-04 #2

Magic Mike XXL

(2015)
🥈

Huge improvement on the first. Fun, cute, great ensemble. Cute message, too. Lighter on the story, but that’s not bad.

2023-03-06 #1

Violent Night

(2022)
🥉
🎄

Extremely gory, but had a surprising amount of heart. Great themeing and performances. Enjoyed the heck out of it.

2022-12-27 #1

Even better the second time

2022-12-25 #2

Knives Out

(2019)
🥇
🔎

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2022-11-25 #4

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

(2022)
🥈
🔎
🍿

Delightfully twisted mystery. Stacked cast and music. Cool setting. Definitely a "Last of Shiela" vibe. Great follow up to Knives Out.

2022-11-23 #1

Totally unhinged, but such a blast. Great cast and jokes.

2022-11-11 #1

See How They Run

(2022)
🥉

Decent mystery, but great presentation.

2022-11-07 #1

Coco

(2017)
🥇
🎃

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2022-11-01 #5

RRR

(2022)
🥉

Extreme stylistic spectacle. Long, but paced well. Wild set pieces throughout. Consistently over the top. What a blast.

2022-10-18 #1

Vengeance

(2022)
🥈

Interestingly touching. Showcased a small story in a big world. Had vibes of A Very Fatal Murder, which I dug. Fun cast, too.

2022-08-23 #1

Unhinged, but touching and delightful. One of his best.

2022-08-02 #1

Intense and thrilling. Great performances all around. Production design was incredible. I thought the story was a little too heady and unresolved. There were a lot of bits happening and it felt like it lacked focus. Parts were weird for weirdness sake. But it was also really funny in bits. Lots to like.

2022-05-05 #1

Really stellar. Glad to see it for real. Great cast and balance with all the characters.

2022-03-15 #2

Turning Red

(2022)
🥇

Impeccable animation, cute story. Fun watch!

2022-03-13 #1

The Harder They Fall

(2021)
🥇

Intense, stellar cast, beautifully shot. Brutal, but satisfying.

2022-01-27 #1

Really great movie. Explored the emotional depth of the character(s). Top tier.

2021-12-20 #1

Red Notice

(2021)
🥉

The charisma of the leads carried this a long way. Fun plot, not too serious, good twists and turns. Loved the cast.

2021-11-13 #1

Coco

(2017)
🥇
🎃

Still a tear jerker

2021-11-01 #4

Spontaneous

(2020)
🥈

Simultaneously very cute and hilariously dark. Funny and dark.

2021-07-07 #1

Luca

(2021)
🥇

Deeply cute. Great vibe, good story. Enjoyed it way more than I expected.

2021-06-19 #1

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2021-05-19 #5

The Gentlemen

(2020)
🥇

What a ride. Great frame story, great cast, good plot. Good music and pacing, too. Dense as heck.

2021-04-07 #1

Palm Springs

(2020)
🥉

It's just a good hearted movie

2021-03-24 #2

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2021-02-28 #5

Death to 2020

(2020)
🥉

Deeply dry parody of what a year this has been. Good way to pinch it off.

2020-12-31 #1

Knives Out

(2019)
🥇
🔎

In-theater commentary l

2020-12-09 #3

Knives Out

(2019)
🥇
🔎

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2020-12-05 #2

Coco

(2017)
🥇
🎃

So dang good. I swear.

2020-11-01 #3

The Way I See It

(2020)
🥉

Really great look behind the scenes of the white house and the function of journalism

2020-10-19 #1

Enola Holmes

(2020)
🥇

Very cute! Mystery was decent. Characters were good and the action scenes were good. Cinematography was great, talking right to the screen was neat.

2020-09-27 #1

Black Panther

(2018)
🥈

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2020-08-29 #4

Palm Springs

(2020)
🥉

Fun movie! Good take on a time loop. Quite funny. Cool visual style.

2020-07-13 #1

Game Night

(2018)
🥉

Hysterical. Great action while being so funny. Great cast and arcs. Surprisingly cute, too.

2020-06-09 #2

13th

(2016)
🥇

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2020-06-05 #1

Avengers: Endgame

(2019)
🥇

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2020-05-08 #3

The car scene is still so stupendously tense

2020-05-03 #4

Knives Out

(2019)
🥇
🔎
🍿

Great whodunit. Awesome cast, good humor mix, amazing performances. Just a delight.

2019-11-27 #1

The Farewell

(2019)
🥈
🍿

Good. A little slow, but beautifully shot. Nicely examines the role of family and happiness.

2019-07-30 #1

Avengers: Endgame

(2019)
🥇
🍿

Has some slow bits and hand wavy timey-wimey stuff, but it lands overall and thrives on its small moments with characters we've grown to love.

2019-07-17 #2

Avengers: Endgame

(2019)
🥇
🍿

Really enjoyable. Packed a lot into a limited amount of time. The snapped characters felt a little shoehorned and some bits were cheesy, but the entire time heist segment was golden.

2019-04-25 #1

Coco

(2017)
🥇
🎃

Still so great

2018-10-28 #2

Black Panther

(2018)
🥈

Michael B Jordan is just so so good. I'm also still impressed by the pacing of this movie.

2018-10-11 #3

Searching

(2018)
🥉
🍿

Really cool! Shot incredibly interestingly. Good plot and performances. Good tension. John Cho rocked.

2018-09-22 #1

Tag

(2018)
🥉
🍿

Unexpectedly touching! Some great action scenes and fun. Pretty good dialogue and a great cast. I am left happy.

2018-07-12 #1

Black Panther

(2018)
🥈
🍿

Better than I remember. The killmonger story is really intense and the supporting cast did a great job

2018-04-23 #2

So well done. Every piece of it is a delight

2018-04-21 #3

Basically perfection

2018-04-20 #4

A Quiet Place

(2018)
🥉
🍿

I think this is objectively a good movie, though not one I personally enjoyed. I don't like scary movies and this was 90 minutes of pure stress. Sound and tension was incredible, but I did not have an enjoyable time

2018-04-12 #1

Game Night

(2018)
🥉
🍿

Light, funny. Decent action, very self aware. Some good jokes with pretty good payoff. Some threads that felt pointless. All together pretty fun.

2018-03-07 #1

Coco

(2017)
🥇
🎃

Such an emotional movie. The music was great and the art and culture was such a joy. The story was good and really makes you care about the characters

2018-02-25 #1

Black Panther

(2018)
🥈
🍿

Amazing art. Great story. Good acting. Cool characters and fights. So important for the representation and cultural aspect. The biggest thing holding it back were the predictability, pacing, and writing. Seriously a lot to like here though.

2018-02-17 #1

Phenominally acted. Characters had great growth and the writing made you care for each character. Story flowed well, everyone seemed realistic. Amazing.

2018-01-24 #1

Get Out

(2017)
🥇

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2017-10-31 #2

Spider-Man: Homecoming

(2017)
🥇
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2017-07-19 #2

Spider-Man: Homecoming

(2017)
🥇
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2017-07-06 #1

Even better than I remembered

2017-07-01 #3

Get Out

(2017)
🥇
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2017-03-14 #1

Logan

(2017)
🥉
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2017-03-04 #1

Storks

(2016)
🥉

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2017-01-16 #2

Hidden Figures

(2016)
🥈
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2017-01-12 #1

Arrival

(2016)
🥇
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2016-11-16 #1

Captain America: Civil War

(2016)
🥇
🍿

Even better than I remembered

2016-11-15 #2

Storks

(2016)
🥉
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2016-10-21 #1

Captain America: Civil War

(2016)
🥇
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2016-05-05 #1

Zootopia

(2016)
🥉
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2016-03-07 #1

Deadpool

(2016)
🥈
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2016-02-26 #2

Deadpool

(2016)
🥈
🍿

no additional notes, see rating and/or other watches.

2016-02-13 #1