As we crawl slowly through the list, here are the movies that came in at #90 – #81 on my complete movie list for 2014. We’re getting through the rough patch (a.k.a. the bad movies) but there is a light at the end of the tunnel (a.k.a. the good movies).
90. Muppets Most Wanted
This sequel was a far drop off in quality from the first one. I thought it would be a lot better and funnier with a cast that included Tina Fey, Ty Burrell, and Ricky Gervais. I was sadly mistaken. I guess you really have to give props to Jason Segel for helping write and produce the first one. I guess he was really missed this time around.
89. Dracula Untold
The Dracula in this movie was too soft for me. I know it’s PG-13 but I still expect to see a vampire whip those fangs out and bite some people. I don’t need to see a lot of blood but some would be nice. Also, the ending that supposedly sets up a potential sequel, was pretty stupid to me and I really don’t think a modern day sequel is needed unless they decide to make it a lot better.
88. The Expendables 3
Wasn’t expecting much from this movie after reading and hearing about the terrible reviews. I haven’t been a big fan
of the franchise also except I did think the second was a step up from the first one and was a nice little action flick. When it comes to this one, an entertaining opening and finale is the only positives I can find for it. Technically that’s not a bad thing for an action movie with this potential. But the middle was too weak for me to movie it up on the list. Can’t even remember much from the middle…partly because I kind of fell asleep on some parts.
87. Brick Mansions
First off, R.I.P. to my boy Paul Walker (even though he wasn’t a good actor, he was still my boy). OK, now on to the movie. The movie had its moments where I was entertained thanks to some of the action and the interaction between Walker and David Belle. But that all couldn’t over power the overall bad acting from the cast(especially by RZA who stunk it up as a villain but his acting skills weren’t ever good in the first place), and a plot that was made goofy with the help of a missile (or a bomb or whatever it was exactly, I can’t 100% remember) among other things. I don’t expect great acting or a great plot in these type of movies but the entertainment value has to be higher in order for it to get a good rating.
86. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson movies just aren’t for me; made a simple plot seem complex and the comedy tone just seemed too smart for me which just sounds sad on my part.
85. Jersey Boys
The movie was better than I thought after reading critics say it was boring and its only redeeming qualities were the musical numbers and the performance by some of the actors. The story itself wasn’t that exciting because the Four Seasons life didn’t have enough interesting ups and downs to my liking (yeah I’m sure that sounds harsh). But the story didn’t “bore” me and the performances by the actors were good enough to not have me completely turn on the movie. I will say that Vincent Piazza performance as Tommy Devito was clearly the best bunch and should really be getting more praise.
84. Obvious Child
I’m not gonna lie, I fell asleep on a lot of the movie so I can make a complete fair assessment of it right now. But what I did see seemed like a decently funny film but most of the jokes weren’t completely connecting with me.
83. No Good Deed
Idris Elba was the bright spot of this movie. His chill demeanor really worked because you never knew when he was
just going to freak out and act like the psychopath his character was deep down. I always been a fan of Elba so I once again wasn’t disappointed in his performance. The movie itself was just OK though. The long build up was a little to long for me. I wanted to see a crazy Elba chase after a terrified Taraji P. Henson more of the time. Also, you know this movie made its budget back the first weekend because the movie seemed extremely cheap. Every time a gun was shot, just the sound that was made alone sounded like it was more on the cheap side. But props to Will Packer, producer of the movie, for being black peoples new and improved Tyler Perry.
82. Exodus: Gods and Kings
Read my review here.
81. As Above, So Below
Another horror movie I’m sure I’ll forget about in a couple months. However, the movie was entertaining up until the third act and that’s a surprise because things really didn’t get rolling until the third act. When people started dying, it seemed like the writers realized that they went to long without killing off some characters so they just rushed the deaths off even when they didn’t make sense. Also, it took me forever to realize what the movie was about. Was it the heavy accents by some of the characters that caused that? Maybe. But anyways a weak third act and a dumb ending the really upset me is what ultimately brought this movie down to where it is.
My 2014 Complete Movie List: #103 – #91 | My 2014 Complete Movie List: #80 – #71
(Photo Credit: AP/Warner Bros.; Lionsgate; Peter Sobczynski – http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/no-good-deed-2014)
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