Jmunney's Blog

Guest Post: Best Movies in 6 popular Genres for 2014

September 18, 2014

If you spend the entirety of your Internet time on this blog, then you might have the idea that my pop culture opinions are the only ones that exist. Well, guess what?! It turns out that there other people out there who also have things to say about movies, TV, and music. With that in mind, here is a guest post from Alex Bailey, who owns Movies in Order, a website that attempts to list every movie trilogy in order by release date:

2014 had its fair share of movie flops, but thankfully there are plenty more flicks to go see, all awesome in their own right. This is not a categorical list of the “best” movies in each genre, but rather ones that deserve to be watched simply because they are that good (or interesting). So without further ado, here are 6 genre movies to go see this year!

1. Action/Adventure – Edge of Tomorrow

After the disappointment of 2013’s Oblivion, Tom Cruise is back for a fresh start in his latest action flick Edge of Tomorrow. Cruise gives a spectacular performance playing Major Cage, battling an alien invasion of Earth. He does what he does best in his action roles, which is look progressively more and more awesome as the plot moves forward. The premise? Cruise keeps waking up after being killed in combat, a victim of alien time warping technology. The problem? He’s getting better at fighting back. Definitely one of the top action movies to see this year.

2. Sci-Fi – X-Men: Days of Future Past

Being a huge fan of basically all comic books and the X-men movie series, I was excited when we finally got an X-Men movie with Sentinels as the primary antagonists. Hugh Jackman is back in his never-ending quest to prove he is the best Wolverine in any standalone or X-Men movie, and he delivers on that front. The premise? Giant robotic Sentinels are a serious threat to the mutants, seemingly having the ability to evolve and adapt to any mutant superpower. So Professor Charles Xavier decides to send someone back in time to prevent the Sentinels from ever being made with that ability, and he chooses Wolverine. The problem? Going back in time hurts. A lot. Thankfully, Wolverine’s healing factor should be enough to keep him safe enough in the past to complete his mission. Or will it?

3. Comedy – The Lego Movie

Too many movies with product placement these days care more about money than the movie itself. Not so with The Lego Movie! The Lego Movie is nothing short of fantastic in every aspect of its 100-minute runtime, and with a PG rating is suitable for basically all audiences. The premise? A random Lego construction worker is the key to saving the city (somehow) from the evil machinations of Lord Business, and he joins up with Batman, Wonder Woman, and Lego reincarnations of famous characters to stop him. The problem? Lord Business got his hands on a nifty new superweapon. This movie is filled to the brim with humor and dialogue so absorbing, you’ll forget they’re made out of Legos.

4. Thriller – Lucy

I was hesitant to put Lucy under the thriller category since it’s an action movie in it’s own right, but the premise of Lucy is sci fi at it’s very core. The premise? A woman becomes the unfortunate victim of drug smugglers who unceremoniously stuff her stomach full of a new experimental drug, only to have the bag rupture and flood her body with the drug. The problem? The drug causes Lucy’s brain to start operating at higher percentages granting her superhuman abilities and an increasingly higher IQ(that is, until her brain reaches 100% of it’s capacity). Lucy absolutely is a bloody, action-packed Sci Fi flick, and highly recommended as such.

5. Horror – 13 Sins

13 Sins is not one of the best horror movies ever made, nor is it the best one of 2014. It is however a refreshing insight into how to psychologically break a man with nothing more than a telephone and access to a bank account. The premise? A financially burdened salesman named Elliot (played by Mark Webber) receives a mysterious phone call ordering him to perform 13 different sins, in reward for cash money. The problem? The sins get progressively more disturbing, and we see just how far a man is willing to go to secure his future. Webber does a great job convincing us he is slowly losing his mind in 13 Sins.

6. Drama – The Judge

Proving once and for all that Robert Downey Jr. is an incredibly talented actor in his own right and capable of playing any role, The Judge is simultaneously a heart-filling father/son story and a cold murder case thriller. The premise? Downey Jr. plays a truly morally bankrupt attorney who will defend anyone, at anytime. The problem? Family issues aside, his father is suddenly accused of murder. While The Judge has a bit of a long running time clocking in at 141 minutes, it is well worth a watch and definitely one of the more intruguing courtroom family dramas to come out this year.

Fuse Top 20 Countdown – 9/16/14

September 17, 2014

jmunney Fuse Top 20 Countdown, Music, Television Leave a comment

Each week, I check out FUSE’s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
2. Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
3. Charli XCX – “Boom Clap”
4. Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang”
5. Nicki Minaj – “Anaconda”
6. Ariana Grande ft. Zedd – “Break Free”
7. Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora – “Black Widow”
8. Maroon 5 – “Maps”
9. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – “Rather Be”
10. Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”
11. 5 Seconds of Summer – “Amnesia”
12. Echosmith – “Cool Kids”
13. Tove Lo – “Habits”
14. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t”
15. Becky G – “Shower”
16. Enrique Iglesias ft. Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno, and Sean Paul – “Bailando”
17. Katy Perry – “This Is How We Do”
18. Disclosure ft. Sam Smith – “Latch”
19. Demi Lovato ft. Cher Lloyd – “Really Don’t Care”
20. Sia – “Chandelier”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Chandelier
2. Latch
3. Break Free
4. Black Widow
5. Shake It Off
6. Stay With Me
7. Bang Bang
8. Rather Be
9. Cool Kids
10. Boom Clap
11. Don’t
12. Habits
13. Anaconda
14. This Is How We Do
15. Really Don’t Care
16. Maps
17. All About That Bass
18. Bailando
19. Shower
20. Amnesia

What Won TV? – September 7-September 13, 2014

September 14, 2014

jmunney Television, What Won TV? Leave a comment

In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.

Sunday – U.S. Open Ladies’ Final, with a ridiculous amount of double-digit rallies
Monday – U.S. Open Men’s Final
Tuesday – N/A
Wednesday – The Meltdown Show with Jonah and Kumail, with Reggie Watts bringing it on home.
Thursday – You’re the Worst
Friday – Girl Meets World
Saturday – Doctor Who

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 9/13/14

September 13, 2014

jmunney Music, Television, VH1 Top 20 Countdown Leave a comment

Each week, I check out VH1′s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Maroon 5 – “Maps”
2. Charli XCX – “Boom Clap”
3. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – “Rather Be”
4. Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
5. Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”
6. Kiesza – “Hideaway”
7. Demi Lovato ft. Cher Lloyd – “Really Don’t Care”
8. Sia – “Chandelier”
9. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t”
10. Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
11. Disclosure ft. Sam Smith – “Latch”
12. Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora – “Black Widow”
13. Magic! – “Rude”
14. Coldplay – “A Sky Full of Stars”
15. Nico & Vinz – “Am I Wrong”
16. Jessie J., Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang”
17. Train – “Angel in Blue Jeans”
18. Echosmith – “Cool Kids”
19. Katy Perry – “This Is How We Do”
20. American Authors – “Believer”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Chandelier
2. Latch
3. Black Widow
4. Shake It Off
5. Hideaway
6. Stay With Me
7. Rather Be
8. Bang Bang
9. Cool Kids
10. Boom Clap
11. Don’t
12. Am I Wrong
13. This Is How We Do
14. Really Don’t Care
15. Maps
16. A Sky Full of Stars
17. Rude
18. All About That Bass
19. Angel in Blue Jeans
20. Believer

Jmunney’s Saturday Night Live Season 39 Host and Musical Guest Predictions Scorecard

September 12, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, Television Leave a comment

With season 40 of SNL just a couple weeks away, I am taking a look back at last season to get myself back in the Studio 8H mindset. My predictions for last year’s hosts started out fairly strong, as I identified 5 of the first 7. But thereafter it was rather disastrous, as I only hit on 3 of the final 14, for a final tally of 8/21. Oddly enough, I fared better with the musical guests (10/21), which are typically harder to gauge than the hosts. It helped that I kept predicting my ultimate dream musical guest St. Vincent year after year and that she was finally booked last season.

Hosts I Correctly Predicted
Tina Fey
Miley Cyrus
Bruce Willis
Kerry Washington
Josh Hutcherson
Lena Dunham
Andrew Garfield
Andy Samberg
MG’s I Correctly Predicted
Arcade Fire
Miley Cyrus
Katy Perry
Janelle Monáe
Eminem
Lady GaGa
Kings of Leon
Drake
Imagine Dragons
St. Vincent

Hosts I Missed
Edward Norton
Lady GaGa
Paul Rudd
John Goodman
Jimmy Fallon
Drake
Jonah Hill
Melissa McCarthy
Jim Parsons
Louis C.K.
Anna Kendrick
Seth Rogen
Charlize Theron
MG’s I Missed
Haim
One Direction
Justin Timberlake
Bastille
Beck
The National
Sam Smith
Pharrell Williams
Ed Sheeran
Coldplay
The Black Keys

For my host and musical guest predictions for Season 40, check out my articles on Starpulse:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/Jeffrey_Malone/2014/09/01/saturday_night_live_season_40_host_pre
http://www.starpulse.com/news/Jeffrey_Malone/2014/09/06/saturday_night_live_season_40_musical_

Fuse Top 20 Countdown – 9/9/14

September 10, 2014

jmunney Fuse Top 20 Countdown, Music, Television Leave a comment

Each week, I check out FUSE’s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
2. Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang”
3. Nicki Minaj – “Anaconda”
4. Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
5. Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora – “Black Widow”
6. Sam Smith “Stay With Me”
7. Ariana Grande ft. Zedd – “Break Free”
8. Charli XCX – “Boom Clap”
9. Sia – “Chandelier”
10. Maroon 5 – “Maps”
11. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – “Rather Be”
12. 5 Seconds of Summer – “Amnesia”
13. Magic! – “Rude”
14. Echosmith – “Cool Kids”
15. Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX – “Fancy”
16. Becky G – “Shower”
17. Disclosure ft. Sam Smith – “Latch”
18. Katy Perry – “This Is How We Do”
19. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t”
20. Enrique Iglesias ft. Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno, and Sean Paul – “Bailando”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Chandelier
2. Fancy
3. Latch
4. Break Free
5. Black Widow
6. Shake It Off
7. Stay With Me
8. Rather Be
9. Bang Bang
10. Cool Kids
11. Boom Clap
12. Don’t
13. Anaconda
14. This Is How We Do
15. Maps
16. Rude
17. All About That Bass
18. Bailando
19. Amnesia
20. Shower

This Is a Movie Review: As Above, So Below

September 7, 2014

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Leave a comment

As Above, So Below has one of the most unique horror premises in a while: a team of explorers go spelunking in the catacombs below Paris and as they enter rarely-explored sections, they discover that they might be in a portal to Hell, or something like it. Too bad it takes forever for the story to actually get around to exploring that premise. The lead spelunker is multilingual, multi-degreed Scarlett (Perdita Weeks), who is carrying on the work of her late father of finding the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary substance said to have alchemical and life elixir powers. A prologue of Scarlet searching for clues in an Iranian cave suggests that the hellish nature of underground locations may not be limited to one place, as she sees a vision of a man hanging himself that serves as a bit of foreshadowing. Following this prologue is approximately 45 minutes of Scarlet and her crew in Paris figuring out how they are going to enter the catacombs, and it is just as boring as it sounds.

Much has been made of the fact that As Above, So Below is yet another in horror’s found-footage sub-genre, and the talk I have seen is generally bemoaning that there is yet another fake documentary in the arena. As Above would have worked perfectly fine without this gimmick, even though it actually does attempt some interesting techniques with it, such as placing mounted cameras on everyone’s cave headgear, which solves the problem of limited realistic camera angles. But, ultimately, this movie does not make sense as found-footage because there is no reason for this footage to be found, because (SPOILER ALERT) multiple characters survive and presumably hold onto the footage.

The failing of As Above, So Below is that all of its worthwhile elements are crammed into the last act. This is either a failure of pacing, or a failure of not having enough ideas to fill out a feature length. I actually think it is mostly the former, as the last 15 minutes or so show the weird, exciting adventure that this film could have been all along. Ultimately the catacombs are less Hell but something closer to purgatory. It is a gauntlet that can be survived, if those who pass through it prove worthy. Scarlet and her crew are haunted by terrible memories of their past, specifically, moments when a loved one died that they fear they could have done something to prevent. The ghosts of these loved ones can serve as agents of either retribution or forgiveness, which could have led to some fascinating psychological territory. But this pattern is a little inconsistent, and it takes too long for it to become clear for it to have its fullest effect. As Above, So Below does, however, feature a first-person perspective of Scarlet punching not one, but two, monsters in the head, after more than an hour of everyone having no idea how to fend off the evil creatures. C+

What Won TV? – August 31-September 6, 2014

September 7, 2014

jmunney Television, What Won TV? Leave a comment

Sunday – Masters of Sex
Monday – U.S. Open
Tuesday – Drunk History
Wednesday – The League (and Paul Scheer was also great on The Meltdown Show)
Thursday – TIE: The best episode of You’re the Worst/U.S. Open Quarterfinal: Federer-Monfils, one of the 3 best matches of the year
Friday – A repeat of the Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades, because I wasn’t home in time to catch any of the ladies’ semifinalsSaturday – I didn’t catch most of the U.S. Open men’s semifinal upsets, but they were still the best of the day.

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 9/6/14

September 7, 2014

jmunney Music, Television, VH1 Top 20 Countdown 1 Comment

Each week, I check out VH1′s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Charli XCX – “Boom Clap”
2. Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”
3. Maroon 5 – “Maps”
4. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – “Rather Be”
5. Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
6. Disclosure ft. Sam Smith – “Latch”
7. Demi Lovato ft. Cher Lloyd – “Really Don’t Care”
8. Kiesza – “Hideaway”
9. Magic! – “Rude”
10. Sia – “Chandelier”
11. Nico & Vinz – “Am I Wrong”
12. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t”
13. Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora – “Black Widow”
14. Coldplay – “A Sky Full of Stars”
15. Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
16. OneRepublic – “Love Runs Out”
17. Jessie J., Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang”
18. Train – “Angel in Blue Jeans”
19. American Authors – “Believer”
20. Rita Ora – “I Will Never Let You Down”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Chandelier
2. Latch
3. Black Widow
4. Hideaway
5. Shake It Off
6. Stay With Me
7. Rather Be
8. Bang Bang
9. Boom Clap
10. Don’t
11. Am I Wrong
12. I Will Never Let You Down
13. Really Don’t Care
14. Maps
15. A Sky Full of Stars
16. Angel in Blue Jeans
17. Rude
18. All About That Bass
19. Love Runs Out
20. Believer

Fuse Top 20 Countdown – 9/2/14

September 3, 2014

jmunney Fuse Top 20 Countdown, Music, Television Leave a comment

Each week, I check out FUSE’s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
2. Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
3. Ariana Grande ft. Zedd – “Break Free”
4. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – “Rather Be”
5. Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora – “Black Widow”
6. Sia – “Chandelier”
7. Nicki Minaj – “Anaconda”
8. Magic! – “Rude”
9. Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”
10. Echosmith – “Cool Kids”
11. Maroon 5 – “Maps”
12. Becky G – “Shower”
13. Kongos – “Come With Me Now”
14. OneRepublic – “Love Runs Out”
15. Nico & Vinz – “Am I Wrong”
16. Disclosure ft. Sam Smith – “Latch”
17. Charli XCX – “Boom Clap”
18. 5 Seconds of Summer – “Amnesia”
19. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t”
20. Tove Lo – “Habits”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Chandelier
2. Come With Me Now
3. Latch
4. Break Free
5. Black Widow
6. Shake It Off
7. Stay With Me
8. Rather Be
9. Cool Kids
10. Boom Clap
11. Don’t
12. Am I Wrong
13. Habits
14. Anaconda
15. Maps
16. Rude
17. All About That Bass
18. Love Runs Out
19. Amnesia
20. Shower

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