I’m a little under half way through one of the goals I set here in January. I set out to see 52 movies I haven’t seen before. Below is a list of what I’ve seen so far.

  1. The Big Short. I saw this at the E Street Cinema in Washington D.C. It was a cool theater. Great movie. Surprisingly hilarious. I still don’t understand the financial crisis.
  2. The To Do List. I wanted to watch Aubrey Plaza in a movie. So I looked up this one. It was all right. I don’t know why I can’t take Bill Hader seriously on film. (Skeleton Twins, etc.)
  3. Sicario. Emily Blunt makes me understand lesbians better. Does that make sense?
  4. Deadpool. I don’t buy the hype, but it was funny and different. Which is cool.
  5. The Princess Bride. Holy crap! This movie is amazing! I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before this. Kudos to my buddy Daniel for bugging me about it and screening it for me at his place.
  6. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. My favorite movie of the year. Haters gonna hate. I love Batman.
  7. Ride Along. I will watch anything with Kevin Hart.
  8. Black Mass. I wish they had spent more time on Johnny Depp’s make up. But it was a great story.
  9. Spotlight. Very very challenging film. I’m so thankful for the work of the people who inspired this film.
  10. Straight out of Compton. So much fun. I spent a few weeks stuck in 90s hip hop.
  11. Captain America: Civil War. Not as great as everyone said. Fun. Spiderman stole the show.
  12. 10 Cloverfield Lane. My second favorite movie of the year. It sucks that no one is talking about how awesome this movie was.
  13. The Witch. Every second of this movie creeps you out. I love A24 films.
  14. Kingsman: The Secret Service. No one is making movies like this anymore. Action movies are almost exclusively comic book movies now. Refreshing.
  15. The Conjuring 2. They spent too much time trying to be spooky. If you can get past the extended spooky sequences, it captures a lot of the magic from the first movie. Don’t watch the credits. They claim to have a recording of a real exorcism. Not good.
  16. Cartel Land. My heart cries for Mexico.
  17. Dope. I watched this because Rick Famuyiwa was hired as director for The Flash movie. This got me so stoked for his take on The Flash. Also, it was awesome to see a movie that, one, had almost no white people, and two, had no racist accents. Probably my third favorite movie of the year.
  18. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son about his Father. Bruh. This story sucks. Like, in a super sad way. True crime at its worst.
  19. Ghostbusters. It would have been a hundred times better exactly the same but within the Ghostbusters universe. Kate McKinnon is amazing. 
  20. Hitler’s Children. A documentary I don’t remember anything about. The first dud of the year.
  21. Batman: The Killing Joke. The original Batgirl story at the beginning of the film is amazing. Except for when it crashes and burns at the end. The second half is a faithful adaptation of a classic story.
  22. Fittest on Earth. A documentary on the Crossfit games. Made me want to do push ups. I did a few.
  23. Suicide Squad. Also probably my third favorite movie of the year. Second? IDK. 10 Cloverfield Lane gets so many points for originality and execution. Suicide Squad gets a ton of points for kicking ass with characters I love.
  24. Beasts of no Nation. So much impressive acting in this movie. We should pray for Africa more.
  25. Don’t think Twice. Mike Birbiglia is one of my favorite comedians. His movie has a lot of heart. It messed me up because it made me confront my own issues with jealousy and inferiority.
  26. My All American. I’ve been a fan of the Texas Longhorns all of my life. I’d never heard the story of Freddie Steinmark. This is a great sports movie. They don’t make these movies anymore.