I did see Waterworld at the Bengies once. This year was fiction come to life as the Baltimore are got a record amount of rain. Or enough above average to make a dent. I mean a splash.
The Top Ten, and then, the Explanations
Also Rans:
Wish I Had Seen:
Seven movies I wish I had seen at the Bengies is a lot this year. In some cases, those shows might have run only a week, or they played with something else that I wished to avoid, or we were away, or the weather was just disheartening. I'm a loyal patron (hence the many tweets and fan photos) but can't always follow through.
The top movie this year, in my book, was Bad Times at the El Royale. As the third feature, it could easily have been skipped once we reached the midnight hour and were saturated, but something told me to get caffeinated and stick with it. I was not disappointed. The film noir sense, and the just on the edge of a slasher movie but always veering from macabre to bizarre just in time made this a top notch post moderne grindhouse flick. Highly recommended, if you have the stomach, and the accelerants. I'll rent if from Netflix if only to pick up missed details from the flash forward/flashback weaving.
Second and third were close. Bohemian Rhaposdy edged out mainly as it is in current release. The 1940 Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck holiday season co-feature was a rough cut diamond; the bad girl partially reformed by the good guy/tough (A)DA with a soft heart. Given the time period, the heroine had to be punished for her wicked ways, a reminder how times have changed.
Got quite a kick out of Home Alone on the really big screen, particularly the appearance of polka king John Candy.
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At the Number Five spot is Venom. With a name like that, I was thinking scary movie, like Snakes on a Plane, yet unfunny and unironic. Wasn't thinking a SpiderMan type character, edgier and apocalyptic. So I was pleasantly surprised. Don't need to see again, probably, but high up in the list for the unexpected jolts.
Slots 6 through 10 are really just OK, and the order is immaterial. I'm sure if I had been able to see any of the once I missed listed above that they'd be in the top 10. My list, my rules.
The Also Rans were ones I saw, and liked well enough to remember somewhat. Only Teen Titans might have made it in the top ten, as a replacement for one of the bottom 5. The others had some wince factor, whether the over-the-top musicality of Showman or Mamma Mia, or the unfortunately scheduled Skyscraper (so late in the Scout weekend series I totally fell asleep during the whole flick). Crazy Rich Asians had fascinating scenery and sets, yet the plot was so gag-inducing I wish I had been able to fast forward to The Mask (but, no, reality is the show goes on in slow crawl real time).
Sprinkled below are my usual marquee shots, and a few related images thrown in, such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts patches for their respective camp-ins, and the marquee-in-progress I like to stumble upon.
Links to prior year posts
2017: https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2017/12/2017-bengies-best-10-of-and-others-less.html
2016: https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2016/11/bengies-top-ten-movies-for-2016.html
2015: https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2015/12/bengies-top-ten-for-2015-in-my-eye.html
2014: https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2014/12/bengies-top-ten-movies-for-2014.html
2013: https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2013/12/bengies-top-ten-2013.html
Earlier year reviews back 2001 linked in one or more of these posts.
The Top Ten, and then, the Explanations
- Bad Times At The El Royale
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- Remember The Night (1940)
- Home Alone (1990)
- Venom
- The Grinch
- House with a Clock in the Walls
- The Mask (1994)
- Incredibles (2)
- Jurassic World (2)
Also Rans:
- Teen Titans Go!
- Skyscraper
- Crazy Rich Asians
- The Greatest Showman
- Mama Mia (2)
Wish I Had Seen:
- Black Panther
- First Man
- Avengers 3
- AntMan & The Wasp
- Mission Impossible 6
- Top Gun
- Tomb Raider
Seven movies I wish I had seen at the Bengies is a lot this year. In some cases, those shows might have run only a week, or they played with something else that I wished to avoid, or we were away, or the weather was just disheartening. I'm a loyal patron (hence the many tweets and fan photos) but can't always follow through.
The top movie this year, in my book, was Bad Times at the El Royale. As the third feature, it could easily have been skipped once we reached the midnight hour and were saturated, but something told me to get caffeinated and stick with it. I was not disappointed. The film noir sense, and the just on the edge of a slasher movie but always veering from macabre to bizarre just in time made this a top notch post moderne grindhouse flick. Highly recommended, if you have the stomach, and the accelerants. I'll rent if from Netflix if only to pick up missed details from the flash forward/flashback weaving.
Second and third were close. Bohemian Rhaposdy edged out mainly as it is in current release. The 1940 Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck holiday season co-feature was a rough cut diamond; the bad girl partially reformed by the good guy/tough (A)DA with a soft heart. Given the time period, the heroine had to be punished for her wicked ways, a reminder how times have changed.
Got quite a kick out of Home Alone on the really big screen, particularly the appearance of polka king John Candy.
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At the Number Five spot is Venom. With a name like that, I was thinking scary movie, like Snakes on a Plane, yet unfunny and unironic. Wasn't thinking a SpiderMan type character, edgier and apocalyptic. So I was pleasantly surprised. Don't need to see again, probably, but high up in the list for the unexpected jolts.
Slots 6 through 10 are really just OK, and the order is immaterial. I'm sure if I had been able to see any of the once I missed listed above that they'd be in the top 10. My list, my rules.
The Also Rans were ones I saw, and liked well enough to remember somewhat. Only Teen Titans might have made it in the top ten, as a replacement for one of the bottom 5. The others had some wince factor, whether the over-the-top musicality of Showman or Mamma Mia, or the unfortunately scheduled Skyscraper (so late in the Scout weekend series I totally fell asleep during the whole flick). Crazy Rich Asians had fascinating scenery and sets, yet the plot was so gag-inducing I wish I had been able to fast forward to The Mask (but, no, reality is the show goes on in slow crawl real time).
Sprinkled below are my usual marquee shots, and a few related images thrown in, such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts patches for their respective camp-ins, and the marquee-in-progress I like to stumble upon.
Links to prior year posts
2017: https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2017/12/2017-bengies-best-10-of-and-others-less.html
2016: https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2016/11/bengies-top-ten-movies-for-2016.html
2015: https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2015/12/bengies-top-ten-for-2015-in-my-eye.html
2014: https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2014/12/bengies-top-ten-movies-for-2014.html
2013: https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2013/12/bengies-top-ten-2013.html
Earlier year reviews back 2001 linked in one or more of these posts.
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