grassmonk.net

July

Movies

• Brave
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
• Galaxy Quest
• Kung Fu Panda 3
• Star Trek
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Star Trek Beyond
• Whisper of the Heart

TV

• Life – 11 episodes
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – 38 episodes
• Star Trek: Voyager – 10 episodes
• Star Trek – 1 episode

August

Movies

• The Bourne Identity
• The Bourne Supremacy
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Chicken Little
• Daredevil
• Hail, Caesar!
• Inside Out
• The Muppets Take Manhattan
• Robin Hood
• Yes Man

TV

• Life – 12 episodes
• Star Trek: Voyager – 14 episodes
• Transporter: The Series – 2 episodes

September

Movies

• Captain America: Civil War
• MacGruber
• The Nice Guys
• Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• The Whole Nine Yards

TV

• Life – 4 episodes
• Star Trek: Voyager – 23 episodes
• Transporter: The Series – 6 episodes

October

Movies

• Across the Universe
• Bambi
• Batman: The Killing Joke
• A Beautiful Mind
• Beverly Hills Ninja
• Black Sheep
• Cinderella
• Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Ever After: A Cinderella Story
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
• Fun With Dick and Jane
• The Great Mouse Detective
• Happy Gilmore
• Interstellar
• The Iron Giant
• A Lot Like Love
• Mr. Deeds
• Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
• The Rescuers
• The Rescuers Down Under
• The Rundown
• Stardust
• The Usual Suspects
• Waterworld
• The Wedding Singer
• X-Men: Apocalypse

TV

• Life – 5 episodes
• Star Trek: Voyager – 5 episodes

Video Games

• Final Fantasy VII

November

Movies

• The Amazing Spider-Man
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• As Good as it Gets
• Big Fish
• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
• Fantastic 4
• Fever Pitch
• Finding Nemo
• Finding Dory
• (500) Days of Summer
• Ghostbusters (2016)
• Jumanji
• Jurassic Park
• The Lost World: Jurassic Park
• Jurassic Park III
• Justice League vs. Teen Titans
• Lady and the Tramp
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
• The Mask of Zorro
• The Legend of Zorro
• Meet the Parents
• Meet the Fockers
• Muppets from Space
• Much Ado About Nothing
• A Night at the Roxbury
• Pinocchio
• Pocahontas
• Signs
• Star Trek Beyond
• Superman Returns
• Tommy Boy
• The Truman Show

Video Games

• Final Fantasy IX

December

Movies

• Batman Begins
• The Dark Knight
• The Dark Knight Rises
• Doctor Strange
• Central Intelligence
• Get Hard
• Ghostbusters (2016)
• Jason Bourne
• The Karate Kid
• The Kid
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Love Actually
• The Matrix
• The Matrix Reloaded
• The Matrix Revolutions
• Pete’s Dragon
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• The Santa Clause
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
• Serenity
• Sherlock Holmes
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
• Spider-Man
• Spider-Man 2
• Spider-Man 3
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
• Suicide Squad

TV

• Dana Carvey: Straight White Male, 60
• Firefly – 14 episodes
• Kevin Hart: I’m a Grown Little Man

April

Movies

• The Avengers
• Batman: Bad Blood
• Batman vs. Robin
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Hulk
• The Incredible Hulk
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 2
• Iron Man 3
• Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
• Justice League: Gods and Monsters
• Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
• Justice League: War
• The Peanuts Movie
• Son of Batman
• Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
• Thor

TV

• The Big Bang Theory – 2 episodes
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine – 4 episodes
• Daredevil – 6 episodes
• The Flintstones – 2 episodes
• Jessica Jones – 13 episodes
• Major Crimes – 3 episodes
• Phineas and Ferb – 10 episodes
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – 9 episodes
• Transporter: The Series – 1 episode
• Young Justice – 4 episodes

Video Games

• Mini-Mario and Friends: amiibo Challenge
• Pikmin 2

May

Movies

• Ant-Man
• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Captain America: Civil War
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Daddy’s Home
• Deadpool
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Rocky
• Rocky Balboa
• Sisters
• Thor: The Dark World
• TMNT
• The Wolverine
• X-Men
• X2: X-Men United
• X-Men: The Last Stand
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• X-Men: First Class
• X-Men: Days of Future Past
• Zoolander
• Zoolander 2

TV

• The Big Bang Theory – 3 episodes
• Castle – 14 episodes
• Daredevil – 7 episodes
• Major Crimes – 9 episodes
• Phineas and Ferb – Phineas and Ferb – 22 episodes
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – 7 episodes

Video Games

• The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
• Pikmin 3

June

Movies

• Creed
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
• Kung Fu Panda
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Newsies
• Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday
• X-Men: Apocalypse
• Zootopia

TV

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – 12 episodes
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – 12 episodes
• Star Trek: Voyager – 18 episodes
• Transporter: The Series – 4 episodes
• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt – 13 episodes

Video Games

• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

January

Movies

• Jupiter Ascending
• Star Trek: Generations
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek: Nemesis

TV

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – 4 episodes
• The Big Bang Theory – 2 episodes
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine – 3 episodes
• The Flintstones – 7 episodes
• Heroes Reborn – 3 episodes
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – 50 episodes
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – 9 episodes
• Star Trek: Voyager – 8 episodes
• Transporter: The Series – 2 episodes

Video Games

• Metroid
• Metroid Fusion
• Metroid: Zero Mission

February

Movies

• 007: Spectre
• Fantastic Four
• The Good Dinosaur
• The Martian
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

TV

• The Big Bang Theory – 4 episodes
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine – 4 episodes
• The Flintstones – 7 episodes
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – 14 episodes
• Star Trek: Voyager – 25 episodes
• Transporter: The Series – 8 episodes
• True Blood – 1 episode

Video Games

• Metroid: Other M
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
• Super Metroid

March

Movies

• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
• Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
• Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
• I Love You Phillip Morris

TV

• Agent Carter – 10 episodes
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine – 2 episodes
• The Flintstones – 12 episodes
• Phineas and Ferb – 3 episodes
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – 21 episodes
• Star Trek: Voyager – 18 episodes
• Transporter: The Series: 1 episode

Video Games

• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

Here follows a list of my favorite movies of 2015 (and 2014, where I just got to seeing them in 2015).  It is in a quite particular order, only no one has explained to me which order that is.

– My favorites –

Ant-Man

My wife and I saw this in Las Vegas during a summer trip to attend a Barenaked Ladies concert.  I generally enjoy Paul Rudd and this was no exception.  The MCU Marvel movies have so far failed to disappoint me, even with some less-than-stellar entries such as Iron Man 2.  I’m looking forward to more Ant-Man in the future.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Joss Whedon, you can do very little wrong.  I know he got a lot of criticism for the handling of Black Widow’s character, but I enjoyed almost everything about this movie.  The only thing I can currently think of that I would like to see changed is the expansion of Thor in the weird water cave, i.e. the re-insertion of the deleted scene from the Blu-ray.

Big Hero 6

From 2014; we watched this on Blu-ray when it came out in early 2015.  Disney has really been on a good streak with their main animated line lately.  I hope that the trend continues.

Inside Out

This may be one of Pixar’s finest, though that isn’t saying much given their track record.  Even Cars, my least favorite, was pretty enjoyable when I rewatched it recently.  The voice cast in Inside Out was excellent and the story was touching and I had just finished watching Parks and Recreation about a month before seeing Inside Out and Amy Poehler is just fantastic and that is all.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

I can’t decide whether the Mission: Impossible movies keep getting better or if they are just all maintaining a consistent level of quality (except for M:I II–that one just doesn’t do it for me at all).  I saw this theatrically and when I saw Ethan Hunt jump down into the cooling system, my inner Keanu Reeves said, “Whoa!”

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Our family went to see the new Star Wars movie on opening weekend, and I must say, I expected the theaters in Utah to be much emptier on a Sunday afternoon.  I know there’s a lot of criticism regarding J.J. Abrams’ adaptations of some franchises, i.e. Star Trek and the aforementioned Mission: Impossible, I’ve generally enjoyed his takes on things.  (I could have done with many fewer lens flares in Star Trek.)  While hitting many of the same story beats as the original Star Wars, the new movie still had my attention and made it fun attention.  I just hope Kylo Ren isn’t the new Anakin Skywalker, e.g. super whiny.

– Other movies I enjoyed –

Chef

From 2014. I watched this on Netflix after reading a positive review.  It wasn’t disappointing and definitely was not hurt by Scarlett Johansson’s presence.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

From 2014. After enjoying Rise of the Planet of the Apes a couple of years ago, I watched the sequel and liked it too.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

From 2014.  I’ve enjoyed the Hunger Games movies so far, though I have yet to see the final installment.

Jurassic World

I really like the original Jurassic Park.  The sequels I could take or leave.  I saw Jurassic World theatrically with my dad and younger brother, and it was definitely enjoyable, I’d say second after the original film.  Chris Pratt is always fun to watch (I think I had only previously seen him in Guardians of the Galaxy, and a few months after Jurassic World I discovered Parks and Recreation).  One thing that surprised me though was just how much money Jurassic World made.  It was good, but I didn’t think it was that good.

Lucy

From 2014.  Scarlett Johansson?  Check.  This was a fun little movie, though the ending was really kind of weird.

Minions

This was another movie we took the family to see in the theater.  My youngest child loves the Despicable Me movies, so this was kind of a no-brainer to see.  I laughed a lot, and laughed a lot again when we watched it on Blu-ray (though not as much as my son laughed).

The Skeleton Twins

From 2014.  I also watched this on Netflix after reading a positive review, and liked it.

Spy

I think the only movie I’ve seen before with Melissa McCarthy is The Heat.  I’m pretty sure that yet another positive review led me to watching Spy, and I was not disappointed.  I love the way that it sort of felt like a female-driven Bond film, with a serious plot and no small amount of hilarity.  Jason Statham as a pompous Topper-type character was fantastic.  It doesn’t surprise me that Paul Feig, the writer and director, also wrote and/or created and/or directed some other things I found funny, such as The Heat, Bridesmaids, and Freaks and Geeks.  I’m looking forward to his version of Ghostbusters now.

They Came Together

From 2014.  Amy Poehler + Paul Rudd + romantic comedy satire = fantastic fun.

– Movies that made me say “meh” –

Dumb and Dumber To

Much like the first Anchorman movie, I love the first Dumb and Dumber, and was not as impressed by the sequel.  However, unlike the second Anchorman movie, I found little to redeem Dumb and Dumber To from the halls of Meh-dom.  It was just sort of there, occasionally amusing, and ultimately forgettable.

– Movies that made me say “Why on earth did I watch this?” –

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This movie was just so, so bad.  Michelangelo was creepy and weird and really creepy.  The one scene that I enjoyed was the elevator bit.  It pains me that a sequel is forthcoming.

– 2015 movies I haven’t seen yet that I hope are good, or at least not terrible –

007: Spectre

The Good Dinosaur

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

November

Movies

• The Animatrix
• 007: Casino Royale
• 007: Quantum of Solace
• 007: Skyfall
• The Bourne Identity
• The Bourne Supremacy
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Cars
• Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales
• (500) Days of Summer
• The Goonies
• The Hunger Games
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
• Inside Out
• I, Robot
• The Matrix
• The Matrix Reloaded
• The Matrix Revolutions
• Megamind
• The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything
• Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1
• Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 2
• Planes: Fire & Rescue
• The Princess and the Frog
• Spider-Man
• Spider-Man 2
• Spy
• Tangled

TV

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – 1 episode
• The Big Bang Theory – 2 episodes
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine – 3 episodes
• Castle – 3 episodes
• Heroes Reborn – 2 episodes
• Homeland – 4 episodes
• Major Crimes – 1 episode
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – 5 episodes
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – 6 episodes

Video Games

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• Yoshi’s Wooly World

December

Movies

• Aladdin
• Ant-Man
• Cars 2
• Elf
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Home Alone
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Love Actually
• Minions
• Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
• The Muppet Christmas Carol
• Puss in Boots
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
• Shrek
• Shrek 2
• Shrek the Third
• Shrek Forever After
• Spider-Man 3
• Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

TV

• The Big Bang Theory – 3 episodes
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine – 2 episodes
• Heroes Reborn – 2 episodes
• Homeland – 4 episodes
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – 11 episodes
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – 25 episodes

Video Games

• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap