Archive for the 'Top 10' Category
October 21st, 2014 by Gerard Iribe
2014 is just flying by as we are already in my favorite coveted month of October. The leaves have started to turn red and yellow and the ghosts and goblins are out there creeping about. This short list is made up of my favorite horror films that I like to watch during the Halloween holiday season. A slice of pumpkin pie and nice pumpkin craft ale and a nice horror movie hits the spot perfectly. This obviously isn’t a comprehensive but just a tasty sampler of films that are relatively short in running time but hit you right in your fear spot. In any event sit back and enjoy my Top-3 Halloween Horror Treats!
Continue reading ‘Gerard’s Top-3 Halloween Horror Treats!’
October 20th, 2014 by Gregg Senko
Ah it’s good to be back. After nearly a year hiatus from Why So Blu, Brian White recently approached me to contribute an article, along with the other WSB staffers, on our top 3 favorite horror films of all time. My split-second initial reaction was one of apprehension. Horror has never been a genre at the top of my list. I can’t think of one horror film I really liked…oh, but wait, there was that one. Okay so now I need two more. That’s not going to happen because…oh…yeah…that one was pretty good too. So this whole non-existent list suddenly snowballed in my head, and for a good 72 hours, I wrestled with what my top 3 were going to be (and let’s not forget that one guilty pleasure). Continue reading ‘Scratch and Claw Your Way to Gregg’s Top 3 Horror Films’
October 15th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
Take the “Booo!” in the title as either the ghostly scare sound or the hoards of fanboys’ reactions when something gets remade. Over the last 15 years or so we’ve seen plenty of reboots, reimaginings and remakes come to fruition throughout each film going year. The horror genre has certainly been the genre the most privy to getting remake-itis. but, it has always made a name for itself in that fashion. Its characters and stories have always been something of legend and folklore. How many times have we seen Dracula brought back in some way, shape or form (most recently this past weekend)? Yes, remaking everything is a bit tiresome, but I’ve never been one to turn my nose up at it. Aside from the remake film itself, it does many good things outside of that. It brings the original films and characters to the forefront of the conversation once again. People get the itch to go back and rediscover these old films (not all, but some do). They also give us terrific new versions of the films on home video with either stunning transfers or the bonus material interviews, deleted scenes and the like that we’ve always wanted. Continue reading ‘BOOOO! Brandon’s Top 10 Modern Horror Remakes’
October 14th, 2014 by Blu-ray Brian
Growing up as a child in the early 80s I fell in love with the old black-and-white Universal Monsters films that my dad would leave playing carelessly on the tube. For some reason, even as a young child, I just wasn’t scared of Lon Chaney as the Wolf Man or Boris Karloff as Frankenstein. Instead, I was obsessed. I just couldn’t get enough of the rich monster lore and their associated worlds, even if it was all in black-and-white. However, while I was still too young to remember this, a low budget independent movie hit the big screen in 1978 that forever changed the world of horror movies and was responsible for peaking the age of the “slasher” titles with rich iconic villains such as Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Chucky to name a few. Now I was really hooked and excited for the future of one of my most favorite genres, horror. Continue reading ‘Brian White Ranks His Top 3 Horror Films of All-Time Plus 1!’
October 10th, 2014 by Eric Ashley
It’s Halloween season and that means I watch a bunch of horror movies. I mean, I watch horror movies a lot any time of year, but this month is especially big. It’s like Christmas for a scary movie fan! My favorite long running horror movie franchise is
A Nightmare on Elm Street. While
Black Christmas started off the slasher genre as we know it, and
Halloween and
Friday the 13th became bankable franchises before Freddy, there has always been something about this series that makes me put it above the others. Logistically speaking, the idea of someone stalking you relentlessly in your dreams is terrifying because – much like
Invasion of the Body Snatchers – everyone has to sleep, and everyone will eventually become prey. Freddy Krueger isn’t like a Jason Voorhees or a Michael Myers where you can try and hide from him or outsmart him to defeat him… the idea of Freddy is always waiting for you when you close your eyes.
Continue reading ‘Bad Dreams: Eric Ranks the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Saga’
July 9th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
We are a little over halfway through 2014 and with that, I figured it would be a good idea for Why So Blu’s writing staff to spread the word on which films they believe to be the best of the year so far (along with some picks for the worst). This article contains just that, as Brian, Brandon, and myself put down their thoughts on their three favorite films released theatrically this year. There were many films to choose from, so narrowing it down may not have been an easy task, but it was a fun process and a nice way to prepare for the second half of this year, which is also full of promise. Continue on and see which films came out on top! Continue reading ‘Why So Blu’s Staff Picks For 2014’s Best Films of the Year… So Far’
January 17th, 2014 by Aaron Neuwirth
I was seeing a lot of lists regarding people’s most anticipated films of the year and I figured I would post one too. Many directors, writers, and actors that I admire have films hitting theaters this year, so it was nice to dig into the upcoming release schedule of this year and really figure out what I am looking forward to. The problem then became how to rank these films. Given that I just struggled to put together a top ten list for 2013, I figured I would take a different approach with this list. The following is a list of films I am looking forward to, separated out by month, with mentions of a few other films as well. One must also keep in mind that I am going mostly by mainstream films with established release dates (that could potentially change). With all of that out of the way, here we go:
Continue reading ‘Aaron’s Most Anticipated Films of 2014 By Month’
January 3rd, 2014 by Gregg Senko
What an interesting year we had as it presented us with plenty of ammo at both ends of the quality spectrum. We had the horridness known as Machete Kills, as well as the brilliance of films such as J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek sequel. It was also another year of super heroes. Some arrived from the pages of Marvel hoping to smash evil, while others came with a glove and a jersey hoping to smash barriers. Before we hit the rest of the list though, it is important to note there are a few significant films that escaped my grasp in 2013. For starters, I was not able to see The Wolf of Wall Street, Fruitvale Station, Anchorman 2 or Her. I’m sure Wolf would make a strong case for being on my list, so that one was a bummer not to catch in time. Her, while it doesn’t look like my cup of tea, does have Joaquin Phoenix who is pretty incredible in front of the camera. Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in a week. So without further ado and endless jibber jabber, I present to you my top 10 favorite films of 2013.
Continue reading ‘Gregg’s Top 10 Films of 2013′
December 31st, 2013 by Aaron Neuwirth
It was a big year, but somehow I managed to put together a list of my favorite films of 2013. I have to say that this was once again not the easiest list to put together. Theatrically, I have seen 150+ films this year, so there were a lot of films to consider and figure out how to reference in terms of their placement on this list. Some of these films certainly got a bigger response out of me than others, but at the same time, some stuck with me throughout the year and wound up turning into films I enjoyed even more than after my initial viewing. As a result, the only course of action was to do my best to give praise to not just the films in my top ten, but the other films of this year that I really enjoyed, by being sure to have honorable and special mentions for all the films that were in contention or worth mentioning. Still, I am very satisfied by this final list that I have put together, mainly because it is my list and it contains films that I really enjoyed the most this year, for various reasons. So here we go (by the way, lots of Easter Eggs hidden in the pictures).
Continue reading ‘Aaron’s Top 10 Films of 2013 And Other Odds & Ends’
December 30th, 2013 by Brandon Peters
It started off kind of weak and had a slightly mediocre summer (for mainstream movies), but overall 2013 was a really great year for movies. I say that because this Top 10 list was an incredibly difficult task to put together. One of the most challenging things every year is we are so hyped up and “in the now” with the December Oscar hopefuls rush that I think we forget or discount films from the first ¾ of the year that are just as worthy, we just haven’t had them in discussion for so long or watched them in almost a year that we tend to forget them when it comes to the end of the year list. We seem to go off the buzz we just got. In culminating my personal list I sat and focused real hard on trying to not let that aspect of end of the year list making consume me. I factored in what films I’d watched the most times this year, what films I thought were truly just well done, what I had actual “fun” with, what ones grabbed me an never let me go. I wanted my list to reflect all of those things and not just sit and pick the expected prestigious films that make every critic’s list look the same and have no personal flavor to it. Now, yes, my list will contain a few of those, because those films are just that good. Continue reading ‘Brandon’s Rendition Of The Top 10 Films Of 2013′
December 29th, 2013 by Kori Kemerer
So another year has come and gone way too quickly, bringing with it a long list of great movies as well as some I wish I could get the hours of my life back. So with this being said, if you are anything like me, then you have a hard time choosing which movie to commit hours of your life to. Well I know your time is precious, so being the nice person that I am, I want to help your decision making go a bit smoother. I have compiled my list of Top 10 movies that I was lucky enough to see during this wonderful year of 2013. I want to give you some of my rules for this list though. They really are quite simple. I chose from the movies released theatrically in 2013 that I saw. This does not include any older movies that I may have finally caught up on and watched this year, and obviously, nothing that I did not have the chance to see. Continue reading ‘Kori’s Top 10 MUST-SEE Films of 2013′
December 28th, 2013 by Gerard Iribe
We’ve come to it at last…my Top-10 film list for the year 2013. I’ll be upfront about it and say that I did not see most of the major and non-major films of 2013. I am only listing the films that I saw that made an actual impact in my life, for better or for worse. No BS. It’s also kind of funny that since my list is due today, the 28th of December, I had to scramble and watch several movies at the cinema this past week STAT! It was a lot of fun but there are also just so many movies I can watch before a deadline hits. Luckily for me, some of those films that I watched at the last minute were so great that they indeed made my Top-10 list just in the nick of time. So, without further ado, let’s get the party started!
Continue reading ‘Gerard’s Top-10 Super Duper Films of 2013!’
December 26th, 2013 by Brian White
The calendar year of 2013 was a tough one for me in the film department. However, unlike my recent Top 10 Blu-ray list over here, where I struggled to even find ten Blu-rays that I really really liked in 2013 (only leaving off Cloud Atlas), I find myself faced with a smorgasbord of films that I now must condense down to just ten mere selections. And I think to myself, hey that’s not fair! Yahoo published an article over a week ago with their 25 greatest films of 2013. Why can’t I do that? Well, it just wouldn’t be a true “Top 10” list then, would it? So here we are, and depending upon where you’re geographically located there may or may not be snow on the ground, it’s that time of again. It’s that time when for one day I get to play God and pummel you with my crude opinion and brute force as to what flicks I think deserve the most critical love, praise and acclaim this year. And I’ll stop you there and get one thing off my massive man chest real quick. Continue reading ‘Brian White’s Indisputable Heavyweight ‘Top 10 Films of 2013’’
December 23rd, 2013 by Aaron Neuwirth
This is not really a post of joy, but every year does see the release of films that are just not good. I do not try to seek out these films, with the majority being ones that I did think could have redeemable elements, but that just wasn’t the case here. This list contains what I think were the biggest misses of the year, which I watched in full and could not handle. I also have a list of disappointing films, which are not necessarily terrible, but certainly far from living up to their potential. I never actively seek out films to hate on and am happy to generally not see all of the truly terrible films that come out every year, but this is the time of year to reflect, so I have. Additionally, I did not see the supposed tragedy known as R.I.P.D. before the year ended, so I’m just going to have to call this the R.I.P.D. Memorial Worst Films List for now (and I just have nothing to say as far as Grown Ups 2 is concerned).
Continue reading ‘Aaron’s Top Ten Worst Films Of 2013’
December 21st, 2013 by Aaron Neuwirth
In an effort to be as fair as possible, this is less a “Top 10” list and more a list of games that I was able to play this year and heartily recommend. Despite being a big gamer, given that I specialize in movies and only have so much time to play video games (while trying to keep a balanced life), it just does not seem fair for me to attempt to rank ten video games, when I may have only been able to play a small portion of the big releases this year. The fact that I have resisted a lot of different genres only emphasizes my process for making this list further. With that in mind, I still wanted to make a post centered on some games that I thought were pretty stellar, so here we go.
Continue reading ‘Aaron’s List Of 2013 Video Games That He Thinks Deserves Your Attention’
December 20th, 2013 by Sean Ferguson
Making a top ten list of Blu-rays is always a difficult thing for me to do. The fact that there’s so many excellent releases that I haven’t seen yet just makes it even harder because I know a lot of them would be on my list, not to mention that the year isn’t over yet and I still have more movies that I haven’t even reviewed yet. Plus, I’ve spent most of the year focused on just watching the movies I need to review so there’s a stack of movies that I’ve bought that I haven’t had a chance to watch yet. So with that in mind, I’ve decided to make a list of the Top 10 Blu-rays that I’ve actually seen and most likely reviewed, and another list of Blu-rays that I probably would have included on this list if I had seen them. For my top ten I’ve decided to rate them based on a variety of reasons including: my affection for them, their audio/video quality, and what kind of special features were offered. I’ve also grouped several of them together to free up slots because if I added every awesome Star Trek set that was released this year they would take up most of my list and they are all equally good. That being said, all of these movies would make excellent holiday gifts: Continue reading ‘Sean’s Top Ten Blu-rays of 2013′
December 19th, 2013 by Aaron Neuwirth
Here we go again. Kicking off my Top 10 year-end lists for 2013, here are my Top 10 Blu-rays. These are films that I have been able to really dig into and see them as easy recommendations for anyone with the greatest home media format currently available. The following list is a set of films that I consider to be some of the best that the Blu-ray format has had to offer for this year. Much like the previous years, I stayed true to some rules; I have to have actually watched the movie on Blu-Ray, recognize it for its quality video and audio transfers, delved into the special features, and attempt to keep off any film on this list that may also be on my “Top 10 Films of the Year” list. This year that may or may not be the case (with one big exception). I followed these rules for the sake of keeping my list interesting, so here we go:
Continue reading ‘Aaron’s Astounding Top 10 Blu-rays of 2013’
December 18th, 2013 by Brandon Peters
It’s my turn! No need for a preamble as to what goes into the generalities of crafting these Top 10 lists as the gents before me all did a fine job of explaining. 2012 provided what seemed like all the remaining “Must Have” box sets, leaving 2013 seeming kind of empty handed on the surface. Now there have been new sets, but many just prove to be repackagings of the older discs and calling them “new” (like the new Star Trek box set, The Exorcist 40th and the Hitchcock Essentials Collection). Universal would have had #1 on this list at “Hello” had they released a 2nd volume companion to last year’s Classic Monsters Collection (Yes, I’m still whining about that). 2013 was no slouch though, as there were still a set or two to release and plenty of titles that have never been on Blu-ray before finally making the jump. What I love about this period we are in now is that so much of the big name films from yesteryear seem to be out that others and many cult items are getting their turn at the plate and that makes things even more exciting as these are the ones people watch all the time and have been double dipping format to format on for years. Continue reading ‘Brandon’s Bodacious TOP 10 Blu-rays Of 2013!’
