Three months left to of in the year, and I have already matched last years film total. For his last quarter, there is a lot of changes in both the Top 10 and Bottom 10. Let’s get into it.

Sing Sing came so close to taking the top spot. I absolutely loved it. There is just something about Dune that keeps it on top though. Still, it’s going to take a lot to crack those two 5/5 films up there. I have a couple in Chicago in a couple weeks that could take a run at them. Lower down are a pair of films I didn’t think would be here. Speak No Evil was a film I thought would be an unnecessary American remake, but it was so much better than that. The 2022 original is a different monster, but this one more than hold it’s own. While the original is 4.5, this version is a solid 4. Finally is the ultimate out of nowhere entry, Hundreds of Beavers. This was awesome and stupid in the best of ways. It is more that worth finding it on streaming.

Now, we look at the bad of the quarter.

Almost half of the Bottom 10 is new, and that is kind of a reflection of the quarter itself. There was a lot of mediocre to really bad movies in the last three months. Borderlands was just bright colors, loud noises, and the thinnest of plots. Nobody was good in it, and it was a complete waste of time. I get I’m not the audience for Harold and the Purple Crayon, but even for movies for kids, this was bad. Space Cadet felt like a Disney Original Movie, and if Amazon dared to put it in theaters, I’m not sure it would crack $1 million. It looked cheap to make, but I know it wasn’t. Lastly, Megalopolis. There is a lesson to be learned from that film: if it takes you 40 years to make a film, maybe take another year or two and make sure the film is watchable. This was painful to watch, and when I saw it at the special IMAX early showing, caused a lot in my theater to laugh at so many parts that weren’t supposed to be funny. A good example of how all over the place this film is: we get to watch the virginity auction of this films version of Taylor Swift like pop star. Does it really add to the plot? Barely, as what ever comes of it is forgotten ten minutes later. This film is filled with so many parts like that, and maybe only a couple of the characters know they are in the same movie. Still, it took imagination to come up with such maddening things, so for that, it stays higher that the really awful entries on the list.

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So, that is where my rankings stand as of the end of September. Three months to go, and we are entering awards season. There are so many good films in that section of the year, so the Top 10 could look different at the end of the year. To start the quarter, I have Saturday Night next week. In two weeks there is ChiFilmFest, and I’ll be seeing The Brutalist there. That is main one that could take a shot at the top spot. Don’t forget Mufasa comes out in December. I can’t explain how excited I am for that……