Rueben's Ramblings

There was a point in time when I truly enjoyed going to the movies as often as I could, but with the proliferation of cell phones (and all that we can “do” via them), the movie-going experience isn’t what it used to be. Far too many people seem to think that it is acceptable to use their cell phones at any time during the movie rather than following the “rules” by putting them away or, at the very least, muting them. If you need to be on your cell phone so damn much, WHY are you even at the movies?!

Given that sad truth, I have severely reduced how many movies I see each year, but still try to reach the goal of seeing at least 25 each year. This year I reached my goal!!

Out of those 25 movies I enjoyed Cinderella, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation and The Martian the most.

It is doubtful that readers care about what movies I saw throughout the year or which ones I liked best so let’s take a look at the biggest box office winners from this year (through the December 19-20 weekend):

1. Jurassic World – 652 million
2. Avengers: Age of Ultron – 459 million
3. Inside Out – 356 million
4. Furious 7 – 353 million
5. Minions – 336 million
6. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – 288 million
7. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 – 256 million
8. The Martian – 224 million
9. Cinderella – 201 million
10. Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation – 195 million
11. Spectre – 194 million
12. Pitch Perfect 2 – 184 million
13. Ant-Man – 180 million
14. Home – 177 million
15. Hotel Transylvania 2 – 168 million
16. Fifty Shades of Grey – 166 million
17. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – 163 million
18. Straight Outta Compton – 161 million
19. San Andreas – 155 million
20 Mad Max: Fury Road – 154 million
21. The Divergent Series: Insurgent – 130 million
22. Kingsman: The Secret Service – 128 million
23. The Peanuts Movie – 127 million
24. Spy – 111 million
25. Trainwreck – 110 million

As in years past, I also compiled a list of the movies that were either a disappointment at the box office or simply had horrible-looking trailers [at least in my opinion]. They appear in alphabetical order below:

American Ultra
Cooties
Daddy’s Home
Get Hard
Goosebumps
Hot Pursuit
Hot Tub Time Machine 2
Insidious Chapter 3
Krampus
Maggie
Paul Blart Mall Cop 2
Poltergeist
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse
Sinister 2
Sisters
The Gallows
The Gift
The Lazarus Effect
The Night Before
The Wedding Ringer
The Woman in Black 2
The Visit
Train Wreck
Unfinished Business
Vacation

What movies did you most enjoy seeing this year? Which movies were disappointments to you? Please share your thoughts and comments.

TOMORROW: Awards

PS: Merry Christmas!!!