The Zachtastic Movie Blog

(Poster Source: IMDb ) Marvel Studios’ latest production is something of a miracle. Being a lesser-known Marvel property than most, one wouldn’t expect it to be quite as lucrative as producing sequels to previously successful superhero films. Also factor in the fact that writer-director Ryan Coogler is still a relatively young filmmaker at only 32 years old, in which his limited experience with helming blockbusters likely presented a huge challenge for him. Nevertheless, the success story for Marvel’s Black Panther began in that the film set new records for superhero movie pre-sales. Then further superlatives were reached once the film debuted in theaters, garnering one of the most successful box office openings in history with its four-day opening weekend consisting of $242.1 million . Oh, and did I mention that it is also being hailed not just as one of the best films in the MCU but also one of the greatest superhero films ever? Ryan Coogler and company certainly have...

(Poster Source: IMDb ) Nearly thirty years ago, British animator Nick Park made the bold move of airing a stop-motion animated short he created on television networks in the United Kingdom. This would mark the beginning of a lucrative and highly celebrated career for the most influential figure in Aardman Animation’s history. To say that he has made his mark on the growth of animated filmmaking would be a gross understatement. That first short, A Grand Day Out — itself being the first installment of the Wallace & Gromit series — since spawned multiple Academy Award-winning sequels. Nick Park also wrote and directed the highest-grossing stop-motion of all-time in Chicken Run ( my personal favorite of Aardman’s movies ), while he also saw success in creating the Wallace & Gromit spin-off franchise Shaun the Sheep . But now, he has created his first wholly original project since the release of Chicken Run . I only say this because the latest full-length feature ...

While that may be a mouthful of a title to have for a blog post, I feel it was necessary to explain my angst over having not seen certain movies. Given that my hobby is seeing and subsequently discussing film, it’s painful to me that I still have very glaring holes in my movie-watching history. That’s especially the case when someone hears that I have missed out on a particular film, only for them to reply “how can you consider yourself to be a movie critic then?” Believe me, it gets to my head from time to time. Street cred as a critic results from having seen a breadth of movies, but I still lack certain necessary experiences. That is why I have conceived this particular Top 10 list. Overviewing my backlog of movies and then ranking the ones I most desperately need to catch up with has not only been effective in motivating me, but it’s also served a psychological purpose: forcing me to be honest with myself. By doing this, I can be honest with other cinephiles. I don’t know ...