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arcaneranger · 4 years

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Final Thoughts - 2019 Long Shows

Dear Lord. This is where all the good shows went.

2019 was absolutely awful on a season-by-season basis (except for Summer, anyway), but that’s mostly because most of the best shows ran longer than what has become the industry norm of a single season. And indeed, heading into the new decade, we seem to be seeing a major renaissance for two- or split-cour shows, given the massive success seen by shows like My Hero Academia, Food Wars, and Haikyuu!!..particularly in comparison to the new perpetual-runners Black Clover (which, despite running for over two straight years now, is still not the most popular show of Fall 2017 by viewer count on MAL, and sits at a ‘meh’ 7.2), and even worse, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, which is faring even worse on both counts even though it premiered two whole seasons earlier and the fact that it is the sequel to Naruto.

As a reminder of my rules, the shows on this list may or may not have premiered in 2019, but they finished airing this year. The split-cour rule (stating that I judge any show that “finishes” and then premieres a “new season” within six months) didn’t come into play for any 2018 shows, but it will for Ascendance of a Bookworm and Food Wars this year, at the very least.

With that being said! 25 shows running longer than thirteen episodes finished airing this year after being simulcast, and of those…

I skipped 6:

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part V: Golden Wind, Fairy Tail Final Series, A Certain Magical Index III, Ace Attorney Season 2 and Cardfight Vanguard (2018) because I either dropped or have not finished their previous (also long-running) seasons.

Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS because the simulcast started late and also it was bad.

I Dropped 8:

Worst Long Show of 2019: The Rising of the Shield Hero

It’s always fun to see that a show you hated from its first episode only gets more and more distasteful afterwards, but it’s less fun when a service you have to promote because they’re the legal option is forced to shove it down your throat because they had a hand in making it and it became a massive hit that your friends don’t see any issue with because the author wrote a story that justifies its hero’s patronage of the slave industry. This is my punishment for watching the whole first season of The Asterisk War before I knew better.

YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world

A confusing mess from the word go, this ill-fated adaptation of a visual novel from the nineties seems like it was mostly made to cash in on the popularity of the Science Adventure series, but failed to present itself in a way that made an ounce of sense or looked remotely interesting.

Fairy Gone

Am I really the only one that saw potential here? I mean yes, it ended up a boring slog that didn’t care to move its plot in a meaningful direction, but the first episode was at least cool. I guess Izetta: The Last Witch should have taught me better.

We Never Learn

I know that I’m in the minority in terms of the male demographic for shows like this, but honestly, how are bland harem shows still this easy to market? A copy-pasted protagonist with copy-pasted waifus drag down what could be an interesting setup for a story.

Karakuri Circus

The first episode of this one had me excited, the second and third left me bored to tears and wondering if it would continue to look uglier by the minute. I haven’t seen a three-cour show look this janky since Knight in the Area.

Radiant

Having heard good things about this show from my cohorts, I do feel bad for saying I’ll probably never return to Radiant, but when you have a show that’s notably written by a European author...and it turns out to be a frustratingly standard shounen affair with middling production values, well, you can see my earlier annoyance with Cannon Busters.

Ensemble Stars

This one still gets to me. It almost looked like a male-idol show I would finally be able to get behind, what with its rebellious attitude and oddball setting...that is, until the setting got to be too unbelievable and the show began drowning its audience in side-characters because they had to squeeze every husbando from the mobile game into the story, and it all began to resemble UtaPri a little too much...but without the production value.

Boogiepop and Others

This was a hard drop, honestly. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I felt four episodes in, before concluding that I was bored and not particularly invested, two things that should never describe the experience of watching a Madhouse show. The fact that this was the project responsible for ruining One Punch Man only made it worse. There’s a slow burn, and then there’s walking away without turning the stove on.

And I Finished 11 (holy crap that’s like three hundred episodes just on their own).

That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime (5/10 & 1/10)

I’ll be honest, I had forgotten just how livid I was with the ending (and especially the sad excuse of a recap episode) of Slimesekai, and reading back through my write-up of it, it’s certainly coming back to me. While this year had bigger demons to fight (Shield Hero), the bad taste that Slime left me with hasn’t really faded, and the wasted premise bugs me to this day.

Hinomaru Sumo (7/10)

What Hinomaru lacked in production value, it happily made up for in good execution and earnest heart. I can’t believe this came from the same studio as Conception, Try Knights and 7Seeds, but if they can only get out one good show a year, I’m glad that we got one bringing attention to a sport that many will joke about but few understand, respect and appreciate.

Kono Oto Tomare (7/10)

Speaking of giving love to traditional Japanese culture, here’s a decent-if-unoriginal show about a local high school koto club down on their luck, and the troubled teens coming together under a scrappy protagonist to bring it back to life. Kono Oto Tomare doesn’t have much that you haven’t seen before, but a decently-executed club drama with Your Lie In April-inspired musical performances is more than enough to keep me interested, and since Forest of Piano kinda crashed and burned under the weight of its own self-importance this year, it was nice to have an alternative.

MIX: Meisei Story (8/10)

It’s hard to judge MIX next to the other shows on this list because it’s almost too old-school for its own good, revelling in an eighties storytelling style that didn’t end up jiving with a wide audience this year. But at the same time, its fun character dynamics (and a very good dub from Funimation, despite them saying they’d never touch sports anime again) were very entertaining to watch, even if it didn’t focus as much on the sport it was supposedly about as much as I’d have liked.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (8/10)

I fully admit that I’m very salty about the fact that this won Show of the Decade in Funimation’s poll while it was still on and I thought there were hundreds of more deserving shows, but I can’t deny that Demon Slayer was a very enjoyable experience, albeit one that I had notable problems with. That’s not gonna stop me from getting mad when it sweeps the Anime Awards in a few weeks, though.

Fire Force (8/10)

I was very afraid that David Productions wouldn’t be able to match the energy of Studio Bones’ adaptation of Ohkubo’s previous work, Soul Eater, but I was happy to be proven wrong. Even if the last few episodes contained a bit too much infodumping, it was all sandwiched between jaw-dropping fight scenes that proved that the people who make Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure can still handle the reins of a more traditional action show.

Fruits Basket 1st Season (8/10)

I know that my score for this one is a bit lower than others, but I think that Fruits Basket did pretty well in its first season, considering that it was largely spent setting up future storylines and adapting the part of the manga we’d all seen before, but with much higher production value. I’ve been familiar with this part of the story for over a decade, and the scene with Tohru and Kyo (you know the one) still made me cry. Now, we get the real plot going.

Dr Stone (9/10)

A great start to a totally new spin on shounen, Dr Stone gives me hope for survival in the post-Shokugeki world in which we’ll soon live, as a show that wears its research on its sleeve. A complex plot weaving interesting characters in and out of a narrative surrounding a philosophical battle where both sides actually do have fair points (even if one of them is going about it in a pretty cruel manner). More please.

Vinland Saga (9/10)

Once again, a great start to what will hopefully be years of quality storytelling, Vinland Saga made it seem like it was dragging in the middle only to reveal just what its slow burn had been leading up to, with twist-heavy storytelling and a fantastic cast to match the high visual quality of its brutal battles.

Run With the Wind (9/10)

It’s not often that Production I.G. gets to make a complete, fully-realized show anymore, and this one was a glorious reminder of the potential of the studio in the TV space, and a great rebound for the director of Joker Game. It’s gorgeous to look at, the cast is wonderful, and the story is both realistic and idealistic in a satisfying balance. It’s a miserable process to get to the finish line in real life, but sitting back and watching this was nothing but a treat. At least, until a minor fumble at the end.

Best Long Show of 2019: Dororo (9/10)

Speaking of complete stories, Tezuka Productions and MAPPA teamed up for a breathtaking adaptation of an underappreciated Tezuka classic that expands upon the story in exactly the right way to create a thrilling, savage, beautiful masterpiece that focuses a laser-sharp eye into the relationship between two characters in their journey to, literally and figuratively, become complete people. Also, that opening was killer.

And that’s it! That’s the fun list. Next comes the painful one. Stay tuned for the trash heap.

#final thoughts #year end anime list #long 2019 #dororo #demon slayer #Fruits Basket #vinland saga #run with the wind #Dr Stone #rising of the shield hero #fire force #kono oto tomare!#mix meisei story #hinomaru sumo #hinomaru zumou #that time i got reincarnated as a slime #tensura

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hayleymarshalldaily · 7 years

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Gigi / other admins what are your predictions for TO season five, like honest predicitions not unrealistic ones? also why do you carry on the blog when you say you no longer like the show?

My (Gigi) honest opinions are here:

First and foremost I predict this is the last. I don’t think they’ll have another season, and I think the writers will be aware they’re writing their last.

Unnecessary teen drama fuelled by daddy issues with Hope because her father never picked up the phone despite breaking the rules and visiting Elijah (lord don’t get me started) and first love boyfriend drama with Roman. First two/three episodes will jump around with different locations including the school but i think by episode four they’ll all be home in new orleans (I’m predicting now Roman will die, probably similarly to Jackson in that he died because he was too close to a member of the family.)

I suspect they’ll have Hayley either go with “I never stopped loving you Elijah” or ‘learn’ to love the new Elijah, or just be plain over the battery, I’m a bit 50/50 on how quickly they’ll get his memories back. I have a feeling Elijah will have a new love interest who will fail to hold his attention once Hayley is back in his life or he gets his memories back, I suspect Hayley may also have a new LI who will have 30 seconds screentime total and will also be ditched in favour of H/E. We’ll probably learn little about what Hayley’s been doing in the past decade or so, she prolly wont have a job or have picked up a new hobby and they’ll once again make out like every waking moment was spent trying to get the mikaelsons together again and she just didn’t have timeeee for herself (or they’ll make out like she aint even bothered because that wouldn’t surprise me either with the way nobody including hayley fought to keep them all together at the end of last season)

I suspect we’ll have minimal Rebekah as per season 2/3 due to the fact Claire’s new series got picked up to order, I think we might have Kol/Davina drop in together every now and then, depending on when Danielle wants to film. (Though even if she was completely free I dont think they’d ever bring them both to mains)

I’m monumentally disappointed with the lack of flashbacks this season, I really am, but with the cut down time I suspect there’ll be the same amount in s5, then again if Klaus really does return back to how he used to be due to losing Hope (literally and figuratively), maybe we’ll get some more so they can draw comparison. Josh will probably be the same as he was this season as well, they’ll make a reminder that he has a boyfriend or something and then never show the guy again, then he’ll be used randomly as/when to fit plans. We’ll prolly have a couple of shots of Cami’s grave again so I suspect that’ll remain the same.

I predict that Rebel will have broken up by the first episode and Marcel will be back in New Orleans. (small chance they’ll break up in the first episode after realising that it just isn’t working out and they’ll make a show of Rebekah staying wherever they are at that moment and Marcel going home. I suspect Rebekah/Marcel will have been in a very tumultuous on/off again for the past 7/8 years) Rebekah will drop in when the drama starts and they need her for something, her and Marcel will gaze longingly and may have gotten it on again by the end of the season.

I suspect that Freya/Keelin will be ridiculously happy and soppy though Freya will feel guilty over how long her family have been separated. Keelin will comfort her and that will lead to more soppy stuff. The writers have made it v clear they’re all in for this relationship to be happy and not end so there’s really not that much to ‘predict’ with this one.

Hope will probably have Bonnie/Davina level powers that she’s still not got amazing amounts of control over due to the sheer level of power she has. Will probably lose control a lot.

Vincent... idk about Vincent, he’ll prolly have his own sideplot that’ll link into the main somehow. Same goes for Marcel, I dont really know where they’d go with him.

I think The Hollow plot will be solved by episode 2 and then the s5 villain will problem will take root in episode 3, like in this season just passed, where season 3′s problem was solved at the end of episode 2 and then the hollow came in and messed it up for them when they finally thought they were gonna be okay.

Klaus... I’m with everyone else they’ll probably have Klaus with an old edge to him because he’s feeling bitter that once again he’s had to give up his child in order for his family to be okay, and for all he has had growth in the past couple of years, this is klaus we’re talking about, it *will* get to him deep down that his family get to go off and basically be perfectly happy with their partners and elijah gets to unburden himself of them all but he gets jack shit and cant be with Hope once again. But then again we were told to expect Klaus with PTSD from the dungeon and he had a total of one scene where we saw the effects of that so whoooo knows if they’ll make it effect him.

Depending on what capacity they get Candice I suspect they’ll have Caroline be the light in his life again or whatever when he can finally go near Hope again and he don’t know how to act they’ll have Caroline act like she knows her better than anyone else since she’s been her teacher (yeah the vampire teaching the witch, okay, whatever, moving on) and will help Klaus with Hope.

Ric will probably make a cameo in either the first episode or an episode later down the season.

There’ll probably be a K/D, H/E, R/M & K/C endgame. But i wouldn’t be surprised if they had it so R/M weren’t actually endgame and have them accept that they’re always gonna love each other but it’s never gonna work out.

I’ve heard talks of a Hope spinoff, and maybe there is an actual plan in JP’s head for this or maybe there isn’t, But I guarantee you that if they do a backdoor pilot (prolly where Alaric will actually enter) then it’ll flop. Theres no longer a market for that kinda show. Not a TVD meets Harry Potter meets Buffy which is how I expect they’ll try play it off. I think Hope was aged up because they had no idea what to do with a seven year old tbh, and this is the CW, so there *must* be some sort of romance with a central character. Hence Roman. I suspect Hope will be bratty and have an attitude and wont be the shy completely selfless kid we met in s4, and they’ll probably either try saying it’s her genetics or because Klaus wasn’t around enough.

(my unrealistic hopes though are hayley having an actual job and maybe going back to the pack since it was confirmed she was still living in new orleans and being an alpha and liaising with Vincent to be the head of the wolf faction again, having more flashbacks, minimal daddy issue drama with hope, more haycel/hopecel, little interference from TVD including MF, and not stringing out the elijah drama, if you’re gonna give him back his memories just doooo it don’t make it last all season, also freya getting a job might be cool, and learning vincents actual job when he’s not casting spells... you know... just saying)

I still run this blog because I’ve invested a fuckton of time into it, this blog is like my baby tbh, and I still love Hayley as a character even though I’m not okay with the show rn or tbh a lot of the way Hayley is written, she’s still a character that I very much so cannot let go of just yet. Also I found out that Carina will be a producer this year which I let fill me with a tiny bit of Hope because whilst she may not have ultimate power on the actual plot like Julie does, she’s very much so always been very pro Hayley and has always written incredible scenes for her, and has also written some very decent K/H/ scenes (whether or not she or anyone else ships them romantically, some of the best K/H scenes where they talk about Hope have been written by her)

Royal I’m assuming doesn’t care enough to give a prediction for s5 because she’s over the show, I know from speaking to her though that she’s still part of the blog because she enjoys the company (ayyyy) and has also been here from the very start and has invested a lot into it. Royal’s done a lot for the blog BTS.

And this is Sarah’s response:

My predictions for the show are pretty bleak (for me). I don't like this time jump. At all. Literally, there is not a single thing I like about it. I think they built the show on Klaus' redemption being through being a father to Hope, and yet he's spent literally less than two years actually raising her. So, what's the point of him being a father if he's not actually being a father? You providing biological material and/or money and possessions does not make you a father. He got what - two months with her where she could actually form memories and half the time he was fighting a big bad. Yes, his sacrifice was noble...I guess.

So, we're gonna get Hope with daddy issues. Which is very valid for her to have because she can't actually spend quality time with her father. And she apparently doesn't get to be raised by her mother. But that's all good because saint Caroline has a school she can attend and that's super more important than her being raised by her mother. Obviously, there's no witches in NOLA who could teach her. No witch children she could make friends with (or werewolf children for that matter). Nope. None. Not a single one. Certainly none with the last name Mikaelson. Noooooope. Can't think of a single witch who could teach her.

Also, add in the fact that the sides that were released (which I doubt will make it onto the show) have Hope completely isolated and has no friends because everyone is scared of her. But totally worth not being raised for extended amounts of time by either of her parents for her to not have friends...she gets a boyfriend though!!!!!!! And that's all that matters, right?

Basically, I think they aged up Hope because now they can push the magic school spin-off with Hope as the lead once the Originals ends. They're baiting other fans in with talk of Caroline and KC and whether they actually go through and produce either - who knows.

I think eventually they'll get back to NOLA. Hope will leave the school (since apparently she has no friends there in the first place). Her boyfriend will follow and be creepy like all the male vampires on this show. But she'll ignore it because he's dreamy and dangerous and blah blah blah. The show will continue reusing plot lines and nothing will actually ever happen or be accomplished. Somehow the Mikaelsons will put the Hollow down for good and we'll see Klaus again not knowing how to be a father/trying to make up for lost time because that's all the writers apparently know how to write. Maybe we'll get big bad Klaus again, and when he's finally reunited with Hope, he'll start his redemption arc again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

#ask #anonymous #mod post #gigi #sarah #if y'all want to discuss any of our answers feel free to come to our personal asks about this #especially if it's concerning predictions for anything other than hayley lmao #thanks guys #Anonymous

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maczazind · 7 years

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Film Diary 2017: January

Now that my 2016 film diary is FINALLY published, I wanted to try something different with my 2017 version. With this blog now up, I wanted to post this year’s entries in monthly installments as opposed to one massive list. Since it won’t be a single post I wanted to do something I wish I had done more with my 2016 list, which is detail my thoughts a bit more on the entries involved. Some admittedly may warrant their own separate post because I feel so passionately about said film, but at least a monthly breakdown now will allow for a more detailed film diary going forward.

If you’d like to see them as the year progresses, however, each installment will be given the tag “Film Diary 2017” so feel free to follow along!

That being said, here is the list of films I saw in the month of January 2017 - including how each feature was primarily seen and an asterisk which denotes that viewing was the first time I’ve seen that movie in its entirety, despite possibly having seen pieces of the film previously or having a general knowledge of it. All reactions are strictly MY OPINION:

January 4th: 1) Into The Woods* - DVD (Rental - Library); As a fan of movie musicals, I have to admit this one kind of disappointed me. I really like the other fellow Sondheim adaptation of Sweeney Todd, but this one fell flat in my eyes because it doesn’t quite take advantage of its capabilities. Though it does revamp the stage version with some solid visuals and an impressive cast, it’s in the third act where there are multiple scenes that don’t quite take the liberty of being transformed, ultimately feeling like they’re more or less the carbon copy from the original and don’t expand given that they have the capability to. Not to mention, the cast at times feels so large and we spend time jumping around between all of them, it doesn’t really allow us the time to grow overwhelmingly connected to some of the characters.

2) I Am Big Bird: The Carol Spinney Story* - Streaming (Amazon Prime); Not the best documentary I’ve seen, but still an interesting and emotional one. Worth a look.

3) Edward Scissorhands* - DVD (Rental - Library); Yes, yes – it’s my first time seeing this and to be quite honest it’s not my favorite Burton movie. Knocking it off my film lover’s bucket list, it was good! Funnier than I thought it would be; an intriguing story with plenty of fun elements. But at the same time, it certainly doesn’t knock Beetlejuice off its top spot in my eyes.

January 9th: 4) Scouts Guide To the Zombie Apocalypse - Streaming (Amazon Prime); While the opening scene set up a Zombieland-like tone and actually had me excited for a bit, this flick crosses a point midway through where it never quite exceeds its B-movie status. Mindless fun, entertaining but nothing over the top to gush over. It may surprise some out there; still, just an ok watch.

January 12th: 5) Alice Through The Looking Glass* - Streaming (Netflix); Having enjoyed the odd tone I’ve come to expect from Alice in Wonderland, the live action remake from 2010 lands in a solid spot for me. This sequel, however? Well it depends on your suspension of disbelief as the movie goes on. Alice as a ship captain? Actually cool. Time travel? …sure, why not. It elevates the supporting character of the Hatter and admittedly adds some backstory to it all. The play on whether or not Alice truly has been imagining this or not in the real world is an intriguing piece for the few minutes it’s presented, but that’s never quite driven home as we’re whisked away more in the Wonderland journey and everything is wrapped up in an all too neat bow. At the very least, its heart is in the right place and the moral undertones drive home. At the same time, it’s an additional voyage that perhaps didn’t need to set sail.

January 13th: 6) Dr. Strangelove* - Blu-Ray; In this….let’s say INTERESTING…political climate, there certainly have been a number of media entries listed by people to reflect the present day events. If anything, this classic satire has something for everyone to love. Peter Sellers is fantastic in multiple roles, the scenes range from tense to intriguing, and if you’ve never become acquainted with the work of George C. Scott then this is the perfect introductory. While not my favorite classic feature from decades passed, it’s one that has stood the test of time for good reasons.

January 14th: 7) Big Trouble in Little China* - Streaming (Netflix); I think i finally understand the obsession with Jack Burton. Besides being a total badass, Jack was easily the most relatable in all of BTILC as he is more the audience perspective than anything else. Like us, Jack is swept away in something way larger than he may understand and at times it can be confusing as the story grows to ridiculous size. While a cult classic, I’ll admit BTILC didn’t really grab me. Perhaps it’s one of those films you need to check out in your age of development to have a love for, but really I’ll pass. I adored Jack, but the rest was a crazy visually-strong jumble that I’m glad I at least crossed off my list.

January 15th: 8) Patriots Day* - Theater; Maybe it’s because I’m from New England, but man was this an emotional rollercoaster. While you’ll know the story pretty well given how closely followed this tragic story was when it happened years ago, Patriots Day does a great job of taking that and adding the real world heart, perspectives and details beyond whatever CNN could give you. With visually memorable scenes and strong performances filled throughout, definitely give Patriots Day a watch when you can.

9) Short Term 12* - Streaming (Netflix); I put off seeing this indie for years and after the credits started rolling I was kicking myself for not doing so sooner. It’s rare when I have the urge to see a movie again after having just seen it, but my god Short Term 12 was one of those exceptions. An emotional character driven story revolving around themes of depression, abuse, trying to embrace love in spite of it all, mixed with surprises, genuinely funny moments, heartstring pulling sequences and all pulled together with an outstanding performance by Brie Larson, I absolutely loved it all.

10) Pocahontas - Blu-Ray; It had been awhile since I’ve seen this Disney animated film that has always felt middle tier for me. And rewatching it as an adult, yeah I can see why. There are some plot devices that don’t make sense while the romance is really what needs to be embraced regardless of the shortcomings. Visually stunning, but further cemented as not in my top five favorite Disney films.

January 16th: 11) Hardcore Henry* - DVD (Rental - Library); I went in expecting a fun mindless action movie that played like a videogame and that’s exactly what I received. Sure the plot is a little convoluted. Sure the ending is rather abrupt. But man if Sharlto Copley doesn’t steal the entire show. As questions build up about his character, it all pays off in a fantastic scene that just further drives home the comedic elements of the movie. If you can deal with the videogame campaign first-person POV of it all, give it a chance.

January 18th: 12) Little Sister* - Streaming (Netflix); My least favorite entry this month. An indie flick on Netflix that’s a gothic….let’s go with dark comedy? Though I’d say more family drama. The concept sounded interesting, but I kinda walked away from this one bummed out.

January 20th: 13) The Hustler* - Streaming (Netflix); Turning it back to the black and white classics, The Hustler skyrocketed up my list and landed firmly in a top spot of one of my favorite old movies. Paul Newman is charming as ever while the action is so incredibly tense in the best way. While the movie is a bit long and may drag in the middle, George C. Scott once again emerges with an interesting supporting role and has compelled me within two movies to further explore his filmography.

January 21st: 14) The Color of Money* - Streaming (HBO GO); Well if you watch the aforementioned original, you HAVE to see the sequel the next day, right? What I thought was going to be a shift where Newman plays the supporting character turned into a different sort of film where he’s actually the main character yet again. Not nearly as good as its predecessor, it’s a worthwhile expansion of the themes from the first film.

January 25th: 15) Ghost in the Shell* - Blu-Ray; An inspirational anime feature to many creators, this isn’t exactly my first exposure to the franchise (I caught some of the Arise chapter when it was broken up across Netflix, and Stand Alone Complex was around when I was younger). While it wasn’t my favorite film of the genre, it was certainly intriguing to watch. I wanted to experience the original in all its influential glory before the U.S. remake with Scarlett Johansson came along and I’m glad I did.

January 27th: 16) Star Trek Beyond* - Blu-Ray; The second film in the rebooted Star Trek franchise, Into Darkness, left me quite disappointed upon its release because besides the super obvious Khan concealment prior to release, the story to me just felt like a bunch of event sequences loosely strung together. Here, the heart and character is thrust back into the plot while additionally feeling a bit like a traditional Star Trek episode as a majority of the action takes place on a single planet. Even though the opening box office didn’t sound too confident, I’m glad there are plans in motion for another Star Trek film because I felt this was a great course correction that stands strong next to the 2009 reboot.

17) Trainspotting* - Streaming (Netflix); Another film I put off for awhile, its impending removal from Netflix quickly moved this one up the list. And yes, i finally understand the praise. There’s something so simple and yet so interesting about it all. A character driven look at addiction, told in a visually impressive package of comedy, tragedy, heartbreak and growing up.

January 28th: 18) There Will Be Blood* - Streaming (Netflix); Yet another viewing influenced by an impending Netflix departure, I was swept away the second Daniel Day Lewis began to deliver his lines as Daniel Plainview. As the man of science vs. man of faith story moves along the tracks, there are so many layers in this film to attach yourself to and love at least some aspect of. The greed, the wealth, the confrontation, the father and son tale, the flexing of ego and so much more. I finally understand not only why people have praised this film for a decade but why it’s remained in conversation for all that time as well.

January 29th: 19) Don’t Breathe* - Streaming (Flixster); One of the many acclaimed horror films from 2016, thankfully I finally had the chance to see this one after picking it up via a short-lived Blu-Ray sale on Amazon. Not nearly as gory as Fede Alvarez’s previous directorial effort in the Evil Dead remake, Alvarez does a great job of establishing a closed space (which I’ve always been a fan of in others such as Die Hard or 10 Cloverfield Lane) and unleashing a number of anxious possibilities that continue to surprise. Relying on an incredibly small cast, the performances count just as much despite not even our protagonists being morally virtuous along with a few secrets up its sleeves.

January 30th: 20) Blair Witch (2016)* - Blu-Ray; Extended thoughts here, but long story short – I don’t believe this one deserved as much hate as it received.

21) No Country for Old Men* - Streaming (Netflix); My final film of the month actually came as a welcome surprise for me. When it comes to Coen Brothers films, I am that rare outcast who kind of feels disappointed because I don’t feel most live up to the hype (well, except for Fargo at least). Thankfully, NCFOM lands on the positive side of my personal preference as it’s a visually incredible movie alongside a story that expands into an edge of your seat showdown the more it goes on. Admittedly, I had to rewatch the third act to really fathom the message driven home as things shift in order to relay a central message and subvert expectations. But at the same time, it’s a bold approach that never takes away from the other two acts while allowing you to sit & think afterwards about what transpired and what is stated.

Furthermore, Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men has prematurely kicked off a successful string of films in February’s 2017 listing that have all been nominated and/or won Academy Awards. But more on that later…

What movies did you see in January 2017? Are there any movies you’d highly recommend that I should add to my watchlist? Feel free to drop me an ask or a reply!

#Film Diary 2017 #text post #movies

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