MONTH OF ROMANTIC FILMS

Now, I am the person least likely to go out of my way to watch a romantic film or what I call a film that appeals mostly to the female audience but because I love all film genres in general, I wanted to dedicate a whole month to catching up with films in the genre.  Unfortunately, I decided that this would be my film watching theme halfway through April, so I decided to extend the theme to May.  So, April and May became my Month of Romantic Films!

I generally love a good film with strong female characters which is where most romantic films fall as they try to balance the story between the two love interests.  This is a very delicate balance when done right.  When done wrong the female or male character comes off as two dimensional and borderline boring or a cliché and that can ruin the effectiveness of the film.  The other bad thing about the genre is that the general hallmarks of the romantic film have now made itself known in pretty much every sub-genre of film.  As modern day film-makers and storytellers try to balance the relationships of the characters and fill out the supporting characters, creating romantic relationships is one of the easiest ways to do this.  Another caveat to this change is the fact that we are getting more films with strong female characters in which the male characters are supporting; this is where the second group of films come in.  These films do not necessarily have or are centered around a romantic storyline, but they present stories that cater to the female journey and/or experience.

These types of films were once labelled “chick flicks” but I’ve never liked that label, so I won’t be using it here.  Needless to say, these are the films that I decided to focus on.

 

TRADITIONAL ROMANTIC FILMS.

Traditional romantic films are what I rarely decide to watch even if they have an actor I like.  Some of the films I finally caught up with were What a Girl Wants (2003), Remember Me (2010), Lovesong (2016), My Week with Marilyn (2011), She’s Gotta Have It (1986), A Ghost Story (2017), The Danish Girl (2015), The Theory of Everything (2014), and The Promise (2016).  A Ghost Story is the closest you are going to get to a horror-romantic film while The Promise is a war-romantic film while The Theory of Everything and The Danish Girl are dramatic-romantic films.  The thing to remember at the center of all these films is a strong romantic relationship between two or more of the characters.

None of the films were bad and they each have their good and bad elements. The films I enjoyed the most were The Theory of Everything, The Promise, A Ghost Story, and Lovesong.  What a Girl Wants was cute but not a film with any new ideas and not one I will ever bother to watch again while Remember Me was decent and had some interesting ideas.  She’s Gotta Have It was more of a “I need to watch” film since it was Spike Lee’s first film.

 

STRONG FEMALE STORIES.

A more interesting list of films that I viewed during these months were those films that fit within this category.  This includes Julie & Julia (2009), Good Hair (2009), Jackie: A Tale of Two Sisters (2017), Betty White: First Lady of Television (2018), What Would Sophia Loren Do? (2021), 20^th Century Women (2016), Suffragette (2015), Radium Girls (2015), Philomena (2013), The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017), Like a Boss (2020), Venus in Fur (2013), and Profile (2018).

Everyone of these films presents some extremely strong women in some great stories about important women’s issues.  Radium Girls, Suffragette, Good Hair, and 20^th Century Women deal with some strong female stories and are headlined by some amazing performances.  Documentaries also featured heavily here especially in regard to presenting some amazing women in Jackie Kennedy, Betty White, and Sophia Loren.

My personal favorites of this group were Philomena, Venus in Fur, and Profile.  Profile was an exceptional film that dealt with a romantic relationship while also dealing with subterfuge and terrorism while being presented through modern day film-making techniques.

 

THE TELEVISION SERIES.

I only watched three series that could be included in this group which were I’m Not Okay with This (Season 1), Mortel (Season 1), and Downton Abbey (Season 1-4).  Mortel was the unusual series that strived to be a coming-of-age show that dealt with two teens given supernatural powers that only work when they are in close contact with one another.  This was a bold escapist show that also had at its core the romantic relationships of the main characters.  I’m Not Okay with This was similar that felt like what if Stephen King’s Carrie was expanded into a series in which you got to hear the thoughts of Carrie all the time.  Downton Abbey is the epidemy of the primetime soap opera with all the characters having some type of romantic relationship.  My wife and I watched four seasons of the show and thus was one of the key things in my romantic viewing for the two months.

 

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All in all, these two months I managed to catch up with a lot of films that were not originally on my watch list.  In fact, apart from The Danish Girl, She’s Gotta Have It, and The Theory of Everything, the rest of the films were a last minute or blind pick.

BEST OF 2020: GRAPHIC NOVELS

Now, over the last several years I have broadened my graphic novel reading interests.  I have never been much of a superhero genre reader so there will be very little to sometimes no Marvel or DC comic titles on my list.  Over the years I have been more interested in the output of particular creators and titles derived from some of my favorite film and TV characters since most film and TV franchises thrive in the novel and graphic novel forms.

What I can say is that due to the COVID shutdown I read 134 volumes which is a higher-than-normal count than usual.  Most of these titles were Image, Dark Horse, Aftershock, Boom! Studios, Eibon Press, IDW, and Titan. 

 

WILL EISNER.

Over the last couple years, I have discovered the amazing talents of the celebrated graphic novel writer/artist Will Eisner.  I have always known who he was but never read any of his work until 2019 at which I became obsessed with reading everything he ever created.  This year I read Fagin The Jew, The Last Knight: An Introduction to Don Quixote, Life On Another Planet, The Lost Work of Will Eisner: The Earliest Comics of the Legendary Cartoonist, The Name of the Game, The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of Zion, The Princess & The Frog, and Sundiata: A Legend of Africa.  Even though most of these titles were the less known works of Eisner this does not mean that they are not just as good as his most famous works.  Eisner brought his amazing storytelling talent to whatever story he crafted no matter how big or small.  If you have never read an Eisner any one of these books will be a great introduction.

 

OSAMU TEZUKA & SHIGERU MIZUKI.

This year I took a break from reading Osamu Tezuka having only read his Atomcat.  He has plenty of works that I’ve yet to read and normally I try to read as much of his work that I can but this year I decided to catch up on some of my other favorite writers of which Shigeru Mizuki was one of the main ones.  I decided to finish his Showa series (Showa 1939-1944, Showa 1944-1953, and Showa 1953-1989). This is one of the best series ever crafted and its expansion is like something from Tezuka Budha or Adolph series. 

 

FROM COMIC TO ADAPTATION AND VICE VERSA.

There are a lot of titles that I finally got around to because they were adapted as films and TV series.  One of the series was Locke & Key (volumes 3-6), The Crow: Hack/Slash, The Kitchen, I Am Not Okay with This, Outcast (volumes 6-7), October Faction (Volumes 1-5) and Umbrella Academy (volumes 1-3).  I enjoyed all three of these series (and their TV counterparts).

 

Some of the graphic novels that derived from film and TV that I managed to read are the following – Firefly (This Sting, The Unification War Part 1&2), Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, Fight Club 3, Aliens: Rescue, Labyrinth: Coronation (volumes 1-3), Lost in Space: Countdown to Danger (volume 3), Night of the Living Dead (volume 2), Penny Dreadful: The Ongoing Series (volumes 2-3), Plan 9 From Outer Space, Sadako At the End of the World, Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia Part 1, Django/Zorro, Stranger Things (Into the Fire, The Bully, and Zombie Boys), The Walking Dead: Here’s Negan, and Your Name: Another Side: Earthbound (volume 1-2).

I have always been someone that loved to immerse myself into stories beyond just the film or TV series.  Titles like Penny Dreadful, Lost in Space, Stranger Things, and especially Aliens (which I’ve been reading for over thirty years).  The reverse is true of titles that were adaptations.  I love to know how the original creator envisioned his story and then watch how a different created interpreted the material.  I loved Locke & Key, October Faction, and Umbrella Academy and the adaptations (and changes made therein) were also quite good.

 

MIKE MIGNOLA.

Anyone that knows me well, knows that I’m a huge Mignola fan especially his Hellboy universe.  I only read the single Hellboy graphic novel Hellboy & B.P.R.D.: 1956 but I finally got around to reading the entire Joe Golem: Occult Detective series (volume 1-4), Baltimore (volume 6), and Our Encounters with Evil: The Adventures of Professor J.T. Meinhardt & His Assistant Mr. Knox.  2020 was just a light year for Hellboy Universe items but I am sure that 2021 will be the year that I catch up with everything I missed out on.

 

NOVELS TO GRAPHIC NOVELS.

There are a few graphic novels that were adapted from novels.  I read yet another version of one of my favorite stories of all time Beowulf (from Image Comics and Santiago Garcia & David Rubin).  I probably have six or more versions of this story that have been adapted over the years and I am sure I will read more.  I also read Blade Runner 2019 (volume 2), Terry Pratchett’s The Discworld Graphic Novels – The Colour of Magic & The Light Fantastic, Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels: The Communist Manifesto, Marvel Illustrated: Moby Dick, and Titan Comics Millennium trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest). 

I have noticed that there is a new trend to adapt into graphic novel form all the major classic novels as well as some of the more popular modern novels and I for one am okay with this.  I would love to see more of Stephen King, Ira Levin, Clive Barker, and others adapted.

 

EIBON PRESS.

I include Eibon Press despite most of there output being single issues, but they craft some of the very best comic books that can be considered graphic novels if not for the low page count.  Their VHS box style comics are some of the most visually stunning on the market and will appeal to everyone.  The thing that might turn readers away is the graphic nature of their books since they freely adapt movies from infamous director Lucio Fulci.  This includes The Beyond (issue #1-3) and House by the Cemetery (issue #1-3).  I also read their original series Wasteland:1989 (issue #1-2).  I have pretty much read everything they’ve produced and will continue to do so since they are unique to the industry.

 

MY ONGOING SERIES.

There are a few ongoing series that I would like to mention!  Since I do not read individual issues of any comic (except for the Eibon Press titles) there are many that I read and have been reading for years!  One of the longest running titles I’ve been reading is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of which it was light for me this year (Volume 23, The Ultimate Collection Vol 6, and Batman/TMNT II and III).  I plan on catching up with my TMNT reading soon!

Other titles include Beyond the Clouds: The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (volume 1-2), Ascender (volume 2), The Beauty (volume 5), Black Science (volume 8-9), Blood on the Tracks (volume 1-3), Dark Ark (volume 2-3), Ghost (volume 3-4), Happiness (volume 10), Manor Black (volume 1), Pretty Deadly (volume 3), Sandman (volume 6), Tales From Harrow County (volume 1), Trinity Seven: The Seven Magicians (volume 13-15.5), and Vampirella (Dejah Thoris and Hollywood Horror).

 

THE OTHERS.

There are a lot of others that I would like to take mention of especially since I have a love of blind buys and reads simply because the back cover blurb is interesting.  I am always interested in reading something I was not expecting.  For this reason alone, I enjoy just walking into a bookstore and seeing what gen I can find.

Some of the titles that fall in this list are Berlin (from Jason Lutes), Dissolving Classroom (from Junji Ito), Downfall (from Inio Asano), Eleanor & The Egret (from Sam Keith), A Fire Story (from Brian Fies), Grass (from Keum Suk Gendry Kim), High Crimes, Hot Lunch, Knights Temporal, The Last Space Race, Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (from Daniel Clowes), The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs (from Celine Loup), Mary Shelley Monsterhunter, My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, No Ivy League (from Hazel Newlevant), Poe, Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D, Shipwreck, The Story of My Tits (from Jennifer Hayden), Transparent Light Blue, Venus in the Blind Spot (from Junji Ito), The Wonderful World of Perfecto (from Paul Oakenfold), and Zombie Tales Omnibus: Undead.  This is probably one of the most diverse years I have ever had with me taking a chance on so many different creators.

One of the real surprises is just how much I loved the titles from Aftershock Comics.  I was seeking out many of the above titles just because they had been published through them.  This does not dismiss the fact that I still had time to read titles from Kitchen Sink Press, Drawn & Quarterly, Viz Media, Dynamite Comics, Kondansha Comics, and Vertical Comics.  I ended up reading only a single Marvel title (Moby Dick) and it was an adaptation.  For DC I only read four titles. 

 

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For 2021 I’m looking forward to expanding my reading list especially since I’m hoping to end some of my long-term reading titles.  There are a lot of titles that I still need to catch up with since I did not read anything from them this year which includes Animosity, The Woods, Ultraman, and more.  I did not mention every title that I had read but I hope this is a good year to catch up and to add a few new titles to my read list.

I hope you enjoyed this list and I look forward to letting you all know what I ended up reading in 2021!

 

BEST OF 2020: TV SERIES

Now this list has been a long time coming and its now July and I’m just now getting around to posting this.  Hey, I’ve been very busy.  As part of my 2020 television watch during the year of COVID I can honestly say that my taste were all over the place.  There was no particular genre that interested me more than any other and 2020 actually allowed me to catch up with a lot of material that I just hadn’t had time to watch.  To be honest there is just too much content out there and with the explosion of original streaming content there is just way to much to choose from. 

To put everything into perspective, I watched 153 seasons of TV.  The episodes per season can range from as little as four to as many of twenty-two (or more).  Traditional network shows usually have about twenty-two episodes but streaming series have no particular number of regular episode count.  I watched a ton of streaming series especially on Netflix and Shudder so many of the series will be familiar to people who are fans of those services.

This being said let me get started!

 

OLDIES BUT GOODIES:

To start off, I’d like to name a few series that either haven’t been on the air for a long time or recently wrapped their final seasons.  I finally finished Arrested Development Season 4 (Fateful Consequences) and 5.  I loved this show but watching the re-edit of the 4^th season took me a while to get through which is why getting to S5 took extra-long.  I also have to say that I watched all five seasons of Bates Motel and finally got around to finishing Scare Tactics (Season 4-5), Weeds (Season 7-8), Zoo (Seasons 1-3), Wayward Pines (Season 2), Warehouse 13 (Season 1-3), Newsroom (Season 2-3), Disjointed (Part 1-2), Homicide: Life on the Streets (Season 6-7), Homeland (7-8), Friday the 13^th: The Series (Season 2), Knight Rider (Season 1), and D.C. Follies (Season 2).  This is a lot, I know, and from all different eras.  There are always shows that are on my list to watch that I’ve never had the chance to actually sit down and enjoy but these are but a small sampling of what is on my “watch list.”

 

I was especially glad to finally get around to finishing Newsroom and Homicide: Life on the Streets while I was disappointed by Bates Motel and Weeds and Zoo, which got worse with each season, which I’m afraid is my view on Warehouse 13 but I’ll have to wait until I get to the final season of that show.  Scare Tactics and Friday the 13^th: The Series were both pretty damn bad.

 

THE LIMITED SERIES:

One of the things I enjoy the most is the Limited Series which I watched my fair share of those both old and new.  Some of these titles may also be shows that don’t say whether or not they are a limited series or not or were cancelled after one season but I still watched them anyways.  Some of these titles are – Ares, Betaal, Chernobyl, The Pharmacist, The Code, Daybreak, The Devil Next Door, Surviving R. Kelly (Season 1-2), Dracula (2020), Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer, Ghoul, James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction, Robert Kirkman’s Secret of Comics, The Innocent Man, Jinn, Challenger: The Final Flight, Cursed Films, Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, Nightflyers, October Faction, Paranoid, Harlen Coben’s Safe & The Stranger, Supermax, TIME: The Kalief Browder Story, The Trial, Trial 4, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, Unabomber: In His Own Words, V-Wars, Waco, and Wild Wild Country.  

 

Most of these were crime series as I think Netflix has some of the best and way more than any other streaming service.  I also took some chances with a lot more international shows like Bataal and Ghoul.  The very best was Chernobyl and Waco while the ones to completely avoid were Jinn, Bataal, and Nightflyers.  Supermax is violent and an acquired taste while V-Wars and Dracula had great ideas that fell short so I’m not surprised they were cancelled after a single season.  I would’ve liked to have seen additional seasons of October Faction and Daybreak.  The crime series are a mixed bag as some I thought needed to be shorter while other longer than they were.

 

THE ANIMATED SERIES:

I caught up with a lot of animated series last year, probably more than any previous year and I hope that this is the start of a very good trend.  Many of my friends have given me a list of shows I need to watch so I’m glad to say that I’ve finally got around to some of them.  I also took a chance of some newer titles as well.  Some of them were Beetlejuice: The Series (Season 1-3), Blood of Zeus (Season 1), Castlevannia (Season 3), Cyborg 009: Call of Justice, Dino-Riders, Disenchanted (Season 1-2), Dragon’s Dogma, Fish Police, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 (Season 1), RoboCop: The Animated Series, and Ultraman (2019, Season 1). 

 

I especially loved Blood of Zeus, Dragon’s Dogma, Ultraman, and Disenchanted.  Beetlejuice and Dino-Riders were great reminders of my childhood and this gave me the chance to watch the episodes in order for the first time!  This was I first time watching Fish Police and RoboCop (finally) as I found those on You Tube of all places.  Castlevannia is one of my favorite ongoing series and I can’t wait to watch the new season!

 

SUPERHERO STUFF:

Now, I just need to say this first, but I’m getting a little tired of all the superhero shows, movies, etc. and for me they’ve kind of over saturated pop culture to the point where I’m not even bothering with most of it.   This being said, there is plenty that I did watch last year and tons that I didn’t care anything about.  The shows I did watch and/or finish are Agent Carter (Season 2), Heroes: Reborn (Season 1), Gotham (Season 1), Jessica Jones (Season 3), The Punisher (Season 2), Swamp Thing (Season 1), The Tick (Season 1), and The Umbrella Academy (Season 1-2), and Krypton (Season 2).

 

Surprisingly, I enjoyed most of this sampling except Heroes: Reborn (too many new characters not remotely interesting), The Tick (at least it was better than the first season), and Krypton (I’m sad that it ended prematurely).  The true stand out were The Punisher, The Umbrella Academy, and Agent Carter (a show I surprisingly really enjoyed).

 

THE GAME SHOWS:

Now, the thing that surprised me the most last year was just how many reality shows (aka game shows) I ended up watching.  Being on lockdown meant it was easier for me to fall down a rabbit hole after watching the first one.  Some of the shows I got to where The American Barbeque Showdown (Season 1), Blown Away (Season 1), Dragula: The Search for the Next Drag Supermonster (Season 2), Crazy Delicious (Season 1), Floor is Lava (Season 1), Million Pound Menu (Season 1-2), The Movies That Made Us (Season1), The Great British Baking Show (Season 1) & Holidays (Season 3) & Masterclass (Season 3 & 5), Sugar Rush (Season 1-3) & Christmas (Season 1-2), The Toys That Made Us (Season 1-3), The Big Family Cooking Show (Season 1-2), and Zumbo’s Just Deserts (Season 1-2).

I love Blown Away and The Great British Baking Show, while Sugar Rush and Zumbo’s Just Deserts are just plain entertaining as hell.  Floor is Lava is a show I’d love to take part in while The Toys that Made Us is just plain entertaining and educational.

 

ONGOING SHOWS:

Now there are tons of shows out there that are ongoing.  There are just too many to really watch but here are some of the ones I decided to either take a chance on or were shows I regularly watch.  Show of my regulars are American Horror Story (Season 8-9), Black Spot (Season 1-2), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Season 7), Criminal: UK (Season 2), Deadwind (Season 2), Fear the Walking Dead (Season 4), Good Girls (Season 2), The Kingdom (Season 1-2), The Kominski Method (Season 2), Westworld (Season 2), Lost In Space (Season 2),  The OA (Season 2), Ozark (Season 3), The Rain (Season 3), Sex Education (Season 2), and The Walking Dead (Season 8).  Some of the shows that I took a chance on are Another Life (Season 1), Bloodride (Season 1), Brotherhood (Season 1), The Confession Killers (Season 1), Creepshow (Season 1), Fargo (Season 1), Goedam (Season 1), Into the Badlands (Season 1), Into the Night (Season 1), Eli Roth’s History of Horror (Season 1), Ju-On: Origins (Season 1), Locke & Key (Season 1), Marianne (Season 1), Reality Z (Season 1), Super Force (Season 1), Unit 42 (Season 1), War of the Worlds (Season 1), The Witcher (Season 1), Wolf Creek (Season 1), and The Woods (Season 1). 

 

A lot of these shows I will continue to watch but the one show I detested was the new version of War of the Worlds.  I just thought that was god awful and still surprised it got a second season.  I hope that Into the Night, Super Force, Bloodride, and Ju-on get additional seasons whereas I’m already watching additional seasons of Into the Badlands, Fargo, Wolf Creek, and Creepshow.

 

Here lies the complete list of TV shows that I managed to get through for 2020!  It was an immersive list that I’m sure I won’t be able to duplicate since we are now closer to normal times and I have a lot less time on my hands. 

 

If you’ve managed to see some of the shows that I have, I would love to hear your thoughts!

MONTH OF ACTION FILMS

So, I’m glad to say that it was bound to come around that I dedicated a month of film viewing to action films!  I’ve enjoyed action films but over the years most of them, to me, have been recycled ideas from older films only with the latest and hottest movie star.  There were a lot of films in my March month of film viewing that fit this exactly and there were some that surprised me.  More often than not, most of the films I viewed were either mediocre or just plain bad.

 

So let’s begin!

 

THE BAD.

Okay, so there are a lot of bad action films out there and I managed to get through a whole lot of them.  Some of them were on my watch list whereas others just came up as random and I took a chance on them anyways to my horror.  One of the worst films I watched was ALIEN WARFARE (2019).  There is no redeeming quality in this military verses aliens film that lacks character, story, and above all else decent SFX.  Save this film for a drinking game of some kind with a group of friends.  Other notable “bad” films were JOHN HENRY (2020), TRIPLE 9 (2016), GET MY GUN (2018), DEVIL’S MILE (2014), and RIOT (2015).  TRIPLE 9 had a great cast of actors but was just plain dumb in every way; it’s a film that you have to know the actors wished they could go back and erase from their resumes.  Terry Crews does a decent starring role in JOHN HENRY but the film is so early ‘90s which was the decade of bad action films.  The less said about the others, the better.

 

THE FILMS OF ANTHONY MACKIE.

I really enjoy Anthony Mackie as an actor as he always gives some inspired performances and never seems to just be phoning it in which is why I was so surprised at the outcome that was TRIPLE 9.  This being said, I decided to catch up with a lot of his other films that I had just not gotten around to which includes POINT BLANK (2019), IO (2019), and OUTSIDE THE WIRE (2021).  While POINT BLANK was just a fun yet mediocre film, IO was a welcomed departure from the typical sci-fi film.  This is a film that is less action oriented but I think still will appeal to action fans.  OUTSIDE THE WIRE is one of my favorite films of the month as it gives Mackie the chance to truly shine as a leading man in a lo-key sci-fi, military-style action film with Terminator overtones.  This was an extremely well written and executed film.

 

THE MEDIOCRE.

Next, I will delve into the plethora of mediocre films that I managed to view over the month.  Some of these films included SPENSOR CONFIDENTIAL (2020), EDGE OF FEAR (2018), BACKDRAFT 2 (2019), ANGEL HAS FALLEN (2019), MESSAGE FROM THE KING (2016), DA 5 BLOODS (2020), and ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE (2021), to name a few.  First off, this isn’t all of the mediocre films I saw but I’ll get to the others a little later.  All of these films had the potential to be great films but for some reason or other just missed the mark.  MESSAGE FROM THE KING was too mediocre to be elevated above its conventional roots and I was a little surprised that Chadwick Boseman was the star.  Mark Wahlberg has made a career of playing in mediocre films that do little more than simply entertain and that is exactly what you get in SPENSOR CONFIDENTIAL.  There really wasn’t a need for a sequel to BACKDRAFT or another one to the FALLEN series but we got them anyways.  EDGE OF FEAR is hampered by hammy performances from almost the entire cast except for Shin Lin and Zhu Zhu who almost seem like they are in an entirely different and better film.  I wanted to like DA 5 BLOODS but it was an overstuffed and mediocre film that seemed to lose focus halfway through.  There are some fine performances but they can’t help overcome what a mess the film eventually becomes in its long running time.  ZS JUSTICE LEAGUE improves upon the original Joss Whedon version but that’s really saying little in a film that at over four hours long is really too long for its own good.  It also has way too many extraneous scenes that add nothing than foreshadowing for future films that probably won’t happen.

 

THE FILMS OF BRUCE WILLIS.

Now actor Bruce Willis has fallen on hard times in the last couple decades and has found himself in one mediocre action film to another.  He’s played good guys and bad guys and everything in between and so I decided to catch up with a lot of his films, that frankly, I had no interest in ever really seeing.  This includes HARD KILL (2020), FIRST KILL (2017), and ACTS OF VIOLENCE (2018). FIRST KILL was the best out of all of them and that’s because Hayden Christensen is actually not that bad in the film.  Willis is a bad cop and pretty much phones in his performance which is what he does in HARD KILL, which is just a flat out bad movie.  Like in the other two films Willis plays second fiddle in ACTS OF VIOLENCE which is really a film for Cole Hauser and Shawn Ashmore to take the lead.  I actually like Hauser a lot and wished he was given more opportunities to headline films.

 

THE FILMS OF JASON STATHAM.

So, Statham is an actor who makes bad films entertaining and I actually end up enjoying some of his films more than I should.  He’s an actor with presence and commands the screen.  This being said, I viewed four of his films during the month – HOMEFRONT (2013), REDEMPTION (2014), THE BANK JOB (2008), and PARKER (2013).  PARKER I thought was the worst of the bunch because frankly it’s just like 90% of his other films.  The same can almost be said for HOMEFRONT but this film has such an eclectic and amazing cast in what amounts to a mediocre film.  What elevates it is the presence of Frank Grillo when he shows up.  Like in POINT BLANK, Grillo has a knack for making bad or mediocre films entertaining and fun.  THE BANK JOB allowed Statham to step out of his comfort zone and deliver a film in which he’s not always fighting and kicking everyone’s ass.  I really enjoyed this film as I did REDEMPTION, which is a much better written film than expected and actually has something to say.  These last two films are the reason why I continue to enjoy a Statham film as he tries to mix the Good (REDEMPTION) with the bad (PARKER) with the ugly (CRANK).

 

THE GOOD.

I’m a little surprised to say that in addition to OUTSIDE THE WIRE, I viewed a lot of pretty good action films throughout the month and they are all very different.  Some of them include BELOW ZERO (2021), COP CAR (2015), VFW (2020), POLAR (2019), THE TAKE (2016), GHOSTS OF WAR (2020), A BABYSITTER’S GUIDE TO MONSTER HUNTING (2020), THE BABYSITTER (2017), THE BABBYSITTER: KILLER QUEEN (2020), CLOSE (2019), and THE MAURITANIAN (2021).

Although GHOSTS OF WAR and THE BABYSITTER films also contain elements of horror, it is the action that takes precedence and these three films do an amazing job at mixing the two genres and still are entertaining and engaging.  I was pleasantly surprised by all three of them and GHOSTS OF WAR easily is one of the best I saw all month.

VFW and POLAR are also oddities as both contain plenty of violence but one is a near post-apocalyptic film (i.e. THE CROW or THE ROVER) and the other is based on a graphic novel, respectfully.  Both have aging characters who want to retire and live their lives in peace but the outside world just won’t let them.

The most traditional of the action films is BELOW ZERO, THE TAKE, and CLOSE.  Noomi Rapace shows her action muscles in CLOSE while Idris Elba does what he does best in THE TAKE.  Both of these films could be mediocre if not for the stars in both of them that elevate the films.  BELOW ZERO is the only foreign film on the list and it is unpredictable and suspenseful from beginning to end.  It keeps you on the edge of your seat not knowing what is going to happen from one moment to the next.

COP CAR is oddly funny and dark and allows Kevin Bacon to give an unhinged performance in a film that is mostly told from the point of view of two children.  It’s a dark film but if you can jump onboard the darkness then you’ll enjoy this film.

THE MAURITANIAN is the only film that I saw in the theater for the month.  This is more a dramatic-action film but one that is politically charged and hinders on the amazing performance from Tahar Rahim.    

 

THE TV SERIES.

Just as an added bonus I wanted to add on the two TV series that I got hooked on during the month!  I ended up watching the first seasons of HYPERDRIVE and FASTEST CAR!  HYPERDRIVE is and amazing series that I hope gets another season as it will appeal to anyone interested in drifting and obstacle courses.  FASTEST CAR is really for those people who build their own cars to be faster than other cars.  This series is good because it goes into the lives of the people that build the cars before ending each episode with a race to see who has built the fastest car!

 

*****

CONCLUSION.

Overall March’s Month of Action Films allowed me to catch up with a lot of films that had just been sitting on my shelf waiting to be watched.  Some were good, while others…not so good but I ended up watching several gems that I would have never bothered with had I not done this.  I hope that you dear Reader have enjoyed this month’s watch list and maybe added a few of these films to your own watch list.

 

Next up is my Month of Romantic Films!

THE REAL CONTENDER AWARDS 2020

I’m a little behind on getting my 2020 THE REAL CONTENDER AWARDS out to the public but 2020 was an odd and off beat year since most major releases were held back and instead I focused a lot of my attention to indie films.  For those of you not in the know, The Real Contender Awards is something I came up with a few years back to give voice to films from all genres which normally would go unnoticed by the “normal” award shows.  The other caveat is that the films all had to have been released in the year of the awards whether theatrical, streaming, or straight to video.  I’ve always hated that most awards shows period of eligibility stretched between two years.

 

And usually I use the month of January to view all the films that I had missed from the previous year (another reason why it took me until now to get out my 2020 list.  So, throughout the year I keep track of some of the best films and performances and technical production in order to come up with my exhaustive list of Nominees.  Now, unfortunately, if I didn’t see the film, it won’t be included on this list so don’t think I didn’t think it wasn’t a good film; on the contrary, I probably just hadn’t seen it yet.

 

I hope that in the end this list has you seeking out some of the films that you may have missed and I hope it sheds some like on some of the great films that were released in 2020!

 

BEST MAKEUP EFFECTS:

*FREAKY

*MANK

*GRETEL AND HANSEL

*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

*HILLBILLY ELEGY

*HIS HOUSE

Winner: GRETEL AND HANSEL – I loved the work on display in HIS HOUSE and MANK but Alice Krige disappears in that makeup and not just that, but the look of everyone else in the film adds tremendously to the overall ambience of the film. 

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

*THE INVISIBLE MAN

*TENET

*MONSTER HUNTER

*HIS HOUSE

*SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

*TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS PENINSULA

Winner: TENET – this one was a close one as I loved what was on display in HIS HOUS and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG and THE INVISIBLE MAN was a lot of what you “don’t” see.  TENET was a visual tour de force of splendor!  This and the fact that the visual FX aid in the story of the film easily put this film ahead of all the rest.

 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:

*BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN

*MANK

*TENET

*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

Winner: BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN – this was a visual masterpiece of creative energy from one set to the next.  It took you into a highly stylized universe and never let you go. 

 

BEST ART DIRECTION:

*BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN

*THE INVISIBLE MAN

*GRETEL AND HANSEL

*TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS PENINSULA

*HUNTED

*MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

Winner: MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM – another close one as all the films on this list deserve to be winners.  This film does so much with roughly only two main locations and every is a visual art piece with detail and authenticity.

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

*MANK

*BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN

*MA RAINE’YS BLACK BOTTOM

Winner – MANK – this authentic era costume design put you right into Old Hollywood and reminded you of why it was such an amazing time for cinema.  This includes the film-within-a-film elements as well.  It was as if it was actually filmed in that era.  Costumes are used to help tell the story and it doesn’t get better than in this film.

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

*MANK

*EXTRACTION

*THE INVISIBLE MAN

*HUNTED

*TENET

*HIS HOUSE

Winner: TENET – this was a cinematography tour de force!  Enough said!

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

*MANK, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

*UNDERWATER, Marco Beltrami & Brandon Roberts

*HILLBILLY ELEGY, Hans Zimmer & David Fleming

*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, Daniel Pemberton

*THE INVISIBLE MAN, Benjamin Wallfisch

*TENET, Ludwig Goransson

*HIS HOUSE, Roque Banos

*MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, Branford Marsalis

Winner: MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM – this was the closest race which is why there are so many nominations!?!  It was hard to choose between Marsalis, Reznor, Zimmer, and Goransson but in the end Marsalis edged them all out as music also played a tremendous role in the story of the film itself.  This is the closest year yet for this category while I also wanted to note that I was pleasantly surprised by Beltrami & Roberts and Banos, whose work I’m not as familiar with but I will seek out more!

 

BEST ANIMATED FILM:

*A CREEPSHOW ANIMATED SPECIAL

*SCOOB!

*THE WOLF HOUSE

*OVER THE MOON

Winner – SCOOB! – this was the hardest category to put together because frankly it was a year of so few animated films that I was even interested in.  CREEPSHOW was more a motion comic than an actual animated film while THE WOLF HOUSE was to experimental for its own good.  I enjoyed OVER THE MOON but thought SCOOB!, which I had no hopes for was actually a really well done take on an old cast of characters.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

*MANK, Jack Fincher

*32 MALASANA STREET, Ramon Campos & Gema R. Neira and David Orea & Salvador S. Molina

*TENET, Christopher Nolan

*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, Aaron Sorkin

*FREAKY, Michael Kennedy and Christopher Landon

*HUNTED, Vincent Paronnaud

Winner: MANK – this was a wonderfully nuanced and engaging screenplay with a huge cast of characters that all come together.  I thought TENET was also excellent but probably too cerebral for its own good while HUNTED was probably too simple yet metaphorical and relied on visuals maybe too much.

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

*BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN, Christina Hodson

*HILLBILLY ELEGY, Vanessa Taylor

*THE INVISIBLE MAN, Leigh Whannell

*HIS HOUSE, Remi Weekes

*MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Winner: HIS HOUSE – this was such a creative haunted house/person film that had a strong screenplay in addition to the performances and direction.  The screenplay is great but it is definitely the perfect example of a screenplay being a “blueprint” for an amazing film.

 

BEST NON-FICTION FILM:

*ATHLETE A

*CRIP CAMP

*SCREAM, QUEEN: MY NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

*KISS THE GROUND

*MURDER TO MERCY: THE CYNTOIA BROWN STORY

*THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

Winner: ATHELETE A – all the films nominated here are amazing and topical and be required viewing as they all present socially relevant topics.  Although I absolutely loved THE SOCIAL DILEMMA and KISS THE GROUND, I felt ATHLETE A edged them out…by just a little.  2020 was an amazing year for non-fiction films as these are just a handful of the films that I watched that could have also been included on this list.

 

BEST FOREIGN FEATURE FILM:

*TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS PENINSULA

*#ALIVE
*LA LLORONA

*HUNTED

*HIS HOUSE

Winner – HIS HOUSE – this was a close one between HIS HOUSE and LA LLORONA which both presented new takes on well-treaded material to amazing effect.  HIS HOUSE edged out LA LLORONA due to the visuals, cinematography, and amazing performances but both are still excellent films.

 

BEST SUPPORTING MALE ACTOR:

*Chiwetel Ejiofor, THE OLD GUARD

*Lamorne Morris, BLOODSHOT

*Robert Pattinson, TENET

*Charles Dance, MANK

*Sacha Baron Cohen, TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

Winner: Sacha Baron Cohen, TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – Cohen steals every scene he’s in and then some while giving a very nuanced and complex performance.  He easily eclipsed everyone else in this category despite all nominees being fine actors in their own films.

 

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE ACTOR:

*Alice Krige, GRETEL AND HANSEL

*Amanda Seyfried, MANK

*Glen Close, HILLBILLY ELEGY

Winner: Alice Krige, GRETEL AND HANSEL – Krige gives another amazing performance and practically disappears into the role!  She’s in great company this year with Close and Seyfried.  It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to include more names in this category but there were just so many more nominees as Best Actress this year!

 

BEST MALE ACTOR:

*John David Washington, TENET

*Gary Oldman, MANK

*Vince Vaughn, FREAKY

*Dong-Won Gang, TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS PENINSULA

*Sope Dirisu, HIS HOUSE

*Chadwick Boseman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

Winner: Sope Dirisu, HIS HOUSE – Dirisi gives an underrated performance in HIS HOUSE which the entire film hinges on.  He’s in great company with Boseman and Oldman and everyone else but this film is all about the characters and their trials and tribulations that guide them.

 

BEST FEMALE ACTOR:

*Lucie DeBay, HUNTED

*Elizabeth Moss, THE INVISBLE MAN

*Begona Vargas, 32 MALASANA STREET

*Sarah Bolger, A GOOD WOMAN IS HARD TO FIND

*Wunmi Mosaku, HIS HOUSE

*Viola Davis, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

Winner: Elizabeth Moss, THE INVISBLE MAN – Moss gives the most nuanced performance of her career in this film which is also topical as well as being an excellent sci-fi film.  The same can be said of DeBay, Vargas, and Mosaku, while Davis gives yet another amazing performance.  This was a tough category this year as any one of these women could have won this award for their performance.

 

BEST DIRECTION OF FEATURE FILM:

*TENET, Christopher Nolan

*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, Aaron Sorkin

*THE INVISIBLE MAN, Leigh Whannell

*MANK, David Fincher

*HIS HOUSE, Remi Weekes

*MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, George C. Wolfe

Winner: Christopher Nolan, TENET – this was just an amazing tour de force of cinema in every regards but especially in how Nolan was able to craft such a visually stunning film with all the performances and technical difficulties.  This is not a film that will be easily forgotten.

 

BEST FEATURE FILM:

*TENET

*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

*THE INVISIBLE MAN

*MANK

*MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

*HIS HOUSE

Winner: TENET – but MANK was a very close second and HIS HOUSE came in third.  This was a very hard category as each of the nominees brought something different to audiences while also showcasing some great cinematic achievements.

 

There you have it!  The 2020 The Real Contender Awards are now over!  I’m really looking forward to seeing the films I missed for 2020 that couldn’t have been nominated such as The Eight Hundred, Palm Springs, Possessor, The Photograph, News of the World, The Lodge, Promising Young Woman, and Les Miserables, to name a few.

 

Please feel free to let me know your own thoughts!

MONTH OF INTERNATIONAL FILMS

February 2021 is a special month for my viewing this year as I’ve labeled it my Month of International Films.  Each month this year I’m giving a theme in the hopes that I will (finally) catch up with a lot of the films that have been on my “watch list” for quite some time.  In January, I watched a lot of 2020 films that I had missed and now we are on to the Month of International Films.

 

I’m a huge lover of foreign films but sometimes you have to be in the mood to read subtitles (my preferred way to watch a foreign film).  This being said, my viewing spanned all genres and all parts of the world as I love to explore the many different cultures through their art and film.

 

ACTION.

I should first mention that I finally got around to viewing the cult favorite Female Prisoner Scorpion films (the original series) with Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972), Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701’s Grudge Song (1973), Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973), and Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse (1972).  This is quite a film series of the ‘70s with its nudity and violence glorified to the 100 power.  These were actually very stylized productions that had some amazing cinematography .  There are many more films that have expanded the franchise but these are the core films (maybe one day I’ll get around to those other films).   I also watched a couple Jackie Chan films this month that had been sitting on my shelf for years – 1911 (2011) and Railroad Tigers (2016), of which both were quite good and very different from one another.  Chan is a very versatile actor and producer and hopefully I will get around to the other films of his that I’ve yet to get around to.  He is still an amazing actor that I try to view as many of his films as I can.

DRAMA.

Moving on to drams, of which Chan’s 1911 fits better, I ended up viewing several dramas on the streaming service that I believe were marked as Horror.  The films Blue My Mind (2017) and Zombi Child (2020) are both very much dramas with motifs and themes from the horror genre but if you go in thinking they are horror films then you will be completely disappointed.  These two films are amazing at creating character and drama within stories not typical of the genre.  Some audience members may never take a look at them believing they are horror while horror fans may be disappointed because they are horror at all.  They both occupy a unique middle bridge and successful tell their respective stories with no compromises due to genre.

 

Another drama film I’d like to mention is Pete Walker’s Home Before Midnight (1979), one of the director’s non-horror films that has to deal with a musician who gets involved with an underage woman and controversy surrounds.  Not what I was expecting (since I was expecting a horror film) but a film whose themes still resonate and are current even today forty years later.

 

THEATRICAL & FANTASY.

I only saw one international film at the Box Office this month and it also happens to be the only fantasy film as well – A Writer’s Odyssey (2021).  This was an amazing film with a huge story whose themes and influences encompass many different genres.  Some critics have said that the film is too complicated but I loved the complex story and the many different elements that will make repeated viewing richer.  It is by far one of my favorite films of 2021!

ANIMATION.

I did manage to get a couple animated films through into the mix!  First up is Ne Zha (2019) the hugely successful animated film that presents audiences with everything missing from a Disney animated film.  I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to this film as it was one at the top of my “watch list” but I’m glad I had the chance to watch it this month instead of waiting around any longer.  I loved this film and will watch it again because of how different it is from other films being produced by American animation studios.  The same can be said of the cryptic and mind bending The Wolf House (2020), which is unlike anything out there right now.  It’s style of storytelling reminds me of Triplets of Belleville while the animation style is pure experimental filmmaker yet it has a charm all its own like something David Lynch would create.  This is a film in which repeat viewings will be needed (and maybe even a few shots of alcohol).

 

HORROR.

As can be expected, the horror genre made up the largest segment of films I got around to!  I spent most of the month buried on Shudder catching up with tons of films that I hadn’t seen yet.  The first selection of films being Italian Giallo genre but also includes films inspired by these films as well.  Some of them were – Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971), The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972), The Fifth Cord (1975), The Corruption of Chris Miller (1975), Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971), The Strange Vice of Ms. Wardh (1971), and What Have You Done to Solange? (1972). Once I started I just couldn’t stop until I had finished them all.  I’m a huge fan of the Giallo film by way of Dario Argento and Mario Bava so finally getting around to seeing some of these cult classics was great (thank you Shudder!).  Now, unfortunately, they were all as great as an Argento or Bava film but they were entertaining even when the plots were completely ludicrous.

 

The rest of my horror viewing list was all over the map with the original and modern remake of The Queen of Black Magic (1981, 2020) followed by the sequel May the Devil Take You Too (2020), which I didn’t even know was a sequel until I already was watching it (I’ll eventually get around to watching the original).

 

Other films include The Canal (2014), Demon (2015), and Noroi: The Curse (2005).  I didn’t care for The Canal at all while the Demon was an interesting take on a possession film.  Noroi is the film that was recommended to me but I just didn’t really care for it at all.

 

 

I also watched some more recent films like 32 Malasana Street (2020), Belzebuth (2019), DeadTectives (2019), Hunted (2020), and The Platform (2019).  A lot of these made their debuts at film festivals before being picked up by Shudder and other streaming services.   I especially enjoyed Hunted and The Platform!

 

This makes up all the films for my Month of International Film which allowed me to reach my goal of at least thirty films!    I hope that you seek out some of the films mentioned here as there were some gems but if none of them interest you then maybe of March Month of Action Films (!) will have something for you!