Ten Movies I’m Not Looking Forward to Runner-Up: “Halloween Kills”…Although the 2018 “Halloween” was fine, there was something implied that it would be the end of the saga and that was most of the reason it worked…as an ending. Now there are at least two more “Halloweens” coming, and it’s beginning to feel like poor…
Category: Mindless Mondays
TV Shows I’m Looking Forward to in 2020
One show I’m not looking forward to: “American Crime Story: Impeachment” …I have no idea why Ryan Murphy decided to stop work on a Hurricane Katrina-themed season (which would’ve been excellent) to rehash a “scandal” that was already ridiculously overblown. The first two “Crime” stories centered around murders…this is about the world’s costliest blowjob, still…
All 2019 Movies Ranked from Worst to Best
2019 was an interesting year…the last of a decade no one will likely have great fondness for (movie-wise or otherwise), the year’s movies trended towards overlong opuses from master directors and largely forgettable blockbusters we haven’t seen in this volume since the mid-90s. With Disney snapping up Fox (which made my pick for the year’s…
Who Will Be Nominated (and Who Should Be) for Oscars
Best Supporting Actress Who Should Be Nominated 5. Mindy Kaling in “Late Night” …People always talk about how comedy is routinely snubbed, and yet never do anything about it. Why not change that by honoring Mindy’s best performance to date? [Especially in the less competitive supporting category.] 4. Lee Jung-eun in “Parasite” …Opinions vary wildly…
All “Star Wars” Ranked and Graded from Worst to Best
Tier 4…These are the “Star Wars” movies I think are flat-out bad, and have no redeeming qualities. The Worst: “The Force Awakens”…I know most people seemed to like this movie a lot more than I did, but its commercial and especially critical success is still mystifying to me. Everything that is wrong with the newest…
The Best Non-Fiction Books of the Year
10. “Imagination” by Jim Davies …”How does your imagination actually work?” This is a question I have never asked, and Jim Davies fascinating book is not only the best science book of the year, but surprisingly accessible even if Science isn’t your strongest subject. 9. “In the Dream House” by Carmen Maria Machado …There were…
The Best Fiction Books of the Year
Embarrassing note on number 10: I would’ve loved to have included Pierce Brown’s “Dark Age” and Erin Morgenstern’s “The Starless Sea” in this countdown, but I wasn’t able to finish them in time. However, since I’m fairly confident at least one would’ve been included, it didn’t feel right to exclude them completely. 9. [tie] “My…
Best TV Shows of 2019
Runner-Ups: I didn’t want to count TV movies, although HBO had a trio of great ones in “Brexit,” “OG,” and especially the return of “Deadwood.” Also, “Crashing,” “On Becoming a God in Central Florida,” and especially “Veep”‘s final season were all worth watching. 10. “The Righteous Gemstones” …Given the outrageously over-the-top nature of televangelists, it…
My Favorite TV Episodes or Moments of 2019
Runner-Up: I wasn’t a fan of “True Detective”‘s third season overall, but the final episode (resolving the mystery…without the main detective knowing it) was excellent. Mahershala Ali’s dementia-suffering detective having a flashback to where he disappeared into the Vietnamese jungle is one of my favorite shots of the year. 10. Walton Goggins and Edi Patterson…
The BEST TV Characters of 2019
Best Group: “The Good Place”…This series may be a victim of its own success, as there was simply no way I could pick just one or two characters to list here. Conscientious Chidi (William Jackson Harper) grew smoother and more relaxed in the final season, Eleanor (Kristen Bell) found new layers of management skills and…
The WORST TV Characters of 2019
Note: As always, this list is made up of the worst characters on good TV shows or ones perceived to be quality since there’s really no point calling out bad characters on bad shows. Also, this is the very first time half the list has been made up of characters from the same series. I…
“Mr. Robot”–Ranking and Grading All the Seasons
Since this is literally the third “Mr. Robot” article I’ve written today, I won’t spend too much time writing this up. I just hope you enjoyed the series as much as I did, and look forward to seeing your rankings. The “Worst” Season: Season 2…This is a relatively easy one since season 2 lost the…
Mr. Robot’s Most Daring Feature: A Chinese Villain
[Note about spoilers: There are only the vaguest possible spoilers for the series finale–and all season four spoilers are only in the first two paragraphs. This article isn’t about that.] “Mr. Robot” is hands-down the most audacious Drama on television (sorry Damon Lindelof, I know you try). Any given episode can feature head trips, fake…