Other Best and Some Worst Media of 2016.

My all video game version is here.

Same rules as the previous post. I must have watched/listened/read the thing.  I only have so much time so two movies missing is Suicide Squad and Rogue One.  I will be seeing Rogue One next week and will absolutely want to write about it so yeah.  I will see Suicide Squad whenever.  I'm in no hurry.

One more thing, no 2015 versions (mostly) because this got long.  Everyone knows Mad Max:Fury Road is my favorite movie of 2015.  Star Wars is maybe a runner up?  I dunno.  Anyway, to the list.

Best Movie of 2016...

Deadpool

I actually didn't write a review of this because I didn't see it until way later.  The hype around it was a bit much plus I'm so burned out on superhero movies.  After seeing it, I still think it's a little over hyped but holy crap.  2016 is an awful year for movies.

Deadpool actually feels like a faithful comic book movie which is becoming increasingly rare.  Most Marvel movies just feel like Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.  That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does make them start to blur together.  If I was shown some random Iron Man clip, I'd have a hard time figuring out if it was in Iron Man 1, 2, 3, Avengers 1, 2, or Civil War.  It is all so "samey".  Deadpool is a breath of fresh air in comparison.

I liked the mix between gratuitous violence, humor, 4th wall breaking, and even some humanizing characterization.  The movie had to rely on those aspects since it didn't have a budget of a Zillion dollars like any MCU or DC movie and mostly avoided spectacle.  The spectacle it did have at the end on the ship, well, at least it wasn't an entire city.  The movie is so well balanced but I have a feeling the 2nd one is going to double down on the outrageous stuff with the larger budget and end up being a worse movie.  Here is to hoping that doesn't happen.

Side note:  Hollywood, especially DC, learned the exact wrong lesson when Deadpool became the highest grossing R rated film ever (finally knocking off the godawful Passion of the Christ....pun intended).  This is why Batman v Superman got an R rated cut.  The lesson Hollywood should have learned is that superhero movies can have more fun and be less serious gritty business.  The Dark Knight came out in 2008.  Get over yourselves.

Runner Up Movie of 2016....

NOTHING.

It's worth noting that I'm writing this before seeing Rogue One and as the last The Force Awakeness defender on the planet who is also a reformed Star Wars nerd, Rogue One might end up on here or even beating Deadpool.

There were plenty of movies I liked alright but virtually nothing I thought was great.  Civil War, Ghostbusters, that Harry Potter movie I didn't understand cause I'm not a HP fan but my wife is....they were all varying degrees of okay to meh.  Nothing really worthy of my prestigious list.

Best Movie of 2016 that came out in 2015 that I didn't see until this year...

The Martian

I have a hard time believing this movie was made by Ridley Scott.  This is the same director that made the incomprehensible mess that was Prometheus, which might be the worst AAA movie I've seen in the last decade.  Luckily, this movie has nothing to do with Alien and...what's that?  Oooooooooohhhhhhhh.  No way that isn't getting fucked up.

The Martian is great though.  It has a nice balance of that fake-space realism that Neil DeGrasse Tyson loves so much and more outlandish action pieces.  The movie has a great deal of tension in it's climax too even if that is when the more unbelievable parts happen.  I know a lot of people rip on the space potatoes but hey, I thought it was fine.  If there is a plant that can live in shit soil (pun intended), it's potato plants.  

Worst Movie of 2016...

huuRRRRNNNNGGGGGGHHHHH

X-Men Apocalypse

Review here.

This movie is so bad you guys.  I think it's actually getting worse with age.  The Wolverine cameo, plus the cliffhanger from Days of Future Past, like....why?  Why is this scene in the movie if you're not even going to justify it with the need to resolve that cliffhanger?  Why does Oscar Issac, who is a good actor, seem to be drastically overacting as Apocalypse?  How is that even possible when Apocalypse views himself as a god?  Why is Magneto such a dumb shit?  How does Xavier ever lose a mind fight?  Why can't we have an X-Men movie where Cerebro isn't used as a weapon against the X-Men?

The worst part of this movie is that it fails where even some bad-bad movies succeed; it's boring.  I know that can be pretty subjective but a whole lot of nothing happens so Apocalypse can build his team and the X-Men can build their team while giving back story to characters we already know.  Strangely, almost no back story is given to the new characters in the universe like Psylocke.  It's obvious nobody wanted to make this movie except maybe James McAvoy who...tries so hard.  You weren't enough buddy.

Runner Up Worst Movie...

Batman V Superman: Dawn of WTF

I've only JUST watched this but it's bad.  The two biggest problems with this movie is Zack Snyder and Lex Luthor.  There are, like, a dozen other things that suck about this movie but I don't want to spend too much time on this.  I will point out that the scene where Batman is talking to Alfred before fighting Superman has one of the worst lines of dialogue ever.  Hall of shit fame worthy.  "...and if we believe there's even a one percent chance that he is our enemy we have to take it as an absolute certainty"  Uh, no.  That's some Trump logic right there.  Some random Canadian insulted bald eagles on Twitter!  Slight chance but hey, ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY.  Better go to war.

Zack Snyder doesn't know how to tell a story.  Things just happen in his movies and sometimes they move the plot forward seemingly by accident.  The movie borrows heavily from the Dickbag Nazi Frank Miller* comic and....yeah.  It shows.  Also, does Snyder know NOBODY liked Sucker Punch?  Why borrow from that and do way too many dream sequences, including one dream inside a dream?  Using dreams as a substitute for emotional or especially logical motives for needing to fight Superman is lame.  The time difference from Man of Steel and BVS is too long for emotional motive unless Batman is an asshole. 

*Batman is an asshole in this movie because of Frank Miller.  I don't know why so many people get a boner for Frank Miller but he's a piece of shit human and a hack writer.  All of his popular work is edgy 90's bullshit that was edgy for the sake of edgy.  No real reason to it.  Sin City is ass.  300 is ass (Spartans are your democracy champions Miller?!?!  Seriously?  Sparta was a dictatorial military Junta.  Yes, women had more rights there than anywhere else, but that was only for the upper class and for birthing more soldiers).  Also, Miller is a Nazi so fuck him.  

As for Lex Luthor, what the fuck?  His plan is Joker-ish and his characterization reminds me of Zorg from The Fifth Element but more quirky.  Also, what is his motive?  Why is he doing any of this?  How does this benefit him even in the slightest way?  He has connections to the Russian mob that superheroes might find out about?  Okay but, why is creating Doomsday your contingency plan*?  THAT. MAKES. NO. SENSE. That would be like a terrorist trying to evade the NSA by building a nuclear bomb.  

*For comic purists out there, the Doomsday origin is so divorced from the comics it's insulting.  I recommend this Max Landis video.  It's long and has some questionable Gay jokes in it but has Elijah Wood.

Best TV Season of 2016...

Stranger Things

My runner up is very, very close but I gave Stranger Things the slight edge.

This series has a lot in common with Deadpool actually.  It's a series nobody wanted and every network looks like idiots for turning them down.  Even Netflix was unsure about it as it was barely advertised.  Word got around though and this is a great, great show.

Child actors are usually a burning hot garbage fire but these actors are great.  The horror elements of the show are genuinely creepy and all the 80's callbacks are great.  The series has a lot of Stephen King homages but there is also The Goonies, ET, Poltergiest, and more.  It's also expertly produced for the binge watching nature of Netflix, so much so that I lost a lot of sleep one night.  Every episode ends naturally but since the series is basically an 8 hour movie, it's easy to be convinced to watch just one more "scene".

Despite all the hype, I actually think this show is UNDERRATED.  I'm not going to say anything more.  Go into it (almost) blind like me.  It's very good.

Runner Up Best TV Season of 2016...

Game of Thrones Season 6

I meant to write a review of this season, like I did with the previous one, but by the time I could it would have been old news.  This season of Game of Thrones seems to have taken my criticisms to heart because this season was almost full fan service.  Uh...I wasn't actually asking for that but it was nice that the hero characters finally got some wins.  I do have some criticisms though but I can't do it without spoilers so....

SUDDEN MID POST SPOILER WARNING FOR GAME OF THRONES SEASON 6 IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP.  Highlight to read.

Despite loving the shit out of the scene, I can't help but think Dany giving Tyrion the roll of Hand of the Queen after he kinda fucked up the whole slave thing is a little generous.  Granted, Tyrion does come up with the plan to end the siege but it's still weird.  I LIKE THE SCENE.  Don't get me wrong.  It just feels off.

The Battle of the Bastards is kinda dumb.  Yeah, Ramsey gets killed for maximum fan service but there is little logic to that episode.  How does a wall of bodies form like that?  What was Ramsey's phalanx planning to do if that wall didn't happen?  Why are our heroes saved by last minute help again?  Almost every battle has been like that.  I know the story needs drama and good military planning would reduce that but come on.  I still like this season A LOT better than season 5 but one stand out there was Hardhome.  That episode has been this series best battle episode by far.

END SPOILERS.

Lady Mormont is the best....just FYI.  (Also, another spoiler).

And Now a Quick rundown of Other Media of 2016...

Pop Music...

I don't hate pop music in general.  There is some I really like but holy shit this year was godawful.  It's all slow jam EDM and, like, 3 dozen of them are from The Chainsmokers.  Adele had a few songs that were barely hits but they are seriously lower in quality compared to her previous work.  R&B was boring as hell this year doing almost exclusively slow jam club beats to be more like EDM.  Also, 21 Pilots got big for some reason and that band is fucking shit.

It's also a year that Lady Gaga returned and I don't think I heard a single one of her songs on pop radio (sorry UZ).  Just TRY to watch/listen to this list.  For 100 songs, why do 90 of them sound so similar?  Also, what happened to ripping the Black Eyed Peas for gratuitous auto-tune?  The auto-tune on these songs is out of control.  Seriously.  It's a fucking epidemic.

Indie (hipster) music...

It's hard to get a good list because indie songs can debut in different parts of the country (and world) years apart.  It's bizarre.  This makes me forced to cheat.

I really like the theme to the new Mirrors Edge despite not playing the game.

I like this cover of Depeche Mode for the Ghost in the Shell movie.  It's also a song I heard before the trailer.

And despite not personally liking this band, they are from Denver so props to Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats who seem like great dudes.  Two summers ago I saw Machine Gun Blues in his backyard in Denver.  It was awesome.

Obligatory Book Section...

Books of the year get sadly forgotten in a lot of year end lists so I'm including this just as a reminder.  Unfortunately, I only read a couple new books this year and neither were all that great.  (Yes literally two and yes I READ BOOKS).  I did re-read How to Fight Presidents though so I'll make that my book of the year despite coming out in 2014.  Weirdly....that title seems more poignant now.  I wonder why?

Youtube Channel of the Year...

Look at me!  I'm hip with the kids and including a Youtuber section!  I will probably break my hip doing this kick flip....okay but seriously.  This probably should be included right?  Stranger Things, a show only on Netflix, is my "TV" show of the year so why not?  Why do other media outlets not do this in their end of year lists?

I'm going with CGP Grey in 2016 cause his videos are great.  He doesn't upload nearly as fast as other channels but there is quite a bit of obvious research and production so I can't complain.  His best video is probably Americapox which came out in Nov, 2015 so I'm cheating a little here.  Still though, this year alone he had fantastic videos on encryption, brexit (briefly), split brain patients, and The Rules of Rulers which you should absolutely watch if you haven't already.  It's fantastic and simplifies structures of power in an easy to understand way.

I don't know how to end this post so bam!

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Westworld Season One Review

I avoided spoilers but there is a spoiler section at the bottom.  Be warned.

In the same year that I FINALLY stopped watching The Walking Dead, a show that I spent watching seasons of wondering, "do I like this show?", I found a new one to take its place.  Westworld, for better or worse, is also a show that I'm not sure if I like or not.  These are not identical opinions though as I've long disliked The Walking Dead and kept watching thinking it would get better.  Westworld, I like so far, but part of me is trying to talk me out of it.  Zombie jadedness is also a problem but Westworld doesn't have to deal with that.  Instead, we get a pretty interesting premise that also likes to scratch an itch of mine; emergent AI.  Westworld might actually be the...emergentiest of emergent AI stories as well since this is one of the few stories where the AI is sympathetic and not Terminator/Matrix robots.

Westworld is the name of a wild west style park filled with life like robots called "hosts".  The super rich can pay to go into the park and do, whatever really.  Kill the hosts, have sex with them, whatever.   There are even narratives built in so that a guest can go bounty hunting, get in large battles with Civil War soldiers, and even PG stuff like, painting. The hosts are programmed to go on a loop until a guest interacts with them in which they can lead them on one of these narratives or just kind of do whatever the guest wants too.  The hosts are given personalities so some are more willing to go along with a guest than others but it is all part of the illusion.  

Horses are also robots

The rules of this universe are cleverly shown in the first episode. Hosts can't harm guests (sorta).  If a host shoots a guest, nothing happens except for a...bullet (?) bouncing off the guest.  Guests can go white hat or black hat if they wanna play a hero or villain or bounce back and forth (this is used mostly as a framing device though).  They arrive via train in the main town of Sweetwater, which is supposedly the least extreme part of the park even though a giant shootout/robbery takes place there like once a week or something.  

The first episode establishes the rules so well it's almost TOO WELL and begs questions.  What about guests harming other guests?  We never see one shoot another but they certainly kick the shit out of each other.  Even the hosts can beat up on guests, some of which actually knock out the guest.  How much harm is allowed?  Every time that happens though it seems like guests have some sort of Wolverine style healing going on (broken arms are fixed quickly) yet this is never explained.  Also, I'm not sure if the guns are real and shooting real bullets or not.  There is some sci-fi staple rules that got ignored here.  How does this technology work?  

The other half of the setting is the lab/park control center/employee housing/resort (???).  It's stylized for effect rather than logic.  For some reason, the lab has dozens of basements that have little to no lighting (people go down there with flashlights) and those floors seem to be leaking water everywhere.  This company can build a cutting edge park with advanced AI but can't hire a plumber?  And why is everything so dark?  Even the main labs seem lit with 20 watt light bulbs and yes I know that isn't a thing.  

But damn does it look cool.

The characters of this show are all over the map.  Westworlds main protagonist, Dolores, is a host and the primary emergent AI robot.  Evan Rachel Wood does well with a plodding plot and with writing bordering of pretentious.  Her character spends most of the season confused and wandering while having flashes of badassery.  I hate that so much of this season has her be kind of a foil for the viewer rather than a character in her own right but the finale makes it look like she might finally come out of her shell after 10+ fucking hours.  

The other characters in the park is a guest named William, who spends most of the time being a dweeb, and his friend/co-worker Logan, who is an asshole.  The show makes it clear we are supposed to root for William but he's soooooo boring.  Then there is the Man in Black, played by Ed Harris, who is super fun to watch because it really looks like Harris was having a ball playing a sadistic yet cool headed monster.  He's a villain black hat guest who spends the entire season looking for a mysterious maze.  There is also a host named Meave, who is great, and also an awakening AI.  She is a...what's the word for a boss prostitute?  Not a pimp.  Madam?  Anyway, it's a sort of brothel/saloon (she has to pay for drinks so she doesn't own the establishment) but she spends half of her screen time in the lab.  She is kind of an anti-thesis to Dolores' own emergent AI, often being more pragmatic and self interested.   Oh...and there is also Teddy, another host, who spends a lot of his time getting killed.

Uh...lady of the house?  Madam of the night?  Queen bee - no that's Missy Elliot.

The lab characters include corporate board members Theresa and later, Charlotte, who are boring business ladies with maybe a dark side?  OOOooooOOoo.  Bernard is one of our main lab characters who is one of the lead programmers of the hosts.  Jeffery Wright puts in a great performance playing Bernard despite his character often getting saddled with paint drying pacing.  Bernard has not one but TWO major twists happen to his character (arguably three!) in separate episodes that could have been easily combined into one.  Other lab characters include Elsie who I loved despite limited screen time and Felix who is barely a character.  He spends the season doing things because he is scared and that is literally it (see spoiler section).  

Then, there is Robert Ford, played by Anthony fucking Hopkins.  Ford is the most fleshed out character in the entire season and one of the biggest question marks about this entire show.  

Or Hopkins made him the most fleshed out character.  I'm not entirely sure.

For example, the hosts are always repaired if not completely rebuilt if they are killed.  They get their programmed minds back, have their recent memories erased, and sent back into the park.  Guests, meanwhile, can't be killed so...everything that happens in the park lacks stakes.  This is an action drama where nobody can die so the story is entirely reliant on mysteries, particularly, the self-actualizing AI's.  

Ford complicates things because he is basically God.  He can control every host in the park with seemingly a thought.  He created the park (with a missing partner named Arnold who is this metaphorical ghost influencing the hosts) and the board of directors of the parent company that owns the park wants him out.  It's tricky though because the company thinks if they fire him, he will just destroy the hosts code with his god like powers.  Only he knows every detail of the code and not even Bernard knows as much.  Also, Ford continuously talks about his "new narrative" without giving the viewer any details and this drags through the entire season.  

It's a great thing they got Hopkins to play him because Ford is neither hero nor villain through the season.  Okay, without spoiling anything, he leans more villain but the company also seems evil so who knows?  Outside of Delores and Bernard, no character seems totally in one category or the other, either due to good characterization (Ford, Maeve) or bad (William, Theresa, Charlotte and several others).  Ford, as god, is practically the only character with any agency.  He is the only character that can progress the plot and why he is present in almost every episodes final scene.  

I don't know if it's the Hannibal in him never leaving but he's still creepy.

This is a problem and why I have a hard time nailing down this show.  How do you have an ensemble cast with only one character who can change anything?  Every one else seems to sort of wait for things to happen, have things happen to them, or in the case of the Man in Black, go on a goose chase that Ford can manipulate.  Everyone seems to be puppets of Ford.  Everyone.  So the amount of self-actualizing from the hosts coming from a part of themselves, or from Ford bestowing it onto them* is questionable and undermining one of the shows strongest themes.

*Yes, yes, I know.  Spoiler section.

The show spends about 0.78 Ghost in the Shell's worth of discussing consciousness.  It's less about if the hosts are "alive" but if they have consciousness.  Memories are a recurring theme, almost oppressively so, as Dolores and Maeve start to remember previous versions of themselves.  Ford seems either incapable, or unwilling, to fix this "glitch" found early on in the season (feel free to draw more God parallels there) yet is still capable of bending them to his will.  Ford spends a lot of time going on expository monologues that sometimes diverge into heady philosophical stuff....but so much of it seems off (spoiler section again).  

The season spends a lot of time building up to its finale and while the payoff is quite good, I can't help but think some of that could have been spread out.  Things do happen in the season but so much of it has so little consequence that it feels like filler.  There are a couple exceptions, one of which isn't even confirmed until episode 9 (spoiler sectiooooon), but every story line and every character seems delayed until Ford says it is okay.  The finale shows promise that a season 2 will be better paced now that shit got real, but it was a drag to watch this show on some episodes.  

Luckily I like Ghost in the Shell which can drag on and on and ON with philosophical cyberpunk debates about AI until anything actually happens so this wasn't a big deal breaker for me.  Still though, Westworld needs to spend more time having the plot move forward and less time pondering what it all means.

The Walking Dead is brought down by awful characters, hack writing, forced conversations, and repeated plots but has great set pieces and at least its repeated plots usually didn't stall (except the first half of season 2).  Westworld has some good characters, others that haven't been given a chance, and others that are boring.  The writing is usually good but will occasionally bog down as the show wants to show a character but not have them actually do anything that progresses the plot.  Still though, that plot, as slow as it was, was consistent and should drastically change next season.  There is a lot more to work with here than with "survive zombies and bad people".  

SPOILER SECTION BELOW.

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LAST WARNING.  SPOILER SECTION

I have a point for each (spoiler section) above plus some more thoughts.

1.  Felix is a balls character.  He spends most of the season making slight variations of this face...

...with surprisingly little dialogue.  "He gets scared from Maeve then does everything she asks."  I just wrote the characterization for Felix.  

Also, I liked Elsie.  Too bad she got killed off so fast.  She is the thing I mentioned as not being confirmed until episode 9.  It would have been nice to have her around though.  We have next to nobody on the lab side worth rooting for now except Bernard.

2.  When Ford talks about the hidden brain behind God in the "God creating Adam" painting, it's pretty much the only explanation we get that Ford did not influence the AI self-actualization.  I think he may have aided Bernard by allowing him to see all his memories, but he always seemed to have doubts.  Was the realization that Arnold was right, that the AI had achieved, or was going to achieve, consciousness known from the start of the show?  Or, did Ford come to this realization during the season?  That I don't know.....BUT....

3.  In the finale it is shown that Maeve's whole escape storyline was written by Ford.  Maeve does seem to still be his puppet even though she claims everything was her own choices.  Her deciding to get off the train and go look for her daughter might be her only real choice.  (This is some messing with free will, Ghost in the Shell stuff with this story all of a sudden.  I hope this is explored more even if Ford is dead).  Maeve WAS aided by Ford.  So, that begs the question....was Dolores too?

4.  Yes point 2 and 3 contradict but I think it was on purpose.  I wonder if Ford's plans are so influencing that they continue even after his death.  

5.  Remember security dude (the guy who was friends with Elsie) who got jumped by the Ghost Nation in episode 9?  Think he's dead?

6.  The William is the Man in Black twist didn't completely shock me as I read about the fan theory before it happened.  Still, that was poorly foreshadowed in characterization.  William shows villain style tendencies far too late.  

7.  Finally, about Dolores and William's adventures.  It appears that she was physically walking through the park, hallucinating her previous memory of William.  How much of what she said to William was her just talking to a ghost and how much of it did she actually say to William?  Considering the time difference between the William we see, and the Man in Black, Dolores may have been hearing Arnold's voice and have been searching for him for decades.  If that is the case, how did nobody notice?  Did Ford hide this?  If what she says is just her talking to a ghost and she didn't actually say those things in her real memory, then this point is moot but I don't think that is the case.  AND, when Dolores forgot about William, how was her AI self-actualization journey delayed? 

Game of Thrones Season 5. Hope Versus Despair

Spoiler Warning:  If you are not caught up to the end of Season 5 of Game of Thrones, STOP reading.  Spoilers everywhere, espcially with the finale.

Side Note:  I have not read the books.  This post is strictly dealing with the TV show.  

Game of Thrones has always been appealing due to its ability to successfully walk a line between hope and despair.  The world of Westeros, and Essos, is a brutal one where the powerful rule with brute force, political games, and knowing just who to be friends or enemies with.  Even then, the powerful don't always rule for long ever since the cascade of drama that the execution of Ned Stark started.  However, the series has always been able to provide just enough hope that things can and could be better even with the impending doom of the White Walkers.

Season 5, however, was a season where despair, pain, suffering, and hopelessness routinely won out.  There are only brief moments of hope, and even then, they are severely compromised.

To show you what I mean, lets go on a tour of each locations story arc.  Click the article title to read the full post.