Author Archives: Doc

The Anna Devane Kick Ass Female of the Year

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The Anna Devane Kick Ass Female Award had a lot of possible winners this year. Admittedly, Wonder Woman would probably have made this list had her WW84 film not been pushed because of Covid-19. Black Widow too might have made the list. Neither did though. Maybe Natasha makes it in 2021.

I typically try to keep this fictional women, but this year’s list actually has two real life people (sort of). It is not unprecedented though as the Shirewolves were former winners from the Movie Trivia Schmoedown.

Speaking of previous winners….

Previous winners:  Rey (Star Wars), Mockingbird (Marvel Comics), Wonder Woman (DCEU), The Shirewolves, Captain Marvel

Here we go…

#10. Crystal Creasy (The Hunt). This is the character played by Betty Gilpin in The Hunt. This was a star making performance in one of the last movies in the theaters this year. Gilpin was an awesome action star.

#9. Andy (The Old Guard). The Netflix film The Old Guard starred Charlize Theron as a warrior who could not die. Or at least, she would not stay dead. She lead a crew of the same type of individuals in an exciting action flick.

#8. Bo-Katan Kryze (The Mandalorian). The fan-favorite Bo-Katan arrived on the Disney + series, The Mandalorian played by Katee Sackhoff, who also voiced the character in the animation. Bo-Katan may be just starting her rise on this list.

#7. Enola Holmes (Enola Holmes). Millie Bobby Brown has been on this list before in her Stranger Things character, Eleven. Now, she is Sherlock Holmes’ sister and she was great. The Netflix movie was one of the surprises of the year and Millie was wonderful as the lead.

#6. Harley Quinn (Birds of Prey). Margot Robbie did a fantastic job reprising her role as Harley Quinn in the DC film, Birds of Prey. Robbie is perfectly cast as the Joker’s ex and she took another step improving upon her work from Suicide Squad.

#5. Ahsoka Tano (The Mandalorian). The excellent Rosario Dawson arrived on The Mandalorian as the lady who debuted in animation. People had been anticipating Ahsoka all year long and her episode did not disappoint. This is another character who may have her future ahead of her (Disney + series???)

#4. Asuka (WWE). The Empress of Tomorrow is the first of two real life women on the list. Asuka became one of the biggest stars in the WWE during the pandemic. Arguably, Asuka was the RAW MVP during the time. Her humorous color commentary turned her face and her kick ass in ring performances led her to become the RAW Women’s Champion.

#3. Cecilia “Cee” Kass (The Invisible Man). The main protagonist in the new The Invisible Man, Cee is played by Elizabeth Banks and she dominates the film. The way the film begins, you wouldn’t think that she belonged on this list, but The invisible Man was one of the best films of the year and that was mainly about Banks.

#2. Erica Slaughter (Something is Killing the Children). The first comic character (second if you count Harley Quinn) and Erica is one of the most original and epic characters in one of the best comic books in the industry with Something is Killing the Children.

#1. Kamala Harris. We tend to avoid politics here at EYG if we can, but Kamala Harris has created history as the first woman, first African American, first South Asian to be elected to the office of Vice President. Her background as a prosecutor influenced her reputation and, when Joe Biden selected her as his running mate, she solidified the ticket. No matter your politics, the history she brings should be appreciated.

Kamala Harris to make history as first female US vice-president

2020 Comics

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2020 was a tough year for comic books and comic book retailers. The virus caused plenty of trouble for specialty shops and caused the comic companies to close down for a stretch in the early half of the year.

Still, there were some really great books out when they were able to be published.

I now have to make a list of both Top 10 Marvel books and Top 10 Non-Marvel books. I used to collect only Marvel, but I expanded my comic reading out more the last year or so.

Non-Marvel Top 10

#10. Batman/Superman (DC). This is one that I have currently stopped collecting, but I actually enjoyed in parts this year.

#9. Plunge (DC). A mini series that jumped into the new trend of horror comics. Plunge started really strong, but kind of weakened as the series continued. It was hurt by the time off.

#8. Lois Lane (DC). I enjoyed this series even though it did not feel as if it were telling one complete story. There were decent issues with the reporter and I liked the use of Superman here.

#7. Stillwater (Skybound). Chip Zdarsky is the reason I gave this comic a try. This is still newish, but the Twin Peaks vibe intrigues me.

#6. Family Tree (Image). This one is a really great story with some surprising moments. I did not expect teh book to go where it went but I was happily along for the ride.

#5. Strange Adventures (DC) Tom King has been amazing. Who would have guessed that a DC book featuring Adam Strange would make a list like this?

#4. The Department of Truth. (Image) I have really enjoyed the first few issues of this mind blowing series. This is the first of two books from writer James Tynion IV. One of the most creative comics of the year and it should only move up the list as it develops.

#3. The Death of Nancy Drew (Dynamite). Another surprise, this series, co-starring the Hardy Boys with Nancy Drew, brought back memories of reading these mystery stories as a kid. This was pulpy fun.

#2. Spy Island. (Dark Horse). I love Chelsea Cain. Her run on Mockingbird may be my favorite run of comics ever. Spy Island gave me feels of that comic. Plus, there was a bunch of wild adventures with Nora Freud and I wish it had been more than just 4 issues.

#1. Something is Killing the Children (Boom). Here is the second James Tynion IV book and it is the book that is the biggest reason I have expanded my comics collected out from just Marvel. This is consistently the best book I read every month. It is horror comics perfection.

Something Is Killing The Children #11 Comic Review: The Conflict With Obscuratype Grows - The Illuminerdi

Marvel

#10. The Magnificent Ms. Marvel. Another comic that was hurt by the lay off, Ms. Marvel was going to be vital in the Outlawed storyline which is only now picking up. However, Ms. Marvel is some of the best teen hero comics available.

#9. Atlantis Attacks. Another issue hurt by the layoff, but it came straight out of the Agents of Atlas series that I was enjoying and these new characters were fun to read. Plus, you can’t go wrong with Namor.

#8. Dr. Strange Surgeon Supreme. Marvel seems to have a tendency to cancel books I really enjoy. I was loving this new take on Stephen Strange. Unfortunately, it did not last very long.

#7. Miles Morales: Spider-Man. Miles has been very solid all year long and he has faced some serious trouble (especially in the most recent issue- no spoilers, but tragedy struck). Miles is beginning to take his place in the Marvel Universe.

#6. Thor. The God of Thunder got a bit of a reboot this year and spent the first part of the year messing around with Galactus in some of the best looking and most shocking issues of the year.

#5. Dr. Doom. Another Marvel book that is destined for cancellation, I have really found the political thriller aspect of Dr. Doom to be fascinating.

#4. Jessica Jones: Blind Spot. One of my favorite series from the very beginning of the year. Jessica Jones is such a well written and fantastic character developing book. Kelly Thompson brought the goods being the first writer besides Bendis to write a Jessica Jones series.

#3. The Amazing Spider-Man. Always near the top of this list for me, Amazing Spider-Man is currently as good as it can be with the Sin-Eater stuff, Amazing Spider-Man #850, Amazing Spider-Man #50 and the return of Harry Osborn as you have never seen him before. Plus, there is MJ. Love this book.

#2. The Immortal Hulk. Honestly, there was a stretch of issues early in the year that dropped the quality down a tad. That meant that it may not have been the absolutely best comic that week. The Immortal Hulk has reupped its awesomeness as the book builds toward the end of the run of Al Ewing in issue 50 in 2021.

#1. Daredevil. Chip Zdarsky has made Daredevil one of the greatest Marvel books every week. He tore down the character of Daredevil this year, and really looked at Matt Murdock and his internal struggle. And it was epic. Issue 25 was just released and was fabulous. I reviewed issues 18, 20, 21 this year (as well as 25). There is so much brilliance on display here that you never know what might be next.

Zdarsky's Spidey is the best (Daredevil #21) : Spiderman

Honorary Mention (Non-Marvel): Far Sector, We Only Find Them When They’re Dead, Undiscovered Country, Sea of Stars, Bang, James Bond

Honorary Mention (Marvel): Hawkeye: Freefall, Ghost-Spider, Maestro, Agents of Wakanda, Ravencroft, Empyre, Black Widow, Avengers, Star

Special Mention of individual issues:

Captain Marvel #17. Love this issue. It have Carol in a card game. It is a wonderful stand alone issue. Something we should do more often.

Captain Marvel 17-4 - Comic Book Revolution

Immortal Hulk, Great Power #1. A team up with Immortal Hulk and Spidey written by Tom Taylor. I think Taylor is the perfect Spider-Man writer. This was awesome.

Hulk and Spidey having a moment (Immortal Hulk - Great Power #1) - Album on Imgur

Godmothered

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Disney + has released a new family film on their streaming service this weekend starring Jillian Bell as a Fairy Godmother wannabe-in-training called Godmothered.

In the film directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones movies), Jillian Bell played Eleanor, the wide-eyed fairy who was in training to become a Fairy Godmother. She took the classes taught by Moira (Jane Curtin), who stuck to the old school philosophy of “happily ever after.” The demand for fairy godmothers were in short supply and their land was being threatened with closure.

Eleanor took it upon herself to find someone she could help in order to save the land. This led her into the life of Mackenzie (Isla Fisher) and her two daughters (Jillian Shea Spaeder & Willa Skye). Mackenzie was a widow having difficulty moving her life along and her feelings were affecting the lives of her children and her job prospects.

As is the wont of these films, this leads to shenanigans.

There is nothing special or original about Godmothered. Everything here has been seen before. Still, the film is sweet and sacchariney like a diabetic coma. You might get a tooth ache from all the sugary situations presented in this film.

Jillian Bell was good in her role. She fit nicely in the character and that commitment to the character of Eleanor helps with the weaknesses in the movie. June Squibb is here too (initially being the narrator, but giving that job up about 10 minutes into the film) and I always enjoy her. Jane Curtin is playing a depressed Professor Mcgonagall-type character that throws some roadblocks in Eleanor’s way (eventually)

The story did not stand out, but it was fine for what it was.

However, there are certainly worse movies that you could watch and Godmothered does have a decent message/theme. I could see this being a passable family film. While it does not transcend anything from this type of fairy tale genre, you could do worse. That may not be a rave review, but I did not hate watching it. For a Saturday night movie on Disney +, this is okay.

3 stars

Sound of Metal

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Many independent movies are performance driven and there is no doubt that the new film on Amazon Prime this week, Sound of Metal, is one of those.

Heavy metal drummer Ruben (Riz Ahmed) is losing his hearing. He heads to a school for the deaf to try and salvage his life before he could schedule a surgery for an implant that might save his hearing.

It is a simple story with a unique and compelling performance from Riz Ahmed at its center. We experience each moment of his life as Ruben does, through his anger and frustration and then to his eventual acceptance and it is powerful. Riz Ahmed brings such a humanity to the story and you find him easy to root for, even if he is not sure exactly what he wanted.

There are some amazing scenes at the school for the deaf with Ruben and Joe (Paul Raci), the head of the school. Everything that happens here is understandable and provides Ruben with a support that he needed to truly understand what was happening to him.

The sound editing in this movie is next level genius. The audience is presented with the ways that Ruben is hearing and the use of sound is amazing, as is the lack of sound. The audience is placed in the same situation as Ruben and they find themselves as uncomfortable as he is as he progresses with the different levels of his deafness.

Olivia Cooke is good as Ruben’s girlfriend Lou and she does provide some important support for him in the first half of the movie. However, she disappears until the end and does become irrelevant to the story. That is because this story is Ruben’s story and Riz Ahmed is up to the task.

Directed by Darius Marder, who has spent most of his career working on documentaries, he brings a style to Sound of Metal that feels like a documentary. He provides a strong foundation for Ahmed’s sparkling performance.

4 stars

Hillbilly Elegy

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Here you go, Krista.

I had not planned on watching Hillbilly Elegy, but it is the new Ron Howard film and starred two legit star actors in Glenn Close and Amy Adams. Then, my colleague asked if there would be a review coming for it. Add that together and I decided to give it a try.

Based on a true story from a novel entitled Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, a memoir by J.D. Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy Netflix film was not very good. I have not read the book, but my research indicated that the book dealt heavily with the hillbilly culture from Kentucky. There is very little to none of that in this film.

The Netflix movie lacks subtlety and spends more time with melodramatic claptrap, and amazing actors who are unable to do much more than scream. Amy Adams and Glenn Close are clearly trying for their Oscar nominations, but there is very minimal depth to either of their characters and their weird wigs are definitely a distraction.

The two actors are strong so there are a few scenes that work (such as one involving an Algebra test), but there are few quiet moments to give these women layers.

Owen Asztalos plays young J.D. and does an adequate job, but his character is all over the place. Older J.D. is played by Gabriel Basso, who is a law student waiting for an important interview when he gets a call from his sister Lindsay (Haley Bennett) with news that his mother had overdosed on heroin and was in the hospital. J.D. headed for home with a full load of baggage.

Flashbacks were disjointed and did not fit together well. It usually meant we got to see Adams screeching in anger or anguish or Close making faces in her bizarre wig. Adams’ character’s motivations are barely mentioned and goes so fast that you may miss it.

The movie poster calls this an inspiring true story, but the fact is, I was not inspired by anything. The idea of J.D. overcoming his past was just touched upon and it is hard to believe when it happens.

The acting is fine, as you would expect it to be. The story was lacking, filled with over-the-top, eye-rolling moments and the characters were stereotypes. There are plenty of better Ron Howard movies to watch than this one.

2 stars

Mank

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I watched Citizen Kane for the first time during the pandemic. It was a masterpiece. It is one of those movies that is seen as one of the greatest movies ever made. Orson Welles directed, starred and produced the notorious film based on the life of newspaper man William Randolph Hurst. But how much did Welles contribute to the writing of the film? Welles is listed as a co-writer with alcoholic writer Herman J. Mankiewicz.

In the new biopic Mank, the story is told of the origin of the screenplay of Citizen Kane and follows the life of Mankiewicz, nicknamed Mank. Played by Oscar winner Gary Oldman, Mank rushed to finish writing the screenplay against plenty of opposition of 1930s Hollywood.

Mank was directed by David Fincher and written by his father Jack Fincher. Jack Fincher wrote the script originally in the 1990s but it never saw the light. Jack Fincher died in 2003. There is a distinct feel to the script, very dialogue heavy. The words were exceptional and helped carry the film. There was not a lot of actual plot development but the dialogue really made the film.

Another key to the special look of the film is that is was filmed in black and white. That gave the film a feel much like Citizen Kane itself and gorgeous to watch.

Gary Oldman led a fantastic cast that included Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphry, Charles Dance, Tom Burke, and Arliss Howard. These actors all had to deal with the legendary Hollywood icons that they embodied. But Oldman was the standout here as he continuously blends into his roles. Oldman had to play two ages of Mankiewicz, as the film was told with flashbacks as well as the current day.

There are some slow moments, but the dialogue is always sparkling. The film is beautiful and tells a fascinating story, if not a completely accurate one.

4 stars

Freaky

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There have been a ton of body swap movies over the year, and even several with the word “freaky” in the movie title. However, this version from Blumhouse is a slice above the rest with a new and original idea that takes Freaky to a new level.

Millie (Kathryn Newton) is a high school student who has been having a tough time sine her father died a year ago. Her mother (Katie Finneran) is smothering her, she is being bullied on a regular basis at school and her police officer sister (Dana Drori) has little time for her.

Everything changed when local urban legend The Butcher (Vince Vaughn) returned to the town and started murdering young people. The Butcher and Millie crossed paths and The Butcher stabbed her with a knife. However, the knife was special, an old Aztec artifact, causing the two of them to switch consciousness.

Of course, we have seen the idea of the body switch many times and the jokes about the characters perplexity and disorientation over the unfamiliar body they found themselves trapped within. There was the expected jokes about Millie and the penis that she now found herself with.

Still, the fact that one of the body switchers is a serial killer tweaks the story enough to freshen up the concept. The biggest issue I had with the story was that it would have helped make things easier if Millie (in The Butcher’s body) would have gone to her sister the cop for help. She was able to convince her two best friends, Nyla (Celeste O’Connor) and Josh (Misha Osherovich), and her crush Booker (Uriah Shelton) that the switch had happened. Shouldn’t her sister be easier to convince? They did not spend enough time showing the fractured relationship of the sisters to make me believe that this wouldn’t be the first thing she did.

Yet, I was able to get past that and a few other plot points that required some serious suspension of disbelief mainly because of how awesome Vince Vaughn was and how much charisma he had with these other kids. And Kathryn Newton played an epic bad ass killer. She does a tremendous job when she has The Butcher inhabiting her body. You believe that this was a different character, right down to the way she moved or looked at people. The characters were all a hoot and they helped move the movie past some of the more ridiculousness of the plot.

The is some strong humor involved here and a lot of gory kills. Some of the kills, in particular the one where Cameron from Ferris Buehler’s Day Off, Alan Ruck, who plays a teacher at Millie’s school, is killed.

I was excited to see this on Vudu today and it was certainly a fun time. The film moved quickly and worked quite a bit. Freaky took an old trope and gave it a new spin with several engaging performances.

3.75 stars

The Monolith

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Last month, a strange item that reminded many of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey appeared in the middle of a Utah desert. How it arrived there was a mystery. Strangely, then the monolith disappeared overnight. As amazingly as it appeared, it disappeared. Jokes were made.

Then, a monolith appeared in Romania. WTF?

Where will the monolith show up next?

Where will the Monolith show up next?

Who knows for sure….????

M.O.D.O.K: Head Games #1

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Writers: Jordon Blum & Patton Oswalt

Artist: Scott Hepburn

Cover Art: Cully Hamner

Jason Blum and Patton Oswalt are the showrunners for the upcoming animated Hulu series featuring M.O.D.O.K. He is the super genius supervillain gigantic head with small arms.

It seems as if M.O.D.O.K. has having some problems. AIM is looking to regain its strength and one of the way they are choosing to do it is to deactivate the malfunctioning M.O.D.O.K.

It does not turn out well.

So what does a supervillain do when its organization turns its back on you and you start seeing images that you know cannot be true?

You’ll never guess.

I enjoyed this issue and it had a different feel to it than other Marvel books. Perhaps that comes form the writers who are not normal comic book writers. If this is what the animated series is going to be like, then I will be watching Hulu when it comes out.

King in Black #1

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“Chapter One: Reign”

Writer: Donny Cates

Artist: Ryan Stegman

Cover Art: Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer & Frank Martin

I have to say, I do not collect Venom comics.  I like the character, but I have just never been into him much.  I really did like the arrival of his son in the last Venom/Spidey event, but I have not seen anything from him since.

I enjoyed King in Black a great deal.  I have not been a fan of the last few Marvel massive crossover events.  If it is not tied to Spider-Man, I have basically waited for them to end.

I think this is going to be different.

There is such a feeling of dread involved in this issue.  The arrival of Knull is absolutely devastating for the heroes, and when you see Tony Stark reacting the way he does, you know there are problems.  Knull then almost immediately shows you his dominance in a powerful moment that you do not see coming.  

I still wish we could get rid of all the crossover issues.  These major Marvel milestones always feel as if the crossover issues are unimportant and are just there to try and get the collectors to shell out some more money.  However, the main book can be intriguing and this is one of those.

I am excited to see where the story goes.  The book did a good job of telling the story and I feel as if I have a pretty decent understanding of what is happening, even though I have not been a Venom reader.  This may be a good time to jump on.

And Knull is totally terrifying.  How is this monster going to be stopped?  Our heroes are clearly at a low point.  What are they going to do?

I can’t wait to see.

Daredevil #25

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“The Red Fist Part 1”

Writer: Chip Zdarsky

Artist: Marco Checchetto

Cover Art: Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson

Chip Zdarsky’s run on Daredevil has been a must read every month.

This month’s 25th issue of Daredevil is everything you could possibly want in a Marvel comic. The characterization is great. You have characters doing things that fit with their character and making choices that make sense and are yet shocking. The art is great. The action is great.

It has been one of the best comics in Marvel.

No spoilers here, but the focus this month on Elektra gives us some fantastic insights into the character of Elektra Natchios. We get just a flavor of Daredevil in prison. There is going to be so much more coming from that.

The issue dives into the relationship between Matt Murdock and Elektra. How they are the same. How they are different. What they think of each other.

And all of this with Hell’s Kitchen as the backdrop.

It is story telling at its finest and I cannot wait to see where it goes from here.

YouTube

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This year, there was an explosion of shows on YouTube. It seems as if there are all kinds of shows and only so many hours in the day.

In January, Collider Video fired a group of on air talent and sent them out into the world. That beginning helped bring about the current golden age of YouTube.

Here are the EYG Top 12 YouTube shows.

#12. Steve Hofstetter. Just discovered this comedian who specializes in taking on the hecklers of the world. He does it with the sharpest wit around.

#11. The Outlaw Nation. This stars John Rocha, one of the Collider people let go in January. He brings on guests and talks about anything he wants to. It gave him a much greater freedom than COllider ever would.

#10. Schmoedown Rundown. A reaction show for the Movie Trivia Schmoedown, Schmoedown Rundown features Brad Gilmore and “Frankie Numbaz” Frank Janisch. They discuss the matches from the week before and discuss the MTS.

#9. Jamel AKA Jamal. Jamal watches videos of classic music and comments. He makes his comments in the most engaging and entertaining ways. He has such a love of music and he shares it with you beautifully.

#8. Live at the Roxy. Roxy Striar is another of the Collider cast offs who have taken advantage of the opportunity by creating her channel. She has had a Live at the Roxy every day since, not yet missing a day. Whether for holiday, illness, grief or Nazi trolls invading her show, Roxy has been there.

#7. Backstage. The behind the curtain look at the Movie Trivia Schmoedown. Hosted for most of the year by Ben Bateman and John Rocha, the show has recently replaced Rocha with Innergeekdom legend Rachel “The Crusher” Cushing.

#6. Golden Ticket. “Thank you for being a fan.” A special game show type show where the Top 10 Show guys, John Rocha and Matt Knost, invited their Patreon members to compete in a Jeopardy style contest for a guest spot on their Top 10 Show. Lots of fun and the charisma from the two hosts come thorugh.

#5. Up & Downs. The “Bald *sshole” Simon Miller wields the finger of power and reviews Monday Night RAW, Smackdown, and other WWE PPVs giving the best parts of the shows an up and the bad parts a down. Simon is funny and shares his thoughts on the WWE product weekly.

#4. Fatman Beyond. Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin get together weekly at the bar Scum and Villainy in LA to discuss the current world of pop culture. Kevin and Marc are funny, engaging and thoroughly intelligent, approaching movies and TV with not only a critical eye, but also a fanboy perspective.

#3. Top 10. Matt Knost and John Rocha each week set a topic, compile their individual top 10 lists of those movies and then count them down. Finally, after they reveal their personal top 10 lists, they compile it into a list for the show. I have loved listening to these two for several years now.

#2. SEN Live. SEN stands for the Schmoedown Entertainment Network and it is a morning zoo type show, hosted by Kristian Harloff. They discuss movie news along with whatever else may tickle their funny bone. This year, regular member of SEN, Brett Sheridan, created a character called ZaFlertinflause that took over the internet for a couple of weeks during the pandemic.

#1. Movie Trivia Schmoedown. The MTS was dealt a tough blow this year with the pandemic bringing the show to a halt. However, Kristian Harloff and Mark Ellis did not let the virus derail the momentum their show had been building. They took the show virtually and found more of an audience. Between a brilliant live Star Wars tournament on Twitch to the broadcast of the surprising matchup between Kevin Smith and Chris Jericho, the MTS took the challenges thrown at them and made the best of them. A partnership with Skybound gave the show a special burst.

John Carter Memorial Award

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The John Carter Memorial Award is given each year but, to be honest, feels like it is not too fair this year.

That is because the John Carter Memorial Award goes to the film which is considered the year’s biggest flop.

Past “winners” of this award include:

Previous winners:  John Carter, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Lone Ranger, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Expendables 3, Jem and the Holograms, Pan, Rock the Casbah, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Robin Hood (2018), Mortal Engines, Playmobil: The Movie

A flop does not need to be a bad movie. It is just one that did not perform well at the box office for whatever reason. And this is the reason why this year may not be a fair year to present this award. The box office was nonexistent for much of the year because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Pandemics do cause issues with movie theaters.

However, I did look at early in the year (with one exception) for the films under consideration. So… here is the John Carter Memorial Award recipient.

The Rhythm Section

ART OF THE CUT with Joan Sobel, ACE, on editing "The Rhythm Section" by Steve Hullfish - ProVideo Coalition

Blake Lively’s character becomes an assassin who is after the people who were responsible for her family’s death. It lost a bunch of money early in the year. While it may not have been the final award winner in a regular year, this year’s reduced box office makes this one look worse.

Runners-Up: Dolittle, Tenet, Call of the Wild. (Tenet is the only one not from the pre-pandemic world mainly because it did not save the box office as Christopher Nolan seemed to believe).

Star of the Year

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The 2020 Star of the Year was difficult to determine because 2020 was such a dump fire of a year. So much happened that I felt like it sorely limited the potential choices.

I started brainstorming a list of possible choices but none of them felt right. I’ll address those in the runners-up list. Finally, the idea popped into my head and it fit perfectly. It was not unprecedented that the “Star of the Year” was not an individual person. A few years back I gave the Star of the Year to Marvel Studios (ironically, Marvel Studios did not release a movie or TV show in 2020) so I knew this was going to work.

Previous Winners:  Gal Gadot, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jennifer Lawrence, Marvel Studios, J.J. Abrams, Josh Brolin, Damon Lindelof & Regina King

What, then, was the Star of the Year for 2020? What was something so vital and so important to us in the months of isolation and quarantine? And what came through with its best year of movie entertainment ever?

Yes, The Star of the Year is Netflix!

Not only did Netflix have amazing binge-worthy series such as The Crown, including something for everyone, not only did they have tremendous documentaries like The Social Dilemma that were both chilling and sometimes hard to watch, not only did it give the world a true pop culture iconic show with Tiger King that everyone talked about, but it also provided us with some of the best movies of the year. These include, among plenty of others, Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, Adam Sandler’s Hubie Halloween, the comic adaption of The Old Guard, Chris Hemsworth starring in Extraction, and the upcoming final performance in the career of Chadwick Boseman with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

This is just a few examples of the content dropped on Netflix in 2020. This streaming service played such a major part in keeping us sane and entertained as the world went to crap around us. Netflix provided an outlet that made the world not feel like it was collapsing in on us. The nightmares of the real world were kept at bay as we blamed Carol for killing her husband or watched as the game was afoot with Enola Holmes or laughed along with Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani as they tried to prove that they were not involved with a murder in Lovebirds.

All this and the streaming service did not even have Stranger Things this year. 2020 is clearly a highlight for Netflix and, with all the more streaming services nipping at their heels, Netflix truly came to play.

Runners-Up: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, President-Elect Joe Biden, Late Night Talk Show Hosts, Baby Yoda, Joe Exotic and Carol Baskin, Roman Reigns.

The Don’t Feed the Trolls Award

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Here is a brand new award for the Year in Review. Debuting this year is “The Don’t Feed the Trolls: Insane Internet Rage Scandal of the Year” Award.

This was inspired from this year’s winner. The craziness that can come into the world from social media locations such as Facebook or Twitter makes several corners of the internet a toxic place. So much so that many celebrities have left the platforms because of the trolls.

However, I decided that since that toxicity can be a serious situation, we would only “honor” those moments of internet rage that consist of pop culture references that should be considered silly to fight about. Though there were many instances of internet rage directed toward and for President Trump, for or against Black Lives Matter or threats directed toward people, I plan on keeping those out of this award consideration.

I debated about “Karen” videos that are all over the place, but I decided that those fall into the other serious category.

So… here are the three runners-up

Movie Trivia Schmoedown- Marc Andreyko puts down the answer Idris Alba instead of Elba and he wins the challenge. This led to so much chaos for several weeks over something that was not worth the time.

Roxy Striar fights off the trolls from her show. This just happened a few days ago on her Live at the Roxy when a bunch of internet trolls invaded Roxy’s chat with their hate speech and white supremist ideals. I left this in here because of how Roxy fought off the trolls until her moderators could clean them out.

What is the Snyder Cut exactly? The internet trolls were out and heavy for the announcement of the release of the Snyder cut of Justice League but you had better not make any sort of comment about the film not being a complete cut. The utter insanity here was amazing. It is going to be released. Calm down all.

The first winner….

Clearly it should be something about Star Wars, right? Yep…

Baby Yoda eats frog eggs.

Yes, the beloved character from The Mandalorian was not even immune to the trolls as the world lost their minds after Baby Yoda (aka The Child aka [SPOILERS] Grogu) ate some of the frog lady’s remaining eggs that she was trying to get safely to her husband. Cries of genocide echoed through the land. Sure, it may be a little dark, but it is not as if these eggs were fertilized yet. It was like having a boiled chicken egg. Some people used this as evidence to support the theory that Baby Yoda is evil. That sure feels like a stretch to me.