The Gomer- Surprise of the Year

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I started looking at my list of movies for 2022 in search of the Gomer Award winner. The Gomer, named after Gomer Pyle whose catchphrase was ‘Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!’, goes to the film that was the biggest surprise of the year. A film that came out of nowhere… a film that I expected to hate… a film that transcended the viewing experience.

The Gomer for the Biggest Surprise

Previous Gomer Award Winners:  The Gift, Ferdinand, Edge of Tomorrow, We’re the Millers, The Campaign, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Bumblebee, Crawl, Greenland, Free Guy

As I was going through the films, I realized that my notes were filling up. I wound up with 19 films as possible Gomer winners. That was huge! This was easily one of the most surprising years on record.

There are a ton of awesome movies in this category and it was difficult to narrow it down to a winner.

Honorable Mentions: So the Netflix film Slumberland had such a low Rotten Tomatoes score that I did not expect much and yet I had a good time with it. Both The Menu and Violent Night I approached expecting to enjoy them because of the word of mouth, but they made this list because of how much I loved both of them. They are both in consideration for the top ten films of the year. As is RRR, another film that I had no expectations on liking. I disliked the original Top Gun film so I was surprised with how much I enjoyed Top Gun: Maverick. I have never been much of a fan of Adam Sandler so any film he is in that I enjoy is a surprise. This year it was the basketball film, Hustle. The trailers for the film Dog starring Channing Tatum were so overplayed that I had no interest in the movie and yet, it was really quite good. Hulu’s horror film Fresh was one of the most unexpected films of the year. Another film with no expectations was The Outfit, which was so good. There was no way that I was going to like the Minions: Rise of Gru with how much I hated the last Minions movie. And yet I did, who thought it was possible? Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris was another film that I had heard good things about, but I never thought it would interest me. The historical biopic Till featured a powerful performance and left me with an emotional theater experience. The mockumentary When the Screaming Starts followed a serial killer before he became a serial killer. Really funny and dark at the same time. Superman and Batman: Battle of the Super Sons was a DC animation that really engaged me with a couple of characters (Damien Wayne and Jonathan Kent) that I had never cared for much. How could a sequel of a film from 40 years ago be any good? Well, A Christmas Story Christmas pulled it off. The reboot of the Fletch series was great with Confess, Fletch starring Jon Hamm. Barbarian I went into blind and had a great time. Finally, Beast had no chance to be anything good, and yet it was so great with Idris Elba battling a killer lion.

So with all of that, the Gomer Award for 2022 goes to….

Deadstream

There was no way this was going to be good, but with some of the most clever writing of the year, Deadstream took aim at the YouTube culture of live streaming and the reactors that populate the web. Them Deadstream was legitimately funny and frightening. I loved this film from Shudder and the unexpected pleasure of a film that surprised me from the start.

Best & Worst Movies of 2021 in 2022

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Every year, I see movies in a year that had been released in the year before. Most of the time this is because a film is trying to become eligible for an Academy Award so it releases in like four theaters in New York or Los Angeles and then releases wide in January or February.

A few years ago, I decided to not take those films into consideration for the Best and Worst lists of the current year even though that was the year in which I saw them. Henceforth, this list of Best and Worst Movies of 2021 in 2022 came into being.

However, this year was different. As a follow up to the DailyView that I completed in April, I did what I called The June Swoon. In the June Swoon, I watched a movie that I did not see from 2021 every day in the month of June. It turned out to be 31 movies as I watched two in one day once that month.

That opened this list up dramatically as, instead of having five or six to choose from, I now had almost forty. This led to a top 10 Best Movie of 2021 in 2022 and a top five Worst Movie of 2021 in 2022 list.

Starting with the worst:

Worst Movies of 2021 in 2022

#5. Censor. I don’t remember anything about this one, but I had rated it a “MEH”.

#4. The Protégé. Predictable and a waste of Samuel L. Jackson.

#3. Red Rocket. I found this to be way overrated and boring.

#2. House of Gucci. another film that I just did not like. I could not get into it even though it was considered an Oscar worthy film. Not for me.

#1. Home Sweet Home Alone. I had been warned that this movie was God awful. Both Jeremy Jahns and Dan Murrell reviewed the movie and hated on it. Jeremy gave it his “dogshit” rating and Dan, if I remember correctly, put it at number one on his worst movies list. I still wanted to check it out for myself on Disney +. They were absolutely right. It was terrible and would have contended for the Worst Movie of 2021 Year End list had I watched it during 2021. Having the Home Alone name in the title is an insult to Home Alone 3. Yeah, that one.

Best Movies of 2021 in 2022

#10. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Denzel doing Shakespeare. Plus, the film had the best set and art design of any film last year.

#9. Flee. An animated documentary of an escape from Afghanistan as a child.

#8. Old Henry. A great Western with an exciting and dramatic twist at the end.

#7. Happily. A weird story about couples and someone punishing them for their bad behavior. I had a lot of funwith this one.

#6. Shiva Baby. An unexpectedly good film about a Jewish girl and her family sitting Shiva.

#5. Annette. Another bizarre film, this time with music. Adam Driver chewing up scenery all over the palce.

#4. Cyrano. A classic story also with music. Peter Dinklage as Cyrano is spot on casting.

#3. Summer of Soul. Documentary from The Roots’ Questlove. A look at some of the great music from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.

#2. Bo Burnham: Inside. A comedy film that I tried to watch once, but was having trouble getting into it. During the June Swoon though I loved it. Staying inside during the pandemic for the comedian Bo Burnham created so much amazing comedy.

#1. Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar. One of the funniest films of 2021. Another one that I did not find too interesting during 2021 and I was not a fan of the trailer. However, when I watched it for the June Swoon, I loved it.

The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

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With the number f comic book movies that come out in a year, a few years ago, this category was added and who was a better person to honor than Christopher Reeve? We then went back to 1989 and awarded winners for every year.

This year, the winner, to me, was clear.

The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

Previous Winners: Batman (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Batman Returns (1992), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), The Crow (1994), Batman Forever (1995), The Phantom (1996), Men in Black (1997), Blade (1998), Mystery Men (1999), X-Men (2000), From Hell (2001), Spider-Man (2002), X2: X-Men United (1993), Spider-Man 2 (1994), V for Vendetta (2005), 300 (2006), Superman: Doomsday (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Watchmen (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Captain America: First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: Winter Soldier & Guardians of the Galaxy [tie] (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Logan (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

In 2022, the standout comic book movie…

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Ironically, the first Black Panther movie did not receive the Christopher Reeve Memorial Award. It came out in the same year as Infinity War, which was tough competition. However, that first movie starring Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa was consequential and inspiring for a huge swath of a community. People of color embraced that film and made it one of the most successful films of all time.

Then, in 2020, tragedy struck. Chadwick Boseman died from colon cancer. A cancer that we had no idea he was suffering from. During the filming of Black Panther and Infinity War, he kept that to himself, suffering in silence. The suddenness of the loss took us all by shock.

It caused major problem for the Black Panther sequel, which had been written by writer/director Ryan Coogler already. Everything had now changed. Marvel Studios decided that they would not recast T’Challa and that they would use Wakanda Forever to, not only push the story ahead, but to honor their fallen star.

What Ryan Coogler and the cast of Wakanda Forever accomplished was monumental considering the obstacle that they faced. Wakanda Forever was a triumphant film, filled with real emotion from a cast that loved their ‘king’ but had lost him too young. Wakanda Forever was about grief, but also acceptance.

As the tremendous achievement filled the theaters, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will always have a spot in our hearts moving forward with Shuri (or eventually the young prince T’Challa).

Runners-Up: The Batman, Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love & Thunder, Black Adam, Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

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One of the most redone and rebooted stories of all time is the Christmas classic by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. There are dozens of versions of the novel on the screen and stage over the years. Netflix has jumped back into this well once again with a new animated film that returned us to the well worn story of Ebenezer Scrooge.

As we know from the classic tale, Scrooge (Luke Evans) was a miserly businessman who thought Christmas was a ‘humbug.’ When he was approached on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his old partner Jacob Marley (Jonathan Pryce) who warned Scrooge that he would be haunted by three ghosts in an attempt to save Scrooge from a fate worse than death. Scrooge then departs on trips to the past, present and the future to see Christmastime in a new light.

While the original story is flawless, this new version of A Christmas Carol has some strange choices and, in the end, feels like it is lacking the magic of several of the other adaptations.

Luke Evans is fine as Scrooge. Some of the other voices involved in the film do fine work too. Jonathan Pryce, Olivia Colman, James Cosmo, Jessie Buckley, Trevor Dion Nicholas, Jemima Lucy Newman, Rupert Turnbull, Johnny Flynn, and Fra Free provide their voices adequately.

Some of the odd choices really pulled me out of the film. For some reason, they gave Scrooge a dog named Prudence. It appeared as if Prudence was left to Scrooge after the death of Jacob Marley. I have no idea as to why the producers of the film felt the need to insert a dog into the story. Prudence brought nothing of significance to A Christmas carol and just gave one more character in the background.

They also seemed to \change names of some of the characters from the story. Scrooge’s sister Fan became Jenn. Scrooge’s nephew became Harry instead of Fred. The flipped around some of the Cratchit family names as well. This may seem to be a minor point, but I do not understand the reasoning behind any of this and, because of that, I was distracted by the new and, not better, names.

I disliked the character designs, especially that of The Ghost of Christmas Past and The Ghost of Christmas Present. Both of these characters were very interesting as they have both been considerably more interesting than we get here. Past became way too energetic and I did not like the manner in which she was presented. I assume they did this to give Olivia Colman more of a character to play, but the trade off was not worth it.

Ghost of Christmas Present was accompanied by little creatures called Cheerlings, which were little spirit like things that felt more like the Minions than anything else and were there for no reason outside of a few sight gags. They are there to engage the children watching the film so they do not have to worry about things like plot.

The songs were mostly forgettable. As I sit here now, I cannot remember anything about any of them. They were fine in the moment, but I have no desire to hear them again.

Most of the changes that they made to the story just did not work and took away from the overall narrative.

The sad fact is, Netflix clearly wanted an animated version of the classic story for families to watch together. If you want a family version of Charles Dickens’ classic, I would suggest you watch Disney’s A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey or the brilliant Muppets Christmas Carol, my own personal favorite version of the story in any format. Scrooge: A Christmas Carol takes the familiar story and does nothing of interest with it.

2.5 stars

Violent Night

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This movie had no right to be as good as it was.

Violent Night was falling into that category of films that take one of the beloved characters and make them a vicious killer. We had one with Winnie the Pooh this year and there is a Grinch one coming up. Neither look to be much more than what you expect. Violent Night, however, takes the premise and expands upon it with a lot of heart and more character depth than I ever thought there would be.

Santa Claus (David Harbour) is dejected and depressed, taking a break from Christmas Eve at a local bar, knocking back some beers. He had become disgruntled with the world and the attitudes of the children at Christmas time. He is seriously considering hanging up the sleigh bells.

Meanwhile, the wealthy and rotten family of the Lightstone clan were meeting for their annual Christmas Eve get together. Young Trudy (Leah Brady) is the light of the group and just wished that her father Jason (Alex Hassell) and mother Linda (Alexis Louder) would just be back together. Meanwhile Jason’s sister (Edi Patterson) was hoping to suck up to their mother and head of the Lightstone family business Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo).

Unfortunately for the Lightstone family, a crew of thieves, led by Mr. Scrooge (John Leguizamo), arrive at the Lightstone mansion ready to steal a load of money in the safe inside the house. The take the Lightstones hostage and Santa, who happened to be at the house at the same time, gets caught in the crossfire.

David Harbour is perfectly cast as the downtrodden St. Nick. He delivered the requisite puns with a serious tone, making them all the more outlandish. Harbour and Leah Brady, who is fantastic as Trudy, have an easy connection that is as believable as anything in this over-the-top movie. That connection between Santa and the child is at the heart of the film.

Speaking of heart, Violent Night had way more heart than I ever expected it to have. Is there violence? Absolutely. A ton of it. And really creative and awesome fights, but what made this movie more than just another action movie was the Christmas magic that the film rightly used. The script was really smart and I believed everything that these characters were going through. These characters made sense and their motives were clear and easy to follow.

I have to say that I even fought off a few tears in the third act. I sat in the theater telling myself that I was not going to cry in Violent Night.

This film is a combination of Die Hard with Bad Santa. What if John McClane was a Santa Claus instead of a cop?

No spoilers, but… Skullcrusher… yeah, baby!

Violent Night had all the best parts of a revenge thriller and a family Christmas redemption tale. Ho ho ho.

4.5 stars

Confirmed… or is it? Award

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The second year of the Confirmed… or it it Award is here. The award goes to those things that the Internet/talking heads/pundits discuss and talk about, all but claiming it to be a fact despite having no real evidence supporting it. So many people claimed that Mephisto was behind everything in WandaVision that when the demon did not show up, some were disappointed. It was their own out of control expectations that wrecked their viewing habits for that show.

It is an unfortunate result of so many movie talk shows on YouTube that are trying to get clicks. Even those that had a reasonable idea that Mephisto was coming got themselves too wound up over it.

Although not exclusively, it does feel as if the majority of this happens for Marvel Studios’ projects. A good rule of thumb is that it is only true when you hear Kevin Feige say it (or it is leaked by Tom Holland or Alfred Molina)

Confirmed… or is it? Award

Previous Winner: Mephisto is in WandaVision

This year had, once again, plenty examples of this.

Runners-Up: The Leader was coming to She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, The X-Men/mutants were going to be introduced in (fill in the blank here), Upcoming Disney + shows, Spider-Man 4, Dr. Doom is in Wakanda Forever

However, this year’s winner is something that is yet to happen.

2022 Confirmed… or it it Award goes to:

The casting of Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four.

People have been anxiously and impatiently awaiting the reveal of who the four actors will be portraying Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm. There have been literally dozen of rumors about who may be in this ensemble. When John Krasinski appeared as Reed in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it only picked up steam. Krasinski, who has been a popular fan casting for years, was brought into that movie to play an alternate universe version of Reed as fan service. Does that mean that Krasinski is not our stretching genius?

Then, speculation ran rampant that Marvel Studios was going to announce their FF cast at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Fans guessed and waited. There was a ton of info dropped at SDCC this year including the announcement of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, but there was no sign of the Fantastic Four.

Then, everyone was completely sure that Marvel would reveal this cast at D23, Disney’s own conference. It was all but confirmed that we were getting the cast list at D23 and that they would surely walk out on the stage with Kevin Feige. But, once again, we got nothing.

That’s not completely true. They announced the director for Fantastic Four would be Matt Shakman, who directed the WandaVision series for Disney +.

Does Marvel have these roles cast? Who knows? Until the announcements are official, fans will continue to speculate rampantly.

The Don’t Feed the Trolls: Insane Internet Rage Scandal of the Year

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The world of entertainment today can be a harrowing place. The fact that there are people online, on Twitter, on other social media platforms who believe it is okay to rant and rave about specific details of a movie, TV show or piece of pop culture content.

So to “honor” these Trolls, we here at EYG have instituted the Don’t Feed the Trolls: Insane Internet Rage Scandal of the Year Award into our Year In Review Awards.

Previous winners:

The Don’t Feed the Trolls: Insane Internet Rage Scandal of the Year

Previous Winner:  Baby Yoda eats frog’s eggs (2020), Masters of the Universe: Revelations part one (2021)

2022 had one that absolutely jumped to the forefront of the list because there was so much rage about it. It is sad that a lot of the undercurrent of the rage comes from serious issues such as misogamy and the anti-woke crowd, but this was clearly the standout of the crazy this year.

2022 winner: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

The Disney + Marvel studios series received so much anger about so many things that it was difficult to remember them all. The CGI triggered several people. The fact that is was a female Hulk drove some mad. The lack of any true “big bad” in the season made many angry. Jennifer Walters did not “earn” her Hulk powers. The episodes were too short. She broke the fourth wall. They ruined the Intelligencia. This was the absolute end of Marvel Studios and the Disney + series are just the next step in the M-She-U.

And, of course, the haters couldn’t just not watch. They had to watch, spew their hatred on Twitter and make YouTube clickbait videos about how terrible the show was.

What was even funnier was that the show knew what kind of buttons it would be pushing and made their series’ villain the Trolls, showing made up Tweets that echoed the real life ones that would come after. The Intelligencia literally ran a hate web site about She-Hulk on the show.

Although everyone has the right to dislike whatever they choose, there were plenty of people who decided this was going to be the worst thing ever before it even aired. It’s okay if you watched the show and decided that it was not for you. Maybe you did not like the humor. Maybe the CGI took you out of it. Maybe you wanted a more consistent throughline of a plot. Though are all reasonable, but it seemed as if people kept watching it so they could hate on it more. Every Thursday evening/Friday morning after the newest episode was dropped on the streaming site videos would pop up on YouTube promoting how bad the show was would appear from the same content creators each week.

Then, don’t get me started on Daredevil’s appearance. People was mad that Daredevil wasn’t showing up. Then they were mad that Marvel Studios ruined Daredevil. Then they were mad that he did not appear more. He had a new costume. He fought with She-Hulk. The WALK OF SHAME!!!! How could they ruin Daredevil like that?

I thought She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was a fun series with some great characters and a top notch actor in Tatiana Maslany as its lead. We had guest stars in Wong, Hulk, Daredevil, Abomination among others. I loved the 4th wall breaks and I think the finale was the most original finale of the year with the appearance of K.E.V.I.N. at Marvel Studios.

I look forward to She-Hulk’s future in the MCU knowing that the Trolls will have plenty to eat upon.

YouTube- Year in Review

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2022 continued to have a lot of entertainment on YouTube. From weekly game shows to movie reviews and reactions to talking head shows, YouTube has, once again, featured a ton of hours of content.

The following is the top 20 YouTube shows, which varies from all the different types of shows.

#20, Jamel-AKA-Jamal. Reactions to music, movie trailers, Whose Line is it Anyway etc. I know he spent a chunk of the year struggling with the YouTube rules, but he is tremendously charismatic and fun to watch.

#19. Mr. Lloyd Reacts. Another reaction show. I started watching him because of his Weird Al reactions and I have enjoyed his intelligent and engaging comments.

#18. The Movie Couple. Wendy and Dustin. A married couple who do reviews and reactions. I enjoyed their take on severa of the Marvel Disney + shows as well as Stranger Things 4.

#17. For Whatever Reason. Another reaction channel that I started to watch because of some Weird Al reactions. Aaron had some real excellent work going through Al’s discography and he showed a lot of emotion during it.

#16. Heroes Reforged. Adam, Hector and Agustin react to plenty of my favorite shows as well. Hector brings a ton of knowledge with comics and the three of them are fun to watch.

#15. Late to the Party. Started with Late to the Party as a Schmoedown reaction channel and they have since expanded into another show that I look for after watching my favorite shows. Robert and Vanessa bring their won natural chemistry to the video.

#14. Dan Murrell. Dan has been a personal favorite for years (back as far as Movie Fights) and he brings a well spoken and intelligent opinion on movies and pop culture. I do enjoy checking in with his weekly Charts with Dan show focused on the box office. Dan is one of the best.

#13. FYC. For Your Consideration is Scott Mantz, Perri Nemiroff, and Jeff Sneider debate, discuss and list Academy Award nominations and predictions (and Emmy Awards this year too). Scott, Perri and Jeff have the utmost respect for each other and they show how three people can have disagreements on he internet and still be respectful.

#12. Alex Hefner’s TV & Movie Vault. A newer reaction show that I got involved with deeply as Alex reacted to the MCU movies. I have enjoyed his reactions to other films such as Alien, Back to the Future and John Wick. However, the Marvel Movies Mondays are what got me into Alex’s channel.

#11. Fatman Beyond. This one has slipped a bit from last year, but the schedule of Fatman Beyond has been inconsistent. The fact that Kevin Smith is very busy has been an issue with the show. I also feel bad for Kevin with the amount of internet rage he has received. It felt as if it was getting to him for awhile. Still, Kevin and Marc Bernardin have great chemistry and a re very funny together.

#10. Ashleigh Burton. I have loved Ashleigh’s reactions to the movies that she had never seen. She is funny and so engaged by everything she watches. She has a beautiful cat named Beans too. She has also been going through the movies of the MCU and her energy is infectious.

#9. New Rockstars. Eric Voss and the group at New Rockstars are one of the top breakdown channels around. They look deep into movies, trailers, TV shows and come up with some of the best theories around. And then there was Mephisto…

#8. The Movie Trivia Schmoedown. Last year, this was number one. Unfortunately, this year saw the end of the MTS. There was still some great trivia matchups on the year, especially featuring the final champion Samm Levine. It was a sad end for one of the best internet shows of all time. Sadly, the MTS wing of the EYG Hall of Fame both opened and closed this year.

#7. The John Campea Show. A group of people, including John Campea and Robert Meyer Burnett, sit around and discuss the key movie and TV news. Sometimes I find Campea’s opinions irritating and repetitive, but I can always respect them.

#6. The Geek Buddies. The. Geek. Buddies! AAAAAAAAAAAAA. A show upon John Rocha’s Outlaw Nation channel features John and two of his friends, Michael Vogel and Shannon McClung discuss pop culture and review movies, TV shows and trailers. Vogel and McClung bring a new energy and comedic opinion to Rocha’s ideas. They are friends and they have a lot of fun together.

#5. The Top 10 Show. John Rocha and Matt Knost have been doing the Top 10 for several years. I will say that it has slipped a little for me, but I still enjoy watching the pair debate about what movie is the number one on their lists.

#4. Ups and Downs. What Culture Wrestling’s top show, featured Simon Miller and the ‘finger of power” that gives the good bits an up and the bad bits a down. Simon reviews all the shows of the world of wrestling and it helps make me feel all warm and fuzzy in my tum-tum. Simon is funny and is an extremely Positive Pete.

#3. The Reel Rejects. Welcome to the citizens of the Reject nation. Greg Alba and John Humphreys are the main commenters (though we sometimes get Coy Jandreau too). They react to movies, tv shows, trailers, and even other YouTube videos. Greg and John have a great chemistry and bring a lot of fun and humor while still having very intelligent conversation.

#2. Settle the Score. Host Matt Knost and musical director Andy Merryweather have shot up this list with their movie music show, Settle the Score. Initially, I would watch episodes that contained contestants that I knew, but now I look forward to the new episode every Thursday. Merryweather is amazingly talented musician and Knost is funny and quick witted as the host.

#1. Preview’d. It’s Jay…and Adam…it’s Preview’d. My favorite reactors on the YouTube verse, Jay and Adam are two friends who have amazing chemistry and whose humor and banter, full of puns and jokes, make their reactions entertaining. And when Jay and Adam cry… well, it’s a good day. Jay and Adam are emotional and full of a wonderful energy. I love watching the two of them. Last year, Preview’d was number two… and this year… they take the top spot.

Wednesday Season 1

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SPOILERS

I had not been interested in watching Wednesday, the new Netflix series based on the characters from The Addams Family. I had always enjoyed the Addams Family, but the most recent versions of the show have been lacking. However, I had time on Sunday without having much of anything to watch so I decided to give a few episodes a chance. Later that night, I finished the eighth episode as I binged right through the show. I loved it and I was totally in on the entire show.

I found the central mystery of what was happening on Wednesday to be engaging. The other Addams Family characters outside of Wednesday were used very well, fitting into the storyline beautifully. Using Thing as a regular character was brilliant and I loved how the secondary characters all seemed to bond with the living hand. Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) was done perfectly and in just the right amount.

Wednesday Addams, played by Jenna Ortega, is our main protagonist despite the fact that she is dark and brutally cruel. He scene where she tosses the piranha into the swimming pool to attack the bullies who had stuffed Pugsley into a locker was rough. The show did not just dismiss the action as a joke either. It told us that Wednesday might have faced attempted murder charges, which is not something that the sitcom would touch.

Wednesday was shown to be pretty unlikable and withdrawn from people who seemed to want to reach out to her. Some of the early episodes had moments that showed her in a bad light and the show used this as a plot point. Wednesday reminded me as a dark version of Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory. She did things that were mean-spirited, but she did not necessarily understand how she was being cruel.

Watching her slowly realize that she needed more help from people than she wanted was great and seeing the character develop, even slightly, was thrilling.

I did not think taking Wednesday and placing her in a school where she could blend in with the werewolves, sirens, gorgons etc. was a good idea, but she still stood out as being an outsider. Plus, there were normal humans around too, but they were accustomed to the “outcasts.” The show struck a perfect balance between the bizarre and the normal.

I enjoyed all of the secondary characters, from Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers) to Sheriff Donovan Galpin (Jamie McShane). I found just about every other student at Nevermore school to be interesting. They all had their arcs through the season as well.

I am a huge fan of Edgar Allan Poe, so I enjoyed the references to the writer. The similarities and differences between Nevermore and the city of Jericho were wonderfully designed. Both had their secrets and their dark histories.

The show does a great job of making every character seem to be the monster that was killing people in the woods. There was some real tense moments and I did not want to see Eugene Otinger (Moosa Mostafa) killed by the monster. Some of the characters became important to me.

Everything was not perfect. I was not in love with the finale. It was fine, but there was just something about it that did not work as well as most of the rest of the series. I think part of it was the turn to evil by Tyler (Hunter Doohan), the sheriff’s son who turned out to be the monster, a Hyde. I think I wanted him to be manipulated instead of lying about his statis.

There also seemed to be a lot that was forced in that final episode, including the return of Joseph Crackstone (William Houston). Maybe because it felt like it came out of nowhere.

Despite the finale not quite being up to snuff when compared to the rest of the show, I loved Wednesday, and I would be excited to see another season.

Tim Burton directed several of these episodes and was an executive producer as well.

The show feels like a combination of some of my favorite shows. There is some LOST here. Some Twin Peaks. Some Harry Potter. Some Marvel. It was a lot of fun.

The Lost Patient

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I was looking at Netflix for a film to fill the afternoon hours when I came across a movie called The Lost Patient. It was in French, but the premise sounded intriguing so I thought I would give it a try.

The premise listed on Netflix said, “After waking up from a coma with no memory of the night when his entire family was murdered, a young man and his psychiatrist try to untangle the truth.” It was listed as a mystery with a tone of ominous and dark. It sounded good.

It was not.

The film, which starred Txomin Vergez as Thomas, the boy who spent three years in a coma, was really slow, intentionally misleading and fairly predictable. It seemed to want to base the plot on the twist that came near the end of the film, but you could probably see it coming if you paid attention.

After seeing the reveal, there were scenes from earlier in the movie that did not make much sense. With classic twist ending such as The Sixth Sense, when you find out the truth, everything falls into place and when you rewatch it, you see things that you hadn’t seen upon a first watch. The Lost Patient, however, only muddied the rest of the film with what it revealed at the end. It also brought some absolute question on some of the behaviors and choices of the other characters of the film.

I was fooled into the movie, though the runtime was just an hour and a half. Despite the shorter run time, it felt fairly long.

2.2 stars

Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

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The second special presentation from Marvel Studios dropped on Disney + this morning, following in the paw prints of Werewolf By Night. This is a Christmas special featuring the cast of teh Guardians of the Galaxy, written and directed by James Gunn.

With Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) feeling down, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) came up with a plan to boost their friend’s spirit. She and Drax (Dave Bautista) went to earth in search of the legendary hero, Kevin Bacon (Kevin Bacon) to bring him as a Christmas gift for Peter.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is in the vein of the Hallmark Christmas specials, much like Werewolf by Night was an homage to the 1930/40s Universal monster movies. A lot of the cheesy humor from those types of specials were in play on Disney + and it was great.

There were two songs included in the special, one co-written by James Gunn himself and they were wonderful. The first song from the beginning of the special was really funny and Peter’s reactions were perfect.

Drax and Mantis in Hollywood brought some funny moments, showing such a great chemistry between the pair of Guardians. When they arrived at Kevin Bacon’s home, things picked up even more.

There were actually a couple important pieces of information that was revealed in the special that will most likely play into the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in May, which proved that this was not just a throwaway piece of content. This is important moving forward and, to be honest, it makes me worry even more about Vol. 3 and its potential for emotional pain.

The special was a sweet and charming episode that started and ended with a bit of animation in a flashback. All the Guardians get a moment though clearly Mantis and Drax (along with Kevin Bacon) are the standouts and carry the story. It even ends with a heart warming moment.

Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is much better than the Star Wars Holiday Special. This is a fun and enjoyable interlude with our favorite Guardians (and a furry new one) that worked beautifully during this time of the year.

4.6 stars

Devotion

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The new biographical film Devotion gives the MCU fans something to really look forward to.

Devotion revealed the story of the first black navy pilot, Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors) and his wingman Tom Hudner (Glen Powell), who flew missions at the beginning of the Korean War.

Why should the MCU fans be excited about this? Because Jonathan Majors is utterly awesome in this film and he is about to become the next big-bad in the MCU, Kang the Conqueror. We saw him in the final episode of season one of the Loki series and he will next appear in Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania. With his amazing acting skills, there could be some wonderful moments ahead.

As for Devotion, Majors is winning throughout, but the film itself is a tad slow and dragged in places. Jonathan Majors commanded everyone’s attention when he was on screen, but the rest of the film was okay, at best.

It is a true story, based on the 2015 book Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice by Adam Makos. I was unaware of this story so the eventual ending for the movie was surprising. Directed by J.D. Dillard, Devotion probably suffered from being in the same year as Top Gun: Maverick. The flying scenes were fine, but unremarkable and when you have such an example of high quality flight, it is difficult not to compare them.

There was interesting aspects of the race, looking at how black people were treated, even a navy pilot, in the 1950s. While this was definitely part of the story, it did not dominate the script or overwhelm the film.

Jonathan Majors is a star on the rise (not only in the MCU, but also upcoming in the next Creed film) and he helped to elevate this film above what was on the page.

3.2 stars

2022 EYG Year in Review

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We are coming to the last few weeks of 2022 and it is almost that time once again for EYG to look at our annual Year in Review, this time for the year of 2022. This is our twelfth year of doing the Year In Review

We have a bunch of categories in the world of pop culture where EYG will give our opinions. These choices and opinions are those of Embrace Your Geekness and we do not intend on pushing those opinions on anyone. Feel free to agree or disagree with anything that I put on these lists because that is your right. However, these are my opinions and I have the right to mine. Always remember that you can disagree respectfully because cinema is always subjective.

We will be looking at the best and the worst of TV, Movies, YouTube, WWE wrestling, among other things. We have a record of past winners for our awards such as the John Carter Memorial Award for flop of the year as well as several others. We usually add categories every year and this year we will be including a separate TV category for “Super Hero” shows.

These lists and awards will continue until the end of the month of December when the Top 30 best Films of the Year and the Worst Films of the Year lists come out. I am still watching films that could go onto these lists so this is a very active and potentially fluid list. I can say that, although I have an idea of what films will be at the top of each list, I do not have a runaway #1 for either. I am fascinated to see when I sit down and start compiling the list where these films will end up.

As with any year end list, star ratings I give during the year will not be placed in any sort of order. They are, at best, used to generalize the films. A 4.5 star movie may end up higher than a 4.75 star movie on the list. Movies are always adjusting upon reflection.

So as we move forward, we keep an eye to the past.

2022 year in review.

Crimes of the Future

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David Cronenberg returned to the director’s chair to helm this science fiction, body horror movie that is currently being shown on Hulu.

Body horror has never been one of my favorite subgenres of horror, but I was interested in this film because of the sci-fi aspect and the fact that Viggo Mortensen and Kristen Stewart were in the cast.

Unfortunately, this one did not grip me.

I will say that the film started off with a compelling scene between a boy (Sotiris Sozos) and his mother (Lihi Kornowski), but the film took too long after this scene to build upon it, and it went into a different direction that i was simply not into.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, “As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. With his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed… Their mission — to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.”

There were just too may gross moments and none of the prescribed themes seemed to mean much of anything to me. Mortensen is always good, but he seemed to be sleepwalking through this.

Since it was a futuristic world, perhaps my trouble was that I did not fully buy into the setting, which made everything else lacking. Then, everything was so dreary and uninteresting to watch that it felt like a bog.

I did not like Crimes of the Future despite a high Rotten Tomatoes score. If body horror is your thing, perhaps you would like to check this one out. It was not for me.

2 stars